David Golemon - Ancients

Sarah laid her MP-5 against the rubble and started climbing. Ryan watched for a moment and then followed. She shone her helmet light into the hole and then, unsatisfied, used her large flashlight.

"It looks likes it goes all the way through. This is too much to ask for. How in the hell was this thing formed?"

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth--"

"You mean 'maw', don't you? Because that's what it looks like, a maw."

"You have such a way with description, Sarah old girl," Ryan said as he pressed his throat mike and held on to his MP-5 somewhat tighter than before Sarah's comment. "Colonel, we have a way through. Start sending the men down."

As Collins and the others hit the tunnel floor, Sarah started through the hole in the debris field. She had Ryan stay behind to assist with getting the troops ready for a tight squeeze and a long crawl out. She cursed herself for not having worn her knee pads, because every sharp rock and jagged piece of marble seemed to find a soft spot on her knees.

She was near the end when she noticed a large niche in the side of the tunnel. As her helmet light hit the spot, she saw bones of fish, humans, and material of some kind, and what looked like paper, or was it papyrus, she couldn't tell. She reached out and looked at the shredded paperlike material, then looked over the bones more closely. They were mostly ancient human remains. However, interspersed with these were fish bones and other animal skeletons. Then her eyes widened when she saw the gnaw marks on them, deep gouges that had to have been made by enormous teeth.

"Yuck," she said.

When she turned to make her way past the site, something hard and heavy fell on her from above. She screamed when she saw the incisors, teeth as long as two butcher knives, directly in front of her face. She crawled backward, and the skeletal remains of the giant rat rolled off and lay beside its ancient nest. The giant must have lived in the rubble for years after the destruction, feeding off the dead and then the fish that were trapped in the cave-in, and then it must eventually have starved to death.

She shone her light ahead and saw that the rat hole dug long ago might have saved their mission. The light picked out the tunnel's end. She keyed her throat mic.

"Okay, Jason, send the cavalry in."

The marines of the advanced recon unit started easing their way to the giant cave opening of the tunnel. Several small-arms shots rang out; they were quickly silenced by marine counterfire. Within ten minutes, the site was secured and word was sent to the Iwo, offshore, that Operation Morning Thunder was starting to make its way down the tunnel.

As the radio message went out, a marine squad passed a checkpoint that they didn't know was there, and with orders directly from Tomlinson, one of the survivors of the beach defenses pushed a button.

Standing on the flag bridge of the USS Iwo Jima, General Hamilton flinched at the explosion in the center of the island. As he watched, he slammed his fist into the steel railing, as a nonnuclear mushroom cloud rose from the excavation site. He closed his eyes and cursed. He turned to see the navy bridge staff staring at the scene in shock.

"Captain, get me the beach commander on the horn if he's still alive and get our Seabees moving, I want that area secured and the excavation opened up. Also get me National Command Authority on the line, tell them that Operation Morning Thunder has not, repeat, ha s not secured the front door."

"I hope Colonel Collins is having a better go of it than we are. Operation Backdoor has now become our last chance."

Tomlinson listened to the survivors of the beach defense and was satisfied that the marines could not get to them before the Wave activated. He nodded and then turned to Professor Engvall.

"The blue diamond is in place?" he asked.

"Yes. We have been generating for the past hour on the smallest setting. I just need to know which connections to attach."

Tomlinson smiled and looked from Engvall to Dame Lilith and Caretaker. "The orders remain the same--China and Russia ... also the eastern United States."

"Strikes in the United States are not called for at this time. We have weakened the U.S. far too much as it is," Caretaker said, stepping forward.

"The transmission lines have been laid, the amplifiers are in place, and the Key can reach them with no problem."

"But--"

"Enough! Professor, begin your countdown in one hour."

Dame Lilith, Caretaker, and the others watched as Tomlinson disappeared back into the broken Empirium Chamber, where he had been holed up most of the morning.

"I'm worried. The plan does not call for American escalation at this time," Lilith said, looking at Caretaker.

Caretaker watched as Tomlinson retreated with his hands held behind his back, then he answered Lilith.

"He's under stress, but right now our lives and, I daresay, the very life of the Coalition rides on his shoulders. Hitting the States may not be a bad idea at this time. It may take their determined minds away from us."

Dame Lilith watched as Caretaker turned and walked slowly away, just looking at the ruins of the capital city of Atlantis as if he were on a stroll in Piccadilly Circus.

She looked around at the Crystal Dome rising far above her and the ruins that surrounded her.

"I was just concerned ... you won't tell William I doubted him, will you?" she called after Caretaker.

Just as she said the words, she felt the hair on her arms stand straight up and suddenly felt slightly nauseated. She knew then that the large generators had started up and the Wave was building into Thor's Hammer like the anger of a caged tiger, and that tiger very much wanted to be let loose.

The general in charge of the three-pronged attack raised his radio.

"For the honor of the People, I give the long-awaited order: Commence the artillery barrage of Seoul!"

From behind the DMZ, five thousand artillery batteries opened fire, sending rounds into the American line of defense.

As the president watched the large viewing screen, the numbers and field units of the North Koreans started changing rapidly. Icons symbolizing artillery were flashing red; the ones indicating the three-pronged spearhead started moving also, along with thirty-five divisions north of the border.

"They're on the move," said General Caulfield.

Niles Compton watched the president, who sat with his eyes closed.

"We have major air assets lifting off from all the eastern Chinese air bases. It looks like over five hundred aircraft of every variety. Should I order our fighters in from Japan and notify our carrier-based planes, Mr. President? They're loitering a hundred miles off, over the Sea of Japan,"

The president stood and put his large hands into his pockets. He glanced at Niles for a moment and then looked at the monitor. The red icons of the North were moving very rapidly.

"Take note: the North Koreans have crossed the thirty-eighth parallel in force and are now, and have been for hours, in noncompliance of the treaty of July twenty-seventh, 1950. The Second ID and the air forces of the United States are hereby ordered to defend South Korea from the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea. If the People's Republic of China crosses into South Korea, American aircraft are to attack them."

The twelve F-22A Raptors had been based in Japan for the past eleven months and were now grouped with thirty-five F-15 Strike Eagles, thirty-five Eagle air-superiority fighters, and twenty-five F-16 Fighting Falcons of the Japanese defense force. As the fighters cruised at twenty thousand feet just east of Korean territorial waters, they received the order that shook every man in the flight. The lieutenant colonel flying as the lead asked for confirmation twice to make sure he had heard right. "Attack all North Korean forces south of the thirty-eighth parallel. Attack any air assault by any foreign government. Commence unrestricted warfare against all ground units south of the border."