To Dr. Smyth, Sam said, “If the Master Builders weren’t getting what they needed from Habitat Zero they would have searched for another trade partner.”
“Oh shit!” Dr. Smyth swore. “They’ve reached out to the Russians.”
“Exactly. The Russians have the access codes!”
The commander radioed his main security room. He made a quick exchange with his crew and then said to Sam, “There were twenty people on board the submarine. They unlocked the security doors, and have now split up into two groups.”
The obsidian passageways were like a honeycomb maze of tunnels. They reached the armory. It was small, designed to take on a small group from a submarine in the unlikely event of an attack — not a group of twenty Russian elite forces.
A security officer had already unlocked the door and was handing out Stoner M63 assault rifles and ammunition. The weapons were state of the art, designed by DARPA in 1963, and went onto become the back bone of the future AR-15 and M16.
Sam examined the weapon.
It was in poor condition and had rarely been serviced in nearly seventy years. The Stoner 63 utilized a common receiver core to which various feeds, barrels, shoulder stocks, and other components were attached to configure the weapon's in-the-field service. Internally, the system still relied on the proven gas-operated, rotating bolt action — an arrangement that went on to be used in the AR-15 — but right now, Sam doubted if any of the weapons would fire, let alone allow them to take on an elite force of Russian soldiers.
Sam said to the officer, “You need to let everyone know you’re under attack! They need to grab whatever weapons they have and defend Habitat Zero. The Russian soldiers are trying to take control of the sphere!”
“We don’t have many weapons on board!”
“Then I suggest you’d better prepare for some casualties.” Sam frowned. “Do you have a map?”
The officer rolled out a security map of the sphere. There were hundreds of passageways, tunnels, ladders, and downward slides. The entire thing looked like one big game of snakes and ladders.
The officer pointed to where the Russians had attacked. “If they keep heading downward, searching for the central command center, they will pass through this narrow funnel here. If we can stop the attack there, then we’ll be fine.”
Sam stared at the map. There were multiple routes leading in and away from that main conduit. It would be a hard place to hold and there didn’t appear to be any cover.
“Make sure you tell your men to run from the attackers and not put up a fight until they get to that point there. We want to lull our attackers into a false sense of invincibility. They probably assume that after seventy years, no one has bothered to maintain any weapons.”
“Okay, I’ll let them know.”
Sam glanced at his dusty old weapon and then at the armorer. “I don’t suppose you have anything bigger?”
The armorer, grinned. “As a matter of fact, I do.”
Chapter Fifty-Two
Sam stared at the 1963, General Electrics, M134 minigun.
The massive weapon fired 7.62×51mm NATO shots via a six-barrel rotary machine gun with a high rate of fire capable of achieving 6,000 rounds per minute. Its external Gatling-style rotating barrels used an external electric power source. The weapon was designed to be mounted on the side of a helicopter or aircraft, but this one was on a wheeled tripod with shield.
Sam glanced at the map. “Can we get it moved to this point, here?”
The officer nodded. “Yeah, we can do that.”
Within ten minutes, a small team had maneuvered the weapon into place at a small fork in the tunnel, overlooking the section of the main descending passageway as it funneled into a narrow section.
Sam stared at the video surveillance TV monitor. It was one of those old box-shaped TVs that took two people to carry and displayed the video in black and white.
The attacking soldiers were moving quickly.
Sam grinned.
Commander Baxter said, “What?”
“I’m sorry it’s nothing. I’ve just never seen a black and white TV before.”
“What color do your TVs show back home?”
Sam said, “Well… all of them.”
The Commander shook his head. “Yeah, well, in case you hadn’t heard, we’ve had a few more priority things to overcome in the past seventy years since we’ve been down here and making better TV entertainment wasn’t one of them.”
Sam and Major Marazzato set the minigun up so that it would kill anyone who came through, while a team of forty plus US Navy sailors, armed with Stoner M63s, took cover at the edge of every tunnel leading toward the funnel.
The Russian elite soldiers weren’t expecting any defense. They moved with the confidence of the school yard bully, surrounded by their henchmen, but they were running toward their deaths. The Russians had been told that the sphere was run by a bunch of nerds from the sixties and that although they would be outnumbered, it would be easy to take control of the sphere’s command center.
They were wrong.
The Russians ran into the funnel.
And Major Marazzato opened fire, while Sam fed the bullet-belt.
The minigun’s massive Gatling-style external rotating barrels started to whir as their electric motor sent the barrel turning.
7.62×51mm NATO shots fired at a rate of 6,000 rounds per minute.
Sending a deadly barrage into the confined space of the narrowed tunnel.
The entire battle was over before it had begun.
Nearly half the Russian attackers died in the first few seconds, while the others — taken by surprise by the overwhelming firepower response — turned and fled.
Marazzato fired another round of shots and then stopped.
Commander Baxter yelled, “After them, men!”
Chapter Fifty-Three
General Painter stared at the satellite image of the Pacific Ocean, south of Guam, where Sam Reilly and his crew had taken a submarine to the sphere below, three days ago. A Udaloy II Class Russian Destroyer, accompanied by the spy ship Yantar were visible through the fading cyclonic clouds in the north, while to the south, the Tahila and the USS Michael Monsoor, a Zumwalt Class Destroyer waited for their orders.
The President had been briefed about the historical role of Habitat Zero.
The President examined the satellite footage. “General Painter, what’s your take on this?”
“It’s dangerous, Mr. President.” General Painter kept his chin up high, portraying confidence and pride as he spoke, and suppressing whatever fear he might have felt. “We and the Russians have high stakes in this. We have Sam Reilly, Dr. Smyth, and Major Marazzato potentially trapped down there, as well as the advanced technology of the sphere. While the Russians have their own boarding crew still down there either on the submarine or potentially already inside the sphere?”
The President arched his eyebrow. “You think that’s possible?”
“We can’t rule it out. The original sphere had the ability to be accessed through two systems similar to the lockout chambers on our nuclear submarines.”
“So. What do you think our best response is?” The President stood up, focusing on the image of the four ships.
General Painter held his breath. “Sir, I think the only response we have is destroy the sphere. Now, traditional weapons won’t pierce its obsidian hull. Therefore, I would suggest a specially modified nuclear warhead, fixed to an armor piercing torpedo. Now we could run a tether…”