“Sixty-five degrees? Come over here! It’s freezing out there! It must be a freak storm that blew in off the ocean. What else?”
Paul came to his side, immediately noticing the chill. Maeve hung back, her arms folded tightly against the cold that was ever more penetrating now. There was a flash of light outside the dome, lending support to Nordhausen’s suggestion.
“See what I mean?”
“I’d like to,” said Paul “but I don’t think that’s lightning.” While it looked like a tempest was raging outside, Paul could not believe his eyes.
“Not lightning? Come on, Paul, come to your senses.”
“It’s green,” said Paul. “Ever see green lightning? And don’t tell me it’s the Aurora Borealis. We would never see them this far south. Besides, I’d recognize them at once.” Paul had served a three year stint as a teacher in Alaska when he was just out of college.
“Not lightning?” Nordhausen repeated the objection again, unbelieving, but his own voice quavered, and now the cold was sending chills all though his frame.
“Feel that…” Paul’s breath was frosty. “This is San Francisco, Robert. That’s arctic cold. Ever feel that here before?”
Nordhausen turned to him, shivering. “Are you saying something’s happened to the weather now? Are you saying the world is spun off its axis and this is the North Pole? Damn it! What’s going on here?”
“Let’s get back downstairs.” Paul tugged at him, pulling him back from the opaque murkiness beyond the windows. Maeve was pale and cold, clearly worried as they retreated to the door.
“What does this mean, Paul?” Nordhausen’s voice was punctuated by the clatter of their footsteps echoing in the stair well, but Paul said nothing, deep in thought.
When they reached the bottom and opened the door they were surprised to see that the consoles seemed alive again. Lights were flashing to the staccato electronic beep of the computers. Nordhausen beamed when he saw it, smiling with relief. “He’s got the net back. I told you! It was just a local problem after all—must have been the storm.” He rushed toward the consoles, gleeful to have a plausible explanation in hand at last. But Paul’s trained eyes scanned the room quickly and came to another conclusion that had escaped the professor entirely.
“What’s the read, Kelly?” Nordhausen was at the history console now, but Kelly was looking over his shoulder at another bank of equipment. “Is the net back up?” Nordhausen persisted, more enthusiastic now. “Is this a variance report coming in?”
“Quiet!” Kelly was watching the other workstation now. “Paul?” He looked for Paul in the room, finding him with worried eyes.
“I see it,” said Paul. “Let’s get power back up beyond standby mode.”
“Right,” said Kelly, moving quickly past the professor to another console across the room.
Maeve stood in silence, watching as the two men went to work with a feverish urgency. She knew what was happening, being familiar enough with the equipment from her stint with Kelly on the initial operations.
“Now what in blazes is going on here?” Nordhausen was getting angry.
“Be quiet, Robert,” said Maeve. “Can’t you see what’s going on? That’s the retraction module.” Maeve’s revelation did little to dispel the professor’s confusion.
“The retraction module? Is it still operating? We’ve been here for over an hour now. I haven’t even had time to get out of these clothes. Turn the damn thing off, Paul, we’ve got to check on this Golem alert.”
Kelly gave the professor a withering look. Then he put his hands on his hips and explained. “Look Robert, there is no Golem alert. I told you—the net is down. It’s not responding. There’s nothing out there, at least not that I can reach. And this—“ He pointed to the workstation where Paul was making quick adjustments to the quantum infusion chamber. “This is the retraction module, just like Maeve said. So sit down and be quiet. We’ve got to focus now.”
Robert was dumbfounded. He took a deep breath and recovered a bit of his composure. “I know very well that’s the retraction module. Why don’t we just turn it off and be done with it? If the net is down then we’ve got to start thinking on our own. What about the stone?”
The professor felt two hands grip hard on his shoulders, pushing down firmly. He found himself plopped into a swivel chair and twisted about to see Maeve frowning at him again.
“Quiet, Robert,” she said in a low voice. “They’ve got to be sure the system timing is balanced now, understand?”
“But—” The flare in Maeve’s eyes silenced him, and she spoke again, the words striking Nordhausen like a hammer.
“Someone is coming through the Arch.”
23
All eyes turned to the far end of the lab complex where a massive circular door gleamed in the cool light of the overhead neon. It was the portal that would lead to the access tunnel of the Arch. Far below the lab, the on-site generators were thrumming away to provide the enormous power required for the operation. Kelly was monitoring the buildup, watching as the power indicator swept through 80% on its way to maximum surge. It seemed sluggish to him, and he was concerned. As if he could read his friend’s thoughts, Paul looked over his shoulder and tossed him a question.
“How are we on power?”
“Eighty-seven percent, and building. But it’s not ramping up like it should. I think we may have lost our connection to the outside power grid.” He toggled a bank of switches and nodded his head. “Yup, nothing coming in from PG&E.”
“Damn storm has the whole Bay Area down,” put in Nordhausen, who looked at Maeve to see if he was about to suffer any reprisal for breaking silence. She let the remark pass, giving him a sideward glance, her attention primarily focused on Kelly.
“We’re on internal power now,” said Kelly. “Fuel looks good, at least for the next several hours. How’s the particle infusion?”
“I’ve got enough left for a retraction, but…”
The question that was in everyone’s mind was left unspoken. Who was coming through the Arch? How were they shifting in? Where were they coming from?
“Robert…” Paul looked away from the infusion chamber. “Make yourself useful. You and Maeve will have to form our welcoming committee. I have no idea what to expect, but could the two of you get down to the Arch?”
“But what if it’s the Assassins?” The professor was the first to vocalize the obvious fear. “Do you expect me to fend them off at the elevator? We don’t even have any weapons here.”
“Relax,” said Maeve. “I’ll take my parasol.” She was pulling him up from the chair and heading for the titanium door. Kelly had toggled the breaching command, and the massive door was swinging open on its oiled metal hinges.
“Come along, Robert. We’ve got to get through before it closes.”
“The intercom is open,” Kelly shouted after them. “Be careful! Damn,” he said to Paul, “I wish we had installed cameras. I don’t like the idea of someone dropping in unannounced like this. Who could it be?”
“God only knows,” said Paul. “One side or the other. But whoever it is, they seem to want to talk something over with the Founders.”
“Or blow the Founders to pieces,” Kelly suggested. “What if Robert is right and the Assassins come through to take us all out? What if there really was a Transformation and the world we’re living in now has no Internet—at least not one that functions as we might expect it. I was pinging all over the world moments ago, looking for my Golems. That’s one hell of a way to shout ‘here I am ‘ on the network, if there is one.”