Dark Matter (58 page)

The first casualty had to be Benjamin.  He was closest to the centre of the explosion.  It burned and forced its way through his back, sending bone, and other matter forwards, shredding his internal organs before finally erupting out of his chest.  He knew that he was milliseconds from death as he saw his chest explode.  His mind was calm now though.  He had, they had, achieved their mission.  The power plant would be destroyed and without it, the dome would fail.  He thought of his brothers Ishmael and Toby and how they would be waiting for him.  He thought of his parents, Abraham and Nina and of his sister Bess and how he would miss them, but wait for them also on the other side.  Finally, he thought of his own life and how he wished that he had lived in peaceful times and had the opportunity to marry and raise a family.  He was generally content though.  He had served his people.  He had served Earth.

The explosion continued to expand outwards.  Tearing at the panels, they gave way exposing the delicate equipment beneath.  It burned with a growing intensity as the flammable parts of the components caught fire and added to the growing carnage.  The explosion continued its journey through the interior of the power plant.  The two engineers were next.  The fire had grown enough to envelope them whole, whether they died from heat, trauma, or shock only an autopsy would tell now.  The final three watched as the now walls of flame raced towards them at twenty thousand feet per second.  They had no time to react.  No time for sending any message or indication of their plight.  What little life these three Sunarr soldiers enjoyed was extinguished and with them so was the power plant.  The explosion now reached the heart of the power plant and the volatile source of energy used to run it.

The explosion was tremendous.  The force of it directed outwards.  This time the angle of the embankment where Saeb had fallen saved his life as the pressure wave and flames passed over his head.  The heavy weapon emplacement however had no such protection and was completely destroyed.  The expanding fireball pulled at the air below, forcing it from Saeb's lungs.  Deprived of oxygen he lost consciousness and passed out.

18:01
              10 November  [18:01  10 November GMT]

Outside La Guitarra Mine, Nr. San Simon de Guerrero, 60 miles
SW of Mexico City.

Colonel Mike Jackson stood looking at the dome through his binoculars.  It was nearing the time.  He nodded at the Major who gave the instruction to fire a single test round.  The instruction went to the Battalion Commander, a Lieutenant Colonel who issued it to the Captain in charge of one of the tank companies.  This was relayed to the second tank platoon and finally to the commander of the tank, a sergeant.  The whole process took only a few seconds.  The tank commander issued the order to his gunner who aimed by sight as the range finder had difficulty locking on to the dome.  He selected a HEAT round and punched the appropriate button.  The mechanism whirred as the auto-loader engaged, removing the HEAT round from the magazine, and placing it into the barrel. 

'One HEAT round loaded and ready!'  The gunner called out.

'Fire!'

The HEAT round, short for High Explosive Anti-Tank round, exited the end of the tank's barrel at eighteen hundred metres per second.  It closed the one-mile distance to the dome's exterior in less than a second.  HEAT rounds are designed to punch straight through a tank's armour.  It contains a shaped charge, surround by a lining of pure copper.  The shell detonates very close to impact, less than two metres.  The copper becomes heated to such a high degree it achieves a state of superplasticity.  It is this state of superplasticity combined with it travelling at twenty five times the speed of sound, which allows it to erode the armour at the point of contact.  As it erodes its way through the armour, its contact area reduces producing a cone shaped hole. 

The shell performed flawlessly.  It impacted on the skin of the dome, the copper in its superplasticity state made contact with the outside of the dome.  It ended there.  The skin was still active, the Buckyballs spinning in accordance with the instructions sent from its control centre, they captured the passing Deeth particles and these repelled both the shell and the copper in its superplasticity state.  They compacted into a molten disc, which slid harmlessly down the outside of the dome.  The battalion's spotter reported this back to the Colonel.

Colonel Jackson looked at the live video feed of the impact.  'Shit, it didn't even scratch it!'  He checked his watch, this was the right time, the shield was supposed to be non-operational.  The minutes ticked by as he gave the resistance fighters in the camp more time.  Five minutes had passed before he called for another round.  He watched this closely on the video.  The impact looked good, but so too had it before, the operator zoomed in on the impact site.  There was no hole, but they could clearly see an indentation. 
Jeez, even with the power off this stuff is far tougher than a tank,
the Colonel observed with a mixture of anger and admiration.

'Target that site and give a full volley!' 

This time the entire platoon all fired HEAT rounds at the same point.  Four shells arced through the air and impacted on the damaged section of the dome.  The result was a larger damaged section, but no breakthrough. 

'All platoons target that site and fire at will!'

Every tank opened fire, round after round.  The impact site was lost in a sea of flame and smoke. 

The tank assault lasted for barely two minutes, but in that time, each tank had fired an average of twenty rounds at the target site.  The three battalions of tanks, which comprised Colonel Mike Jackson’s Brigade, provided forty-eight tanks.  The targeted area of the dome had been hit by nearly a thousand rounds of anti-tank shells.  There was a slight southerly wind blowing and the Colonel waited impatiently whist the smoke cleared.  When it did, he was not disappointed.  There was a hole in the side of the dome.  It wasn't large by any means, certainly not for a tank or other vehicle, but it was large enough for people.  Colonel Jackson could finally launch a military assault into the dome.  He turned to his Lieutenant Colonel, who commanded the Brigade's Infantry Battalion. 

'Steve, take your men and capture that dome!'

'Prisoners Sir?'  Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Campbell asked his commanding officer, not wishing to make the decision himself.

'If you must.'  Mike Jackson replied, allowing the Lieutenant Colonel to take any Sunarr as prisoners if they surrendered.

'Sir!'  Steve saluted smartly and left to lead his men into combat.

Colonel Jackson turned to his communications officer.  'Contact General Colt and inform him that we have breached the dome and are preparing for an infantry assault.' 

The communications officer contacted HQ and relayed the message; he then turned back to the Colonel.  'Sir, I have General Colt for you.'

Colonel Jackson took the headset from the officer.  'Jackson here.  Yes sir.  The HEAT rounds had absolutely no effect whilst the power was on.  That's right sir, none.  Without the power we have achieved penetration, but at a cost of a thousand HEAT.  Yes sir, you did hear right.  One thousand HEAT rounds and we can't even drive a tank through.  That's why I have ordered an infantry assault.  Yes sir, I'll keep you informed.'

12:08
              10 November  [18:08  10 November GMT]

Outside La Guitarra Mine, Nr. San Simon de Guerrero, 60 miles SW of Mexico City.

Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Campbell was not the first through the breach in the dome, there were others specially trained for the job, but he was with the first group inside.  What greeted him wasn't anything he had expected.  There in front of him was a large mound of earth.  It rose about forty feet into the air and was at least three or four times that in width.  He relayed an order to send three companies around each side, leaving him with one company who were going to scale the mound.  The going was tough, the spill-off, or whatever it was, moved easily under foot so for every step up they took, they slid back down most of it.  The steep angle didn't help either, forcing them to climb on all fours in order to make any progress. 

The view from the top was a vision of hell.  There were fires raging everywhere, thick clouds of smoke billowed up from the ground, condensing towards the top of the dome they fell like a shroud over the interior wall.  The dark background gave an intensity to the scene before him that made him feel quite sick.  Then he started to see the bodies.  There were dozens and dozens of them, all over the place, the Sunarr were exterminating the prisoners.  He saw a group of Sunarr amongst the buildings and the rage he felt was a living, breathing thing.  It spoke for him.

'Open fire!’

The company responded as one man, firing at the Sunarr soldiers below.  It clearly took them by surprise as they were concentrating on killing the prisoners.  Several went down in the opening volley.  The exchange and the unfamiliar sounds of earth weapons brought the attention of the other Sunarr soldiers around the mine who turned to fire at the figures on the mound.  Steve ordered his two spotters to relay the positions of the Sunarr.  The six companies, now at the edges of the mound, received the information and split into their constituent platoons.  As they ran amongst the mine's buildings the first company continued to give covering fire.  Now supported by four heavy machine-guns.

It was not exactly a rout, but with their tactical advantages of support and precise knowledge of the opposing forces, plus their far superior number, the battle didn't last long.  In the end, Steve didn't have to worry about enemy prisoners, as the Sunarr didn't offer to surrender.  He walked around the mine, amongst the dead and injured until he came upon the site of what had previously been another battle.  The dead here were arranged around the base of another mound; upon its top were the remains of what appeared to be a Sunarr building, still smouldering.  As he climbed towards the top, he stepped over another corpse.  This one moaned.  He called for a medic and then knelt down besides the man.  His legs were shattered, his shirt bloody, but otherwise he appeared uninjured. 

'What's your name fella?'  Steve asked, trying to gauge whether his analysis of the man's injuries was accurate or not.

'Saeb...' the man replied, coughing a little blood up as he spoke, 'Saeb Tibi.  Who are you?'

'I'm Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Campbell Commanding Officer of Third Brigade of the Second US Division of Unity.'

'Unity?'  Saeb replied trying to comprehend its meaning, 'Sam Colt's boys?'

'Yes, that's right.  General Colt is in charge of the Unity US Army.'

'Allah be praised.'  Saeb lapsed back into unconsciousness.

13:15               10 November  [18:15 10 November GMT]

FDR Drive, New York, USA
.

They had less than two city blocks to go.  Shiwanevar realised that they were close, but they were also in hostile territory now and she cursed these humans who seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time.  She realised that she had picked the right hostage.  They were observed but not fired upon as they walked along the expressway. 
If I had taken the Secretary-General,
she thought
, then there would have been no one in authority to prevent us from being attacked.
  The daughter was less than cooperative though.  She struggled with the soldiers every step of the way, slowing their escape considerably. 
That may be her intent,
Shiwanevar thought;
maybe she is trying to slow us down so the other humans can lay a trap for us
.

She could see her ship, sitting there on the East River next to the UN building. 
If only I could contact them, they could send a scout vessel to pick us up or provide cover.  Damn this communications loss!
  She wasn't used to being out of touch with her troops.  It didn't sit well with her, not at all.  She had always been in charge.  Her thoughts were others commands and now she had to actually speak her commands it was so frustrating, so demeaning. 

They passed Fifty-Third Street and were now less than a block from the ship.  At Fifty-Second Street, a spotter from her ship saw their approach and dispatched two squads of soldiers to support them.  Now she felt safer.
             

It was all something of a blur for Sameena.  Snatched from the dinner party, she was still disorientated from the stun grenade attack.  She knew that she was being kidnapped and guessed it was more for protection than ransom. 
That means once they are safe I am expendable
, it was an unhappy thought, and it plagued her consciousness
.  It is unlikely that they will simply let me go.
 
So, I am either dead or a captive.  No way!
She kicked and struggled with renewed vigour, but the grip of the two Sunarr soldiers never wavered, not for a second. 

They were now on the grounds of the UN plaza, just a couple of hundred metres from the ship.  She relaxed and concentrated on her breathing.  She walked now with purpose, the struggle over.  They neared the rear access to the ship, the ramp spanning out from the ship like a bridge over the river.  They walked onto the ramp, the East River cold and brooding below.
It's my only hope,
Sameena realised.  She threw herself to the ground with all her might.  It worked, the soldiers lost their grip on her; she rolled over and over to her right, then sprang to her feet and ran.