Lakesh hit another few keys and spun his chair around. “You look prepared, Brigid. Come here, please.”
Brigid leaned over the console, and Lakesh pointed with a gnarled finger to a floor plan on the screen. “Levels Four and Five. You’ll materialize here, on Level Four, in the mat-trans unit. It was the prototype, and it’s still fully functional, though rather primitive in comparison to the later models.”
She read aloud, “Redoubt Alpha. So that’s Dulce’s designation.”
“Yes. From there, you can make your way down through the maintenance stairwell past Level Five, and then onto Six. There are elevators, but it’s far too risky to use them.”
Grant asked, “How much opposition can we expect?”
Lakesh shrugged. “None until you reach Level Six. The only time Four is staffed is when a prearranged transmission takes place. This one, obviously, is unscheduled.”
“When I tried to verify the jump line for Redoubt Alpha before,” Brigid said, “I received an inactive signal.”
“Of course you did.”
Lakesh adjusted a toggle on the console, and a section of vanadium spanning almost the entire wall slid aside, revealing a Mercator-projection map of the world. Spots of light flickered in almost every continent, and thin, glowing lines networked across the countries, like a web spun by a radioactive spider. Kane was a bit surprised to see that the map delineated all the geophysical alterations caused by the nukecaust. As far as he had been told, very little was known regarding the topographical or sociological conditions overseas.
“Here are the locations of known functioning gateway units, though not all of them are active all of the time. In Dulce, the matter-transit pathway is not open unless prior arrangements are made. What I will do from here is reroute and circumvent the target autosequence initiator and activate the unit’s wave-guide conduits via an annular confinement matter stream.”
Kane and Grant exchanged a glum glance, then Kane shrugged as if the matter were of little importance. As long as Lakesh understood his techno-babble, then he wasn’t going to worry about his own poverty of comprehension.
“Now,” continued Lakesh, “after you materialize, the unit will shut down automatically. I will reactivate it in two hours to the second from your arrival. The power will be on just long enough to initiate transmission. If you’re not in the gateway, then there is nothing I can do. No rescue or search parties will be dispatched. Understood?”
Kane put on his helmet. “Understood.”
Lakesh handed Brigid a small metal device, an instrument Kane recognized as a Mnemosyne. “The connecting doors to the levels are electronically locked. You’ll need this to override them.”
Brigid tossed the Syne uneasily from hand to hand. “Can you give us any idea of what we’ll run into there?”
Lakesh sighed, shook his head. “I haven’t visited there since my resurrection. As I understand it, the place was pressed back into service only in the last thirty or forty years. So my ideas of what you might encounter in Dulce are based only on my recollections from two centuries ago. In my opinion, the three of you will face the truth of humanity’s ultimate destiny. And if you face it and can live with it, perhaps you will decide that destiny is not an absolute, but only a variable.”
The old man wet his lips nervously. “Are you ready?”
Kane, Grant and Brigid exchanged long, silent glances, then they walked through the control center. They paused briefly at the door leading to the anteroom to look back. Domi called after them, very confidently, “You be back.”
Grant smiled at her, and she smiled back, very widely. The three people went through the anteroom and entered the gateway chamber. Kane closed the door behind them. They all took deep, calming breaths. Even though they had experienced it before, the concept of having their bodies, their minds, everything that they were, converted to digital information, transmitted to a distant receiver and reassembled, was still a fearsome one.
The now-familiar vibrating hum arose, climbing to a high-pitched whine. The hexagonal metal disks above and below exuded a shimmering glow that slowly intensified. The fine mist gathered and climbed from the floor and wafted down from the ceiling. Tiny crackling static discharges flared in the vapor.