James Axler – Stoneface

Simultaneously Ryan brought up his SIG-Sauer and dispatched a 9 mm round into the man’s stomach. That drew attention to him, and a group of men spun in his direction. Already on the verge of mindless flight, it took them an instant to identify him as an intruder, as a danger.

Ryan kept walking, swinging the Walther toward them, holding down the trigger. He sprayed bullets into the middle of the group and could hear their screams above the warbling of the alarm.

The burst of autofire was the signal for the men in the control room to go berserk. They milled around mindlessly, ducking beneath consoles and panels, some stampeding madly for an exit. The few who were armed were bowled over by their terrified comrades.

A short, stumpy-legged man bolted around a corner, trying to run past Ryan, who reached out and grabbed the man’s necktie, swinging him around in a wide arc. The man clawed desperately at Ryan’s hand, his face ashen with terror.

Ryan released the tie and the man floundered backward, toward the gateway, and fell up against the freestanding console pedestal. The one-eyed man stepped in close, ramming the muzzle of the SIG-Sauer under his fleshy chin, forcing his head back at a painful angle. His ID badge proclaimed him to be HOWARD.

“Are there beetles in the cave, Howard?” he snapped.

“Only one,” the man gasped. “Programmed for surveillance and defense.”

“Can you override the program from this console?”

Howard stared at him as though he were insane. “Why?”

“Answer me!”

“Yes, there are manual overrides here.”

Hauling the man away from the console, he turned him around to face it. “Show me.”

J.B.’s face stared at him from the small screen in the center of the panel. Behind him, Ryan could make out Krysty, and his head went light with relief.

Howard fiddled with a button or two and announced, “The beetle is controlled from here now.”

“Can you speak through it from here?” Ryan demanded.

Howard’s trembling finger touched a square grid. “Talk into that. The communication channel is open.”

“J.B., Krysty,” Ryan said loudly, “can you hear me?”

On the screen, J.B., and Krysty’s expressions went blank, then lit up with relief. Both of them started talking at once, so Ryan had to say, “Is everyone with you? Jak and Doc?”

“Yes, lover,” Krysty replied. “Where are you?”

“In the Anthill. Have you found the gateway in the cave?”

“No,” J.B. answered. “The place is as black as a swampie’s hind end.”

Turning to the terrified Howard, Ryan said, “Where’s the gateway in there?”

“Only a few hundred yards ahead. You can guide them to it with the beetle.”

“Do it.”

“We copy that, Ryan,” J.B. said. He glanced behind him. “I think Hellstrom’s on our heels, though.”

“Forget him.”

“Where is Mildred? Is she with you?” Doc asked.

“Not yet,” Ryan replied.

J.B.’s lips compressed. “What do you mean?”

“We’ll talk about it when you get here. Follow the beetle to the gateway chamber, get inside and I’ll transport you all here.”

“Then what?”

Ryan grinned mirthlessly. “Then we’ll plan our next field trip.”

He watched both the screen and Howard’s hands, as under his ministrations on the controls, J.B., Krysty, Doc and Jak followed the beetle to the mat-trans unit. It was an exact double of the huge one in the control room.

“No controls here!” Jak exclaimed as they reached it.

“They’re up here,” Ryan responded.

He glared at Howard. “Aren’t they?”

Howard nodded several times and flipped up a cover on the console. Beneath it, inset into the surface, was a set of buttons and tabs.

When his friends were inside, with the armaglass portal secured, Howard keyed in the transport sequence. Ryan watched the screen, through the beetle’s electronic eye, as tendrils of white mist crept up around the figures inside the chamber. The tendrils were shot through with crackling fingers of static electricity. A very bright light began to glow behind the glass.

From the chamber in the control room a sound like a fierce rushing wind grew, rising louder and louder. Light flashed on the other side of armaglass walls. The light swelled, growing in intensity in tandem with the hurricane noises. Both the light and sound faded at the same time.