“I would not count on that,” Jinn said.
To their left, the first airship accelerated forward, picking up speed and rolling off the edge of the platform before dropping … dropping … dropping toward the zero deck. As its speed came up, the descent slowed and then finally at thirty feet or so it began to climb.
“You two get on the airships and get out of here,” Kurt said.
Leilani stared at Kurt with her mouth agape. Gamay understood him better. Kurt was locked in a test of wills with Jinn.
“Come with me,” she said to Leilani. They walked along the edge of the platform as the second airship launched. Marchetti and the last ride out waited.
“What is he doing?” Leilani asked.
“He thinks he can break Jinn and force him to countermand the doomsday order.”
“But that’s insane,” Leilani said.
“Maybe,” Gamay said. “But if what Jinn told us yesterday is true, his doomsday command will take a lot of lives and cause years of worldwide misery. If he dies, it’ll never be countermanded, but to take him with us means two or three of our people have to stay behind and die. Kurt would never give in to that and I can’t blame him. The only way we can help him is to get off the island. Give him one less thing to worry about.”
Marchetti hustled them aboard the airship as the fans cranked up to full speed.
“Ready,” she said.
A few pairs of boots were thrown out and the rifles the men carried, even some of the heavy jackets, anything to lighten the load a few more pounds.
Paul grasped her hand tight as they picked up speed.
Gamay held her breath as they went over the edge. It felt like they were cresting a ridge on a roller coaster. Her knees went weak and her stomach seemed to float for several seconds as the nose pitched down and the airship dropped and accelerated.
Rising up toward them, she saw the flat area of the central park teaming with masses of the microbots. The descent didn’t seem to be slowing fast enough.
“Marchetti?”
“Hang on,” he said.
They were still descending way too fast. Marchetti was pulling back on the controls, and the horrible sound of untold numbers of metal machines eating rang in her ears. The descent began to slow, the craft leveled and skimmed across the park, narrowly missing a tree covered top to bottom with the invading horde.
Finally they began to rise, climbing slowly as they crossed the island’s threshold and moved out over the ocean.
“Fly the airship,” Marchetti said to his chief. “Keep our speed up. Keep us close enough for a signal lock on Wi-Fi.”
“What are you going to do?” Gamay asked.
“I have to set up the computer,” he said.
“The computer?”
He nodded. “Just in case your friend actually knows what he’s doing.”
CHAPTER 58
THE HORRIBLE FEELING OF EVENTS SPIRALING BEYOND HIS control filled Joe Zavala with dread. The dive boat above was being pulled toward the breach where it would go over the falls in a fatal manner. And since he was attached to that boat by a steel cable and an air hose, Joe would soon follow.
Cutting the cable and the hose wouldn’t help. He couldn’t swim to the surface. Even if he dumped the weight belt, he had fifty pounds of gear on his shoulders and feet.
His feet touched down, he tried to set them but was picked up and pulled sideways once again.
“Give me more line!” he shouted. “Quick!”
He saw the boat high above, saw the phosphorescent wake behind the boat as it fought the current, angling this way and that as the pilot tried to keep its nose aimed upstream. Any side turn would be the end of them as they’d be swept away in a matter of seconds.
Finally Joe felt some slack in the line. He dropped onto the slope and began to scramble over it. He found a large boulder, half the size of a VW or even a VV.
Marching around it, he wrapped the steel cable against its bulk.
“Tighten the cable!” he said.
The cable pulled taut, constricted around the boulder and all but sung in the depths as the slack was used up. The boat up above locked into place.
“I made you an anchor,” Joe said. “Now, tell me someone up there knows what centripetal force is?”
Joe was holding tight. The cable was looped around the boulder but threatening to break.
“Point the boat toward the rocks, take a forty-five-degree angle if the cable holds, then you should slingshot to safety. Beach the boat, and don’t forget to reel me in.”
Joe held the cable tight, putting his steel boots up against the boulder.
The boat above changed course and began to move sideways. Like the Earth’s gravity directing the moon, the steel cable caused the boat’s path to curve and accelerate. The boat cut through the current and was flung forward.
A twang sounded through the water. Joe felt himself tumbling backward.
The cable had snapped in two.
At first he was dragged by the current toward the topside breach, but then the lines and hoses connecting him to the dive boat pulled him the other way.
As the boat raced into the shallows and beached on the rocks, Joe was dragged into the boulder field down below. Each blow felt like being in a car crash and Joe was suddenly thankful for the hard stainless steel helmet.
When the ride stopped, Joe was thirty feet under, the suit was filling with water and the air hose was either severed or kinked because no air was coming through. Joe knew he couldn’t swim, but he could climb. Up he went, crawling across the concrete pylons and boulders like a raccoon in a garbage dump.
He shed the weight belt and the task got easier. As he went higher, the light from the bottom of the boat grew brighter. With his air running out, Joe pulled himself to the surface, emerging like the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
He collapsed between two of the boulders, unable to hold up the helmet and shoulder harness without the buoyancy of the water. He struggled to lift it off, but it wouldn’t budge until two sets of helping hands pulled it off for him.
“Did we do it?” Joe asked.
“You did it,” the major said, hugging Joe and lifting him up. “You did it.”
CHAPTER 59
HIGH UP ON THE HELIPAD, THE EERIE, OMNIPRESENT SOUND of the microbots continued to grow louder. It came everywhere at the same time like demented electromagnetic cicadas, chirping by the billions and moving closer with every passing moment.
The noise was grating to Kurt Austin, but it seemed to be affecting Zarrina and Jinn more than him.
