Temple of the Gods (39 page)

‘So you think the stone ended up in a volcano?’

‘Considering what else happened in Atlantis, I’d say it was a possibility. Listen to this: “The mountains north of the city are spewing fire and ash. The island shakes as the gods of the land and the sky and the sea all turn their anger upon Atlantis.” Interesting – the text’s now in the present tense. It’s not a record for posterity any more, more like a last journal entry . . . “The witch Nantalas has begged the king for her life. She says she can find the sky stone. The king asks her why, when it has brought only destruction and the wrath of the gods upon the empire. She says a new Temple of the Gods must be built and the sky stone sealed in it for eternity, so that nobody may ever again repeat her blasphemy.” She managed to convince him to let her lead the search.’

‘Crikey, she must have been one hell of a good talker,’ said Matt. ‘I’m amazed he didn’t give her the chop on the spot.’

‘I think she knew that even if she found it, she would still be killed for what she’d done. But I guess the king thought it was worth trying – if they could pacify the gods, maybe they could save Atlantis.’

Eddie shook his head. ‘Well, we know how that turned out. But did she find it?’

‘I don’t even know if she managed to escape Atlantis before it sank. We’re almost at the end of the text.’ Nina became more solemn as she read the last few lines. ‘“The people are fleeing, but there are not enough ships. One of the mountains has collapsed into the earth, leaving only a pillar of fire. Even the great temples are falling. Only the Temple of Poseidon is strong enough to hold, and I do not know for how long.” And then . . .’ She brought the composite image back up on the laptop’s screen, pointing out the final words. ‘The inscriptions are much cruder now – they were written in a hurry. “The king and queen have fled. The dead lie in the streets. The ground does not stop shaking. The gods have cursed us. The sea . . .”’

‘What?’

She gave Eddie a grim look. ‘It says, “The sea is rising. Atlantis falls.” And that’s where it ends.’

‘Christ. That’s pretty bloody biblical.’

‘The end of an entire civilisation,’ she said, almost sadly. ‘We know there was a disapora that survived for a few centuries, but eventually the last Atlanteans were conquered, died, or absorbed by other cultures. But it all ended right here – when Nantalas thought she could control earth energy.’

‘But she blew it. Literally.’

‘Right. It seems that she channelled so much energy through the meteorite that it caused an earthquake, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis . . .’ She gestured at the main viewport, outside which the second submersible was still photographing the rest of the inscriptions. ‘She sank the entire
island
. I remember when we first found Atlantis, someone had the theory that the collapse of a subterranean volcanic caldera could account for how it ended up eight hundred feet below the surface. If that’s right, then it was an uncontrolled release of earth energy that actually caused it.’

‘One person could do all that?’ Matt asked in disbelief.

‘One person can kill a million – if they happen to have their finger on the trigger of an atomic bomb. That’s essentially what happened. They didn’t know what they were dealing with . . . and their arrogance, their hubris, destroyed them. It’s like you said, Eddie – it’s as if they had nuclear power eleven thousand years ago. Only they didn’t have the knowledge or the wisdom to use it properly.’

‘Do we now?’ he replied, not entirely rhetorically.

The silence that followed was unexpectedly broken by a chirp from the LIDAR system. ‘What was that?’ Nina asked.

‘I dunno,’ said Matt, turning back to the instruments. ‘That’s the rangefinder – it means something new’s just come into scanning distance. But there shouldn’t—’

The sharp boom of an explosion shook the submersible – followed by an even louder
crump
of crushed metal as
Gypsy
imploded in front of them.

T
he
Sharkdozer
was knocked backwards by the shockwave. ‘Jesus!’ Eddie shouted. ‘What the fuck was that?’

Nina looked ahead. The view was obscured by a swirling mass of bubbles . . . then they cleared enough to reveal that the other submersible was a crumpled wreck. Something had exploded against its side, tearing a ragged hole – and the crew compartment had instantly collapsed, crushed like a soda can under the wheel of a truck. The inside of its viewing bubble was smeared with a pale red film.

The remains of Hayter and his crew.

Matt grabbed the controls, pulling his sub up and back from the wreckage. The LIDAR trilled again. ‘There’s someone else down here!’ he cried.

Now clear of the temple walls that had blocked its view, the sensor showed three new signals nearby – one large, two small. The larger intruder was ahead and off to the left, higher up, the others moving in from behind.

Eddie squeezed forward to look at the screen – and immediately saw a new threat. ‘Matt, watch out!’

Another blip had detached from the signal ahead, heading straight for them. Very quickly. ‘Torpedo!’ the Australian yelled. He turned the
Sharkdozer
away, but the big, heavy submersible was sluggish—

Another explosion, much closer. The sub rang like a gong as it lurched sideways, smashing against the ruins. Nina screamed as the impact threw her across the cabin. The lights flickered before coming back on – noticeably dimmed.

Alarms shrilled, numerous indicators on the instrument panels flashing a warning red. ‘Is the hull breached?’ Nina asked, frightened.

‘If it was, we’d be dead,’ Matt replied. ‘We’ve lost main power, though – we’re on the reserves. And there’s a lot of other damage.’

‘We need to surface,’ said Eddie urgently.

‘Too bloody right we do! Hold on, I’ll dump the emergency ballast.’ He reached up to a large, red-painted lever on the ceiling and pulled it.

There was a deep thump from beneath them, the sub shuddering . . . but nothing else happened. Matt pulled the lever again. Still no result. ‘Aw, shit . . .’

‘What?’ Nina demanded. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘The ballast’s not dropping, that’s what’s bloody wrong! We should be flying up like a helium balloon right now!’

‘Is it broken?’

‘There’s nothing to break! It’s a bloody big slab of pig iron held on by an electromagnet – cut the power, it falls, we float!’

‘Forget floating,’ Eddie warned, watching the LIDAR display, ‘just get us moving!’ All three enemy blips were closing on the centre of the screen.

Matt opened the throttles, steering the
Sharkdozer
clear of the temple. ‘She’s slow,’ he warned. ‘Feels like a damaged thruster.’

Eddie reached past him to take one of the manipulator controls. ‘What are you doing?’ said Nina.

‘Seeing what’s wrong.’ A monitor screen showed the view from the starboard arm’s camera as it moved out from the sub’s side. He brought it round to look back along the hull.

Matt made a sound of dismay at the sight of one of the thruster pods, the casing of which had been torn away to expose the propeller blades within. ‘Eddie, move it down and look under us,’ he ordered.

Eddie did so. The camera revealed that both the port-side skids had been bent underneath the
Sharkdozer
by the collision with the temple . . . and the buckled metal had trapped the ballast slab in place beneath its keel. ‘The thing’s stuck under there! How long will it take to get back to the surface using the thrusters?’

‘Too long!’ Matt pointed outside as the vessel continued its turn. A set of spotlights was visible in the dark water.

Closing fast.

The approaching submersible took on form as the
Sharkdozer
’s own spotlights illuminated it. Unlike Matt’s utilitarian craft, this was sleek and purposeful in design, its long prow resembling that of a powerboat. Instead of a hemispherical viewport, it had a pair of long windows set into its bow, giving the impression that it was watching them through slitted eyes.

The wreck of the
Evenor
came into view. ‘Matt, go down there,’ Eddie told him. ‘We can use it as cover.’

‘Yeah, and we might get snagged on it if we get too close!’ But he tipped the
Sharkdozer
into a descent.

Nina stared at the LIDAR. All three enemies were changing course to intercept. ‘Can we outrun it?’

‘The sub?’ said Matt. ‘Not a chance, even if we had full power. It’s a Mako; I know the bloke who designed it. It’s a pleasure boat, a millionaire’s toy – but it can still shift.’ He frowned. ‘No way it could have got out here on its own. Max range is only a hundred kilometres . . .’

He turned his full attention back to piloting as the wreck loomed ahead. Torn metal stabbed outwards from the crushed hull, the area around it strewn with debris. Nina watched the approaching jagged shards with growing nervousness, before glancing back at the LIDAR. ‘Oh my God! One of them’s right on us!’

A smaller blip had closed to within fifty feet of the
Sharkdozer
’s stern. Eddie hurriedly moved the arm to bring it into the camera’s field of view. More lights shone in the darkness.

He recognised their pattern immediately. A deep suit, a halfway house between traditional scuba gear and full-body deep diving systems; the torso and bubble helmet were rigid, allowing the user to breathe ordinary air without risking the dangers of the bends, while the limbs were enclosed in standard neoprene drysuits. Eddie had used deep suits himself on several occasions, and knew their capabilities – which included high-speed movement with the aid of their built-in thrusters.

He also knew what the diver’s weapon could do.

Their opponent held an ASM-DT rifle, a Soviet-designed weapon for use both underwater and above. In air, it fired the same 5.45 millimetre ammunition as the Kalashnikov AK-74 rifle; beneath the surface, it used identical cartridges to propel not bullets, but six-inch-long hydrodynamic nail rounds.

And the gun was pointing at the
Sharkdozer
.

‘
Incoming!
’ was all he had time to shout—

The diver opened fire on full auto, blasting a stream of nails at them. Matt was already taking evasive action, but it was too late – the lumbering submarine was an unmissable target at such close range.

Piercing clangs rang through the pressure compartment as the nails struck the hull. There was a flat thump, followed by a fizzing sound – and the
Sharkdozer
jolted. An urgent warning siren hooted, more red lights flashing. ‘He hit an air tank!’ Matt reported.

Nina pointed at the
Evenor
. ‘Matt, there!’ A large hole was visible in the side of the survey vessel’s hull, angling upwards towards its main deck. ‘Can we fit through it?’

‘It’ll be tight, but if it stops us getting shot I’ll have to try!’ Matt replied, changing course.

Eddie shifted the arm to keep their attacker in view. The diver was fumbling with his gun, changing the large and awkward magazine. ‘He’s reloading – we’ve got a few seconds.’

‘I dunno how much I can do in that time, mate!’ Matt told him as he took the sub into the gap. Mangled metal clawed at them from all sides – and something larger hove into view across their path, a twisted steel beam. ‘Hang on!’

He jammed the controls hard over – and rolled the submersible on to its side.

Loose objects clattered across the cabin, Nina only holding herself in place by grabbing Matt’s chair, while Eddie thumped painfully against the wall. The beam swept past, scraping along the
Sharkdozer
’s fibreglass upper bodywork. There was a sharp crack as something was torn away, the sub slewing sideways . . . then they were clear.

Matt rolled the vessel back upright. ‘What’s that drongo behind us doing?’

Eddie found the diver again, who had now reloaded the gun and was following the sub through the passage. ‘Still gaining.’ He looked ahead. The
Sharkdozer
was coming to the end of the mangled tunnel. ‘Matt, as soon as you get to the top, go hard right.’

‘But that won’t—’

‘Just do it!’ He worked the manipulator arm again, extending it further out – and back.

‘Turning now!’ Matt warned, pushing the controls over to their limit. The
Sharkdozer
’s thrusters pivoted, throwing the craft into a tight turn.

Eddie opened the claw and swung the arm round as the sub emerged from the
Evenor
’s ruined deck. He searched for the pursuing diver’s lights.

They reappeared on the monitor, much closer. He pushed and twisted the joystick as if trying to guide a giant robot’s punch, closing the claw again—

It clamped round the deep suit’s chest section.

Eddie thumbed the control harder and the claw tightened, the diver’s limbs flailing as he struggled to break free. If he could crush him, or at least puncture his suit, it would make the fight slightly less one-sided . . .