Leviathan(116)

Barley was cautiously scanning the smoke-filled passageway. And with a grimace Thor turned. “Which way did Connor go with Jordan and Beth?”

“They've probably gone for Brubaker Passage. That's the only way to get to the Computer Chamber.”

“And how do we reach this passage?”

Barley motioned. “Down that tunnel.”

Sharply breaking open the M-79, Thor checked to see if a grenade was locked in the launcher. He angrily snapped it shut. “Then that is where the beast has gone! I can feel it! It needs more energy and it has somehow sensed their presence! Like it did before!” He began to move around the corner when Barley grabbed his arm, strongly pulling him back.

Thor glared.

“I've got to tell you something,” the lieutenant muttered. “You need to understand something about those grenades. They're not regular issue. They're phosphorous. Like liquid. It burns anything it touches. So if you shoot it you're going to need at least a hundred feet of clearance. Everything within a hundred feet of detonation will be covered with a fire cloud.” His eyes opened slightly, for emphasis. “It's pure fire, Thor. And once it starts, nothing can put it out.”

A moment and Thor asked, “Are all these phosphorous grenades?”

Barley nodded curtly. “That's all we got left.”

“Good. I will remember.”

Thor led around the corner as they entered the swirling whiteness of the tunnel. And Barley glanced down at the battle-ax, still held tight in Thor's massive hand. “Are you really going to hit it with that ax?” he asked.

“If it comes to that.”

Suddenly Barley seemed even more nervous. “That thing is heavily armored, Thor. It's going to be hard to hurt it with that ax. Even if you get the chance.”

“Perhaps,” Thor answered, moving forward, “but these beasts have been killed by steel before.”

Barley stared. “Before?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“In another age.”

Barley didn't reply for a long moment. “Maybe,” he said finally. “But I know one thing, Thor. If you go up against that thing with that ax, you're going to die.”

Thor face's was grim.

“So be it,” he said. “There are worse things.”

***

Frank entered the smoke-free computer chamber. He wasn't surprised at the clarity and control of the atmosphere. The chamber had been constructed with industrial-size ventilators and large dehumidifiers to keep it utterly free of dust and moisture. He didn't even pause as he entered, running toward a large steel platform in the center of the cavern.

Stunned, Beth paused in the cathedral chamber's wide en-trance, staring at what lay before her. It was awesome.

Over twenty-five feet high, the black semicircular computer mainframe utterly dominated the cavern. No electrical circuits could be seen; they were all enclosed in black tubes that fed into the monolithic half-circle like veins, threading in and out of the polished casing. In contrast to the galactic black sheen, a large, cylindrical light tube glowed white and bright, centered directly before the monolithic semicircle. The tube appeared to be filled with pure light and pulsed with innumerably slender, rhythmic blinks.

Beth saw that the light cylinder's cover was like transparent aluminum. Some kind of hardened alloy that solidly protected the mysterious light-sentience hovering within. Halfway up the tube she saw a separated and reddish cylinder, almost the size of her hand. It seemed suspended in midair, supported by nothing. Dazed, she stepped slowly forward.

Frank reached the large computer platform which encircled the cylindrical tube and mounted the steps. He looked up at her as she approached, his voice urgent. “Hurry up, Beth! We've only got twenty minutes to reach the Logic Core and kill the fail-safe!”

Shaking herself awake, Beth went forward, and in a moment she was on the platform. Not steel, she realized. It was some kind of nonconductive fiberglass or plastic. Stunned, she gazed at what surrounded her, trying to acclimate. But it had been a long time. Too long. Almost immediately she realized that she had never dealt with a system one-tenth this complex.

She had an intimate understanding of modems and CD-ROMs and a half dozen software programs including earlier models of Virtual Reality. She could even program and run parallel processing. But this system was as beyond her as anything could be.

This was the ultimate verging of science and life, the cutting edge of artificial intelligence. She had no doubts that the computer before her was almost a living thing. Just as she had no doubts that there was probably nothing on the planet strong enough to match its ability to reason, or at least to simulate human reason.

Frank spoke quietly into the headset. “GEO, turn on all matrix controls for command control from the platform.''