She read the number-letter combination out loud in a slow methodical voice, while Ian held the flashlight as close as he could to the text so she could better see the handwritten code.
As Joe and Lila finished keying in the code, Lila called out quietly to Joe, “On the count of one.” She paused briefly. “One!” Together they hit the enter key.
The countdown clock stopped, but the RV began to vibrate lightly and a loud humming noise started at the bottom of the enormous vehicle, which quickly spread.
Lila scanned the monitor in front of her. “Auto shutdown sequence?” she said in disbelief. “This thing should come with an instruction manual.”
“It did,” said Ian wryly, “that’s what we’re using.”
“Great, just great,” Lila griped. “We stopped the imminent self destruct, only to kick start an auto shutdown procedure.”
“And what’s so bad about that?’ Joe asked.
“Nothing potentially, except that the workers who would ordinarily oversee the whole business aren’t here.”
Lila reached for the logbook at the same time as Joe. Their hands collided and they fought over the document.
Finally Ian reached between them and grabbed the thin book. “Let’s put it here on the counter where we call all have a look.”
“But you don’t even read Russian,” Lila said incredulously.
“Doesn’t matter,” Ian admonished. “Maybe I’ll see something you miss.”
Lila ran her hand across the cover, smoothing the wrinkled paper. “Let’s start with the front. This looks like some sort of code. I’m hoping for this.” She swept her hands to include the whole setup around them.
Joe picked up from where she left off. “It took Ian going through two locks to get to it, so obviously it’s important. Maybe it’s a disarming sequence.” He looked around for anywhere they could input the numbers. There were two keyboards, one on each side of the vehicle.
Joe quickly walked to one of the keyboards and Lila assumed the ready position by the other one.
“Joe,” Lila called out quietly, “do you see where it says alternate monitor on the screen area? Click into that area and open up an interface.” Joe rapidly did as she said. Lila mumbled to herself as she searched through the system for the right computer program.
Joe motioned toward them. “I’ve found it. Go in through the internal dialogue box where it says system functions.”
“I don’t see it,” Lila said in frustrated tones. “Oh, wait, I got it. Now what?”
“There’s a place on the left hand side to enter letters, and digits on the right. Do you see it?” Joe asked Lila. He glanced at his watch. “And I hope you see it really quickly as we have less than 15 minutes to get this done.” Lila grunted in frustration as she scrolled through screens and received error messages, but she finally managed to access the menu.
“I’m guessing we have to enter everything at the same time. Joe, do you see the little lock icon on the top right of the final square?”
“Yep,” Joe said calmly. “Wait for me at the end and we’ll press enter together.”
“I’ll read out the code,” Lila offered. Ian took up a position beside her and aimed the flashlight at the cover, holding it up in front of Lila. She began to read aloud the series of number and letters. “S, no С. Wait.” She rubbed her eyes briefly. “I’m mixing my languages. Maybe Joe should do this.”
“Steady,” Ian told her, “Take a breath and focus.”
Lila took a deep breath and began once again:
“С Р Н П 2 Х З 8 7 Ц Ю 9 Ш Б 2 4.”
With a coordinated tap on the keyboard, Joe and Lila entered the last digit simultaneously.
“Ready?” Lila asked Joe.
“Ready,” he replied softly. “On the count of one press enter. One!”
They hit enter at the same moment.
There was a pause in the countdown, but then they heard a beeping noise.
“Shit. Error.” Lila’s eyebrows drew together and she pulled the cover closer. “Ian shine the light right… there. Yes, that’s it.” She studied it for a moment. “Crap, it’s Щ not Ш.”
She wiped the moisture from her forehead, perspiring heavily in spite of the rapidly dropping nighttime temperatures.
“It says that we get one more chance,” Joe pointed to the blinking message line on the right side of the screen.
They scarcely breathed as the door budged ever so slightly. Lila studied Joe as he placed his eye against the miniscule crack. He scrutinized the area for a moment before slowly widening the gap and cautiously walking into the control room. No one appeared to be inside.
Water abruptly gurgled through pipes directly over their heads startling everyone.
Scanning the instruments for clues, Lila observed a dial on the control panel that roughly translated to coolant cycle. The countdown clock had restarted only seconds ago, so she estimated that could have been the sound that they heard.
She breathed out in relief, thinking that she had never been so frightened of rushing water.
Ian motioned for her to come closer to where he was. On the panel in front of him another countdown clock ran. This one said САМОУНИЧМОЖЕНИЕ [SELF DESTRUCT].
“Shit,” said Lila worriedly. “This is no good.”
“No kidding,” Ian agreed sarcastically.
“Actually it wouldn’t matter except that, as you can see, the light is flashing and it appears to be counting down,” she pointed out.
“Never a good sign,” Ian murmured. “So what do we do?”
“We’ve got to stop it,” Lila said determinedly.
Joe walked up behind them and they nearly jumped out of their skins as he breathed down their necks. “What’s up?” he asked quietly.
“’Houston, we have a problem,’” Ian announced quietly.
“This mining town, Karalveem, is about to go nuclear,” replied Lila tensely. “Some nutjob wants to put the Romanovs or Soviets back in power, and decided to make a big point of it.”
Joe screwed up his face in concern. “How long do we have?”
Lila eyed the control panel. “Half an hour, give or take twenty seconds.”
The three of them looked at each other. Ian was the first to break the silence. “So how are we supposed to stop this?”
“There must be a way,” Lila mused, “or I wouldn’t have been sent here.” She quickly began scanning each of the instrument panels.
“Joe, your Russian is almost as good as mine. Look for something that looks like a set of instructions for this thing.” She gestured at the control panel.
“My Russian is every bit as good as yours,” Joe teased, trying to break the tension as he methodically pulled open drawers and searched around the seating area. He tried to wrench open a locked drawer. “Ian, can you open this?”
Ian quickly performed his patented unlocking maneuver and Lila rushed over to see what was in the drawer. A log sat on top with a series of codes written on it.
Lila turned to Ian. “What the hell have we gotten ourselves into?”
“A hole?” he replied impudently.
The short people – or were they normal height? It was hard for Lila to tell — moved around them forming a loose circle.
“We asked Sergey to send you here. We know you are very good at dealing with problems such as these.”
Ian said to Lila out of the corner of his mouth, “Problems like going down the hole in an Alice in Wonderland? Yep, pretty accurate.”
Lila snorted a bit in laughter. “Pay attention. This could be important,” she reprimanded him. “These aliens obviously have a height problem.”
“Who says they’re aliens?” Ian whispered back to her.
“We can hear what you are saying.”
“Oh, great.” Lila rolled her eyes at him. “Now we’re in trouble.” She said accusingly, “This is your fault.”
“How is it my fault,” Ian argued.
“Humans!” The sound seemed to come from all over as it had in the research lab.
“Nice acoustics you’ve got here.” Ian added, “Must make for cool movie watching.”
“You are so irreverent.” Lila pointed out. “Have a little respect.”
“Like you?” Ian guffawed.
Suddenly there was a loud cracking noise that came from the floor and a large viewing screen rose from it.
“Sweet.” Ian mouthed.
They were watching people moving around a pool in the ground with rods in it in a large building that appeared to be a nuclear reactor. Lila could make out the words Билибинская АЭСon a wall plaque. “Bilibino,” she read aloud to Ian. “It’s Russian.”
His face twisted in concentration. Ian leaned slightly forward watching the action on the screen. One of the men pulled an alarm lever set on the wall and a light began flashing. Ian tilted his head as he considered what was going on in the picture. “Hell, it’s a nuclear meltdown.” He looked expectantly at the small people across from them. “Is this now? What’s the timeframe?”
“You have fifteen days before this becomes reality. I’m sure you know that this is the most northerly nuclear power plant in operation.”
“Actually I didn’t know that,” Ian motioned toward the screen. “How are we supposed to stop it?”
“No one will take our warning seriously,” the voice continued, “Particularly not in Russia. Sergey should not have been involved, but he knows us. He worked on another task last year for us. Things have, however, changed for him. He is dead.”
Lila gulped. Chills ran down her arms. In a slightly quavering voice, she asked, “Then whom were we talking to?”
Normal
0
Lila turned to Ian. “What the hell have we gotten ourselves into?”
“A hole?” he replied impudently.
The short people – or were they normal height? It was hard for Lila to tell — moved around them forming a loose circle.
“We asked Sergey to send you here. We know you are very good at dealing with problems such as these.”
Ian said to Lila out of the corner of his mouth, “Problems like going down the hole in an Alice in Wonderland? Yep, pretty accurate.”
Lila snorted a bit in laughter. “Pay attention. This could be important,” she reprimanded him. “These aliens obviously have a height problem.”
“Who says they’re aliens?” Ian whispered back to her.
“We can hear what you are saying.”
“Oh, great.” Lila rolled her eyes at him. “Now we’re in trouble.” She said accusingly, “This is your fault.”
“How is it my fault,” Ian argued.
“Humans!” The sound seemed to come from all over as it had in the research lab.
“Nice acoustics you’ve got here.” Ian added, “Must make for cool movie watching.”
“You are so irreverent.” Lila pointed out. “Have a little respect.”
“Like you?” Ian guffawed.
Suddenly there was a loud cracking noise that came from the floor and a large viewing screen rose from it.
“Sweet.” Ian mouthed.
They were watching people moving around a pool in the ground with rods in it in a large building that appeared to be a nuclear reactor. Lila could make out the words Билибинская АЭСon a wall plaque. “Bilibino,” she read aloud to Ian. “It’s Russian.”
His face twisted in concentration. Ian leaned slightly forward watching the action on the screen. One of the men pulled an alarm lever set on the wall and a light began flashing. Ian tilted his head as he considered what was going on in the picture. “Hell, it’s a nuclear meltdown.” He looked expectantly at the small people across from them. “Is this now? What’s the timeframe?”
“You have fifteen days before this becomes reality. I’m sure you know that this is the most northerly nuclear power plant in operation.”
“Actually I didn’t know that,” Ian motioned toward the screen. “How are we supposed to stop it?”
“No one will take our warning seriously,” the voice continued, “Particularly not in Russia. Sergey should not have been involved, but he knows us. He worked on another task last year for us. Things have, however, changed for him. He is dead.”
Lila gulped. Chills ran down her arms. In a slightly quavering voice, she asked, “Then whom were we talking to?”
