Day of Doom (27 page)

core with its outer liquid one. When the poles reverse, the field never actually dips to zero. But even if it did, we would be protected by the sun’s magnetic field, which, by the way, reverses polarity every nine to twelve years.”

Dan said, “So am I getting this right? Reversing the polarity of the Earth is
 
not
 
abig   deal?   Because   apparently   old Archimedes thought it was and he was,like, freaking brilliant.”

Fiske  rubbed  his   shoulder  andgrimaced. “I didn’t say that, Danny boy. Ordinarily, reversing the polarity takesplace over thousands of years. People andother living things have time to adapt, andso does the Earth and its axial rotational

spectrum.”

Amy nodded in understanding. “But if it happened really quickly? Not over several thousand years, but maybe in a matter of minutes? I think that’s what

Archimedes was afraid of.”

“A trial run for the Vespers,” said

Dan bitterly.

Fiske nodded slowly. “Given that, allbets are off. Now, when you coupleaccelerated   reverse   polarity   withproximity to a major subduction zone, it’slike a match and a river of fuel. The

accelerated reverse polarity is the match and the subduction zone, is the river of fuel. The catastrophic results would stretch far and wide. Natural disaster

piled on natural disaster. Not pretty.”

They all looked up at the Doomsday device.

“And that may be the key to it all,” said Amy.

Ian came over and pointed to the empty niche in the center of the device. “So long as we keep the last component out of there, we can stop it. That’s the place for the gear to be inserted. I’m sure

of it.”

“I think you’re right, Ian,” said Amy.

“But how long can we do that?” said Dan. “And we can’t destroy the thing. We can’t  even  touch  it  without  being

electrocuted.”

Fiske nodded. “And at some point Vesper One will regroup his people and attack. And if we can’t beat them off, he’ll be able to execute his plan.”

They all sat there looking glum.

Dan said, “So we just sit here waiting for them to come? That seems stupid.”

Amy looked up at the Doomsday device.   For  her  it  represented  the culmination, perversely, of their traveling the globe involuntarily to do Vesper One’s bidding.

She looked over at Dan, who wasstaring up at the monstrosity, too. Heglanced at her.

“We made this possible,” he saidstarkly.

“What choice did we have?” sheasked.

“We sacrificed the world for a few friends and family,” said Dan, just as starkly.

“We didn’t know that at the time,” she pointed out in a sharp tone.

“We could have guessed. Vesper One was not exactly doing all this for the good of mankind. We had to know that it would turn out bad.”

Amy looked over at the bodies of Natalie and Evan. Dan followed her gaze. They exchanged a silent look.

“Maybe you’re right,” said Amy. “And maybe I screwed up big-time. Some leader I turned out to be.”

“It’s not over yet, Amy,” said Fiske, studying her quietly. “And let’s look at the positives.”

“Like what?” she asked grimly.

“Well, let’s see. You figured out what the plan was. You got in this place. You helped rescue us. We are now in a position to stop Vesper One.”

“And Natalie and Evan are dead. So is Alistair.”

“And we could all die, too,” said Fiske. “But you have put us in a position where we have a chance. A shot to make

this right. To make sure that Alistair and

Evan and Natalie didn’t die in vain.”

Amy thought about this for a few

moments and finally nodded. “You’re right, Fiske. You’re a good uncle.”

“I wouldn’t go that far. But I have my moments.”

“So, what do we do?” asked Dan in

exasperation. “To stop them?”

Amy gazed up at the device. A suddenshift in the poles, as Fiske had pointed out,would be catastrophic. But how did theystop it from happening? At that instantsomething occurred to her.

She looked at Fiske and Dan, whowere nearby. “I don’t think Vesper One isthe suicidal type.”

“What do you mean?” asked Fiske.

“He wants to rule the world, not

leave it. And Sinead showed me the subduction zones on the computer while we were on the train. She said they worked like underground rivers, or maybe oceans. They create a tsunami, building pressure, which then races off to do damage at some other place. The zone under us runs both east and west, but I don’t think they’re connected. So if the device creates a tsunami effect here . . . ?”

Dan said, “Then it’ll build, but do no damage, at its origins.”

Fiske added, “But it’ll build over time, and when it hits its target —”

Amy finished for him, “It’ll be obliterated.”

“Wow, that’s a relief,” said Dan sarcastically. “So at least we won’t die in a tsunami. We’ll just be murdered by the

Vespers.”

Amy ignored him and looked over ina corner, where there were some woodencrates piled high. She opened a few. Inside were just some copper wires andother odds and ends that Vesper One musthave used to construct the device. She

closed the last crate.

“There   must   be   a   series   of

electromagnets built in there,” she said, pointing at the device. “Powerful ones.”

“I would imagine there are,” agreed Fiske.

Amy  continued,   “But  there  aredifferent ways to create electric andmagnetic fields. A changing electricalfield creates a magnetic field and viceversa. That’s what makes generators andmotors possible. A weakening electrical

signal creates a stronger magnetic field,

and then the reverse is also true.”

“So exactly how does that help us?” asked Dan in exasperation. “I feel like I’m in a physics class. And I’m not even in high school.”

“Magnetic   fields   created   by electrical currents cease to be when the electrical current stops,” replied Amy.

“That’s right,” said Fiske. “No power, no electromagnetic field.”

“Hello?” said Dan. “That sucker has plenty of power. It’s electrified.”

“But I wonder what its source is,” mulled Amy, looking around the base. “There has to be a source of electrical

power. If we can somehow find it and turn

it off . . . ?”

“Then the device will be rendered

inoperable,” said Fiske.

Atticus said, “But how do we turn it

off?”

Amy,   Dan,   and   Fiske   staredhelplessly at one another.

“Maybe if we had some water wecould create a short circuit,” said Fiske.

“We had a lot of water in anotherroom,” replied Dan. “But I don’t see afaucet in here.”

Amy said, “We could try throwingthings at it.”

She picked up the metal bar that Natalie had used. “Stand back,” she said. She threw the bar at the device. It struckagainst it, held there for a moment, andthen fell away.

“Well, that didn’t work,” pointed out Dan unnecessarily.

Fiske said quietly, “I think, Amy, thatthe only option we have is to keep the Vespers from reaching the device.”

“Meaning this is our Waterloo,” said Dan. “Our Custer’s Last Stand,” he addedgrimly.

Fiske nodded. “I think it might be,because I don’t see any other way out.”

“Well, if that’s the way it’s going tobe, so be it,” said Amy resignedly.

She watched as Sinead joined herbrother, who was sitting with his back to awall. As Amy continued to look on, Sinead put her arms around Ted andquietly spoke to him. Amy looked over at Dan and saw him watching the Starlingsas well.

Dan   and   Amy   exchanged   an

understanding glance.

Dan moved next to Amy and said, “Iguess, being triplets, the Starlings have areally close bond.”

“I don’t think that’s limited to

triplets, Dan. I think it goes for all brothers  and  sisters.  Or  it  should, anyway.”

“Do you think the serum might actually help Ted and Ned?” Dan asked.

“It’s not worth it, Dan. It never was. The effects are so unknown, it could easily end up doing far more harm than good. I think Sinead realized that, too. She knows that Vesper One only used her because he knew she wanted to help her brothers so badly.” She broke off and looked at Sinead again. “And maybe there’s something a lot stronger and purer anyway that will help them get better.”

“What’s that?” asked Dan.

“Love. The most powerful thing in the universe.”

As she said it Amy glanced once more over at Evan’s body. Her eyes began to tear up.

Dan noticed this and put an arm around her, leading her off to the side and helping her to sit down as her body shook. The shaking gave way to shudders and sobbing and then gasping. And then Amy Cahill dried her eyes and sat up straight.

“Fiske was right.”

“About what?”

“If we don’t finish this, if we don’t beat the Vespers, everyone will have died in vain.”

“Well, we are going to beat them,” said Dan. “Guaranteed. Done deal!”

Amy gazed proudly at him. “I canalways count on you to lift my spirits.”

“When I’m not bugging the crap outof you.”

“And don’t I know it.”

Dan looked over at Natalie’s body. Ian sat next to it, his head on his drawn-upknees, his eyes closed, the tears slidingdown his cheeks.

Dan asked, “Do you think Isabel will

even care . . . about Natalie?”

Amy wiped her eyes one last time. “Iwould like to think that every motherwould care about losing her child. That nomatter how evil and ruthless you are, youwould care about your own flesh andblood.” She paused. “But with Isabel I’mnot sure. She’s not like other mothers.

She’s not like other human beings, for that

matter.”

“That’s okay. We’ll care.”

She tousled his hair.

“Yes, we will.”

“We’re running out of time.”

Sandy was pacing back and forth in front of Vesper One. They were cloistered in Vesper One’s command center, which had TV screens showing all activity going on in the tunnels by way of hidden surveillance cameras embedded in the

walls.

Vesper One was not looking at him.

He was watching the screen showing the

room where Amy and the others were. And his precious Doomsday device.

“I don’t like that they’re in there and we’re not,” whined Vesper One.

“Yes, it is not an ideal situation,” replied   Sandy,   keeping   his   voice purposely even and calm. He had dealt with Vesper One many times and, though brilliant, he was still very young and prone to irrational actions, as were many young people with limited experience in the world. Sandy had been around the block more than a few times. He knew

never to lose sight of the end game.

“They’re in there with
 
my
 
machine,” said a petulant Vesper One.