Leviathan

On level eight, Lieutenant Will Mendenhall was on duty in the security center. He yawned and looked at the wall-mounted clock. He shook his head as the hour hand was a few minutes from hitting the number two. He was to be relieved by Jason Ryan at 2 A.M., but he could swear that the minute hand on the clock must have frozen in place.

Just as he turned in his chair to sign off on his computer terminal, the monitor lit up.

" Lieutenant Mendenhall, Europa has monitored a two hundred and fifty percent power surge on levels seventy-three and seventy-four--the security system on those levels is currently in failure mode as of oh-one-fifty-eight hours."

Mendenhall heard Europa's female voice and shook his head as Jason Ryan walked into the office, yawning and looking as if he hadn't gotten any sleep.

"What's up, Will?"

"Europa is reporting a power surge and security system failure on levels seventy-three and seventy-four. I was getting ready to--"

Ryan and Mendenhall felt a rumble pass through their feet just as warning bells started sounding throughout the facility.

"What in the hell was that?" Will asked.

" All damage-control personnel report to levels seventy-three and seventy-four immediately. This is no drill. It is recommended that all rescue and fire personnel utilize stairwells one-oh-one and two-oh-eight for access to the affected areas."

"Europa, continue broadcasting personnel direction and accept security override Mendenhall 001700. Let me know what's happened on affected levels!"

"Override accepted,"Europa said. In the background Will heard her warnings still being broadcast through the complex communications system. "All personnel--"

Suddenly Europa went dead. The monitor was black and the sound system went down. The overhead lights flickered, went out, and then came back on. However, Europa was still nonfunctional.

"Damage report!" Will called through the intercom to the affected levels.

Jason Ryan pointed toward the door and Will nodded, knowing he was going to join the rest of security on levels seventy-three and seventy-four.

There was no reply from the lower levels. Will was getting frustrated because he couldn't direct the rescue and firefighting efforts. Then all of a sudden Europa sprang back into life, as if nothing had ever happened to her.

" Lieutenant, Europa has detected trace amounts of Composition Five explosive on levels seventy-three and seventy-four immediately after security shutdown. Total collapse of vault housings in one hundred two of three hundred seventy-two vaults. Preliminary examination of area is total loss of artifacts in seventy percent of vaults on level seventy-three and fifty percent on level seventy-four."

"Jesus Christ," Mendenhall said as he saw the video as Europa finally established a working camera on level seventy-three. The picture showed a total collapse of the rock ceiling, and somewhere fires were raging.

Captain Everett and Niles Compton surveyed the damage on level seventy-three. Temporary floodlights had been placed by the engineering department, and they cast eerie shadows on the granite boulders that had been blasted free of the excavated tunnel. Smashed and burned-out vaults had been crushed beneath the tremendous weight of the cave-in.

"Preliminary report?" Niles asked as he reached down and picked up a piece of pottery freed from one of the vaults by the rush of water from firefighting hoses. It looked Roman, but he couldn't be sure. Niles gently placed the shard on a small outcropping of rock.

"We estimate only ten pounds of C-five were used. The engineers said you don't need much to bring down the ceiling in any of our corridors except for the reinforced residence and lab levels. As for the fire, Europa is working on what accelerant was used, but it looks like something new and not on the books." Everett held up his hand and a gleaming, silvery substance shimmered. "At least, I've never seen an accelerant like this. Storage level seventy-tour only sustained cave-in damage, and only three vaults were a total loss. My thinking is the target was level seventy-three, not both."