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. Well, there s only one way to find out.Joe smiled. That s my delicate lady-love.Her favorite word.Boom.Despite A.J. s occasional references to Things Man Was Not Meant To Know Joe s witticisms wereeven worse Madeline and A.J.spent the next few days trying to figure out the best way to get throughthe doorway.In the end, sure enough, the only workable method they could think of involved one formor another of demolitions.That was something they approached reluctantly  especially Madeline, despite Joe s wisecrack.Theconcepts of high explosives and underground exploration did not generally combine well, and Madelineknew a lot more about both subjects than anyone else on Mars did.However, there was little doubt that they were in fact going to give it a try, since they couldn t figure outany other way to accomplish the task.The Vault represented a huge unexplored area of the base andpotentially the most valuable one.If it were a tomb of the sort Rich had speculated about, one of themost common features of such tombs on Earth was that they were filled with all manner of valuables anditems meant to accompany the owner to their afterlife.Joe did suggest that it might be their dump, especially for radioactive waste, but even that might providevaluable clues to their technology and society.In any event, after sixty-five million years all the high-levelradioactives would have decayed away.Their suits would provide more than adequate protection if thatturned out to be the case. Charges set.I m coming down. Madeline s voice was calm and businesslike, showing none of thetension Joe knew she must be feeling.If something went wrong, she could collapse enough of the base tomake the Vault unreachable for years, if ever.Having finally been able to come along after more than a month convalescing, he watched the opening atthe top of Melted Way for her small suited figure to appear.For safety, they would trigger the detonationfrom outside the Ice Cavern, making sure that even if the worst-case scenario happened, none of themwould be caught in it.A few minutes later, he saw Madeline making her way down the path, and went to meet her at thebottom.His leg ached slightly and was still in a cast below the knee, but at least it was now functioning. How many did you set? Five.I see no point in trying this halfway.Those alloys, composites, whatever they are, they re justtough as hell.Either I can blow that door, or I can t.If I did it right, it shouldn t make much difference inthe risk as to whether I used one charge or all five. Still, A.J.said,  Five? We just want to blow the door off, not vaporize it.Madeline peered into the distance and spotted him waiting at the other side of the cavern. Actually, Ijust want the door gone.If it s in one piece or a thousand isn t critical, as long as I don t damage toomuch behind it. I just hope you got your designs right. I checked them several times, Madeline said. And the more I looked at that door, the more sure I wasthat I was going to need all of them.The explosives had been designed as shaped charges, with geometry and backing to direct virtually all oftheir force along the door seam.With incendiary materials basically thermite, that venerable mix of ironoxide and aluminum which burned at over twenty-five hundred degrees centigrade, and would do soeven underwater or in Mars almost nonexistent atmosphere to hopefully continue the cutting, burningthrough anything that remained.Madeline insisted that Joe cross the cavern first, while she and A.J.served as his spotters.Then shescurried across herself.By now, crossing the cavern was almost routine.Experience had shown them thatthe stalactites only dropped pieces on rare occasions.They still maintained the spotting system, but noone had ever actually had to use it to avoid being struck.They would trigger off the charges from the relative security of the floor of the rock crevice.Hathawayhad almost insisted that they return aboveground altogether, but eventually they d talked him out of it.The climb up the crevice was the slowest and most arduous part of the trip.Fortunately, Chad Baird had sided with them in the dispute. That s all rock, Captain, with no ice orloose material to be shaken down.The charges Madeline set aren t that big and there s all that emptyspace in the cavern to absorb what little shock waves get transmitted through the thin air.They ll be safeenough there.Grudgingly, Hathaway had finally agreed.So, now, everyone was waiting on the crevice floor Ready? Joe asked.At the acknowledgements, he glanced at his display. Okay, Madeline.Set it off.The image of the Vault s sealed door, transmitted down A.J. s line of breadcrumb transceivers, abruptlyfuzzed and vanished in a fog of smoke and dust.Through the veil, five blazingly blue-white smears of lightcould dimly be made out, the incendiaries continuing their work.Joe imagined he heard a faint thud, butknew it had to be his imagination.While Mars allowed some sound, at that distance there was no waythey could have heard a detonation even ten times that powerful.The smoke became thick, but the mostimportant thing about the image was that it continued to exist. No collapse.None of my sensors are showing any sign of movement, either, A.J.reported withsatisfaction. Let s head on up.By the time we get there, it should be done [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]