The Doomsday Box by Herbie Brennan Read Free Book Online

hear above the noise of the auger, which screeched, rattled, shook, and boomed like constant thunder, so Fuchsia ignored the shouted conversations and entertained herself by surreptitiously watching Danny. He wasn’t a conventionally handsome boy—Michael was far better-looking—but he had nice eyes and a cheeky grin. Fuchsia sneezed. There was a lot of dust in the tunnel and it tickled her sinuses. She pulled a little handkerchief from her sleeve, dabbed her nose, and looked around.
    Despite Opal’s all-clear, the nice colonel had brought in a small contingent of troops wearing battle gear and ear protectors, who were standing at ease just behind the head of the auger. The colonel himself was up in the cabin of the machine, beside the operator. Both were wearing hard hats and earmuffs. Danny was standing with Mr. Carradine well to the rear, where the sound was at a lower level. Opal and Michael were beside them, holding hands, which was sweet, although Michael looked a little off-color, Fuchsia thought, or maybe just tired or worried or something. Perhaps they’d had a fight and made up. Danny happened to glance in Fuchsia’s direction, and she gave him a smile and a little wave.
    The machine operator pulled a lever, and all the noise and vibration suddenly stopped, leaving Fuchsia with a ringing in her ears. The colonel climbed out of the cabin and dropped to the ground. He walked to his men and said something Fuchsia couldn’t hear, which caused them to fan out in a semicircle, rifles at the ready. Mr. Carradine moved to join him, leaving the others where they were. Fuchsia took a casual step or two forward, so she was standing beside Danny. “What do you think is happening?” she asked him.
    â€œMight be close to a breakthrough,” Danny told her.
    Mr. Carradine rejoined them. “I need you up front, Opal,” he announced. “They’re about to make the final thrust. The rest of you want to come too?”
    â€œJust try to stop us,” Michael said.
    â€œYou’ll want these,” Mr. Carradine said, handing out military-style ear protectors. “Bad enough up here, but it gets really noisy down there. Put them on before the auger starts up again. Opal, I want you to confirm the chamber is still exactly as you saw it—probably will be, but no sense in taking chances. The rest of you”—he smiled—“you’re just along for the ride. Stand clear of the soldiers and try not to get in anybody’s way.”
    The earmuffs reduced the sound level, but even so, the noise was so extreme that Fuchsia knew she’d have to move away again if it went on much longer. But then there was a massive cracking sound and the colonel, now on the ground, was signaling to the auger driver. The great machine reversed and rumbled slowly backward. It moved a long way up the tunnel, then cut its engine again. Fuchsia stared.
    The auger had broken through one complete wall of the buried chamber. Despite the damage, the electricity supply still functioned and there were strip lights glowing from the ceiling inside. The chamber contained banks of computerized machinery, much of it very old-fashioned in design. Thick cables snaked toward two enormous upright metal slabs, each close on six feet thick, that ran from floor to ceiling. Between them—
    Fuchsia suddenly felt sick. Between them was something that should not have existed, a roiling, pulsing nothingness, blacker than black, deeper than the universe and utterly, completely alien. She was looking at the rift in space-time, torn open by the metal slabs that had to be Project Rainbow’s giant magnets. Her sole reaction was naked fear. She could not for an instant imagine how anyone would voluntarily enter that hideous space between the slabs. Yet she was certain Rainbow operatives must have done so in the course of their experiments . . . and probably would again, now that the chamber was