Atlantis: Devil's Sea Read Online Free
Author: Robert Doherty
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, adventure, Military, War & Military
him, blood spurting out around it. He screamed, his face rigid with pain, his back arching, trying to get away, but being held in place by the first tentacle wrapped around his body. Earhart staggered back in shock as the tip of the second tentacle came out of Noonan’s back, teeth covered in his blood, still snapping. Noonan slumped, lifeless.
One of the other tentacles turned toward her, and she finally moved, slamming the door shut. She heard tentacles slithering over the plane’s metal skin. Then she noted her feet were wet. There was about a foot of water inside, and the level was getting higher as the plane slowly sank.
She ran forward to the cockpit and looked out. The sea was churning with red arms. Looking back, there was no sign of Noonan or the raft, and the plane was completely inside the fog.
Suddenly, a wide flash of gold came out of the fog slicing neatly through the tentacles in its path. In a second they vanished beneath the surface. A light illuminated the fog, pushing it away—but it was coming from below the plane. Earhart gasped as a curved black wall came out of the water, surrounding the plane in all directions. For several moments, Earhart couldn’t comprehend what she was seeing; then she realized, as more of the wall came out of the water and it curved inward, that her plane was in the middle of an opening on the top of what must be a great sphere.
The opening began to iris shut, and something solid touched the plane below, causing Earhart to stagger. When the opening was completely closed, she was in total darkness.
Then a blue glow suffused the plane, and she passed out.
CHAPTER THREE
T HE N EAR P AST
26 April 1986 A.D.
Power. That was what had drawn Andrej Shashenka to Chernobyl. The ability to run a nuclear reactor and control power in its basest form, at the atomic level. Reactor Four was Andrej’s domain, and he was currently in the process of overseeing its shutdown for periodic maintenance. His was one of four reactors that made up the Chernobyl complex, each capable of producing one thousand milliwatts of power. Currently, power production from Four was down to two hundred milliwatts, well within the range of the positive void coefficient required for safe operation.
It was 0100 in the morning, the fifty thousand people living in the town of the same name next to the reactor asleep in their beds, including Andrej’s wife and three children. He had vacation beginning tomorrow, and he was taking his family to meet his twin brothers, Pytor and Felix, who served in the army. It would be the first time the three of them would be getting together since their mother’s funeral. He was anxious to finish the shutdown so he could turn the reactor over to the maintenance people.
Shutdown was a difficult balancing act of reducing power but at the same time drawing enough power from the reactor to keep the cooling system running to prevent the core from overheating. While the reactor was normally self-sufficient, providing the power to run its own cooling system, Andrej was in the process of shifting to generator power.
At exactly 0123, right after the power switch was completed, Andrej noticed the slightest dip in power readings. He scanned the rest of his vast control panel, making sure all was running properly, when Leona Kiril, his senior assistant, gave a startled yell.
“What’s the matter?” Andrej went over to her position.
In her shock, all she could do was point at the video monitor that displayed the view of the reactor core. A black triangle, fifteen feet on each side and ten feet high, was floating directly over the core rods.
“What the hell is that?” Andrej had never seen the like.
Gold beams came out of each corner of the triangle, flashing down to the rods. Alarms began going as the power dropped abruptly. At the same time, the lights in the control room went out, and all instruments went dead.
“Emergency backup!” Andrej yelled. His crew was trained to
One of the other tentacles turned toward her, and she finally moved, slamming the door shut. She heard tentacles slithering over the plane’s metal skin. Then she noted her feet were wet. There was about a foot of water inside, and the level was getting higher as the plane slowly sank.
She ran forward to the cockpit and looked out. The sea was churning with red arms. Looking back, there was no sign of Noonan or the raft, and the plane was completely inside the fog.
Suddenly, a wide flash of gold came out of the fog slicing neatly through the tentacles in its path. In a second they vanished beneath the surface. A light illuminated the fog, pushing it away—but it was coming from below the plane. Earhart gasped as a curved black wall came out of the water, surrounding the plane in all directions. For several moments, Earhart couldn’t comprehend what she was seeing; then she realized, as more of the wall came out of the water and it curved inward, that her plane was in the middle of an opening on the top of what must be a great sphere.
The opening began to iris shut, and something solid touched the plane below, causing Earhart to stagger. When the opening was completely closed, she was in total darkness.
Then a blue glow suffused the plane, and she passed out.
CHAPTER THREE
T HE N EAR P AST
26 April 1986 A.D.
Power. That was what had drawn Andrej Shashenka to Chernobyl. The ability to run a nuclear reactor and control power in its basest form, at the atomic level. Reactor Four was Andrej’s domain, and he was currently in the process of overseeing its shutdown for periodic maintenance. His was one of four reactors that made up the Chernobyl complex, each capable of producing one thousand milliwatts of power. Currently, power production from Four was down to two hundred milliwatts, well within the range of the positive void coefficient required for safe operation.
It was 0100 in the morning, the fifty thousand people living in the town of the same name next to the reactor asleep in their beds, including Andrej’s wife and three children. He had vacation beginning tomorrow, and he was taking his family to meet his twin brothers, Pytor and Felix, who served in the army. It would be the first time the three of them would be getting together since their mother’s funeral. He was anxious to finish the shutdown so he could turn the reactor over to the maintenance people.
Shutdown was a difficult balancing act of reducing power but at the same time drawing enough power from the reactor to keep the cooling system running to prevent the core from overheating. While the reactor was normally self-sufficient, providing the power to run its own cooling system, Andrej was in the process of shifting to generator power.
At exactly 0123, right after the power switch was completed, Andrej noticed the slightest dip in power readings. He scanned the rest of his vast control panel, making sure all was running properly, when Leona Kiril, his senior assistant, gave a startled yell.
“What’s the matter?” Andrej went over to her position.
In her shock, all she could do was point at the video monitor that displayed the view of the reactor core. A black triangle, fifteen feet on each side and ten feet high, was floating directly over the core rods.
“What the hell is that?” Andrej had never seen the like.
Gold beams came out of each corner of the triangle, flashing down to the rods. Alarms began going as the power dropped abruptly. At the same time, the lights in the control room went out, and all instruments went dead.
“Emergency backup!” Andrej yelled. His crew was trained to
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