The Descent

'Madam,'  Walker  answered,  'this  is  a  military  affair.'  He  motioned,  and  one  of  the mercenaries escorted her by  the arm to where  the  last  of  the  scientists  were  entering their  boats.  Ali  clambered  aboard  and  they  pushed  off  from  shore  and  watched  the

show at a distance.

Walker  trained  all  their  spotlights  on  the  waterfall,  illuminating  the  tall  column  so that  it  looked  like  a  vast  glass  dragon  clinging  to  the  rock,  respirating.  He  directed them to open fire into the water  itself.

Ali  was  reminded  of  the  king  who  tried  to  order  the  ocean's  waves  to  stop.  The water  swallowed  their  bullets.  The  white  noise  devoured  their  gunfire,  turning  it  into strings  of  snapping  firecrackers.  They  laid  on  with  their  gunfire,  and  the  water  tore open in liquid gouts, only to heal instantly. Some of the special  uranium-tipped  Lucifer rounds  struck  the  surrounding  walls,  clawing  divots  in  the  stone.  A  soldier  fired  a rocket into the bowels of the fall, and the trunk  belched outward,  revealing  a  nebulous gap inside. Moments later the gap sealed shut as more water  poured down.

Then the waterfall began to bleed.

Under  potent  spotlight  beams,  the  waters  hemorrhaged.  The  tributary  bloomed red,  and  the  color  fanned  unevenly  to  midriver  and  carried  downstream.  Ali  thought that if the gunfire didn't draw Ike,  surely  the blood  trail  would.  She  was  frightened  by the magnitude of what Walker had done. Gunning down the murderous  hadal  was  one thing.  But  he  had,  seemingly,  just  opened  the  veins  of  a  force  of  nature.  He  had unleashed something here, she could feel it.

'What in God's name was inside there?'  someone gasped.

Walker  deployed  his  soldiers  with  hand  signals.  Sleek  in  their  survival  suits,  they flanked the waterfall, scurrying like insects. The  rifles in their hands  were  remarkably still and steady,  and each soldier was little more  than  the  moving  parts  of  his  weapon. Half of Walker's contingent entered  the mist from each side of the tributary.  While  the scientists watched from bobbing rafts, the  other  half  zeroed  in  on  the  waterfall,  ready to pump more rounds into it.

Several  minutes  passed.  A  man  reappeared,  glistening  in  his  amphibian  neoprene. He shouted, 'All clear!'

'What about the cylinders?' Walker yelled to him.

The  soldier  said,  'In  here,'  and  Walker  and  the  rest  of  his  men  got  off  their  bellies and went into the waterfall without a word to their charges.

At  last  the  scientists  paddled  back  to  shore.  Some  were  terrified  that  more  hadals might  come  leaping  at  them,  or  shied  from  the  blood  they'd  seen  and  stayed  in  the rafts. A handful went to the dead hadal for  a  closer  look,  Ali  included.  Little  remained. The  bullets had all but turned the creature  inside out.

Ali  went  with  five  others  inside  the  waterfall.  Since  the  spray  had  already  soaked her  hair,  she  didn't  bother  pulling  her  hood  up.  There  was  the  slightest  of  trails hugging the wall,  and  as  they  squeezed  along  it  above  the  pool  of  water,  the  waterfall became  a  veil  backlit  by  the  spotlights.  Deeper,  the  spotlights  turned  to  liquid  orbs, and  finally  the  waterfall  was  too  thick  to  allow  any  light.  Its  noise  muffled  all  sounds from the outside. Ali turned on her headlamp and  kept  edging  between  the  water  and rock. They  reached a globular grotto inside.

All  three  of  their  missing  cylinders  lay  by  the  entrance,  heaped  with  hundreds  of yards  of  thick  cable.  Fully  loaded,  each  of  the  cylinders  weighed  over  four  tons;  it must  have  taken  enormous  effort  to  drag  them  into  this  hiding  place.  Two  of  the cables,  Ali  saw,  ran  upward  into  the  waterfall.  That  suggested  their  communications lines might be intact.

Under the badly abraded  black  stencil  declaring  HELIOS,  the  name  NASA  surfaced in ghostly letters  along one cylinder's side. The  outer sheathing  was  pitted  and  gashed with  bullet  and  shrapnel  tracks,  but  was  unruptured.  A  soldier  kept  clearing  his  eyes of  water  spray  as  he  worked  on  opening  its  hatch  door.  The  hadals  had  tried  to  force entry  with  boulders  and  iron  rods,  but  had  only  managed  to  break  off  many  of  the thick  bolts.  The  hatches  were  all  in  place.  Ali  climbed  around  the  mass  of  cables  and saw that the first body she came across was Walker's volunteer, the big teenager  from

San  Antonio.  They  had  torn  his  throat  out  by  hand.  She  braced  herself  for  more carnage.