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A note of panic entered his voice. “Our geologists. They had been studying the quakes over the past two weeks. From the pattern and intensity, they believe the vectors of force were aiming from the Tonga Trench straight to our coastline.”
Xue turned to him. “Maybe what we’re experiencing is a response to that distress call, the one buried in our ELF transmission. Maybe all of this is an effort to reach the source of our signal in the mountains.”
“And they’re ripping through the world to get to it,” Gray added.
“But what’s behind it?” Heng asked. “How does this strange species—these old gods of the Aboriginal species—tie into all of this?”
Xue shook his head, more than willing to admit his ignorance.
Gray dismissed this question, too—for now. “Xue, if you’re right about this being all aboutharmonics, then maybe the tonal frequency of a bullroarer—a very specifically crafted one—is the species’ equivalent of anAll Clear. A signal to stop whatever is causing the tectonic disturbance and to halt the spreading attack by those viral mines.”
Xue stood up. “There is only one way to find out.”
Gray frowned.
“We have an aircraft and can secure a boat,” Xue explained. “It’s risky, but Mount Tambora is not far away.”
Gray followed him up. “You want totestthis theory? In the shadow of a mountain that nearly broke the world before?”
Xue faced him. “If this threat is truly aiming straight for China—and taking the world down with it—I can use your help.”
“So our truce continues?”
Xue shook his head as he left. “No.”
Confused, Gray hurried after him.
Xue glanced back. “It’s a partnership now.”
Sixth
31
January 24, 11:17A.M.NZDT
Pacific Ocean, six hundred miles NE of Auckland
Monk sat at the communication station on theTitan X’s bridge. He wore a beige jumpsuit, disguising himself as one of the yacht’s crew. Captain Stemm stood before the helm. The other men worked silently around him.
All were under the watchful eye of three commandos in body armor and helmets. Their battle gear was painted in black-and-blue camo. They patrolled the floor, armed with QBZ assault rifles. But the trio were not their true captors. The ship and all those aboard were trapped in a net—both above and below the sea.
Monk searched the panoramic view out to the ocean and skies. Three hours ago, a huge amphibious boat had sped into these waters. It was a Chinese Type 726 LCAC—an air-cushioned landing craft—nicknamedYema, which meantwild horse.
And that stallion had quickly proven its name.
On arrival, even at a hundred feet in length and half as wide, it had proven its nimble-footedness. It had jetted several times around theTitan X, skimming the ash-covered waves on fat pontoons, nearly floating atop a cushion of air. Its gas-turbine engines churned a pair of seven-meter-tall fans mounted on the boat’s aft end.
Such crafts were meant to ride up onto land, even maneuver over shores on those air cushions. An LCAC could carry sixty tons of personnel and equipment, dumping hundreds of marines onto battle lines. But that wasn’t this boat’s main objective. It had a Type 96 battle tank, commonly deployed with such boats, sitting atop its deck, but this vehicle was capped by an armored dome stubbed with antennas.
Monk guessed the tank had been modified into a drone, like all the other equipment aboard the LCAC. Its deck had been altered from its usual configuration of two fixed hull structures running parallel down either side with a gap between for tanks, landing docks, and infantry vehicles. All that was left of those twin structures was a pilothouse mounted forward-left. The rest of the deck was festooned with cranes and electromagnetic air-launchers.
From those frames hung all manner of UUVs and AUVs. He recognized what looked like Sea Whales and Hidden Dragons, both of which were designed to operate autonomously underwater. Same with the rows of torpedoes, stacked like cordwood atop launching racks. In addition, fixed-wing and VTOL drones dotted the deck.
Someone had transformed this LCAC into a fully automated attack boat.
Earlier, Captain Stemm had helped Monk understand what was facing them. As a former Aussie naval man, he had recognized much of the technology, having followed the development of China’s AI-controlled naval forces.
As they had watched helplessly from the bridge, the LCAC had launched an array of drones into the air and dumped more into the sea, forming a web of surveillance devices and armed weaponry all around. TheTitan Xhad no choice but to surrender and allow an armed force to board the yacht. The LCAC had arrived with only a couple dozen marines. The other fifty commandos had come from the attack submarine that surfaced shortly after the LCAC’s arrival.
