Titan Six Read Online Free PDF

thought the maglev was under Touchdown’s control,” Tank said.
    “It’s supposed to be,” Hawkeye said.
    The voice of Touchdown came through the COM sets of each Titan Six helmet.
    “Get out of the car!” Touchdown said.  “Somebody’s commandeered the train, even if remotely.”
    “Override!” Caine ordered.  “Stop that maglev!”
    “Doors are jammed,” Hawkeye said.
    “Can’t stop the train,” Touchdown said, “but I may be able to open the doors, which are operated by a subsystem that may still be accessible.”
    The maglev was traveling at fifteen miles per hour and accelerating.
    The doors slid open, and Titan Six tumbled into the dim cavern of Station 872 as the maglev’s taillights disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel ahead.
    “Rough landing,” Gator said.  “No wonder Disneyworld tells patrons to keep their hands in the car at all times.”
    “Ops, we’re okay, but our ride seems to have left,” Hawkeye said.
    “Our engineers are already working on making additional trains operational,” Caine said.  “Proceed with your mission.”
    “Roger that,” Hawkeye said.
    * * *
     
    Hawkeye led Titan Six down the unmapped tunnel leading to the cube.
    “Is everybody okay?” he asked.
    “Our BioMEMS must be overriding whatever the cube is giving off,” Tank said.
    “For now,” cautioned Shooter.  “It sure as hell did a number on us in the train.”
    “Since we managed to get here,” Tank said, “maybe it wants to know what our intentions are.  Maybe it’s withholding its mojo for a while.”
    The team looked at each other uneasily.
    The five lights on Titan Six’s helmets played across the walls of the tunnel as they advanced, gradually coming to the corridor section that now opened up into Titan Global’s excavation that had unearthed a large section of the cube.
    “Unbelievable,” said Shooter, beholding the metallic wonder before her.
    “What in God’s name did this have to do with nuclear missiles and the Cold War?” Tank asked.
    “Maybe it’s a bunker of sorts?” Shooter said.  “For the president and his cabinet in case of war.”
    “That would be the most plausible explanation,” Hawkeye agreed.  “But our engineers said this wasn’t built by any known technology of the sixties.”
    “It wouldn’t have been the first time the government was using unknown technology,” Gator said.  “Hell, remember our foray to Area 51?”
    “Fan out,” Hawkeye ordered.  “We need to find an entrance.”
    Shooter stumbled and fell to her knees.
    “I’ve tripped over a couple of skeletons,” she said.
    Hawkeye joined her and knelt by the bare bones.  They were pure white, as if they’d been bleached by a sun that could never penetrate the layers of rock above the classified underground network.
    “Get a video shot of the skulls,” DJ said from the Ops Center.  “Maybe we can get an ID from their dental profile.”
    Hawkeye aimed his helmet’s video cam at the skulls.  “They were unarmed, whoever they were.  A lot of ashes scattered about.  Five will get you ten that these are the remains of the bodies Mrs. Caine spoke of.  Something fried these two pretty badly.”
    “ID confirmed,” DJ said.  “You’re kneeling next to the bones of Durangue and Wallace.”
    A rectangular band of light appeared thirty feet high on the face of the cube.  It moved sideways, left to right, much like a stock market crawl in Times Square.
    “Step back and regroup, everyone,” Hawkeye said.  “Let’s observe.”
    Within the moving band of light were symbols: squares, triangles, pentagons, circles, and plus signs.  The most unusual symbol was a small dot rapidly circling a larger one.
    “That’s the symbol for hydrogen,” Quiz chimed in.  “One electron orbiting one proton.  What you’re seeing is some kind of code.  Analyzing now.”
    Suddenly, a powerful beam directly below the scrolling symbols shone on Titan Six.
    “Everybody stay perfectly