Chapter 87 - The Sub-Oceanic Inversion
Valerie’s expression turned savagely dark. "Then you drown with the house."
She pressed the detonator.
A deafening roar ripped through the sub-level as the charges on the perimeter anchor struts detonated. The shockwave blew the catwalk loose from its mountings. Metal screamed as the support beams buckled, dropping the platform Cassidy was standing on by ten feet.
Cassidy fell hard onto her side, the crowbar clattering across the metal grate toward the edge of the pit.
Above them, the ceiling of Sub-Level 5 fractured. Massive chunks of basalt and crushed concrete fell into the coolant vats, shattering the glass cylinders. High-pressure steam burst from severed pipes, instantly filling the chamber with a blinding, scalding mist.
`STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY: 14%`
`ACOUSTIC ANCHOR SEVERED.`
`OCEANIC PLUME RISING: ARRIVAL IN 180 SECONDS.`
Valerie lunged forward, drawing a ceramic combat knife from her tactical vest, moving with terrifying speed and agility. "You stubborn, worthless little copy! You were supposed to be the key!"
Cassidy scrambled backward, rolling across the slick deck plating just as Valerie’s blade struck sparks against the metal floor where her head had been a second before.
Cassidy kicked upward with both steel-toed work boots, catching Valerie square in the chest. The impact threw Valerie off balance, sending her sliding into the open coolant conduit.
Liquid nitrogen spilled across Valerie’s combat gear, instantly crystallizing the fabric and searing into her skin. Valerie shrieked in rage and agony, dropping the knife as she clawed at the frozen polymer eating into her arm.
Cassidy scrambled to her feet, her eyes fixed on the primary control terminal.
The main bus was smoking, but the green status lights of the manual purge valve were still blinking.
The display read: `TERMINAL PURGE SEQUENCE — 1,845 KHZ RESONANT INVERSION.`
The eighteen hundred and forty-five dollars. It was never just a dollar amount. It was an exact operational frequency.
Cassidy grabbed the two manual override wheels mounted below the monitor. She began spinning them against the hydraulic pressure, her muscles burning with every ounce of strength she had built over years of carrying drywall, digging drainage ditches, and hauling timber while Donald lounged on the couch upstairs.
"You can't vent it!" Valerie screamed through the freezing mist, her face pale with agony as she dragged herself toward the console. "If you invert the frequency, it will seal the trench permanently! Trench Zero will collapse in on itself!"
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"That’s the point!" Cassidy shouted over the roar of rushing seawater.
She threw her entire body weight against the secondary lever, slamming the lock home.
