第91页

　　Fred  turned  off  his  display  and  watched  his  motion  tracker.  They  were  all  together  and  another  blip  appeared,  one  that  Kelly  was  leading  them  straight  to.
　　Another  twenty  meters  and  she  halted.  "Look."
　　Fred  snapped  on  his  heads-up  display,  and  sapphire-blue  light  filled  his  vision.  They  stood  before  the  source  of  the  glow  in  the
　　146 HALO:  FIRST  STRIKE
　　middle  of  the  room.  There  was  a  pedestal  made  of  the  same  gold  material  as  the  symbols  in  the  corridor,  and  floating  above  it  was  a  fist-sized  crystal,  tapered  to  a  point  at  either  end.  It  spun,  and  the  facets  along  its  centerline  folded  and  shifted  like  the  pieces  of  a  puzzle.
　　Dr.  Halsey  reached  for  it  and  then  hesitated.  "Radiation?"  she  asked.
　　Fred  checked  his  counter.  "Normal  background  levels,"  he  reported.
　　"We  must  take  this  with  us,"  she  whispered.  "Study  it.  Or  de?stroy  it  if  necessary  to  keep  the  Covenant  from  getting  it."  She  touched  the  crystal,  and  its  light  dimmed.  For  a  moment  the  light  appeared  to  be  absorbed  by  Dr.  Halsey's  palm.
　　Static  washed  over  Fred's  display,  his  shields  shimmered,  a  squeal  blasted  through  his  speakers,  and  his  motion  tracker  mo?mentarily  made  contact  with  a  thousand  targets  swarming  through  the  great  room.  His  radiation  warning  flared  red  and  then  faded.
　　"Radiation  spike,"  he  said.  "Analysis  says  lots  of  neutrinos,  but  I'm  unable  to  determine  the  type—it's  something  not  in  the  computer's  database."
　　"Is  it  safe  now?"  Dr.  Halsey  asked,  peering  into  the  crystal  she  gripped  in  her  tiny  hand.
　　"Seems  so,"  Fred  told  her,  "but  Doc—"
　　"No  time  for  debate,"  she  said.  "Neutrino  radiation  will  pene?trate  the  rock  between  us  and  the  surface."
　　"They'll  be  able  to  get  a  fix  on  our  position,"  Kelly  said.  "All  they  need  is  three  ships  nearby  to  triangulate.  We  need  to  get  out  ofhere—fast."
　　"Which  way?"  Isaac  asked  Fred.  "Back  the  way  we  came,  or  deeper  in?"
　　"There  was  no  way  out  from  the  titanium  mines,"  Fred  replied.  "So  we  go  deeper."
　　An  explosion  rocked  the  earth  and  deep  thunder  rumbled,  but  rather  than  diminishing,  this  thunder  got  louder,  closer.
　　Fred's  shadow  lengthened,  and  its  edges  sharpened.
　　He  whirled  toward  the  source  of  the  intense  white  light—  directly  overhead,  a  spot  in  the  dome:  The  holographic  scenery  of  stars  and  moons  bleached  and  vanished.  He  spun  Dr.  Halsey  around  so  she  faced  away,  then  covered  her  head.
　　ERIC  NYLUNO 147
　　The  stone  ceiling  melted  and  peeled  back  as  if  it  were  thin  plastic  hit  with  a  blowtorch—an  angled  shaft  of  dazzling  white  radiance  appeared  and  blasted  into  the  tiled  floor,  five  hundred  meters  from  their  position.
　　Then  it  was  gone  and  the  room  fell  into  darkness  punctured  only  by  a  ray  of  faint  sunlight  that  streamed  in  through  the  hole  above.  Where  the  beam  of  hard  light  had  contacted  the  floor,  a  precision-milled  hole  had  been  etched  fifteen  meters  deep.
　　Dr.  Halsey  said,  "What  was—"
　　"Energy  projector,"  Fred  told  her,  blinking  away  the  black  dots  that  filled  his  vision  even  though  his  step-down  filters  had  absorbed  the  brunt  of  the  light.  "Only  the  big  Covenant  ships  have  them.  There's  got  to  be  one  of  them—"