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.The sealed door still smoldered and glowed in places.Madeline took her block of ice and motioned everyone to the side.Then, in a very gingerly manner,holding it only by her fingertips, pressed the ice block into one of the holes.Steam blasted out, accompanied by high-pitched crackling, hissing noises.Madeline held the ice steadybut made no effort to push it harder into the hole.As her chunk melted away, the others methodically repeated the process, using thermal shock tohopefully finish the job of weakening the door and, incidentally, cooling it to a workable temperature.The cautious and methodical approach had been dictated by Joe.To something of his satisfaction, it wasA.J.who graphically demonstrated why it was the right method.A.J.pressed his first chunk of ice into itshole with vigor and determination.The chunk of ice was blown out of the hole almost on contact, rippingitself out of the sensor expert s hands and continuing on, a hurtling twenty-kilo missile that could have hurtsomeone, if it hit the wrong way. Okay, Joe, you were right.That would have been bad. Damn right it would, Mr.Seat-of-the-Pants.Finally Joe decided they d done all they could, and they began attaching cables to the door.Most of thedoor appeared to have been eaten through, according to A.J. s Fairy Dust examination, and theremainder of the seal area was cracked.Jack the Ripper was once more reconfigured, this time to a winch configuration.A block and tackle hadbeen rigged using cable of the same composition that Thoat s winch used, and Jack was braced andlocked to one of the main support columns.Even with bracing methods and mechanical advantage, thecable was far stronger; Jack would break long before the cable would.It was something of an anticlimax that after all that preparation, the Vault door moved almost as soon asJack started pulling.Within a minute, the heavy drone had dragged it open far enough out to allow thelittle party to enter the area it had formerly sealed off. I guess you do know your explosives, Joe said. But then, I always knew you were dynamite.Madeline actually giggled. Why is it, A.J.complained, that you tolerate his stupid jokes?But Madeline ignored him, since she was already passing through the door.The interior of the tunnelbeyond was a pearl-gray color, almost nacreous, smooth and seemingly unmarked by the immense spanof years.Twenty meters farther down, the tunnel ended in a door, with the widely-separated lever armdesign they had seen before.Madeline reached it first.Obviously not really expecting any positive result, she gave a small tug upwardPage 268on the lefthand crossbar.The valve lock handle spun smoothly, as though it had been checked and oiled only yesterday.The otherarm nearly clipped A.J., who jumped back with a startled exclamation.Madeline had stepped backherself, not having expected any movement at all.When nothing untoward happened, she moved forwardand gently turned the lock still further clockwise, until it finally stopped after three full revolutions.They dlearned from experience that the Bemmies opened and closed things in the opposite directly that peoplegenerally used.Cautiously, she pushed inward.The massive door, well over two meters high and wide and, as theycould see as it opened, half a meter thick, swung back without effort or protest. Sixty-five million years, A.J.almost whispered. And it opens like someone was just here minutes ago.What the hell is this?Madeline entered first, flashing her light around. Looks like a sort of rotunda with Her words cut off in a shriek of unrestrained terror.Madeline nearly dove out of the doorway.The others backed away hurriedly also all the fasterbecause Madeline was normally unflappable.Anything that could frighten her that badly. Madeline, what was it? Joe asked.A.J.had yanked the door shut and spun the lock the other way.The people listening in from Nike began asking what had happened with the common morbid mixture ofworry and excitement that such events tend to produce.Madeline s breathing slowed, and suddenly she started to laugh.More questions began to flood the link.Madeline stopped laughing long enough to choke out: Hush up, everybody.It just took me by surprise,that s all.She took a deep breath and looked over at Helen. You go in first.You deserve to, I think.Don tworry it s safe.Uncertainly, Helen went to the great door, re-opened it, and entered.Her light moved slowly around theroom.Suddenly, she gasped.But, forewarned, she didn t come running out or scream the way Madelinehad.She just stood there, mostly out of sight half-behind the door.Joe and A.J.followed.At first, all they could see was Helen, her face inside the mostly-transparenthelmet staring in what looked like almost religious rapture.For a moment, they forgot why they hadcome, seeing tears starting from her eyes.And then, as they turned, they could see what she was staringat.Both of them cursed and stepped back, almost in unison; but they, too, were unable to take their eyesfrom the sight before them.Towering above them, no more than fifteen meters away, rearing meters high under the ceiling of theimmense room, the monster seemed poised in the moment of attack
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