Dinosaur Wars: Earthfall by Thomas P Hopp

  ***

  The huge steel door within Cheyenne Mountain jolted with a rumble like an earthquake. Hydraulic motors pulsated thunderously, slowly leveraging the door open. As soon as the gap was wide enough for a man to squeeze through, General Davis shoehorned himself out and hurried the three hundred paces to the tunnel entrance, followed by a flood of personnel emerging from the depths of the facility into the fresh air and daylight at the surface. He moved twenty paces out from the opening and stopped on the scorched asphalt, craning his neck to look at the quarter moon, a pale blue D-shape against the deeper blue of the sky. The space around the moon was empty. The death beam was gone.

  Soldiers and staff hurried out of the tunnel. Dozens of them joined Davis in peering skyward.

  “Yeah!” Davis shouted. Giddy feelings of hope coursed through him. He shook a fist above him. “Take that, you devils! How does it feel to get a dose of your own medicine?”

  Cheering arose around Davis. At first there were just a few voices, but as time went by with no sign of the beam, more joined in. Davis yelled too, scarcely believing his eyes. People around him, bleary-eyed from too little sleep and dazzled by the unaccustomed daylight, began hugging and clapping each other on the back. A bedlam of exultant cries swelled until Davis imagined the sound carrying as far as Phaeon Crater.

  Major Lewis appeared in the crowd and threw her arms around his neck. He clasped her in a tight embrace. Then he pulled back to look into her face. Her eyes were streaked with tears of relief. “By God, Holly,” he shouted. “We’ve finally got something to cheer about!”

  “Yes, sir,” she replied enthusiastically. And then she gave him a most un-soldierly kiss on the lips. They hugged, laughing at the breach of professional decorum like naughty children. A thought struck Davis, settling him down instantly. He held her by the shoulders at arm’s length. “Come on,” he said, taking her by an elbow and turning back toward the tunnel. “I want you to get on the horn and tell that tank troop to come out of hiding. Get them here double-quick!”

  PART FOUR: Allies And Enemies