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There was the formula for a simple chemical catalyst, one that would allow silicon, gallium, arsenic, and carbon to be combined in such a way that the material became superconducting at room temperature, allowing the transmission of fantastic voltages of electricity, with no waste heat and no loss of power. That was a secret, Grayson knew, that had long been lost—a secret that could improve the handling of the immense electrical charges required to move a starship into jumpspace. Manufacturers already had devised a method for this crucial process, but even to Grayson's untutored eye, it looked like the new information was much more efficient.
Here, too, was a technique for manipulating the genes of earth-stock dairy animals in such a way that milk production was increased fourfold, as well, as providing certain trace elements, vitamins, and anticarcinines as well.
Grayson was looking for something special among this dazzling array of knowledge that he had managed to access from the library's memories. He touched the display key, and a map covered the far wall in a glowing confusion of color. As he studied the tangled traceries of light and words for a moment, Grayson smiled.
He had found a map of the Star League's Nagayan Mountain Facility.
28
The Star League facility was far larger than anyone had expected. As Grayson had guessed, the main, central corridor was a cavern originally hollowed out by the waters of the Vermillion moving rapidly through a natural cavern system under the Nagayan Mountains. Major Keeler and his battalion of Star League engineers had begun the project by creating a system of subsurface tu
The Nagayan Mountains, Grayson learned, marked the point where two of Helm's continental plates ground against one another. Millions of years before, an up-welling at that site had created the mountains themselves, and the gradual rise of the land to the east had produced the North Highland Plains. The fault line that marked the juncture of crustal plates existed still, and in one place, the two sides had drawn far enough apart to create a hole into Helm's depths that was, for all practical purposes, bottomless.
Helm's Pit, then, became the drain into which the engineers fu
Grayson learned that Keeler had not been the first engineer to work on the Nagayan project, but only the last, and the most successful. The first excavations had been carried out with an eye to creating an underground laboratory. Later, the project was redirected toward an attempt to build a gigantic and impregnable fortress. It had been Keeler who had used the facility as a hiding place for the weapons stored at the League Fleet Base in Free-port.
Keeler had been a subject of the Marik Commonwealth, but he was also a deeply committed advocate of the principle that had created the Star League—that of a limited interstellar community. Grayson read Keeler's own monologues on the subject: the League was disintegrating, the foundations of civilization itself were crumbling. General Kerensky, a powerful warlord whose armies and fleets had, for a time, guaranteed the peace, vanished beyond the Periphery in 2784, taking much of the League's military might with him. That exodus had triggered the final collapse of the Star League, as the lords of the various former League Member-States had risen, each one against the other, in a series of futile and bloody attempts to win control of the Star League's dismembered corpse.
Keeler had foreseen that final collapse. Convinced that the Star League could be rebuilt, that General Kerensky would soon return, Keeler completed the repository for weapons from the naval base at Freeport only weeks before it was learned that Minoru Kurita and his warfleet were bound for Helm for the sole purpose of seizing those weapons. Meanwhile, Keeler had apparently been engaged in a delicate series of negotiations with various factions within the Free Worlds League, who were also intent on grabbing the weapons. By playing them off one against another, he had bought time for himself, and for his project.
There had been no way to buy off Minoru Kurita, however.
* * *
"Then Keeler wasn't able to hide the weapons here after all," Lori said, reading over Grayson's shoulder. The screen displayed a report from one of Keeler's subordinates to the Major himself, alerting him of Kurita's approach and mentioning that transport for the main body of the arms depot was not yet available. "That paper seems to indicate that the League storehouse is still located in Freeport."
"I think they must have really pulled together after that, Lori. Look what I found here." He punched several keys, wiping away the report. It was replaced by the intricately interweaving pathways of the map of the Nagayan underground complex. Skillfully, Grayson called up one section of the map, enlarging it until it filled the screen. He pointed to the words spelled out in white letters. "Main Depot Stores", Grayson read aloud. "It's in a room all the way over on the west side of the mountain. The map shows several exits . . . here . . . here . . . and up here. There appears to be a functional transport system, and if I read this right, there are even entrances up on the surface, interco
"It's magic," Lori said quietly.
"Let's just say our ancestors knew a trick or two that we seem to have forgotten," Grayson replied. "What amazes me is that an awful lot of what we've forgotten is stored right here." He patted the terminal in front of him.
"There are definitely BattleMechs here, all right, Lori. I've seen the manifests. I haven't gone through them all, yet, but I'd say there's at least a regiment stored down there, maybe more. A lot more than we'll ever be able to move aboard Ricol's ships. Right now, though, I'm convinced that the greatest treasure of all is actually this Star League library!"
* * *
A transport hovercraft raced south from Helmdown. Six of the seven aboard wore the cowls and cloaks of ComStar Adepts, technicians trained in the i
"I see dust ahead, Precentor," said the vehicle's driver. He had pulled his cowl back off his head and do
"That will be Langsdorf's column," Rachan said. He studied the clouds, and the sky overhead. It would rain by evening.
"Can Langsdorf open the door?" another Adept wanted to know.
"I have carefully studied the satellite projections, my son." It was strange how easily one slipped back into the cant and formula of the Order's speech when one was among others of the Order again. Rachan hadn't used the address form of "my son" in years. "It appears that the barrier erected across the bed of the Vermillion River is supported by some sort of internal bracing, probably of poured ferrocrete and steel. A relatively small charge of plastic explosive at each of several calculated stress points along the barrier should sever those struts and bring down the entire wall. Langsdorf's engineers will know best how to accomplish this."