On the hull, the turbofan engines whined and slowed, decreasing the speed of the ma.s.sive airship to less than fifty miles an hour. As everyone aboard held their breath, the nose of the Destiny Explorer slid into the mouth of the pit.

As the airship entered Kemmering Pa.s.sage, a dark shadow fell over it. Boldly and courageously, the crew of Destiny Explorer plunged into the unexplored darkness of the gateway.

"Running lights on," Dolan, at the helm, declared as spotlights all over the airship ignited, illuminating the interior of the unimaginably vast cavern.

As they moved a mile or so into the pa.s.sage, Dolan tilted the nose of the airship downward and they began to descend. Sh.e.l.ly and Captain Dolan carefully probed the darkness ahead with their spotlights even as Michael continued to scan the tunnel for unexpected obstacles with the radar.

Far behind them, at the mouth of the pa.s.sage, a dark, gigantic figure lumbered into the cavern, too. Unknown to the crew of the airship, G.o.dzilla had entered the tunnel. Whether he was guided by a higher power, or by some bizarre instinct, the creature slowly followed the Destiny Explorer into the pitch-darkness of the pa.s.sageway.

"Right full rudder," Dolan ordered as he turned the ship slowly.

After proceeding for several miles, the Explorer was forced to detour around a column of ice that was miles high and ran from the top of the cave to the bottom. The diameter of the base of the column was so large it was measured in miles.

As they circled around it, spotlights played on the icy shaft. Nick and Robin, who were taking photographs, were sure they detected movement inside the icy column. The asked for more spotlights to illuminate the thick, translucent shaft.

"It's water!" Nick proclaimed after a moment.

He was right. The icy column acted as a huge pipeline. Water rushed from some point on the surface of Antarctica down through the thick-boled shaft of ice. When the Destiny Explorer finally circled the column, the observers saw a flood of water gushing out of a gigantic hole at the base. Beyond that, a river as wide as the Mississippi flowed downward toward the bowels of the Earth.

After this brief detour, the tunnel continued down with no further obstacles. The airship flew parallel to and above the crashing white waters of the underground river. The level of the pa.s.sage floor inclined more and more drastically. Soon the river was transformed into a series of waterfalls, each of them dwarfing Niagara Falls.

The Destiny Explorer was descending at an almost forty-five-degree angle. Inside the airship, crewmen and pa.s.sengers alike gripped handholds as the ship plunged into the claustrophobic darkness. Outside the hull, the sound of the roaring waters echoed off the cavern's roof.

The airship lights played off the walls, roof, and floor of the pa.s.sage. Eerie, flickering shadows danced around the airship. The temperature climbed steadily until the explorers were unnaturally warm in their winter gear.

"It's the internal temperature of the Earth's crust," Peter Blackwater speculated. "I wonder how deep we really are."

From the bridge, Captain Dolan answered that question. Over the ship's intercom system - which remained open for all aboard to hear - he announced, "We're now about sixty miles inside the pa.s.sage, and a mile or more under the surface of Antarctica."

The walls of the cavern had long ago turned from ice to rock and earth. The darkness outside the hull was now absolute. Even the spotlights had trouble piercing the preternatural blackness.

But still they descended, lower and lower, as the hours pa.s.sed....

3:25 P.M.

Inside the Kemmering Pa.s.sage.

It was Sh.e.l.ly Townsend who noticed the subtle change in the darkness ahead. She stepped up to the front of the bridge and peered into the distance.

"Turn off the forward spotlights," she ordered.

Dolan looked at her curiously, but obeyed. "Keep scanning with the search radar, Michael," Dolan commanded, concerned that another obstacle might appear in the unlit pa.s.sage.

When the spotlights dimmed and their eyes became accustomed to the darkness, they saw a glow flicker in the distance ahead of them.

"Bingo," Jack Dolan muttered.

"There are no obstacles ahead of us," Michael announced, looking up from his search radar. "But the tunnel is beginning to narrow a little."

"As if we're being herded forward, to a precise location," Corporal Brennan muttered.

Unknown to the crew of the airship, miles behind them G.o.dzilla slipped into the rushing waters of the mighty underground river and was swept rapidly and helplessly downstream.

The dim glow increased in intensity as the airship approached it. The roof of the pa.s.sage changed subtly, too. As they watched from the observation deck, Ned and Peter noticed crystal structures forming and re-forming on the cavern walls.

"The walls look alive," Ned said. Peter nodded mutely, staring out the windows at the complex and beautiful patterns that appeared and disappeared with every pa.s.sing second.

On the bridge, Dolan killed all the external lighting. Though the pa.s.sage was dim, there was enough light for him and the others to see. The explorers noticed that the walls, floor, and roof of the cavern were glowing with their own internal luminescence.

But by far the brightest light in the underground world came from far ahead of them.

Soon they neared the source of that light, but to their surprise they could not proceed. The light came from beyond a semi-translucent wall of crystal. Behind that wall, brilliant lights glowed and flickered. At the base of the wall, the underground river flowed into a vast, deep lake. The black waters shimmered beneath their hull and lapped against the crystal barrier.

"I don't think we can go any farther," Captain Dolan announced. But even as he spoke, a tiny hole appeared in the center of the crystalline wall. Then, the hole began to widen. Michael spotted it first and pointed it out to the others.

As the rest of the bridge crew watched in amazement, the hole continued to expand, like a huge crystal iris. They watched hopefully as it opened wider and wider, until a gateway a mile in diameter yawned before the airship's nose.

Multicolored lights danced and flickered beyond the opening and were reflected on the black waters of the underground lake.

"I think that's our invitation to come in," Sh.e.l.ly Townsend proclaimed.

"And we didn't even have to knock," Nick Gordon added.

Suddenly the airship shuddered, and the collision alarm went off. But the vibration quickly ceased. As Michael killed the alarm, Captain Dolan immediately realized that the ship was no longer in his control. The intercom crackled, and Peter Blackwater spoke from the observation deck.

"Long crystal arms that popped out of the walls have taken hold of the mooring hooks on the hull," he announced.

"He's right; we're being dragged inside," Captain Dolan declared.

"Reverse engines!" Sh.e.l.ly cried, but Dolan overruled her.

"No!" he cried. "That maneuver could rip this ship apart!"

Then, in a much calmer voice, Sean Brennan spoke. "We've been invited inside," he remarked. "We might as well go in." The Airborne Ranger smiled. "Maybe this is all a big misunderstanding," he stated hopefully. "Maybe we can all just get along."

But no one really believed it.

As they watched helplessly, the Destiny Explorer was dragged through the entrance to an undiscovered world.

Unseen by the others, Leena Sims stumbled onto the bridge and peered through the observation windows. What she saw made her gasp.

Robin heard the girl's sharp intake of breath and turned. "What's the matter, Leena?" she asked.

"It's ... it's the underground city from my dream," the teenager proclaimed.

Spread out before them, in a huge roofed cavern, was an obviously ancient, and obviously abandoned, city. But it was unlike any city known to man.

All the buildings were constructed of living, moving crystal. The structures shimmered and rolled with colors - indescribable colors that could blind anyone who stared at the skyline for too long. The vast metropolis stretched out for miles in all directions. There were areas of low, individual buildings like suburbs, and other sections where the high crystalline towers were taller than any building built by humankind.

The city itself was larger than New York City, larger than Tokyo. It was perhaps the largest city on the entire planet. But it was empty, a necropolis. A city of the dead.

Upon closer inspection, the bridge crew realized that much of the city was in ruins. Some of the mightiest towers were shattered. Others tilted precariously, or leaned against nearby buildings. This was not immediately apparent to those aboard the Explorer, for the architecture was strange and unsettling, as if the city were designed to appeal to an alien aesthetic. Shapes and sizes seemed jarring and irregular, though Captain Dolan was sure that they made perfect sense to the builders.

In the distance, a red glow reflected off the roof of the vast cavern. Bright flashes of fire appeared there. Ned Landson realized that a river of molten lava flowed beyond the city.

As they approached a wide central plaza, a ma.s.sive structure of pastel blue crystal loomed over them. The building was shaped like a huge mushroom, with a wide rounded cap resting on top of a round crystal shaft at least three miles in diameter. The crown of the building - at least five miles across - had long, irregular shafts of crystal projecting from it at many angles. The central structure was decorated with weird modernist statues that looked to the explorers like the wildest examples of abstract art.

As they gazed at the structure, a door appeared in the pastel wall at about the same height as the bridge of the airship. There were no windows or joints in the structure; the door, like the iris gate, simply opened in the smooth wall.

The plaza under the airship gleamed as if paved with crystal-clear ice. But suddenly a shimmering tower began to grow up right in the center of the clearing.

"It's a mooring mast," Dolan exclaimed.

And just as he said the words, the tip of the airship touched the top of the crystal tower and was anch.o.r.ed. The Destiny Explorer drifted to a halt. As they watched, a delicate bridge of the same type of living crystal grew out from under the door in the ma.s.sive structure ahead of them.

The airship moved to the side, until the edge of the crystal bridge touched the door where the elevator was usually mounted.

"What do we do?" Sh.e.l.ly asked.

"We go inside," Captain Dolan answered immediately.

Minutes later, a crewman opened the airlock. Then, Corporal Brennan and his ten Airborne Rangers rushed out, wearing full combat gear and with weapons ready. The soldiers moved uncertainly onto the delicate structure. The crystal bridge did not appear strong enough to hold even one man's weight. Yet the bridge didn't sway, even when Johnny Rocco jumped up and down on it.

Sean Brennan signaled to the others. Sh.e.l.ly, Captain Dolan, Nick Gordon, Robin Halliday, and the teenagers exited the airship. As they crossed the high bridge, they looked out over the sprawling, gleaming city below.

"Look!" Peter cried excitedly, pointing to a dark area near the iris through which they had flown. The others saw it, too - a gigantic plant of some kind, hundreds of feet high, with vinelike tendrils growing out from its bole. The central core of the tree was a huge trunk that ended in a sharp tip that pointed to the roof of the cavern.

Oddly, the snakelike tendrils, which seemed to be moving, ended with pods that looked like they had openings - or mouths.

"That's definitely a plant," Peter observed. "It's the first thing I've seen entering the city that was not made of crystal."

Suddenly Corporal Brennan, who was in the lead, tensed.

On the other end of the wide crystal bridge, large insectlike creatures were filing out of the door in the structure and lining up on either side of the span. The creatures were not much bigger than human beings, and the soldiers noted warily that they seemed to be carrying weapons of some kind.

Ned Landson studied them with scientific curiosity. He noted that the creatures looked very similar to the Kamacuras that had decimated Kansas last year.

But these greenish creatures were much smaller - about seven or eight feet tall - and walked erect on four back legs connected to their thorax. Their forelegs were unusual, too. They ended not in sharp claws but in small, four-fingered appendages that looked very much like hands. Each creature carried a long pointed crystal pole.

As the creatures stood at attention, they made no sound at all.

"Our reception committee," Sh.e.l.ly whispered uneasily. Corporal Brennan continued on, pretending to ignore the creatures as he walked between their ranks. But Sh.e.l.ly, who knew him better than anyone else, realized that Sean was tense. He carried his weapon at the ready and flicked off the safety.

"Easy, men," he cautioned his troopers. "No shooting unless I give the word."

The line of insect creatures formed a corridor, and the group of humans walked down it. When they entered the huge building, they found themselves in an immense crystal chamber with a high roof and smooth, gla.s.slike walls. There Michael spotted something amazing.

"Look!" he cried, halting his electric wheelchair. "Look at all the computers."

Indeed, banks of computers lined the walls. Many computers, old and new. The vision of something so conventional in such an unconventional setting disturbed them all. On closer inspection, the group realized that the machines had been cobbled together from the ruins of a dozen Antarctic stations, and the wreckage of airplanes and ships.

The computers were working, too; they were connected to crystal pipes that ran into the smooth, featureless wall behind them.

Finally the group saw a raised dais before them. To everyone's shock, a lone figure stood on that podium. Sean Brennan sensed that they were about to meet the master of this lost and forgotten world.

"Zoe!" Captain Dolan cried, rushing forward when he saw the girl. "Zoe Kemmering ... it's me, your uncle Jack!"

But Sh.e.l.ly knew that if they were seeing Zoe Kemmering, the girl was no longer human. The creature before them had the face and form of a teenage girl, but the resemblance ended there. Her skin was silvery and shimmered in the weird illumination. Her hair looked like spun gla.s.s, and even her eyebrows stood out like tiny shards of pointed crystal. Her eyes were blank and glowed like harsh, cold diamonds.

As Dolan approached the raised crystal platform on which the girl stood, another crystal construction raised out of it, near where Zoe Kemmering was standing. This shaft was made of clear crystal and shaped like a tombstone. In the center of that structure, the corpse of a middle-aged man was entombed. Captain Dolan halted in his tracks and gasped.

"It's Alex," he muttered. "Alexander Kemmering ..."

"Why have you come to our world?" the woman spoke. Her voice, like her appearance, was beautiful - but cold and emotionless. Her utterances stabbed at Sh.e.l.ly's ears like icy daggers. Leena and Robin actually shivered when the woman spoke.

"We came searching for you, Zoe!" Dolan replied, cautiously moving toward the girl. But when he reached the base of the raised platform, one of the insect creatures scurried forward and barred his way. The sound of its bony claws tapping across the crystalline floor sent more shivers through Sh.e.l.ly.

Sean Brennan's grip tightened on his weapon. His men glanced around them warily.

"The Kamakites will not harm you," the woman announced, gazing down at them. "But they will not allow you to approach us, or to use your weapons."

"Us?" Sean Brennan said, his voice echoing hollowly in the vast chamber. "Is there someone else here with you?"

"Yeah!" Nick Gordon cried. "Who built this place, anyway?"

The woman on the dais focused her cold eyes on the young military commander. Sh.e.l.ly felt a sudden rush of fear as Zoe's inhuman eyes flashed with frosty fires. Then the woman looked at the journalist and smiled.

Somehow, her smile made Sh.e.l.ly even more uncomfortable.

The woman tossed her spun-gla.s.s hair and strode across the podium, the gla.s.s heels of her crystal boots clicking loudly. She touched what looked like a stalagmite sticking up from the floor, and the towering blue crystal wall behind her shifted and flickered before it became transparent.

Sh.e.l.ly gasped. So did Robin Halliday. Some of the Rangers began to mutter among themselves, but a look from their commander silenced them. Nick Gordon pulled out his camera and began to take pictures.

Behind the transparent wall, three huge, glowing figures of pure living crystal stood nearly motionless. Each being was at least twenty-five feet tall. Their vague and formless bodies shimmered. Two of the creatures glowed in a bright blue shade - the third throbbed with a deep, flickering crimson. Clearly visible inside the beings were more crystalline structures of various shapes and colors - the equivalent of human organs, Ned Landson a.s.sumed. There was something like a head, though it was pointed and irregular - and something like three glowing eyes or lenses, but no visible arms or legs. How it could move was a mystery to the young scientist.

Thousands of bits and pieces of multicolored crystal whirled around each of the figures trapped behind the wall.

Some kind of unidentifiable instruments surrounded the creatures as well - crystal growths of many writhing shapes and varying sizes. Leena, however, recognized a more conventional computer cable running down from somewhere in the roof to the crest of the crimson being's bulbous "head."

"The Ancient Ones built this city," Zoe Kemmering declared. "Hundreds of millions of years ago. Before the coming of man, even before the dinosaurs, the Ancient Ones possessed a civilization that was already a half-billion years old!

"Now only three of them remain."

The woman that had been Zoe Kemmering smiled again.