Free Dark Rising by Greig Beck Page A

the screen almost lovingly as he began describing the weaponry. ‘The latest weaponised emitted-light technology. Miniaturised power pack collects electrons and packs them into the klystron tube here, which acts like a linear beam vacuum. Will deliver a one-million-joule energy pulse that will travel at close to the speed of light to your target – no jamming, no recoil, no deviation and the speed means little chance of evasion. Two settings – high and low energy pulse. High energy will cut a pencil-sized hole through anything; low energy will give you the same result as one hundred pounds of TNT – all delivered in a single, focused, explosive punch.’
    ‘Limitations?’
    ‘Not many, but some things to consider. This generation of laser device requires an enormous amount of energy – that’s why it contains its own generator. Next version will have a replaceable battery and be small enough for pistol form, but it won’t be ready for this project. What it means for you is that after twenty shots it’ll need to recharge for about two minutes. Second consideration – it only spits a pulse, no beam. The lab boys found that the laser streaming tended to bloom over distance, which reduced its intensity. The pulse is effective and keeps the power-packet delivery intact.’
    ‘Nice, I’ll take six, and one for the farm.’ Alex was leaning forward and smiling in anticipation.
    Hammerson chuckled. ‘You can have one – the trade-off is you give the lab a field report on your return. It’ll be ready in a few hours, after we camouflage-coat it. One more thing – we’re giving you some spiders. Take a look.’
    Hammerson called up a video that showed a scientist placing on the ground a small steel box, roughly the size of a packet of cigarettes, with a circular black disc on one side. The camera refocused for a few seconds on an empty car about fifty feet in the distance, then returned to the box. The box stood up on eight spindly segmented legs and scuttled towards the car, covering the distance that separated them in a matter of seconds. It clambered onto one of the car’s wheels, a small red light flashed once and it detonated. After the rain of debris and smoke had cleared, nothing remained but a crater in the ground.
    Hammerson cocked an eyebrow at Alex in a ‘get a kick outta that?’ look. ‘We’ve come a long way from the static claymore,’ he said. ‘Tomorrow’s mines are a combination of robotics and computerisation. Forget the technical name for these – we just call them spiders, you can see why. Easy to use, low failure rate, high-yield blasts. They can be set to detonate on physical contact or on a timer. Hell, you can program these things to set up their own ambush. Your combat suits come with two, pre-coded with a built-in signature catalogue so they can tell us from the bad guys.’
    Alex could tell Hammerson loved this stuff. Both men had the greatest respect for the military research and development branch. The new materials and weaponry those guys brought to the field gave them an edge, and sometimes that was all it took.
    ‘Questions?’ Hammerson waited a second and then went on. ‘Okay, dust off in six hours. Gather your team. Go in fast and come out smiling, soldier. Good luck.’
    ‘Thanks, Jack.’
    They both stood and Alex shook Hammerson’s hand. Already the excitement was boiling within him. Alex never worried for himself; he figured he was already on his second chance anyway. Every mission was simply an opportunity to push himself a little harder, to test himself just a little more. To flex muscles and senses that seemed to evolve every day. But for some of the other men on the team, it meant a death sentence.
    Alex had lost good soldiers before, and he’d lose them again – that’s what they’d all signed up for. All he could do was ensure they were field ready; the rest was up to them. As for the Israelis, if they wanted to tag along, fine. He just hoped they were either