The Power of Five Oblivion

say.
    “We’re leaving, Commander,” Johnson said. “There doesn’t seem to be any point in staying here, so I’ve come to say goodbye.”
    “I understand that, Captain.” Cain extended a hand. “It’s been a privilege serving with you.”
    “There is just one thing before we go,” Johnson went on. “We’ve managed to effect repairs on board the Percival . My men have been working 24/7 and they’ve done a terrific job. What it boils down to is that we now have limited nuclear capability restored to us.”
    “You can fire your missiles?
    “We can deploy five Trident missiles, sir, with twelve nuclear warheads. We could hit the fortress of the Old Ones in a little under six hours. There are still a few people camped out on the ice … mainly the medical staff and their patients. But it would be possible to order an immediate evacuation. The Percival , the Pole Star , the Pintada and the Duc d’Orléans can easily cope with the extra passengers. Of course, there are a few casualties who are too sick to be moved…”
    “And there’s Matthew Freeman,” Cain added.
    “If the Old Ones have him, my view is he’s probably dead,” Johnson said. He paused. “There’s every chance that a nuclear strike will do no good. After all, as it turned out, your aircraft were ineffective. But we’re leaving here anyway and I thought we might as well leave a calling card. And you never know. We’ll vaporize the mountains and melt the entire ice shelf. Even the Old Ones may not be able to survive that.”
    “Why are you telling me this, Captain?” Cain asked.
    “You’re still in command of this operation, sir. I don’t think I’m telling you. I think I’m requesting your authorization.”
    Cain considered. The last two decisions he had made had both had disastrous consequences. And here he was, facing a crisis for the third time in a single day. The nuclear option. If Matt Freeman was still alive, he would certainly die. And the journalist with him. The girl, Scarlett Adams, was still on the ice. Would she even agree to withdraw while the other Gatekeeper was held captive? And then there were the wounded to consider, the survivors. Even if all the ships left immediately, not all of them would get far enough away…
    But they had nothing left.
    This was it.
    “We’ll evacuate Oblivion as quickly as we can,” Cain said. “As to the timing of the missile launch, that’s entirely up to you. But if you want my authorization, you have it, Captain. Let’s give it one last shot and see if we can’t send the Old Ones back to hell.”
    “Everyone is leaving,” Lohan said.
    “I’ve seen.”
    Scarlett had been numb with shock and disbelief ever since she had heard that Matt had been captured. She was sitting with her legs curled up and half-covered by a blanket in the upper cabin of the airbus. The temperature inside the plane had dropped several degrees but even if she could have done anything about it, she no longer cared. For the last few minutes her face had been pressed against the window, watching the last passengers make their way across the ice shelf before climbing down to the waiting ships. She still found it hard to accept that everything could have gone so wrong. When she had seen Matt in the dreamworld, it had all seemed so easy. The five of them would come together at Oblivion. They would form a gate. The Old Ones would be banished. End of story.
    Except that must have been a different story. Scott really had turned against them and Matt had been taken … for a second time. He and Scarlett had been prisoners together in Hong Kong but then it had been different. They had known all along that Lohan and his men were on the way to get them out. This time there was no one. Richard, who had been such a friend to her in Egypt and Dubai, had also been captured and he was probably dead. Apart from the bodies, buried underneath a thin coating of snow, the ice shelf would soon be empty. Nobody cared about the survivors any more. Despite its grand name, the World Army was scurrying away like a dog with its tail between its legs.
    “We should go,” Lohan said.
    “What do you mean?” Scarlett stared at him.
    “We can’t fly out of here, even if we had enough fuel. But there’s plenty of room on the boats. If we can get to Australia…”
    “I’m not leaving here, Lohan,” Scarlett said. “Not without Matt.”
    “Matt is dead.”
    “He isn’t.”
    “How can you know?”
    Very briefly,