Temple of Fire by Christopher Forrest

their helmets and sipped Grace Nguyen’s energy supplements, which were definitely not available Over-the-Counter.
    “So what the hell do we do?” asked Hawkeye, massaging his right leg.  “This whole dog and pony show is about to get blown to hell.”
    “I’ve been making some calculations regarding the extent of the impending blast,” Madison said, motioning to the black cylinder he had inserted into the underground chamber beneath the Temple of Kalpur-az .  “Based on the data I collected, the explosion will create a dust cloud extending forty thousand feet into the atmosphere.  The cloud would be approximately six to seven hundred miles in diameter.  At that altitude, prevailing wind currents will carry it around the entire world in two to three weeks.”
    “The beginning of nuclear winter,” Quiz said.  “The much tamer explosion at Tunguska in 1908 spread dust in the atmosphere for weeks, but this is going to be far worse.  Sunlight will be blocked from the earth for hundreds of years.”
    “I don’t see how this can be averted,” Madison said, resignation causing his facial features to sag.  “The Genesis Code is in all of us.  Maybe a few survivors will start from scratch yet again.  We now know it’s happened several times before.”
    * Now is the time to tell them about our special cargo. *
    “There may be a way to avert this,” Quiz said.  “A limited thermonuclear detonation.”   His youthful appearance and demeanor were at odds with the gravity of his statement.
    All eyes in the EFV fixed on the young scientist and soldier.
    “Are you mad?” asked Madison .
    “A small, tactical nuclear device is in the back of the EFV,” Quiz replied.  “And no, I’m not mad.  I’ve made my own calculations.  A sufficient nuclear charge, if placed correctly, might seal much of the underground rock formations by fusing them into a geological strata several miles thick.”
    “What kind of correct placement are you talking about?” asked Hawkeye.
    “I’ve been reviewing the helmet cam footage of the underground cavern below the Temple of Kalpur-az .  I would need to drop the device in what appears to be a very deep natural shaft between two of the lava flows.”
    “Impossible,” said Shooter.  “There’s no way you could suspend yourself above that chamber.”
    Quiz glanced knowingly at Hawkeye.
    “Actually, there is,” said Hawkeye, “although doing so would be tantamount to suicide.”
    “Correct me if I’m wrong,” said Quiz, “but Titan Six doesn’t exist to play it safe.  Besides, we either do this or we can kiss civilization goodbye.”
    “We’d have to shoot a high-powered cable across the cavern,” Tank reflected, “and hope it grabs hold of rock on the other side.  Then Quiz would have to attach himself to the cable and position himself over the lava.”
    Hawkeye nodded.
    Madison removed the tactical nuke from its case.  Pentagonal in shape and four feet long, the weapon’s casing was made of chrome and titanium.
    “I’m not a weapons expert,” Madison said, “but I see one glaring problem.  There’s no detonator for this thing.”
    “It was meant to be detonated from the Alamiranta ,” Quiz said, “but since communication with the ship keeps cutting in and out, I don’t think we can rely on the Ops Center .”
    “Then it can’t be done,” Gator said.  “We need to get out of here and back to the ship.”
    Quiz unwrapped the blue crystal.  “We might be able to use this,” he said.  “It’s called the Ruba-schal .  I ran some tests on it when I got back to the EFV.”
    “The what?” said Shooter.
    “The Ruba-schal ,” Quiz said.  “It was almost certainly made by the Ancients, although what the Nizians used it for is anybody’s guess.  It amplifies light by a factor of a hundred, but I’m fairly sure that the Ancients used it as a power source, or perhaps as part of a much larger power-generating device.  What I do know is that