"I will help you to destroy Brumelle, but the two women must accompany me on this mission."
"Very well, but first you will you show me the exact location of the arch from where you entered this world before I allow you to leave with the women."
"Yes, I will tell you its exact position. Then as soon as my mission of destroying Brumelle is finished I will bring your men to the arch's location. It is well hidden and this will save you much time."
"Yes, you will lead my men there when Brumelle is destroyed; but first you will show me its location on a map before leaving."
Vincent was prepared for this. Without warning, a large map suddenly appeared in the middle of the room, it seemed to hang in front of him in mid-air. He studied it for half a minute then his finger indicated a spot on the map that was really hundreds of miles away from the actual location.
He knew that Valdo had no way to check quickly whether or not he was telling the truth. Still, he didn't want to show Valdo a spot on the map that was too far from where the arch really was, just in case some of Valdo's spies had noticed his presence in that general area of the planet and had already reported this to him.
Valdo seemed satisfied with this information and he then went on to explain to Vincent what he was expected to do to destroy Brumelle.
Vincent, his women, and Valdo's men were to be transported by means of an arch - situated inside the complex - that would take them to a position about five days march from the mountain where Brumelle was located. Once there, Vincent was to try to enter the mountain the same way he had left it - on the pretext that he wanted to report to Brumelle.
Then, as soon as he was inside the complex, he was to place the neutron device as near as possible to the matrix that held Brumelle's personality and leave before the detonation. Since the device was small he wouldn't have to move too far away from it. As long as he was not inside the complex, he was told, it would be safe for him.
An idea suddenly occurred to Vincent. Would it be possible for him to convince Valdo to give him two of these devices, one of them being much more powerful? His reasoning would be that if he couldn't get close enough to the matrix then the stronger bomb could be placed somewhere outside the complex and still be effective. In the back of his mind he had another plan for that second bomb.
Much to Vincent's surprise, Valdo agreed. Furthermore Valdo said that this second device should be a small fission bomb that could be placed near the mountain where Brumelle was and still do the job of eliminating her if Vincent found it impossible to enter the core of the mountain. This of course would only work if this second bomb were placed very close to the mountain entrance itself.
In this mission, Vincent was to be accompanied by four of Valdo's men to carry the two bombs as well as to make sure, after the bombs had gone off, that Brumelle was destroyed. Valdo then suggested that Vincent and the women rest for a few days since it was going to take that long to prepare the electromagnetic pulse bomb as well as the small fission one. While he was alone with his women, Vincent explained his plan to them. Before leaving he would hide the fission bomb somewhere in Valdo's underground complex and set the timer so that it would go off once they were gone.
"Are you sure that this thing will be strong enough to destroy Valdo?" asked Nika.
"I am sure it will do the job. Furthermore, since this place is far under the Cold Sea, what the bomb does not destroy will be drowned under tons of rushing salt water from above this complex. I have no doubt about this."
"But how will you go about hiding the bomb without anyone seeing you? Worse still, will the men that are supposed to carry the two bombs not notice that it is no longer in the bundle that they are carrying?"
"Well I will have to find a good place to hide it before we leave. That is something I will have to think about. As for the men carrying it noticing, I will simply place something of equivalent weight into the bundle that is supposed to contain the fission bomb. They won't notice the difference as long as they don't check inside."
But Verla was still not satisfied with this explanation. "Suppose everything goes as planned and Valdo's complex as well as Valdo himself is destroyed - we will still have to deal with Brumelle."
"We will worry about that part when we get near Brumelle. One thing is certain; we must get inside her shelter and destroy her. When he's gone, Valdo will no longer be able to prevent her from expanding and taking control of the whole planet and probably more."
After a length of time which Vincent figured was about two days, they were fetched by two of Valdo's men. They were taken many levels deeper into the complex. Then, after walking along a long corridor with a multitude of doors on each side, they entered a huge laboratory. Half a dozen workers could be seen here and there doing odd jobs. Once they had walked half way into the large room they were shown two baskets made of strong knitted twigs resting on the floor between two rows of tables.
One basket was much larger than the other. The larger basket was about two feet high, two and a half feet long and of the same width. The other one was barely a foot cube. Both looked just like ordinary baskets that the women of many of the tribes on this world made to carry fruits and roots. The tables and floor around them were littered with all kinds of tools and equipment. Barely two feet from the two baskets sat a pile of thin lead plates and other materials that must have been used in the construction of the bombs.