Burke nodded to the man, then called out to the rest of the men: “Fire in the hole!”

Milla looked around for a moment, wondering at the sudden movements as everyone ducked their heads. Corporal Curtis reached up and pulled her down as well.

“Believe me, miss, you want to be down here right now,” she told Milla as she placed an arm over her helmet and physically held her down.

That statement was punctuated by a loud explosion from the bunker and the sudden showering of rock pelting down on them. Milla was thankful for the tough armored suit and helmet she wore.

The group gradually stood up and dusted their armor off, admiring Burke’s work. The explosives had cut a clean hole in the bunker, blowing most of the debris out and away from anyone inside the squat structure.

The group approached the building cautiously, their weapons held ready. The point men stopped at the makeshift entrance, expertly scanning the interior before they stepped inside. Once inside, they found themselves in an empty room that took up the entire interior of the bunker.

Brinks looked around at the unimpressive room before turning to where Milla had just joined the group. “Well, where are they?”

Milla scanned the room carefully. “Under us. The bunker should extend downward one hundred meters. Give me a moment, and I should be able to find the control panel.”

Roberts stepped back, allowing Milla to search the room. Finally, she smiled and walked over to a blank wall. “Here it is.”

Everyone stared at her for a moment until she waved her hand a few inches from the wall, causing a shimmering display of light to appear. The light coalesced into a floating control panel that Milla manipulated by brushing her hands along its shimmering surface.

“Projected-particle interface,” Milla explained as she entered instructions into the surface. “It’s activated by a three-dimensional grid of motion sensors built into the wall.”

The major just nodded, but Savoy stepped up behind her, fascinated by the system.

“Are you receiving tactile feedback?”

Milla nodded, tapping another button with an audible click. “Yes, the particle field allows the computer to exert pressure so that you know when you’ve activated a control.”

“How does it manage that?” the major asked, a tone of wonder in his voice. “I don’t see any projectors…”

“No, you wouldn’t. The wall is the projector. The same devices that are reading my input also display the interface,” she said.

“Really? But how do you—”

Savoy found himself cut off as Milla entered the last command and the floor began vibrating. In the center of the room, a circular seam appeared in the floor and the round section began rising. After it had risen a short distance, it stopped and then rolled to one side, revealing a deep pit beneath it.

“You have got to be kidding me.” One of the soldiers stared down the hole, trying vainly to see the bottom. The best he could do was follow the rungs of a ladder down until even they disappeared from sight.