Novum Chronicles: A Dystopian Undersea Saga

by Joseph Rhea Rhea

She looked at him intently. “If I believed that, you wouldn't have woken up from your nap.”

  “Wait. You drugged me?”

  She ignored the question. “Tell me what happened on your ship.”

  “What if I don’t want to talk about it?”

  “Then you might just have some sort of accident out here,” she replied. “Unlike you, I will protect my crew at all cost.”

  “Was that a threat?”

  “Yes.”

  Jake stared at her for a moment and something in her stare told him that she wasn’t bluffing. As much as he didn’t want to go dredge up his past, a part of him felt the need to tell her. He sighed and leaned back against a nearby tree.

  “Like a lot of people who run cargo, Captain Cole did salvage operations on the side.”

  She put up a hand. “I need the short version.”

  He nodded. “We were trying to retrieve a small wrecked ship on a ledge inside the Rift. Stacy was outside in a Jumper, trying to untangle the lift cables.” He fought back a sudden urge to scream. “The ledge gave way just as I got to the bridge. The wreck began to slide down, pulling the Jumper and us with it.” He stood up and looked at the tree he had been leaning on. “We were already near crush depth, so Captain had only two choices: Cut the line and lose his daughter or die with her.”

  "So he cut the line," AJ said.

  Jake looked up at her with rage blurring his vision. "No. He turned around and walked off the bridge. Not a word. Then his crew followed him out."

  AJ shook her head. "Then how did you all…?” She froze mid-sentence, then looked directly at him. “You cut the line!”

  Jake just stared at the tree. "I don't remember doing it. I blacked out and came to when we were pulling back into the dock. But there was no one else on the bridge, so..."

  AJ's radio crackled just then and they heard Vee’s voice. “Something’s coming up the shaft below us. It’s moving fast, and I don’t—”

  Her transmission was cut off, and a second later, Nia’s voice answered, “Everyone hold position. Radio silence.”

  Static filled the speaker, and then nothing. They stood there for several seconds, waiting for instructions. Then Vee spoke again. “It’s airborne!”

  Jake looked up. Through the tree canopy, something rose from the general direction of the lake and then angled off to his left.

  “Follow it,” Nia said from the speaker, “but don’t get too close.”

  “Follow it?” he whispered, but AJ was already moving, weaving through the trees and bushes at a near run. He had difficulty keeping up with her, but a few minutes later, he found her crouched near an opening to a large clearing. He dropped beside her and looked out.

  “It’s a salvager,” AJ whispered when he saw the mechanical beast dropping its load of what looked like wet junk at the far side of the clearing. Then the thing lifted straight up and headed back toward the lake. He looked around the clearing at the numerous piles of debris scattered here and there.

  “This is someone’s salvage yard,” he whispered back.

  “And a nicely hidden one, at that,” AJ added. “The owners have several of those robots running day and night. We think they’re just automatons, programmed to locate metallic items on the seafloor and deposit them here.”

  “That’s why it didn’t respond to our presence,” he guessed.

  “Right. From what we were told, the owners stop by once a week to go through the stash.”

  “When are they due back?” he asked.

  “In about six hours, if our information is correct. And if we’re lucky.”

  “Cutting it kind of close, aren’t you?”

  “We had some difficulty securing a good ship,” she replied, implying that the Wave hadn’t been their first choice.

  Vee radioed confirmation that the machine had reentered the lake, prompting AJ to stand up and head into the clearing. The rest of the search party began appearing at spots around the circumference, with Ash in the Jumper entering last.

  “So what exactly are we here to pick up?” he asked.

  “You’ll know when I know,” AJ answered over her shoulder as she headed toward Nia.

  “Is everyone accounted for?” Nia asked when they approached. AJ did a quick headcount and was about to reply when Nia ran toward one of the debris piles. “There it is!” she exclaimed.

  Jake and the others turned and saw her standing next to an oval object, about two meters tall and maybe three wide, covered by a bunch of spikes of various lengths. It had that distinctive, shiny-black, and always-clean look of a Pre-Fall device, but the design was like nothing he had seen before. Not that Pre-Fall technology was found every day or even every year, but that’s why it was so valuable. It was also why people like Captain Coal risked their lives, and their families, in search of objects like this.

  “Let’s get it loaded,” Nia said.

  As everyone began moving other pieces of equipment out of the way and adjusting the sled to carry the object, Jake walked over to the newest pile in the clearing to check it out. It was mostly things he recognized, like drop weights, a bent forearm from another Jumper, assorted bits of tubing, and torn metal. He pulled a sheet of wet fabric out of the way and found something he had never seen before: a small, maybe meter-wide sphere made up of interlocking pieces of different colors and textures.

  The sphere certainly didn’t look at all like Pre-Fall technology, but if it wasn’t, then where did it come from? He touched the surface to see if it was frictionless, another Pre-Fall clue, but it felt rough and oddly warm, almost body temperature. When he lifted his hand from the surface, his fingerprints were left behind on the metal, and they began to glow. “Drown it!” he cursed as he tried desperately to wipe his prints off with his sleeve. He managed to remove the prints, but the odd glow remained.

  Some sort of meta-metal, he guessed, designed to absorb heat. Before he touched anything else, he turned and walked back to the others, who were just finishing moving the object onto the sled. “Thanks for the help,” AJ said, beads of sweat running down her forehead.

  “Yeah, sorry,” he replied.

  Nia sent the Grange brothers ahead to scout the way back. Then the Jumper started up and headed in the direction of the lake. This time, Ash didn’t steer it carefully through the trees. Instead, he used the two large loader arms to tear out bushes and knock down trees, clearing a path straight toward the Wave.

  When they were halfway back, Ash had to stop when he ran into a large vine-covered sign in their path. Part of the sign was visible, and it read, “Garden.” When some of the others grabbed it to move out of the way, Jessie asked, “I’m surprised this place isn’t guarded.”

  Raines pulled vines away from the other half of the sign and said, “Maybe it is!”

  Jake looked up and read, “Zoological Garden. What’s that?”

  “Ever hear of a zoo?” Raines asked.

  Jake nodded. “Sure. In stories.”

  “Same thing,” Raines said as he surveyed the forest surrounding them. “Apparently, this whole place was once a zoo.”

  Raines looked at Jessie. “What's wrong, dear?”

  Jessie's eyes were wide and she looked terrified. “Don't you see it? Everything's turning red!”

  “Shut off the Jumper!” Nia said.

  AJ made a hand-across-the-throat gesture to Ash, and the Jumper powered down. In the silence that followed, they all heard it—low growling sounds coming from all directions. Moreover, the sounds were getting closer.

  “Let’s get out of here!” Nia yelled. “Come on, double-time it!”

  Just as Ash fired up the Jumper, something huge leaped from the bushes and flattened Jessie to the ground. Everyone froze for a moment but then grabbed rocks, sticks—anything they could find—and threw it at the creature. It looked like a mutant cat of some type, but larger than two men. It stood with one clawed foot on Jessie’s motionless chest, bared its huge fangs at the humans surrounding it, and let out a bone-s
haking roar.

  Ash leaped down from the Jumper, screaming his sister’s name. AJ grabbed his arm and pulled him back, keeping him from committing suicide. “Jessie!” he yelled again, but she remained motionless, hopefully just stunned and not dead. Jake had barely met these people, but he did understand family, and these people—even those who were unrelated—were acting like a family.

  “What can we do?” he yelled after throwing another rock at the cat. He hit it squarely on the shoulder, but it didn’t seem to notice. They needed the Grange brothers back, but they were nowhere in sight.

  Ash suddenly broke free from AJ’s grip, but instead of going after the cat, he climbed back into the Jumper. For a split second, Jake thought the man was being a coward, climbing up to safety. Then he realized that Ash was using the only weapon they had available, the Jumper itself.

  The big machine roared to life, and Ash pivoted it around to face the cat, both arms spread wide. The cat responded by sinking its long white teeth into Jessie’s shoulder. She screamed, and Jake was sure he was watching her die when something human-like darted from the bushes and hit the side of the cat. The cat let go of Jessie and let out a muffled roar, just before it collapsed on its side.

  Next to where the cat had been kneeling, a young woman with matted red hair stood naked and covered in blood. Like the others in the group, Jake just stood there, not sure what to make of what had just happened. Ash moved first, jumping down and running to his sister’s aid. He knelt beside the strange, blood-covered woman and grabbed his sister’s head. “Jessie,” he pleaded and then turned to Jake and the others. “Help me! She’s dying!”

  Nia was there next. “Put pressure here,” she said, pointing to Jessie’s shoulder. “She’s not going to die,” she told Ash, massaging his neck to calm him.

  AJ was next to them now, but she remained standing, surveying the bushes. “We might all die if we don’t get out of here right now.” She looked right at Jake and then pointed to the Jumper. “Can you drive that thing?” He nodded, even though he had never used a Jumper anywhere but inside a loading dock. AJ turned and called to the whole group. “Everyone on the sled.”

  It took him a second to realize what she was planning, and another to realize how much of her plan depended on him. He knew there wasn’t time to debate the merits of that plan, because he could already hear more cats roaring in the distance.

  He started to move but then realized the strange woman was still standing next to the dead cat, still covered in blood. But, whose blood was it? For the first time, he noticed the small hole in the side of the cat’s ribcage and the bloody hand of the woman. Did she really stab the beast through its heart with her bare hand?

  “Move it, Stone!” AJ yelled.

  “What about her?” he yelled back as he headed toward the Jumper. “I think she just saved our lives.”

  “I’ll get her,” AJ said. “Just get us out of here.”

  He climbed up into the cramped cockpit and strapped himself in. Within a few seconds, he got the robotic walker turned around and heading for the Wave in a fast gait. He pushed the speed as fast as he dared, trying to balance the need to get back to the ship with the equal and opposite need to not have his passengers go flying off the sled he was pulling.

  When the final stand of trees fell before him, revealing the lake and the Rogue Wave beached there, he let out a whoop. The Grange brothers were there, looking startled as his Jumper ran right past them, toward the Wave’s loading door. He didn’t stop until he stepped onto the ramp and had pulled the sled into the back of the cargo bay.

  Genesis 04

  Jake hit the off switch and slid down through the small hatch below his feet. When he emerged from the Jumper’s belly, he saw AJ sealing the front door while Nia yelled into a comm panel, “Vee, get us moving!”

  Ash picked up his sister, who looked pale, and started toward the side doors. Someone had applied a bandage to Jessie’s shoulder to slow the bleeding, but it wasn’t enough.

  “There’s a lift in the back,” Jake called out as he pointed toward the rear of the drop bay. “It’s faster than the walkway, and no stairs to climb.” He ran ahead and pressed the call switch. The lift door opened just as Ash caught up with him. “There’s no medic on board,” he said as Ash passed him, “but the medical bay’s surgical bed is fully automated. Just lay her down and stand back.”

  “We’ve got it,” AJ said as she and Raines passed by him with the new girl in tow. She was still covered in what he now realized was the big cat’s blood, but AJ had draped her jacket over the woman’s shoulders.

  The floor lurched as Vee gunned the thrusters in reverse, pulling the Wave off the beach. Since the lift was occupied, Jake ran forward to the side doors. After jogging up the stairs and down the length of the observation corridor, he bypassed med bay, where everyone else was, and headed straight up to the bridge. Vee was up there alone.

  “I need Ash,” she yelled, a panicked look on her usually serene face.

  “He’s looking after his sister,” Jake replied, trying to calm his voice. “What can I do?”

  “I don’t know,” she said, turning back to her console. “What can you do?”

  “Just tell me what you need.”

  She turned back to him. “What I need is to get us out of here. To do that, I need Ash to plot me a course back through that maze. Then I need Jessie to guide me through the tight places again.”

  He was feeling oddly calm when she finished because the answer was obvious to him. “We don’t need either of them,” he said as he ran up to the navigation console.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  He quickly found what he was looking for. Luckily, Captain Coal had required that all of his crewmembers learn the basics of how to use each of the bridge consoles. He said you never knew when you might be called on to replace someone.

  “I asked what you’re doing,” she repeated.

  He pressed the final sequence before responding. “Ash plotted our return course through that maze when we got here, remember?” He pointed to her console. “I just loaded it into your auto-helm.”

  She turned and looked at her console. “Got it.” She entered the command to activate the program, and the ship lurched as the thrusters engaged, spinning the ship around. At the same time, the ballast tanks refilled with water, making the Rogue Wave sink below the surface.

  “If nothing changed since we came in, we should be fine,” she said.

  “The Wave’s got a pretty good brain,” he said, patting the edge of the console. “She doesn’t get asked to use it much, but she should be able to handle anything that comes up.”

  “She?” Vee asked. “I thought only my grandfather’s generation still referred to their ships as females.”

  He smiled. “I guess I got that from my former captain. He used to—”

  “Everything under control?” AJ asked as she rose out of the stairwell.

  “Jake loaded Ash’s return course into the auto-helm, and we’re on our way out of here,” Vee said. “So far, so good.”

  AJ looked at Vee. “They could use you in med bay,” she said. “I can take the helm now.”

  Vee headed toward the stairs but stopped AJ halfway there. “How is she?”

  AJ frowned. “Her cuts were pretty deep. The cat’s teeth...” She looked at Jake. “She lost a lot of blood, and she’s on full life support, but the med bay is top-notch. I think she’ll make it. Go see for yourself.”

  As Vee headed down the stairs, AJ's eyes turned to Jake. “Thank you.”

  Jake shrugged. “I had nothing to do with the quality of the medical bay.”

  AJ walked up and stood close to him. “I’m not talking about that. You got us all back here safe and you got us back here fast. Not many people know how to make a Jumper run like that, especially on unfamiliar ground.”

  He felt awkward with her praise, but before he could think of something to say, she turned towards the bow.

  �
��Speaking of saving lives,” he said, trying to fill the awkward silence, “what’s the status of the girl who saved all of ours?”

  She turned back to face him. “Nia’s taking care of her. Did you see what happened with her and that cat?”

  He nodded. “I did, and I’m having difficulty believing it, as well. It looked to me like she used her right hand like a spear and somehow pierced that thing’s heart.” He made his hand into a flat knife shape. “Although I don’t know if that’s even possible.”

  “It’s possible,” AJ said. “Part of becoming an officer in the Shippers Guild is learning advanced hand-to-hand combat. With training, and if you’re fast enough, you can pierce skin with a bare hand, though I’ve never actually seen it done quite like that.”

  “I'm impressed, Juno,” Jake said. “I have to admit that when I met you, I thought your tattoos were just—”

  “You can call me AJ, now,” she said.

  He stared at her a moment before responding. “I thought you didn't trust me.”

  “I misjudged you, Jake. Not just for what you did for us just now, but before, with your last crew. I don’t believe for a minute that you cut that line to save yourself. You did it to save your crew, and it cost you a lot.” She stared at him a moment before adding, “To be honest, I’m not sure I could have done that.” They both stared at each other for several long seconds, neither saying a word. “Well, I guess I should get back to the helm,” she said, finally breaking the silence.

  As she turned around, he stared for a moment, then headed for the stairs. “You have the bridge, AJ.”

  Jake found Nia down in the cargo bay, standing next to Raines and the thing they had brought back. The engineer was waving a hand-held device near one of the antennas—or whatever they were—protruding from the object and was writing notes in a small slate.

  “I hope it’s worth a lot of credits, considering what we just went through,” he said, “and considering you almost lost one of your crew members.”

  Nia was staring at the object and didn’t respond. He was about to repeat himself when she replied, “Its value cannot be accurately measured, Mr. Stone, but I can assure you that it was worth risking our lives to retrieve.”