by M. D. Cooper
There would be several more corpses in the vicinity of the pico module, but otherwise, the coast should be clear. He was nearly there.
In front of him, the seabed dropped away precipitously. He was swimming in ocean water, currents from the choppy seas above pushing and pulling at him. But the scooter’s strong motor dragged him inexorably forward. The agent hadn’t been able to ascertain the picotech module’s exact location, but it had to be somewhere nearby.
Another guard’s corpse appeared from the gloom, its form unnaturally twisted. The agent tried to avoid it, but the body crashed into him, and he felt the jellylike interior. He shuddered and heaved the carcass off of him, ducking underneath it. Half-expecting the thing to come to life and grab him, the agent sped away and did not look back.
Then something else emerged from the dark depths of the ocean. Not a dead guard this time, but a sea creature, massive and looming. It was some kind of gigantic shark. The thing was swimming closer.
The agent recalled the intended use of the picotech module. It was there in order to create a viewing platform where visitors could watch for ‘monsters of the deep.’ The shark that was approaching had to be one of those monsters.
Myrrdan’s agent didn’t think it would attack him. No matter how predatory the creature might have been in its original form, all living organisms in New Canaan had been genetically engineered to never see humans as prey.
But what if the shark had been impacted by the concussion bomb? What if the wave damaged its brain? What if it lost its aversion to humans?
The agent turned his scooter to bank away from the approaching creature. But though his machine was fast, it was not as fast as a marine predator like this one.
The shark had almost reached him. Its teeth were as large as the agent’s head. Its mouth was gaping, and its eyes were rolling white.
The agent fired the railgun, but the pellets sank into the monster’s flesh and disappeared without it showing the slightest reaction. He fired again, aiming for the white, terrifying eyes. The shark was upon him.
At the last split second, the scooter pulled the agent from the path of the shark’s maw.
The agent screamed a silent scream, expecting the shark to alter direction and scoop him up in one bite, severing him on those horrifying teeth. But the monster passed him by.
The agent looked into the shark’s eye and then along its long, thick body, clothed in rough, dark skin. The shark wasn’t swimming. It was slowly sinking. Dead.
Fear had confused the agent. The shark hadn’t been swimming toward him; the creature had only been drifting after the concussion bomb had killed it.
He’d wasted more time than he should have. Finding the deployment module and leaving quickly had to remain his only focus now. The distraction at the capital would only divert the security forces for so long.
The scooter pulled him along the edge of the shelf, the black abyss yawning beneath him. The agent redirected the propulsion device to take him back to the seabed.
Then he saw it. Inconspicuous and alone, unactivated and directly below him lay the picotech module. The agent almost released his hold on his scooter in delight. He angled the machine downward, reached out, and grabbed the module, a small box that contained the secret to ultimate and everlasting control of the galaxy.
He opened a sack that hung beneath the propulsion scooter and slipped the module into it.
Joyful triumph was beginning to well up in the agent’s chest. Soon, the long subterfuge would be over. Years of hiding in plain sight would come to an end. The interminable watching, listening, and planning would cease. But he knew he had to stay calm and steady to the end.
Several months previously, on the coast of the Sea of Marmara, in a deserted spot covered in dense vegetation, the agent had concealed a small pinnace. Now that he had secured the picotech, all he had to do was reach the hidden vessel and escape Troy.
He set off.
He soon re-encountered the massive shark, which had come to rest on the seabed. Scavengers were already swarming over the monster, devouring its flesh. The agent continued on, gripping his rail gun. Nothing else should stand in his way on the journey, but he was sticking to his principle of caution at all costs.
He reached the downed amphibian. The free-floating corpses had disappeared, perhaps swept away in the current. Other bodies remained inside the vessel. The agent was about to turn his gaze to his onward route when he saw something new at the scene. Another vessel. A small submersible.
The agent couldn’t understand what the submersible was doing there at first. Backup forces from the capital should not have arrived yet. But what he was looking at was not a vessel of the security forces. It wasn’t armored and it carried no weapons.
Then he saw the safari park’s logo on the side. This was the submersible he’d seen departing the complex earlier. One of the employees must have come to investigate what had happened.
No matter. The railgun would put a quick end to its occupants.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
STELLAR DATE: 05.25.8941 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Government House, Heliopolis, Ithaca
REGION: Troy, New Canaan System
Isa was frozen on the staircase inside Government House.
“Is something wrong?” asked Curtis, studying her face.
Martin hadn’t said anything after telling Isa that there had been an attack at the park.
The coup. He’s talking about the coup, she realized.
“Whoa, it never rains but it pours, right? A coup and someone trying to steal picotech on the same day. Who would have thought it?”
“I know.” Isa paused. Her gaze met Curtis’s. “Do you think there’s a connection? It’s way too much of coincidence.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
Isa was already deeply worried about Martin and Jude, but this latest revelation almost paralyzed her with fear.
“When my husband said there’d been an attempt to steal the picotech, I thought it was only some fool or lunatic. But what if the thief organized all this?” She gestured toward the doors that led to the lobby. The sounds of the firefight continued to penetrate into the stairwell. “What if the coup is just a distraction to make it easier to steal the tech?”
“Then I’d say you better tell your husband to stay well away. If the thief has the power and cunning to create this kind of uproar and turn a planet upside down, he isn’t someone I’d like to go up against.”
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Isa’s fear and tension eased. She hoped Martin wouldn’t encounter the picotech thief on his journey. If the thief had managed to kill the guards and steal the tech, hopefully he would only want to get away as fast as possible. Hopefully he would ignore an innocent scientist and his small companion.
“Everything OK?” Curtis asked.
“He says he found some dead bodies but that he’s going to leave the place now. I hope he makes it back without any problems. He has our son with him.”
Curtis touched her shoulder. “I’m sure they’ll both be fine. Now we just need to sit tight here and wait for things to calm down out there. Darned politicians and warmongers. Why can’t they let us live our lives in peace and quiet?”
They sat on a tread at the edge of the crowd waiting to leave the stairwell.
Isa leapt to her feet.
“What’s wrong?” asked Curtis.
She ran down the stairs, fighting to pass people blocked her way.
“They’re in danger,” she yelled to Curtis, who was following her. “The thief’s spotted them. I have to do something.”
People were clustered at the double doors at the bottom, trying to listen to what was happening on the other side. Isa grabbed shoulders and pulled the people out of her path. She had to reach the doors. She had to get to Martin and Jude.
“Isa,” Curtis shouted. “You can’t go out there. You’ll be shot to bits.”
“I can,” she shouted back, “and I will!” She breathed in deeply until her lungs were at full capacity. She wrenched the door open and roared into the lobby as loudly as she could, “STOP!”
The gunfire ceased. The astonishment of the soldiers and government security was almost palpable.
Isa didn’t pause to wonder how long their surprise would last. She ran. She crossed the space to the doors opposite in four or five leaping steps and burst through to the stairway to the basement. Behind her, the firefight started up again, but she was safe.
She bounded down the stairs. Curtis had said an autocab station occupied the basement level. She would take a cab back to the gallery, where her aircar was parked on the roof. Then she would fly out to the marine park. The aircar wasn’t rated for submersion, but she would figure out the problem of how to reach Martin and Jude on her way.
She flew through the entrance to the autocab station. There they were, ranks and ranks of them. Isa approached the nearest cab, but it wouldn’t open its door. She strode to the next, and the next. They were all the same—not functioning. She wondered if that was why no cab had come to her while she had been on her way.
Did the picotech thief shut down the service to create more confusion and delay?
She didn’t know, but she had to get to her aircar one way or another. She could see daylight shining through the exit on the far side of the station. If she couldn’t use a cab, she would have to use the next best thing.
She began to run.
When Martin didn’t answer, Isa repeated herself. She still hadn’t gotten an answer by the time she’d reached the other side of the station and was running up the ramp. Isa had been scared that fighting outside the building would prevent her escape from the rear of Government House, but the troops didn’t seem to be targeting that area. The road was deserted. Wise Trojans had gone home to wait out the storm. Isa set off along the street at a sprint.
Terror that something horrendous was happening to her husband and son lent Isa speed she hardly believed possible. She was racing through Heliopolis, yet she barely felt out of breath. In another few minutes, she would be at the gallery.
Oh stars, I haven’t talked to Erin! She reached out immediately.
She took a deep breath and explained where the real danger was.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
STELLAR DATE: 05.25.8941 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Marine Park, Ithaca
REGION: Troy, New Canaan System
Jude had been frightened by the submersible’s tumble through the water, but he was OK. Martin checked him over as he was explaining what had happened to Isa. His son didn’t have any cuts and he’d been held securely in his safety straps the entire time. He’d already begun to stop crying.
The submersible had survived the shockwave without any damage. All its systems were working normally, and there were no leaks.
Martin was torn. What he most wanted to do was get Jude out of there. He wasn’t sure what was happening, but it definitely wasn’t a situation that was safe for a young child. Yet he also didn’t think he could bring himself to leave people to die.
While he was talking to Isa, Lindsey was speaking to him, also over the Link. She was telling him that she was on her way but that he was only five minutes from the amphibian.
“I want Octy,” said Jude. The toy had fallen to the floor of the submersible when the wave hit them.
Martin picked it up and handed it to him. He took a long look at his son’s sweet face.
I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to him…but could I live with myself if someone I could have saved lost their life because I didn’t help them?
Telling Isa his decision, Martin started up the submersible and drove it toward the last known location of the amphibian. The vehicle was transmitting, but it hadn’t moved since the explosion. Its engine had probably been disabled by the wave.
As he drew nearer to the other vessel, Martin began to see the bodies of dead fish, also killed by the explosion. The water was murky due to the choppy surface creating waves that disturbed the loose sand and debris of the seabed. He probably wouldn’t see the amphibian until he was right on top of it. That meant he also wouldn’t see Pietr if he was still in the vicinity. He mulled over the likelihood of the tech trying to hurt him or Jude, and found it hard to believe, but he also couldn’t believe that Pietr wanted to steal the picotech.
Martin looked at Jude again. The little boy was picking up on his father’s tension. He was quiet and looking around with frightened eyes, crushing Octy to his chest.
Slowing the submersible, Martin considered that Pietr had been playing a very clever game for months and would not give up on his plan easily. But Martin wasn’t interested in preventing him from stealing the picotech—Pietr had to be armed, and he couldn’t go up against an armed man. He only wanted to try to save the passengers if he could.
He checked his position. He should be nearly at the amphibian.
There!
The vessel was lying upside down on the sea floor. It was full of water, just as Lindsey had said. He could also see figures inside. They had drowned, but if he could get them out quickly, there was a chance they could be revived. Rescue services had to be on their way, despite the problems in the capital. Lindsey had contacted them ages ago.
I just have to—damn!
Martin knew he couldn’t leave the submersible. Initially, he’d been thinking he could tow the amphibian to the surface, or perhaps retrieve the passengers one by one, but if he opened the submersible to leave it, Jude would drown.
Then the murkiness in the water cleared a little, and Martin saw into the amphibian more clearly. The bodies were…smashed. They had been crushed against the vessel’s walls and windows. There was no saving these people. No brain
could have survived that amount of damage. Inside each of those poor people’s skulls would be nothing but mush.
As the awful comprehension hit him, Isa was telling him something about Pietr being extremely dangerous. She was insisting that he get their son to safety, and Martin agreed. There was no point in remaining.
“We’re going back now,” he said to Jude.
The little boy received the news solemnly, only registering his understanding with the expression of his large eyes. Martin began to turn the submersible, while at the same time telling Lindsey what he’d seen. In the middle of the vessel’s movement, the engine cut out. Martin tried it again, but it didn’t respond. He guessed the shockwave had done more harm than he’d thought. They would have to wait for Lindsey to turn up.
Perhaps an unconscious part of his mind had registered movement in the corner of his vision, for all of a sudden, Martin felt a compulsion to turn to his left. When he did, he saw a figure in the weeds. The man’s eyes were open and focused.
He’s alive! Thank stars someone survived the attack.
But Martin’s surge of happiness turned to horror when he saw the man lift a weapon and aim it.
There was nothing Martin could do. He couldn’t maneuver the submersible out of the way with the engines offline.
At the last second, he unclipped his safety harness and threw himself across Jude. He heard the rounds hitting the submersible with dull thumps. Then he heard a crack.
One of the windows had been hit. Water sprayed from it onto Martin’s back. Water was running in through other holes, too.
The shooting finally stopped. Martin waited a long minute, but no further shots struck the submersible.
