The Viperob Files

by Alister Hodge

  A cyanotic blue tinge to Jaego’s lips gradually faded to pink as oxygen flooded his blood with every lungful. Neither boy spoke for a few minutes until their breathing had settled. Overhead, a bank of clouds was starting to converge, casting a shadow across the water like a change in mood.

  “How long were we down that time?” asked Jaego. “My chest was burning something fierce on the way up.”

  Ethan looked at his watch timer. He’d stopped the clock out of habit shortly after surfacing. “Around three and a half minutes. Did you see anything worth targeting on the next dive?”

  “Maybe. What do you reckon that room used to be?”

  “Don’t know. A bedroom maybe?”

  “That’s what I thought as well. Saw a square shape in the back wall, which would have been covered by a bed head before it rotted away.”

  “You think it might be a safe box?” asked Ethan.

  “Would have been a good hiding spot for it. Definitely worth a second look.” Jaego took a deep breath, letting it out slowly through pursed lips. “You ready to go again?”

  Ethan nodded. “Keep your eye on the sea floor on the way in though.”

  Jaego pinned him with a questioning look. “Anything worth worrying about?”

  “Probably not, but there was a boulder under the window that I could have sworn wasn’t there when we entered the building.”

  “Tri-Claw?”

  Ethan closed his eyes for a second, trying hard to remember exactly what he’d seen. Visibility had decreased in the intervening minutes and the seafloor was now too hazy to clearly view from the surface. “There were no shell markings that I saw—I reckon my eyes were just playing tricks on me.”

  Jaego searched Ethan’s face, his expression serious before nodding. “Ok. One last dive before the weather closes in.”

  The boys ran through their breathing exercise before diving once again. This time around, the descent was much different. Gone were any signs of fish, even the smaller trilobites on the sandy floor had disappeared. Ethan suppressed a niggle of trepidation in his gut and focused on the approaching window of the building. The boulder he’d seen earlier was still in place, unmoved.

  Jaego entered first, Ethan close behind. Both boys made straight for the square-shaped opening in the back wall, now hard to see in the deepening gloom. Jaego pulled a small pinch bar from the waistband of his shorts and stabbed the sharp end forward. Over a century of rust had decimated the workings of the lock, and the door bent open with ease. Behind it was an enclosed space, and Ethan’s arm disappeared up to his elbow as he roughly swept it back and forth within. His fingers bumped into something, wrapped around a small box that he withdrew and shoved into the mesh net at his waist without further inspection.

  Ethan’s chest was beginning to burn for air. He met Jaego’s eyes and pointed for the window and up, his mate nodding in agreement. With a sharp kick of his flippers, Jaego shot for the exit, scooting through the window opening and upwards for the surface, twenty-odd metres above. Something glinted from deep in the safe, catching Ethan’s eye. He stuck his hand back inside to retrieve it, delaying for a moment longer. As he pulled his hand free, he felt a spurt of adrenaline. Wrapped around his fingers was a large silver necklace; however, it was what was threaded onto the chain links that excited him. Five gold rings, each inlaid with gemstones hung off the necklace. Worried that they might slip free of the mesh bag at his waist, Ethan put the necklace over his head and made for the exit.

  He grabbed hold of the window frame’s nobbled rim and looked upward, seeing Jaego as a dark shape already treading water at the surface. Triumph surged as he thought of showing his mate their find. As Ethan prepared to launch upward, something black moved below.

  Glancing down, he saw that the boulder had moved again. As he watched, two massive claws lifted out from under the sand, and a long tail emerged from hiding, whipping up and over the shell of the Tri-Claw’s back. With startling speed, the huge creature made for him.

  Ethan jerked back into the room and away from the window frame. In his haste, he accidently dropped the bang stick over the rim to fall uselessly to the seafloor outside the building. A hinged claw the size of a hubcap snapped through the opening, missing Ethan’s face by centimetres as the creature tried to fit its shelled body into the narrow opening. With the only window exit from the room blocked by a Tri-Claw, Ethan was trapped.

  He backed away from the thrashing claw, mind frantically searching for a solution as his throat started to convulsively spasm with the hunger to draw breath.

  Chapter Two

  A faint electric hum filled the silence, broken intermittently by the tapping of a plastic keyboard. The room was mostly dark except for a few computers that projected a nebulous glow about their screens. Nikolai Claymore sat before one of these, his eyes feverishly scanning data in search of an answer.

  Something was wrong. Despite holding a senior position in Viperob’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) unit, Nikolai had just found a file he couldn’t open. Every time he clicked, it merely rebuffed him with a scarlet “ACCESS DENIED”. He’d located the troublesome file deep within the operating system of the military drone network that protected Australasia’s borders from outside incursion. Designed and manufactured by Viperob, it was the corporation’s key defence contract.

  Automated weaponry had replaced the soldier in much hand-to-hand combat, repelling waves of displaced peoples after the oceans rose with heartless efficiency. Over the previous twenty years, Viperob had wormed its way into defence infrastructure, increasing their stake until holding a monopoly on military drone production. The contract had made Viperob’s stockholders rich beyond imagination; however, that wealth had failed to translate into improved work conditions or wages for employees like Nikolai.

  In frustration, Nikolai lifted his finger and tapped directly on the touch screen.

  ACCESS DENIED.

  He muttered an obscenity under his breath, picked up a phone and punched in a number for the corporation’s IT security division. As Nikolai heard his call answered, he dropped his scowl, replacing the expression with an open smile of a practiced actor.

  “Hi, guys, sorry for the hassle, but I’m filling out some forms for a project, and for the life of me I can’t remember my security number. I was wondering if you could double-check it for me?”

  Nikolai’s brow narrowed for a moment as he listened to an irritated reply.

  “Yeah, sorry, I know it’s a hassle. My employee number’s 875880.”

  He grabbed a pad of paper and quickly scribbled down the number spat out by the security personnel at speed, circling “L10” at the end of the sequence.

  “Thanks, mate, you’re a life saver. One last thing—there’s an ‘L10’ at the end of my security number, is that still the highest security clearance? One of the other guys was trying to convince me it went up to ‘L13’ these days.”

  Nikolai let out a forced laugh at the reply given. “Don’t worry, I’ll pass on the message with pleasure.” He disconnected the call and placed his phone down gently, a thoughtful expression on his face.

  “Hey, Kane, security wanted me to tell you that you’re a bloody idiot.”

  A broad face stuck up above the screen of the desk opposite, one eyebrow raised in question. “Yeah, well if I told them what I thought of their job, I’d end up in the cells.” Kane pushed back his chair and stood to stretch his back. “What the hell was all that garbage you were spouting into the phone?”

  Nikolai waved him over. The two men were alone in the room, but it didn’t stop Nikolai from looking around self-consciously before answering. “There’s a file I can’t access. We’ve both got top clearance so there shouldn’t be anything I can’t open—we designed the drone software for God’s sake. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  Kane grunted his confusion and walked around the table to peer over Nik’s shoulder. Green text on a black screen cast a sickly glow on his face as he tapped on the file himself to op
en it.

  “ACCESS DENIED” flashed once again in red.

  “See?” said Nikolai. “What the hell’s with that?”

  Kane sat on a chair next to him, staring intently at the screen. “It’s got a Viperob code attached to it, so it’s unlikely to be a Trojan Virus from a rival company.”

  “I know, but why would Viperob hide anything about this software from us?”

  Kane cast his mate a dismissive glance. “You already know the range of answers to that, or you wouldn’t have been so coy with security when checking if your security clearance had changed. If Viperob wanted to override the drones for a different use than the one we programmed, they’re hardly going advertise the fact.”

  “Jesus, Kane, is this another one of your conspiracy theories?”

  Kane stared hard at him. “No, because you and I know they’re not theories, but cold, hard logic. We’ve watched the same video logs from deployed drone forces, we know what they’re really being used for.”

  Nikolai’s gaze turned inward for a moment as he recalled some of the footage that had left him with guilt-ridden nightmares. The drones hadn’t been used to rebuff a trained military force, but rather to execute civilians who had braved the crossing from a flooded South-East Asia to seek refuge in northern Australia. Men, women and children had been torn apart by machine-gun fire. Those that had dived overboard entered water teeming with Tri-Claw, only to have death meted out in a different way. None had survived.

  “They weren’t soldiers that were killed, Nik, they were refugees. If they don’t care about using the drones against women and children, what’s to stop Viperob employing them in a hostile takeover of rival corporations, or against Australasian citizens when the last of our rights dissolve?”

  Nikolai looked up at his mate. “I hear you, but I think Viperob would have its eyes set on a bigger target if they’re even hiding it from us. The only thing that makes sense, was if they had a built-in mechanism for an outside interest to take control.”

  “A foreign government?” asked Kane.

  Nikolai dipped his chin in a small nod of acknowledgement and then sighed. “Geez, Kane, I can’t believe you’ve now got me talking conspiracy as well. You realise there’s probably a decent explanation for all of this.”

  “Yeah, but until we open that file, we’re not going to know for sure. Talk of invasion from the north has been steadily growing for years. Maybe Viperob’s decided a regime change would improve its bottom line.” Kane sat back in his chair. “We owe it to our kids to at least crack the file. If it’s nothing, we forget about it. If it is of consequence, as creators we have a responsibility to ensure it doesn’t become a monster in someone else’s hands.”

  Nikolai sighed. “Fine.” He pulled out a small chip-drive from his shirt pocket and stuck it into the base of the screen to commence copying the file. “But we can’t crack it here. We’ll have to find a way to do it off site.”

  As Nikolai pulled the chip-drive from the screen, he felt his heart drop for a moment. “If they’ve put a trace on this file’s activity, we’ve just painted a target on our own backs. Maybe we should just forget about it all.”

  “Grow a spine, Nik,” muttered Kane. “We’ve come this far, but if you won’t follow through, give me the chip.”

  Nikolai closed his hand about the device and shoved it into his pocket. “No. We need to think on this before doing something stupid. You might have only yourself to worry about, but I’ve got my family to consider. Give me a day to think it over.”

  Kane grunted, clearly pissed off. “Fine. You’ve got twenty-four hours to make up your mind.”

  Chapter Three

  As Jaego’s head breached the surface, he gulped in a lungful of fresh air, filling his chest to bursting before exhaling again. The grey dots that had started to dance before his eyes on the ascent disappeared as oxygen soaked back through his system. He glanced back down, expecting to see his mate surging toward him, but Ethan was nowhere to be seen.

  Elation at their find was banished, replaced by immediate concern for Ethan’s safety. Visibility had deteriorated further, and he couldn’t make out any features of the house deep below. Jaego took a rapid-fire series of deep breaths, flooding his body with oxygen in preparation for an immediate return to the bottom. There was no way he’d be the one to bring Nikolai and Jeanie news that their son was missing. Jaego upended himself, and with powerful kicks he made for the bottom again. He could hear his heart hammering in his ears as he descended, eating up precious oxygen with every beat. The water that had been like a warm bath earlier, now felt blood-hot and thick, resisting his fatigued muscles like soup as he drove himself downward.

  Jaego’s chest convulsed with fear as he saw the cause of Ethan’s delay. A massive Tri-Claw blocked the window exit, venom-tipped tail and claws lashing through the small opening. He hung in the water for a moment, fear for his own safety battling the need to do something, anything for his mate. But what could he possibly do against such a creature? The Tri-Claw’s body was the size of a small car, its exterior tough enough to repel his dive knife like a children’s toy.

  Then he saw it—Ethan’s bang stick was lying on the sand at the feet of the Tri-Claw. It was his only option.

  Don’t think, just bloody do it.

  Jaego powered down the last ten metres, praying the creature was distracted enough to ignore him. As he grabbed the blackened steel off the sand, the pointed end of a leg slammed down and missed skewering his arm by inches as the creature changed its position. It drove the front of its shell against the window frame in an attempt to break in.

  Jaego backed away for a moment and pointed the powerhead forward. He would have one chance, and one chance only. The weapon was impossible to reload under water, and besides, if he failed to kill the creature with his first shot, he’d face the same fate as Ethan. The head of the Tri-Claw sat just under the hood of the shell at the front, a series of four obsidian eyes glittering above a razor-toothed maw. The head was one of the few parts of the Tri-Claw to not be covered in rock-hard shell. Jaego dodged around the left clawed arm, aimed for the eyes, and stabbed the end of the powerhead forwards like a spear…

  The urge to breathe was overwhelming. Ethan’s whole chest burned and spasmed with the need to draw air. The other exit had proved useless, heading only to another room filled completely with sand. He stared at the thrashing claws of the monstrosity before him, terror now turning to resignation as he realised he was about to die. His vision was greying, closing in at the sides as his brain started to shut down from lack of oxygen. The Tri-Claw paused its attack for a moment, changing position and raising itself so the glittering eyes of the beast could see into the opening. Some type of ruthless intelligence and hunger regarded him, making him feel like an insect beneath a spider.

  Suddenly a black metal tube jabbed in from the left, jamming hard into two of the black eyes. The .303 round exploded from the tip of the powerhead in a surge of expanding gas, decimating the head into a slurry of torn flesh. The creature went limp, sliding away from the window opening.

  Ethan tried to swim for the window, but his legs felt heavy, like they’d been replaced by sandbags. Jaego’s face appeared in the now-empty window, his eyes searching the room until they locked onto him. Ethan managed a weak smile of thanks before the darkness closed in.

  Ethan became dimly aware of the sensation of air being forced down his throat and into his lungs, immediately followed by the need to cough violently. He opened his eyes, hacking up a small gout of water straight into his mate’s face. Jaego was completing the hugely difficult task of giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while treading water to support Ethan’s neck and shoulders above the surface.

  Jaego emitted a shout of triumph, uncaring of the fact he’d had a lungful of water splattered over him. He started to drag Ethan to shore in a side stroke, supporting his weight in the crook of one arm. Ethan allowed himself to be carried for a few seconds before thinking he could trust h
imself to swim again. The hundred metres to shore felt harder than anything he’d done in the past. Lactic acid screamed in his legs and arms as he dragged himself out of the water and collapsed on the sand.

  Jaego flopped down beside him, both teens gasping for breath in tandem. It was a while before Ethan was able to slow his breathing, and the burning in his muscles was replaced with dog-tiredness. He forced himself to sit, looking back out over the water to where they’d dived. Small choppy waves were developing, the clear blue now turned to a dirty grey beneath the dark clouds. A storm was coming, they’d only gotten out just in time.

  “What? Not even a thanks?” Jaego said beside him.

  Ethan looked at his mate who was now also sitting up, grains of sand sticking to his back and arms in a rough sheet.

  “I owe you more than a thanks, mate. I thought I was dead out there.”

  Jaego shuddered. “Can’t say I was thinking too much, it all just kind of happened.” He shrugged. “You would have done the same for me,” he said. “Now give me a look at the box you pulled out of the safe. There better be something good in it after all of that.”

  Ethan hooked a finger under the silver necklace and pulled it over his head. “I don’t know yet about the box, but is this good enough for you?” he said, one corner of his mouth kinked into a smile as he held out the prize.

  Jaego’s eyes widened as a glint of ruby-coloured light reflected from one of the suspended rings. Ethan lowered the jewellery into Jaego’s hand so his mate could have a better look. With an awestruck expression, Jaego carefully separated the rings, turning them over to look at the different gem settings. All five were gold, three had diamond settings, one was sapphire, while the last was capped with a sizeable ruby.