Rogue Wave

by Christopher Cartwright

  The glow was still there, but it was a long way away.

  Without any other light a matchstick will stand out like the sun. Likewise, the tiny green glow became a beacon. Tom began swimming towards it. His heart raced and he felt himself breathing the Heliox much faster than he should at this depth. Consciously, he struggled to slow his rate of breathing. He kicked his fins as though he were racing some unknown evil to the finish line.

  The tunnel was long.

  And then it curved in a sharp leftward direction. The light seemed to be maintaining its distance from him, no matter how fast he swam. “Genevieve, if you can hear me switch your strobe light on.”

  Radio crackles.

  He dropped another ten feet as the tunnel descended. There was a third level to the trimaran. Tom swallowed to equalize the pressure in his ears. “Genevieve! Can you hear me?”

  More radio crackles.

  The new level was very narrow. Almost too small for him to squeeze through with his 6 foot-five, 230-pound muscular physique. With his twin tanks he was only just able to make it forwards. His diving intuition told him not to go any further.

  Ahead, the silt had been recently disturbed, filling the entire tunnel with ancient particles of dust. He could no longer see more than a few inches in front of him. But it was the evidence Tom needed. Genevieve must have passed through this place.

  Against his instinct he continued into the silt whiteout. “Gen, can you hear me?”

  More crackles. This time, followed by one word that he could understand perfectly well. “Help.”

  “Genevieve!”

  “Tom! I think I’m in trouble.”

  He swam faster. His twin tanks now scratching along the walls of the tiny tunnel.

  “I must have snapped my guideline. I tried to turn around but seem to have gone the wrong direction. Now I’ve reached a dead end and I’m trying my very best to hope that term doesn’t turn out to be the truth about my fate. I’m stuck!”

  Ahead of him the ancient silt had built up like a frenzied swarm of locusts which his vision could barely penetrate. “I’m pretty certain I can see you up ahead. Don’t move. And for God’s sake stop kicking your fins you’re sending all the silt particles flying. I can barely see a thing.”

  “I have stopped. The tunnel is so narrow I couldn’t kick even if I wanted to.”

  Against all safety, he blindly entered.

  It was dark despite switching on his light again. In fact his light worsened his vision. It was like switching on the high-beams in a car while driving in heavy fog He turned it off again and the familiar light green glow returned.

  The light was finally getting stronger.

  “Genevieve!”

  “Help!” Her voice sounded sharp. Rushed. Almost frantic.

  Tom increased his pace. If that was even possible. Then the green glow turned into the warm light of an LED.

  In front of him, he saw the back of a single fin. It was completely stationary. Christ, is she dead? Then it moved slightly. “Genevieve.”

  “Where are you?” she asked.

  “I’m right behind you. Do you think you can turn around with my help?”

  “No, my dive tanks will never let me turn. It’s too narrow.”

  Tom checked his dive computer. He’d used more Heliox than he should have because he’d chased her. “We’re getting low on Heliox. Can you go any further forward?”

  “No. There’s a door. It’s made of bronze or something metallic. I’ve tried pushing on it, but it doesn’t move at all. I could probably kick it down if I could turn around – which I can’t.”

  Tom pulled himself forward using the back of her fin. He shined his flashlight at the door.

  He placed the crowbar in Genevieve’s hand. “Here, try this.”

  She took it and began working to pry open the door. It didn’t move at all. “The brass is heavier than I expected. I didn’t even know the Antiqui Nautae even knew how to make brass.”

  Tom struggled to see the door.

  He shined his flashlight directly on it. The light bounced straight back at him like a mirror. “That’s not brass. I believe that’s gold!”

  Chapter Fifty Two

  Genevieve tried for a couple of minutes to break the door. “Okay, time for a new plan. I’m not going to be capable of creating enough force to break this door.”

  Tom looked at his dive computer. He had about ten minutes worth of Heliox remaining. And they still had to get out of the ancient trimaran. “I’m going to see if I can squeeze past you to reach it.”

  “There’s no way you’ll fit.”

  Tom carefully detached his BCD from his chest. “I’m not planning on taking my dive tanks with me.” He then slowly slipped his twin dive tanks off. It was hard, and for someone his size, Tom was surprisingly lithe in the confined area. He would still struggle to turn around, but he might just squeeze through to the door.

  “I need you to rotate so that you’re looking up towards me.”

  “Why?”

  “Because, for me to get past you, I’m going to have to lose my dive tanks.” Tom shuffled closer to her and picked up her dive computer. She had less than half the Heliox he had. “We’re running pretty low on Heliox. Good thing, Matthew made me take an extra twin tank.”

  She slowly maneuvered herself to face him. “Pity its back on the deck.”

  Tom shuffled a little closer towards her. This was the dangerous part. If he became stuck now, they would both die for his mistake. “We’ll break through this door and then we’ll find somewhere to turn around. Trust me.”

  He disconnected his dive tanks from his facemask. Dozens of bubbles of residual Heliox disappeared from the end of the tube, with a hiss.

  He held his breath and then calmly turned to face Genevieve. No longer encumbered by his own twin tanks he was able to squeeze himself directly above her. He attached her secondary gas source to his own facemask. Expelled the small amount of water in the tube. And then took a deep breath of Heliox.

  Tom could see her light. He could hear the deep, mechanical sound of her breathing too much Heliox. But he couldn’t see her face as he tried to squeeze over the top of her. The ancient silt had been stirred so badly that it looked like a million stars made of gold as the light ricocheted off the tiny particles.

  Their two bodies pressed together, hard. Tom shuffled himself ever slightly forward. Her arms shook, just slightly – the only outward sign of fear she displayed. They were trapped at the end of an ancient tunnel inside the trimaran’s hull, sharing the one Heliox system, at a depth of 175 feet.

  The sort of thing that would scare the best wreck divers.

  Tom felt his facemask scrape along hers. Careful not to damage it, he strained his eyes to see. They were face to face with their masks only just separating them.

  Genevieve opened her eyes. They were blue and stared at him with something resembling adoration. And there was something else there, too. It surprised him – was it desire?

  “Tom, do you realize you have the most beautiful hazel eyes? They have tiny shimmers of green in them.”

  The statement shocked him.

  “Thank you, I think.” Tom squeezed further forward. “I’ll give you the chance to have a much better look at them once we break through that damn door and get back onboard the Maria Helena.”

  He felt her place the crowbar back in his hand. “Can you reach the door with this?”

  The tunnel was so narrow that Tom was only able to take shallow breaths. He pushed the crowbar into the side of the door. The hard steel bent back part of the thin layer of gold covering the wooden door. If he had more room to move, Tom was certain he could break through it.

  He pushed harder until the sharp edge of the crowbar broke through. Tom tried to pry the door open. His arm couldn’t move far enough to get the leverage needed to have any effect on the door.

  Tom didn’t check their Heliox supply. He didn’t have to – he knew it was going to run out withi
n minutes.

  Then his eyes noticed something else.

  It was fastened to the side of Genevieve’s left leg. He glimpsed it, but couldn’t quite see it properly. Then he remembered her fixing it there when they were talking about beating his green ghost and diving with adequate weapons.

  He slid his right hand down her leg. Tom felt the neoprene wet suit stretch over her firm thigh as he slid his hand downward. She didn’t move an inch. Until he reached what he wanted – the Shark Stick.

  “Hey, just because I said I liked your eyes doesn’t give you the right to –” she stopped short.

  Tom had just fired the shark stick at the door from point blank from the door.

  Designed to stop an approaching Great White Shark, the Shark Stick was basically a modified shotgun. Loaded with a backwards facing Winchester 30:30 cartridge case, and then primed with .38 Special case in its mouth to hold the primer, the full case of burning powder was propelled into the target upon firing. The muzzle blast does the damage as so much high-pressure gas is forced into the flesh of the target.

  Tom looked for the remains of the door.

  There were none but something else shined right back at him.

  “Holy shit!” Tom said.

  He felt Genevieve pull him backwards. “Whoa! Is that what I think it is?”

  Tom swam inside. “I believe it is. And it’s probably worth more than you or I will ever make in a dozen lifetimes.”

  Chapter Fifty Three

  Sam had spent the afternoon watching hours upon hours of CCTV footage from a laptop inside the foreman’s office. They watched the initial damage to the vessel from what appeared to quite clearly be a rogue wave. It was nighttime, but the green wave appeared as a wall of turbid water.

  The video ended and Sam looked at his watch. It was approaching 7 p.m. and getting dark. He closed his laptop. “Okay, I’ve seen enough. We should get back to the Maria Helena. Until we know more about what we’re dealing with, we should destroy the Bimini Road. At the very least block the Bimini Road before another rogue wave forms.”

  “Agreed,” Veyron replied.

  Sam climbed down the series of stairs and through the gate. He saw the foreman, Donald, approach. He shook the man’s hand warmly. “I must thank you for your hospitality. We’d better be getting back to the Maria Helena.”

  Donald looked him in his eyes. “Find out whatever the fuck that thing was and where it came from. And then make sure you kill any more of its kind.”

  “We’ll let you know as soon as we do.”

  Sam walked towards the Sea King Helicopter. The last of the sun was setting on the horizon. The sky was clear, and the air was a little cooler than it had been all day. The stars would be out tonight. He unlocked the side door to the cockpit and climbed into the pilot’s seat.

  Sam looked at Veyron. “We need a way to predict when another rogue wave forms. Then we can come up with a plan to destroy whatever the hell that green thing was. At the very least, we can keep out of its way.”

  Veyron grinned. “Maybe we can.”

  Sam flicked the main electrical switches to on. The Rolls Royce engine began to hum as the rotary blade began to spin counterclockwise. “What are you thinking?”

  “The plankton glows with bioluminescence in response to movement, doesn’t it?”

  “Yeah, it’s thought to be a primal response to a predator. Whatever comes to eat them, is now reflecting the light, and consequently becomes the prey of something larger. Why?”

  “Because that means that the light created when a rogue wave is forming, or more exactly, as the group of whatever the hell these things are, come together, a large glow will form. My prediction is that light will be big enough to be seen from space, or certainly a real time satellite that’s looking for them.”

  “Of course, you’re right!” Sam picked up his cell phone and made a call.

  “What are you doing?”

  Sam ignored the question. “Matthew! It’s Sam.”

  “Hey Sam, any luck with your investigation into the Global Star?”

  “A few leads. I’ll explain it all when I get back to the ship, but first I need you to do something for me.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “I need you to get Elise to hack into any local satellites overhead and search for a glowing light near the Bimini Road.”

  “Okay, I’m getting her to do it now. What’s this all about?”

  “It’s just a hunch but somehow the glowing plankton appears to be connected to the rogue waves. If I’m right, there should be an unusually large cluster somewhere to the east of Bimini Road – something big and bright enough so it can be easily spotted by our satellites, before another rogue wave forms.”

  Sam released the collective, which adjusted the angle of the main rotor blade, and the helicopter took off into the air. They were forty minutes flight time away from the Maria Helena, but something in his gut told him that the sooner he was back on board the better.

  “You still there Sam?” Matthew asked.

  “Go ahead Matthew. What have you got?”

  “Elise is just zooming into the bay at the east of the Bimini Road. There’s nothing obvious. It’s all dark there.”

  “Look around, see if there’s anything further east. Try up to twenty or so miles away.”

  “Okay, let’s see. What have we got?” Matthew said. “Hang on a second. I think we’ve found something.”

  “What is it?”

  “Oh shit! It looks like a glowing bay of fire – or a billion fireflies coming together. I have no idea what they’re doing, but they appear to be swarming together like ants.”

  “I think I know what they’re doing there. Matthew, you have to leave – right now!”

  “Jesus its firing up again!”

  “Matthew, you need to get out of there.”

  “Tom and Genevieve are on a night dive!”

  “Are they close to surfacing?” Sam asked.

  “They should be, but we haven’t heard from them yet. They entered a wreck and haven’t come out since. Now we can’t get any communication through to them.”

  “Does Tom have a spare Heliox supply with him for when he gets out?”

  “Yeah, I insisted he took twin tanks of Heliox as a backup. They’re currently sitting on the deck of the shipwreck.”

  “Then don’t worry about him. He’s the best wreck diver on the planet. If he’s got a secondary supply of gas, you can count on him to look after Genevieve and himself.”

  “Shit. Elise says her marker buoy just recorded a 120-foot wave pass over the Bimini Road!”

  “Head south – away from the epicenter!”

  Chapter Fifty Four

  Matthew opened both throttles to full and swung the helm so that the Maria Helena was heading due south. The smooth twin 44, 000 Horse Power Rolls Royce powerhouses screamed into life. “Tom and Genevieve are going to need to look after themselves for a while.”

  Next to him, Elise stared at the image on her laptop. It appeared as though swarms upon swarms of angry ants were all racing in the same direction – towards the Maria Helena. Each group of tiny glowing dots were collectively converging on the same spot, where a giant glowing pool swelled like the enormous belly of a beast. “If we don’t do something quick, I suggest joining them. Better to be below the surface than above it when this thing hits. We’ll lose the ship, but Sam can come pick us up out of the water.” Her voice was calm. She was speaking out of logic and science, rather than fear.

  “I’m hoping it won’t come to that, but I’ll keep it in mind. How much time do you calculate we have?”

  “If I gather correctly from your conversation with Sam, each of these glowing dots represent something that’s going to start moving towards us?”

  “That’s what Sam and Veyron think.”

  “And as they pass over the Bimini Road at speed they’ll create a rogue wave?”

  “That’s what we’re worried about.”

  Eli
se walked towards him on the bridge and carefully placed her laptop next to him. Matthew quickly scanned the satellite image.

  “Would you say that the flock just started to move?”

  “Oh shit!” Matthew held his hand on both throttles, hoping that in doing so, it might be able to drag some more precious horsepower out of the twin engines. His hand shook with the vibrations. He was glad Veyron wasn’t on board – the engineer would have killed him for abusing the ship’s engines. “Can you calculate a time to impact?”

  “I’m working on it.”

  Next to him, Elise was rapidly typing data into her laptop. Her fingers, hammering information with the grace and sensitivity of a concert pianist performing a rapid staccato. She then stopped and stared at the answer.

  Matthew turned to her. His usual manner of superiority and confidence broken by the events. “Well, don’t leave me in suspense. How much time have we got?”

  “Less than five minutes!”

  “Shit!” Matthew picked up the onboard ship microphone. “All hands on board the Maria Helena. We are about to be hit by a rogue wave. Lock all hatches and prepare for impact!”

  Elise crossed her arms and watched as the tiny glowing dots on her laptop monitor moved towards them.

  “Do you think it’s going to hit us?” he asked.

  Elise smiled and all he could see was her perfect white teeth. She carefully removed her glasses, safely placing them in their hard cover and then in her pocket. Matthew stared at her face. It was the first time he’d seen her without her glasses –revealing her startling emerald eyes, which betrayed her staggering intellect. She was probably the most intelligent person he’d ever met. At times, she appeared entirely mathematical and devoid of all emotions.

  This was one of those times.

  “Of course we will be struck by the oncoming wave – in just over four minutes. There’s nothing we can do to outrun that wave. The question, Matthew, is can the Maria Helena survive such a collision?”

  Unlike her, Matthew had no idea of the answer. There was no mathematical formula to determine if a ship would survive a large strike from a wave. His heart raced. He didn’t want to die. And he didn’t want Elise to die. She’d been a pleasant inclusion on board the Maria Helena. Although little more than a child in her early twenties, she was intensely professional and capable. More importantly, she had brought a certain sense of wonder to life on board, and a type of youth and vivacity. Although she acted like a nerd, she was constantly fun. It was like having the most intelligent child in existence on board. The rest of them wanted to nurture her and show her things.