His left brow raised, “Where is this guy?”
“He took off. Haven’t seen him since,” Logan answered.
“So, what is that?” Gunner asked pointing to the metal.
“This is telenium. It is what they detonate to cause the earthquakes and it makes for a pretty effective weapon,” he held it up for a better view.
“So, you are carrying around a very volatile, unknown, and unstable material?” Gunner didn’t understand how the metal was good for anything by looking at it in its natural state. He held out his hand wanting to give it a closer inspection.
Simultaneously, Logan and Ayla shouted, “NO!” Gunner looked at them inquisitively. “You don’t want to touch this,” Logan continued. He recited the information Honoré provided then walked out of the storage container and touched a galvanized L bracket that had been welded to a pole. A hot bright flash of electricity blinded them as the telenium burned a hole in the metal causing Gunner to squint and partially block his eyes. Logan pulled the telenium away after a second leaving a glowing red-orange spot in the metal.
“Looks like a magnesium flash. It makes about as much smoke too. How does it generate so much electricity and why doesn’t it back feed into you? You are touching it with your bare hands, you aren’t grounded. No, gloves or barrier between you and that metal. How is that possible?” Gunner asked.
“I was in the water the first time I used it. So much for being grounded. I’m not sure. I can’t figure it out. Defies logic,” Logan said.
“And science,” Ayla added.
“So, this Honoré person, he gave you this information then just vanished into thin air?”
“Kind of. He wanted us to go with him,” Logan noted.
“In his ship? Like for a joy ride?” Gunner asked.
“Yep, in his ship. But to his home planet,” Logan replied.
“You should have at the least gone and looked at his ship. See if the guy was yanking your chain, or not.”
“Gunner,” Ayla called out from the container.
He entered and Ayla was studying several hand-drawn and colored pictures. “I guess you ran out of film…these drawings are from the same event?”
“Yes,” he replied.
“Did they morph… change in shape and color?”
“Yes. That happened just before seven other UFO’s came from the sky and plunged into the water. That seemed to deter the four that were harassing us. They disappeared beneath the surface then we heard and saw a series of explosions. It was like they were fighting underwater. The power was restored, and the engines fired up and we were moving again.”
“I know this is a stupid question, but what did the military do?” she asked.
“Well, when we reached Venezuela a helicopter landed, then left a little while later with several boxes. We were ordered to never speak of it. Typical cover-up,” Gunner said.
Logan stepped up and looked at the alien craft as they hovered over the Naval fleet. “You’re going to think that I am crazy, but something I encountered underwater was invisible. It was bigger than these. I could only see it when it moved and stirred up the sand, or when I hit it with the telenium.” Logan moved to an open computer on the left side of the storage container. He retrieved a thumb drive from his pocket and inserted it into Gunner’s computer. The video of the invisible underwater craft and attack from the alien creature was unedited and both moved in and out of the screen with Logan’s movements. Gunner saw the ship and watched as the metal destroyed its cloaking abilities, then morph into a dagger just before the attack by the alien creature.
“That thing is hard to see. I can understand why anyone would miss it. It blends with the color of the water,” Gunner noted in an astonished tone.
“It clearly swam away because of that metal. Look at the webbed hands and feet. Honoré referred to this one…called it a Kurun from some planet named Jegal,” Logan said looking at the video.
“You know what this reminds me of? In Mali, West Africa there is a tribe called the Dogon. In the thirties, two anthropologists integrated into their tribe and learned a great deal about them. They had knowledge about astronomy that had been passed down for hundreds of years. Only, they shouldn’t have known the things they were telling them. Sirius A, no big deal, but it was the things they said about Sirius B, which is not visible from Earth, that piqued interest. You cannot see Sirius B without a telescope, and yet they knew it was there and knew about its orbital cycle for hundreds of years. There weren’t any photos of it until the 1970s. They noted that the information was given to them by an ‘amphibious’ alien race that lived on a planet near Sirius B. They called them Nommo. Some say that they looked very similar to what we refer to as mermaids…and I guess mermen. Kind of a strange coincidence here with the aquatic beings from other planets,” Ayla said.
“So, you think these are the Nommo?” Logan asked wondering why she had not told him the story before.
“There was no account of them being violent or kidnapping people. All the Nommo did was make contact and give information. I don’t know what to think, but it is interesting.”
“The ones I have encountered were certainly violent. I wonder if the ones the Dogon encountered were just scouts checking out the best places to invade,” Logan considered.
Gunner removed the memory stick after saving a copy of it onto a file on the computer. He scrolled through a list of folders and selected one named ‘security.’ “You see the diamond formation in the photos. Over the past several weeks at about eight o’clock in the evening, this happens.”
Logan and Ayla looked intently at the computer screen. The south, west, and north facing cameras captured underwater lights as they approached from the south and passed the rig moving north. They were in a tight diamond shape just as Gunner had photographed. The speed by which they traveled was certainly faster than a submarine, but not too fast for them to get a good look at the formation of the lights without having to pause the video.
“These things are all over the place,” Logan noted.
“You have intel that suggests for hundreds of years people from here have been taken unwillingly as a part of an inter-planetary…human trafficking scheme or slave trade. That may be true, but my instincts tell me that they are about to bump it up a notch. I’ve been all over the world and have seen some things I cannot explain, but not like this. Based on our recent experiences, it seems that they have gotten bolder. Invisible underwater machines, the way they were able to shut down and disable a fleet in a matter of seconds…sounds like a test run,” Gunner’s concern was growing.
“I’d say they don’t fear us at all,” Logan replied.
“I think we have company,” Ayla said looking at the monitor.
They watched as four alien craft lifted out of the water and hovered, level with the main platform. No water dripped and it seemed as if they had levitated out of the Gulf waters completely dry. The craft were aerodynamic, elongated and were nearly the size of a bus. They did not have the features of the ones in the photographs apart from a lack of visible propulsion system. There were no windows and the giant egg-like exterior gave off an iridescent sheen that sent an array of colors radiating that were ever changing. Yellow, red, pink, and blue colors danced about the curvatures of the craft.
“Bring any weapons?” Gunner asked making his way to the rear of the container.
Logan reached back and pulled out the Glock and held it up, “I only have two magazines, the extra ones are in the boat. Gunner slid over to the wall and yanked the lid of an ammo can open and tossed several thirty-round magazines to Ayla. He retrieved an AR-15, depressed a button on the scope, pulled back and released the charging handle and handed it to her, “Know how to use this?”
She nodded and replied, “Yes,” while grabbing the pistol grip, and flipping off the safety. She raised the ArmaLite rifle and set the green dot of the scope on a light at the far corner of the rig. “I hope it's not like in the bloody movies where the ro
unds just bounce off of the alien craft.”
He tossed a second rifle to Logan. Gunner slid the laptop into a large zip locking bag, pushed out the air and sealed it before putting it into a backpack. He threw it over his shoulders and picked up a third rifle and looked back at the security cameras.
All three faced the open doors from inside the container and contemplated the intentions of the alien craft and the proper response. Ayla realized from her past experiences that they were probably not at the rig to have a spot of tea or a potty break before continuing their quest to forcibly take humans and drag them off to be sold into slavery. She was afraid but reflecting on the brutal way in which the men were ripped apart in Tulum gave her a bit of anger to help balance her fear. These things did not deserve humane treatment, nor did they deserve to live after what they had done for thousands of years. Ayla made the decision that she would not be taken captive and she would kill at least one of them.
There was a violent explosion that seemed to shake the entire platform giving a cause to wonder if the old rusted structure would collapse into the Gulf. The painful sound of screeching metal nearly caused Ayla to drop the rifle to cover her ears in order to prevent hearing loss. The sound was a hundred times worse than anything she had ever heard. The shipping container on the end came into view as it slid across the platform away from them and stopped near the edge. From the deep gouges dug into the platform floor in the wake of the container, the sun reflected toward them from the now rustless metal and looked like a trail of molten metal. The back of the container was charred and crushed inward from the impact of the round fired at it.
“These things are eighty-five hundred pounds empty and it was pushed around like a toy. They know which one we are in. I think that is a warning,” Logan noted.
A second round struck the damaged container. The flash of light was nearly as painful as the noise. The impact caused the end to jump two feet into the air and lunge forward to the edge where it slid off and disappeared. The container smashed into a stanchion on the way down before making a huge splash as it was consumed by the blue waters of the Gulf.
“I think they are calling us out,” Gunner said.
The scene repeated itself as the next container was tossed across the platform effortlessly. The rig was surrounded, and they had no idea where to go and wondered if firing against such weaponry was tantamount to anything other than suicide. They needed to be in a better situation if they were going to fight back.
“We need to get to the lower deck,” he said pointing to the stairwell fifty feet in front of the container. “The lower area is walled off; we won’t be as visible. The containers down there are bolted and welded down. It will be harder for them to toss those around. Maybe we can get them to leave their ships and come after us. If they stay and fight, we will kill as many as possible,” Gunner said grabbing the ammo box and throwing the AR strap over his shoulder.
An explosion rang out and the second container slid off the rig and into the Gulf. “If they shoot the next container, we can use it as cover,” Logan said following Gunner’s lead and grabbing a second ammo box of loaded magazines.
The explosion ensued and the container followed the same course as the first two making a straight and predictable track across the platform. The horrid sound of screeching metal seemed to be worse with this one. Gunner, sensing a limited time to get to and down the stairs, darted out of the container a fraction of a second too early allowing himself to be seen by the hovering craft on the east side of the rig. He ran awkwardly with the heavy ammo box in his right hand. A foot seemed like a mile, but he pushed onward needing to get down in time to allow Ayla, who was on his heels, and Logan to get safely down. As he slid into the hole, momentum nearly carried him past the steps where he would have fallen fifteen feet to the lower level. As his feet met the metal, it was slick and wet. He heard the sound of the second round going off, only it seemed to be a bit premature when timed with the first two. Gunner looked up to see the front of the container jump and began changing direction. It was sliding toward the stairwell. Ayla leapt into the hole and nearly landed on Gunner as the container slid over the stairwell. It smashed into the metal railing snapping bolts and cracking welds.
“It’s blocked!” Ayla yelled in a panic. “There isn’t enough room for Logan to get in!”
“We can’t push that container out of the way. We have no choice but to keep going down and find a spot to defend ourselves. Logan will make it down.”
“How!” Ayla asked a bit discouraged and concerned.
Logan’s heart sank as he watched the container come so close to hitting Ayla and covering up the stairwell. He was several feet from jumping into the hole with them but realized that he would have been cut in two had he attempted. With no time to spare, he saw just enough room to set the ammo container on the upper step in the open corner. He turned and ran back into the direction of the other container and decided he was not going to give up and let them take him. He needed to get down and help Ayla and Gunner, but there was only one way for that to happen now. He saw the three-foot opening between the fourth and fifth container. It made no sense to hide in the last container and wait for them to kill him. At best, it was doomed to face the same fate as the first three.
Logan knew it was a matter of seconds before the next container was shot at by the alien craft on the south side of the rig. In that second, he decided that if he was to die, it would be fighting and not sitting around like a coward. He hit the three-foot alleyway in a full run. There were no rails behind the containers and he eyed the end of the platform. He shot out from between the containers, dug his foot on the edge of the metal, and pushed himself away from the upper level and into the air firing the semi-automatic at the hovering craft as he fell upright forty feet and plunged into the Gulf.
The power of the impact with the water nearly jerked the ArmaLite rifle from his hands. He neglected to strap it on and was kind of glad for it when it nearly smashed into his face. Logan knew the craft was as effective in the water and would come after him, but he swore that he had seen a reaction to the shots he fired. The cool white iridescent glow seemed to turn a brownish color immediately after being impacted by the rounds he fired. The craft had moved upward as if to dodge the shots.
The saltwater burned his eyes and he spun to his right and found the stanchion just before the underwater current pulled him into it. Without the proper gear, running into the structure would result in lacerations across his body with the possibility of getting stung by fire-coral. But the current was too strong and the reaction was too slow. His right shoulder dug into a steel column. The current pushed him off the stanchion and toward the center of the structure. Barnacles sliced into the shoulder through his shirt. Through burning eyes and blurry vision, Logan could see the red colored cloud formed by his blood in the water. The saltwater burned the open punctures, but he had no option but to ignore it. Despite the relatively short time he was in the water, his lungs were starting to burn and were screaming for air. He had spent most of his life underwater and was surprised at how badly he needed to get air so quickly. The strap of the AR slid down to his right elbow and he kicked and reached for the surface making wide desperate strokes with his cupped hands. The rifle was weighing him down and he considered letting it go, but he was a strong swimmer and it was far too important for his survival to give up on.
His head popped out of the water and Logan gasped for air. He could hear explosions all over the rig as they alien craft seemed to fire at will. It felt like he was under for five minutes, but he knew it was shorter than that. His heart was racing, the shoulder was bleeding, and he had no idea how they were going to get out of this one. Across the network of round barnacle coated columns supporting the rig, was the original staircase by the Yellowfin. Logan knew that all sides of the rig were covered, and the outer perimeter was off limits for now. He Saw a ladder about seventy feet away and swam for it leaving a trail of blood in his wake.
&n
bsp; He reached out and grabbed a rung that had long since been stripped of its paint and felt something on his backside. He turned to see a fifteen-foot-long bull shark. It bumped him and was possibly going to circle back for an attack drawn to him by the blood. If he remained in the water, he may become an easy meal for the bloodthirsty creatures on the rig. He climbed up a step and considered shooting at the shark if it came close enough to the surface. They would possibly need a meal later if the redfish was gone and they were held up for any long period of time. If it intended to try and attack him, he would be happy to kill it. The shark circled back searching for its meal. He raised the barrel to fire a shot. An explosion on the upper level startled Logan and the shark. He heard the familiar noise of the moving container and looked through the stairs to watch as it crashed into the Gulf.
Logan climbed up the ladder and threw himself on the landing. The impacts of the rounds being fired at the rig were magnified from inside. He looked around and the containers remained in position. When he looked back into the water for the shark, he was horrified at a much more sinister presence in the water where he had been. He recognized the eyes and body shape. It was similar to the one from the beach, but more like what Ayla had described as a Tisht. It grabbed the section of the ladder that was under the surface and seemed to be able to see him despite the depth of the water between them. Logan pointed the AR at the Tisht as it paused hanging from the ladder just out of reach of the round swaying back and forth mildly as the current tried to take it away. Had Logan taken the shot, it knew that water would slow the slug down minimizing the impact. It was smart enough to stay out of reach. The clarity of the water allowed him to see the creature pull a weapon from its side, aim it and fire. Unlike the 55 grain .223 of the ArmaLite, water resistance didn’t seem to slow down the shot. He rolled to the left and it struck the underside of the main platform. The result was red molten metal that left a hole the size of a silver dollar.
Universal Code Page 32
