Forces from Beyond

by Simon R. Green

  “Look, screw the generalities!” Chang said finally, jumping to her feet and glaring about her with both fists planted on her hips. “I am fed up with hearing endless variations on We’re making good progress. Have you got anything useful to tell us?”

  “We’ve finished mapping the topography of the ocean bed directly below the Moonchilde, where the Flesh Undying is located,” said Goldsmith, in his soft Southern accent. “And we are constantly uncovering new information about the form and nature of this . . . organism.”

  “We’ve never seen anything like it before!” said Hedley. “There’s never been a living thing this big in the world. Not even in the time of the dinosaurs.”

  “Except that massive fungal growth, deep under a US National Park,” said Hamilton. “A single mushroom several miles wide, or so they say. Though, of course, that isn’t sentient.”

  “As far as we know,” said Goldsmith.

  They all stopped to look at him. He didn’t seem to be joking.

  “The Flesh Undying gives every indication of being a single living organism the size of a mountain,” said Hedley.

  “A big mountain,” said Goldsmith.

  “I still say we should be trying to establish some form of communication with it,” said Hamilton. She had the air of someone who’d been saying that for some time. “Try to reason with it.”

  “That is not going to happen,” Katt said immediately. “If it ever discovers we’re here, it’ll destroy us.”

  “You can’t be sure of that,” Hamilton said sulkily.

  “I’ve met some of its human agents,” said JC. “They weren’t interested in being reasonable. The Flesh Undying wants what it wants, and that’s all. We don’t matter to it. Nothing does, except leaving this world.”

  Hamilton looked at him, vaguely interested. “What happened to these . . . agents?”

  “We killed them,” said JC. “Before they could kill us. Though whether they’ll stay dead remains to be seen.”

  She just nodded. “I don’t suppose you could get the bodies transferred here? I’m sure we could learn a lot from them.”

  “The doctor does love a good autopsy,” said Hedley.

  “I find them informative,” said Hamilton.

  “We destroyed what was left of the bodies,” said JC.

  Hamilton sniffed loudly. “Vandals . . .”

  A crewman arrived at that point, bearing a lady’s shoe on a silver platter. The Captain looked at him.

  “Why?”

  “Compliments of Catherine Latimer,” said the crewman. “She has instructed me to tell you that this is the shoe she used to stamp on the piece of Flesh vomited up by one of its agents. And, no, I don’t understand that either, and I don’t think I want to. Apparently she believes there might be some Flesh left on the sole of the shoe if you care to scrape it off and examine it. Please take this thing away from me, so I can get the hell out of here and scrub my hands till they bleed.”

  Hamilton snatched the shoe on its platter away from the crewman, and bore it away to rear of the room, smiling all over her face. The crewman departed at speed.

  “The strangest things make some people happy,” said JC.

  “You should know,” said Chang. “Ghost lover!”

  “Soul eater!” said JC.

  She smiled. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

  “Get away from me,” said JC. “Weird person.” He turned to Goldsmith and Hedley. “The Captain tells me the Flesh Undying dreams; and sometimes its dreams take on Flesh and board the ship. Is that right?”

  “It mostly only happens at night,” said Katt. “Mostly.”

  “We don’t go up on deck,” said Goldsmith. “We prefer to stay down here, with our work. So we haven’t observed anything directly . . .”

  “Occasionally, our sensors tell us something is coming,” said Hedley. “And sometimes they don’t.”

  “Some things are realer than others,” said Goldsmith. And then he surprised them with a brief smile. “Something I never thought I’d hear myself saying.”

  “The . . . phenomena seem real enough,” said Hedley. “By all accounts . . . But we have no clear explanation, as yet, for what’s happening.”

  “We’re not equipped to deal with a situation like this,” said Goldsmith. “With something as big as the Flesh Undying. Because there’s never been anything in this world like the Flesh Undying. We have nothing to compare it to. I keep telling the Captain, we need access to more sensitive equipment and more powerful computers . . .”

  “You’ve been given everything you asked for,” said Chang.

  “Half the time we don’t know what to ask for!” said Hedley.

  “We’re doing the best we can with what we have,” said Goldsmith. “When we’re not being interrupted . . .”

  And they both turned very firmly back to their work stations, shutting out everything except what was in front of them. Chang shrugged.

  “They’re doing good work, I suppose . . .”

  “Really?” said JC. “I haven’t heard anything that will help us destroy the Flesh Undying. That is why we’re here, isn’t it?”

  “Information is ammunition,” said Chang defensively.

  “Very succinct,” said JC. “Probably look great on a T-shirt. But not very helpful, is it?”

  “We’re here now,” Chang said confidently. “Things will start moving, now we’re here. I’ll see to that.”

  JC gave her a look and moved over to see what Goldsmith and Hedley were working on. The scientists weren’t at all keen on having someone peering over their shoulders but clearly didn’t feel in any position to tell him to go away. JC looked at the information flowing across their monitor screens and didn’t feel any wiser.

  “Is there anything new you can tell me about the Flesh Undying?” he said.

  Hamilton wandered back to join them, not wanting to be left out of the conversation. The three scientists looked at each other.

  “It’s more what we’ve been able to rule out,” Hedley said finally. “We have established, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the Flesh Undying isn’t any kind of organic matter that we’re familiar with. Doesn’t belong to any of the recognised phyla. Which is only what you’d expect, I suppose.”

  “The pressure at the bottom of the ocean doesn’t bother it at all,” said Goldsmith. “Nothing does . . .”

  “Just its presence seems to be enough to alter things around it,” said Hamilton. She sounded almost defensive. “As though it brought some of the physical laws of its own reality with it and holds them close.”

  “It lives in a bubble of its own reality,” said Goldsmith. “A re-creation of the conditions it came from. But the bubble is . . . leaking. And changing the world around it.”

  “Which is almost certainly why creatures from this world die when they get too close,” said Hedley.

  “That has yet to be confirmed,” said Hamilton.

  “Only by you,” said Hedley.

  “If the Flesh Undying stays here long enough,” said Goldsmith, “I believe its influence will continue to spread until it covers the entire world. Making this planet over into something more like where it came from.”

  “You’re talking about terraforming,” said JC.

  “Exactly,” said Hedley. “I’m not sure how much of anything we recognise as life would survive the process.”

  “So if we can’t destroy it . . . Whether it stays or whether it goes, we’re screwed?” said JC.

  “Well . . . yes,” said Hamilton. “But I don’t think we can expect it to stay much longer. There do seem to be . . . signs that it is preparing to depart. In the near future.”

  “Signs?” said JC. “What kinds of signs?”

  “Nothing you’d understand,” said Hamilton.

  “Make me understand,�
�� said JC. Just a bit dangerously.

  “We’re talking about changes on the subatomic level,” Hedley said quickly. “Other-dimensional energies, discharging into the local environment.”

  “And,” said Goldmsith, “there are the things we see in dreams. When we can’t put off sleeping any longer.”

  The other two scientists nodded, reluctantly. From the expressions of their faces, it was clear to JC that whatever the scientists saw in their dreams, they wished they hadn’t.

  “I’m convinced these dreams are an attempt at communication,” Hamilton said finally.

  “You enjoy them,” said Hedley.

  “I appreciate them,” Hamilton said coldly. “It’s telling us things even if it doesn’t realise.”

  “I am not convinced of that,” said Goldsmith.

  “We are dealing with something from a higher dimension!” said Hamilton, two spots of colour burning on her pale cheeks for the first time. “You have to open your mind to new possibilities!”

  “We need to keep our minds closed,” said Hedley. “So the bad things can’t get in.”

  “Ahoy below!” Melody said cheerfully from the doorway. “Prepare to be boarded, me hearties!”

  Everyone looked round as Melody and Happy entered the bunker. Happy nodded apologetically to all present.

  “She’s never been the same since she watched those Johnny Depp movies.”

  JC’s first thought was that Happy was looking a lot better though there was still a worrying vagueness to the telepath’s eyes. Melody sat Happy down in a corner, out of the way, and quickly ingratiated herself with the scientists by asking all the right questions. She could do that because she spoke their language. JC, Chang, and Katt looked on, excluded from a conversation they had no hope of following. Chang lost her patience first and broke in.

  “Where’s Latimer? Why isn’t she with you?”

  “She’s sleeping,” said Melody. “Worn-out. She is very old, after all.”

  “Good,” said Chang. “That woman creeps the hell out of me. How do you stand working for her?”

  “How do you stand working for Vivienne MacAbre?” said JC. “At least our Boss didn’t murder her predecessor.”

  “Are you sure?” said Chang.

  Melody persuaded Goldsmith to bring up a direct view of the Flesh Undying on the largest of the monitors, and they all gathered together before the screen, fascinated. JC stood uneasily at the back, remembering a similar screen back in Brighton that exploded. He looked for something substantial to hide behind, just in case, but there didn’t seem to be anything. JC moved in quietly beside Captain Katt, so he could duck behind the man if necessary. Katt looked big enough to soak up a lot of damage.

  As before, all that could be seen of the Flesh Undying was a great dark shape set against an uncertain background. Like the shadow of an old god, from a time before the world settled down.

  “What’s sending us this image?” said Melody. “Another drone submersible?”

  “A simpler model, this time,” said Goldsmith. “Little more than a container for the camera. No complicated equipment and no computers for the Flesh Undying to pick up on. It has no idea the camera is there.”

  “We think,” said Hamilton.

  “Where’s the light coming from?” said JC. “I mean, if that’s the bottom of the ocean . . .”

  “That’s not light, as such,” said Hedley, condescendingly. “We’re using very sophisticated equipment. It’s not putting out anything that can be detected.”

  “As far as we know,” said Hamilton.

  “God, you get on my nerves,” said Hedley.

  Hamilton ignored him, giving all her attention to the image on the screen. “I wish we could get in closer, get a better idea of its surface . . .”

  “We’re already closer than is safe, technically speaking,” said Goldsmith.

  “You don’t make important discoveries by being overly cautious,” said Hamilton.

  “You don’t get killed, either,” said Hedley.

  JC scowled at the image on the screen but couldn’t make out much. The dark shape wasn’t even remotely triangular, like most mountains. It was more like a huge stone monolith without the clear edges. There were what looked extremities, or perhaps protuberances, stretching away . . . but their shape and purpose made no sense at all to human eyes. Even ones that glowed golden.

  “We are increasingly convinced that the Flesh Undying exists in more than three spatial dimensions, simultaneously,” said Goldsmith. “We can’t see them; we’re only able to infer their presence by observing the effects they have on their surroundings.”

  “And then make educated guesses,” said Hedley.

  “They’re still just guesses,” said Hamilton. “I’m not convinced we’re capable of understanding anything as far above us as this is.”

  “You admire it,” said Goldsmith.

  “Enough to be seriously scared of it,” said Hamilton. “You aren’t scared enough. You still want to fire probes into it, to get data directly.”

  “That request has been turned down by Project Headquarters,” Katt said quickly. “Repeatedly.”

  Goldsmith sniffed loudly, not quite sulking. “I still think that would work. And get us information we couldn’t hope to acquire any other way.”

  “Stick to your number-crunching,” said Hamilton.

  “I still say we should nuke the damned thing,” said Hedley.

  “You think that would work?” said JC.

  “It wouldn’t,” said Happy.

  They all turned to look at him, but he had nothing more to say.

  Goldsmith looked at JC. “Is he with you?”

  “Sometimes,” said JC.

  “Look at that thing . . .” said Melody, concentrating on the dark shape on the screen. “A living mountain, bigger than Everest. Does it have any obvious vulnerabilities?”

  “None we’ve been able to detect,” said Hamilton. Her voice was dry, almost entirely uninflected. “It doesn’t eat, drink, breathe, move, or react to its surroundings. None of the accepted signs of life. As though it’s . . . indifferent, to everything in this world. It doesn’t need anything from us. It has no obvious limbs, to manipulate its surroundings. No obvious sense organs, to observe them. No electrical activity, to suggest a brain. Nothing to give us a handle on it.”

  “You said it kills every living thing that gets too close,” said JC. “How, exactly?”

  “We don’t know,” said Hedley. “They just die. Maybe it freaks them out.”

  “Understandable,” said Melody.

  “Perhaps it’s simply so alien, nothing from our world can exist in its proximity,” said Hamilton. “It just . . . overwhelms everything else.”

  “Your bubble at work, Dr. Goldsmith,” said Hedley. “It overwrites the rules of our world with its own.”

  “It’s toxic,” said Goldsmith. “To everything our world considers life.”

  “I’d go along with that,” said JC.

  “We need to get a closer look,” said Melody.

  “There is a way,” said Goldsmith. He paused, for another of his brief smiles. “But you’re really not going to like it.”

  “Why did I just know you were going to say that?” said JC.

  “Maybe you’re psychic,” said Happy.

  “Finally,” said Chang, smiling sweetly. “We get to the reason we’re here. Vivienne MacAbre’s master plan. Captain Katt, be so good as to take us back up on deck, so we can look at our latest toy.”

  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

  They went back up through the levels of the ship and onto the open deck, where the Captain led the way to the far end of the Moonchilde. JC and Chang stuck close behind him, with Melody and Happy bringing up the rear. Chang bounced along at JC’s side, smiling happily. She slipped a
n arm through his in a companionable sort of way; and JC politely but firmly pushed it away. Melody led Happy along like a child. He came willingly enough but seemed mostly uninterested in his surroundings. JC wondered if perhaps he should send Happy back to his cabin, to get some more rest. But if he did that, Melody would insist on going with him; and JC needed her. She was the only one who could talk to the scientists for him.

  “There!” the Captain said proudly, gesturing at the thing before them. They all stopped to look.

  “Oh, you have got to be kidding,” said JC. “Is that . . .”

  “It is!” said Chang, beaming widely. “The only way to get down to the Flesh Undying and get up close and personal, without being spotted. The old-fashioned way. In a bathysphere!”

  She gestured expansively at the huge steel ball, a simple pressurised container some thirty feet or so in diameter, hanging above the deck from its winch mechanism. A wonder of early-twentieth-century science, with all kinds of cables and tubes and support tech dangling off it. A huge, air-generating machine stood to one side, firmly bolted to the deck. JC and Melody stared at the bathysphere with something like shock. Katt grinned, enjoying the astonishment and horror growing in their faces.

  “It looks very . . . solid,” JC said finally.

  “Lots of rivets,” said Happy. “I like rivets. Something very reassuring about a lot of rivets.”

  “But can something like that withstand the pressure?” said Melody. “I mean, if we’re going all the way down to the Flesh Undying, that means descending about as deep as you can go . . .”