Fallen from the Stars

by Tiffany Roberts

  “What did you say to them?” Theo asked. Larkin had proven invaluable thus far for her ability to communicate with the kraken without words; Theo hadn’t realized during her trip to the facility that Dracchus and Vasil had been using a sophisticated sign language to speak with one another as she swam.

  Larkin twisted to face forward. “Just telling them we’re close and to keep an eye out. They’ve got better eyesight under water than we do. The suits give us an advantage because of their high-tech scanners, but we can’t count fully on that.”

  “Twenty meters,” Kane said.

  A layer of dull yellow light flowed through Theo’s vision, settling over the seascape just below her and mapping every feature of the ocean floor out beyond her range of vision. It even extended down into the trench, though it didn’t reach the bottom. She couldn’t be certain if Kane was doing it through the suit’s interior display or her retinal implants, but she was grateful for it.

  “Were the sub still at its last coordinates, we would see it by now,” said Kane. “We need to go lower.”

  “It would make sense,” Larkin said. “Something that big can’t just disappear.” Turning to Dracchus, she moved her hands through several quick signs.

  Dracchus nodded, swung his harpoon gun to hang over his shoulder, and passed the information on to the other kraken with hand and tentacle gestures — at least Theo assumed he did. Once he finished, he signed to Larkin and angled himself toward the trench. The rest of the party followed his example.

  “What’d he say to you, Larkin?” Theo asked.

  “That they’ve never been down there. He doesn’t know what we’re going to find.”

  The darkness deepened as they descended. Though the diving suits’ external lights came on, cold fear slithered through Theo, making her heart race. Kane’s read-outs set the trench at thirty-five meters average width, but all she could see were the yellow-orange scanner projections of the rock walls; it was too dark to see with her naked eye beyond the limited range of her light. She glanced at Vasil and found some comfort in his closeness. The glow from his stripes created a strange, indistinct blue aura around him — kraken bioluminescence was not enough to combat this darkness.

  “Breathe, Theodora,” Kane said. “I am watching for any danger. Just breathe and keep swimming. You are safe.”

  Theo inhaled deeply and nodded. She trusted Kane. And Vasil. She envied Larkin’s bravery, confidence, and calm — the woman was a hunter, well adapted to high-stakes situations. Theo’s training had focused almost exclusively on how to crawl through access tunnels and ducts of varying sizes and how to fix complex machinery. Sure, the work was important, but she’d never had to face the unknown like this.

  “You can tap into Sam’s ability to scan for lifeforms, right Kane?” Larkin asked.

  “Absolutely. I’ve been running it in the background, checking against the records from Pontus Alpha on known dangerous sea life,” Kane said. “Would you like the information added to your display?”

  “Yeah, that’d be helpful.” After a moment, Larkin made a low whistling sound. “That’s some scary shit.”

  “Not helping,” Theo sing-songed.

  Larkin chuckled. “Sorry.”

  “There is a surprising abundance of life here,” Kane said. “This planet is fascinating. The diversity of the native fauna and flora is unlike anything in my database.”

  “Your limited database,” said Theo, smirking. “I’ll pass on the lifeform scan, thanks. Just going to focus on finding that submarine.”

  They continued forward and down. Soon enough, the bottom of the trench — or rather Kane’s overlaid image of it — came into view. Theo’s readout marked their depth at five hundred and twelve meters. She tried not to think about just how much water was above her, or how far she’d have to swim to reach air and sunlight again.

  I spent eighteen years in space. This is nothing… Right?

  “The sub was following a set course that ran along a large section of this trench,” said Kane, briefly displaying a faint line of forward-leading arrows at the top of Theo’s vision. “It was an established route between Pontus Alpha and the Darrow Nautical Outpost, another military facility on the coast.”

  Theo returned her gaze to the trench floor. “Guess we just keep going this way, huh?”

  “I’ve never seen creatures like these,” Larkin said.

  “Adapted to the unique conditions of this trench,” Kane replied. “Some of these creatures give off strange readings. It must be some quirk of their unique biology.”

  “What do you mean by strange?” asked Theo.

  Kane made a thoughtful humming sound. “Erratic. There are traces of what I can only assume is halorium in their signatures — much too faint to be of any concern to us, but present nonetheless.”

  Ahead, two small blue orbs appeared in the darkness. As Theo neared them, the source became apparent — a half-meter-long fish with large, pale eyes and two points of bioluminescence near its mouth. The fish’s glow went out abruptly, and the creature vanished in the gloom. More creatures entered Theo’s view as she swam onward; a few cast their own light, but most were revealed to her as fleeting, ghostly images in the glow from the diving suits and her kraken companions. She had the sense that those phantoms were lured in by the light only to be scared off by what they saw upon drawing close.

  I survived the streets pretty much on my own as a kid, she thought. I got this.

  “There is an anomaly ahead,” Kane said, drawing Theo’s attention to the spot with a briefly flashing circle in her display.

  At first glance, it seemed a natural feature of the trench floor — a large outcropping of rock, perhaps, blanketed with sediment and clumps of what Theo assumed was some sort of vegetation. What she was looking at became clearer as she neared — especially the size and shape of the anomaly. It was long and roughly cylindrical, though the bottom was mostly lost in the sand on the floor of the trench. The anomaly extended far beyond her field of view, which was limited to only five or ten meters.

  Kane superimposed a wireframe model of the sub over the anomaly; though centuries of sediment and growth had obscured the shape, it was a near perfect match. The rises and dips followed the contours of the sub’s design exactly, stretching one hundred meters from one end to the other.

  “I think we found our sub,” said Larkin.

  Finally, they came close enough for the exterior lights of the diving suits to fall upon the anomaly directly. Even partially buried, it stood at least twelve meters high. Odd, pale vegetation, dirt, and strange shell-like growths covered its surface, but there was something more to be seen — metal. Though dulled and dingy, Theo knew those little patches breaking through the sediment were glimpses of the hull.

  “We sure did,” Theo agreed, “and it looks like it’s in one piece.”

  Larkin followed Theo closer to the old submarine, swinging her harpoon gun off her back and into her hands. “It’s been here a long time. There’s a good chance it’s not intact, despite how it might look. Most things from the colonization are broken down or worn away.”

  “As long as there was no significant damage to the hull, it should be almost as good as new,” Theo said as she reached forward to place her hand on the metal. She smoothed her palm over it; despite the bumpy grime caked on its surface and her diminished sense of touch through the suit, it felt familiar. She was back in her element just like that. “According to the specs Kane pulled, they put a lot of money into this thing. They wanted the stuff here to last. The IDC considered this place a long-term investment.”

  “I hope you’re right. So, how do we get in?” asked Larkin.

  The sub’s plans appeared superimposed over Theo’s vision again.

  “There is an airlock on the starboard side near the fore of the craft,” said Kane. A soft pulse of light drew Theo’s attention to her right, where Kane highlighted the airlock entry door, seventy-five meters away.

  “Okay,” Theo sai
d, “Let’s go check it out.”

  Letting her harpoon gun hang by its shoulder strap, Larkin signed to the kraken, who had spread out to keep watch. After she was done, Dracchus made a few more signs, using his tentacles as well as his hands.

  The party moved along the hull of the submarine. Everything within their combined light was perfectly illuminated, but only impenetrable darkness loomed beyond. Though she was with a group, Theo couldn’t help the feeling of loneliness and isolation lurking on the edges of her mind; if someone were to die down here, they’d just be gone, never to be found. Claimed by the sea for eternity.

  “Here we are,” Theo said as they finally reached the airlock door. Though it was positioned low on the submarine’s exterior, the door was only partially blocked by sand thanks to the curve of the hull. But that blockage wasn’t her primary concern — the hardened buildup of shelled creatures and grime was more problematic.

  Larkin gestured to the kraken, who fanned out in a semicircle around the door, weapons in hand. She kept near Theo, having shifted her harpoon gun back into her hands.

  “We need to get this door cleared before we try to open it. Kane, have you been able to connect to the sub’s computer?” asked Theo.

  “Yes, but it has been in a low-power state for hundreds of years, and its remote functionality is extremely limited. Everything seems to be operating normally. The filtration system has kept the air clean, and the reactor is stable, but you’ll need to use the manual controls to open the door.”

  “Okay. Let’s get to work.”

  Theo caught Vasil’s attention and pointed to the sand gathered at the bottom of the entry door. She curled the fingers of both hands and pantomimed digging, imagining a dog pawing through the dirt. She’d only seen a few mangy strays during her childhood, but she’d always been fascinated by the animals; there hadn’t been much other wildlife to see apart from roaches and rats.

  He probably doesn’t even know what a dog is, she thought.

  When they were done with all this, when they finally had some time to rest, she’d have to show him. Even if he never saw one in person, it was better to know, wasn’t it?

  Vasil nodded. He carefully placed the container he’d been carrying on the sea floor about a meter to the side of the door. Her personal tools were stored within, protected from the water. Once his hands were free, he swam closer to her, cupped the back of her head with one hand, and leaned in to press a kiss atop her hood.

  Theo’s body hummed, and it had nothing to do with the diving suit’s internal energy field. She wanted nothing more at that moment than to feel his skin against hers, to feel his heat, to smash her lips to his and kiss him long, deep, and passionately.

  He moved to the door, sank to the bottom, and plunged his hands into the loose sand. He scooped it away in large handfuls. Dracchus joined him as Theo tugged the straps of her backpack off her arms and swung it to her front. She opened it and rummaged through the tools within — she’d found them all in the Facility, and each was designed for underwater use. She removed a rock hammer.

  Kane scanned the hull again and adjusted the projected outline of the door to match the bit of visible frame. Frowning, Theo swam closer to the hull and ran her fingers over the buildup caking its surface. A few loose bits crumbled away, but most of it remained intact. She scraped at it with the pick side of the hammer. A clump of grime fell away, and the hammer scratched the bare hull beneath, producing a metallic whine she felt vibrate through her arm.

  “At least some of this stuff will come off,” she muttered, turning the hammer around in her hand. She banged it against the door several times in rapid succession; the clanging impact resounded through the water, loud enough to be picked up by her suit’s external audio receivers. Only a few chunks of sediment and debris fell from the door, leaving cloudy trails in their wakes. “This is going to need something with a little more power. I bet that sonic jackhammer would do the trick…”

  “We may have a problem,” said Kane. “Something big.”

  A ping at the edge of Theo’s field of view prompted her to turn her head to the left. Kane highlighted something at the base of the submarine ten meters away — a head. It was in profile relative to Theo, with two huge, pale eyes staring toward her and a set of long, wicked teeth jutting out of its mouth.

  Despite the diving suit’s precise temperature regulation, Theo felt suddenly cold. She watched in horrified silence as the head pushed out from beneath the sub. The body that emerged behind it began as a hulking set of shoulders with three legs on the side facing Theo, ending in claw-tipped, paddle-shaped appendages that scrabbled over the soft sand to drag the monster’s long, flat tail out into the open.

  “Well, that’s new,” Larkin said. She swam in front of Theo, raising her harpoon gun.

  Dracchus joined the other kraken, who tightened their defensive semicircle with spears and harpoon guns at the ready.

  The creature shook itself. Sand particles rained from its body. For an instant, it stretched to its full length and parted its massive jaws; it had to be at least eight meters long from its teeth to the end of its tail.

  Turning its head toward Theo and the others — revealing two more eyes and three more legs on the previously hidden side of its body — it darted forward with a burst of speed so immense that Theo’s heart leapt into her throat.

  Harpoon guns thumped. The creature let out a piercing cry and veered away, leaving a faint trail of dark blood behind. Within a second, its body was lost in the darkness beyond the hunting party’s light, granting Theo a brief glimpse of a pair of reflective eyes glowing like moons in an otherwise empty night sky.

  “Get that door open, Theo,” Larkin yelled.

  Theo’s eyes widened as the huge creature charged out of the blackness. Though it had no pupils, she knew in her bones it was staring right at her. Its body flicked and undulated as the kraken attacked; they were fast, but the monster was faster.

  A strong arm snaked around Theo’s waist, and she was turned away suddenly and pressed against the hull of the ship. A large body covered her, solid and powerful but somehow gentle.

  Vasil.

  He held her in place as something zipped by overhead, displacing enough water for Theo to feel the movement even through her suit. Only after it had passed did he release her and back slightly away.

  Theo turned to face him. His features were strained with tension and concern, and fear gleamed in his eyes. He glanced over his shoulder in the direction the creature had gone before meeting Theo’s gaze again and gesturing to the door. Then he turned away, skin scintillating red as he scanned the water for signs of the terrifying monster.

  Heart pounding, Theo looked at the door. This was a life-and-death situation, and she needed to move quickly; the sub would provide the only possible shelter from the monster. Her racing thoughts somehow outpaced her frantic heartbeat. The sounds in the water all around made her skin crawl; she wasn’t familiar enough with the environment to know what each noise meant.

  All she knew was that things were happening. Things were moving.

  “Kane, can you predict this thing’s movements or something?” asked Larkin, her voice ragged.

  “I’ll attempt to, but its movements are quite erratic. I can’t guarantee much accuracy.”

  “Just show me!”

  Theo clenched her jaw. The door, the submarine, the tools in her bag…she knew those things. Even if she’d never worked with them specifically, she’d worked with similar components for more than half her life. She wasn’t a hunter, a warrior, or even much of a soldier, but this was her thing. This she could do. She wouldn’t let fear prevent her from doing her job.

  She opened her bag to find the sonic jackhammer.

  Vasil’s gaze followed the indistinct form moving on the fringes of the light. He longed to pull Theo into his arms and tell her it would be all right, that she would be all right, but he could not lower his guard. The creature attacking them was unfamiliar to him, b
ut the danger it posed was apparent. It was big, had a mouthful of pointed teeth, and swam with startling speed.

  That the kraken had essentially invaded the creature’s territory had likely heightened its aggressiveness.

  He spread his claws and eased a little closer to Theo as she worked. The best he could do now was defend her, which meant keeping himself between her and the creature. His own safety would ever be secondary to hers.

  Something tapped his shoulder, drawing his attention to the side. It was the butt of a spear, offered by Dracchus. Vasil accepted the weapon with a nod.

  Grasping the shaft in both hands, he thrust it out as the creature made another pass overhead. The monster swayed, its long body rippling like the surface of a puddle in a strong wind. The point of the spear grazed its flank, inflicting little more than a superficial wound.

  The creature swung its head to the side, snapping its jaws at Dracchus. The big kraken propelled himself backward, narrowly avoiding the gnashing teeth. Larkin kicked her legs, rising above Dracchus, and fired her harpoon gun. The monster thrashed so quickly its body became a blur. A cloud of sand rose from the bottom, obscuring the hunting party as the creature vanished from sight again.

  Vasil narrowed his eyes against the irritating sand and twisted to look back at Theo. She withdrew something from her bag — a stout cylindrical object with four leg-like pieces spaced evenly around its exterior and a handle on top. She pressed its bottom against the side of the submarine and twisted the device’s handle. It latched onto the hull, legs locking into place.

  The sound of moving water called his attention forward again just in time to see the creature emerge from the surrounding abyss to attack the group of kraken again. Vasil’s companions fought back with harpoons and spears — Pythas and Donis attempted to flank it from one side, Calix and Orin from the other, while Dracchus faced it head-on — but the creature seemed unfazed even when the weapons struck. It bit at the kraken and swiped its claw-tipped appendages at them, adding more dark blood to the clouded water.

  Its onslaught was too furious even for Dracchus to stand for long; he propelled himself away from it, catching it with a glancing blow from his spear.