by Warren Fahy
“I brought you chocolate cake. But you have to give me a bite. Here is your dinner, madam,” Sasha handed her a plate of piled food with a dramatic flourish. “I even brought you a fork.” She handed her a silver fork and then ran, dive-bombing the lavender bed.
“Thank you,” Nell said. Through the floor and walls behind Sasha, she saw the mega-medusa’s arms now opening on the lake bottom.
Nell sat with her on the edge of the bed, absently nibbling on a couple of eclectic forkfuls of food, finding herself eating a green bean, chocolate cake, and chicken simultaneously and not minding it. She was famished. Ivan whimpered in front of her, sitting as still as one of the Queen’s guards.
Sasha scooped a piece of chocolate cake with two fingers and ate it gluttonously in front of the frozen Samoyed. “You shush, Ivan! I’ll have to take him for a walk in the farm, again.”
Ivan barked and Sasha laughed.
“Sasha,” Nell began.
“I got you two bottles of water.” Sasha pulled the small chilled bottles from her purse.
“Thank you.” Nell reached for one and took a grateful swig. “You said Geoffrey’s in a lab with the other scientists on the other side of the city. Right? Can you communicate with them?”
“Hmm. Maybe.” Sasha lay back and Ivan leaped onto the bed next to her, licking her face. “We could use the Undernet. Right, Ivan?” She squealed as she pushed off the dog.
“The Undernet?” Nell asked.
8:01 P.M.
Maxim looked into Pandemonium through the oval window embedded in the wall of the small room fifty feet above the conservatory. On the other side of the thick glass was the steel gondola deck, which had been cantilevered from the cave wall. The surface of the subterranean sea was eighty feet below.
On the deck, six men in hazmat suits reeled up buckets of salt water beside the large gray gondola, which looked like two airplane noses fused together and suspended by thick cables reaching out into the gloom.
The men pulled up plastic jugs dipped in the lake and strung on ropes. One man capped and stacked the filled jugs on the landing. In the darkness above, flocks of pink and orange bubbles rose to join a mass like a sunlit cloud near the high ceiling.
“Hey, Chief, it looks like a crowd of gammies are coming,” came a voice across an intercom speaker. “Start moving the water in before they get here,” Maxim said. He opened the hatch and waved at them. “Come on, come on!”
Maxim slid the plastic jugs one after another across the floor as one man passed them through the hatch.
Two orbs dangling crimson streamers like the tentacles of Portuguese man-of-wars drifted down toward the men on the landing. “Chief!”
Galia reached the top of the spiral stairs and saw Maxim pulling jugs in through the open hatch. Galia looked through the window to the right of the hatch and saw two floating man-of-wars release a shower of red embers over two men on the gondola deck. He heard them scream as the flaring embers burned through their suits and the paralyzing nematocysts touched their skin with circuit-blowing agony.
Even as both men fell over the rail into the lake, Maxim yelled, “Keep going! They are gone! Keep going, damn it!”
“Maxim!” Galia hissed.
Maxim turned, his eyes glinting at him like knifepoints, before he turned back to the men on the landing. “Come on, come on!”
The other men hauled in their last jugs of water and began capping them with fumbling hands. Then, from all directions, a tide of gammarids brimmed over the landing like beagle-sized army ants. They tore into the men’s suits and climbed over their bodies, covering them up to their heads.
Maxim grabbed the last bucket and shut the hatch on them. He cranked the wheel and gave Galia a look as bloody as his murder. They heard the dying shrieks fade away on the intercom. “Get some men to carry this water, Galia,” he said, turning off the intercom with his fist.
“Maxim—”
“NOW, Galia!” Maxim screamed.
9:20 P.M.
Twenty 2.5-gallon jugs filled with salt water were carried into the lab by five of Maxim’s men. They also delivered ten large blue Igloo ice chests and two backpack agricultural sprayers that had come from the farm.
Otto inspected these last items. The sprayers shot through a nozzle at the end of a lance to cover a wide area while a pump on the other side of the red backpack tanks was operated by the other arm. “Yeah, these should work.”
Maxim came through the hatch from the garage downstairs and approached Geoffrey. “So, you have all you need, yes?”
“To each according to their need,” Geoffrey sneered.
“And from each according to their ability,” Maxim replied fiercely.
“You said you were a capitalist,” Geoffrey said.
“Don’t underestimate how serious I can be, Dr. Binswanger, when I must be. This is an emergency. And in emergencies the rules change.”
“That’s what every dictator says,” said Geoffrey.
Maxim reached down and grabbed Katsuyuki’s neck with his giant left hand and produced a handgun with his right. He placed the barrel of the gun on Katsuyuki’s forehead. “Next time I will pull trigger, yes?”
The biologist fell to the ground, making choking sounds.
“Now get it done!” Maxim turned and left the room, closing the hatch to the garage behind him.
“He’s out of his fucking mind,” Otto said.
3:19 A.M. BRAZILIA TIME
Hender, Andy, Cynthea, and Zero flew twenty-nine thousand feet over the Atlantic Ocean.
The humans slept as Hender quietly typed an entry on his laptop to soothe his worries, translating more fragments of the sels’ past from memory.
The 5th Darkness
Before the fifth darkness came, 29,498,517 years ago, one tribe had united and forced all other sels to follow Alok, their angry god.
But the giant waves tore off the last petal of Henderica—the place where the tribe of Alok had lived, and all its leaders were swallowed by the poison sea—all except for one. All of Kuzu’s tribe descended from him.
12:01 A.M. PACIFIC STANDARD TIME
Kuzu reviewed YouTube videos of Hender neutralizing his attacker in the human city of London, approving of his technique. But the hulking sel was increasingly angered by what humans were saying about Hender on the Internet.
Some humans continued to protest the sels’ imprisonment, and suggested their rights according to the “Geneva Conventions” and the “Constitution” were being violated. But others protested that sels were not people at all and that they were not protected by any law of man, and they used Hender’s act of self-defense as evidence that sels were dangerous.
“These beasts were not meant to live with us!” shouted one human on YouTube. “Their island was sinking until we interfered. They don’t belong on this planet with us. They are an abomination against God!” Kuzu’s fur boiled reds and purples as he journeyed through the Internet, a mounting rage banking in his mind.
9:53 P.M. MAXIM TIME
Hardly speaking to one another, the four scientists connected nozzles made from pinpricked latex gloves with surgical tubing attached to the drains of ice chests set on the top shelves of the storage room.
Working side by side, they clamped the tubes with old Soviet-style paper clips Maxim’s men had supplied. They used duct tape to patch garbage bags together, draping them down each side of the room to catch the water and drain it into six ice chests placed on the floor.
They carefully cranked open the lock of the far hatch and tied one rope to the top of the dog wheel on the door, hooking the rope around a pilaster of the shelves to the right of the hatch so that when they pulled on the rope, it would turn the dog wheel enough to unlatch and open it. Then they tied another rope to the center of the wheel to pull the door open wider.
All the paper clips constricting water flow to the gloves were tied to strings taped to a tug-line leading back to the door with the other ropes. Ropes were also tied to the h
andles of all six ice chests on the floor. They soaked the ends of the tug-line and ropes in trays of saltwater.
“OK,” Geoffrey said.
“All we need is some bait,” Otto said.
They turned to Maxim’s guards.
10:38 P.M.
Maxim’s men arrived, carrying an entire side of beef.
They laid it in the center of the floor inside the antechamber between the ice chests and then departed.
“Well, that should do it,” Geoffrey said.
The two guards holding pistols behind the four scientists watched, fascinated.
Geoffrey and Otto pulled the outer door of the storage room three-quarters shut.
Otto pointed a webcam around the door, and they watched the video feed on a laptop that Dimitri held. Gripping all the tethers they had rigged, Geoffrey yanked the rope that pulled the far hatch open a crack.
Sparks swirled into the room through the far hatch on the monitor.
“Shut it,” Dimitri said.
“Shhh!” Geoffrey put his hand on Dimitri’s mouth as another burst of glowing bugs flew into the room. He waited just long enough to suggest he was suicidal before yanking the tug-line and the eight surgical gloves inflated with saltwater, spraying through hundreds of pinholes. “OK,” Geoffrey whispered.
Geoffrey and Otto pulled the rope strung around the shelf post and swung the far hatch closed. They gave the line another hard tug, cranking the wheel just enough to latch it. Then they dropped all the other lines inside the room and pulled the near hatch closed.
Just before the door shut, Geoffrey caught a whiff of the Henders warning pheromone, which smelled vaguely like cilantro.… “Good going, guys! I think we got it,” he said.
They waited.
The men used the time to douse themselves with saltwater.
Inside the storage room, the saltwater continued to spray from the glove-nozzles. Otto put the stethoscope to the door. “Pleasure to work with you, MacGyver.” He nodded at Geoffrey. “The room’s buzzing, man!”
“OK, let’s fill those insecticide sprayers with saltwater and get ready to open the door. Saltwater’s not the best repellent, but it’s the next best thing. Maybe we can get the guards to put their guns down and help us, eh, Dimitri?”
Dimitri nodded and spoke to them in rapid Russian.
11:20 P.M.
At last, after a few rehearsals, they opened the hatch.
Geoffrey reached through the crack and took hold of the rope tied to the handle of the nearest ice chest. He and Otto pulled hard on the rope. The guards furiously sprayed salt water through the gap as the chest slid toward the door.
Otto watched the laptop feed coming from the webcam Katsuyuki pointed around the corner. “So far, so good,” Otto said. “They’re staying back!”
As they widened the door, Geoffrey splashed the water inside the ice chest over the doorway. “Pull it up!”
They dragged the ice chest up and over the hatchway, and the others clapped the cover on it as Geoffrey and Otto closed the door.
“We did it,” Dimitri sighed.
After hoisting the ice chest onto a lab counter, they filled plastic water jugs with repellent through the drain, which they filtered through cheesecloth. They emptied the backpack sprayers and refilled them with the repellent-infused mixture.
They proceeded to spray this mixture through the hatch as they opened it to retrieve the other five ice chests.
It worked perfectly until, as they were pulling the last one through, a seven-inch Henders wasp made it through the door, defying the repellent.
“Get it!” Geoffrey yelled, slamming the door shut.
“Kill that freakin’ thing now!” Otto moaned.
It landed on the stomach of the guard next to Geoffrey. Geoffrey punched the guard as hard as he could. The man doubled over, but the five-winged, ten-clawed bug was crushed and fell into the ice chest, bursting a cloud of blue blood.
The other guard grabbed Geoffrey angrily.
“He just saved his life!” Otto shouted.
Dimitri spoke rapidly to them in Russian and the guard backed off.
As they looked into the last ice chest, they were startled to see a number of Henders specimens caught in the water, moving very slowly under the surface. Ants, wasps, and drill-worms sprayed repellent as they died, producing an oily rainbow sheen on the water’s surface.
They filled the rest of the 2.5-gallon jugs from the ice chests, and Geoffrey labeled them with a black felt-tip, when a phone rang. Dimitri answered on the landline phone next to his laptop on the lab counter. “How soon will you be ready?” Dimitri relayed.
Geoffrey sat on a lab stool, exhausted, looking at Otto and Katsuyuki. “Tell him it’s ready.”
Dimitri relayed the news. “Maxim is very pleased with the progress you have made, Geoffrey.”
Geoffrey nodded. “Awesome.”
Dimitri hung up. “It looks like we’ll be testing your repellent tomorrow. That is, four hours from now.”
“Testing it?” Geoffrey got off the stool, putting his hands on his hips. “What?”
“The power plant,” Dimitri said.
“OK, we have to think about this,” Geoffrey said.
“Let’s get some sleep,” said Dimitri. He motioned toward their dormitory with his eyes, and they all got the message. They went to their quarters, away from the guards.
11:58 P.M.
“We can’t let him turn the power on down here,” Geoffrey whispered.
“Agreed,” Otto said.
“Yes!” Katsuyuki said.
“Hey,” Otto said to Dimitri. “Are you with us?”
“Maxim is insane,” Dimitri agreed. “If I must choose between him or the world, then of course I’m with you.” Dimitri jerked as he noticed something on his laptop, which he had brought in and set next to him on his bed. Dimitri called Geoffrey over. “Look.” He pointed to an e-mail he had just received from Maxim’s address:
Hey guys. I’m here in the palace with Sasha.
Can we help?!
BTW, WE CAN SEE YOU RIGHT NOW!
Wife
“She’s alive!” Geoffrey shouted.
“They must see us through that camera!” Otto pointed at a camera mounted over the hatch.
“They must be in Maxim’s office,” Dimitri said.
They all waved at the camera frantically.
11:59 P.M.
Sasha and Nell looked at a screen behind Maxim’s desk in the conservatory and saw the men waving.
Sasha had shown Nell how the hatch to this room could be locked from the inside, as could all the doors radiating out from this room throughout the city. No one could enter now as they accessed the Undernet.
“Wait—look!” Nell indicated Maxim’s e-mail box as a reply arrived.
How are you? – Husby
“We should go. I’ll erase these messages so Papa doesn’t see them.”
“Wait! Here comes another.”
Are you safe?
“Type yes, Sasha!”
“OK.” Sasha sent the reply.
“They’re replying!”
I’ll try to come and get you. Don’t come to us. Bye.
(It’s bad.)
OK, BYE, Nell typed, and sent.
Sasha deleted the messages and emptied the trash. “Come on. We better go.”
Nell looked back at the monitor on the wall as Geoffrey waved to her.
“Papa comes here sometimes. But not after two A.M., usually. We’ll come back then. OK, Nell?”
“OK…”
MARCH 21
2:28 A.M. MAXIM TIME
Maxim sat in the middle of the thirty-foot crescent of his couch atop the Star Tower, gazing through the glass walls of his penthouse apartment at his subterranean utopia. Life went on below. For the moment, at least, the power lines from the surface had not been cut off. In a few hours now, it would not matter.
The phone rang on the couch beside him. “Yes?” he asked, his t
hick voice cracking.
“My friend…,” Galia said. “News from above.”
“Just tell me what you have to say, damn it.”
“I can’t—”
“No! Tell me!”
“Alexei is dead, Maxim.”
“Don’t say it.… Damn you!”
“Maxim,” Galia implored.
Maxim exhaled his soul as he turned off the phone.
Galia knew then what he must do. He headed for Sector Seven. He was the only one, other than Maxim, with the authority to make the guards let him pass.
2:35 A.M.
Sasha waved Nell on up the winding stairway to the conservatory, which was now dark and empty. The curtain had been drawn over Hell’s Window. They both ran to the wall behind Maxim’s desk on the far side of the room.
Nell and Sasha saw a screen on the wall showing Geoffrey, Otto, Katsuyuki, and Dimitri. They were standing in an observation room of some sort, looking through a wide window.
“Wait a minute…” Nell looked closer at the HD screen. “Can you zoom this view closer and see what they’re looking at through that window, Sasha?”
“Of course!” Sasha clicked the mouse and the camera zoomed in. “You want to see the monsters from Henders Island, right?”
“Yes—what?” Nell turned pale as she looked down at her. “Why did you say that, honey?”
“The creepy-crawlies that Papa bought.”
Nell fell back in Maxim’s chair, the air sucked out of her lungs.
“What’s the matter?” Sasha said.
“What … are you talking about?”
Sasha zoomed in on the view of the window in the lab. “Papa’s monsters. That’s what they’re looking at.”
“Henders—” Nell couldn’t speak as the image expanded on the screen.
Sasha shrugged. “Papa said you’re an expert on Henders Island. That’s why he brought you here.”
Ivan jumped on the arm of the chair and licked Nell’s face.
“Are you OK, Nell?”
2:35 A.M.
The hatch door from the garage burst open and Maxim stepped through, followed by four armed guards. The billionaire strode forward and pointed at Geoffrey, his arm like a rifle. “Get repellent ready. We are starting power right now, Geoffrey. You!” He pointed at Katsuyuki. “Help my men take that downstairs.” He pointed at the five-gallon water bottle on the lab counter, which was filled with live Henders specimens. They had been testing various poisons on the specimens, which had not seemed to be affected by any of the toxic substances they had tried.
