by Greig Beck
Alex placed his gloved hands on the trunks of two large trees barring his way, and exerting huge pressure. They pulled apart, creating an opening. He turned to Cate.
“Let’s go. This way, quickly, but quietly.”
*
Cate Canning grinned as she walked. “We’re here, we’re really here.” She touched her face and winced. Her face felt raw and exposed where the goggles hadn’t been covering it. Her skin stung, and she bet it would blister and peel. Plus she had a thumping headache. Otherwise, she felt pretty darn good.
She sucked in a breath, not only smelling but tasting the earth, saltwater, fungus, and rotting vegetation floating in the air.
She moved from plant to plant. “It’s sort of quite beautiful when you get used to it.”
“Beautiful?” Alex continued to stride on, but he half turned. “In the eye of the beholder maybe.”
“And that’s me.” She slowed, looking around, and then holding her arms out. “We’re in a forest.” She continued to smile, undaunted. “Miles below the Antarctic.” She sped up to him. “Did you just hear me? A freaking forest – down here.”
“Yep.” Alex paused but continued to look down at the small box. “And a deadly one.”
Cate veered away to a large trunk and lifted her hand, but stopped short of touching it. “It’s not actually wood, you know. It’s more like a fungal growth, or,” – she spun – “a lichen.” She pointed up at the huge tree shape’s branching top that looked more like the tip of an asparagus.
“You know, I think I’ve seen something like these in the fossil record. It looks like a Prototaxite. Sort of makes sense, as they flourished in the warm, wet jungles of the Silurian and Devonian periods, about 400 million years ago.” She walked around the three-foot-wide trunk, and then craned her neck to see up into its thirty-foot stubby canopy. “They were more like huge rolls of liverwort matting. They could survive with little light.” She finally patted the hairy trunk. “And it’s alive. Here, now – this is probably the biggest find of the century.” She suddenly remembered the Pliosaur. “The second biggest find of the century.”
She held out her arms, looking like she wanted to hug the thing. She turned, her face beaming. “If I died now, it would have been worth it.”
“Be careful what you wish for.” Alex turned away to peer out into the gloom.
Cate looked across at another of the liverwort tree trunks, letting her eyes move up its trunk. She frowned and approached. It had what looked like bore holes in the hairy surface. The first was about six feet up and the size of a baseball. All the dark holes glistened at their edges.
“That’s weird, and interesting. Looks like something has been eating into it.” She lifted her hand towards the hole and used a couple of her fingers to rub at the glistening patch around its outside.
“It’s sticky, like webbing, slimy sap-web – ” Something launched itself at her hand like a jack-in-a-box. Its red, bulbous head ended in a wet looking sucker. Cate jerked her hand back with a squeak, and the thing’s head flopped down onto the surface of the lichen tree, feeling around the edge of its hole. It was like a lamprey eel, except the body was segmented like a wood louse, and no visible eyes were apparent. It lifted itself to wave its bulb-head in the air in her direction, small feelers rippling around its serrated mouth.
“I think it likes you,” Alex said.
Cate blew air between her lips as it pulled itself back into its hole. She could just make out a hint of red, as the thing crouched just inside. She stepped back, and could now see that in each of the holes, there was the smooth red head just poised in their opening.
“Jesus.” She made a fist of the hand that had touched the sticky web.
“Third find of the century, huh?” Alex grinned. “Best if you don’t touch anything.”
“Great, thanks for the heads up.” Her jaw clenched. “Maybe you should have given me some warning, seeing I’m the one who’s never been here.” Cate wiped her hand on her leg.
Alex shook his head, and looked up at the hairy trunks. “Never seen this and haven’t been here before. We were somewhere else entirely. But I know enough to be wary about anything and everything down here. You’ve got to remember that this place is as alien to us as we are to it.” He looked at her. “It’s a very primitive predator-prey environment, and we just dropped right into it.”
“I know that. I’ve spent my entire life studying this type of environment.” Cate noticed Alex’s expression. “Okay, okay, it was fossilized, but still, I’m not a complete dummy.”
“If I thought that, I’d leave you behind.” He went to turn away.
“Hey, I saved your life, buster.” Her raised voice carried through the silent forest. “And by the way; I can look after myself, and I’m far from being a quivering female.” She snorted, her hands on her hips. “I made a choice, and I’m glad I did.” She looked up and then out over the forest. “I can hear something.” Turning her head, she concentrated. “Sounds like … movement.” She pointed to the cliff wall. “From over there.”
“I know … and that’s where we’re going.” Alex motioned towards the interior and away from the cliff wall. “We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, and though we need to travel fast, we need to be cautious every single step of the way. Do not touch anything, do not make unnecessary sounds, and do not, under any circumstances, wander off.”
Cate snorted.
“Do you understand?” Alex held her gaze.
She looked away. “Sure, sure, no problem.”
*
Casey Franks was first through the broken tunnel wall, standing atop the tumbled boulders and using her gun-light to scan the darkness beyond. After a few more seconds she lowered her weapon.
“Clear.”
Dempsey led the rest of the team in. Immediately, the hulking form of Hank Rinofsky walked a few paces forward and held out a small black box, and concentrated on its small screen. He waved it around and then pointed it downwards into the dark void.
“Speak to me, Rhino.” Dempsey looked impatient.
Rinofsky whistled. “This mother is deep. Got a drop of nearly a mile, before it opens back up.” He shook his head. “It’s a goddamn labyrinth down there.”
Franks yelled from out to the side. “Got steps here, boss.”
Aimee saw that just along from them the ledge they all stood on ended at a set of steps cut into the rock face. They were steep, but passable.
Dempsey crossed over and crouched, holding up a flashlight. “Been used recently. But only used one way.” He lifted his light higher, looking up into the darkness above him.
Aimee joined him, and saw that the steps went in both directions. “Do you think it could be another way out?” she asked, feeling little confidence.
“Unlikely,” Dempsey said. “There was nothing on the surface to indicate an open vent or anything passable.” He waved his flashlight around a little more. “Might be worth a look though. If we end up needing someone to dig us out, then closer to the surface, is closer to sunlight.” He turned to yell over his shoulder. “Hagel, get up there and do a rec. You got twenty.”
“Got it, boss.” The young HAWC went up the steps like a mountain goat, and quickly vanished in the darkness above their heads.
Dempsey straightened. “Take five, people, going to be a long climb down.” He sat with his back to a rock and unscrewed his canteen lid.
“All downhill, boss. Walk in the park,” Rinofsky said with a grin.
“Maybe you should carry us then, ya big moose,” Franks said, looking over the edge.
Aimee sipped water, and she offered the canteen to Soong, who shook her head.
“We might need that later. Best to conserve it.”
“I don’t think finding water will be our problem.” She sipped. “But what’s in it, might be.” Soong looked perplexed, but Aimee didn’t feel like explaining herself.
“Yo, boss, got some cave graffiti here.” Parcellis aimed his light onto a
huge flat wall.
“Does it say: they went this way?” Dempsey remained sitting on the ground. “Forget about it.”
Aimee and Soong walked along the shelf of rock by themselves, and together they stood before the huge flat wall carved with the ancient glyphs.
“These are very old,” Soong said. “Thousands of years. Shenjung would have been interested.”
“Many thousands.” Aimee felt her stomach knot. There were symbols, whorls, and strokes, some carved in, and some raised in relief. The pattern of writing style hinted at Mayan, Incan, Sumerian, and other ancient languages, and she knew it was perhaps the root of all of them. There were images of birds, snakes, something that could have been a big cat, and a bison type animal. Also, carved in great detail were the faces, with tongues lolling, some gritted teeth. Some had eyes wide and were staring, with looks of anger, and then some portrayed the unmistakable rictus of fear.
Soong turned to her. “You have seen them before?” she asked, and then pointed at one place on the wall. “This one.”
The carving was of what looked like a nest of snakes with a giant eye at its center. “It is like one of the ancient demons from ancient Chinese mythology. We call it Zhàyǔ. It devours entire souls.” Her expression grew dark. “And it lives in the dark of the underworld.”
Aimee stared at the carving for a moment longer. “Not any more.” Aimee looked away, not wanting to dwell on the thing in the carving, and hoping with every fiber of her being that the creature she had encountered in the past was long dead. She’d seen it die. She went to turn away, but Soong continued to stare.
The Chinese woman stepped even closer, and placed a hand on the carved coiling limbs. She turned to Aimee. “Did you know that our people were missing; the first team at the base? Long before you came, something had entered our camp, we think, from below.”
Aimee stared at her for several moments, not wanting to hear the words.
Soong stepped back, but continued to stare at the glyph. “Something also destroyed our rock drill. Something that was already down here.” She lowered her light. “And now we go looking for it.”
“We’ll be fine.” Aimee felt a dark depression settling over her. “Let’s get back to the group.”
*
Redman Hagel felt his thighs burning – he liked the sensation – he liked pushing himself, and after jogging up nearly a thousand steps, sweat streamed and his legs screamed for a break. Now and then he’d send a pulse up ahead, similar to what Rhino had done on the shelf, and then read it as he continued to move. There was a cavern coming up. It appeared to have a ceiling – about to hit the top, he thought. According to his reader, there was still a shitload of rock, ice and snow still above them.
He came abreast of the floor. He paused, just letting his beam of light move over the geology for a few moments. Then he slowly lifted himself into the cavern. There was a wall built of stones, not mortared, but dry stacked. He pulled a few out, and leaned in, holding his flashlight up. It was a natural room, of sorts. Old rock carvings on the walls that meant nothing to him, but everywhere he looked there were bones … hundreds of them.
“What the fuck happened here?” He moved his light over the age-browned remnants of humanity, staring down at dark, brittle leg bones, ribs, and small skulls. They were intact, and by the look of the positioning of the bodies, they hadn’t died violently. Some had arms wrapped around others, and many were lying out flat as if they had simply gone to sleep. “Ran out of room, so you just walled yourself in and stayed here until you died, huh? Good plan.”
Hagel could see among the bodies that there were mineral outlines in the shape of large chisels, hammers, and picks. “You were digging, but you stopped.” He frowned. It didn’t make sense. “Why would you stay?” Hagel did a quick survey of the room; there were no other openings. These people had climbed up here from somewhere down below. This wasn’t their home, but it became their final resting place.
“You sealed yourselves in. What the fuck for? Were you running from something? Hiding?” He felt a chill on his neck. Something made these people decide this was as far as they’d go, and they would rather die than head back down.
He slid the pulser into a pouch at his waist. “No way, Jose.” He started to head back down.
CHAPTER 27
Staff Sergeant Jim Harker knocked once and pushed right into General Marcus Chilton’s office. “Banguuo, secure line – urgent.” He shut the door behind him.
Chilton raised an eyebrow and pointed to a chair. He then pressed the secure line link. Harker held up a hand, mouthing: I don’t think he’s alone.
Chilton nodded. “General Marcus Chilton, go ahead, General Banguuo.”
“I always thought you were a friend, and an intelligent man, General Chilton.” There were no pleasantries, and that immediately sent a red flag up. Instead, the voice had a hard edge. “I always thought our mutual interests, and mutual power, meant all things would be discussed before anything … precipitous, would be embarked upon.”
“I’m not following you, General.” Chilton stared straight ahead, waiting.
“And I do not follow you anymore. Our Xuě Lóng Base has been destroyed.”
Chilton frowned, and pointed to Harker who immediately pulled a computer towards himself and rapidly began to access their link to the VELA satellite data.
Chilton waited for Banguuo to continue. “After our first team vanished, we sent in a new team to find out what happened. Now they are gone too.”
Harker turned the screen around, showing satellite images of the Antarctic ice. There was just a blackened scab on the pristine snow where the Chinese base used to be. He shrugged.
Chilton exhaled, looking skyward for a moment. “General Banguuo, I promise you, this is news to me, and I can absolutely guarantee that we had nothing to do with it.” He grimaced, knowing there was no way he could be sure of that.
“I see,” Banguuo said. “Then who was it that sabotaged the Kunming destroyer in the Southern Ocean? A ghost maybe? A ghost that blows holes in our ship, and then swims towards your submarine?”
Chilton remained silent, until a new voice cut across the line.
“Maybe if someone were to destroy McMurdo, you would be more interested.” This new voice was high with agitation.
Harker mouthed: Chung Wanlin. The minister of national defense. But it wasn’t a surprise, as Chilton had expected that man would be standing beside his old friend.
“Mr. Wanlin, nice of you to speak up.” Chilton’s hand clenched into a fist. “But I would strongly suggest you back off that form of language, sir. You don’t know where that might end.”
“Our people are missing, we think dead. Our base is destroyed, our ship sabotaged. We hold you responsible.” Wanlin’s voice was cutting. “Our nation demands a response for these insults. You …”
It was Chilton’s turn to cut across the Chinese minister. “General Banguuo, I know you have dispatched more naval hardware. I suggest we meet, urgently, so we can – ”
“Too late.” Wanlin’s voice was like a screech. “You ask, where will this end? Perhaps you should have asked yourself that before you began your aggression.”
“Listen here, there’s something you need – ” Chilton spoke through clenched teeth.
The line went dead.
“Goddamnit.” He pushed back from the table.
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Harker said.
“Neither do I.” Chilton’s eyes narrowed. “Banguuo has been sidelined; that’s bad news. That little prick Wanlin is a bureaucrat who wields power without knowing what the effects of that power will be.”
He looked up at Harker. “We’re committed, but we’ve got to move this up a level, whether we like it or not. Find out what naval assets we’ve got available. I want them down there, yesterday … and get me Jack Hammerson.”
*
Time: 26 hours 32 minutes 27 seconds until fleet convergence
Colonel Ja
ck Hammerson disconnected the call from General Chilton and set a digital time banner on his computer for the US contingent of fourteen destroyers, including the new Zumwalt destroyer – a hundred feet longer than any other destroyer, and featuring radar deflective angles and a new type of gun that could shoot rocket-powered warheads up to a hundred miles. Added to this firepower, there would be eight cruisers, six Fast Attack submarines, and two Ballistic and Guided Missile submarines. All were expected to arrive in the Southern Ocean in a little over twenty-six hours, to face off against the massed Chinese vessels. The brass were taking this seriously, and the countdown had begun.
Hammerson sat for several seconds, thinking through the recent events and his next actions.
He fully expected the destroyer to be sabotaged; after all, he had planned it, and the Arcadian had executed it, perfectly. He swung in his seat, hitting keys on his computer. The Hammer, as he was known to friends and foes, was the leader of the HAWCs and not one to die wondering. He and his teams relished the hard jobs, and when the going got tough, he just got even tougher.
It was his job to anticipate what his adversary might do. In this regard, he fully expected the Chinese to hit back, and to try and give us a little taste of what they think we’re dishing out. He smiled; General Marcus Chilton didn’t need to tell him to move things up a level. He already had the third portion of his strategy in motion.
Hammerson’s screen showed the lifeline of the huge HAWC, Sam Reid, now approaching his drop point on the Antarctic ice sheets. The lifeline was strong and calm. Sam would lead another small HAWC team in and secure McMurdo from any intrusion. He grinned, remembering the huge man’s enthusiasm when he had told him of the mission.
Get the Bravo team to the pad, you’re going in – and then the kicker – and get down to Special Weapons, I’ve requisitioned a full MECH; we’re going to take this one head-on, show ’em what real warfare tech looks like.
