by Greig Beck
Aimee then pushed him away, her eyes shining, the pupils heavily dilated. “Goddamn you, why do you have to be … you?” She turned and walked away.
He watched her disappear down the dark corridor. Alex didn’t want to go up that ladder; instead he wanted just one more moment, even just a few more seconds with her. But the submarine rocked again, and he knew what pursued them now would kill her in the most horrible way. She was worth living for, worth killing for, and if it came to it, worth dying for.
Alex knew she was right; it was what he was made for. He turned, seeing Casey smile awkwardly. She shrugged.
He pointed a finger at her. “Not a word.”
“Didn’t see a thing.” She saluted. “Good luck … fool.”
Alex sucked in a deep breath, and then went up the ladder. He spun the hatch wheel.
CHAPTER 59
The first thing that assailed his senses when Alex made it to the deck was the acrid smell. The biological ammonia was so thick in the air it was like a poisonous gas. He had to move quickly, and hope for a lucky shot. If he could target one of the huge eyes, he may be able to get a bullet into its brain. He had no idea whether that would kill it or even slow it down, but his goal was simple: make it back off just long enough for them to get the hell off the shoreline.
Franks slammed the hatch shut, and immediately the huge creature surged over the submarine. Alex fought back the urge to move quickly, as the massed tentacles rose around him. He saw they were whip-thin at the tip, but at their base they were as thick around as a freight train. There, they coiled and wrestled with each other like grotesque pythons fighting to be first to consume him. The submarine was now in among the Kraken’s nest of flesh, with most of its monstrous bulk still in the water. The huge sack of its head lifted, pulsating, and eyes the size of cars rose up to fix upon him.
He thought he saw it shiver, not from fear, but perhaps with eager anticipation of a new game. Alex could sense its intelligence – not quite that of a human, but certainly a cold intellect that was almost alien. Colors flared in bands as excitement rippled through its body.
Alex carefully raised the rifle. One of the eyes was turned towards him, rising ever higher. At this range, it was impossible to miss. He fired twice, dead center. The huge lidless eye quivered and pulled back, but there was no explosion of optic jelly, or even blood seepage. It was impossible to tell if there had been any damage at all.
Not a thing, he thought. One left.
He raised the rifle again, once more sighting on the huge disc of an eye. What Alex couldn’t have known was that behind the massive eye, the brain was protected by flexible cartilage – and on the monster before him, that shield was a dozen feet thick.
Alex’s neck prickled, and then came a soft, wet noise behind him, followed by a sensation of growing coldness. Alex turned to see the watery figure drifting up and over the railing, to then alight on the deck. Captain Wu Yang, looking expressionless, wet, and staring, his arms by his sides. Alex froze, knowing the figure wasn’t a figure at all, but another tentacle, stalking him.
So real, Alex thought. Yang’s face carried a tortured expression, like the man’s very soul had been trapped inside the animal that had consumed him. Alex felt hopelessness settling over him. As real as Yang looked, he, it, was just a huge pad, dotted with softball-sized suckers, each with a cruel hooked talon at its center. It seemed the creature had decided to play with its food before it struck.
Alex carefully eased the gun around, but knew that as much as he wanted to fire point-blank between Yang’s eyes, it would be like trying to stop an elephant by jabbing its toe with a toothpick. Beside him, he saw the periscope lens swivel towards Yang. He imagined Casey cursing her usual curses, and he hoped his orders held, or she’d be beside him, fighting to a sure death, in another few seconds.
Indecision wracked him. He could think of only one insane option, to dive over the side. But that would be into about six or more feet of water, where the huge cephalopod was king – he’d last about six seconds. He waited, as Yang glided a little closer, the thing’s face slack, urging him to make a move. It was so lifelike that Alex almost felt compelled to talk to him.
He turned his head at a glacial speed, to do so any faster would invite attack. He could see the massive bulk of the Kraken still in the water. Now both its white, goat-slit eyes watched him intently. He bet it’d be smiling if it could. Its colossal size and strength meant they never really stood a chance. It dwarfed the submarine, and he didn’t doubt for a second that if it wanted to, it could rip the steel hull apart to get at the tender morsels inside.
Yang glided so close, Alex could see the cold aura of death surrounding the thing, and the stink made his eyes stream.
Alex stood absolutely still, waiting. Another tentacle tip edged over the railing towards him, and the tip alighted on one of his arms. The cold sliminess was immediately replaced by fire, as he felt the suckers engage, penetrating even his toughened suit. The tooth-rimmed discs felt like they were searing down into his flesh. He remembered Aimee telling him years ago that the cephalopods could taste their food this way.
I don’t want to end up like Yang, he thought, his mind whirling, but with zero options. He worked to ignore the fire on his arm that now snaked up to his shoulder, and tried to separate his mind from his body, preparing for the bloody annihilation he knew would surely come. From the corner of his eye he saw movement, and easing his head around, saw that there were hundreds of tiny pale figures standing on the jutting ledges and broken balconies of the fallen city. Like stadium crowds at a football game, the barrackers were all there, and he bet his side was not the local team.
Alex felt his armored suit being slowly stripped away and knew his flesh would soon follow. He calmed himself, and then saw her: she was out at front, smaller than the rest and she lifted her mask free, the glossy oil-black eyes watching him.
Help us, he mouthed.
The tiny woman’s head titled, and he had no idea whether she heard, understood, or even cared about his fate.
There was a metallic squeal from behind him as the hatch wheel started to spin.
Goddamn you, Franks, Alex thought, his teeth grinding. He half turned. “Keep that hatch closed.”
Yang shot forward, passing right by Alex, and hitting the hatch door. The door, now unlocked, was pulled upward, dragging the huge form of Rhino with it. The expression of surprise on his face would have been humorous, if his appearance probably didn’t spell a horrible death.
Alex spun, fired at the eye again, and then dropped the gun. In one swift movement, he drew his pitiful blade and stabbed and slashed at the huge muscular limb. His razor sharp knife cut into the flesh, but it was like trying to sever something that was a combination of leather and rubber. More tentacles inched upward over the hull as the exposed Rhino was trying to keep the impossible figure of Yang from its sticky embrace with the hatch lid.
Alex felt the limb freeze beneath his hands, and he thought his mind was playing tricks as a haunting whistle sounded from ahead of him, behind him, all around him. A fist gripped tight inside his head, and he grimaced from the agony, as the sound stabbed deep into his brain. The tentacles stopped their movement, and hung in the air around the submarine like a huge flower with mottled green and black tentacles, blooming all around them. Alex looked over the side, only just able to stop his eyes crushing shut from the unbearable pain. He knew a hungry mouth the size of a truck was there, beneath the mantle of the creature, and just below the waterline.
Gradually the Kraken pulled back, and then silently slipped beneath the surface. The whistling stopped, and with it went the pain. Alex turned to the small figure on the far shoreline. She pointed at herself, then at Alex, and made a breaking motion. Alex could feel the thought slide easily into his tortured mind. You once freed me, and now I freed you – we are even.
The ghostly pale figure with the mask of tentacles turned and danced back over the huge tumbled boulders, skipping awa
y and disappearing into one of the broken holes of the last refuge of the mighty city of Aztlan.
Rhino was lying on the deck panting, his hands covered in slime. “I came up to lend a hand, boss.”
Alex growled, and lifted the big man with one hand and shoved him towards the hatch. “If we live, remind me to kick your ass all the way back home.”
They slid down the ladder, and Rhino sealed them in. Alex sped straight for the bridge. “This is the only chance we might get. Fire up those engines and give me maximum reverse thrust.”
The sound of running boots on steel grating echoed in the steel corridors. Blake and Casey followed Alex to the bridge room, and headed to different consoles, while Rhino sprinted back down to the torpedo room.
Aimee tilted her head as Alex appeared in the bridge room. Their eyes locked – he could guess what she was thinking: another life used up. And he also knew then that they would need to have a long conversation about what the future may hold, for them, and for Joshua. If they survived.
She smiled and nodded to him, looking away and releasing him. When they survived, he thought.
“Hey, check this out.” Casey turned away from one of the screens that showed a camera view of the outside.
“Got it working. This would be an underwater view … if we were underwater.”
“Engines at full power, boss,” Blake said, his fingers dancing over the consoles.
“Okay, here goes.” Alex sucked in a breath, saying a silent prayer. “Full reverse, and let’s hope the prop still turns.”
“And we don’t just spin it to shit on the rocks,” Casey said.
“Think positive thoughts,” Cate replied.
Casey snorted. “You do the chanting, lady, we’ll do the driving.”
Alex turned to the group trying to see over the HAWCs. “Everyone else, sit down, strap in, or just wrap something around yourselves. This is going to be real rough.”
A throb went through the Sea Shadow, then a vibration they could all feel right down to the bones. Alex gripped the console edge, willing the vessel to move.
“Sixty percent turbine,” Blake said, pushing the small handle a little further forward. Bands of light on a panel illuminated another few bars up a scale. He pushed a little more, and the bars lit up towards the top. His voice was calm. “Seventy percent … seventy-five … eighty …”
The submarine lurched violently. Soong got down low, and wrapped both arms around a steel pole. Shenjung crouched beside her, hugging his arms around her and the pole together. Cate slipped and screamed, and Aimee reached out to grab her, while keeping one arm looped around a strut.
“Move, you sonofabitch,” Casey screamed as the entire submarine juddered again, but stayed in place.
“Ninety percent … red lining, boss,” Blake yelled. He spun. “She canna take anymore, Captain,” he said in his best Scottish accent, then grinned.
Alex laughed grimly, and held up a fist. “Then punch it, Scotty, we got nothing to stay here for.”
Blake pushed the lever all the way up, and the bars of light, once green, now changed to full red. There was a steady thrum, and then a smell of burning. Finally, there came another sound, and it was the sweetest they had heard in days – the sound of the metal hull grating on rock.
The submarine slid a few feet, juddered and bucked, and then slid a few more feet. As soon as the curved propeller hit the deeper water it could create more drag. Waves flowed up the bank as the props grabbed, and then threw water in great geysers over the submarine and onto the shoreline.
Suddenly, there was a grinding rush, as they slid backwards.
*
Aimee gripped the railing, bracing her legs as the Sea Shadow slid into deeper water.
“Ease down, Blake. Bring her about,” Alex said, moving from console to console.
Aimee continued to watch him – pride, love, desire, and joy near overwhelming her. But there was also something else underlying it all … a darker emotion. Fear … fear of the unknown. She knew he still harbored personal demons like no other man. Could she ever trust him? Inside him lurked a stranger, the Other, Alex called him, and she’d witnessed this being’s callous brutality in the past. He was a force that answered every question with violence, and his volatility was a threat to her safety, and perhaps even to Joshua’s.
Aimee sighed; thinking of Joshua was a shot in the arm to her spirits. Joshua too was different – stronger, faster, and smarter than normal – but she knew now he was constantly in danger. She vividly remembered the attack on her house, and Peter shot and unable to protect them. She realized that to defend against violence, maybe someone of strength and violence was what they needed. And who better to guide her son, and be a father to him, than someone exactly like him? She was torn.
“Okay?” Cate’s voice made her start.
“Huh?” Aimee smiled. “Yeah, or I will be, when I see the sun again.”
“I heard that. Let’s just hope it happens soon.” Cate turned to watch Alex as well.
“Okay, people,” Alex said. “This is what we’ve got. We’re currently in a small pond with a very large marine predator. It got the vessel in here, so we need to get it out. We will find a way out, or we will make one.”
“It had to have used the vortex,” Cate said. “My guess is it’s the far wall of this cavern that separates its lake from the greater underground ocean. We need to be out there.”
Alex nodded. “Makes sense to me.” He moved behind Blake. “Ping the wall; find me that hole. If not, find me a weak spot. And Franks, keep your eyes and ears open. That thing was enough trouble above the water.”
“Got it,” said Casey, hunched over a sonar monitor.
Aimee crossed to where Shenjung and Soong stood quietly. “Do you think we can navigate the vortex … if we can find it?”
Shenjung shook his head. “This is unknown. The opening in the cave could be smaller than we anticipate. This creature can compress itself down very small. Maybe it can fit into tight spaces, but we cannot.”
Soong wrung her hands, and Shenjung took one of them in his. She smiled up at him, but then turned to Aimee. “If there is a constricting of the geology, there could be a funnel effect that will make the water extremely turbulent. Very difficult.”
“Great,” Aimee said. “Then we need something else – luck.”
CHAPTER 60
The submarine turned fast, the steel fish incredibly maneuverable. Alex felt a glimmer of hope as they moved along the eastern shoreline, on the edge of an underwater shelf and about twenty feet down.
Casey Franks frowned and leaned in towards her screen. “Gross, what the hell is this?” She turned. “Hey, Doc … uh, Docs.”
Cate and Aimee joined her, both leaning over the female HAWC. Cate’s brows shot up as she straightened. “Unbelievable, but I think that’s eggs.”
The group crowded around Casey’s screen. The underwater shelf created an overhang, and suspended from the rock roof there looked to be gigantic bunches of grapes, each egg pod about six feet in length. They swayed slightly in an invisible current.
“So, this is where momma raises the kids?” Casey said.
Cate leaned back. “Also answers the question on whether there is only one of them. Got to be at least two, huh?”
“And going to be a hell of a lot more soon.” Casey looked like she had just smelled something bad. She panned the external camera around. “Looks like a pretty strong current coming from somewhere.”
“Oh god, yes and no,” Cate said, spinning back. “We need to get away from here.” She leaned over Casey, staring hard at the screen. “A current, yes, but not a natural one. The female stays close to the eggs, protecting them and blowing water over them to keep them oxygenated.” She pointed. “There.”
At the end of her finger on the screen, they could just make out the tips of tentacles flattened on the bottom. The rest of the creature was so perfectly camouflaged, it could have been part of the rock shelf itself.
>
Casey pulled back on the camera’s magnification, taking more of the gigantic cephalopod in, but like a submerged mountain, much of the animal extended beyond their scope.
Alex leaned forward, studying the image. He felt a surge of adrenalin at seeing the size of the thing, and so close to them in the water. Down here they were vulnerable. Inside the submarine, they had nowhere else to go. He straightened.
“Okay, if this is where the thing is, then we want to be somewhere else. Blake, get us out of here.”
Blake swung the submarine away towards the far wall, and the lake bottom suddenly fell away beneath them.
“Getting deeper here, we’ve not got fifty fathoms beneath us.” He checked his instruments. “No sign of any breaks in the wall.”
“Take her down another twenty,” said Alex.
“You got it.” Blake eased the U-shaped wheel forward and the sub gently inclined as it dropped. “Hold the phone, ladies and gentlemen, we might have an opening. Sonar just missed a few pings along the western wall … means the sonar pulses passed right through and didn’t bounce back off anything solid.”
“There, a blue glow up ahead.” Casey clapped her hands once as she watched the screen. “A big beautiful hole in the wall.” She grinned. “And plenty of room – got to be eighty feet up and across – easy.”
“Take us through,” said Alex.
“Incoming”’ Blake yelled, making Jennifer cringe as though she had been struck.
“What?” Alex spun to the man, crossing the bridge in two strides.
“Big bogey, coming right at us …” Blake’s neck jutted forward, his round eyes fixed on the sonar. “Hold it, hold it …” He half turned, a relieved smile on his face. “Going to miss us … it’s going right past, and it’s in a helluva hurry.” Blake’s smile evaporated. “Ah goddammit, it’s headed for the hole in the wall.”
