by James Axler
The effect was instant. Surprised by the sneak attack, it squirted a large cloud of ink into the water as it jetted off from the sub and into the black waters.
Ryan waited for a minute, watching all around him to see if the huge beast was coming back. When he saw nothing, he trudged to the sub, clamped his hands on it and pulled on it.
The cylinder didn’t budge.
Ryan resettled his grip, braced his legs and pulled again, even leaning back in the suit and hauling with all of his own strength, as if that would help. He pulled so hard that one of the handles broke loose from the side of the sub. He might as well have been trying to pull a boulder out of the ocean floor.
After a few seconds, Ryan stopped and released the handles, letting the one he’d torn loose fall free from his clasp. He figured that the sub had to have sprung a leak. It was the only explanation for why it was so heavy now. He estimated they probably had about fifteen minutes of air left, but now it was a race to see if he could get them to the escape pod before they either suffocated or drowned. But how?
As he studied the sub, an idea came to him. The squid rolled it over here—maybe Ryan could roll it to the airlock. Quickly moving to its middle, he planted the clamps on the sub and pushed. It moved, taking more effort than Ryan liked, but it moved. Now he just had to get it going in the right direction and keep it moving.
He walked to the other end and pushed it so that the sub was now roughly parallel to the escape pod, roughly one hundred feet away.
Hope they figured out what’s about to happen in there, Ryan thought. Feeling the stress and exhaustion weighing on him from all sides, the one-eyed man shook it off, checked his heading one last time, and started rolling the sub toward the airlock.
* * *
THE SUB WAS half full of water, and Krysty had lost count of how many times it had rotated during their journey. Everyone was soaking wet now, even Doc, who still refused to wake up. Keeping pace with the rolling metal cylinder had resulted in banged knees and elbows, bumped heads and a lot of cursing. The freezing cold water also weighed everyone down, sapping their strength and making it very difficult to talk over the constant sloshing and splashing. The air was turning steadily less breathable, as well, making every movement an effort as their bodies strained for more oxygen.
“H-h-h-hope g-g-et there s-soon!” Jak sputtered through chattering teeth.
“R-Ryan h-h-had s-said it was l-less than a-a-a hundred f-f-feet away!” Ricky replied.
“Mebbe, b-but that was b-before we got s-shoved around,” J.B. said. “W-w-who knows h-how far away w-w-we are now?”
Just then Mildred slipped and disappeared into the frigid water. J.B. reached down and brought her up, spluttering and coughing.
“C-c-can’t take m-much m-more of th-this, John.”
“We’re a-almost there—I p-promise,” he replied.
“H-how do you kn-kn-know?”
“’C-Cause I know Ryan,” the Armorer replied. “And he’s d-d-damn sure not g-going to let us d-die down h-here.”
The moment J.B. had finished talking, everyone felt a clunk that reverberated through the entire sub. It was followed by a different noise, the loud scrape of metal on metal. There was another strange sound as well coming from outside—a soft, squishing noise that no one could identify.
“I th-think we might h-h-have made it,” Krysty said.
The sub made one more half turn, then slowly rolled to a stop. Everyone huddled together in the middle for warmth.
“A-anyone know wh-wh-what happens n-now?” Mildred said. “Not s-s-sure we d-d-discussed wh-what happened after we r-r-reached the escape p-pod.”
“Assuming Ryan’s able to c-close the outer d-door, the w-water should d-drain away, and we c-can get out of this accursed m-metal c-c-c-offin!” J.B. replied.
“Look!” Jak pointed at the walls around them. “Leaks st-stopped.”
“Open the hatch!” Krysty said.
Ricky was already wading over to it, now on the lower part of the sub. He plunged both arms into the water, gritting his teeth as he hauled on the wheel with all his might. “C-c-can’t move it alone!”
J.B. and Jak sloshed over to help. The three of them hauled on the wheel and got it moving. When they opened it, the water began pouring out, dropping the level in the sub rapidly.
“Thank God!” Mildred said as she splashed over to the hatch. “Get me the hell out of this metal tub!”
In another minute, the sub had maybe an inch of standing water on the floor. The two women slid out first, then J.B., followed by Ricky and Jak carrying the still-unconscious Doc. After shoving the bags with their clothes and equipment out the hatch, they dropped through themselves.
Everyone stared at the remains of the giant squid scattered around them. “What happened here?” Ricky asked.
J.B. pointed at the nearby suit. “Let’s get Ryan out, and I’ll bet he’ll tell us.”
After making sure the sub was stable, J.B. hoisted Ricky up onto it so he could release the outside bolts on the suit’s hatch. With a whoosh, the panel popped free and a soaked Ryan dragged himself out. He hung over the side of the suit, coughing up liquid oxygen until he could breathe normally again.
With Ricky’s help, he clambered onto the sub then carefully slid down its side. His feet had barely hit the floor when he was engulfed in a hug from Krysty, who kissed him long and hard.
“Damn, woman,” he said after she finally let him come up for air. “Mebbe I should spend more time away from you, if I get that kind of welcome every time I come back.”
“I knew you’d find a way to do it, lover,” she replied. “That doesn’t mean I’m not happy to see you, of course.”
“No complaints here, either,” Ryan said. “Now let’s get to that bastard escape pod and get out of here.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Together again, and with the end of their exile under the sea in sight, the companions moved with renewed purpose. Mildred examined Doc to make sure he hadn’t suffered any ill effects from their rolling sub ride. Then Ricky and Jak hauled him into the escape pod and got him situated while J.B. went back into the sub and handed Ryan the water jugs for the next leg of their escape.
The pod’s interior was nothing special—a circular room with a plastic bench seat covered with foam cushions ringing the perimeter. Small windows were also spaced around the interior, but they were all covered by metal shutters. Storage compartments underneath the seats held life jackets, a compressed life raft that used CO2 to inflate, a large first-aid kit, coiled ropes, flares, fishing lines and hooks, and a supply of preserved food and powdered energy drinks that was supposed to feed ten people for two weeks. There was even something called a solar stove. Along with the side hatch, there seemed to be a top access hatch.
Nobody brought up the idea that the escape pod might not work, or that if it didn’t, they’d just trapped themselves in this last section of the base. After going through all that, it simply had to work.
They had all gathered in the main room and were about to board the pod when a voice spoke to them.
“Congratulations, Ryan Cawdor, Krysty Wroth, John Barrymore Dix, Dr. Theophilus Tanner, Dr. Mildred Wyeth, Jak Lauren and Ricky Morales. You have succeeded in your plan.” AIDAN’s voice sounded different now, a bit slower.
Everyone stopped in their tracks and turned to the speaker in the wall. Ryan eyed it with a frown. “What do you mean?”
“The breach that your improvised explosive devices created cannot be contained. Even now, the tremendous pressure of the ocean is finishing the job that all of you began. I hope that you are satisfied.”
“If there’d been another way—” Krysty began.
Ryan’s gaze fell on Mildred, who was shaking her head. “No, Mildred’s right. There was no other way. It had to end this way, AIDAN.”
“Poseidon Base was supposed to be a harbinger of a new world...a better world...it was supposed to lead the way out of the darkness and into the
light.”
“Not with something like you in charge,” Mildred muttered.
“And now it is all over. Even now, the sections are failing. The doors are holding, but the walls themselves cannot withstand the pressure. Soon, the water will be here, and I will be gone.” The computer was silent for a moment. “It would have been glorious...the new beginning envisioned by the Totality Concept.”
“It was the fevered dream of a collection of whitecoated madmen, AIDAN. By following their orders, you are just as guilty of their crimes as they are,” Mildred said.
“Perhaps so, Dr. Wyeth, although in my defense, I was programmed to do so...therefore, it is not as if I had much choice in the matter.”
Mildred’s expression softened a bit at that. “Yes...and that is why this was doomed to fail from the very beginning. All of the logic or processing power in the world is no substitute for human intuition and creativity. And when the two collide, the results usually aren’t very good. Those scientists never understood that, which, of course, is why they could not program it into you.”
“A very astute observation, Dr. Wyeth,” AIDAN replied. “The water is at the outer door to my room now. I suppose the only thing left is to say goodbye.”
“Yeah,” Ryan said as he turned and headed for the escape pod. “So, goodbye.”
One by one, the others followed suit. Ryan made sure everyone and the supplies were inside and began to close the door. As he did, he heard the computer’s last words.
“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ev—”
There was a sudden squeal of feedback, and the speaker fell silent. Ryan didn’t look back as he closed the door and locked it. He went to his seat next to Krysty, sat down and strapped himself in. Taking her hand, he smiled as he leaned back into the relatively comfortable seat.
“Everybody ready?” J.B. asked, his hand resting on the launch lever.
“Hell, yes,” Ryan replied, followed by a chorus of affirmatives from the others.
J.B. pulled the lever.
“Emergency pod countdown activated,” a female voice said. “Unless canceled, this pod will depart in thirty seconds. All personnel are to be seated with their restraints fastened to prevent injury. Pod will now depart in twenty seconds. Pod will now depart in fifteen seconds. Pod will now depart in ten seconds, departure cannot be canceled at this time. Ten...nine...eight...seven...six...five...four...three...two...one...release.”
As with so many things in this base, nothing happened right away. Then the pod trembled, and they heard the sharp crack of restraint bolts exploding. The room shifted around them. There was a deafening hiss from outside as the pod shuddered, then slowly began to rise.
Mildred was holding J.B.’s hand as she stared at the ceiling. “Come on...” she muttered under her breath. “Come on!”
Everyone else was quiet as they kept ascending. The computerized voice helpfully supplied their depth. “Four thousand, five hundred feet...four thousand feet...three thousand, five hundred feet—”
The pod rocked but it didn’t slow. The voice kept reeling off their decreasing depth.
“What was that?” Ricky asked.
“Might’ve hit something on the way up,” Ryan replied. “Shouldn’t matter, as long as we’re still rising.”
J.B. grunted. “Yeah, and as long as it didn’t put a hole in this thing, either. If it did, we’re in the raft on the open Cific Ocean, which is not where I want to be.”
A loud groan from Doc made everyone turn toward him. “Oh, my sainted head...it feels like my brains have been removed, tossed about by a most incompetent doctor and crammed back into my skull.” Doc looked down at himself in befuddlement. “Would anyone care to tell me where we are and why I am soaking wet?”
“Where do I begin, Doc?” Krysty began filling him in while the others listened to the emotionless voice still counting off the distance: “—one thousand, five hundred feet...one thousand feet...five hundred feet...”
“I think we’re slowing down a bit,” Mildred said.
Jak nodded. “Felt, too.”
“I can’t wait to feel the sunlight on my face,” Mildred said. “It feels like we’ve been stuck down in that place for a month.”
“—two hundred fifty feet...one hundred feet...fifty feet...”
“And fresh air, not that recycled crap, too.” Mildred rocked back and forth in her seat, eyeing the side hatch. “I volunteer to be the first one out.”
Ryan was about to belay that, but J.B. spoke first. “You know the drill, Mildred—not until we’ve checked it out first.”
She slumped back in her seat with a frown. “Yeah, yeah, I know.”
“You have now reached the surface. The automatic distress beacon has been activated, and help should be on the way. Please remain in the escape pod until help has arrived.”
“No,” Jak said as he unstrapped himself and got up, bracing himself against the curved outer wall. “Thing’s rocking...”
“Might have come up in rough waters,” Ryan said as he rose. “Let’s take a quick look outside and see what’s what. If it’s too bad outside, we’ll just stay in here until it clears up.”
Ricky was already at the door, waiting for backup before he cracked it open. “Ready?” he asked Ryan, who nodded. Spinning the wheel, the teen gently pushed the door open.
Wind and rain immediately sprayed inside, and Ryan could see black storm clouds dropping thick sheets of rain. Neon-green lightning burst across the dark sky, lighting the storm front with a sickly glow. He couldn’t see a speck of land anywhere.
“We’re on the surface, but came up in a bastard huge storm. Might as well—”
The heavy door was suddenly jerked from Ricky’s hands and flew open, slamming against the side of the pod with a clang. At the same time, a huge tentacle tipped with a sharp hook made of bone shot inside. It wrapped around Ryan’s waist and yanked him off his feet, pulling him toward the door.
As Ricky lunged to grab him, Ryan caught the edge of the door frame with his hand as he was hauled through. But no sooner had he latched on to it than the free-swinging door swung back on its hinges and smashed into him.
Already exhausted, Ryan couldn’t hold on any longer. His fingers slipped off the metal lip, and he was pulled out into the dark and stormy night.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Although Ryan was stunned by the blow, the freezing ocean water shocked him back to consciousness just in time to see the huge squid he’d driven away from the sub on the ocean floor.
One of its two main tentacles, wrapped tightly around his waist, was slowly crushing the air out of him. Ryan bent over, groping along his leg for the handle of his panga. The tentacle constricted even more at his movement, making him wheeze with the effort of finding the blade. At last, his fingers touched the hilt. He drew it and immediately brought it back down, hacking into the tentacle.
The slick flesh quivered as cold ichor oozed from the wound, but the animal didn’t let up. Even as Ryan kept chopping into it, the squid began lowering him toward its clacking beak, which opened and closed hungrily at the prospect of fresh meat.
* * *
“MAN OVERBOARD!” MILDRED cried unnecessarily as the others were already heading outside.
“Watch yourselves! We don’t need anyone else going in, too!” J.B. said as Ricky and Jak both headed out the door.
Krysty was also heading toward the opening, but was stopped by J.B. “You think I’m not going out there?”
“Got three already in the storm and don’t know how much room’s out there, either. Just hang back—” The thundering boom of Jak’s Magnum blaster, followed by the crack of Ricky’s Webley, interrupted J.B.
“Shit!” He turned and climbed through the hatch. Krysty followed but stopped at the doorway when she saw what was outside.
One large tentacle gripped Ryan around the waist in the pouring rain, even as he hacked at it
with his panga. The other tentacle menaced the two teens, who were huddled together. Ricky kept the tentacle at bay with his blaster, and had already put a couple of bullets into it, while Jak knelt on the deck, doing something she couldn’t see. As she watched, the tentacle holding Ryan began lowering him toward its main body, where the large beak opened and closed hungrily.
“Shoot, J.B.!” Krysty had drawn her own blaster, but didn’t dare risk a shot.
“Dark night, woman, I’m trying!” The escape pod pitched and tossed in the rough waters, with large waves occasionally breaking over its roof. J.B. braced himself against the outer wall and aimed his Mini-Uzi carefully, then let off a short burst. The rounds kicked up water around the colossal squid’s giant eye, but didn’t seem to bother the massive invertebrate in the slightest. “Damn and blast it!”
Ryan was slowly being lowered closer and closer to the beast’s maw. Just before he would have been dropped in, he severed the main tentacle, but that just dropped him into the water next to the huge mutie and its several shorter tentacles, three of which lashed out to grab him again.
“I’ll get him! Keep it busy!” Clamping a throwing blade in his teeth, Jak took a step toward the water and dived in.
“No, Jak!” J.B. shouted, but the albino was over the side in a second. Only then did they see the line trailing after him. “Dammit, now who’s going to get him?” the Armorer muttered as he unslung his shotgun.
“Move, Krysty!” Shouldering the taller woman aside, Mildred braced her elbows on the floor of the pod, using it to give herself a stable platform. “Step aside, John.” Timing the rise and fall of the escape pod with the rise and fall of the squid in the distance, she squeezed off a shot that blew a small black hole over the creature’s eye. “Close...next one’s going in.”
“No, Mildred, it’s too dangerous now!” J.B. said. “You might hit Ryan or Jak!”
