by Dan McGirt
“Several,” said Jack. “It may have its own physics.”
“Are you joking?” demanded Gal. “Sometimes I can’t tell.”
“I wish I were.”
Gargantuan arms wrapped around three of the four thick pillars supporting Deepfire’s upper structure. The limbs enveloping the rig contracted in unison, squeezing the structure with incalculable force – though Jack did attempt a calculation, quickly abandoned as he watched steel decks buckle like cardboard.
Hundreds of men remained aboard the Deepfire, with no good way off. Four life boats were crushed against the side of the rig by the massive arms, flattened and unusable. One boat hung crazily from its cable, swinging and spinning between two of the Leviathan’s limbs. Two others had entered the water before the titan of the deep appeared. Neither was under power.
Metal clanged against metal. Flames erupted from the generator plant, adding a hellish new light to the eerie glow from the water and the red sprays of lightning that streaked across the sky at intervals. Deepfire listed past forty degrees and began to slip beneath the surface.
“It’s pulling the rig under!” said Galahad.
“Hull displacement is one hundred forty-three thousand tons,” recited Jack.
“That’s one strong squid.”
Deepfire groaned as it succumbed to the relentless pressure exerted by the massive arms. Crew still aboard faced a terrible choice – go down with the rig, which was certain death, or leap into the madly churning water, which chopped and surged around the gigantic appendages. Every yellow-clad crewman who made the leap was immediately sucked under and lost from view.
“All those people...” said Cassi. “It’s horrible.”
Jack wondered if Director Oswald had met his end when the bridge sank or if he was perhaps in one of the lifeboats? Either way, the SEG scientist’s future looked to be short – as did theirs.
Galahad looked away from the horror on the rig and grasped the situation at once. “We’re swirling down the drain, kemo sabe!”
“Yes,” admitted Jack.
With every revolution around Deepfire, the dock gathered speed and moved closer to the sinking rig. Jack estimated five more circuits, six at most, would bring them to the Leviathan’s implacable arms. But that wasn’t all.
The mile-wide eddy around Deepfire was on a gradient, sloping inward and downward toward the rig. The floating dock had already dipped below the artificial horizon of its outer edge. As water reached Deepfire it was drawn down with a Niagara-like roar, as if shunted into a submerged drainpipe or, Jack theorized, a spatial vortex.
First one orange lifeboat, then the second helpless vessel, was drawn back to Deepfire, rebounded off a gigantic limb, and was lost from view in the rushing spray. The large crew boat followed, bow rising in the air as it tipped stern first into the abyss.
“Not good,” said Galahad. “No, not good at all.”
“Maelstrom,” said Jack. “In legend, in the sketchy historical record, the Leviathan is said to cause maelstroms – relentless whirlpools that suck ships under the sea.”
“Legend confirmed,” said Galahad. “So there’s that. Now what do we do? Click our heels together?”
“Relax and enjoy the ride,” said Jack.
“Idaho, man,” said Gal.
“It’s magnificent,” said Cassi. “In a way.”
Jack squeezed her hand. “It is. Awe-inspiring.”
“How old must this creature be?” she wondered.
“Older than humanity,” said Jack. “As old as the ocean.”
“I wonder what could kill it,” said Galahad. “Nuke, you think?”
“A warhead would only annoy it.” Seeing Galahad’s skeptical expression, he added. “I could explain why I think so, but we don’t have time.”
Galahad pointed. “We’re about to see what a machine gun can do.”
The only other vessel afloat was the remaining RHIB. As it swirled nearer Deepfire, the gunner fired the mounted 12.7mm. The rat-tat-tat! of three hundred rounds fired in fast succession barked across the water. Tracers marked the path of hits across the width of first one great arm of the creature, then a second limb, to no visible effect. The patrol boat circled closer. The rest of the crew fired their KH’s with even less effect. The RHIB made its final approach, bouncing across the rough chop so hard that one passenger was sent flying overboard. The SEG troopers emptied their clips, shouting curses and primal roars of defiance as they fired. One took his final shot with a grenade launcher. The high explosive round burst against the flesh of Leviathan in a blast of heat and flame instantly extinguished. Then the patrol boat and all its crew were gone.
“We’re next,” said Galahad.
“One more turn,” Jack agreed. “Get a good look.”
“Should have saved that red.”
Jack laughed. “We’ll try to go out with a little more dignity than the last group.”
“Sure,” said Gal. “Just appreciate the moment.”
Jack squeezed Cassi’s arm. “Sorry I didn’t get here sooner. We might have gotten out alive.”
“I already made my peace with dying tonight,” said Cassi. “I’m sorry to drag you along for the ride.”
“I wouldn’t miss this ride for anything,” said Jack.
Cassi kissed him. “I lied,” she said as their lips parted. “I’m glad you’re here. I didn’t want to die alone. Is that selfish of me?”
Jack stroked her cheek. “That doesn’t seem too much to ask, babe.”
“Thank you for coming to find me. I mean it.”
“Anytime, anywhere.”
Galahad coughed.
Cassi laughed. “You too, Galahad. Thanks for coming.”
Gal winked. “My pleasure. There is nothing I would rather do on a weeknight than vanish into a maelstrom caused by a steroidal squid. It has long been a dream of mine.”
“Who says dreams don’t come true?” said Jack.
The friends locked hands and locked eyes.
“It’s been a good run, man,” said Galahad.
Jack, choked with sudden emotion, could only nod at first. He cleared his throat. “The best, Gal. The best.”
The raft went into the final revolution, the last lap around Deepfire before the wild current drew them into the raging froth and down into the depths of the Gulf – and into the great beyond. They were close to the rig, less than a hundred yards off. The towering support columns had sunk below view, pulling the demolished topsides almost to sea level. Jack’s view of the upper deck was obscured by the bulk of the crushing arms. The drilling tower and derricks were gone, the power plant burning, sending black smoke swirling up to the stars. Two arms of the Leviathan, unburnt and unaffected by the flames, gripped that side of the rig. There was no sign of survivors aboard Deepfire, nor any in the surrounding water. Galahad, Cassi, and Jack were the only remaining witnesses. In a few minutes they too would be gone and the vanishment of the Deepfire with all hands would become one more mystery for the world to ponder.
The Leviathan was magnificent. Impossibly large, impossibly strong. Jack wished he had his scientific instruments to hand so he could profile the creature via full-range spectrometry, X-ray, radar, sonar. He had so many questions about the Leviathan’s physiology, mode of propulsion, and ecology. Was it unique, or were there others of its kind? How did it produce an electromagnetic pulse? What was its relationship to the telluric currents and energy nodes that seemed to draw it?
Questions he would never answer. Curiosity unrequited. Jack looked away from the Leviathan and focused on his friends. Galahad – his closest, oldest friend, his partner in so many adventures. It had always been probable they would die side by side, stuck in a scrape they couldn’t escape.
Cassi. She was a might have been among might have beens, maybe even a should have been, if only Jack had chosen some other life than the one he led. It was ironic – he pushed her away to protect her from the dangers he willingly, perhaps compulsively, faced. Jack had
sacrificed whatever possibility of a life together they might have had to protect Cassi from his enemies, to disentangle her fate from his own inevitable violent end on the day his luck ran out. Yet here she was, here they were, dying together, and there was nothing he could do to save her. That the Special Engineering Group, one of his most dangerous foes, had sealed Cassi’s fate made the pill all the more bitter.
That wasn’t the thought he wanted to take into the abyss. They were together now. She wasn’t alone. He wasn’t alone. They would explore the final mystery hand in hand. That was enough.
The water roughened. The raft quickened.
A brilliant white light from above bathed the three doomed castaways in its glow. With it came a whirring sound like the fluttering wings of angels.
Jack looked up.
No, not angels.
It was SARA-1.
28: By Man and Angels
Jack leapt to his feet. The searchlight dimmed to a less blinding intensity while the rescue drone hovered above the raft.
“Move! Move!” said Jack.
Cassi was dazed by the sudden light, stunned into motionlessness. “Jack? What?”
Jack hauled Cassi to her feet. Three evacuation harnesses swung free beneath the SARA unit. Jack and Galahad worked together, wrapping the lift straps of the middle harness around Cassi’s waist and shoulders and securing the buckles.
“Hold tight!” said Jack. Cassi, still processing this sudden turn of events, nodded.
The raft surfed the inner rim of the maelstrom, mere yards away from the Leviathan’s constricting limbs and the almost vertical drop into a raging surf below.
Jack and Galahad exchanged a look, realizing there was no time left to buckle in. Each grabbed the line above his harness with both hands.
“Go! Go! Go!” shouted Jack.
The raft fell away from their feet, leaving the three companions dangling above the abyss. SARA-1 lost altitude as the rotors adjusted to their combined weight, giving the passengers a momentary sensation of following the raft down as it tumbled away and disappeared into the foam and spray. Then the rotors revved and SARA-1 lifted them straight up, rising a hundred feet before banking away from Deepfire.
Waves crashed over the top deck of the rig. The flames faltered. Only the upper levels of the executive housing units, demolished power plant, and the base of the amputated drilling rig remained above water. The dozen arms of Leviathan coiled tightly around the superstructure, pulsing and contracting like a nest of immense pythons, drawing the semisub inexorably downward. The air gap between the inner wall of the maelstrom and the arms of the creature was several hundred feet. The fluid dynamics of what he was seeing boggled Jack’s mind, which was not easily boggled.
SARA-1 left the rig behind. The gyre contracted such that the outer edge of the whirlpool was now a mere quarter mile from the sinking Deepfire platform. Jack felt a surge of relief as he spied the sleek lines of Marisa cruising just beyond the bounds of the shrinking maelstrom. He surmised MARISA had hacked the Deepfire radar array’s signal processing to show a false location. The Shrikes had gone the wrong way. They could be dealt with later.
The SARA unit deposited its passengers on the yacht’s upper deck.
“Welcome aboard,” said MARISA.
“Thanks for the lift, love,” said Jack. He freed Cassi from the harness and steadied her. “Gal, get her to sick bay pronto. She needs fluids, IV, full work up.”
“You got it,” said Galahad. He draped an emergency blanket around the dazed marine biologist and led her toward the hatch.
“MARISA, get the SARA back out there looking for survivors,” ordered Jack.
“My sensors don’t detect any.”
“I don’t care!” said Jack. “Go look!”
“Aye, aye,” said the AI. SARA-1 soared away from the yacht.
“Did you detect a distress call from Deepfire?”
“None.”
“The EMP knocked out their coms. Send a mayday, spoofed from Deepfire’s transponder.”
“Done.”
“And reverse whatever you did to the San Marcos coast guard’s assets so they can respond.”
“The missile boats too?”
“Yes. In fact, free the entire San Marcan network.”
“Done. San Marcos coast guard has received the mayday and is en route.”
“Good.”
“Still finding no survivors, Jack.”
“I don’t think there are any,” said Jack. “Let’s circle the rig once at ten knots and then get to international waters. But keep SARA-1 on station until the San Marcans arrive.”
Cassi blinked into realizing that Galahad meant to take her below. She broke away from him, returned to Jack’s side.
“Jack! We can’t leave!” Cassi tugged at Jack’s arm. “We have to document this new species!”
“It isn’t new.”
“Jack, this creature upends all we know of marine ecology. Of biology! We’ll need an entirely new taxonomy. We need to tag it, track it, determine—”
Jack cut her off. “It has a name,” he said. “It has many names. They all equal death.” He looked down at Cassi, his expression thoughtful. “We don’t need to track it. We need to forget everything we saw here.”
Cassi’s mouth hung open in disbelief. “Jack, you’re a scientist! How can you say that?”
“I’m serious, Cassi. Forget it. There won’t be any evidence. No one will believe you. You’ll get lumped in with the crazies looking for Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. Your career as a serious scientist will be over.”
Cassi recoiled as if slapped. “Jack!”
“Some things are better left alone.”
“Jack...”
“You’re applying science to something better classed as mythology. The Leviathan entity exists at depths we can’t map or chart. Our most sophisticated instruments cannot register a truth so deep. It only surfaces when disturbed. When summoned. It is an omen, and never a good one. Please take my advice, Cassi – don’t go looking for it.”
Cassi’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve looked.”
“No,” said Jack. “But I’ve studied the history of the men – and women – who have, and who lost everything by it. Lives, limbs, reputations, sanity. Believe me when I say, this creature isn’t a new discovery. Accounts of the Leviathan go back to the Vikings, the Phoenicians, the Bible, the myths of ancient sea-faring cultures around the world. I believe it pre-dates human existence. Call it Leviathan, Litanu, Cipactli – by any name, it represents destruction and death. A single encounter should be more than enough for anyone.”
“Sold,” said Galahad. “I say file it under S for Sea Monster and call it a day.”
Cassi’s chin went up at that defiant lilt Jack knew so well. “You saying cover it up, Jack? Leave it to the realm of myths and stories, when we’ve seen the truth with our own eyes? I can’t believe what I’m hearing!” She crossed her arms.
“Truth is less solid than you think, Cassi. You’re applying the rules of biology. Leviathan, to the extent we can apply scientific principles at all, is more conceptual than solid, more notional than real.”
“Looks pretty solid to me,” said Galahad.
“You know how quantum physics makes your head hurt?”
Gal curled his lip dismissively. “Yeah. Quarks, dimensional strings, gluons, all that crap. Heap big headache.”
“My working theory is that Leviathan is composed of pure probability instantiated in an organic, or pseudo-organic matrix. It presents only the illusion of Newtonian concreteness. When there, it is there. When it isn’t, it isn’t. It shows up on the margins of our awareness – as a big bloop or a rogue wave – then passes into the depths and elides into potentiality, a notional existence more akin to myth or legend than to matter.”
“No idea what you just said, man. None.”
“The Leviathan is more ghost than squid.”
“Oh.” Galahad gave a slow, deliberate nod. “Yes. Now i
t all makes sense.”
Cassi huffed her exasperation. “You sound as crazy as the people who held me prisoner on that rig,” she said.
“Maybe,” said Jack. “But SEG intentionally called up this thing – and tried to sacrifice you to it – because they wanted to make it their weapon. Let’s say you do your job as you see it, Cassi, and you convince the world Leviathan is real, that it exists. Do you doubt for a second others won’t try to exploit it just like LiquiOil did? The results would be just as disastrous, if not worse for the world.”
Cassi opened her mouth to retort, then pressed her lips together, thoughtful. She shook her head. “I don’t know, Jack.”
Jack modulated his voice. “If you don’t buy my theory, then think of it as an endangered species that needs to be protected. And the best way to protect it is to let the world continue believing it doesn’t exist.”
Cassi closed her eyes.
Jack took her hand. “Please let it go, Cassi. There are plenty of other fish in the sea.”
Cassi opened her eyes and gave Jack a wan smile. She intertwined their fingers, squeezed his hand. “Thank you for coming to get me.”
“My pleasure,” said Jack. “It’s what I do.”
“Could we find it if we wanted to?” she asked. “Sonar, satellite—there must be a way.”
“Cassi...”
She bit her lip, frowned.
“Cassi?”
She nodded, hesitant, then again with finality. “Okay, Jack. I’m convinced. I’ll let it go.”
“I hope that is true,” said Jack.
But he knew her all too well.
Cassi pressed herself into his arms, looked up at him from the safety of his embrace. “Just take me home.”
A Note from Dan McGirt
Greetings, Loyal Reader!
Thank you for reading Deepfire. This is the first book-length adventure of action ace Jack Scarlet. I hope you enjoyed the story!
The next Jack Scarlet book will be A Cold, Cold Place to Die, taking Jack to Russia to investigate an old friend’s murder and stop the plans of a genocidal madman. I invite you to subscribe to the free Jack Scarlet Universe mailing list to get an action update when a new Jack Scarlet adventure begins.
