by A. G. Taylor
Hack was actually relieved when the merc grabbed his arm and dragged him away towards the ramp of the plane. Looking over his shoulder, he was amazed to see the robospiders merging together before Bright. Their individual bodies pressed into a mass on the ground and began to reform into the shape of the larger spider once more. Incredible. Then the merc pushed him onto the ramp and he saw no more.
“Hack!” May exclaimed as he entered the huge area of the plane. She was sitting on one of the benches that lined the side. “I thought you’d gone!”
He shook his head and took a seat beside her. “No, but the others got away.”
“Others?”
He briefly explained to her about Robert and the other kids from HIDRA.
“You should have gone with them,” May said. Then she touched the collar at her neck. “I guess this stopped you, huh?”
Hack shook his head seriously. “I wouldn’t have left you even without the collar, May.”
She smiled at him. Some of the colour had returned to her face and she looked a lot better than the last time he’d seen her. Hack turned his attention to the rest of the plane, which was now loaded with crates, weaponry and, at the far end, one of the helicopters – its blades folded back along the tail. In the centre of the plane was a large, open frame in which the hypersphere hung suspended.
“Wherever we’re going,” May said, “they’re taking that thing with us.”
Hack nodded. “It’s big enough to create an army of those spider machines for Bright and Good.”
The engines of the massive aircraft fired up, sending a vibration through the entire fuselage. Mercs ran on board and took their places along the walls or wherever there was space between the equipment piled inside. Finally, Marlon Good and Major Bright ascended the ramp. At the top, Bright stopped and looked round at the robospider (now fully reformed into its large incarnation) waiting at the bottom, as if for orders.
“Destroy the camp,” Bright commanded above the noise of the engines. “Leave nothing.”
The spider scuttled around and then disappeared as the ramp rose.
“What are they doing?” May said in Hack’s ear as the two men strode past.
“Covering their tracks,” Hack replied.
The plane juddered as it moved out of the hangar and taxied towards the runway. A few minutes later the engine noise rose to a howl. Hack and May held on to one another as the G-force of take-off thrust them back along the bench.
“Where do you think we’re going?” May asked as the plane levelled off.
“Good said somewhere in Europe,” Hack said. “But it could be anywhere.” Europe. Suddenly his grandfather’s little house in Tai-O seemed further away than it ever had before. He wished he’d never developed his power. Never followed Jonesey to the Goodware building. Never met Robert Williams even...
“Look, something’s happening,” May said, pulling him from his thoughts.
Two technicians were standing by the hypersphere at the back of the cargo bay. One held an object that looked like a cross between a chainsaw and a rifle. It had a rotating cutting blade at the end of a long muzzle that gleamed like hundreds of diamonds. This technician placed the cutting edge against the hypersphere and began to slice away a half-metre long shard. The rock squealed as the blade slid through it. The second technician stepped up with a suction clamp and caught the shard as it came away from the main body.
“This doesn’t look good,” Hack said.
The technician holding the rock moved to a smaller frame and dropped it into the magnetic field, where it hung suspended. Then he wheeled the cube over to Hack and May. The two kids exchanged a look.
Major Bright appeared from the front of the plane and beckoned for them to get on their feet.
“Time to do your chores,” he said coldly.
Fifteen minutes out from the island of Oshino, the communication systems on board the stealth jet abruptly came back online, as if they’d reached the limits of the disruption system, or it had been disconnected.
Sarah nodded to Wei, who immediately began trying to contact the HS Ulysses again. As he worked away at the comm, an alert sounded on the control panel. Sarah punched up the holomap, which indicated the course of two planes heading west from the island.
“What are they?” Wei asked.
“Bright’s transport planes,” Sarah answered. “They’re leaving.”
“Then we should follow.”
Sarah nodded, but then a red, flashing object broke away from one of the planes.
Alert, alien object detected, the jet’s computer rang in her head.
“Something fell out of the plane!” Wei exclaimed.
“Or was dropped,” Sarah said. Computer, analyse object.
The holomap zoomed in on the object and data screens scrolled as it was scanned. Seconds later a new image appeared: it looked like the body of a squid – thin, tube body with multiple tentacles writhing at the back. The computer began its analysis:
Object of unknown origin. Current length: 10.26 metres and growing exponentially. Current position: 20 metres below sea surface. Heading south-south-east at 400 kilometres per hour.
“It’s on a course for the Ulysses,” Sarah said quietly.
“What is it?” Wei asked as the image seemed to grow by the second.
“Another one of those machines. A big one. We have to warn HIDRA.”
“But they won’t stand a chance against it!” Wei said.
Sarah nodded. The dilemma was clear: should they follow Bright’s planes or turn to help the Ulysses?
Computer, she asked, how long until the object reaches the Ulysses?
Estimated intercept time: 97 minutes.
“If we follow it, we’ll lose Bright!” Wei said. “And Hack!”
“I know,” Sarah replied. “We’ll just have to find them again with the GPS tracer when we’ve dealt with this problem. Get Rachel on the comm and warn them what’s coming.”
23
David Wisher let out a low groan and opened his eyes very slowly to look around the sickbay of the HS Ulysses. He was on a hospital bunk with a saline drip in his arm. His suit had been removed and replaced with a thin hospital gown. His head felt as if someone had hit it repeatedly with a brick.
“What happened?” he asked, voice thick and mouth dry.
A nurse approached with a glass of water, which he took and gulped at eagerly. “You had a nasty turn, sir,” the nurse said. “You need to rest—”
Suddenly it all came back to Wisher. The kids stealing the stealth jet. Commander Craig shooting him with a dart-gun. He remembered that he was angry.
Very angry.
“Nasty turn, my ass,” he said, ripping the drip needle from his arm and swinging his legs off the bed. His knees threatened to give out as he put his feet on the floor. The nurse stepped in to help him back to the bed.
“Don’t touch me!” Wisher snapped, pointing a finger in her face. “I’ll have you busted down to…whatever the hell is lower than your current position on this boat.”
The nurse’s eyes narrowed. She stepped aside and waved at the open door to the sickbay. “Be my guest. Sir.”
“Thank you.”
Spying his clothes lying on a table by the door, Wisher grabbed his jacket and put it on hastily to preserve his dignity (the knee-length smock was completely open at the back). Then he walked into the corridor and paced through the ship in search of Colonel Rachel Andersen.
After getting a lot of odd looks from the personnel of the Ulysses, no doubt because of his strange attire, he found her in the war room. Commander Craig was nowhere in sight. He could wait for later.
“Mr. Wisher,” Rachel said, showing little surprise at his sudden reappearance or the way he was dressed. “Good to see you back on your feet.”
“I’m taking control of this vessel,” he said, trying to keep his voice calm. “You’re not fit to command.”
If Rachel Andersen was flustered, she didn’t show i
t. “That’s a serious accusation, Mr. Wisher. On what grounds do you wish to relieve me of my post?”
“You allowed those children to steal a piece of classified military technology worth billions. I also believe you instructed your second-in-command to attack me with a dart-gun.”
HIDRA personnel exchanged glances around the room. Lt. Kaminski appeared at Rachel’s side.
“Would you like me to escort Mr. Wisher back to the sickbay, sir?” Kaminski asked.
Rachel held Wisher’s eyes for a moment, before finally saying, “No. I want you to confine me to quarters. He’s assuming command of this ship.”
Kaminski and others around the room looked horrified. “On what grounds, sir?” Kaminski asked.
“Executive order number 345,” Wisher said triumphantly. “Colonel Andersen knows I have every right to relieve her of her post if I believe she is no longer working in the best interests of HIDRA.”
“Bull—” Kaminski began, but Rachel held up a hand to silence him.
“It’s okay, Lieutenant,” she said. “It was only a matter of time. Personally, I’d like to see how Mr. Wisher gets on commanding this operation. I’m predicting he won’t last more than a day.” She turned back to Wisher. “You finally got what you wanted, David. I hope you can handle it.”
Wisher was about to say something smart like Take her to the brig or Get her out of my sight, but his moment of glory was interrupted. A kid’s voice sounded from the communication speakers.
“This is stealth jet to Ulysses. Stealth jet to Ulysses. Come in!”
Kaminski moved to the central table and pressed an icon on the glass. “This is Ulysses. Identify yourself.”
“Uh…this is Wei. I have to let you know there’s a huge squid thing headed right for you.”
Kaminski looked at Rachel, who went to his side. “Say again, Wei?”
Sarah came on the comm. “Rachel, Bright’s using matter from an alien artefact to create war machines. That’s why he wanted that kid, Hack. These machines are practically unstoppable and he’s sent one to destroy the Ulysses.”
Before Rachel could respond, Wisher slammed his hands down on the table and said to her, “First things first. I want to speak to Commander Craig. He’s got some explaining to do—”
“Commander Craig is dead,” Sarah interrupted.
Wisher fell silent. There were gasps around the room. Rachel looked away.
“He died saving me from Major Bright,” Sarah said, her voice choking up. “He was…a hero.”
“Right,” Wisher said finally, sensing the hard looks aimed in his direction from around the room. “Right… Still, that doesn’t change the fact you all have some explaining to do about the theft of that jet.”
“Haven’t you been listening?” Sarah said. “There’s a piece of alien technology headed straight for your boat—”
“It’s a ship,” Wei’s voice corrected.
“—and it’s getting bigger. You have about ninety minutes before it starts eating you for breakfast.”
“Okay, Sarah,” Rachel said, “we’re going to need a detailed briefing on this threat. Stay on the comm.” She turned to the room and announced, “Code red. Full battle stations, all personnel.”
The war room became a bustle of activity. In the distance a siren sounded through the ship.
“Wait a minute!” Wisher said, rounding on her. “I give the orders here now!”
Rachel looked at him calmly. “Not really. During a code red situation, a person of military rank cannot be relieved of command by a civilian. HIDRA executive order 214, as I recall.”
Wisher’s mouth fell open. Kaminski grabbed his arm and said, “Want me to throw him in the brig, Colonel Andersen?”
Rachel considered for a moment. “No. He can stay, as long as he behaves himself.” She looked down at Wisher’s bony knees below the smock and shook her head. “But for god’s sake, find him some trousers.”
The squid powered through the waters of the Pacific: sleek, silent, and familiar, yet totally alien. As it moved, it grew. An hour from its target it measured fifty metres from the tip of its black, shell-like head to the end of its longest tentacle. By the time it reached the Ulysses, it would be quadruple that size.
A single, reflective eye shone in the middle of its body, but to all intents and purposes this was mere decoration – a hangover from the amalgam of creatures this killing beast had been based upon. Its “sight” came from a sophisticated form of sonar that stretched far enough that it could pinpoint an object in an ocean on the other side of the world.
Every atom, every molecule of its body seethed with one single purpose: to destroy the target assigned by its master, the Entity.
And it would surely destroy that target.
Or destroy itself in the process.
“Hang in there, Robert,” Sarah said, running a hand through her brother’s blond hair. He was laid out on the diagnostic table in the sickbay at the rear of the stealth jet. A sheet was draped over his body, which was wracked with shivers from time to time, as if he were freezing up. The black mark surrounding the spider bite continued to spread, covering his left shoulder now and continuing out in vein-like patterns under the skin.
Robert mumbled something in his semi-sleep as a screen on the wall flashed a message in the periphery of Sarah’s vision. She walked over and looked at the confusing array of data from the medical scans. A compartment slid open in the wall and a clear vial emerged on an arm, along with an injector gun.
“What is it?” Louise asked, hovering beside the table.
“I have no idea,” Sarah replied. She slotted the vial into the chamber of the gun. “But it can’t do any harm. The medical computer was thoroughly checked out by the HIDRA scientists. They assured me it’s more competent than the most experienced doctor.”
A diagram flashed on the screen, indicating that the drug should be administered near the bite. Sarah placed the gun against Robert’s neck and pulled the trigger. He gasped in pain and his eyes flicked open, staring wildly. Sarah placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to ease him back down as he sat bolt upright.
“Sorry!”
Robert nodded it was okay and lay back. “What happened? Did we get off the island?”
“Yes, we’re on the jet. Headed back to the Ulysses. Don’t you remember?”
He shook his head. “What about Hack?”
Sarah and Louise exchanged a look. “We had to leave him behind,” Sarah said. “There was no other way.”
“We have to go after him,” Robert said.
“We will. But first there’s the Ulysses to protect. After that, we’ll track down Bright.”
Robert nodded and tried to get up once more. “You’ll need my help.”
“Uh-uh,” Sarah said, holding him back down. “You need to rest.”
Her brother attempted to argue, but his eyelids flickered and he was asleep before his head hit the pillow again. Restraints, Sarah ordered the computer and a series of straps appeared from the side of the table and wrapped across the top of the blanket, holding Robert secure.
“Keep an eye on him,” she told Louise.
“He’s going to be okay, Sarah,” Louise said as Sarah headed back to the cockpit. At the door, she looked back at the younger girl and gave a smile, as if she believed it.
Wei was monitoring the progress of the squid on the scanners at the front of the jet. Sarah took her place in the pilot’s seat and asked for an update.
“We’re less than five minutes from the Ulysses,” he said. “But so is the squid.”
Sarah leaned in towards the holoscanner. It showed an image of the alien machine moving through the water somewhere ahead of them, its body elongated as it swam. Data indicated that it had almost tripled in size in the last thirty minutes.
“You mean we haven’t overtaken it yet?” she said.
Wei shook his head. “It’s moving too fast. Nothing should be able to outswim this jet, right?”
“Not
hing from this world,” Sarah corrected.
She placed her hand on the control stick and disengaged the autopilot. “Warn the Ulysses the squid is four minutes from them,” she said. “And let them know we’re going to be late.”
As Wei spoke to Lt. Kaminski, Sarah gave the jet computer another order. The standard HUD flashed off and was replaced by a red-hued holo-display, featuring a targeting system across the windows and air-touch commands such as Air-to-Air Missile, Emergency Evasive and Depth Charge.
Tactical Systems Online, the computer rang in her head.
Sarah took a depth breath and re-familiarized herself with the weapon systems loaded on the jet.
It was time to take it to war.
24
“Twenty seconds to impact,” Lt. Kaminski called out across the war room, eyes fixed on a sonar screen showing the massive bulk of the squid heading directly for the Ulysses.
“It’s going to tear right through us!” Wisher said on the other side of the command table, voice barely under control.
Rachel shot him a look – they didn’t need panic in the command centre, but he was right. They’d already fired every missile they had at the thing and it didn’t even slow. The hovercopters were in the air and the Ulysses was engaged in an evasive manoeuvre to get out of the way of the approaching monster…machine…whatever it was. But an aircraft carrier doesn’t turn fast. There would be no avoiding the collision. In her mind’s eye she imagined the thing smashing into the hull and carrying on out the other side as the Ulysses went down.
“Ten seconds!” Kaminski said.
Rachel grabbed a mic and spoke to the ship. “All personnel brace for impact. Look to your emergency stations—”
“Five seconds!”
The shape on the sonar screen was practically touching the centre…the point of impact…
“Two seconds!”
Rachel took a breath and grabbed the side of the table.
Kaminski yelled, “Brace! Brace! Brace!”
Every person in the war room clung on to something for dear life. Rachel closed her eyes…
