Masters of the Broken Watches

by Razi Imam

  “I don’t see why not,” Shiloh said, getting up from his seat. “I can put it in a waterproof container.”

  “Great, let’s do this.” Sebastian walked up to the table, addressing the Honeycomb team. “Thank you, this was the breakthrough we needed. Shiloh’s going to prepare the portable device, and we’ll dive in thirty minutes. This time, we’ll match the Event Time of the specimen and hopefully spot it. I’ll call you again to share the results.”

  “Sounds good, we will reconnect after your dive,” Cebrián said, disconnecting the call with the Paramarines.

  Cebrián thanked Dmitri and Josephine before hanging up with them too. Hamza and Talia remained on his monitor. “Okay, what’s the update?” he asked.

  “We have two major problems,” Talia said. “I’ve been tracking Goliath and everything else that’s in play trying to find our team. I’ve also been tracking Chinese naval movement.” She paused. “Cebrián, the situation doesn’t look good. According to Goliath’s logs, the USS Bainbridge has reclassified their mission. Use of lethal force has been authorized.”

  Talia continued. “There has also been Chinese naval movement. A Luyang-I class destroyer made an unscheduled departure from the Chinese naval port of Shantou, and it appears it’s set a course for the Paracel Islands. That’s a lot of firepower for such a small area. I’m sure this is in response to our team neutralizing the three patrol boats.”

  “Okay,” Cebrián mused. “We have the Bainbridge approaching from the west, and a Luyang-I destroyer approaching from the east. What are the ETAs for each?”

  “Approximately twenty-four hours for the Bainbridge, they have been heading toward our team’s coordinates for over a day,” Talia replied. “And about six hours for the Luyang.”

  “Hamza, what can we do to slow them down?” Cebrián asked.

  “It’s going to take some doing,” Hamza responded, “but I should be able to access some of the systems on the Bainbridge, mostly noncritical—their weapons and propulsion systems are independent, not connected to a network I can hack. As for the Chinese ship, I’ll have to see what I can do. Talia, can you give me a hand with this?” Talia nodded. “Okay, Cebrián, give us a few hours.”

  “Thank you,” Cebrián said. “Keep me informed.”

  ***

  BASIL BELEN WAS intrigued by the anomaly in Goliath’s logs. Still upset by his interactions with Major Williams, he was back in his control room at the Pentagon, performing routine maintenance on Goliath’s system backup files and control codes. Apparently, the office of the secretary of defense had accessed the log file that contained the mission status for the USS Bainbridge twice in one day. He didn’t think much of it, continuing to look through other system files, but his compulsive nature made him go back. The second code that accessed the log files appeared to look like the code from the office of the secretary of defense, but it was a hack.

  Basil twitched, impressed that a hacker had been able to break through all the seven security layers. In his opinion, there were two people in the world who could accomplish such a feat. One he knew well, even fancied—an Israeli quantum physicist and gifted hacker named Talia Goldman. The other, a friend of Basil’s, was an applied mathematics and astrophysics savant named Hamza Hamad, from Pakistan. He respected both of them.

  Being a hacker himself in his previous life, Basil knew there were certain protocols, one of which dictated that he not report them to the Pentagon. Besides, they weren’t doing anything specifically harmful.

  Hamza and Talia were coding ferociously, using Goliath as their main entry point into the Bainbridge’s systems. They needed to see if Goliath had other information on the Bainbridge, as well as anything on the Luyang-I destroyer. As they worked, a message popped up on each of their screens: Hamza, Talia, what are you doing hacking into Goliath?

  “It’s Basil Belen,” Hamza said, still on video chat with Talia. “He’s found us.”

  “Yeah,” Talia replied, “I got the message too. He’s using a secure three-way text line.”

  Hi, Basil, she typed. How did you know it was us?

  On receiving the message, Basil put his coffee down and typed. I know your work, Talia. I took a guess that Hamza had a role in this as well. He paused for an answer, but his excitement got the better of him. So, what are you doing poking around useless log files of a random mission in the South China Sea? What’s the story here?

  Talia chuckled at Basil’s response, glad he was following the hacker’s code of ethics. Before shutting them down, he wanted to know why they were hacking his system. We’re trying to save our team of scientists from imminent attacks by the U.S. and China, Talia typed.

  I know, Basil messaged. We were the ones who found them. Why is the secretary of defense up in arms about your scientists?

  Talia and Hamza decided to be straight with Basil. They explained what the scientists had found.

  Unbelievable, Basil responded. You’re not pulling my leg? Time particles?

  Yes, Talia messaged. Time particles. And believe me, neither Hamza nor I would be hacking into your system if this wasn’t a world-altering situation.

  Okay, what do you need? Basil asked.

  Talia and Hamza sat up. They knew Basil was a hacker, but they didn’t know he’d be willing to commit treason to help them.

  We need to access the systems on the Bainbridge and any information you have on the Luyang-I destroyer, Talia responded. We need to slow them down so our team can do their job and get out of there in safely.

  There was a pause before Basil responded: You know I can’t share technical information on either the Bainbridge or the Luyang-I. I’ll send you what I have that is classified as level one, basic information. There’s no need to keep hacking Goliath. I’m going to delete the code you’ve written and scrub any trace of your presence. I’ll also be changing Goliath’s security protocols. Please don’t try hacking it again. Next time, I won’t be so friendly.

  Thanks, Talia typed: We hear you.

  Basil downloaded all the nonessential information he had on the two vessels and sent it to them in a secure packet.

  On reviewing the files, Hamza and Talia realized how little they had to work with. Most systems on the Bainbridge were standalone—they could only be accessed by physically plugging into them. And as for the Luyang-I, they had even less.

  “What do you think?” Hamza asked.

  Talia continued going through the documents. “Not sure. I don’t see what we can do. This information on the Bainbridge isn’t very helpful. Let’s go through it line by line. Maybe we’re missing something.”

  After a few minutes, Hamza whistled. “Look at this. There’s a number on the bottom of page seven. It looks like a handwritten cell phone number.”

  Hamza started hacking into the registry database of cell numbers and discovered the number belonged to the current XO of Bainbridge.

  “Wow, do you think Basil put it there for us to find?” Talia said, smiling.

  “Not sure,” Hamza replied. “I do find the coincidence a bit too convenient. This is all we needed from him. We’ll be able hack the phone and use it to piggyback onto their maintenance servers. Let’s look at the information on the Luyang-I.”

  After poring over the documents on the Chinese destroyer, they realized Basil had given them another break—the email address of the captain.

  “Do you see it?” Talia asked.

  “Yes,” Hamza answered. “It’ll do nicely. I can use it to get into the captain’s laptop and then gain access to the ship’s Wi-Fi network and systems.”

  “What do you have in mind?” Talia asked.

  “I might be able to create chaos on the Bainbridge by randomly shutting down their nonessential systems. I have to figure out a way to make them realize they’ve been hacked, causing them to slow down to repair. According to military news website RealClearDefense, there is a theory that Russians have hacked into U.S. warships causing them to crash into commercial traffic. If I can some
how create an illusion that Russians have hacked into Bainbridge, that would do the trick. As for the Luyang-I, I’ll access the CPU boards on their engines and use machine code to make one propeller run two RPMs faster than the other. In theory, they should lose their ability to steer the ship straight.”

  “Wow, brilliant.” Talia said, flashing a thumb’s up gesture.

  They both worked in silence, racing to slow down the two warships.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Miracle of Isikhathi Isilwandle

  “You have seen my descent, now watch my rising.”

  ~ Rumi

  THE TEAM WORKED in silence, getting ready for a monumental dive. It was as if nature itself had come to a standstill to pay tribute to the big event.

  Charles, standing next to Sebastian, whispered, “Thank you.”

  “Let’s hope our theory is right,” Sebastian said, looking down at his mask. While adjusting it, he thought about what Charles had been through for most of his professional life, searching for hidden animals—all the criticism and ridicule he’d faced from colleagues, family, and the vast majority of the academic world. To them, he had been a wasted mind, a lost soul who had given up a promising career in academia to chase myths. Sebastian looked up at Charles, and even though it was dark, the luminescent maroon waters of the reef were bright enough to show that those years of failure had taken their toll. His face had lines of sadness and stress beneath the childlike innocence and enthusiasm.

  Charles wanted to say so much more, but his emotions got the best of him. He cleared his throat and walked over to Maria and Fabienne to help them inspect their scuba gear.

  Nidal sat on one of the diver’s benches, checking his diver’s camera attached to his helmet and going over notes on the white plastic surface of his sleeve. If he felt any excitement, Sebastian couldn’t tell.

  Sebastian sat down on the edge of the boat on the diver’s platform, fins touching the water. Like the others, he knew in his heart that this dive would be special—they would come face-to-face with the specimen.

  Maria, Fabienne, and Charles came over and sat down next to Sebastian and Nidal. They were ready.

  “Remember, everyone,” Sebastian said, “the specimen is most likely ancient—it’s had eons to develop its abilities. Once we align ourselves with the frequency of the obsidian crystals, we may be able to see it. We may find some unnatural formations, or face some sort of defense mechanism that we’ve never seen before. Let’s swim in pairs—Fabienne, you’re in the lead with Nidal. Maria, you’re with Charles. I’ll control the time warp device and swim between the four of you. We’ll swim in formation, with pairs breaking off when something needs investigating. And Charles, please double check you have your Doppler device.”

  Charles gave his underwater backpack a pat, indicating he was ready. Looking out toward the dark outline of Bombay Reef one final time, Sebastian took a deep breath and said his favorite sentence: “Okay, let’s do this.”

  Maria already had her mask on and moved into position. Sebastian rinsed his in seawater to keep it from fogging. One by one, without making a splash, they slid into the water.

  It was still an incredible experience—they could see every detail in the clear, luminescent water, rich with marine life. The coral under the maroon light reflected all the colors of the rainbow, the sand on the seafloor was a carpet of glitter, and everything around them glowed.

  They swam to one of the obsidian crystal spikes and floated around it.

  Sebastian pointed at the time warp device, now in its waterproof casing, and gave a watch-and-look signal, indicating that he was going to activate it. The others gave him the “Okay,” signal in return. He activated it with a special switch and it started emitting El Sitio particles.

  The team waited, casting about for any change in their environment, focusing on the approximate center of the hexagon formed by the crystal spikes.

  Sebastian brought the device close to his mask to make sure it was working properly. As he did so, the glittering sand of the seabed started to move—it was falling down. The movement could best be described as how sand falls in an hourglass. The falling sand made a series of mathematically precise swirls. The swirls converged at the center in a logarithmic spiral, similar to an ammonite shell.

  The team watched in awe as the phenomenon unfolded. The swirls kept forming and the sand kept falling, giving way to a gigantic swirling funnel going deep into the earth.

  Sebastian noted the similarity to the famous staircase in the Sargrada Familia church in Barcelona. This funnel, however, was a thousand feet in circumference. Its glistening walls formed six sides, just like the time nodule. Each side was luminescent, with the same colors and symbols—and the maroon wall representing El Sitio particles was pulsating.

  From each luminescent side, a long tube protruded to the center into a large red oval that sparkled with crystals. The crystals appeared to be connected to each other in a hexagonal pattern via glittering, gold-laced tubes. The structure resembled a massive, beautiful Faberge egg. Sebastian realized that his Pareidolia condition had sparked this image in his mind.

  The tubes that extended from the walls were translucent, and inside them were pulsating spheres that traveled toward the egg.

  Fabienne held Sebastian’s shoulder, trying hard not to panic. It was so much to take in.

  Sebastian then gestured to investigate the amazing structure. They swam cautiously, deeper into the opening of the funnel.

  Charles tapped Sebastian on the shoulder, showing him the message he’d written on his sleeve. The Isikhathi Isilwandle?

  Sebastian nodded. He was forming his own thesis. The cavern and swirls they saw in the satellite pictures were actually this structure—there never was a cavern.

  Sebastian also realized that the structure was too large to be carbon-based. The precision of each spiral, the tubes, and the pulsation were mathematical in nature. In his opinion, this was the first ever sighting of a non-carbon-based, multi-cellular life form. The enormity of the moment dawned on him—this was a new evolutionary branch unknown to mankind.

  Having reached the red oval structure, they were now several feet below the seabed, taking in its immense size, almost as big as a single-story building. They soon realized the glittering crystals weren’t crystals—they were clusters of time nodules, similar to the one on the fish. Hundreds of thousands of them crowded the surface of the red oval mass.

  It took them some time to realize another miracle—fish just like the one on the boat swam all around the oval mass. The team gestured wildly to each other, ecstatic that they had found more like their specimen. Seemingly at random, the fish would align the slit near their dorsal fin next to the nodules, and the mass would pulsate, transferring a single nodule into the waiting fish’s body. Having received their precious cargo, the fish would then swim deeper into the swirling funnel and disappear.

  Sebastian motioned that he would swim closer to the oval mass and see if he could remove one of the time nodules. The team gave him an “Okay” sign.

  As he got close to the oval, something strange happened. He felt a strong sense of familiarity, almost a kinship with the life form, as if they had always known each other. He felt a burst of energy flow through his body, just like when he walked through the pond at his secret retreat. Images started to flash in his mind.

  Maria swam up to him and touched his shoulder. On feeling Maria’s touch, he came out of his trance and indicated with a gesture that all was good. Stretching out his hand, he touched a single time nodule. The large oval mass pulsated, and the nodule floated into his hand. It was an exact replica of the one they had. He touched another nodule, and as before, the oval mass pulsated and the nodule floated into his hand. He held them out to Fabienne, who had already pulled out an underwater bag.

  Maria followed suit and touched one of the nodules, but nothing happened. Surprised, she turned to Sebastian. He touched the exact same one, and again, the mass pulsated and the no
dule floated into his hand. It appeared the life form was only reacting to Sebastian’s touch. One by one, each team member touched a nodule, and in each case, nothing happened. The one person who could collect them was Sebastian.

  Charles swam up and held out his arm. Collect 300 nodules? Sebastian nodded. He knew why Charles had picked that quantity. There were 195 countries and almost 92 stateless nations—each would get one for their own research.

  It took him about twenty minutes to gather all the nodules. Fabienne’s special underwater bag was full and glowing brightly. Nidal, Maria, and Charles collected cell samples from the walls, the tubes, and the red mass using special duct tape. The team started heading to the obsidian crystals that marked the boundary to the life form.

  Maria looked back, shocked to see that Sebastian hadn’t joined them—he was swimming rapidly toward the swirling staircase, going deeper into the funnel. She alerted the team—they couldn’t stay down much longer. They treaded for a few seconds, trying to comprehend what Sebastian was doing. He had now broken protocol. And it didn’t appear he had any mind to turn back.

  Maria signaled to follow him down, and they all nodded. He appeared to have a clear purpose—maybe he knew something they didn’t.

  The team caught up with Sebastian, and Maria grabbed his shoulder. He turned and gestured for them to go back. Maria shook her head vehemently. Sebastian turned away, aligning himself with the twisting wall that showed Rahpido symbols. The team continued to follow him. Maria detected that the shade of maroon light all around them was changing—the opening of the creature was starting to close, and they were nearly a hundred feet deep. She also noticed that the marine life was maintaining underwater pressure conducive to human survival. This meant they would not have to worry about any pains caused by decompression sickness.