Z-Boat

by Suzanne Robb

  "Jesus, Captain, you scared the hell out of me."

  "Why so jumpy?"

  "Didn't Doctor Williams tell you about Tom? The guy went from talking about how much he loved his family to saying the walls were bleeding... not exactly normal or calming."

  "That's exactly how it happened, then? You saw nothing else weird or peculiar going on?"

  "Not a damn thing, that's what's got me spooked."

  "And that's why you're playing with the containment area?"

  "No offence, sir, but this is lacking in its ability to contain. I'm trying to see if I can make any quick changes to actually make this useful should something go wrong."

  "Like on your last job?" As the color drained from Kramer's face, Iain knew he'd hit on something, something big.

  Something big, but not in a good way. He debated whether he wanted to know, but based on the message he received before leaving port, what he wanted didn't really matter anymore.

  "I don't know what you're talking about."

  Iain took a menacing step forward. "Don't lie to me. I run this sub. I know, dammit, now tell me your side of the story, or I might make a biased decision as to what to do with you for withholding information."

  Philip Kramer had never been so scared in his life. How the hell did the captain know? Everything was supposed to be covered up. Everybody involved was dead. Was there no way he could run from the past?

  He didn't know how much the captain knew, which meant he had to decide how much to tell him. It was longer about trust or credibility; immediate safety was the issue.

  "Fine, then. I'll assume you have no side to tell." Iain turned to leave, and Kramer lunged at him.

  He grabbed Iain's shoulder and turned him around.

  Iain had seen a lot of things in his life. What he saw now was by far the most terrified man in the world. He almost wished Kramer would keep his mouth shut. Iain tried to shrug off the hands holding him in place.

  "I'll tell you, but you have to believe me when I say none of it was intentional. I'm not a monster."

  "Okay, just loosen your grip a little."

  Kramer let go and moved back a step. He started to pace and pull at his hair. He needed to gather his thoughts. He had to tell the captain the important parts, but not all of them. He had only seconds to edit the story in his head. It wasn't enough time; he would blow it. He turned and looked at the captain.

  To hell with it, he thought.

  "A few years ago, I was on a job, investigating deep ocean phenomena. We took some samples on board and ran some tests. They seemed promising. They were simple organisms, but they had some sort of healing property."

  Kramer glanced over to the containment area fearfully. He saw something else. Something from his past, far scarier than the captain could ever imagine.

  "They gave me lots of money to start human trials. I told them there had been some peculiar reactions in the animal subjects, but it didn't seem to be an issue with people. My reputation was on the line. I leapt to conclusions. I didn't even do any human trials."

  "You lied to save your reputation? And what was the price the rest of us had to pay for your vanity?"

  "A big price. The organism did more than heal; it altered the brain. Turning humans into paranoid homicidal lunatics."

  "Wait a minute, you mean some sample you collected and modified made people paranoid? This is your big secret?"

  "It was far worse than that. People literally scared themselves to death. They became paranoid about friends, so they killed them. They became paranoid about family members, so they killed them. The family dog, the banker, the delivery man..."

  "You tested it on the public?"

  "I didn't; it was an accident. I made enough of the serum for the firm I worked for to copy and synthesize it. They told me I was doing a great service. They released it into the water supply for the Pacific Northwest two years ago. They thought they were helping people. They thought the people who drank the water would receive the healing properties, or so they told me."

  "Wait, that epidemic... what did they call it? Some sort of leakage in the water system. It kicked off the water purification project. Millions of people died, Kramer!" The captain yelled in fury.

  "It wasn't my fault. I was pressured. They synthesized what I made and released it. They knew I didn't do any human trials; they just wanted to reduce the population and see if the serum had the potential to be a weapon in the future. It worked better than they thought possible."

  Kramer stopped talking. How much more should he tell? He still had nightmares about the horrible aftermath. The screams woke him up at night; that's why he didn't sleep in his room.

  Iain stared at him, an expression of disgust on his face.

  "I never meant for any of it to happen. They covered it up. They contained and then bombed the whole area. I stole the data. It's the only reason I'm alive. They're worried I'm going to release it to competitors and claim they were developing a neuro-based weapon, which is a direct violation of all those bogus treaties they use for photo ops."

  "Sounds to me like you should be dead for what you did. Saying I believe you, there's just one thing I don't get. If the serum was successful, why hasn't it been used?"

  "They're going to, trust me. It's just a matter of time."

  "Who has it?"

  "I have no idea, but what I can tell you is that Tom has the symptoms. If he was exposed, we need to contain him."

  "How the hell did he get it? Why aren't we all acting like lunatics?"

  "Depends on when and how he was exposed. Might be someone who wants to sabotage the job, or it might be exposure from someone else who was infected."

  "How does someone get it?"

  "Absorbed through the skin, through a drink..."

  "So you and Doctor Williams are most likely infected. You tackled him to the ground." Iain backed away from Kramer.

  "Hey, I'm not stupid. I made sure not to touch his skin."

  "Did you tell Doctor Williams, or were you too worried about your reputation?"

  The blank expression on his face was all the answer Iain needed.

  "Is there a test for it?"

  "All I need is to look at a sample of Tom's blood to determine if he's infected."

  The one person you didn't want infected on a job was the doctor, so Iain decided to take care of that first. Fantastic. Why did this always happen to him?

  "Stay here. Try not to create anything that'll kill us, and make that stronger," Iain pointed to the containment area and left the room.

  He needed to check on the doctor, then talk to Ally. This was one of those times when he was going to need her particular skill set.

  Chapter Nine

  Maxine Williams had no idea what to do for the first time in her life. She had been briefed, trained, and told to expect the unexpected. However, this was a whole new category of unexpected.

  Sure she expected problems to arise and symptoms to start appearing when they left the rescue site or on their way back. Problems were not supposed to be happening now.

  She heard someone enter the room and turned to see the captain standing there, a concerned look on his face. She raised an eyebrow at him.

  "I told you it would take a few hours before I knew how Tom was doing."

  "Okay, just checking. How are you feeling?"

  "Fine."

  "Okay. 'Bye." Iain left the room as if his life depended on it.

  She had no idea what had spooked him, but she didn't really care. She had a whole new set of issues to deal with. Like what she would do if something was really wrong with Tom. She went to her desk and tried accessing a secure communications channel. Unorthodox, but she felt the situation dictated it.

  She tried for several moments with her secure communications chip in the panel. Nothing happened. Either they were too far out, a storm was on top of them, or they were too deep. She would have to wait until they surfaced to fill the air tanks in a few days to send the message. She hop
ed nothing happened during that time to screw the whole job- like, say, an epidemic of the crazies.

  She took out the useless communications chip and put it in her pocket. She glanced over at Tom and hoped he had a really severe case of the nerves. Until it proved to be otherwise, she would have to figure out a way to cover her lack of progress in diagnosing him.

  ***

  Iain walked down the narrow aisle way more slowly than usual, convinced that, at any moment, someone infected with this freaky organism was going to jump out at him. He just needed to get to the control room. If he could get there, he would be safe. Ally could kick anyone's ass, infected or not.

  He needed to get to the control room.

  It was his mantra for the two minutes it took him to get there. He looked to where Ally usually sat. The chair was empty. The pain that flashed through his chest would lead to a heart attack, he knew it.

  Where the hell was she? Who was piloting the damn sub? He was going to have to fire her. Okay, not fire, but yell at her. Actually, he wasn't going to do that either; he wanted her to protect him. Perhaps he could be a little mad at her. He felt a tap on his shoulder and spun around to attack whoever had snuck up on him.

  Ally had quicker reflexes, and within a second, Iain was on the floor, arms pinned behind his back and a knee grinding into the middle of his spine.

  "Ow ow ow ow..."

  "Iain, what the hell are you doing?" Ally let go of his arms and stood up.

  Iain mustered what was left of his dignity and got up off the ground.

  "I thought you were someone else."

  Ally gave him an incredulous look. "There's someone on this sub you want to attack in some way?"

  "No, not exactly. That's why I'm here. I wanted to talk to you about it."

  Ally put a neutral look on her face. If her history with Iain was any indication, she wasn't going to like what he had to say, nor was she going to like the proposal he made to her afterwards. Iain went to the entryway of the control room and shut the door.

  "Okay, I'll make this quick. Tom is down with some sort of screwed-up organism, which is going to turn him into a lunatic wanting to kill us all. It's Kramer's fault. He engineered the thing. It's the same thing that killed millions in the Pacific Northwest a few years back."

  Ally shook her head, a confused look on her face, "Kramer brought this thing on board? Why?"

  "Let me finish. He didn't bring it on board, or so he claims. He thinks that either someone is trying to sabotage the mission or Tom came into contact with it earlier. Anyone who touches Tom will become infected."

  "Okay, so we send a message saying we're coming back, restrain Tom, make sure no one touches him, and we're fine."

  "Problem. The doctor already touched him, and I'm not sure Kramer didn't when he helped take him down. Also, since we don't know when or how he got infected, anyone who shook his hand hello could be potentially infected."

  "Essentially, you're telling me most of the crew might be infected with some organism that will make them act like paranoid lunatics."

  "Exactly. That's why we have to stay in here, lock the doors, and figure out what to do."

  "You know, you're acting like a paranoid lunatic."

  A fearful look troubled Iain's face. Tom had touched him; maybe he was infected. He didn't feel infected. He started to look around. He could hear his heart beating. His brow became soaked with sweat. He didn't want to die like this. Then a shock of pain, and everything went dark.

  Ally looked down at Iain. She had no idea what was going on, but if he was telling her the truth, they had a big problem. She pulled some wires out of a lock box on the floor and tied his hands together.

  First thing she needed to do was research Philip Kramer and find out what he was responsible for a few years back.

  She walked over to her station and pulled up her personal display panel. She started by typing a message for Marcus to come to the control room immediately; then she started opening all available files on Kramer. She'd scanned through dozens by the time Marcus started knocking on the door.

  Ally peered through the porthole to make sure he was alone and let him in.

  "Hey, babe, what's going on?" Ally pulled him into the room and shut the door behind him.

  Marcus stood there with a questioning look on his face, which turned to concern when he saw the captain lying on the floor.

  "Ally, what did you do to Iain?"

  "Marcus, just listen. He came in here ranting like a lunatic about Tom and Kramer, some sort of virus, and all hell breaking loose. He wanted to lock himself in here with me."

  "So you knocked him out and tied him up?" Marcus got a worried expression on his face. Ally hurried to explain.

  "Yes. I told you, he was telling me about some organism Tom is infected with making him crazy and it being Kramer's fault. Either way, he wasn't acting like himself. He thought someone might be trying to sabotage the job."

  "He might have been drinking too. Remember how much he likes whiskey?"

  "He's always drinking, but it wasn't the booze talking. Something got him freaked. I thought it best to let him take a nap and do some research on my own."

  "Find anything?"

  "Not yet. There seems to be nothing in Kramer's file. It's clean, too clean. Iain mentioned some sort of outbreak in the Pacific Northwest a few years ago."

  "Yeah, I remember, the water purification thing. Millions died because of something in the water."

  "I know. It was supposed to be something naturally in the water, though, not manmade. Iain specifically said it was because of Kramer."

  "Did you look at anyone else's files? Maybe one of the new crew had family affected by the disaster. Might be getting back at him for it now."

  "No one in the files comes from there. Most of the people actually check out fine except Maxine. Something about her file seems off."

  "Untie Iain. Put automatic pilot on, and let's go have a talk with Kramer. Afterwards, we can check on Tom and see what Maxine tells us."

  Ally turned and walked over to her seat. She flipped a few switches and engaged the autopilot, then knelt down next to Iain. She was about to cut him free, but hesitated. She shook her head and stood up while re-sheathing her knife.

  "Ally? You can't leave him like this."

  "Actually, I can, and I have to. If he's infected, he could hurt someone else. I'm not taking the chance." With a shrug of the shoulders, she walked past Marcus to the door.

  She undid the latch and started walking down the aisle way. Ally stopped and looked back at Marcus.

  "Are you coming?"

  "Hey, you wouldn't do this to me, would you?"

  "Tie you up? Of course I would, but you'd like it. Now let's go." With a wink, she turned and kept walking.

  Marcus seemed like he was going to say something, but decided to remain silent. He started to jog after Ally to catch up.

  Ally had no idea what her actual plan was. She would have to improvise. Thank God thinking on her feet was one of her specialties. She found herself standing in front of the research lab in seconds. She grabbed the handle and swung the door open. She stayed in the aisle way, looking into the room.

  "Kramer, you in there?" She heard some rustling, and Kramer came into view to the left of the door. He was sweaty and dirty, but otherwise okay.

  "Ally, right? The captain send you?"

  "Sort of. He came into the control room ranting about people and organisms and lots of other stuff. Thing is, it always came back to you, so tell me the story."

  "You're not the captain. I don't have to tell you jack. Now get out of here; I have things to do."

  As he turned, Kramer thought he was flying for a moment. Then he hit the ground and saw one of his teeth lying a few inches from his face.

  He felt strong hands pick him up off the ground. A second later, he was eye level with Marcus. This was interesting, because Marcus was a good six inches taller than he.

  "You don't talk to her like t
hat, and you will answer her questions."

  Kramer nodded. He opened his mouth, but blood started to dribble out from the now-empty tooth socket.

  ***

  Maxine waited impatiently for Tom to wake up. She debated using some sort of stimulant if he didn't wake up within the next few minutes.

  All of his blood tests showed the same thing. Nothing was actually wrong with the pilot. She had seen some severe cases of nerves, anxiety, claustrophobia, and the like, but this was extreme.

  She watched the clock. As she readied herself to take drastic measures, she noticed his eyes fluttering. He started pulling at the restraints. She stood up and walked over to the side of his cot.

  "Tom, you need to stay calm. Try not to move."

  "Wha... pend?"

  "You came in here a little while ago not feeling well. I gave you something to calm your nerves. How are you feeling?"

  "M'kay... tired."

  "Anything else?" Tom moved a little more and struggled to open his eyes.

  "No, what's going on?" Maxine could see was Tom becoming more coherent.

  He also realized he'd been restrained.

  "Tom, you really need to stay calm. I need to ask you some questions, and you need to answer them honestly, okay?"

  "Yes, but why do you have me all tied up?"

  "You came in here very agitated and upset. We had to give you something to calm down, do you remember? The restraints are just a precaution. As soon as we're done talking, I'll remove them, okay?"

  "Okay."

  "What's the last thing you remember?" Tom was silent for a moment.

  "I was in the rec room, looking at a picture of my family. Doctor Kramer asked me about them. We talked."

  "That's all you remember?"

  "Yeah, then it just goes blank. Why? Did I do something? Is my family okay?"

  "Everything's fine. You didn't do anything. Do you have a history of getting nervous on jobs?"

  "Once or twice, but not to this degree."

  "Okay, good. Do you remember anything else? Did anyone give you a drink or bump into you, perhaps give you something to eat?"