Godzilla at World's End

by Marc Cerasini

  Like almost every coastal city they'd passed since the communications blackout, Santiago was torn by war and civil strife. But unfortunately, the capital city of Chile was also a scheduled fueling and provisions stop for the Destiny Explorer. An arrangement had been made weeks before to provide the airship with food and water. Staples like that were not a problem now: the soldiers had brought aboard enough MREs - meals ready to eat - to feed three times their number for months to come. But the Destiny Explorer needed fuel.

  The Petramco Oil Company had promised to deliver the fuel at a remote tank farm outside of Santiago. While the range of the super-efficient turbofan engines on the Explorer was phenomenal, and the tanks of the Explorer held thousands of gallons of jet fuel, without the stop in Santiago they might make it to Antarctica but not back again.

  And if they met any obstacles along the way, such as harsh weather or katabatic winds, which could blow them off course, the whole mission was jeopardized.

  While they approached Santiago, Dolan, Shelly, and Corporal Brennan argued the wisdom of trying to make the rendezvous at the fuel yard. It was apparent that things were in chaos almost everywhere in South America. Without communications, there was no way to know if it was safe to make the rendezvous or not.

  Shelly argued that if it was possible, her father would find a way to make the rendezvous. Even now, she speculated hopefully, he could be at the fueling station waiting for them. Sean Brennan liked that idea. If Simon Townsend was there, then Colonel Briteis and his men would be there, too. Sean could turn over his command to an officer.

  But Sean had to be realistic. The chaos they'd seen from their airship indicated to him that travel through South America was probably horrendously dangerous. Overland travel was impossible, and air travel was risky because of sudden hostilities between nations, or civil strife.

  Three times in the last several days the airship had been buzzed by fighter jets. The first time, a Chilean Mirage fighter made a pass. The second time, the aircraft stayed too far away from them to make a positive identification, but Dolan swore it was a British Harrier.

  The third time, they were attacked.

  An A-37A Dragonfly with no markings opened up on them with machine guns. Johnny Rocco climbed to the top of the hull, where he'd mounted a Stinger antiaircraft missile two days before. Rocco aimed and fired.

  The missile streaked up the tailpipe of the Dragonfly when it made a second pass. In a spreading fireball, the plane burst apart, its burning debris tumbling into the Pacific.

  There were no parachutes. There was no time.

  One crewman on the airship was killed, but damage was minimal and easily repaired.

  Then yesterday, as they descended low over the Chilean coast, gunmen hidden in the jungles shot at them as well. Everyone on board got the message: Yanqui, go home. Or, as Jim Cirelli quipped, "Don't get out of the boat."

  But they still needed that fuel. Finally, Captain Dolan, Shelly Townsend, and Sean Brennan formulated a desperate plan to get it. Since they didn't know who controlled Santiago, or who might have taken control of the fuel yards, it was decided that Brennan and his Airborne troops would grab the tank farm in a night raid.

  If the legitimate owners were still in possession, no harm done. The Destiny Explorer would simply ask for the fuel, which was bought and paid for. If not, then the Rangers would just take it - if it was there. The biggest fear was that the remote tank farm outside the city had been destroyed.

  In the dark of night, the Messerschmitt-XYB - piloted by Shelly herself - inserted six of the Airborne Rangers, led by Corporal Brennan, on a dirt road two kilometers away from the tank farm. The troopers hoofed it from there and approached the complex warily.

  It turned out that the tank farm was intact, but it had been seized by a violent group of anti-government rebels. In a decisive, lightning-fast attack, Brennan and his men took the base with no casualties to their own forces. A few of the rebels were killed; many more fled into the jungle believing they were being attacked by a much larger force.

  Hours later, as the sun rose, the Destiny Explorer flew away from the smoking city of Santiago with thousands of gallons of jet fuel pumped into its hull. Later, it stopped at a reservoir in the hills to pump in thousands more gallons of water.

  At least the operation went smoothly, Brennan thought with a flood of relief. I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost one of my men ...

  But suddenly, as they neared what looked like another disaster area, this time at Concepcion, the airship's automatic collision alarms began to blare - shocking Sean out of his troubled thoughts.

  "What's that?" he demanded, instantly tense.

  "Collision alarm," Shelly announced, turning to the short-range radar screen. Captain Dolan, on the helm, activated his HUD and scanned the area.

  "Something is moving parallel to us! Something very large," Dolan said.

  Just then, the intercom on the bridge crackled to life. "This is Ned, on the observation deck," the young scientist cried excitedly. "Take a look out the starboard window ... at two o'clock. We have company."

  Shelly and Sean peered out of the starboard-side window, looking up past the curved hull of the airship.

  "Look!" she cried, pointing.

  "Oh, my God!" Captain Dolan said, without letting go of the control shaft.

  "It's Rodan!" Shelly called to the others. Michael Sullivan's mouth dropped open, then he smiled with delight.

  "Or one of them, anyway," Captain Dolan added. "There are a few Rodans, I think."

  "Yeah," Michael said. "I remembering reading that an egg on the top of Mount Rushmore hatched, and a young Rodan was born."

  "Or maybe two," Shelly added, trying to recall the details.

  "He does look young," Sean Brennan observed as he watched the graceful creature glide alongside the floating airship - fortunately at a respectable distance. "The horns on his head are short, and he seems a little smaller than the one that nested on Rushmore."

  "How do you know so much about Rodan, Corporal?" Dolan asked. It was a question, not a challenge.

  "Well, sir," he replied, "they taught us kaiju recognition in basic."

  "It's beautiful," Shelly exclaimed as she watched the creature flap his massive brown wings almost lazily in the blue summer sky. For some reason she could not explain, Shelly Townsend felt comforted by the flying creature's company.

  Wednesday, December 20, 2000, 3:25 P.M.

  Kita-Ku, Osaka

  The ocean cleanup had been going on for many days, but the Japanese crews were no nearer to finishing now than they were when they started. The tanker that had collided with a container ship off the coast of Osaka sank almost immediately, carrying millions of barrels of crude oil with it.

  Since then, raw oil had spilled into the Pacific Ocean in a steady stream. At ten o'clock that morning, the oil slick, which covered miles of ocean on the Japanese coast, began to burn. Soon, those fires spread. All ship traffic was immediately halted. Container ships were trapped inside the harbor, while others out to sea were forced to reroute to Kobe or other ports.

  The ferry to Shanghai, already canceled because of the turmoil in that Chinese city, burned at the dock in a mysterious fire along with a section of the port. Oil was seen in the area, and fire control units feared that the fire on land might spread out to the oil-slicked waters of the harbor.

  That is exactly what happened at about three o'clock.

  The fires were out of control, and most of the harbors were already severely damaged, when the waters of Osaka Bay caught fire.

  Because of the blackout that affected the world, it was no longer business as usual for Osakans, anyway. The traditional greeting that Osakans used, "Moo kari makka?" - literally "Are you making money yet?" - now took on a bitterly ironic tone.

  But if Osakans weren't making money, they were certainly spending it. The bars, restaurants, coffee shops, and clubs of Dotonburi Street were packed on this damp and rainy Wednesday afternoon
.

  On the northern side of town, in the Kita-Ku area, things were less crowded but still lively. People shopped in the labyrinthine underground mall called Umeda Chika Center, or visited Panasonic Square - the "Futuristic Electro-Fun Zone" - where high-tech virtual reality games and a gigantic jukebox entertained tourists and natives alike.

  Though the day was rainy and overcast, people paid ¥1,000 to ride to the top of the Umeda Sky Building, northwest of Osaka Station. The Sky Building had two tall towers, joined at the top. The unusual, futuristic architecture was loved by some and hated by others, but it certainly was unique. The observation deck was a popular place for Osakans to visit. For the final five stories of the trip to the top, the passengers rode on a glass-enclosed escalator high over the city.

  On this particular afternoon, the observation deck offered people a good look at the fires on the ocean and the thick, oily smoke that hovered in the sky above it.

  But no one in Osaka could have suspected the twin nightmares that would smite their beautiful and ancient city.

  The horror began at the harbor, where the flaming, oily surface of the Pacific began to bubble and churn. As firemen in boats watched warily, a massive figure surfaced in the middle of the conflagration. Two huge slanted eyes peered up out of the Pacific.

  As the fireboats scattered, the dark figure in the burning water began to move toward the city. As the creature approached the smoldering docks, it leaped out of the water and took to the air. The creature's hide was dark green, and it had an irregular, disk-shaped body. Underneath the curved upper surface, vents or spouts in the creature's underbelly spewed toxic gases as it skimmed the water. Stricken, many of the firemen dropped to the decks of their boats, their eyes, noses, and lungs burning.

  The creature swooped over Osaka, continually spewing deadly, toxic sulfuric-acid vapors over everything. As it rose above the seaward section of the city and moved toward the northern end of Osaka, firemen and emergency crews battling the blaze at the waterfront were overcome as well.

  Those far from the creature's passing were less affected. Their eyes smarted and their skin itched. For those closer, it was much worse. Their eyes burned like fire; if the victim inhaled enough of the toxic gases, his or her lungs would be so damaged that death was almost certain. As the gas settled on the town, the fallen literally began to melt away as the acid ate at their flesh.

  The creature continued to circle over Osaka, spreading its poisonous cloud of destruction over a wide area. As the minutes passed, the mounting death toll made small sections of Japan's third-largest city into a graveyard. Fortunately, the gas dissipated rapidly, and a few blocks from the most horrible destruction there were no injuries. However, without communications, no one could summon help. More and more people died from the poisonous gases.

  As the creature swooped low over the city, citizens ran for cover. Many made it indoors, away from the worst effects of the gas. Those who remained in the streets heard a weird pulsing throb issuing from the creature as it passed over them.

  Often, that was the last thing they heard.

  The creature, which would be dubbed Hedorah by the Japanese newspapers in the next few days, seemed to be made of a flowing, living sludge. Circling the city like a flying saucer, Hedorah was clearly visible to the people on the observation deck of the Sky Building.

  Most of them felt relatively safe inside the glass-enclosed, climate-controlled areas of the building. But as power lines melted under the torrent of corrosive gases spewed from the creature, the electricity went off, and a collective gasp of fear issued from those now trapped on the observation deck.

  Some panicked, but most remained at the window. A second gasp sprang from their lips a few minutes later. A storm was brewing on the horizon. A flash of lightning in the dark sky revealed a figure looming over the burning ocean - a figure every Japanese citizen recognized instantly.

  It was Godzilla ...

  Aboard the Destiny Explorer

  Off the coast of Concepcion

  Perhaps curious about the nature of the gigantic airship, Rodan paced the Explorer for more than thirty minutes. Nick Gordon was happy because he got a lot of footage with his camcorder. He bragged that he was going to be as good a live-action photographer as he was a science correspondent.

  Finally, as they approached the city of Concepcion, smoke began to obscure their vision. Rodan soon disappeared behind a wall of smoke, or might have finally lost interest and flown away.

  Worried about visibility, Shelly sent several of the crewmen to act as observers. The chief engineer was sent to the glass nose of the airship, and two other crewmen were sent to the second bridge in the bottom tail fin.

  Sean Brennan ordered Johnny Rocco back up to the Stinger missile launcher, just in case another warplane decided they were a ripe target. Bob Bodusky and Jim Cirelli were at twin fifty-millimeter machine guns mounted in the airship's hangar bay, facing to port and starboard.

  But as they flew over Concepcion, it was not an airplane that attacked them. Instead, a gigantic winged horror rose up from the city he had just shattered toward fresh new prey - them.

  "What is it?" Captain Dolan cried, pointing at the huge silhouette below them, set against the blue waters of the Pacific. Through the hull cameras, which magnified the image for their monitors, he looked like a cross between a butterfly, a beetle, and a bat.

  "I don't know what he is," Sean Brennan cried as he raced for the hangar. "But I know that he's coming right at us!"

  "Full speed ahead," Dolan cried, pushing the throttle forward. At the engineering console, Michael fed more fuel to the engines. Even in this moment of crisis, Shelly was proud of how well he'd learned to use the board.

  The airship slowly picked up speed, but everyone on the bridge knew it was not nearly fast enough to outrun the monster.

  Once again, collision alarms echoed throughout the airship. With a shrill, chirping cry that battered their ears, the gigantic flying insectlike predator approached the airship, his eyes glowing preternaturally.

  Ned Landson, on one of the observation decks with Peter, studied the strange creature through binoculars with cold scientific inquisitiveness.

  "He looks similar to Megalon in many ways," he declared calmly. The monster beat his wings, increasing speed to catch up with the Explorer.

  "Yep," Ned said finally. "He's coming for a visit!"

  Ned continued to peer through his binoculars as he described the creature to Peter. "Like Megalon, he has antennae, mandibles, and a cluster of bony horns on his head surrounding a longer central horn, I might add. He looks so much like Megalon that I'll bet he fires a weird beam of some kind from that central horn ..."

  "How comforting to know that," Peter replied.

  Megalon was the name Ned Landson had given to the monster that had attacked Lima. It was not a scientific classification, though he had one of those, too. But Megalon was the name he liked best - "Mega" because the creature was so large, "Lon" simply because Ned thought it sounded cool.

  Suddenly, twin scarlet beams of light issued from the creature's red eyes. One beam streaked harmlessly past the airship's belly. The second struck one of the starboard engines on the Explorer. The turbofan exploded instantly, vibrating the entire airship and throwing Ned and Peter off their feet. Shards of the steel propellers tore through the thin metal-and-plastic hull, shorting out electrical systems and mortally wounding Gil Givers, who was stationed on the engineering deck.

  "I thought you said that a deadly ray would come out of his horn," Peter remarked.

  Ned ignored him.

  "I might add that this creature seems very aggressive - just as Megalon was," Ned concluded as the airship shuddered.

  "Well, it might look like a bug," Peter proclaimed. "But I never heard of a bug that could do that!"

  A secondary explosion from the damaged engine rocked the airship once again. Ned, clinging to a handhold, continued to stare at the creature.

  "I think I'll cal
l him Battra," he announced. My second major life-form discovered during this trip, he thought proudly.

  "Fine," Peter replied. "I'll read your scientific paper when we get home - if we get home!"

  On the second observation deck, Nick Gordon and Robin Halliday watched the action. Nick tried to shoot footage, but the creature kept flying out of the range of his camera. He howled in frustration and rushed from one side of the deck to the other, trying to get a shot while Robin taunted him.

  Meanwhile, inside her stateroom, Leena Sims was paralyzed with fear. When the collision alarm blared the first time, she had been frightened. It took her a half-hour to master that fear. When the alarm went off for a second time, she was sure that the airship would fall from the sky, dragging her with it.

  This is the end, her mind screamed. Then the ship was hit by something and lurched violently. Leena, standing next to her bunk, struck her head on the night table and was knocked unconscious.

  On the bridge, Michael Sullivan was working at the fire-control station now. The automatic fire extinguishers were activated, dousing the blaze where the engine had exploded. But soon other red warning lights lit up his panel. Michael's fingers flew across the keyboard, releasing fire-prevention foam in several sections of the lower hull.

  Battra, meanwhile, attacked the airship, his wings beating against the hull. The ship was battered by the force of the powerful wings and the rush of air that slapped the airship to the side with each beat. Several aluminum struts buckled inside of the hull - dangerously close to the helium cells.

  The collision alarm continued to wail.

  Watching the greenish black creature on the monitor now, Ned noted that Battra had six legs that ended with tiny claws. The monster had a wingspan of more than 180 meters. And Ned knew that though Battra was dwarfed by the huge airship, the creature was much more deadly. Its attempts to grab the Explorer with its sharp claws and rip it apart showed a dangerous, feral intelligence.

  On top of the hull, Johnny Rocco aimed the Stinger missile launcher down at Battra. He steadied himself with the safety harness as the creature beat his wings against the airship. In a moment of calm, Rocco stared through the sight and waited impatiently for the tone to sound. When the beeping commenced - signaling that the missile's seeker warhead had found the target - he depressed the trigger.