Legend: An Event Group Thriller

by David L. Golemon

  “We don’t need her right at the moment,” Jenks replied.

  “Why? We can keep her at a few knots,” Jack countered.

  “We don’t need her for a while. Tell the boys we’ll work on number two in the next few days while you people find what you came to find.”

  “What are you talking about, Chief?”

  “Major, we have found your goddamned lagoon,” Jenks said calmly over the intercom.

  There were fifteen souls on the upper deck looking out on what could only be described as a lost world. The massive waterfall was just as the legend described. The water fell from a source several hundred feet in the air. The center of the large lagoon was dappled in the brightest sunlight any of them could remember ever seeing, while the fringes of the water remained in almost near darkness. The havoc created by the giant falls produced its own system of winds and drafts that cooled those on deck from the relentless heat and humidity. The shoreline around the lagoon had wide beaches that stretched away from the water like the sands one would find at only the most luxurious hotels on Waikiki. But, by far, the outstanding feature of the entire scene was the giant stone arch that ran up the sides of the waterfall as it disappeared under the falls. Two stone deities stood guard on either side, flanking the falls. These were similar to the strange statues they had seen before, but more ornate in their carving. Massive one-hundred-foot-long spears were clutched in the outsize hands of these deities.

  “I have never in my life beheld anything as beautiful as this,” Danielle said as she edged nearer to Carl.

  “It is something.”

  “All right, I need security with me. Let’s start getting our act together,” Jack said. “In all of this natural beauty, I have failed to notice one thing. The Zachary boat isn’t anywhere to be found.”

  The admiration for the lagoon and forested valley stopped as soon as Jack mentioned the missing craft. What had been a stunning view instantly became foreboding to everyone’s eyes. Somewhere off in the jungle a cockatoo cried, and Teacher listed to starboard as she limped toward the open sunlight at the center of the lagoon.

  Most of the science teams broke into repair groups. The security team made ready a rubber Zodiac to scout out the shoreline, to search for anything that would possibly help them in locating Professor Zachary and her team. Jack had tried to get a satellite transmission out to Boris and Natasha but the transmitter dish had been knocked free of its mounting atop the main mast. Tommy Stiles had been tabbed to repair it.

  Jack, Mendenhall, Carl, Sanchez, Jackson, and Shaw cast off the inflatable Zodiac. Carl was at the wheel and steered the boat into the darkness of the lagoon, heading toward the widest beach on the eastern side of the lagoon. The seventy-five horsepower Evinrude motor shattered the silence of the lagoon and the mountainous walls around it. He gunned the engine the last ten yards and ran the boat as far onto the sandy beach, raising the engine free of the water as the Zodiac hissed onto the sandy shoreline.

  Jack was the first out, with his M-16 pointed toward the pitch blackness of the tree line. He was joined by the others, who followed suit. The extreme quiet was matched by their own silence as they scanned the area immediately around them. Jack looked back at the silhouette and interior lighting of Teacher as she remained in the center of the sunlit lagoon. He checked his watch; they had about an hour of daylight left. If you could call this daylight, he thought.

  “Straight-line formation, gentlemen. Carl, you take up station at the rear.”

  Jack started forward along the shore and followed the waterline to the south. Every ten feet as they inspected the lagoon, Mendenhall reached into his pack and pulled out a small rod with what looked like a lightbulb on the end, and stuck it into the sand, sighting each one with its mate before and after, aligning the laser early-warning fence so they would have some security from something entering the water from the dry land side. As they went they heard the sounds of the forest as it came back to life. The screeching of birds and the chattering of monkeys allowed them to relax, as at least these were sounds they could identify.

  They laid down their perimeter alarms for the next forty minutes. Although they had covered only half the perimeter of this eastern side of the lagoon, it would be a half they could basically ignore for the coming night, as nothing over a foot tall could breach the laser sighting that linked each pole with the one before and after it in the chain.

  “Okay, let’s head back for now,” Jack said as the disappointment set in at not having seen anything, not one piece of evidence that anyone had ever been here.

  Sanchez was looking about in the semidarkness when his foot hit something buried in the sand. He reached down and saw a rusted piece of metal jutting from the golden beach. He pulled on it but it wouldn’t budge. Then he scraped out the sand along the sides of the rusted protrusion. Mendenhall joined him as the others stopped. The two men pulled and tugged. Finally the metal gave way and they both fell onto the sand as Sanchez held out a curved shape.

  “Look at that,” he said in astonishment.

  The hilt was gone and they could see the remnants of braided fabric that had once covered the handle. The sword blade was mostly intact, but the once sharp edge had been totally eaten away by rust.

  “God, how old do you think it is?” Sanchez asked.

  “I would say it’s about five hundred and seventy-odd years old,” Jack answered. “Let’s get the hell back; you can take your prize in and show the experts.”

  Sanchez lightly moved the Spanish sword through the air, amazed at his find.

  As they made their way back, Jack and Carl in particular kept their eyes not only on the forest, but the lagoon, as well. But it was Mendenhall who saw it first.

  “Oh, no.”

  Jack stopped and looked at the area just inside the tree line that Mendenhall was looking at. The major grimaced and made his way toward the area.

  Strewn about was what was left of the Zachary expedition. Jack counted at least fourteen bodies. He gestured for his men to spread out and start checking the grotesque scene. The people appeared to have been mauled by an animal. The remains were cast about like torn dolls among the wreckage of tents and supplies. Boys and girls. That’s the way Jack was seeing it. They were just children.

  “Jesus, Major,” was all Mendenhall could say.

  Sanchez stared in horror at what lay before him. They had all seen casualties before in the Gulf conflicts, but nothing could measure up to this scene. Sanchez looked at the sword he had been holding like a prize and let it slide from his fingers.

  “Before we bury them, we have to get the science people over here to look them over,” said Jack. “Come on, let’s move. The manifest says there are more than just these people. We may have survivors.”

  As authoritative as he sounded, Jack was losing confidence in finding anyone else alive.

  Jack had already posted the roster for the night watch teams and kept the 50 percent alert status for the duration. Upon returning from the shore and turning over the Spanish sword to the sciences, the boat had been abuzz with the knowledge that Padilla had actually been in the valley, that the legend was no longer that, but reality. Jenks had sounded the loud navigation horn three times just in case there were survivors from the Zachary expedition hidden out in the jungle. It sounded in two-minute intervals but no one came forth. Since the loud intrusion of sound, the rain forest around the lagoon had grown unnaturally silent.

  Virginia and the others had brought back the body of one of the students for a closer examination. The others had been hastily buried in the sand. Sarah had voiced the opinion that the bodies had not been disturbed by whatever animal had killed them because of the protection of the small creatures that inhabited the waters of the lagoon. The little monkeys had watched from the shadows of the trees where the men had done their grisly work of gathering up and burying the remains. Several mumbles and sighs were heard from the creatures as the bodies were covered with sand.

  The repairs
to Teacher progressed well through the evening. The only item that would remain after the night would be the repair to the number two engine. Remounting it and replacing the shaft would take most of three full days, but Jenks foresaw no problems in getting it back to 100 percent. They would need that engine to traverse the rapids outside of the lagoon. It was only sheer luck they had a backup shaft in ship’s stores.

  “Ready on ballast pumps,” Jenks called as he flipped the switch and started filling Teacher’s ballast tanks to take her low into the water so her bottom windows could have a better view of the lagoon itself.

  The crew heard the sound of the pumps as water was let into the four massive tanks lining the boat’s inner hull. All hands watched the windows as the huge boat started to settle into the water. Now exactly half of her was below the surface of the strange lagoon. The fantail was only six inches above the waterline and her rear doors would remain closed for the duration of her stay here. The underwater floodlights did much to dispel the darkness around and under the boat. It also brought to life the majesty of what the lagoon held. Fish of every sort came and went through the lights, as curious of them as they were of the fish. Sarah watched over Carl’s shoulder. Fish flashed in and out of her viewing range, coming right up to the large portholes, and she was amazed at their fearlessness of the strange craft in their midst.

  “When do you plan to allow us into the mine, Jack?” Virginia asked, pulling a pair of rubber gloves from her hands as she entered the lounge.

  “Not until we have Teacher back to one hundred percent in case we have to get the hell out of Dodge suddenly,” he answered.

  “But Jack …”

  He looked at Virginia and she shrugged, knowing her argument would do no good.

  “You’re right; maybe tomorrow we can get some probes inside?” she asked.

  “I want to check it out as much as everyone here, Virginia, but only because we may have people holed up in there. But I won’t lose anyone because we didn’t take the proper precautions. The satellite dish is still down, and yes, if we have to expend every probe we have, we will look for survivors tomorrow. What did you find in your autopsy?”

  “Well,” Virginia said as she sat in one of the large chairs, “the wounds are consistent with a wild animal attack. Large lacerations on the torso and head. Cause of death was massive bleeding. I’m afraid, without more equipment, we’re limited to the tests we can run.” She excused herself and left the table when she saw the master chief walk through the outer corridor.

  Jack watched her go and shook his head. “I hope everyone understands that we can’t go charging into that cave, or mine, until we know what in the hell we’re dealing with here.”

  “Virginia’s just anxious, as we all are, to find out about those kids. She knows you have to wait. I think it’s you being hard on yourself. Waiting is the right thing,” Sarah said.

  Jack looked from Sarah to Carl, and Carl knew what he was considering. Carl nodded his head and Jack spoke. “Sarah, you know that tactical nuke key that was found?”

  “What about it?”

  “The key was used. Somewhere out there, or maybe inside the mine, we have a live nuke on our hands. I’m afraid our priorities have shifted. For reasons we don’t know, someone was out to destroy this place. As much as the kids, if they’re alive, need to be found, we now have an active nuclear weapon on our hands.”

  She didn’t know if she liked knowing that little bit of information.

  “Yeah, I see your point.”

  On the upper deck, Virginia joined Danielle and the master chief as they watched the stars come out directly above them. The night sounds had finally returned after the assault of the air horn. Insects and animal life allowed themselves to be heard again, which made the crew outside feel better. There was nothing worse than silence.

  “Beautiful,” Virginia said as she looked up into the void of space that the center of the lagoon afforded them.

  “No smog or city lights to obscure them,” Jenks said as he looked from the heavens to Virginia. He had shaved and put on a clean denim shirt for his night watch.

  “I think I’ll see what Sergeant Mendenhall is up to at the stern,” Danielle said, excusing herself.

  Jenks caught himself as he began instinctively to watch Danielle’s tightly fitted shorts while she moved away. He turned instead toward Virginia and removed his stub of cigar.

  “Well, Doctor, I got you here—”

  Virginia cut off his comment.

  “I like you, too, Chief. And we’ll take this up when we get home.”

  Jenks’s eyes opened wide as he reappraised the tallish woman.

  “I’ll be goddamned and go to hell,” he mumbled.

  Corporal Sanchez had the tower watch and was lulled by the gentle movement of the boat. He rested his elbows on the railing just above the radar platform that extended outward from the sail. The gentle electrical hum also helped to induce the sleepiness he was feeling as he watched the white sands of the shoreline two hundred yards off in the distance. He slowly turned and examined the other side of the lagoon; it was still and quiet. He took a deep breath of air and was grateful for the cooling breeze that hit him. How it could penetrate such a thick canopy of trees, he didn’t know. But it was nice nonetheless. He turned back toward the shore they had visited this afternoon and watched. He raised the night-vision scope to his eyes and scanned first the beach, then the tree line beyond. The laser fence they had placed was operating and glowed brightly in the scope. A light noise caught his attention. He swung the glasses around and looked to the immediate left of where they had landed the Zodiac. He saw nothing. Sanchez looked down at the early-warning alarm box that was linked via radio to the laser line. Of the thirty sensors, all the green lights were ablaze in a semicircle. Nothing had crossed the line from the jungle. But as he looked through the scope again, he failed to notice a large line of bubbles as something moved away from the waterfall side of the lagoon. It was rising from the deep and almost bottomless waters, and coming right at Teacher.

  Jack and Carl left Sarah and went aft to make ready the remote probes that would be used tomorrow for the mine excursion. Jack wanted to launch the probes tonight because of the pressure to find any surviving members of Zachary’s team. But Jenks was right, daylight was best. No sense in losing whatever probes they had left by attempting a nighttime search.

  Upon entering the engineering spaces they saw Professor Ellenshaw and Nathan filling the emergency air tanks of the three-man diving bell, which sat motionless in its steel cradle next to the submersible. Its cable and air hoses were on a large steel drum above it. Tools were spread on a large cloth on the deck, as they had been in the process of working on the broken mounts of the engine. The boat’s PA came to life.

  “Major, this is Jackson in sonar. I have a target coming toward us at about three knots, seems to be about twenty, twenty-five feet in depth. Just came on the scope, and according to my reading, it’s pretty big.”

  Jack was about to reach for the intercom when Teacher was rocked to her starboard side. Carl lost his footing and fell to the deck, and Ellenshaw was almost crushed by the diving bell as it broke loose from its steel cradle and swung outward into the walkway. Jack lunged and pushed the professor clear just as the bell struck the aft bulkhead with a loud clang. Teacher finally righted herself as the frantic calls started coming from the upper deck.

  “Jesus!” Carl exclaimed as he looked out of the aft window.

  Jack gained his footing and looked at what Carl was staring wide-eyed at. Almost blocking the entire five-foot-wide window was a dark undulating mass that was grayish white in color and appeared to have thinly placed fur covering a rough leathery skin. The window below water level was dark, meaning that the width of whatever had struck Teacher was enormous.

  The boat rocked from side to side in a frenzy of motion.

  “There’s another over here—no, wait, two of them!” Ellenshaw gasped from his position on the deck w
here Jack had knocked him. “My god, this cannot be!”

  “Hang on, it’s going to hit us!” Carl shouted.

  Jack braced himself as best he could and opened the double rear hatch. As the door swung open, water rushed in as Teacher was again rocked. This time, the hull came completely clear of the water on its stern end as the animal struck the bottom of the huge boat. Once again, everyone on deck was sent sprawling. Jack fell through the hatchway to the outer deck of the fantail as the angle of the boat became so extreme that he found himself suddenly underwater. The boat again calmed for a moment and he righted himself, taking a deep breath just as the stern of Teacher sprang out of the water after the impact.

  “Secure that damned bell,” Carl called out to Nathan and Ellenshaw.

  As Jack turned back he could hear screams and several loud popping noises that could only be gunfire coming from the upper deck. The boat was slammed and rocked again. As he turned and secured the glass doors to limit the flooding in the engine room, he saw a tail, pointy and swift, slice by his face as it rammed into the deck of the fantail, smashing the aluminum railing that lined it. Then the tail vanished as it splashed back down into the water. He fought to reach the ladder that led to the deck above. Several shots more rang out on deck among the screams. Jack finally gained hold of the first rung and pulled himself upward as more shots and more yelling sounded.

  Finally, Jack was able to see what was happening on the upper deck. The sight that greeted him was one taken from a nightmare. Mendenhall was standing erect and firing his M-16 over the gunnels, but the swiftness of the animals in the water afforded a terrible target. Danielle was on the deck at the staff sergeant’s feet, trying to stand erect, as Jack gained the deck and drew his nine-millimeter from its holster.

  An animal that resembled a presumably extinct plesiosaur moved its elongated neck quickly back and forth, snapping vicious-looking jaws at the people on the upper deck. The beast was small, at least compared with the fossils enshrined in museums. In Jack’s hurried estimation, it looked to be no more than twenty feet long—most of that being neck. The body thrashed and the tail slammed into Teacher in an attempt to kill the large object in front of it. Jack saw smaller animals swimming and diving around the larger one. The obvious difference between these creatures and similar ones seen by people in most museums was the fact that it appeared to have a hardened shell on its torso. The shiny green shell glistened as water poured freely off it.