Last time Ash heard those very words from a military official, he almost died.
The mini-sub, because that’s exactly what this vessel is he comes to realize, shifts. Air hisses, stabilizing the core of the vessel. Metal groans.
Next to him, Julia says, “Yup. We’re going to die.”
He laughs a little, shakes his head, and yet…what if she’s right?
What if this is all a trick? Murdock wasn’t pleased with the tub of bones and now…
EIGHT
No one really talks as the mini-sub dives deeper and deeper into Lake Superior. And as the vessel groans and creaks around them from the pressure, Julia begins to squirm.
Ash pats her knees, trying to comfort his good friend as much as possible. She grabs his hand in her own before he can move it away. She grips his hand. Hard. Like his beloved wife, Willow, had during Ky’s birth. He squeezes back just enough to show her he’s here for her.
A couple of the Seals and Green all share the same cocked eyebrow expression watching Julia.
“She doesn’t like tight spaces,” Ash explains to them.
Green nods and looks away, but the other two – both women – continue staring at Julia as though she’s some new exotic species. Like they don’t have phobias of their own.
“Docking in ten minutes,” Merek, the bald man says through the speakers.
Ash watches the Seals all grip the armrests of their seats and makes sure Julia is doing the same, peeling out of her grip and placing her hand on the armrest between them. She gasps and just to make sure she knows he’s still there for her, Ash rests his hand over hers. He holds onto the other armrest with his free hand.
“Gonna get bumpy,” Green says.
In a few minutes, his teeth click, body shaking and bouncing in his seat as the mini-sub docks. The entire vessel screeches around them and he’d say “bumpy” is the worst understatement ever right now. It’s more like a goddamn earthquake.
Then there’s a loud clunk and everything is still. Well, everything besides his stoMach anyway. But this too eventually settles.
“Prepare to board Infinity Moon,” Merek says.
The Seals unbuckle. Ash and Julia follow suit.
Green stretches her back, pulls Ash and Julia aside. “There will be changes in pressure as you step through the hold. Ears popping and all that. You will also be sanitized. I advise you both to keep your mouths shut, eyes closed and don’t breathe until the beep sounds.” Then she hurries toward the rear of the vessel where the others stand near what Ash assumes is a cargo hatch. Much like the carrier him and Julia took to the island.
Also, like the carrier, the hatch hisses as the seal releases. The doors slide open and Ash is instantly blinded by bright light. He half-turns, blinking.
“Well,” Julia says. “She could’ve warned us about the bright lights of death too. Jeez.”
“Agreed,” he says and then they follow the others out of the mini-sub and into a white, shiny room.
In front of them are a set of sealed doors.
All around, a voice says, “Welcome. You are about to board explorer facility Infinity Moon. Please step through the doors single file and do as instructed. Thank you.”
“Closed underwater facility,” Merek whispers behind Ash, startling him a bit. “Gotta scrub the outside world off ya. Illnesses spread fast down here.”
Ash nods and slowly follows behind Julia through the open doors and into a long, mirrored hall. The doors swish shut behind them.
“Stop.” The voice is firm, though not human, Ash assumes. Too monotone. “Pressurizing.”
There’s no sound, but his ears do indeed pop and crackle like he’s on an airplane lifting into the clouds. His stoMach drops a little and he has this sudden urge to find the nearest restroom. Eventually, though, everything stabilizes and he’s feeling fine. As for Julia, he’s not so sure. She groans a few times, head lowering every few seconds.
Ash places a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You alright?”
“Y-Yeah,” she says without looking over her shoulder at him. “Just too much too soon, I think.”
“I hear ya.”
“Please move forward into the sanitizing tank,” the robotic monotone voice says.
The tank is large, round and smooth. The ceiling, a mirrored dome and all seven people fit without issue. Although, Ash’s heart whip-cracks against his ribs. Because this feels wrong. Like those vile death showers in the Concentration Camps long ago. He can’t shake it and for one godless minute, he almost tries to break out of the tank and return to the mini-sub. But…
“Prepare for sanitization.”
Everyone around him closes their eyes and holds their breath. He makes sure Julia follows their lead and does likewise.
The moment his breath is held, he’s sprayed with a mist of cold liquid. And it keeps coming. He needs to breathe, and the spray just keeps covering him from top to bottom and back up again. Up and down. His chest burns. How long has it been? He’s not used to holding his breath long. Next to him, Julia moans deep in her throat. He reaches out blindly, finds her hand and holds it. Giving each other strength.
And still, the spraying continues. His lungs are on fire. His body quakes. His lips twist, wanting to part, expel the old air and suck in fresh. His eyelids clamp down tighter, face pinched.
He’s about to give up, let be what will be, then the spraying stops.
The robotic voice says, “You may open your eyes in three, two, one. Now.”
Ash’s eyes and mouth pop open. He whooshes out dead breath and sucks in air that reeks like lighter fluid and tastes like rotten bananas. He coughs, gags and shoves his way through the Seals to the door opening across the tank, dragging Julia with him, who is also coughing. They burst into a small square room, everything painted sterile white.
He drops to his knees. Julia leans against a nearby wall, hacking.
And somewhere amongst all the coughing and hacking, Green says, “Deep, slow breaths. You inhaled too quickly and might have gotten a bit of the disinfectant in your throats. Just keep it slow. You’ll both be fine here in a few seconds.”
Ash tries to do what she says, but it’s the hardest thing he’s ever had to do. Well, as far as he can remember anyway. He’s had a crazy life full of dangers, but this…
Yet, as his mind spins through the various jobs he’s been on, his breathing increases and the coughing lessens. His stoMach quivers, though not bad enough for nausea to set in. Eventually, just as Green said, everything eases, and he feels alright again.
And by the sound of it, Julia is coming around too. She’s no longer hacking and sputtering.
Ash stands, wobbles a bit and a woman steadies him. She’s shorter than him, but the fierceness in her green eyes tells him she’d kill him before he knew he was dead.
Regardless, she gives him a thin smile. Beautiful on her deeply bronzed face.
“Thanks,” he says.
“No problem,” the woman Seal says, pats his back and joins the rest of her team.
The others kind of blink at her, even Green, then that monotone voice says, “You are clear to enter Infinity Moon. Someone will be greeting you.”
“Dude,” Julia mutters. “This shit is messed up. So not worth retirement. Also, Infinity Moon? Sounds like a damn spaceship.”
Ash snorts. “The price we pay…”
She lightly kicks him in the shin. It’s not painful but he acts like it is. “Hey, what the—”
“That’s for being a smartass.” She kicks him again. Harder. “That’s for dragging me to this underwater hellhole.”
“I—”
“If you two are done bickering,” Green booms. “We’re about to enter the facility. From here on out, you’ll see little of us unless there’s trouble. For what it’s worth…” Her gaze lingers on Ash for a moment. “It’s been a pleasure to meet both of you. Your discoveries have given scientists new ways to approach things, especially in medicine.”
A
sh knows what she’s referring to.
An unexpected and extremely rare find in Iowa. A partially preserved triceratops found deep in limestone caves. Only the head was preserved, having been frozen in a sheath of thick ice. With this, scientists were able to find the cure for diabetes and drastically slow the progression of ALS. All this found in the blood and brain of the triceratops head. It’s the big find that truly put him and Julia on the map.
A door slides open, Green gives Ash and Julia a nod, spins and hurries out of the room, her team in tow.
“Well,” Julia says, “I think she has the hots for you. Congrats, dude.”
Ash chuckles, waves her away. “There’s something wrong with you.”
“We’ve known this for like fifteen years, man.”
“Seventeen.”
“Whatever. We gonna see what’s beyond this room, or just kinda stand here forever?”
Ash shakes his head, steps toward the doorway. “Says the woman who wants to go back.”
“Dude,” Julia says. “Not so loud. They’re probably recording us.”
“Probably. You coming?”
Her footsteps fall in behind him as he walks through the doorway and into a corridor split in a T-intersection. It’s empty.
“Um,” Julia says, “Didn’t that robot say something about someone greeting u—”
A short, portly man with tufts of red hair sprouting above his ears and around his otherwise bald head, steps around the corner. His face is wide, all smile, beady blue eyes shining under the bright lights. His forehead and stubby nose glistens with sweat. His cheeks are rosy, a sign of high blood pressure, Ash assumes.
“Dr. Barrington. Dr. Remus. So glad to finally meet you both!” He holds out a small, chubby hand and Ash shakes it. Julia steps forward and also shakes the man’s hand.
Once this is done, he says, “I’m Dr. Giles. Head of Invertebrate Discoveries.”
Ash nods. “Finding anything worthwhile?”
Giles shrugs his narrow shoulders. “A few interesting specimens, but nothing to call home about.” He sighs. “I chose the wrong profession.” He smiles at Ash. “Should’ve studied anthropology.”
Ash chuckles. “Yeah, well, it’s not as fun as it seems sometimes.”
“But that triceratops in Iowa…and the mastodon in Texas. Your name is a big one, Dr. Barrington.”
All this time, and he’s still not used to being semi-famous. So, he’s not really sure how to react to such praise. In public, usually a thank you and a smile works, but here, right now with a colleague…? It’s not so easy. Especially if said colleague looks up to him.
Julia clears her throat. “Um, I was there too.”
Giles smiles bright. “I know, Dr. Remus. I was just about to tell you how your finds in Wisconsin changed the way I approach digs. From the side, not top to bottom. That Spinosaurus you uncovered…well, to say the least is the rarest of the rare. They were said to have only be found in North Africa. But…”
Julia slaps her arms. “Right? That find was unexpected. I thought I was uncovering a T-Rex until I saw the longer snout and spines.”
“And if you had gone from top to bottom you might’ve damaged those crucial specifics.”
Julia grins. “Right on, dude.”
They chat a bit more about certain finds, as well as Giles’ research into curing lung cancer using rare prehistoric plankton.
When the conversation flags, Ash points down the hall. “So, what’s down there?”
Giles glances behind him, then beams a smile at Ash. “One of the places I’m supposed to show you. The Research and Reconstruction Department.”
The corridor isn’t long and stops at a set of silver doors with no windows.
Curious, Ash starts toward the doors.
Giles steps in front of him. “Allow me, Doctor.” He bustles ahead, and all Ash can do is smile. The small, portly man is like their biggest fan. Bringing them into the department is a big honor to him.
Giles taps a narrow, black pad nearby and the doors slip open, giving way to a slightly dimmer room boasting several tables with bones sprawled over them. A few men and women decked out in white sort the bones into bins. They look beyond bored.
“This is where we sort the bones we find, if you haven’t figured that out already,” Giles says, leading them down a narrow aisle between sets of tables.
“I have,” Ash says, eyeing the bones as they pass. “They’re all pretty small. Raptors?”
Giles doesn’t turn around, keeps walking, though nods his head. “A few have been found here, surprisingly, but a majority of our finds until the scans came in a few days ago aren’t even dinosaurs. That’s why we separate them. Mammals, fish, dinosaurs.”
“How many dinosaur fossils have you uncovered so far?”
To this, Giles stops a couple feet from the next set of doors. He faces Ash. “Full skeletons, or frags?”
Ash shrugs. “Let’s go with full.”
“Five.”
“Five? In region said to not boast dinosaurs…that’s not a bad haul.”
Giles nods, chuckles. “Yeah, well, they aren’t a preserved triceratops head. Two raptors. A young stegosaurus. Two hadrosaurs.”
The raptors and hadrosaurs don’t surprise him as much as the stegosaurus. Those have only been found in the west around California and far east in parts of Asia.
“What about the scans?” Julia steps beside Ash. “You think there’s more than just what you’ve found already? Or are we all just wasting time here?”
Giles smiles. “Let me show you.” He turns and pushes through the set of doors.
Ash and Julia follow him into a long hall and stop.
“Whoa,” Julia manages, eyes wide, neck craning.
Ash smiles, gaze drifting.
The hall they stand in is not a hall, but a large, clear tube. In every direction, they can see into Lake Superior. A murky wonderland…
“Oh,” Giles says. “Forgot about these. Once you’ve been down here a few months, you kind of get used to them.”
Julia knocks on her side of the tube. “Is this glass?”
“About six percent, yes. Micro reinforced plemeria glass.”
Julia blinks. “What the shit is plemeria glass?”
“Friend of mine invented it. Sam Rogers. Made from composites of actual glass, plastic, metals, and various other minerals I can’t remember right now.”
Frowning, Ash crosses his arms over his chest. “How much pressure can it take before breaking?”
Giles waves a small, chubby hand. “Plenty. We’re perfectly safe down here.” He continues on, loafer flapping the polished, steel floor.
As they follow, Julia leans close to Ash and whispers, “He doesn’t know.”
“I know,” Ash says and looks around at the composite tube they walk through. Weeds from the floor sway around the tube, giving the murkiness an even greater creepy factor. He’s been diving in the ocean a couple times, and that’s plenty creepy, but this…it’s just dead. The gloom. The swaying weeds. The cold depths of America’s greatest lake. All of it sends shiver after shiver over his skin.
“Can we go back home now?” Julia hugs herself, hands stroking her arms as if she’s cold. Even though it’s perfectly comfortable in the tube. “I’m getting a seriously bad feeling about this.”
“We’re here,” Ash says. “Might as well see what there is to see. If I think it’s bogus, we request to be taken back. Cool?”
“Fine,” Julia says. “But I doubt this is the huge find Murdock or anyone here thinks it is. You know damn well this region has no dinosaur fossils. If it did, it’s all been eroded away with the glaciers and all.”
“That’s the claim,” Ash says. “But you never expected to find a Spinosaurus in Alaska, did you?”
“Touché.” Julia blows out a breath too heavy to be a sigh. “Guess we’ll see.”
Ash nudges her. “Come on, you like this. Admit it. Better than an island spewing lava, right?”
<
br /> She laughs a little. “Right. Still hate the feeling of being trapped under a thousand feet of water though.”
“You’ve been in oceans,” Ash says.
“Yeah, but in a mini-sub a few times and never below five hundred feet.”
“We’ll be fine.”
Julia snorts. “I don’t plan on staying here long enough to feel fine, dude.”
Ash nods. “Fair enough.”
They follow Giles out of the tube and into another room. This one, it’s so massive, Ash has trouble taking it all in. Not only is it huge, there’s so many things going on and people milling about.
Over an intercom, a woman says, “Lunch is in ten minutes. Stage your stations for time of rest.”
More than a few people, Ash notes, visibly sigh relief. They work on setting up their tables with whatever they’re working on for when they, presumably, return from lunch. Others tap away on computers. The people across the room, he can’t really tell what they’re doing, but assumes they’re preparing as well.
This room, it smells a little like vanilla and onions. Onions equals body odor in his mind. From personal experience anyway. If these people have been down here for months, he’s willing to bet more than one ran out of deodorant.
“This,” Giles says, “is the Nerve Center. Where all data is examined, collected and recorded. This is also where explorations are recoded and documented.”
“You really need all these people, with so little finds?” Ash shoots Giles a frown. “Doesn’t make sense.”
“We process more than just dinosaur fossils. There’s the sediments of the lake. There are the fish species we encounter. Rocks and whatever we come across. We process it all.”
“What purpose does it even serve to know the sediments of the lake?” Julia asks.
“Pollution, mostly. If we can provide enough data, the Government will change pollution laws.”
Julia laughs. “Like that’s gonna do a shit-ton of good now. Earth is pretty fucked, dude.”
Giles blinks. “There are some who say the standing negative can be reversed. I’m absolutely shocked, Dr. Remus, you of all people would feel otherwise.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve been out there a while and seen some shit. Changes perspectives a bit.”
The Guillotine Page 4
