The Guillotine

by Lucas Pederson

  “So, you truly believe there is no hope at saving Earth?” Giles ventures, challenging Julia now. Which, in Ash’s experience, isn’t a very wise move. “There’s absolutely nothing we can do to reverse what’s going on?”

  Julia steps closer to the short, portly man. His jowls jitter a bit as she approaches. “I’ll tell you what I believe. I believe we already fucked this planet up beyond all repair. I believe it’s healing itself, but not in the way we want. It’s changing. Shifting. Maybe even going back to an earlier form of itself before humans were even a thought. That’s what I believe. Earth is purging us to make way for greater species to evolve.”

  Deep red burns through Giles’ cheeks. His eyes are wide, unblinking. His mouth opens a little.

  Ash clears his throat, taps Giles on the shoulder and the man lets out a small yelp. He faces Ash.

  “Shall we continue on?”

  Giles gives Julia a wide-eyed glance, nods and bustles off toward a set of yellow doors.

  Julia sighs. “I did it again, didn’t I.” Not a question, because of course she knows she did it again.

  “Yup,” Ash says.

  They follow Giles to the yellow doors as the employees of Infinity Moon gawk in their lunch hour.

  “Well, it’s true, dude, and you know it. There’s evidence everywhere Earth is changing, maybe even reverting.”

  “I know that, but going all out on a colleague who respects you…”

  Again, she sighs. “Yeah. I just…yeah.”

  As they come upon Giles, he’s standing close to a scanner set beside the doors. There’s a short beep, then, “Retinal scan complete. Welcome, Dr. Giles.”

  The doors whisper open and Giles motions for Ash and Julia to hurry.

  They rush through a second before the doors slip shut and seal.

  “This,” Giles says, “is Gathering Department.” Floor to wall, the room is packed with carts, tubs, shelves crammed with bags full of what Ash guesses is sediment samples.

  “So technical,” Julia says. “Lemme guess, they’re gathering things.”

  Giles doesn’t look at her, barely acknowledges her comment. “Here, we hold and store what we recover from the lake bed for further processing.”

  As he finishes, a tall woman bursts through swinging doors to the right, pushing a heaping cart dripping brownish water.

  She tosses a red disc onto the heap and glowers at Giles. “Looks like more partial mammoths and a hadrosaur. Your sediments and shit are on the bottom.” She blows out a breath, nods at Ash and Julia and hurries out.

  “That’s Fern,” Giles says, “my assistant.”

  “She seems nice,” Julia says.

  Ash chuckles, he can’t help it. When he’s able, he taps the cart. “Finding a lot of hadrosaurs here. Didn’t think this region would boast so many, actually.”

  “Well,” Giles says. “These fossils are below the lakebed, so they were spared during the glaciers erosion. Same with the raptors we found.”

  “How far have you dug below the bed?”

  Giles strokes his nubby chin, frowns, then snaps his fingers. “We’re at sixty feet now.”

  “All in the same spot?”

  “Oh, no. Not at all. Our teams move around.” He places a hand on the cart. “This haul is about two miles north of the facility.”

  Ash steps toward the swinging doors. “So why are we here? You mentioned scans. If we’re here to help with whatever cause you’re after, we’re not interested. Murdock Jones hired us for a special job. If that’s not the case, I request we be taken back to the surface.”

  Giles grins and to Ash it’s the oddest grin he’s ever seen. Including Murdock Jones. “I have such sights to show you…”

  Julia and Ash exchange a glance and Julia says, “Okay, that’s creepy, dude. Stop.”

  Giles’ grin droops. He puffs out a breath. “I wanted to give you two a mini tour of the facility, but yes, might as well get to business, right? Follow me.”

  The change in Giles is gradual. From being a mystified fan to a dower, sarcastic ass. Julia’s comments no doubt aided in this change too. As often happens to almost everyone who meets her. Great person as she is, she just has no filter. Colleagues or not. She doesn’t care, and that’s a small part of why he likes her so much. Unlike Julia, Ash does have a filter. He can’t help it. It’s just his personality.

  Giles walks to a single metal door. Here, there is no scanning. He simply pulls the latch and opens it. Then waits for Ash and Julia to join him.

  When they do, he says, “Beyond this point, the facility is a bunch of glass composite corridors like the one you two awed over. There’s the living quarters also, but I guess we’ll get to that later. But, we’re going straight into Scan and Retrieve, since you both want to know why you’re here.” His tone is almost smug, Ash notes.

  Neither Ash, nor Julia says anything and follow Giles down another clear corridor. This one, Ash realizes, isn’t all murk and weeds, though. It’s actually fairly clear. A large sturgeon thumps the glass composite, flutters a bit, then swims away. Close to prehistoric, sturgeons. Besides crocodiles, sandhill cranes, and jellyfish, sturgeons are right up there with animals still living these days. Though, evolution has altered all of them in many ways, especially size, they remain basically the same.

  He can see other clear corridors to the right, dotted with white. Are those the living quarters? Doesn’t matter. If Giles can’t show him some real results, him and Julia are out of here.

  Murdock can go suck an egg.

  The corridor is long and curves to the left a bit until they come to yet another set of yellow doors. Giles scans his retina and the doors open. The next room they step into is just as large as the Processing Department. Only difference, besides all the people and computers and table, is the large pool dominating the room.

  “This,” Giles says, “is Scan and Retrieve and—”

  “Giles! For Christ sake. You know you need to call ahead if you…” A stout woman in maybe her middle thirties stops near the pool. Her face wrinkles in a frown. “Is that…?”

  “Yes,” Giles says. “Murdock sent them. I’ll leave you all alone to get acquainted.”

  Before Ash can stop him, the small, portly man leaves.

  Ash faces the woman.

  Her brown eyes look him up and down as she slowly approaches. “So, he’s sending experts now.” She glances at Julia then turns her full attention on Ash. “I know who you are, Dr. Barrington. I know of Dr. Remus too.” She stops approaching merely a foot away. “Well, let me tell you both something. We don’t need you. We have a team of top-notch people right here doing their best.”

  “Nice to meet you too,” Julia says and looks at Ash. “Everyone is so darn friendly down here. I can hardly contain my love for them all.”

  Ash waves a hand at her and addresses the woman. “Look, we don’t want to be here anymore than you want us. Just show us the scans and we’ll go from there.”

  The woman looks from Ash to Julia and back again. “So, why are you here?”

  “To look at the important scan taken yesterday,” Ash says.

  “So, Murdock thinks we’re incompetent now?”

  “Excuse me,” Julia spouts. “Who are you? Didn’t catch your name.”

  The woman shoots Julia a sharp glare. “Because I didn’t give it.”

  Ash, rubbing his temples, sighs. He says, “No one said you or your crew are incompetent. We’ve just been sent to assist, that’s all.”

  The woman, she deflates a little. Her face softens the tiniest bit. “Okay, listen, the last ‘experts’ Murdock sent down here were complete morons he must have thought were geniuses. Seriously. The moment they arrived, they tried to take over the entire operation we have going. My operation. In the process, they nearly dumped all the data we had saved over the months when one of them tried copying it all onto his tablet. I about killed them both. Would have, if Green hadn’t intervened and taken those two bastards topside.”
/>   “Well, holy shit,” Julia says. “But we’re not them.”

  “Never said you were.”

  “Then stop treating us like shit.”

  The woman visibly hardens, gaze growing cold. But this lasts only a few seconds before she softens again. Her shoulders slump a bit. “Okay. Okay. I’m Quinn, Head of Scans and Retrieves.” She motions to the pool beside her. “This is the Moon Pool.”

  Julia snaps her fingers. “Now I get it. Moon Pool. Infinity Moon.”

  Quinn’s gaze rolls in Ash’s direction. “She’s not the brightest crayon in the box, is she?”

  Ash snorts.

  “Hey,” Julia says. “I’m right here, lady.”

  A ghost of a smile touches Quinn’s lips. “You remind me a lot of my sister.”

  Julia chuckles. “Must be a good thing, then.”

  “She had schizophrenia. Killed her husband and chewed her wrists open.”

  “I…” Julia looks at Ash, then back at Quinn. “That’s messed up.”

  Quinn nods solemnly. Her face darkens some. “Indeed. Forgot to take her meds and continued forgetting until…well…”

  “Wait,” Julia says. “How the hell do I remind you of your crazy sister?”

  “She was a jokester too.”

  Julia swipes a hand across her forehead, exaggerating wiping off sweat. “Good. I thought I was crazy.”

  “Oh,” Quinn says, winks, “You are, but I promise, if you start talking to the walls and trying to kill people, I’ll shoot you.”

  This, for the first time since Ash has known her, leaves Julia speechless.

  Quinn laughs, claps her hands and points at Julia. “Oh, you’re going to be fun. Come on, I’ll show you those scans.”

  Ash pats Julia’s shoulder as he passes. She’s staring at Quinn, wide-eyed, mouth opening and closing.

  Behind him, she says, “I think I just met my new best friend.”

  Ash chuckles, following Quinn across the large room to a narrow, silver door.

  NINE

  The room Quinn leads Ash and Julia into is considerably smaller than any of the others they’ve stood in. Every wall is adorned with monitors, three men tapping away on computers. But it’s the far wall Quinn leads them to.

  Here, the wall carries only one large monitor. Protruding from the wall are various panels and a large, glowing, blue dome. Ash recognizes some of the equipment. Like the seismograph and depth finders, but the rest…he’s utterly lost.

  Quinn taps a blinking green light next to the glowing blue dome. It flickers to red. She types something on a flat keyboard resting on the opposite side of the dome.

  “This is the main hub of all the scans ever taken during the thirteen months this project has been funded,” Quinn says. “Every scan is closely inspected before any orders are given.”

  She taps another button and steps away from the dome.

  “Um,” Julia says. “Is something supposed to happen? Because—”

  Before she can finish, an image manifests above the blue dome. For a moment, it’s nothing but blurry waves, then Ash is staring at the lakebed. In the right corner is: 1,300 feet.

  The image flickers, revealing an ultrasound view. In the right corner, it reads: 1,350 feet. An image itself…

  “Holy shit,” Ash manages, heart stuttering.

  “Are those…?” Julia leans closer.

  “We estimate between five hundred to two thousand different species of dinosaurs,” Quinn says.

  The image flickers again. Clearer this time. Ash blinks at a fully intact tyrannosaurus rex skull.

  Barely able to breathe, he points at the images, shaking his head. “No. Not possible.”

  Quinn smiles. “The T-Rex skull? Agreed. But here it is. If you look closely, there’s also a brachiosaurus skull and partial spine. As you know, the sauropods did not roam in this region as far as science knows. Stuck mostly to the west according to fossils. Although, those were never considered a real brachiosaurus, of course.”

  “Juvenile brontosaurus,” Ash says. “Only true brachiosaurus found in North America, and only the skull was in Georgia. Many confused brontosaurus with brachiosaurus. They still do.”

  “Which is dumb,” Julia says, “because their skulls are totally different.”

  “Brontosaurus has a broader snout, and overall skull, yes,” Ash says. “But compared, that’s the only real difference, besides the ridge between the brachiosaurus’ eyes. Sometimes that ridge gets broken off over time, so…”

  Quinn waves a hand. “Yeah, yeah, we all know that much. But there’s an entire trove in this cave. Could be the finds of a lifetime.”

  There’s a long pause, before Julia ventures, “Then why haven’t you exhumed the bones?”

  “We plan to in…” She glances at her wristwatch. “Two hours.”

  Both of Ash’s eyebrows lift. “You’ve already breached the cave? According to this, it’s under the lake bed.”

  “Last report from my dig team leader out there is we have about ten feet to go. Most of it solid rock.”

  Ash nods. He stares at the T-Rex skull for a long time and straightens. “I want to join the dive team to exhume the bones.”

  “You want to…” Julia says. “Dude, you’re terrified of water!”

  He faces her. “Have to get over that fear sometime, right?”

  “Sounds more like you want to take credit for the finds,” Quinn says.

  Ash shakes his head. “No. I just like to see everything first hand.”

  “Yep,” Julia says. “Doesn’t matter where or how dangerous, he’s all up in everything all the time. Crazy bastard. Annoying as shit too.”

  Quinn taps one of the buttons and the image dissolves. “We have a highly trained team who go on these excavation dives. How much training have either of you had on deep dives?”

  Ash and Julia exchange glances.

  “I went snorkeling once,” Julia says. “Does that count?”

  “Mini-sub involved?” Ash asks.

  “A modified sub, yes. Equipped with claws to help collect and heavy lifting, but most of the netting is done by hand and divers.”

  Ash faces Quinn fully. “So, get me trained. I want to help.”

  She frowns. “Why? Because if you think—”

  “No. This is your find. Full credit. I just want to be there. I want to help.”

  Leaning close, Julia whispers, “What the hell are you doing, dude?”

  “The right thing,” he says and looks at Quinn. “I’ll even sign a waiver or whatever you need. Get me trained so I can help.”

  Quinn glances away for a moment, takes a breath, and looks at Ash. Her eyes are cold again. Stony. “Fine. But I swear, if you take any credit for any of this and belittle my crew, I’ll shoot you.”

  “She’s really into shooting people, man,” Julia tosses out.

  “You have my word,” Ash says. “This is your find. I’m only here to assist.”

  Quinn shakes her head, but motions for them to leave the room.

  Back in the Moon Pool room, another woman is inspecting dive gear. It’s only now Ash notices the modified mini-sub suspended above the pool.

  “Well, here we go,” Quinn says as she brushes by Ash. “Hi Kayla.”

  The other woman, Kayla, she favors Quinn with a brief smile, then returns to inspecting the gear lined up against the wall. She doesn’t acknowledge Ash or Julia, just keeps going on about her job.

  Quinn turns to Ash. “This is Kayla. She’s our marine biologist and deep dive expert. She’s the one who found the real Flying Dutchman ship six years ago.”

  Ash sucks in a breath, gaze drifting to Kayla as she tests air tanks and makes sure there’s no cracks in the hoses. At least, that’s what he thinks she’s doing.

  He blows out pent up breath, and manages, “This is Kayla Fivewinds?”

  “The very same,” Quinn says.

  “You know,” Kayla says. “I do speak English, right?”

  Julia giggles. “O
h, I like her already.”

  Ash clears his throat and steps forward a bit. He hunkers down beside her. “I’m Ash Barrington.” He extends a hand.

  Kayla frowns at the hand. “I know.” She winks at him, then goes on about checking the diving gear again.

  “Kayla,” Quinn says. “I need you to train Ash about diving.”

  For a long time, the woman doesn’t answer. Finally, though, “This isn’t some amateur dive. We have two hours. Not days to train.”

  Ash says, “I’m a fast learner.”

  Without looking at him, Kayla says, “Everyone says that until they’re eight hundred feet underwater and their tank is running low.”

  “Kayla,” Quinn says, tone firm.

  The other woman sighs and finally gives Ash her full attention. “Alright, look. Deep diving isn’t just something you learn overnight, let alone in less than two hours. Letting you dive without proper training would possibly kill you.”

  “I can handle it,” he says.

  “Ash…” Julia says, placing a hand on his shoulder. “If she thinks you can’t then—”

  “I’ll be fine.” He shoots a glare over his shoulder at her.

  Julia rolls her eyes and flaps her arms in exasperation. “Fine. Whatever, dude.”

  “Give him the best possible training,” Quinn says. “He’ll just be there to help, nothing more.”

  “I have enough help.”

  “Kayla…” Quinn with her firm tone again.

  “Fine,” Kayla says and jabs Ash in his chest. “You want to learn how to dive? Then let’s learn how to dive.”

  “Don’t kill him,” Quinn says quickly.

  Kayla chuckles as she stands. “No promises, Boss.”

  “Oh, that makes me feel so much better about letting my partner go into the water with you,” Julia says.

  “Then maybe he should have already been trained before volunteering.”

  “Look, you little—”

  “Enough,” Ash shouts. He stands, gives Julia a simmer-down gesture, then faces Kayla. “Teach me the basics. That’s all I ask.”

  Kayla lowers her gaze, lets out a long breath too heavy to be a sigh. “Okay.” Her hazel eyes meet his blue ones. “As long as you stay out of the way and remember I’m the boss out there. Do as I say and do it right away. A single false move and it jeopardizes not only the operation, but the lives of my dive team too. Understand?”