Shadow Tyrants

THIRTY-NINE

While they searched for a new exit from the Colossus 3, Juan and Linda’s suits were beginning to lose their ability to cool. In a few minutes, the coolant would be the same temperature as the surrounding water, and they would quickly overheat.

Juan had already tried smashing the windows on the bridge, but the thick impact-resistant glass was impervious to his attempts to shatter it with a fire extinguisher. He just couldn’t get enough momentum in the water.

Their efforts to pry open the doors were fruitless. The rust in the mechanisms was too solid.

He saw Linda clutching her head and said, “How are you doing?”

“A headache,” she replied. “Bad one.”

“That’s one of the first symptoms of heatstroke,” Julia said. “Your core temperatures are already above a hundred degrees, and still rising. If we don’t get you out of there soon, both of you will pass out.”

She didn’t have to tell them that death would soon follow.

“The lava flow has also taken a turn because of new pathways opened by the avalanche,” Eric said. “It’s headed straight for you now.”

“I could ram the bridge windows with Nomad.”

“No. You might damage the sub and then we’d all be in trouble. We’ll find another route.”

Linda was having trouble holding the weight of the mesh sack, so Juan took it from her. He also noticed that he’d stopped sweating, which wasn’t a good sign.

“Follow me,” he said, and swam for the stairs.

“That…” Linda shook her head, trying to clear out the cobwebs. “The door down there… on the deck. Eric said it’s blocked.”

“The windows in one of the cabins might be easier to break.” He took the fire extinguisher with him as a battering ram.

Juan was also feeling the effects of the heat. A couple of times as he was swimming, he lost his orientation and almost started going back up until he saw Linda behind him.

When they reached the next level down, he turned to port and went a few yards before he remembered that he was going in the direction of the oncoming lava. He backtracked and went to the opposite end of the corridor.

One of the cabin doors was open, and Juan was surprised to see a luxurious stateroom that could have served as the captain’s suite on a cruise ship. At first, he thought he might be hallucinating, but when he ran his hand over a sofa, he knew this was real.

“This ship is weird,” Linda said.

The only thing the cabin didn’t have that a cruise ship would was patio doors leading to a balcony. Instead, it had small windows as if to disguise the true nature of what the Colossus 3 was hiding on the inside.

Linda went to the closest window and ran her hands over it.

“It’s barely big enough,” she said. “Even without the tank and cooling pump.”

They’d never get through without removing their bulky equipment.

“Eric,” Juan said, “we’re on the starboard side of the ship, one level down. We’re going to have to go through a window without our air or coolant. How close can you get?”

“Hold on,” came the reply. Then a powerful light illuminated the window. “I see you. But I can’t get too close or we might get tangled with the ropes of the lifeboat davits.”

“Get right above us.” Then Juan asked Linda, “Ready?”

She nodded. “It’s better than being the frog in a slowly boiling pot of water.”

“The water outside is probably hotter than the water in here, so we don’t want to break the window until we’re ready to leave. We’ll take off the air tanks but keep the masks on until we have to go. Detach my coolant hoses from the suit.”

As soon as she unplugged them, the water around him instantly felt twenty degrees warmer.

He shrugged off the tank and pump. Then he disconnected Linda’s cooling unit, and she took off the equipment.

“All set?” Juan asked.

“I’m burning up. Let’s go.”

He rammed the fire extinguisher against the window. It cracked but didn’t break. He tried twice more before it shattered. He used his pry bar to clear the glass.

“Go,” he said. Linda took one last breath, detached the hose from her mask, and wriggled through.

Juan was getting light-headed. He remembered that he was supposed to take something else with him that was important. What was it?

He looked down and saw the mesh bag holding the books. That’s what it was. He picked it up and it felt like it was packed with lead.

He took a few deep breaths and unplugged his mask.

Squeezing through the window while carrying the sack required all of his rapidly draining strength. When he was finally free of the ship, he saw Linda’s silhouette floating above him in Nomad’s light.

He swam to her and saw that her eyes were barely open.

He shook her shoulder to keep her from passing out, but that’s exactly what he felt like doing. His limbs were like jelly, and he suddenly realized he was no longer holding the bag. It had slipped out of his grip. He looked down, but it was lost somewhere among the ropes of the lifeboat davits.

Every stroke toward the waiting Nomad was a chore, but he didn’t let go of Linda. She was feebly kicking, and the combination of heat and lack of air was about to render her unconscious.

He spotted the flashing light next to the open air lock door on the bottom of the sub and willed himself to reach it. He pushed Linda into the small space and followed her in.

His muscles were aching, but he forced himself to drive through the pain and pull the hatch closed. When the light was green, he slammed his hand into the button that would purge the water.

Then he blacked out.

When he came to, he found himself lying on Nomad’s floor covered with cold packs. He tried to sit up, but Julia pushed him back down.

“Linda,” he croaked.

“She’s all right.” She pointed at Linda lying next to him. She was also buried in the cold packs. Her eyes were blinking.

“I’m never getting in a Jacuzzi again,” she said.

“Or a sauna,” Juan added. Then he remembered the sack containing the documents from the Colossus 3. “I dropped the bag.”

“I saw,” Eric said from the cockpit. Nomad was heading back to the Oregon, the lights from the moon pool providing a beacon in the darkness.

“Can you get it?”

“We’re getting you two to my medical bay first,” Julia said.

“I lost it in gloom,” Eric said. “We can do a search later, but I’m afraid it’ll be covered by the lava by the time we get back down here. Or, at least, too close to the lava to get to. Don’t worry, though. You still got this.” Eric held up a leather-bound book. “This was in your suit.”

“The captain’s logbook. Let’s hope it says something useful.”

“I think it will. But it’s not the captain’s log. They’re notes from one of the scientists on board. I was only able to see the first page because I didn’t want to damage the others.”

“It didn’t say anything about where we can find the artificial intelligence computer, did it?”

“In fact, it did. We’ve already seen the AI. Those vats? That’s the artificial intelligence.”

“What do you mean?” Linda asked.

“We’ll know more when we can look at the entire contents,” Eric said. “But from what’s on just the first page, it seems that the AI isn’t silicon-based. It’s organic. The Colossus 3 was built to carry a giant biocomputer.”