Kraken Rising

CHAPTER 60

The submarine turned fast, the steel fish incredibly maneuverable. Alex felt a glimmer of hope as they moved along the eastern shoreline, on the edge of an underwater shelf and about twenty feet down.

Casey Franks frowned and leaned in towards her screen. “Gross, what the hell is this?” She turned. “Hey, Doc… uh, Docs.”

Cate and Aimee joined her, both leaning over the female HAWC. Cate’s brows shot up as she straightened. “Unbelievable, but I think that’s eggs.”

The group crowded around Casey’s screen. The underwater shelf created an overhang, and suspended from the rock roof there looked to be gigantic bunches of grapes, each egg pod about six feet in length. They swayed slightly in an invisible current.

“So, this is where momma raises the kids?” Casey said.

Cate leaned back. “Also answers the question on whether there is only one of them. Got to be at least two, huh?”

“And going to be a hell of a lot more soon.” Casey looked like she had just smelled something bad. She panned the external camera around. “Looks like a pretty strong current coming from somewhere.”

“Oh god, yes and no,” Cate said, spinning back. “We need to get away from here.” She leaned over Casey, staring hard at the screen. “A current, yes, but not a natural one. The female stays close to the eggs, protecting them and blowing water over them to keep them oxygenated.” She pointed. “There.”

At the end of her finger on the screen, they could just make out the tips of tentacles flattened on the bottom. The rest of the creature was so perfectly camouflaged, it could have been part of the rock shelf itself.

Casey pulled back on the camera’s magnification, taking more of the gigantic cephalopod in, but like a submerged mountain, much of the animal extended beyond their scope.

Alex leaned forward, studying the image. He felt a surge of adrenalin at seeing the size of the thing, and so close to them in the water. Down here they were vulnerable. Inside the submarine, they had nowhere else to go. He straightened.

“Okay, if this is where the thing is, then we want to be somewhere else. Blake, get us out of here.”

Blake swung the submarine away towards the far wall, and the lake bottom suddenly fell away beneath them.

“Getting deeper here, we’ve not got fifty fathoms beneath us.” He checked his instruments. “No sign of any breaks in the wall.”

“Take her down another twenty,” said Alex.

“You got it.” Blake eased the U-shaped wheel forward and the sub gently inclined as it dropped. “Hold the phone, ladies and gentlemen, we might have an opening. Sonar just missed a few pings along the western wall… means the sonar pulses passed right through and didn’t bounce back off anything solid.”

“There, a blue glow up ahead.” Casey clapped her hands once as she watched the screen. “A big beautiful hole in the wall.” She grinned. “And plenty of room — got to be eighty feet up and across — easy.”

“Take us through,” said Alex.

“Incoming”’ Blake yelled, making Jennifer cringe as though she had been struck.

“What?” Alex spun to the man, crossing the bridge in two strides.

“Big bogey, coming right at us…” Blake’s neck jutted forward, his round eyes fixed on the sonar. “Hold it, hold it…” He half turned, a relieved smile on his face. “Going to miss us… it’s going right past, and it’s in a helluva hurry.” Blake’s smile evaporated. “Ah goddammit, it’s headed for the hole in the wall.”

“No, you don’t.” Casey pounded a fist on the bench top. “It’s gonna shut the door.”

“All stop,” Alex yelled, crossing to Casey and leaning closer to her screen as the engines powered down. At this depth the water was darker, but the blue glow of the hole they had just glimpsed was now obscured.

“Try this.” Casey flicked a few switches, and external lights came on.

“Oh my god,” Aimee said, grimacing.

The huge cephalopod hung in the water, with many of its tentacles extended. This was no random action; it had moved to fully block the hole. It hung suspended, mid water, looking like a large mottled web, waiting to ensnare them. Its mantle fully spread, blotting out the weak light from outside.

Alex stared at the monstrous creature and cleared his mind. He pushed his senses out and felt the thing in the water, its bulk, and its cold consciousness. It knew they were inside the submarine, and it even knew how many of them there were.

Alex felt a stab of pain in his skull. It wanted all of them. It wanted them for food, and it wanted to use them to break the boredom it felt, in its eternal twilight.

“A monster, a real monster,” Cate said.

“It’s just sitting there, staring at us.” Casey’s fingers flexed on the console.

“Look at its eyes.” Blake seemed mesmerized. “Who was it that said that when you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you?”

“Nietzsche,” Aimee said quietly.

Alex folded his arms. “Looks like it doesn’t want its new playthings getting away.”

“Let’s put a torpedo up its ass,” Casey said, with her jaw set.

Alex slowly shook his head. “Don’t know if just one will work, and don’t want to exhaust them just yet.”

“And if we miss and hit the wall, we might collapse our only way out,” said Aimee, coming and standing by Alex.

He turned to Cate. “You said it was protecting its eggs.”

“Yes, they have a strong maternal instinct. If we can outrun it, it might turn back,” she said, nodding.

“Can’t outrun it in here,” Alex said. “It leaves us no choice. Blake, bring her around.”

Blake engaged the engines, and turned the Sea Shadow away from the monster in the deep.

Alex waited for a few moments. “Is it following?”

Blake shook his head. “No, staying right where it can act like the biggest cork in history.”

“Time to take it up a level.” Alex reached towards the comm. “Rhino, stand by.” He looked back to Blake. “Hold course, but on my word, swing away hard, and make a looping course back for the hole.” Alex watched Casey’s screen.

“Coming up on the shoreline, boss,” Blake said. He gritted his teeth, occasionally looking across at the depth readings. “Getting real close.” He half turned.

“Stand by.” Alex had the comm. line open. He kept watching Casey’s screen, until he could see them, the huge dangling bunches of eggs.

“Fire one.” There was a small kick, and on the view screen there appeared a trail of bubbles racing away from the nose of the Sea Shadow. Alex spun.

“Blake, bank hard, now!”

Blake turned the U-shaped wheel like a racing car driver, and the steel fish yawed in the water. They all held on as the submarine tilted.

Alex urged more speed, and in another second came the detonation, and then a judder ran through the skin of the vessel.

“That got its attention. Creature is on the move,” Blake said. “Coming fast — real fast — brace.”

They waited, but there was nothing. As Alex had hoped, the creature had raced right by them to save its eggs.

“Now, give it all you’ve got. Let’s get through that hole.” Alex paced as Blake pushed the lever forward to maximum, pushing every ounce of energy into the rear propulsion, and willing his own strength into the turbines for good measure. The submarine kicked forward, speeding away under the dark water.

Alex saw the blue glow of the hole approaching, and counted down the seconds. Come on, give us some luck, he prayed, urging the machine on. From deep within his head, he could feel a sense of anguish and pain emanating from the cold mind of the creature. He tried to shut it out, but the distress came at him in waves.

Alex put his head down, concentrating on the blue glow ahead. As the echoes of the creature’s misery dimmed, he finally felt it morphing into something much more hard-edged; hate.

No one spoke. Everyone was focused on Blake and Casey’s screens and panels. Soong and Shenjung just stayed seated, waiting and listening for the sound of something huge settling on the skin of the vessel.

“Gonna be tight.” Casey’s teeth were clamped together.

“Exit coming up,” Blake said. “500 feet, 450, 400, 350… say a prayer ladies and gentlemen, we’re going to thread the needle. 200 feet, 150, 100…” Nothing else existed but Blake’s voice.

Time slowed, and then stretched. Alex looked to Aimee, and her eyes locked with his. In the ice-blue gaze and the tiny uptilt of her lips, he saw resignation, perhaps to fate, but also trust. He hoped it was not misplaced.

“Hold onto your asses-ssss…” Blake yelled through gritted teeth as scraping and grinding sounded against the hull. They bounced hard to the left, something popped, and metal squealed from somewhere back in the bowels of the vessel. The makeshift crew held on as they passed through the hole in the wall.

“Yeah.” Casey leapt from her chair, high-fiving herself in an overhead clap.

There were sighs of relief and cheers as the submarine sailed out into more open waters. Alex leaned forward onto his knuckles and exhaled, realizing he had been holding his breath.

Aimee grabbed his arm, holding on. “You know it will follow us,” she said softly.

He half turned, feeling a sense of resignation. “I wish I could say it won’t.” He straightened. “But I can’t.” He pressed the comm. button connecting to Rinofsky. “Rhino, stand by on all tubes.”

“Whoa.”

Sam Reid turned at the sound of the scientist’s voice.

“That’s weird,” Sulley said.

“What’s up, sunshine?” Schmidt pushed his chair back.

“Got something?” Sam wandered over and stood behind Sulley’s chair.

“Yeah, but something that shouldn’t be there. A big object, but really weird. It’s giving back a metallic signature.” Sulley’s fingers flew over the console.

Metallic signature — Sam’s hopes skyrocketed.

“You been putting too much sugar in your tea again?” Schmidt leaned over the young scientist. “Could be some sort of high concentration of ore in one of the cliff walls — anything from platinum, nickel, copper to gold down here. Let me see that.” He straightened, frowning. “That is weird.”

Sam put one large hand on Sulley’s shoulder. “Please tell me yours is the only probe down there?”

From behind, Bentley scoffed. “Of course we damn well are, Reid. We must be picking up some sort of manganese node amalgamation or the like.”

“That’s what I thought, but it’s moving, and damned fast… and that background signal is getting stronger,” Sulley responded.

Sam folded his arms, grinning. “Follow it.”