A single manipulator arm extended from the machine, attaching itself to a hook on the side of Ursula’s portside pontoon.
“The damned thing’s latched onto us like a grappling hook!” Sam turned to Major Marazzato. “You still think this thing’s from the future?”
Marazzato clenched his jaw, his arm holding the bracing bar tight. “I have no fucking idea!”
A moment later, the machine started to move.
Sam jerked backward into his seat with a jolt, as the submarine started moving. The seabed mining machine dragged them inside the sphere.
He watched as they slid in through the lockout chamber, before coming to a complete stop. The door closed, and they were trapped inside the sphere.
A blue haze from ambient lighting lit the room.
It turned red suddenly.
“What do you think the color changes mean?” Marazzato asked.
Sam thought about it for a second. “If this was a submarine, I’d say they’re about to blow the ballast, dispelling the water and filling the room with air.”
Marazzato shifted uncomfortably in his chair, as though eager to fight whoever was responsible for this. He turned to Dr. Smyth. “Does that make sense to you, doctor?”
Dr. Smyth sat with her hands folded across her lap, the only one among them who appeared fully calm, as though accepting whatever fate should fall her way. She shrugged. “I’m afraid submarines are more your area of expertise, Major.”
Another few seconds passed, and the argument became moot.
Air bubbles filled the room, venting in from beneath them somewhere, expelling the water and filling the entire place with gas.
The million-dollar question being, was that gas breathable?
As soon as the water was cleared another door opened up, and the mining machine started to move again, disappearing down another tunnel, leaving them to their solitude.
All three of them waited another couple of minutes as though expecting someone else to come and tell them what to do.
Finally, Dr. Smyth said, “Shall we get out?”
Marazzato said, “The gas may not be breathable?”
Sam shrugged. “Then again, we’re going to run out of air in another three days.”
Dr. Smyth stood up, stretching as much as the shallow bubble would allow, her hands reaching up to the internal lock on the hatch.
“What are you doing?” Sam asked.
“I’m not waiting around any longer.” She grinned. “I thought I might go stretch my legs outside.”
“She’s nuts!” Marazzato said.
“Does it matter?” Sam asked. “Let her go. We’re going to be out of air soon enough anyway. If we’re going to have to take a gamble, we may as well do it now. Here’s to hoping the future US Navy still needed to breathe air.”
He unlocked the latch and all three of them climbed out of the submarine.
Sam took a slow, deep, breath in through his nose. The air was cool. It had a distinct scent to it. Something out of place. Something he couldn’t quite place at first. A strong scent of a forest. He took another deep breath. It was the scent of a pine forest.
Major Marazzato grabbed his backpack and followed them out.
Sam asked, “What the hell have you got that’s so important in your bag.”
Marazzato opened the top of the bag to reveal a bomb. “It’s nuclear.”
Sam raised his eyebrows. “You brought a bomb to the bottom of the ocean. Are you insane?”
“Hey, I wasn’t lying when I said we had no idea where this thing came from. One thing for certain it’s a million miles more advanced than we are. This might be our only chance to destroy it. We need to take that chance. If you want to do something useful, why don’t you have a look and see if you can work out how to open the lockout locker so we can escape.”
Dr. Smyth raised a Beretta M9 handgun, aiming it directly at Major Marazzato. “I’m afraid that’s not going to work out very good for anyone, Major.”
Marazzato lifted the palms of his hands. “Hey, let’s not do anything stupid here.”
She smiled, the mischief still in her eyes, as she grinned. “That’s exactly what I was going to say when you wanted to pull out a nuclear bomb.”
Sam asked, “What do you want, doc?”
She pointed the Beretta to the right side of the chamber. “I want you both over there where I can see you. And Major, I suggest you leave the bomb where it is. No quick moves. I’ve won the US Pistol Shooting Association’s national championships twice. I won’t hesitate and I won’t miss.”
They backed away into the corner, Marazzato leaving his backpack behind.
Sam expelled a breath. “Now what?”
Chapter Forty-Eight
Elise’s computer flashed red.
Her program had found its first match.
She clicked the image, and her program brought up a man’s face. He almost seemed familiar. Not someone she’d met, but more like someone she’d seen on a public forum. The face was a very near genetic match, meaning that he must be immediately related to one of the Thirty graduates.
She ran her eyes down to the man’s name — Ryan Smith.
He was a sitting US Senator.
Elise brought up the Senator’s details.
He was born in Texas, but orphaned at birth. He excelled at sports and in his schooling, gaining an SAT in the highest percentile, before moving to Massachusetts to study under a Fulbright Scholarship at MIT. There he studied engineering and went on to develop a number of patents under his name.
Within a decade, his talents had brought him riches beyond his dreams. He opened up an engineering company that went on to develop research that eventually lead to the development of an MRI machine, cochlear implants, visual aids, and solid-state hard drives, that went on to be used in smartphones and most computers.
While he remained interested in engineering, he turned his focus toward politics, securing his position as a Senator in Connecticut.
Elise started to see through the web of lies.
But what had happened in the sixties?
Had the government really secured a team of the best engineers in the country? And if so, for what purpose? The world was in a state of crisis with the Cold War. Had the company locked up its brightest minds to develop a weapon?
If so, what happened to them?
Had Senator Ryan Smyth been the only survivor? Had he escaped, taking the team’s enormous supply of technological achievements with him?
She looked at a photo of the man’s family.
He had a child. A daughter named, Alyssa Smyth. She was grown up now, of course, and had a job as a Medical Director at the CDC.
Elise picked up her phone and dialed the Senator’s personal cell number. It was an easy hack to get, having tapped into the phone accounts.
The Senator answered on the first ring. “Hello?”
“Senator Smyth?”
“Speaking.”
“My name’s Elise. I’m working a case with your daughter. She gave me your number and said you might be able to help me with something.”
“Okay. What can I do for you ma’am?”
Elise held her breath. “Well sir, can you tell me about Habitat Zero.”
Chapter Forty-Nine
Professor Ray Smyth leaned down and blew out the candles.
It was his hundredth birthday today. A veritable feat, he thought, given that this entire thing started with the Cold War. It was nearly seventy years ago when the USSR and the USA were on the brink of nuclear war, when he came into command of Habitat Zero.
He looked upon the seven hundred odd people in the room and smiled. The muscles of his face tightly hanging across the skeletal frame of his once proud face. These were his people. His family. His friends. And what remains of the human race.