But these times were nothing compared to the hate it felt now for the destroyers of its brood. The small playthings that were warm and sweet to eat had managed to attack it from within the hard-shelled sea swimmer.
Excitement surged through it as it planned to drag them to the surface, tear the hard shell open, and take its time, stripping the tiny things of their limbs, watching their small faces twist in agony, before it finally consumed them.
As it pressed down on the shell of the hard thing, it sensed the humans inside. It could feel them scurrying about, and also feel their fear. Bands of color pulsed along its limbs and it flexed its muscles.
But frustration surged as it sensed the two massive leviathan creatures closing in on it. It immediately knew them, had fought them before. It would attack them if it ever found a small one alone, or weak, or old, but always avoided the strong ones, especially when they hunted in groups. The huge marine reptiles were fearsome predators, not as smart as it was, but they were fast and had a fearsome arsenal of teeth that could severely damage it… perhaps even kill it.
It held onto its hard prize, and hung in the water, indecision now tearing at it — should it flee, or stay and fight? The two huge creatures circled it, wary of its size and danger.
The decision was made — the giant swimmers attacked. The first impact was hard, and one of its limbs was grabbed and shredded. Then another, as the second reptilian predator came in from another angle, grasping and tearing at a second limb. Again, it lost flesh. It grasped one then, coiling around its flanks and holding it tight. It squeezed, applying colossal pressure until it began to feel the reptile’s mighty bones break beneath its skin. After another few seconds, it released the body, and briefly watched it sink into the dark void.
The other leviathan’s huge mouth closed on it, the tusk-like teeth each more than a foot long were sharp blades that sunk in deep and then ripped away a car-sized mound of flesh. It wrapped massive limbs around this one too — it had it now, and the sea reptile’s teeth were of no use if it couldn’t bring them to bear. It squeezed harder, feeling the satisfying sensation of crushing flesh and bones.
Just then, there came a tiny metallic whine.
“Do it.” Sam’s voice boomed.
“Hey, but…” Bentley went to object, but then blanched as the huge form of Sam leaned over him. The bearded scientist waved a hand and just shook his head. “Okay, okay, do it.”
Sam knew he was taking a chance — if it was Alex in the submarine, he might, just might, give them a fighting chance. If it was the Chinese in control, then… he knew he probably should be ramming Orca into the sub, or leaving it to its fate.
“Rigging to detonate its fuel core on impact,” Sulley said mechanically. “So long, fella. Thanks for everything.”
The mottled hide of the cephalopod filled the screen, and then a large slitted eye became Orca’s entire world.
Schmidt’s arms dropped to his sides. “Good luck and god speed, Cate.”
Sam turned away. There was no way he could determine who was piloting the submarine, so there was no more he could do here. He walked heavily to the door, and opened it onto a freezing landscape.
If things went bad, he needed to prepare for war. He pressed his collar stud and the full head shield telescoped up over his face as he walked out into the snow.
The Kraken swiveled one giant eye and saw something tiny coming at it. The small, whining creature had a single luminous eye at one end, and it increased speed to fly fast at the cephalopod’s bulbous head. The tiny thing struck and then suddenly erupted in an explosion of red hot pain.
The cephalopod freed the fleeing hard shell and the last reptile, and squirted its camouflage ink into the water, rolled, knotted, and coiled on itself, and then jetted away.
The Kraken propelled itself towards the dark sea bottom, to spread out flat, changing color and blending in perfectly with the rocky depths. It was hurt, in agony, but it was alive, and it still had one thing left… its boiling hate.
CHAPTER 63
“We got a vent, dead ahead.” Blake hit keys and pulled back on a small joystick as he read numbers scrolling up multiple screens. “Another big cavern in there, but we have strong water movement. That’s the good news.” He eased back on the stick. “The bad news is, that opening isn’t wide enough for us. We’re going to tear ourselves apart on its edges.” He turned. “Or get wedged.”
The proximity alarm sounded.
Alex leaned forward. “Full speed ahead. This is going to be close.” He hit the comm. button. “Rhino, fire tubes two and three.”
They all felt a slight judder, as the torpedoes sped away from the submarine.
“Two and three away.” Rhino replied.
On the view screen they saw the trails of bubbles zooming away from them, heading down into an impenetrable blackness.
“Okay everyone, hang on!” Alex yelled as the submarine careened towards the sea bottom, caught now in the whirlpool that accelerated its descent. He looked quickly to Aimee. Her eyes were round, watching him. A nervous smile just flickered across her lips.
The two torpedoes struck the cavern edges, detonating and sending shock waves ballooning outwards into the water. The submarine bucked and shuddered as it passed through the blast compression wave, but still surged on.
Viewing screen visibility was obliterated, and they relied on the Sea Shadow’s electronic eyes and ears.
“We’re alive,” Casey said. “Blake I could kiss you, if you weren’t so ugly.”
Blake grinned. “We passed through, and we’re in the pipe.” He navigated the tunnel that led them many miles from the warm underground sea towards the freezing world waiting for them. The temperature began to drop against the hull so quickly that the sound of the metal contracting drowned out conversation.
“It’s a natural barrier,” Cate said. “No sea creature can pass between tropical water, and crushing icy water. It’d kill them.”
“Except one,” said Aimee. “One that has been doing it for perhaps too many centuries to count.”
“I hope it’s fucking dead,” Casey said. “We should blow the hole closed when we get out. Seal that motherfucker in forever.”
“Not a bad idea,” said Alex.
“We’re moving fast, real fast, riding a strong current,” Blake said. “Still on a slight incline, but getting heavy down here now, 450 psi water pressure. Much more and we’re gonna be in a world of pain.”
Jennifer snorted. “And where we just came from wasn’t?”
“Boss, got a wall coming up,” Blake yelled.
Alex leaned over him. “Is the current still moving? If it is, then we got another vent, hopefully going up. Follow it.”
Blake started to pull up on the U-shaped wheel. Shenjung and Soong stepped closer to look at his screen and then braced themselves on his chair.
“Slow it down. Don’t want to end up a skid mark against the wall,” said Alex, hanging on now.
“You got it,” Blake said. The deck started to tilt as they lifted and headed up the huge natural tunnel. The Sea Shadow bucked and then slowed down to just a few knots.
“Not that much,” Alex said.
Blake shook his head. “It’s not me. The current just changed direction. It’s rushing back at us now. We have got one mother of a headwind. Going to punch it.” He pushed the lever forward again; the submarine only slightly increased its speed.
“Sonar says we’ve got another small opening coming up, gonna need to blow it to fit through.”