The still speechless man led him inside, and at the main room, Sam had to duck down and turn sideways to enter. The Ellsworth group of scientists sat in a circle, their backs to multiple consoles and control panels. They all sat mute with folded arms, or tugging at straggly beards. For the most part, their gazes were firmly fixed on the ground, each man lost in his own thoughts. The sudden appearance of Sam had every mouth dropping open. They seemed in shock.
Only one man stayed at his console with his back turned as he typed away. He was furiously shaking his head. “I told you, I told all of you, that letting that Yank hijack our probe would crash Orca.” He banged at more keys, continuing to mutter.
“Uh, Bentley?” One of the team members still had his eyes on Sam, but reached out an arm to tug the mutterer’s sleeve. The man ignored it, and kept up his cursing complaints.
“Did anyone back me up? No-ooo.” Bentley straightened in his seat. “I’m not one to say, I told you so… but, I bleedin’ well told you so.” He threw his hands up, and spun. “Worst — day — of my — fucking life.” He froze, staring.
Sam in the MECH suit probably stood close to seven feet tall. In the warmth of the cabin the snow had melted on him, and the liquid runoff on his external armor carried with it some blood.
One of the scientists cleared his throat. “Hello. We are from earth. Please don’t kill us.”
Sam grinned and held up one huge hand. “Me too. I’m First Lieutenant Samuel Reid, Special Forces. I’m here to help and for your protection.”
“No thanks,” Bentley said, wiping a long, thin nose. “We’re not a military base… and certainly not a US one. We’re not obligated to work with you.”
Sam smiled, knowing that their major funder, GBR, was owned by the US military. He’d hold that revelation back for now. “You already did, by sending one of our operatives under the ice.” He pointed over his shoulder with a thumb. “From out there. I’m here for an update.”
The man who had led him in edged around in front of him. “I’m Dr. Sulley, and from left to right, are doctors Timms, Schmidt, and Bentley.”
The scientists nodded cautiously, and only Bentley’s mouth remained turned down. “Like I said, worst day of my life, and it’s not getting any better.”
Sulley scoffed. “Give it a rest, Bent. You’re still young, I’m sure you’ll have plenty worse days to come.” He chuckled softly, but held up a hand when Bentley shot a volcanic glare on him.
Bentley turned back to Sam, folding his arms. “I’d introduce you to our team leader, but the Yank, your friend, took her down in the probe.”
Sam’s brows rose near imperceptibly. He doubted this would have been Alex’s choice. “Where are they now?”
Schmidt frowned. “Wait a minute, Lieutenant, what did you mean you were here for our protection? What does that mean?”
Sam hesitated for only a second. “Look, time is short, and what I tell you now is classified. Less than an hour ago, the McMurdo base was attacked by Chinese Special Forces. We successfully… subdued them. There is also a Chinese destroyer off the Antarctic coast, and more warships on the way — theirs and ours.” He looked at each man. “There is a possibility they may come here next. Gentlemen, things are getting real hot down on the ice.”
“What? Why?” Timms got to his feet. “What did we miss?”
“Actually, it was what you didn’t miss that started all this.” Sam smiled, and tried to radiate calm to the men. “That tiny signal you first detected coming from under the ice, well, it’s a missing submarine — ours. The Chinese want it. But we don’t intend to let them get it.”
Timms scoffed. “Oh fuck off, that underlying signal we thought was just a background distortion? Are you’re telling us it was a submarine, under the ice?” He put his hands to his temples. “Boom, head explosion.”
Sulley’s lips had been pressed tight. “Hey, Lieutenant Reid, ah, why would the Chinese come here?”
Sam grinned and pointed to the wall in front of the probe launcher. “Seems we are now in a partnership to get down there first.” He laughed at the looks they gave each other.
Bentley rubbed his hands up through his hair and muttered curses.
“So, where are they now?” Sam asked. “We don’t have much time.”
Bentley sat back and then turned around to his console. “Dead, most likely.”
Sam felt the first flame of anger, but swallowed it down. “That’s not what I asked you.”
Sulley grimaced. “Sorry, but it’s probably true, Lieutenant. Orca, the probe, was never designed to carry passengers. Our data showed us that the drop to the water’s surface was 220 feet. The impact force would have been like a car crash. Orca survived and launched, but we doubt anything biological would have survived.”
Sam titled his head. “But the probe survived… and was sending you signals?”
“Sure, signals, environmental and visual data,” Sulley said.
“Show me. Show me everything.” Sam came closer.
“Sure.” Sulley spun, his hands flying over the keyboards, twisting dials and then retrieving video and other data from the submersible’s short voyage.
“Orca was designed to see, hear, and taste the subterranean environment.” Sulley spoke over his shoulder as he called up the probe’s images. “You know, he has the same amount of inbuilt capabilities as an orbiting satellite — probably more.” He turned and grinned. “We did that.”
Sam nodded. “And the probe was undamaged?”
“Well, mostly,” Sulley said. “It didn’t operate as expected, maneuverability went a bit wonky, and then we lost it at the end.” He sighed. “Lost it, or had it taken, more like it. There was something else down there, something very big and very pissed off.”
He reran the footage and Sam watched closely. The film started in near total blackness as the probe launched into the subterranean sea. The resolution was adjusted, and then improved, to show specks of light floating around them. At the periphery, Sam could see larger shapes pass in and out of the cone of light.
“Goes on like this for a while.” Sulley sped it up, the duration counter at the bottom of the screen spinning numbers. “Here.” He slowed it to normal speed again.
In another second or two, the submersible seemed to slide sideways in the water.
“And this is where it gets freaky,” Timms said, standing behind Sulley.
Orca suddenly changed direction, nose up, rushing to the surface. It breached, and Sam’s brows went up. The cavern was enormous and bathed in a soft blue twilight. Sulley leaned around in front of him, pointing to the floor at their feet.
“That’s 2.55 miles right below us. Incredible, huh?”
“Incredible,” Sam repeated, his eyes glued to the small screen.
“A-aaand, enter the leviathan,” Bentley said ominously.
A few dozen feet out from Orca, a striped island appeared and then glided closer. The underwater shot showed a massive head turning side-on, and a gigantic round eye that studied them intently for a second or two, before the thing glided off to the right.
“Holy shit.” Sam leaned back. “What the hell was that?”
“Don’t know,” Bentley said. “Big predator. Our computer estimated it to be about sixty feet in length.” He chuckled. “Guess you just can’t plan for everything.”