She heard footsteps behind her and turned, expecting to see AJ, but it was one of the men from the beach.
“It don't look like much, huh?”
She was about to tell him to back off, but instead, she said, “Do you think they're dead?”
“Don't know.”
“What else could it be? I mean, the place doesn't look like it's burning down or anything.”
He shrugged. “Could be nothin' more than a dead com tower and an accident that's got 'em scared. That's what the boss says, anyways.”
“But you don't think so?”
A smile crossed his face, but she didn't like the look of it. “Yeah. Yeah, I reckon we'll find a tomb. Only thing that makes sense, don't it?”
She shivered.
“You stay close to me, baby, you'll be fine.”
“You finish med school, Melvin?” AJ said, coming up behind them.
The other man's grin faltered. “Why? You planning on getting shot out there?”
“That didn't answer my question.”
“Man, you know I'm a field medic. What's the point?”
AJ grabbed a handhold. “I just think if you ain't got a philosophy degree, you should keep your stupid ass opinions to yourself. You're scaring the girl.”
“You want it to be like that, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, you do get shot out there, I'll see if I can remember enough training to save you. How about that?”
“How about it?”
Kate sighed. Without even trying, she found herself in the middle of another pissing contest. She didn't know how they found the time to start so many.
“Hey,” the pilot said. “If you two are going to argue, get the hell away from the flight deck.”
“And away from me,” Kate added.
Then, the radio in the cockpit crackled. “That's a negative, Hal. They're still not responding. Let's give them one more try on your end.”
The pilot hit a switch, ignoring the group behind him. “Roger. Trying now.” He hit another button. “Platform Aeschylus, please respond. This is Alpha One-Niner, rescue team inbound on behalf of Valley Oil corporate. Please give us a sit-rep, over.” He waited a few seconds, then tried again, repeating the message.
“Time to go,” Melvin said, pushing past AJ and returning to his seat.
Kate was tempted to do the same but didn't want it to seem like she was following. Instead, she stood her ground, feeling awkward. AJ was looking down at her — staring, really — and she didn't like it.
“Don't do that.”
“Do what?”
“Stare at me.”
“I'm not staring.”
“You're staring,” she said. “It makes me uncomfortable.”
He cocked his head. “A lot of things make you uncomfortable, don't they?”
“Yes, and the sound of your voice is one of them.” It was infuriating. Back home, she could have just gotten up and left. Here, she was stuck in metal box with nothing but six feet of space on either side.
In the cockpit, the pilot hit another switch. “That's a negative, boss. No response here.”
The reply came fast. “That's a roger. We're going to have a look.”
The second helicopter roared forward, and out of the window, she saw it thunder towards the platform. They were low enough where the whip of the blades left a wake on the ocean surface. By the time the water settled, the helicopter was a spec on the horizon.
The pilot turned to her. “Have a seat.”
Kate hesitated.
“Move it!”
With a grimace, she turned towards the passenger bay, found her seat, and buckled up. The men were staring at her. The man next to Melvin whispered something to his friend and smiled. She wanted out of the cattle car more than ever.
A moment later, they all heard Mason's voice crackle through the radio. “Alpha come in. Your path is clear. You better come on up, over.”
“What's the situation?” the pilot asked, clicking on the radio.
“The helipad is secure. The rest, you have to see for yourself.”
Then, they were lurching forward, the chopper skimming the top of the water as it blasted towards the metal skeleton ahead.
4
As the S-70 came upon the platform and circled round, Kate looked out the window and found that her first impulse, barely stifled, was to scream.
5
Grotesque, black shapes encircled the bottom of the spar, strangling the base of the platform like vines. They seemed to have grown up out of the water, huge amorphous strands unlike anything she had ever seen. Whether native or allochthonous, the things looked almost like they were a part of a carnivorous plant. It was as if the bottom of The Aeschylus was being swallowed — or cocooned — by a mass of tentacles.
“What the hell is that?” someone moaned.
“Man, I don't like the looks of this,” Melvin answered.
Kate found that her distant impression of the upper Aeschylus wasn't entirely accurate, either. Circling the platform, she saw that while the central derrick was mostly intact, a nearby crane was almost completely severed. It hung over the side of the platform like a dead finger. A communications dish lay crumpled nearby, shattered by the same force that had cracked the crane. And there was more: broken hallways, a collapsed stairwell, debris and broken metal visible on the drilling deck.
None of these things had been visible from the satellite images, and as they rounded the top, Kate realized why. The satellite looked almost straight down. The organic mass, the collapsed catwalks and stairs… none would be visible when looking at the square from above.
And there were no people.
Kate wasn't sure if she found this more upsetting or not. If she had seen corpses piled across the platform, as horrible as that would have been, it would have provided some kind of closure. It would have meant that whatever struggle had taken place here was over. Of course, finding a group of refugees waving a white flag on the main deck would have been the best outcome, but she hadn't been naïve enough to expect that. What she found instead was that the mystery didn't end. If the crew were alive somewhere, if they were hiding, or if they had been swallowed by something in the ocean, there was no way to tell.
The helipad at the top of The Aeschylus was wide enough to accommodate two helicopters, but a burnt shell of a machine occupied one of those spaces. Kate realized it must be the helicopter she had seen from the satellite images in her father's manila envelope.
Kate's pilot, Hal McHalister, touched down next to the old husk, powering off almost as soon as the legs touched. She breathed a sigh of relief when the platform didn't collapse under their weight. Ridiculous maybe, but seeing those things below, they had no idea how much of the undersea structure remained intact.
Next to her, Markus Reiner took off his sunglasses and brushed back his cowboy hat. “Stay here, sweetheart. The rest of y'all know what to do.”
“Where do you want us?” AJ asked, indicating Dutch and himself.
“Right behind us. Take your piece. It looks quiet, but we don't know what's out there. You get it?”
AJ nodded.
The rest of the men filed out, rifles in hand. It happened so fast, Kate blinked, and they were gone. They took position around the square, scanning the area through the sights on their weapons. A few, Melvin included, took position by the burnt chopper, using its walls for cover.
Mason's bird hovered at the edge of the platform, unable to land, and the man himself jumped across the gap onto the concrete. He walked towards the center of the helipad and greeted Reiner in the middle. The two men exchanged words, and then Reiner jogged back towards the hovering helicopter. He stepped off the platform and into its open hatch, fearless of the gap between solid ground and aircraft. He shut the door from the inside, and in seconds, the chopper was gone, flying up and over the water.