Yamamoto kept nodding. “That is correct, Dr. Reeves. While Proteus concentrates on medical applications for humanity in general, Typhon will be more focused on possible defense contracts. Therefore, we must be able to do our research in a remote location.”
Lauren winked at the camera like some sort of TV game show host before turning to ask her colleague a question. “But how remote will your base be, Hideki?”
Yamamoto smiled sheepishly at the camera. “We will be deep underwater. The components of this secret habitat are being constructed as we speak.”
Gordon blinked several times in astonishment as a computer generated image of the undersea base was shown on the screen. He had thought it was to be some sort of hangar for an experimental submarine, or maybe even a crashed UFO, only to be confronted by the horrid truth.
“And this organism,” Lauren said. “Will it be birthed in that base once it’s completed?”
Yamamoto grinned and mischievously shook his head, as if he was a child caught doing a prank and denying he was at fault. “It is already being grown at our other facility in the Philippines. Once it attains sufficient size, we will use a special team of divers and submersibles to transport it into Typhon.”
Lauren nodded once more and smiled. “Very good. So this means both our projects are ahead of schedule! Now, for our viewer’s sake, why did we even need to build Typhon if we already created this unique animal somewhere else?”
“Because Typhon is the perfect testing ground for this organism if it is to be used as a biological weapon by the world’s navies,” Yamamoto said. “We needed to make sure that the subject could operate in crushing depths, and our other facilities just didn’t have an enclosure large enough to help facilitate its monumental growth stage.”
“So how far along is it with regards to development?” Lauren asked.
Yamamoto held both his arms straight up in the air. “At just six months, it is already as tall as a man. I expect it to become much bigger as we continue to modify its physical form.”
“But why make it a marine organism, Hideki?”
“Because it will be huge!” Yamamoto exclaimed. “The square cubed law states that as a shape grows in size, its volume grows faster than its surface area. With a marine organism, buoyancy solves most of the problems with relation to its weight, while still achieving a near optimum performance ratio.”
Lauren wagged a finger at him. “You are just jealous because my Proteus Project created a host body that’s slightly bigger than man-sized, is that it?”
“We’re making it larger for practical reasons,” Yamamoto explained. “It has to be big enough to take down watercraft like surface warships and submarines, otherwise the world’s military forces would have no use for it.”
Lauren winked at him. “And what about that ‘organ’ I sent over to your team? I hope you made some use of it?”
Yamamoto bowed his head slightly. “Oh yes, I have to thank you for that. My achievements would not have been made possible if it wasn’t for that human brain you so graciously donated to my project, Dr. Reeves. I will be forever in your debt.”
34
WITHIN THE INTERIOR of the Queequeg’s converted sonar room, Dr. Yamamoto leaned back on his chair and ate a bowl of rice with broiled fish and seaweed using a pair of chopsticks. The Russian crew manning the boat weren’t very good at cooking, and he had to supervise them on the creation of his meals, taking precious time away from his main duties. It was a luxury they could ill-afford due to recent events, but Yamamoto figured he could have at least one vice with which to keep his own morale up, and eating food that was to his liking was it.
As a child prodigy, Yamamoto managed to learn five different languages and speak them fluently by the age of six. By the time he was ten, his parents brought him to America, and he was granted a scholarship in the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But it was his time spent working with Dr. Lauren Reeves that had given him the most joy, and he had wept bitterly upon hearing the news of her demise.
Polishing off the last tidbits of his meal, Yamamoto returned his attention to the computer-enhanced display of the sea bottom around the boat. Although working with Lauren was an amazing experience for him, Yamamoto relished the time when he was pulled away from Proteus and placed in charge of Typhon. Despite her obvious talents, Lauren wasn’t a very good leader, and he counted himself lucky that he was able to move to a different project, and one without the overriding influence of Emeric Morgenstern, Kazimir’s unhinged younger brother. In some way, he’d felt this new project had saved his life when all hell broke loose at Lemuria.
Yet the tragedy that happened to Project Proteus is happening here too, he thought. I must do what I can to bring the organism back under my control.
The double doors behind him burst open, and Clive Liger strode in, his reddened face marking an angry mood. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
This time Yamamoto had been expecting another confrontation, and he swiveled his chair around to face the much larger man. “What I’ve always been doing, bringing the situation back under control.”
Liger moved closer and loomed over him, fists clenched. “I gave orders to Captain Rudenkov that there would be no change in our course without my approval, yet you went over my head, mate!”
“You were asleep in your cabin,” Yamamoto said calmly. “I have deduced where our subject will be, and told the captain to make appropriate corrections as to our heading, that is all.”
“I run this ship, not you!” Liger snapped.
“Please think for once,” Yamamoto said. “Without me, you’ll have no chance of getting the organism back into captivity. Since we both work for Mr. Morgenstern, we know that’s what he wants, yes?”
Liger took several deep breaths as he began to visibly calm down. “If you’re making any plans, then you’ve got to tell me, right now. It’s my life I’ll be risking when I go into the water.”
“Have no fear,” Yamamoto said reassuringly. “I need you alive and well for the next phase, and therefore I am looking out for your best interests too. Let us work together in harmony.”
“So what’s your plan now?”
“I have been analyzing the report Mr. Sandor gave when he made it onto the work barge,” Yamamoto said. “It seems the electrical field was turned off when a member of the deep diving crew got tangled with one of the rods.”
“Yeah, so?”
“It seems our subject had remained in the immediate vicinity. It must have been shadowing the Skandi Aurora, waiting for the right opportunity to attack her.”
Liger scratched his forehead. “I don’t get it. Why is this monster of yours afraid of a few electric rods?”
“It was conditioned to fear electrical fields of a certain current,” Yamamoto explained. “Of course, it will do no long-term physical harm to it, but we engineered the organism with highly sensitive electroreceptors, and we periodically shocked it while it was still in its larval stage in order for it to develop a phobia.”
“Phobia? How can you predict what it thinks if it’s just an animal?”
“Oh, it’s more than just an animal. Within its armored head is a transplanted human brain. Our initial tests have concluded that it holds a reasonable degree of intelligence.”
Liger tilted his head up and drew in a deep breath. “Bloody hell. You mad scientists are all completely mental. How could you even conceive of such an idea?”