LIGER WATCHED WITH sadistic glee as Baker managed to sneak up on the other submersible using the thrusters built into the back of his ADS and touched down right on top of the Sedna’s cockpit, completely surprising her crew.
“Go get them, Stu,” he said, finally activating the Deep Dog’s external lights as he maneuvered his own submersible to get behind the Sedna. Baker was carrying underwater explosive charges, and all he had to do was disable Chloe’s submersible and plant them on the hull before she could surface.
With the Sedna now trying to shake off the diver standing on her hull, Liger switched the Deep Dog’s throttle to full and managed to bump the starboard side of his submersible’s hull against the rear section of the Sedna, pinning Chloe’s submersible against the side of the underwater habitat to keep her from getting away.
After all the frustrations he had had over the past week, Liger couldn’t help but guffaw as he let off some steam. “Hurry up and plant those charges, Stu!”
ONCE CHLOE HAD OVERCOME her shock at what was happening, she tried to angle the Sedna to veer away and attempt to jettison the hostile diver ripping at her hull, but a sudden collision from behind threw her head forward, and her face landed on top of the control console, breaking her nose and temporarily stunning her.
Izzy kept screaming as the armored diver loomed over the bubble canopy, one arm claw firmly latched onto the side of the hull while another manipulator with an extended cutting blade began scratching at the transparent acrylic, threatening to breach it.
Shaking herself awake, Chloe realized that another submersible had rammed them from behind, forcing the Sedna against one of the adjoined hyperbaric chambers of Typhon Base, holding them in place like a trapped animal. She tried to increase the Sedna’s thrust, but the other vehicle had wedged them along one of the joints of the habitat’s superstructure. Her submersible’s side thrusters were too weak to pull them out.
Her first instinct was to activate the Sedna’s turbo boost, but then she remembered having removed the pod a few hours before to make room for the welding and rescue gear. A feeling of utter helplessness swept over her.
Izzy pointed up at the diver wearing the atmospheric diving suit, who had reached around his armored hip and now dangled what looked like a thick metal disk from the tip of his clawed manipulator. “Oh my god, what is he doing?”
Chloe cursed. She could see that the armored diver was attempting to place the disk onto the damaged hull of the Sedna. “He’s planting explosives on the sub! He’s going to kill us!”
Activating the emergency ballast tanks, Chloe managed to raise the Sedna’s rear section to point straight up, causing the armored diver to nearly lose his footing and have to use both arm claws to hang on, but the other submersible compensated by continuously thrusting downwards, pushing the Sedna back into place.
Chloe struggled with the controls as she watched the armored diver regain his balance and start to place the explosives on the Sedna’s hull once more. She was out of options now. The thought of being killed alongside her brother brought forth a pained whimper from her throat.
AFTER PULLING A NUMBER of levers inside the hyperbaric escape pod, Gordon felt a sudden change in the ambient pressure as the entire chamber began to flood with seawater. He had been mentally practicing the procedures to equalize the capsule’s internal pressure with the outside in the event he had to make it to the surface on his own, and now activated the controls like a man possessed. In less than a minute the entire chamber had been half flooded, and he gripped the release valve on the forward hatch.
Stay away from my sister, you sons of bitches! he thought as he pulled the lever, and felt the air pressure suddenly being released in a hailstorm of bubbles as the hatch opened up in front of him, revealing the vast liquid abyss beyond.
The two submersibles were just above him, and the enemy watercraft was pushing down on the Sedna. He could see a diver in an armored suit placing something onto Chloe’s submersible while standing on top of the hull.
With the positive buoyancy of his escape suit now engaged, Gordon shot up like an underwater rocket, using his arms and legs to aim straight for the assailant wearing the ADS gear. His sudden appearance startled the enemy diver, and Gordon closed the distance and grabbed hold of the armored suit’s rear thruster pack, throwing the other man off balance. They both plunged sideways, into the darkness.
The enemy diver tried to twist his arms around to grab hold of Gordon, but the limb’s solid ball joints were unable to reach back. Using his foot pedals, the other man engaged the suit’s thrusters to stop the descent, and he tried to shake Gordon away with rapid twists and turns.
Gordon could see that the enemy diver had failed to attach the explosive since it continued to dangle from a secured cord near the tip of one of his manipulator claws. Reaching out, he grabbed the metal disk, twisted it around and attached it magnetically to the other man’s armored suit, just at the top of the fixed helmet.
With no further oxygen left inside the shallow pocket of air he had in his hood, Gordon let go and quickly glided upwards. He felt the explosive shockwave as the shaped charge detonated less than thirty seconds later, but by then he was already halfway towards the surface, the ever-expanding pain in his chest making him black out.
HER BROTHER’S SUDDEN appearance and leaping attack on the armored diver had thrown both men from the top of the Sedna’s hull, and had even surprised the other submersible to the point that the enemy pilot had inadvertently overcompensated, and the Deep Dog’s side hull had slipped past the Sedna’s aft section, giving the latter vehicle some leeway.
Chloe reacted instantly, activating full throttle as the Sedna quickly shot away from the enemy submersible. “Gordy! Gordy!”
Izzy pointed to her right. “Over there!”
Chloe was out of breath as she saw her brother struggling with the armored diver, before Gordon suddenly let go of the other man and started an uncontrollable fast ascent towards the surface.
“No!” Chloe screamed as she quickly angled the Sedna’s control stick upwards and engaged full throttles once more. He didn’t have enough time to decompress!
LIGER SPAT OUT A SERIES of rapid-fire curses as the Sedna slipped away from his grasp. He tried to rev up the Deep Dog’s thrusters to go after her, but his submersible was much too slow to ever catch up with such a high-performance machine.
Stabbing the intercom button, he leaned forward, trying to catch a glimpse of Baker and the man in the escape suit who had attacked him. “Stu, Stu? Come in, damn you!”
Baker’s voice was full of anger and bewilderment. “Bloody hell, where did he come from?”
“The bastard sacrificed himself when he opened the hatch from the escape pod. What’s your status?”
“I, I think he somehow attached the shaped charge to my own bloody suit! I’m trying to disarm it but I can hardly tell what switches are what since I’m going by feel and—”