“What?”
The muffled sounds from a nearby explosion made Liger curse loudly as the Deep Dog rocked slightly back and forth in the ensuing underwater shockwave. All he got on the intercom was static. Bloody idiot. He blew himself up.
Turning the Deep Dog around, he saw a glimpse of the Sedna as she headed back towards the surface at high speed. Well, I’ll just deny everything if they ever attempt to question me. We’re in international waters anyway, and Morgenstern’s got lawyers.
The intercom crackled to life again. This time it was Poole. “Clive, I think I got it. I’m making my way up to the top of the lower building, mate. What’s going on?”
“Stu’s gone because he was stupid,” Liger said tersely as the Deep Dog slowly glided towards the top of the habitat’s main structure. The important thing is to get the eggs.
“Stu’s dead? Oh my god.”
“I don’t want to hear any more about him, so shut it,” Liger said, peering out into the watery gloom. “I can hardly see you, where exactly are—”
He gasped as the darkness in front of him suddenly lit up, like a faint bluish Christmas tree before the glow faded out again. Something huge and bioluminescent was out there, close by. The monster. It’s here.
Fumbling at the controls, Liger quickly turned off the submersible’s external and internal illumination. It’s usually attracted by the lights, so if I play this subtly, I can still get out of this in one piece.
“Hey, what happened to your sub’s lights, mate?” Poole asked over the intercom. “I could see you coming towards me and now I can’t see anything.”
There’s only one way to succeed and live through this, Liger thought as he placed one hand on the thruster switch, and the other on the control stick. “The collision with the other sub must have short-circuited my lights, Pete. I want you to do two things. First, the canister you’ve got has a floatation switch. It should be along the sides, just scrape it with your manipulator claws to activate it.”
There was a slight pause before Poole spoke again. “Okay, done. I can feel it tugging upwards, but I’m still holding on to it.”
“Right. Now at my command, let it go, and then turn on your suit’s external lights so I can find you. Got that?”
“Okay, but what is this about?”
“Just do what I tell you. Ready?”
“Yeah.”
Angling the submersible’s control stick upwards, Liger switched the Deep Dog to full throttle. “Okay, go!”
Less than a second later, Liger saw Poole in his armored diving suit waving at him as he piloted the Deep Dog to make a rapid ascent, away from the other man’s powerful underwater lights. The locator signal on the canister had changed, indicating that it was already floating towards the surface as the submersible rose up after it.
Poole’s suit lights had partly illuminated the seafloor, and he had activated his ADS thrusters to try and reattach himself to the Deep Dog, only to find that Liger’s submersible was already making an ascent without him. “Hey, what the bloody hell is going on?”
Liger kept his focus on the drum-shaped canister rising just above him as he extended the Deep Dog’s manipulator claw and managed to gently clamp it around the priceless container. He heard Poole’s screams on the intercom before he cut off the channel, and didn’t bother to look back as he headed towards the brightly lit surface.
46
ETHAN KEPT HIS EYES glued to the pair of binoculars he was holding while standing near the port side of the Wanderer’s bridge. The ship had gone to flank speed the moment they had spotted the Queequeg bearing down on them, and he was glad they had enough throttle to outrun the opposing vessel.
Owens stood near the helm as he continued to direct the bridge crew. Everyone had instantly tensed up the moment one of the lookouts reported that the crew of the other vessel was armed.
It feels like we’re being chased by Somali pirates, Ethan thought as he continued to scan the overcast horizon. He had been unable to contact Chloe since she took the Sedna down into the deep, and he was hoping they’d pop out of the water soon.
Rob the radio operator poked his head out from the adjoining room. “I tried to contact the Navy, but all they said was they’re still waiting for further orders from their HQ.”
Ethan turned and gave him an incredulous look. “Did you tell them that there’s a hijack attempt against us by a boat belonging to Morgenstern Oceanic?”
Rob nodded. “I did, Mr. Riis. But the radio operator of the Queequeg is denying it to their face, sir. The Navy guy I was talking to is confused, he thinks it’s all a prank or something.”
Ethan rolled his eyes. “Oh for chrissakes! Didn’t you relay the information we gave them about the damned sea monster?”
“I did that last night. They just told us to stand by while they try and confirm it.”
“Okay, stay on it. Ask for help from anybody. The Indian Navy, the Chinese Navy, I don’t care. There’s an anti-piracy taskforce somewhere around here, so try and contact them.”
Rob nodded before ducking back into the radio room.
Owens’s demeanor remained cool, unlike the rest of his crew. The Wanderer’s captain moved back towards his chair and leaned beside it. “Well, if I was in the Navy, and you told me that a sea monster sunk one of my subs, I wouldn’t believe it either.”
Ethan scoffed. “We’re like the boy who cried wolf to them. They think we told a tall tale about this creature, and now they don’t believe us when we say we’re being attacked by another ship too.”
“I’m sure the Queequeg’s radio operator is giving them false information to try and confuse the situation even further. The fact is we’re all alone for the time being.”
The entire crew was startled when one of the windows on the ship’s bridge suddenly shattered, but stayed intact. It looked like a spider had cast a web with a small hole in the middle of the pane.
Ethan had instinctively ducked when he heard the sound, now he looked back up at the damaged glass with rising anger. “Goddamn it! Do we have any guns on board?”
Owens shook his head slowly. “Nope. We’re supposed to be a research vessel, remember?”
“Well, next time I’m going to get a Federal weapons license so that we can—”
The ship’s intercom squawked to life. The voice belonged to one of the lookouts. “She’s veering off! The Queequeg’s moving away!”
Owens leaned forward while placing a pair of binoculars over his eyes. “Well, I’ll be damned. What the hell was she trying to do?”
Ethan crossed his arms. “They must have been trying to scare us away, that’s what.”
Owens continued to stare into his binoculars. “You could be right. I think they’re picking up their submersible from the water.”
“They must have succeeded in whatever it is they’re doing down there,” Ethan said before pausing. “I sure hope that Chloe is—”
One of the lookouts on the starboard side of the bridge began pointing to her extreme right. “Over there! I think I can see the Sedna on the surface!”
Owens turned towards the helmsman. “Right ninety degrees, let’s pick up Chloe and get the hell outta here.”
Ethan made his way out towards the bridge wing and leaned past the railings for a closer look. When the details of the object floating on the water up ahead became clearer, he let out a gasp. “Oh my god. Go get Dr. D and the recompression chamber ready—hurry!”