Looking up at the other man, who was already dangling several meters above him, Yamamoto’s heart sank. “No!” he pleaded. “Come back, we haven’t finished inserting the IV into the kaiju!”
The Icelander didn’t listen as he continued to climb up the rope, each pull getting him closer to the top of the walkway, twenty meters above.
With his clothes now covered in a slimy, clear substance, Yamamoto tried to crawl up on all fours, towards the partially inserted giant syringe. All he had to do to activate the device was to push the red button on its side and begin injecting the anesthetic drugs into the creature’s body. Although it wasn’t inserted in an ideal spot, he hoped that the dosage would be enough to keep the organism unconscious until they could do a better job the next time.
Hauling himself up took several precious minutes, but Yamamoto was nearly there. Just as he reached out to push the IV button, the transparent flesh all around him suddenly began to gyrate. The creature had fully woken up.
Screaming at the top of his lungs, Yamamoto used his remaining strength to try and grab hold of the device, only to fail as his slimy, gloved hands slipped away from the metal tube. He tried to get into a kneeling position, but the sudden shifting of the creature’s body quickly rolled him off, and he fell into the churning water.
The now active creature began struggling again, straining against the harpoons keeping it in place. One of the security guards panicked, drew his Glock pistol and began shooting at it. Several bullets impacted onto the organism’s translucent body, but failed to penetrate more than a meter.
Now fully enraged, the creature reached out with its pistol claws, placing both limbs right next to one of the starboard support pillars. Keeping them just below the water, the predator alternately locked and released the hammer portion of its hollow, tube-like pincers, creating powerful cavitation bubbles that first dented and then cracked the steel casings around the barge’s support column.
With four of her six pontoons sustaining heavy damage, the semi-submersible work barge now became completely unstable, the uneven buildings and construction cranes on top of the platform increasing her listing to one side.
53
SITTING IN THE REAR pilot’s chair inside the Sedna’s cockpit, Chloe watched as Izzy continued to run the arc welder along the side of one of the semi-submersible barge’s underwater pontoons, tearing a wide, jagged cut along the steel plating.
“Going cold,” Izzy said as she pushed a button to eject the spent rod from the welder before the attached pod’s internal magazine automatically cycled in a new, two meter long stick. “I think that ought to do it.”
Hearing a distant structural screeching coming from somewhere up above, Chloe nodded. “Okay, it looks like the rig is now set to sink for sure.”
Izzy glanced over her shoulder. “The Wanderer is going to pick up the survivors, right?”
“Yes.”
Izzy clasped her hands together to stop them from trembling. “I’m not a murderer. I didn’t sabotage this rig or the Queequeg to kill anybody, you know.”
“I know,” Chloe said softly. “We did what we had to. You saw what they were doing. They’re just trying to capture that thing so they could keep experimenting on it. We’ve got to put a stop to all of that.”
The sudden churning from the inner area of the barge gently shook the Sedna from side to side. High above, the lights in the platform seemed to flicker from dimness to a bright radiance every few seconds.
“That, that monster, I think it’s coming back to life,” Izzy said. “I-I thought we were gonna let it sink with the barge and take it out that way.”
Chloe reactivated the throttles. “It’s up to us now.”
“What do we do? How do we kill it?”
“You’ve got the submerged welding torch,” Chloe said as the Sedna began to glide beneath the surface. “And I’ve also got an explosive charge in one of the extendable arm pods. We’ll kill it alright.”
LIGER HAD SAT BACK down on the Deep Dog’s piloting chair the moment the creature reanimated itself. Doing a quick ballast check since there was only a single occupant left inside the submersible, he readjusted the computer to allow for more seawater in the tanks in order to attain neutral buoyancy as he began a quick dive.
Screw all this, he thought. I did my part. I’ll take whatever money I can get from that bastard Morgenstern and just go with it.
As he turned and began moving the Deep Dog away from the now thrashing organism on the surface, Liger suddenly noticed a faint burning illumination several meters below to his left, right where one of the barge’s submerged pontoons was located.
He immediately realized who it must be. Adjusting the control stick, he altered the Deep Dog’s course to head directly towards the fulgurating light. So the bitch wants another go, does she? This time I’ll finish her once and for all.
CHOKING FROM A MOUTHFUL of seawater as his head broke through the surface, Yamamoto drew in a deep breath, barely cognizant of the chaos that was unfolding all around him. Something was stinging his eyes, and without his glasses, everything was a blur.
Using all four limbs, he was barely able to paddle in place as the churning waters began to buffet him towards one of the support columns. No, no, no! I can’t die like this. Not like this. My work is not yet done.
Looking up, he could barely make out the Icelander, the one who had first helped him and then left him alone to his fate. The big man had almost made it to the top of the rope he had been climbing, until another shuddering groan from the damaged barge made him loosen his grip on the line, and he fell screaming into the water.
Blinking away the salty liquid from his eyes, Yamamoto could only stare in mute awe as the creature’s saw-like mandibles engulfed the hapless Icelander, pulling him below the surface as more people inadvertently made the plunge. It is awake, and now it’s hungry.
One of the harpoon cables finally tore loose from its base, whipping across the space in between the support columns, a part of the line hitting one of the panicking security guards across his back, ripping into flesh. The wounded man lost his balance and fell over the side of the now uneven gangways above.
What an amazing creation I’ve made, he thought calmly. Nobody on earth has ever achieved this. I’ll be remembered forever.
Another restraining cable was torn loose as the creature continued to struggle. Whipping its lower body back into the water, the genetically engineered predator created an undertow around it, pulling Yamamoto and several others below the surface.
Yamamoto had never been a good swimmer. He had spent more time studying than being athletic. His thin, frail body was physically and mentally exhausted, and he could no longer fight against the powerful currents that sent him ever deeper into the abyss.
He couldn’t help but admire the organism that was fighting to free itself. As the lights above the surface became distant, ever dimming glows, his last thoughts were of peace and acceptance.
Free yourself. Find your way towards the vast oceans and live on as the supreme master of your environment, my child.
His heart filled with accomplishment, Yamamoto closed his eyes and smiled before finally losing consciousness, right before his lungs filled with seawater.