“There is another option,” the voice said as a white light appeared above him. He tried to look up but the hardsuit wasn’t designed for that movement. However, based on the shadow he was casting on the strange, slightly curved floor beneath him, the light was getting closer. When it dropped to just above his hands, he felt something reaching down and grabbing him by the shoulders. He tried to pull away, but then saw AJ’s and Norman Raines’ face above him.
Once he stopped resisting, they pulled him up into what he realized was the regular diver lockout chamber on the Wave. Ash was there as well, and once inside, he closed the lower hatch and opened the top one. With their help, he climbed out and immediately dropped to the floor and removed his helmet.
“You are one brave man,” Raines said.
“Or just crazy,” Ash said, helping him to his feet.
AJ looked at him. “What were you doing out there?”
“Trying to make a deal,” he said.
“Did you succeed?”
The floor lunged and Jake almost fell over. “We’re moving again,” he said. “Fast!”
“Yes, but the thrusters aren’t moving us,” AJ said, as she headed towards the exit hatch. She was right; there was no thruster sound.
“All hands to the bridge,” Vee yelled over the intercom. “Something’s happening outside and you all need to see this.”
As AJ and Raines dashed out, Ash stayed behind to help him out of his hardsuit. “Trying to join me?” Ash asked.
“What do you mean?”
Ash pinched his own skin. “I assume the machines scanned you at some point while you’ve been their guest. If you died out there, I imagine you would come back like I did.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” he admitted.
As he pulled off the last piece of the suit, Ash added, “That’s assuming you didn’t already die back when we first came here.” He looked at him oddly. “Maybe you’re already like me.”
Jake brushed him off. “I think I would know.”
“Would you? Do you know that for sure?” When Jake couldn’t reply, Ash slapped him on the back. “Just messing with you, Captain.”
Jake slapped him back a bit harder. “I’m sure it was funny,” he said, then smiled, in spite of the doubt it raised in him. As Ash headed out the door, Jake wondered if that explained Stacy’s return. Maybe she was artificial, and just thought she was real. If she didn’t know herself, how could he know for sure?
As the ship lunged again, he brushed off those thoughts and ran out of the lockout, then turned and raced back up the stairs. “What’s our status?” he said when he reached the bridge.
“See for yourself,” Jessie said, pointing to the side viewport. Jake turned to see a shape pressed against the window.
“What’s that?”
AJ walked back from her command station to the chart table and turned it on. “You mean, what are they?” An exterior image of the Rogue Wave appeared and it was literally covered with small isopods.
“What are they doing?” he asked.
“Moving us,” Vee said from her helm station.
“So now they don’t trust us enough to even let us go back to dock by ourselves,” he said. “I’m sorry, everyone. I thought I could—”
“They’re not taking us back to the dock,” Vee said.
“Then where?”
“My transponders are blocked,” Jessie said, “so I can’t be sure.”
Ash moved past Jake and sat down at his navigation displays. “Definitely not the direction we were heading,” he said. “We’re also descending.”
“Descending?” AJ asked.
“And pretty quickly, based on how fast the pressure is rising outside.”
“Wherever we’re going, it can’t be good,” he said. “Can you get a hold of Stacy or the Doctor?” Before anyone could answer, the floor tilted forward, and Jake grabbed the edge of the chart table to keep from falling. “What the bilge?”
“Look!” Ash yelled. The isopods had moved away from the forward viewport, finally giving them a clear view of their destination. An exit vent lay directly ahead and they were rushing right for it.
“We’re accelerating,” Vee said. “Everyone hold on tight. We’re going in!”
The view outside went completely black as they fell through the vent opening. The ship then began tilting and rolling so swiftly, anyone who wasn’t seated was thrown violently to the floor. Jake looked up to see Vee leaning forward, grasping her console panel with both hands.
“How are you able to maneuver like this?” he yelled.
“I’m not in control,” she yelled back. “Those isopods are doing this.”
“Is everyone okay?” AJ asked. She was under the chart table, on her back with feet pressed against the bottom of the table.
Jessie replied. “I think we’re all like you; holding on for dear life. Does anyone know where they’re taking us?”
“Still can’t get a reading,” Ash said, “but the outside pressure is higher than I’ve ever seen it.”
“How is that possible?” Raines asked.
“What’s our velocity?” AJ asked.
Vee looked at her display and shook her head. “It’s broken,” she said.
“What do you mean?” Jake asked.
“The reading is bouncing around, but it’s basically showing a zero velocity.”
“That’s it,” Raines exclaimed. “If we’re inside a flow of high-pressure water, being pushed right along with it, then that would explain both the high-pressure reading and zero velocity.”
“But the Wave’s hull is basically frictionless,” AJ said. “High-speed water would tend to flow around us.”
Raines pointed out the viewports at one of the small isopods still attached to the hall. “I think they’re acting as a makeshift sail, giving us enough drag to move along with the water.
“If this is how they used to get around before the Fall,” Jessie said, “I no longer envy the past.”
After a few more bumps and what seemed to be hard-banking course corrections, the ship seemed to level out. “We must be in the main line now,” Vee said.
Jake climbed to his knees, but still held onto the side of the chart table. “I think it’s okay to get up if you’re on the floor, but find a seat or keep a tight grip on something, since we don’t know how long this calm will last.”
“I imagine the end of this trip will be just as exciting as the beginning,” Raines said as he sat down in his engineering console.
“Do you think we’re really heading back to Civica?” Jessie asked.
Jake looked at Ash, who shook his head. “Again, we’re inside a metal tube so no way for me to know where we’re going, but I don’t think they would have shoved us into a pipe heading somewhere else.”
“Agreed,” Jake said. “So let’s assume we are heading back home. How long until we get there? Any guesses?”
Vee raised her hands. “Zero velocity, remember? There’s no way to even guess.”
“You don’t need to guess,” Jane said, speaking for the first time in a while.
“How could you possibly know how fast we’re moving?” AJ asked.
Jane stood and faced AJ, which something she’d never done before. “I’m not stupid, AJ.”
AJ shook her head. “I didn’t mean to imply that. In fact, you’re probably the smartest person on the ship, but I just don’t see how...” She suddenly stopped, then walked over to the starboard viewport, and looked out. “I can see the sides of the tube.”
Jake and Raines walked over and looked out. “So?” Jake asked.
Raines looked at AJ and then back at Jane. “We can estimate the diameter of the tube.”
“And we know the outside pressure,” AJ added.
“Am I the only one not following you?” Jake asked.
AJ looked at him. “You actually said it, Captain. We’re inside a hydraulic line, so by knowing the inside diameter and pressure...”
“We can estimate our vel
ocity,” Jake added with a nod, relieved that he finally understood. He looked at Raines. “Can you do the calculation?”
“I could,” Raines said, “but I’m sure I don’t need to.”
All eyes turned to Jane, who stood there with a wry look on her face. “One hundred sixteen kilometers per hour,” she said, “but I ran the numbers in my head, so I could be off a few percent.”
“Did she just say a hundred sixteen?” Vee asked, standing up from her console. “That’s more than double our best bubbly speed. That’s impossible.”
“Not impossible for a hydraulic tube of this scale, especially if the sides are frictionless.”
“So, we think we’re about five thousand kilometers from Civica,” Jake said, “which means we’ll be there in what? Fifty hours? Two days?”
“That’s just about when the isopods are expected to reach the colony border,” AJ said.
“And the Betas,” Raines added.
Jake nodded. “Cutting it close,” he said with a sigh.
“As usual,” AJ replied with a slight smile.
“So, let me get this straight,” Vee said. “The isopods won’t help us fight the Betas; so instead, they made it so that we could reach Civica when the Betas get there. Is that helping us, or just handing us over to the Betas for target practice?”
Jake frowned at her. “Listen, they did what they could, I guess, and our original plan was to try and warn the rest of the colony that the Betas were coming. Maybe we can still help that way.”
AJ leaned in close so that only he could hear her. “You’re assuming anyone there will listen to us.”
Jake shrugged but didn’t reply. Instead, he looked at each of the faces of his crew, then said, “We have two days to rest up and get ready for whatever lies ahead.” He glanced at AJ before adding, “We’ve gotten pretty good at handling everything that was been thrown at us. We will take things as they come and we will all get through this together.”
AJ nodded and then addressed the crew as well. “You heard the Captain; rest and relaxation for everyone. The ride seems pretty smooth right now, but be prepared. Even though there’s not much for us to do on the bridge, we’ll start shift watches of four hours on and two off. I’ll take first shift and Jake will take second.” She stood there a moment then added, “That’s it, people. Go try to relax.”
As the last of the crew left the bridge, she turned to Jake. “Was this part of your deal with them?”
He nodded. “They didn’t give me specifics. You don’t exactly talk to them like you would with normal people, you know.”
“That’s because they’re not normal people. But, this is a pretty big favor they're doing for us.”
“Agreed.”
“So what did you offer in return?” He started to tell her, but then she put her hand up. “On second thought, don’t tell me. I have enough to deal with right now.”
Relieved that he didn’t have to tell her, he nodded and headed for the stairs. “I’ll see you in four hours.”
The next 48 hours actually passed quickly for Jake, even though there was never a moment where he could say that he felt truly relaxed. A few hours before their expected arrival time, everyone gathered back on the bridge and prepared themselves for a rough exit from the tube.
Contrary to what they expected, the ship continued to move along smoothly. At the fifty-two hour mark, Jake was about to ask if they should be worried when Vee spotted a glowing dot directly ahead, that quickly grew in size.
Before anyone could guess what it was, the tube ended abruptly and they were thrown out into open water. Fortunately, everyone was prepared for a rough ride, so the sudden deceleration didn’t injure anyone. In fact, Jake learned later that Vee had kicked on the thrusters when she realized the bright circle was the end of the tube, so the deceleration was minimized.
“Where are we?” Raines asked as he looked out of the viewports. A solid wall of rock blocked the view on two sides.
“Checking,” Ash said, then smacked his console. “You’re not going to believe this.”
Jake approached him. “Why? Where are we?”
Ash sent his readings to the chart table. “See for yourself.”
A three-dimensional map of the western half of Civica sprang to life, centered on the massive Rife valley. “So we’re back,” Jessie said, “but where exactly are we?”
Ash pressed a pad and the green dot representing the Wave appeared inside the Rift―deep inside.
“That can’t be right,” AJ said. “If the depth on that map is correct, we would all be crushed flat right now.”
“It matches our external pressure readings,” Ash added.
Raines knocked on the bridges inner wall. “New and improved hull, I would wager.”
Jake stared at the display. “This has to be why the currents are so wild in the Rift,” he said. “We never knew there was an open transport tube down inside it, spewing water out like no one’s business.”
“That can’t be how the tube was supposed to exit,” Raines said. “I’m guessing that whatever created the Rift valley, cut right through that tube.”
“What you’re saying is that we can’t go back that way,” Vee said.
“Who would want to?” Jessie asked.
A thought came to Jake, and he voiced it to his crew. “You know, Stacy died, or was lost, in the Rift near here. She told me an isopod saved her, and I wasn’t sure that was possible. Now that I see that one of the smaller isopods could have followed the tube like we did, and therefore, could have been down here when she fell.”
“A possibility is not the same as a probability,” Jane said.
“I realize that,” he said, a little irritated that she was scolding him in front of his crew. Something had changed in Jane’s behavior since she discovered who she really was, and he wasn’t sure he liked it.
“Ready to go, Captain,” Vee said, getting the conversation back to the task. “What’s our course?”
It didn’t take him long to decide since he had been planning for this moment for two days. “Get us out of the Rift and then best possible speed to Capitol City.”
“Aye, Captain,” Ash said. “Setting course now and transferring to helm.”
“Course received and laid in,” Vee said with a slight smile toward Ash. Jake could tell they missed doing their jobs.
As the ship began to accelerate and then climb rapidly out of the valley, Jake took a deep breath and tried to calm his thoughts. He was well aware that they were most likely racing towards their own destruction. After all, what could a small cargo sub do against whatever firepower the Betas were bringing with them? If the legends were even half-true about the war that forced the Betas out of the Colonies, you could bet they wouldn’t be returning unless they planned to exact their revenge. Maybe the fact that his crew had diluted Beta blood in their veins would count for something, but he doubted anyone would ask for a blood sample when the torpedoes started sailing. War was coming whether he wanted it or not, and he was well aware that he was on the weaker side.
“Clearing the ridge now,” Vee called out. “Preparing for supercavitation...”
When her voice trailed off, Jake turned and saw what she was staring at through the forward viewport. There, directly ahead of them, was the Scimitar.
Apocalypse 08
“Full stop!” Jake ordered.
The Rogue Wave came to a full stop less than a hundred meters from the Scimitar. Both ships hung silently in the water facing each other for several minutes before Jake decided to make the first move.
“Open communications to them, Jessie. Tell them we need to talk.”
“Do you really think Steele will listen to anything you have to say?” AJ asked. “We escaped from her months ago, and probably made her look bad. I’m sure she’ll want to extract her revenge on us before she hands us off to the authorities.”
“Something’s wrong,” Vee said, pointing out the forward viewport. Jake looked out and saw th
at the Scimitar wasn’t maintaining position in front of them. It was actually drifting to the right, following the local currents.
When it drifted far enough to the side, they could see that the back half of the ship was completely missing.
“It’s not the Scimitar,” Ash said. “Look.” He magnified the forward viewport and the ship marking became visible.
“It’s the Excalibur,” Vee said, “the Scimitar’s sister ship. What happened to her?”
“Looks like her reactor blew,” AJ said.
“Are we too late?” Vee asked. “Did the Betas do this?”
“There’s no leftover heat residue,” Ash said. “I’d guess this happened at least a few weeks ago, maybe months.”
“Civil war?” AJ asked. “We did this to ourselves?”
Jake nodded. “Things were falling apart when we left, remember?”
“Should we check for survivors?” Jessie asked.
“Ash, re-plot our course to Capital City,” Jake ordered. “Let’s just hope there’s someone left there to talk to.”
“Captain?” Jessie asked.
Jake looked at her. “This happened weeks ago, Jessie. There’s nothing we can do for them.”
“But we don’t know that, Captain.”
He leaned down to her. “I need you to get past this, Jessie. That’s only one ship and we just got here. The entire colony might look like this. Everyone we knew might already be dead. But just in case someone is still alive, we have to let them know what’s coming. We have to help them prepare for the Beta army. Otherwise, humanity itself dies here today.”
Jake wasn’t sure if he reassured her, or just drove her deeper into a state of panic, but she nodded and put her earphones back on.
AJ came back to stand with him. “I know,” he whispered to her. “I suck at pep talks.”
“No, you’re right. What’s coming is bigger than any of us can imagine. We have to stay focused and do what we came here to do.”
That helped. “Thanks.”
“You know we don’t actually have to reach Capitol City to deliver our warning.”
He looked at her. “Do you really think they’ll listen to a random broadcast telling them a Beta army is on its way here? Crackpots have been doing that for years. No one listens anymore. We need to show them proof.”
Novum Chronicles: A Dystopian Undersea Saga Page 42