Return to The Deep (From The Deep Book 2)

by Michael Bray

  "We're approaching the location now, sir," the pilot said.

  "Good, steady now," Decker said, barely able to hide his grin.

  Nobody was surprised when Decker decided to go in the sub himself, despite the danger it posed. Those who knew him would have laughed and shrugged, and said it was 'just like Charles', which indeed it was. The thirty nine year old peered out of the porthole window at the icy waters beyond. Born in England in the mid-seventies, he grew up in a hardworking middle class home. Even as a young boy, he had a drive and determination to succeed, however, his fortune came quite by accident. As an eighteen year old university student looking for something to do between classes, he started to work for a local electronics company. Realising quickly the company wasn’t operating as efficiently as it could be, the outspoken Decker told his superiors where their failings were. When they didn’t act in his suggestions, he directly contacted the company CEO, and painstakingly told him where his company was performing inefficiently and how it could be remedied.

  Not liking to be told how to run their family business of the last thirty years by a wet behind the ears new employee, Decker found himself out of a job. Rather than get angry, he set out to prove a point, and using what little savings he had, started his own rival company. Within three years, Decker’s company went from a staff of one and being run out of the spare bedroom of his family home, to purchasing its first factory. Now, some twenty one years later, Decker had factories all over the globe producing electronics and military grade weaponry. He had several exclusive and lucrative contracts with the British and American government to provide bespoke equipment. A millionaire by twenty, a billionaire for the first time by twenty seven, Decker had proven just how far drive and determination can take a person. He had grown his fortune wisely, investing in several businesses the world over, as well as an English Premier League football team and a Formula one team whose cars bore his company logo on the bodywork.

  It was through his government contact that he had been told what may or may not rest beneath the Ross Ice Shelf. Sure enough, it wasn’t the agreed deal, as his informant was supposed to secure him a DNA sample of the creature, which the American government had in captivity. As happens sometimes, plans changed, and Decker was instead given precise coordinates as to where the original incident took place. He had seen the news of the collapse of course on television. However, unlike most, he had paid great attention to the sightings and reports of the alleged sea monster that had been responsible for several deaths. Then in a scene straight out of a Bruce Willis action movie - had been sealed into its lair by a controlled demolition of the Ross Ice Shelf.

  Decker always had a great interest in the supernatural, or things that defied known sciences. He had recently funded ( and led) an expedition to the Congo to see if the local stories of Mokele Mbembe, and alleged living breathing dinosaur roaming the dense forests, were true. That mission brought no results apart from a few strange sounds heard in the night and a nasty case of dysentery. He was also funding research into proving the existence of life after death, and negotiating with the Turkish government to try to get permission to do a complete search and scan of Mount Ararat to prove once and for all, if the stories of Noah’s Ark coming to rest there after the great flood were true.

  This particular mission, however, was the one he was most interested in, mostly because he had a very credible source who said the creature existed without question. The file provided by Decker’s contact was full of incredibly captivating information, and contained a full account of what had happened. As Decker read it, his heart sank a little. It read too much like a fictional story. It spoke of the project leader, a man called Russo, who lost his mind and went into business for himself, and of not one, but three creatures. The report said Russo wanted to capture one of the young, and it was at this point when things took a turn for the worse. A rival team - the contact said they were fishermen who were also seeking the creature - interrupted the plan and a scuffle broke out leading to an evacuation and the deliberate detonation of the roof of the cave, killing creature and young in the process. Decker was laughing it off when he turned the page and saw the photographs, which in an instant made him think that perhaps there was some truth to the story. There were three in all. One was obviously a still taken from a video. It showed an immense object launching out of the water about to intercept a breaching whale. The scale was unbelievable. It was clear the creature wasn’t anything known to science. Its body was a mottled greenish grey, and thick tentacles lined the edges of its frame. In the bottom corner of the photo, hand written in black ink was:

  43505986BS44

  PROJ BLUE

  O/MIST ENCOUNTER

  UNVERIFIED

  With his heart trip hammering against his ribcage, Decker looked at the other photographs. Both were taken in what looked to be the creature’s lair. The grainy image showed a gargantuan bowl of water, and on the edge, a smaller version of the creature from the first photo. Due to his interest in the subject, Decker had seen his share of fakes. In a world of Photoshop, it was very easy to make realistic looking forgeries if someone had the skill. However, this photo looked...right. It looked real. It wasn't designed to show the creature in frightening pose or from deliberately arty camera angles. It looked exactly like it was - an obviously quick photograph taken in the heat of the moment without wanting to be detected.

  The third photo was similar, but from a wider angle, and showed people in the cave, agents armed with weapons and clad in snow gear. The creature was still visible at the water’s edge, but also beyond a huge wake in the water. This photo had been written on in the same hand. Above the wake in the water, was written: Adult female.

  Even more interestingly, was the man at the forefront of the image. He was in profile, and looked to be shouting orders as he pointed at the creature. Above him, written in pen was a single word.

  Russo.

  The man who the government had insisted never existed when Decker had queried, the man who for all intents and purposes, was an enigma, a ghost.

  It was enough to spur Decker into action. If the government were so unwilling to talk, then he would take matters into his own hands and go look for himself. The submersible had been specifically designed for this one project at a cost of almost three hundred million dollars. He had hired the best staff. The submersible pilot was a veteran of several high pressure dives including numerous visits to the wreck of the Titanic. Decker's plan was simple. He wanted to see if there was still a way into the alleged underwater cave, and if so, he wanted to go in and look for himself.

  "I don’t see anything," Decker said, cupping his hands to see through the tiny window.

  "Look on the screen," the pilot said, speaking perfect English despite being French.

  Decker shifted position in the cramped sub, his arms brushing against the arrays of wires that covered the interior.

  "See there?" the captain said, pointing to the screen.

  Decker could see it. The video feed came from the high powered cameras mounted at the front of the sub. In missions that relied on greater depths, they were quite useless and couldn’t penetrate the blanket of darkness in the deep. For the shallows, however, they delivered a fantastic panorama of the crisp blue ocean. On the screen, the base of the Ross Ice Shelf met with the ocean floor. Majestic for its sheer size, Decker had to remind himself that he was underwater and not in outer space. In the centre of the screen, the evidence of the collapse was plain to see. Rocks dislodged from the seabed had been thrown away from the impact. Where the ice had fallen into the ocean, a ridge of rock was visible, and there, running down it and stretching up towards the surface, was the enormous crack in the rock face.

  "If there's a cave entrance, that’s where it is, Mr Decker," the pilot said, rolling his 'r's as only the French could.

  "Can we get inside?" Decker said.

  "Not in the sub, no. It's not safe. With the R.O.Vs, I believe we can take a look."

 
; The R.O.V was a unit first put into use during dives to the wreck of the Titanic. Piloted remotely from the safety of the sub, the small rectangular units were fitted with high resolution cameras, lights, and a retractable mechanical arm. A miniature sub in itself, it was a brilliantly efficient solution for going into those places humans couldn’t. For the Titanic missions, they had been able to venture deep into the superstructure of the wreck, exploring areas, which would have otherwise remained inaccessible.

  Decker had taken the basic design and improved it. His version of the units had been reshaped for better aerodynamic efficiency and manoeuvrability. He had also managed to cut the weight of the units down by a third, and increase the battery life almost to double its initial capacity.

  The unit was tethered to the sub by a thin fibre optic cable so that in the event of power loss, the units could be reeled back to the submersible manually.

  "Mr Decker, should I release the R.O.V?" the pilot said, half turning towards the billionaire.

  "Yes, but I want to pilot it."

  "Mr Decker, I understand your excitement, but surely an experienced pilot would be better."

  "I've trained. I had a simulator built at my home."

  "Oui, Mr Decker, but I must stress how different a real world setting is. Ocean currents, unexpected rock falls, the chance of snagging the cable on something and getting hung up. The cost to replace these units is-"

  "Something I can easily afford, Jacques. Remember, I’m financing this entire trip. If there's something in that cave, I want to be first to discover it."

  "Oui, monsieur. My apologies," the Frenchman said.

  Beneath the monitor display were two joystick controls used to pilot the R.O.V unit. One stick controlled pitch, the other lateral motion. There were also buttons to control forward or reverse thrust of the twin propellers at the rear of the unit. Decker took a deep breath and grasped the joysticks firmly.

  "Okay, power up the unit," he said. The pilot complied, flicking an array of switches and referring to readouts on a small screen to his right.

  "Unit is operational. Test rudder and thrust, please, Mr Decker."

  Decker complied.

  "Okay," the pilot said, “switching to R.O.V camera view."

  The screen changed to a view of the belly of the sub covering the top two thirds of the screen, reminding Decker of the opening scene of the first Star Wars movie.

  "Disengaging holding clamps," the pilot said, flicking another switch.

  The image on screen shuddered, and then the belly of the sub started to drift off the top of the screen as the R.O.V was released.

  "Okay, monsieur Decker, you have control," the pilot said.

  "Understood," Decker replied, concentrating all his efforts on screen and remembering to remain supple and calm, teasing the controls and moving the unit towards the crack in the rock face.

  "I’m impressed, Mr Decker, you have a skilled hand," the pilot said as he watched the screen.

  "Just like playing computer games, Jacques."

  "Only more expensive, no?"

  Decker grinned and banked the unit towards the crack in the rock face.

  "This looks like it's been here for years," Decker muttered. "I wonder if this is where our creature got in and out."

  "You really think it's there?" Jacques said.

  "I wouldn’t have spent so much money if I didn’t."

  "I hope you aren’t too disappointed."

  "Worth every penny to know one way or the other, my friend. Better than the great unknown."

  Decker piloted the unit into the crevasse, switching on the lights as he did. "Just as I thought," he said as he dived deeper. "The cave entrance was through the rock rather than the ice. We might yet have a chance to see something."

  The cave walls were wide, digging into the earth before tapering into the ice. Decker piloted the R.O.V to where the walls narrowed and brought it to a halt.

  "Unbelievable," Jacques said, unable to help grinning. "You see how it opens again on the other side?"

  "Yeah, it shows why our creature got in, but couldn’t get out if it's as big as they said. As soon as it reached maturity, it simply wouldn't have fit once it reached a certain size. It must have been trapped until the first collapse freed it."

  "Can you pan up, Mr Decker?" Jacques said.

  Decker did as he was asked. They could now clearly see the join between seafloor and ice, the sheer rock giving way seamlessly to the shelf. Directly above them, the evidence of the cave collapse was evident.

  "You see that, Jacques? I'm betting there might well be some structure intact if we can get in. It looks to be like the base of the body of water in which this thing made its lair, was built around the seabed rather than the ice." He panned the R.O.V back level. "If we can go in here through the crack in the rock, we should be able to ascend and see if there is anything left to see."

  "You mean descend, monsieur Decker," Jacques corrected. "Anything left would be on the floor now, no?"

  "You're right, of course," Decker said. "Why don’t we go and take a look."

  Decker piloted the sub into the darkness, flicking the high powered lights across the front of the unit on to full power. The ocean came back to life, the lights barely penetrating the gloom.

  "Careful, Mr Decker. Do you see the evidence of the collapse? There, to the right?"

  "Yeah, I see it," Decker said under his breath, banking away from the huge boulder of ice which Jacques referred to. Palms sweating, Decker hesitated for a moment, watching the swirling microbes and algae as it danced across the illuminated field of view. "Okay, let's see what we can see."

  Decker pushed the nose of the R.O.V down, moving forward at a descending angle towards the floor. All around he could see evidence of the collapse and the tremendous forces of nature that had been at work.

  "Jesus, would you look at this," Decker muttered. "Those ice blocks are the size of houses. They've been tossed around with ease."

  "Be careful, it looks tight up ahead," Jacques said.

  "I see it. Hang on."

  Decker teased the controls, turning the R.O.V on its side and going under a horizontal block of ice. Beyond, the field of view opened beyond the reach of the miniature sub's lights.

  "I think we're in," Decker said, unable to hide the smile, which grew on one side of his face.

  "Yes, this is it!" Jacques said, also struggling to hide his excitement. "You reached the cave."

  "Now, let’s see if we can find our creature."

  Decker went slowly, inching as close to the bottom as he could amid the huge boulders of rock and ice, which littered what, used to be the natural bowl of the creature’s lair.

  "It seems like apart from the initial debris, the bulk of the roof collapse left most of the underwater area untouched," Decker said as he moved around a particularly large ice formation. The water is so cold in here that the ice doesn’t melt.”

  "Could it be possible this creature survived?" Jacques said, glancing wide eyed at Decker.

  "Unlikely. Look at the debris all over the bottom. As big as it was, I don’t think-"

  Decker stopped speaking, staring at the screen.

  "Merde," Jacques mumbled, as he too stared in astonishment.

  It was only partially visible, most of its lower three quarters crushed under an immense pile of ice. The forward portion of the creature was devoid of skin, its bones standing out in stark white in the glare of the sub's lights. Even devoid of flesh, the size of the animal was almost impossible to comprehend. It was plain to see it was a force of nature, and for the first time, Decker was grateful it was dead. He piloted the sub closer to the gargantuan skull, which was on its side, half buried in silt and rock.

  "Those teeth," Jacques mumbled.

  "I see them. What do you think, fifteen, maybe twenty inches long?"

  "More. I'd say twenty five."

  "I’m going to try to snag one," Decker said, pausing to wipe his hands on his pale blue jumpsuit.
"Deploying the mechanical arm."

  Decker flicked a switch. From the underbelly of the R.O.V, the three pronged stainless steel appendages extended into view on screen.

  "Okay, I’m moving into position," Decker said, then turned towards the watching pilot. "Jacques, would you operate the arm? I never did get the hang of it."

  "Of course, Monsieur Decker. Please switch control over to me."

  Decker flipped a switch, giving the pilot control of the retractable arm from a secondary console.

  "Oaky, I’ll keep her steady," Decker said, a light sweat forming on his brow. "The bones have been down here for a while now, so you should be able to dislodge one of the teeth from the jawbone easily enough."

  Jacques didn’t answer. Instead, he manipulated the appendage with much more grace and Dexterity than Decker would have ever been able to. The billionaire watched as the three pronged arm wrapped around one of the teeth. Jacques manipulated the controls, and the arm moved up and down, trying to pry the tooth free.

  "It's not moving, we need more leverage," Jacques said.

  "Okay, maintain grip. On three, pull back. I’ll pull the R.O.V up at the same time. That should give us the leverage we need.”

  "Yes, Mr Decker, understood."

  "Oaky, are you ready?"

  "Oui."

  "Alright, here we go. On three. One. Two. Three. Pull!"

  In perfect synchronisation, both men pulled back on their respective controls. The tooth popped free as the R.O.V ascended, bumping into the ice above the creature's skull. The impact skewed the mini sub, causing the arm to lose its grip on the tooth, which sank towards the floor.

  "Shit, don’t lose it," Decker said as he recovered and stabilised the vehicle.

  "It's okay, I see it," Jacques said. "There, by the first vertebrae."

  Decker looked where the Frenchman was pointing on screen.

  "Yep, I see it. Good eye, Jacques."

  Decker lowered the nose and inched towards the enormous skull and the prize they had almost lost. The Frenchman extended the mechanical arm, and with graceful ease, picked up the tooth.