The Tethys Report (The Rise of the Chirons Book 1)

by Rian Davis

  “What choice do I have?” I said, quickly thinking over the situation.

  Dr. Aspect gave no response. There was none to give.

  I stepped into the machine, and despite my small stature compared to the one the Golem no doubt designed to hold, it fit me quite well. Suddenly, a burst of energy flew through me and the suit. It came all over, and I was blinded for a moment. I felt suddenly aware of so many things—the temperature in the room, the energy fluctuations through the ceiling, door, floor and all throughout the lake. My awareness grew, and my consciousness was enhanced with an awareness that went beyond my human brain. I cannot describe it, but the feeling of music and vision were mixed into one. I could feel the pulsations of the many cellular automaton grids fluctuating throughout the room that housed the sun, composed of millions of parts shaped like Buckminsterfullerene-like shapes that spread throughout the integrated system. My thoughts were somehow linked with the Chirons. The music flowed in me as well.

  “Now that you’re hooked in, you must remove the tracking devices inside of you.”

  “I nearly forgot. They must be seeing this!” I said.

  “It doesn’t matter. Not anymore. Once I entered the suit, I blocked their communication. Now there we go,” Dr. Aspect said as my suit pulsed and something smoked from within my body. I did not feel any pain, however. “The tracking devices are now inoperable and irreparable. Now, look into the front panel.”

  I saw through the panel, which had readings on everything, from water temperature to pressure, to danger level. It was exhilarating to see this much data in front of me organized in such a way. “This is your main display. It has many unique features, some of which do not work for your eyes since the eyes of the Chirons are specialized for a different spectrum of radiation. However, you can see infrared and other types of radiation that the naked eye cannot detect. The Chirons can also technically see into the future slightly. We humans cannot do this.”

  “Yeah, or I’d be rich,” I said thinking of the few remaining bets I could make back in Eagle Zone online.

  “I did not retain my sense of humor via the transformation process, I must warn you—at least not all of it, Dr. Bloom. Please keep that in mind.”

  I did—for now. “Anyway, can you track where they are?”

  “They?”

  “The ones who have Jen and your data.” I was moving through the portal to the water area that flooded the miniature-sun room. So far the Golem was quite easy to navigate.

  “I’m not God. I can only access the Golem controls. The city that the Chirons made is not functional, or else I could locate them using equipment from this settlement.”

  “Great. We’ll have to find them the old-fashioned way I guess.”

  “Yes, we will. Though I do have to mention some abilities. You can luckily swim through water. You move through water and air via the magnetic field. Flying is nothing difficult for you as you are simply moving through the electromagnetic pulses of Earth’s magnetic field, which happens to be strongest at the poles. It is also your power source. You have a battery of sorts, but it is not infinite.”

  “What about the high pressure of this lake under all the ice? Can we still move through the high pressured water? And remember, it’s damn cold.”

  “Yes, I believe so.”

  “Believe so?”

  “Find out for yourself.”

  “I have no other choice, it seems.”

  I was about to start to touch the panel when the door opened on its own accord, or more likely by Dr. Aspect ’s command—or perhaps mine.

  The outer room filled with water, and I got my first taste of how the Golem did in the lake.

  Chapter 15

  I immediately had to adjust my movement to accommodate the water and its current. There was a flow in the general direction of the sea life below, but I was beginning to learn how the propulsion powered by electromagnetism worked in the Golem suit. I had all sorts of weird sensations on my skin as if I were receiving information about the water and its temperature. I had an odd sense of the depth I was at as well as my surroundings. In short, I had an awareness that a fish might have. It was the most peculiar feeling, and I cannot say it was unpleasant.

  It was, in fact, exhilarating, exhausting, frightening, and uplifting—all at the same time. Despite my worry for Jen, I was able to shout for joy a few times as the suit carried me through the lake. Rather than visually sensing the data, I was able to navigate through the city by feel. I could also detect the vessel that had Jen. I did not detect her, but I deduced that it must be the vessel that held her. Somehow my cognitive abilities were enhanced because I became much more confident and cohesive in my thoughts. Dr. Aspect floated beside me in his own suit.

  “How is it that I can sense moving objects around me? That I can steer this suit through the water?”

  “I cannot explain the physics to you—not yet anyway, but—“

  “That’s OK. I don’t need a math lesson. I just need to know how to use it more effectively.”

  “Your cognitive areas native to your body are integrated with the Golem unit as a whole. Thus, you are able to control your Golem unit and possess its abilities as seamless as if it were an extension of your body.”

  “What do I do Dr. Aspect?”

  “Call me ‘Z4’ from now on, for I am something other than the person whom you knew as Dr. Alan Aspect. It signifies a new name and is not unlike what the Chirons called the suit. And what do you mean ‘What do I do?’”

  “I mean how should I engage our adversaries—the ones who nearly murdered you—or did murder you, depending on how you look at it?”

  “I will think of a plan. I cannot anticipate their moves right now.”

  “Yeah? Well I know their moves. They’ll extract all the information from Jen that they can get and then kill her. Look their whole point is to kill most people on the earth so that they can be the ones remaining to enjoy the last of the good land. It’s the same idea as Hitler had over a hundred years ago except this time it’s not by race, but by some exclusive club. Jen, of course, is not a member of that club.”

  There was silence before Z4 continued. “I am aware of that. I have access to most—if not all—of your memories.”

  “Great. You know everything about me. Aren’t you sure you have all of my memories then? Why the confusion?”

  “It’s not like I’ve done this before either,” said Z4.

  “We’re gaining on them. I can hear the vessel moving. Can this suit attach to the vessel itself? Perhaps we could force them to stop.”

  “Negative. That’s not a good idea. You can perhaps force the vessel to stop, but that would cause damage to the hull—most likely, causing instant death to those inside.”

  “Well, then what should we do? We can’t let them get to their destination. I know where they’re going.”

  “Really? Where is that?”

  “They’re going to the landing zone—the area where the original drilling work was done. I bet they have another hole there that we don’t know about. I bet they’re all set to move out and meet up with the team that murdered the Russians above and nearly us in the process.”

  “That sounds like a picture very close to what I was thinking.”

  “Great. So we’re outnumbered and out armed.”

  “Who said we’re out armed?”

  “This thing has weapons?”

  “You thought that the Chirons sang Kumbaya the whole time? Why do you think SOG wants to go after this information—besides the obvious benefits of energy and such.”

  “Let’s skip the philosophical chatter for now. How do I access these weapons? It might be a good idea to know this stuff before I—you know—enter into battle.”

  “Your primary weapon is an electric pulse beam that can pierce many objects including most metals a foot thick, concrete two feet thick, and skulls.”

  “I figured the last one from the first two you mentioned. Can I practice it first b
efore I go live with it?”

  “I don’t see why not? Try not to hit anything important.”

  “I’ll do my best,” I said with a grin. I looked over at several sedimentary rocks. They looked pretty compressed via pressure of some sort. They were well below the surface of the lake. I fired a pulse beam at one of the smaller rocks and caused it to crumble.

  “Wow, this thing does work. You might actually not have to die a second time along with Jen and me.”

  “Considered me enthused. At this point, I’m not sure the odds are in our favor anymore—if they ever were.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Those ‘others’ you talked about. They have arrived at the area you said, the landing zone. They are waiting for the vessel to arrive.”

  I cursed inwardly. I did not ask how he knew that information. “We’ll have to go now then and surprise them if we can.”

  “They seem to be aware of our presence. We must be giving off a signal.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I sense a tracking device that has locked in on us.”

  “It can’t be weapons. They’re on a research vessel.”

  “No, but the new vehicles that have come from the surface have them. Some of them are amphibious. They must have been forewarned to bring some reinforcements that have weapons. There is a fleet of warships at the surface. We’re going to have to face them if we go up there.”

  “Great. Things are going south already. How long until the vessel with Jen on it arrives at the landing zone.”

  “Approximately ten minutes.”

  “Not much time. Let’s try to intercept them.”

  “We can’t.”

  “Why not? They’re going to get away.”

  “We cannot fight down here. If we do, this whole placed will be destabilized. Current pressure readings are just over one thousand bar. Any kind of explosions that happen will be like playing Russian roulette. One more thing. I believe we are being tracked because I’m detecting multiple new vessels. They are military submarine vehicles. I count five and they’re closing with us. They have likely detected us.”

  “What? How could they have planned it this well? This is out of control. They must have maintained communication all along with the surface—that group we encountered before. What’s their plan then?”

  “I do not know. But it’s a safe bet they’re going to come in and try to capture you and me too.”

  “They probably want the Golem suits. They don’t care about me.”

  “You’re probably right.”

  I slowed down the Golem. It was pretty easy to navigate a stop, and I used the control panel to scan the surrounding area. “I have an idea. But it’s going to be crazy.”

  “What is your plan? You might want to fill me in since I’ll be instrumental in executing it.”

  “They’re not leaving without the Golem. They just figured out that it’s just as important as all that data they have. The data is lost though. I’m sure that we cannot stop them from taking it.”

  “Yes, your idea seems reasonable.”

  “I think they’ll keep Jen here too. She’s leverage to bring me in. How did they detect us so easily? There must be a way to track me even without the tracking device. Perhaps they have a powerful long-range sensor system. They knew about the Golem suits from the earlier tracking device that we now have disintegrated—that’s a given.”

  “It’s strange they didn’t recognize our signatures before.”

  “Probably they have cameras and other spy equipment all throughout the lake—infrared, I don’t know. The technology is too good, even at this depth and this much darkness.”

  “That seems reasonable. It also seems reasonable to infer that they do not know the full capabilities of this Golem unit yet.”

  “I’ll bet they don’t. It’s our one ace in the hole. That’s all we can use on them.”

  “Seven minutes. What should we do?”

  “Let’s head back to home base. We need to see if there are any survivors. Jen’s not going anywhere. I hate to say it, but if they were going to kill her, they’d have done it back with us. Just shoot her and leave the body.”

  “Luckily they didn’t do that.”

  “Luckily,” I replied. I said a silent prayer that she would make it OK.

  Chapter 16

  We approached the base. None of the lights were on as before. There were intermittent sea creatures approaching its hull, but nothing much else. I found the hatch was unguarded. If it had a camera, I couldn’t tell. I decided to risk it. I didn’t have a choice really. I entered the base quickly with the Golem still on. I detected two life forms—both were very week.

  “My God, they’ve killed almost everyone here,” I said, looking at the bodies of the scientists and engineers I had interacted with only hours earlier.

  “They are a terrorist organization as you explained.”

  “Yes, but it still amazes me. These were mostly scientists, not soldiers. I don’t detect any of the SOG units. They’ve abandoned this place.”

  I moved towards where the survivors might have been if there were any. I found some people were still moving in the kitchen. They had been tied up and bloody—probably Alex’s work. Both had been shot and no doubt left for dead. It took me a while to ID the remaining survivors. One was Laennec, who was not in good shape, and the other was Kathy. She was hidden away in the closet relatively unscathed but emotionally a wreck. I saw that one of the soldiers in my team, Bret, had saved her life by placing his body in front of the door so that they wouldn’t notice her hiding there. I gently placed Bret’s body on the ground and put a sheet over it. It was all I could do.

  I realized that Kathy had no idea of just who the hell I was, scaring her even more.

  “Z4, am I able to exit the suit?”

  “You should be able to. You have not yet fully integrated into the system yet, so it is still possible.”

  I was going to ask how I got out of the Golem suit, but it did it for me—or perhaps I did it myself.

  “Kathy, it’s me, Jake. I’m here to help you. I’m not one of those monsters—I promise. Please—come out.”

  It took a lot more coaxing to get her out. I helped wake the doctor and bring him to the sick bay where he was able to apply some bandages to his leg and torso. He was very shocked to see that Kathy had survived. She was in no condition to talk to anyone, however. She was hysterical. It took all of my energy just to calm her down. Eventually the doctor gave her a sedative.

  “Doctor, what happened here?” I stared at Bret’s body covered lying next to Virchow ’s. They had both been shot multiple times. I remember Bret had a look of surprise and wonder on his face while Virchow ’s just looked melancholy. He must not have suspected Alex until the very end.

  “It was your leader Hal. He started shooting all of a sudden without warning. The other soldiers were trying to fight them off but two were killed immediately. I take it this brave man over here,” he said pointing at Bret, “was able to save Kathy with some quick thinking and bravery. I got hit from something and fell down. That’s all I remember.”

  “You didn’t get shot though. That must have been very fortunate for you. I guess they just thought you were dead.”

  Laennec shrugged. “They were in a hurry. One of them was shouting that something was too late. They’ve found it already, was something I remember them saying.”

  “We didn’t see Hal. He must be on one of the other vessels,” I said.

  “Indeed,” Z4 replied next to me, still in his suit. He kept his voice low so that he wouldn’t disturb anyone even more than his frightening suit made him be.

  When Kathy took a closer look at the Golem that Z4 was in, she became very agitated. “What the hell is that thing?” she said with unusually wide eyes. “That’s definitely not a diving suit.” She stood up and paced the room.

  “I don’t have time to explain. This thing is a friend though. I’ve got another one ju
st like it. They—those bastards are going to come back for us.”

  “No!” said Kathy. “No. I don’t want to see them again. Please.”

  “I’ll do what I can. Dr. Laennec, can you help her and keep each other out of trouble. We can’t do anything else for the others. I think they are beyond even your abilities.”

  “No problem. And I’m afraid you’re right about the others,” he said while glancing at a few of the bodies. “There should be enough oxygen now that most of us are dead to keep us here for a while. They didn’t even bother taking the oxygen supplies.”

  “You should stay here until you see that the path is clear and get the hell out. I’m not sure I will be able to come back for you.”

  “Understood,” Dr. Laennec said. “I’ll help Kathy here, and as soon as I see that the coast is clear, we’ll get out of here. I’ll see what I can do about the bodies.”

  “Good. I would hate to just leave them down here if it can be helped.”

  “What are you going to do, Dr. Bloom?” Dr. Laennec asked.

  “I’m going to go out there and face them,” I replied.

  “And I will come with,” Z4 said.

  Chapter 17

  We exited the research vessel the same way we came: through the research vessel’s anus. I could feel the rush of the icy water hit the surface of the suit. In a way, it became my new skin. I knew that soon I would not be able to leave the suit as one cannot leave one’s own skin behind.

  My perception was increasing due to the integrated systems. I was changing into a being that was a Chiron and again wasn’t. I could sense not only the three attack subs that were coming, but I could also sense the people inside—their anxiety level, their mental activity, and their blood sugar level. I couldn’t read their DNA, nor organize it. But all of this data was being collected and able to be stored and analyzed by new subprocesses, either within my brain or through the Golem that was ever more being integrated into my physiology. I knew that one of the drivers of the attack sub was named Aleksandr. His hobbies included fishing, listening to music, especially classic pop songs from the fifties and watching patriotic movies. He didn’t seem like such a bad guy except that he wanted me dead.