by Greig Beck
The response over the speakers was nothing but white noise. His fingers moved the dials again, and he looked about to resend, when the crackle and distortion coalesced into … words.
“Nautilus submersible …” White noise. “… this is …” White noise.
Brenner leaped at the console, adjusting, boosting and finessing.
“… Sonya Borashev aboard the vessel Anastasia, we read you. Over.”
The cabin erupted – Jack turned to hug Cate, Brenner high-fived Andrews, and even Sam and Andy seemed to be roaring soundlessly in their pod cabin.
“Michael, do the honors,” Jack said to Brenner and nodded to the solitary figure clinging to the side of their submersible.
“With pleasure.” Brenner’s grin near split his face. “Valery, Mr. Mironov, they’re up there; the Anastasia.”
There was a long exhalation of relief. “Yes, I knew she would be there. Coordinate the extraction. Time is everything now. Even seconds matter.”
Cate checked the sonar. The sonar shadow from below was gaining on them. Time wasn’t just everything; it was now the enemy that was running them down.
“Time is everything.” She looked into Jack’s eyes. “And we need more of it.”
* * *
Sonya Borashev turned, and then roared. “Immediate hard to starboard, full speed to that signal location.” She placed the headset over her head. “Prepare ropes and nets to evac survivors.”
The closest crewmember halted. “Teams to the rescue boats, Ms. Borashev?”
She shook her head. “Stand them at the ready. And I also want the deck gun primed and ready. All ammunition types.” She began to turn away, but spun back. “No, I’ll do that myself. And boost this damn signal.”
Sonya headed for the deck. “Keep me informed of sonar signatures, and when we’re right over the position where the Nautilus pod is surfacing.” She ran from the bridge, still talking into the headset.
“Anastasia to Nautilus, please tell me Valery is with you.”
* * *
Jack faced Cate as he spoke. “He’s fine, Sonya; just working on giving us a little extra speed.” His smile widened. “I can’t tell you how good it is to hear your voice. We’ve got a very unwelcome guest coming up from the deep. It’ll be upon us in …” He checked. “… Seven minutes – unfortunately the same time as we breach the surface. How long until you’re at the extraction point?”
The silence seemed to stretch.
“At least nine minutes,” she said with resignation.
“Okay.” Jack ran one large hand up over his forehead. “Well, we’re going to need some sort of diversion then. Two minutes in the water with this thing will be a death sentence.” He looked across to Brenner. “I’m led to believe the Anastasia has some countermeasures aboard?”
Brenner nodded.
“Yes,” Sonya said. “We have a range of depth-sensitive fragmentation and percussive devices. But we can’t use them if the shark is coming up directly below you. If we deploy them too close to your superstructure the compression waves might rupture the skin of your submersibles. We’ll probably do more damage to you than the shark.”
“I fucking doubt it. Do it anyway,” Brenner shot back. “We only need you to slow it down. We need – more – damn time.”
“Hey, cool it.” Jack glared at the man. He turned away. “Sonya, he’s out of line, but he’s right; if there’s any way you can deploy, then do it.”
“I don’t know,” Sonya said. “Let me talk to our specialists here; see what they come up with. Hang tight.”
“We’ll be waiting.” Cate gave Jack a lopsided grin.
“What do you think?” Jack swung to Thomas Andrews.
He shook his head, his mouth turned down. “Might be different if they were already over the top of us. Then they could rig a depth charge to blow deep below us. We’d get buffeted, but a well-timed device could go off right in the thing’s snout.”
Cate groaned. “Yeah, well, if they were over the top of us, then they’d have us out of the water long before the thing arrived.” She sat back, feeling the familiar knot of anxiety begin to coil in her gut. “We’ll be on the surface for two minutes.”
Andrews sighed. “The Anastasia also has a deck-mounted gun, actually an Mk-38 25-millimeter machine-gun system – single-barrel, air-cooled, heavy machine gun. The thing is basically a military cannon. Its rounds could be effective up to twenty feet below the water, but …” He grimaced.
Jack snorted. “But they’re not here yet.” He opened the comms to Valery. “How’re you doing, my friend?”
“Just counting down the seconds, and the feet, comrade.” Mironov laughed softly and warmly. “You made contact with Sonya?”
“We did, they’re not far away. Sonya asked about you.” Jack chuckled. “She worries about you; can’t imagine why.”
“Good, and I hope …” Mironov began, but then sounded like he needed to swallow. When he went on, his voice sounded more controlled. “I look forward to seeing her again.”
“Soon,” Jack responded. “But, I’m afraid I’ve got some good news and also bad news.”
“Not unexpected, Jack. Good news first, please.”
Cate thought Mironov still sounded way too calm.
“Good news is, we’ll breach the surface in under seven minutes.” Jack’s lips compressed into a thin line.
“And?” Mironov asked.
“The bad news is, so will the shark.” Jack closed his eyes.
“I see,” Mironov said. “And the Anastasia?”
“They’ll be there in nine minutes. So we’ll be topside for 120 seconds, solo, with the Megalodon.” Jack turned to Brenner. “Can we link Sonya into the ADS comm. system?”
“No. But if we leave both comms open they should be able to talk.” Brenner rose and flicked some switches.
“Sonya, you there?” Jack asked.
“Yes. You get to the surface, I’ll blow that thing back to hell,” she seethed.
“That’s the spirit, my girl.” Valery chuckled.
“Valery Konstantin Mironov, this is the last trip you take without me.” Sonya’s voice was sharp.
Valery chuckled again. “Perhaps. But right now, you being up there fills me with hope, and gives me something to look forward to.” He exhaled. “You were always my morning sunshine.”
There was a small choking sound from Sonya’s link, and Mironov filled the silence.
“You are my strong right arm. Be ready.”
“Eternally.” She sniffed wetly. “Fool.”
“I know.” Mironov motioned for them to cut the link to the surface. He cleared his throat. “I have the ADS propulsion on full speed, and can’t get any more acceleration from it. In fact, I’m burning up the energy levels and will probably just be a floating hunk of titanium steel before we even surface.”
Jack and Cate waited, and together they plus Brenner and Andrews stared at the man-shaped figure clinging to the side of their submersible. Cate couldn’t imagine what it must have been like – she felt scared out of her wits, and she was inside the pod. What could it feel like to know that the monster from the abyss was hurtling up toward them, and you were outside?
She shivered. “We’re so close,” she said.
“And soon my jets will cease functioning. That means we’ll all slow, doubly so, as I turn from being the one pushing you, to the one acting like a sea anchor.” Mironov sounded beyond weary.
They sat in silence for a moment, and then they saw the man-shaped figure slowly turn to face them. Thankfully no one could make out his expression, or he theirs.
“Don’t worry, darkest before the dawn and all that.” Mironov’s voice brightened. “Think of it this way, we’ve had all the luck, except for one thing. So, considering we only have one problem to deal with, we can just focus on solving that.”
Jack scoffed quietly. “Oka-aaay, sort of makes sense. At least as a focusing exercise.”
“So,” Mironov conti
nued, “our problem is still time. And our solution is to speed up the rate of our ascent, or speed up the rate of the Anastasia’s arrival. Or we slow down the interception with our adversary. Choose one.”
“Well, we can’t do anything about the Anastasia. And I’m sure Sonya will be working on that,” Cate said. “But we could possibly lighten the load, and increase our buoyancy. That’ll assist rate of ascent.”
“Good. What can we eject?” Mironov asked.
“Spare oxygen tanks,” Andrews said. “They’re external, so we can release them from in here. Means we’ll only have the cabin oxygen, but that’ll last until we breach the surface. And if we have to stay down longer, well, we just won’t need them anyway.”
“Because we’ll be eaten.” Brenner giggled, and then put his fist over his mouth as if he’d belched.
“I like it. What else?” Jack asked.
Andrews frowned, his mind working. Gradually, he began to shake his head. “There’s nothing more really. This is just the pod; it’s already scaled down.”
“Okay, get rid of the tanks, now.” Jack turned as Andrews scuttled back to release the external tanks. They heard metallic whining, and a few clunks.
“Two tanks away,” Andrews said over his shoulder.
Jack checked their rate of ascent. “Hard to tell if it made a difference.”
“Every bit helps,” Cate said.
Jack turned to face her, but addressed everyone in the cabin. “We need to plan for once we’re on the surface. And let Sam and Andy know.”
“I’m not getting in the water.” Cate rubbed her face. “We should stay in the pod.”
“There’re no rubber rafts. Only a few buoyancy vests,” Brenner whispered, looking pale.
“We’ll hand them out when we get close,” Jack said.
“No, not me.” Cate shook her head.
“Cate, this shark will attack the biggest objects first; that’s going to be the pods. It’ll drag us down, and most likely destroy the hull integrity in seconds.”
“I know; we’ll drown.” She didn’t look at him. “And that’s what I choose. I’m not getting in the water.”
“Okay, me neither,” Brenner said.
“Yes, we will. We all will.” Valery Mironov’s forceful voice rose from the comm. system. “Jack is right; the shark will be defending its territory, so it will attack the largest threats it can find. It only needs to be occupied for two minutes, remember? Just 120 seconds is all we’ll need. Once Sonya is close enough, she can drive it off.”
“So we want it to attack the submersible while we’re all somewhere else,” Jack said. “Anything that can float, we throw out onto the surface. We all spread out, provide small targets. Forget the buoyancy vests, we toss them out too, and let them become part of the general surface white noise.” He reached forward to take Cate’s hand. “Like Valery said; we only need to keep the shark occupied for 120 seconds.”
Brenner shook his head and spoke through clamped teeth. “But it’s not just an ordinary shark, is it? It moves faster, sees better—”
Jack swung at him, his eyes blazing. “That’s not going to help! I suggest you work with us in planning to stay alive. Got it?”
The young man nodded and closed his eyes tight for a moment. “Yep, yep, sorry. I can’t help it.” His eyes bulged open. “Because I’m fucking scared, okay?”
“We all are. Just … hold it together.” Jack turned back to Cate. “Because we’re all scared.”
“One hundred and twenty seconds,” she repeated. “I’ve had hiccups longer than that.” She tried to smile, but her lips felt like cold rubber.
“So we spread out,” Thomas Andrews said, looking out through the window at Valery, who still hung off the side of their submersibles.
“Agreed,” Jack said. “It can’t get all of us.”
Cate grimaced. “Can we at least not do that, please? Can we, you and me, stay together?”
“You will make yourselves a bigger target,” Valery said softly.
Jack grabbed her and pulled her in close. “Then that’s what we’ll be.” He squeezed her hand, and then sighed. “Priority one, when we’re on the surface, if our big friend is still coming up, we need to get as far away from the submersibles as we can.” He leaned toward the comms. “Sam, are you getting all this?”
Cate turned to look through their glass and into Sam’s even smaller bubble world. The pair of young Alvin submariners looked like a pair of watery apparitions. Sam Britt sat and just stared back for several seconds. Cate was about to ask the question again, but the woman slowly got out of her seat.
“We watched the monster attack the navy bathyscaphe. It destroyed it in seconds. That submersible was bigger and stronger than both our pods combined.” Sam fell back into her chair.
Over the watery distance, Cate saw the fear in her face. And even though she personally was frightened out of her wits, it made her want to be brave, just for the young woman who she had known for years.
“Hey Sam, I agree – what’s to like, right?” She hiked her shoulders. “But I think it’s our only chance.”
Cate stared back into the woman’s eyes. After another moment, Sam nodded, once.
“I can’t think of an alternative. I wish I could.” She rubbed hands up over her face, and then pushed her hair back. “Once we breach, we’re going to swim in the direction of the Anastasia. And just hope the shark is occupied.”
“Yeah, us too,” Cate said.
“Just two minutes, huh?” Andy said, almost dreamily.
“Yes, maybe less,” Valery said. “And Mr. Brenner …”
There was silence for a few seconds as Brenner continued to stare at the floor, his mouth hanging open.
“Mr. Brenner,” Valery said more forcefully.
“Huh? Yes, sir.” Brenner snapped upright.
“What is our proximity to the surface, and our pursuer?”
Brenner leaned across Jack. “Surface now 1000 feet – under four minutes to breach.” He looked at the next screen. “Shark at 9230 feet and still coming fast. It will be on us almost as soon as we hit topside.” He grimaced.
Sonya blasted back into the cockpit. “Anastasia is moving at top speed, and expected to reach your position in six minutes. If that thing attacks the submersibles, then that’s where I’ll concentrate our fire.”
“So the good news is, it’s still only two minutes. And the bad news is, it’s still two minutes,” Valery said.
Jack checked his wristwatch and then looked out the windows. It remained dark beyond the glass. “It’s coming up to sundown now. So it will be twilight when we’re in the water.” He exhaled. “Prefer it to be midday, full sunshine, but …” He shrugged.
Cate chuckled. “I’d prefer to be home, on the wharf sipping beer in that sunshine.”
He grinned back at her. “I’m right there with you, beautiful.”
Clang!
The group froze.
Clang!
They crowded the window, and saw Valery moving to try and stop the noses of both submersibles banging together.
“We seem to have encountered another slight current,” he said.
Clang!
“Can you—” Cate began.
“Yes, yes, I know, wrong time to be making noise.” Valery sounded exasperated.
“Oh no.” Brenner’s voice was a squeak. “Jesus, not now.”
“What?” Jack spun to him.
“Mr. Mironov, the shark is accelerating. It’s increased its speed to forty-five knots.” He looked physically pained as his hands flew over the console. “It’ll be on us before we even make it to the surface … and we’re still 700 feet down.” He got to his feet, and started to hop around. “We’re dead, we’re dead.”
“Sit down.” Jack got to his feet, grabbed Brenner by the shirtfront and pushed him back into his seat. The young man just slumped.
“It heard us,” Cate breathed.
“Yeah.” Jack sat. “And it’s still to
o deep for us to leave the submersibles.”
“I’m launching some armed dinghies. They’ll be over you when you surface,” Sonya said. “You pop up, we grab you, and fly back to the Anastasia under my cover.”
“Yeah!” Brenner rejoiced.
“Sonya.” Valery’s voice was sharp. “You will belay that order. No boats are to be launched. I want no one else in the water. That’s an order.”
Cate hated the words – it meant Valery knew that being in the water was probably a death sentence.
“Shit, shit, shit.” Brenner banged his hand on the console. Every time he did, he left a wet mark from whatever was oozing out from under his bandage. “We need more time, just seconds will do.” He stood. “Fuck it; I’m taking my chances in the water.”
He turned to the hatch but Andrews blocked him. “Nah, think it best we all remain calm, just for a few more minutes.”
“Valery, I can—” Brenner began.
“No, Michael. It’ll be suicide, you know that. Calm yourself, son.” Mironov groaned. “Sonya, prepare the deck guns and the retrieval lines. Be ready for survivors. We can make it.”
“But—” Sonya began.
“No, drop it. All we need is more time. We’ll find it.” Valery’s voice grew soft. “My suit energy levels are near exhausted. The propulsion assistance is at an end. I’m actually beginning to slow you down now.”
Cate watched as he tilted his head back in the armored suit and looked up toward the surface once more.
“Time, my Sonya,” he whispered. “I’ll always remember my time … with you, my lyublyu.”
“And me with you, my love,” Sonya replied softly, but then as if she had been given an electric shock, she blasted back online. “What does that mean? Valery Konstantin Mironov, what are you going to do?”
Cate’s head whipped around just in time to see the Russian let go of the side of their submersibles, and drift downwards. He had turned on all the suit’s lights, and was like a glowing ball as he fell back into the darkness.
“Nooooo!” Cate screamed.
Brenner had his hands on each side of his head. “No, don’t leave us.”
“What happened, what did he do?” Sonya was becoming frantic. “Valery! Valery!” A long scream of futility and rage tore through the small cabin, and Cate put her hands over her ears as she tried to block it out. But she knew exactly what Sonya was feeling, as she could imagine Jack doing the same thing – Valery Mironov was sacrificing himself to give them all the few extra minutes that they needed … to live.