Orbs II: Stranded

by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

  Something was swimming beyond the beams of the bow, something . . .

  Blue. Alex wanted to turn away, but he forced himself to look.

  Had the Organics found them?

  “Someone get me eyes on that thing!” Noble shouted.

  “Contacts are everywhere,” announced a startled voice.

  A tail whipped past the camera and vanished into the black depths.

  “What the fuck . . .” Noble whispered.

  Seconds later the entire screen lit up with the bioluminescent glow of hundreds of tails of slithering, snakelike creatures. They hit the side of the GOA like mini-torpedoes, sending multiple vibrations through the hull of the sub. The cabin shook as the creatures continued their assault. Alex could hear their claws raking across the hull. The screeching sound of metal drowned out the frantic voices of the NTC crew.

  “What are those things?” Noble shouted. “I want a report ASAP.”

  “Sir,” a skinny African-American officer said. “There’s hundreds of them. They look like some species of Organics.”

  Another series of tremors sent the captain tumbling to the floor. Trish quickly helped him up.

  “Damage report,” Noble yelled.

  “Sir, they aren’t getting through our hull. This sub is made of titanium,” Irene said over the com.

  Another blue tail raced by the screen, and then another. The feed became a blur of bodies as they swam past the camera. Alex gasped when one of the creatures circled back around. The thing looked toward the camera with its triangular head. At least, Alex thought it did. The alien had no face. No eyes, no mouth—just a head with a large sharp fin sticking out of the top.

  Alex’s heart thumped in his chest. It was one of the ugliest things he had ever seen.

  “What in the hell . . .” Noble said, grabbing the table next to him for balance. “Weapons systems go green! Light those fucking things up! I want . . .”

  The captain’s words became a slur as Alex watched the creature straighten out. The alien flapped two pelvic fins to hover in the water. It had no eyes but it seemed as if the alien could sense the camera, as if it knew it was being watched.

  Alex continued to stare at the snakelike Organic with grim fascination. In the blink of an eye, the monster’s entire midsection ripped open, revealing a chest full of sharp teeth. It darted to the side and disappeared in a cloud of bubbles.

  “Sir, Captain Quan is hailing us,” the communications officer yelled from the front of the room.

  “Patch him through!”

  “Sir, he’s saying the X-9 has been compromised. Those things are inside his ship!”

  Alex thought of Lin and the other NTC officers aboard the sub. He could visualize the creatures slithering through the corridors, wrapping around a person and devouring them.

  The captain walked closer to the screen, his eyes growing wider with disbelief. “How the hell did they get on his sub?”

  “More than likely through the torpedo slots,” Irene responded. Her hologram appeared on the console nearest the captain’s station. “I’ve completely sealed off GOA. It is unlikely they will be able to get in, but I highly recommend changing course.”

  “I’m not leaving the X-9,” Noble said.

  First Officer Le abruptly popped up from his station. His chest swelled beneath his tight uniform.

  “Sir, another message is coming through from their sub . . . give me a second,” Trish said. “He is sending us coordinates. Looks like a rendezvous point.”

  Captain Noble looked at the ground and then glanced over at Le. The man remained silent and slowly sat back down in his chair.

  “Tell him we will be waiting. Tell him . . .” Noble looked over at Le one more time, but the man was now hidden by a row of blue screens. Noble didn’t finish his sentence. He simply continued to stare at the screen in disbelief.

  Alex’s heart thumped harder in his chest. He knew exactly what the new aliens meant. The Spiders might not have followed him into the ocean days before, but their snakelike friends somehow had.

  The vessel turned again, and an image of the Chinese vessel bled onto the screen. Attached to its hull were hundreds of aliens, all scraping and scratching to get inside.

  CHAPTER 24

  SERGEANT Overton walked into the med ward with a scowl on his face. The look did not flatter him. The scars on his face wrinkled, forming deep lines on his cheeks. Sophie was in the middle of buttoning up her top and acknowledged him with a nod, trying to avoid eye contact when she saw the coffee mug in his hand shaking. She braced herself for what was to come—he was pissed, again.

  “You guys done?” asked Overton. “We have some business to attend to.”

  “What do you need?” Sophie asked, still not looking at him.

  “Remember the civvie from the other Biosphere? Alex Wagner?”

  “Yes, we haven’t heard from him for some time now,” Emanuel said, his face flushed with embarrassment.

  “No shit. I checked the radio today, and the channel is dead. Not sure when it went offline, but it completely vanished.”

  Sophie finally glanced at Overton. His blue eyes were hard again, filled with that same hopeless darkness.

  “I’m sorry,” she finally managed to say. She had wanted to save Alex, but what could she do? He was in California, and with Organics swarming the country, he might as well have been on Mars.

  “It was just a matter of time.” Overton put his foot up on one of the chairs and looked straight at Emanuel. “How’s it going with the weapon?”

  The biologist stuttered. “I-I’m working on it.”

  “Well, when’s it going to be fully online? When can we deploy it over a larger area?” Overton asked, leaning closer to Emanuel.

  Sophie inserted herself between the two men. She stood directly in front of Overton, close enough that she could smell his breath. It stank of cigarettes and coffee.

  “We talked about this less than twenty-four hours ago. And I don’t want to rush Emanuel.”

  Overton gritted his teeth. “So you guys can screw while the rest of us are out here busting our asses? Is that how it works, Sophie?”

  She gasped. “So you’re spying on us now?”

  Overton took his foot off the chair and hurled an angry look at Sophie and Emanuel. “Get the RVAMP online—if you can keep it in your pants long enough, that is.” Then he stormed out of the room.

  Sophie listened to the glass door slide shut and cupped her face in her hands. “Seriously, that man is starting to really get on my nerves.”

  “He has a point though, Sophie. We were wasting time.”

  “Wasting time? Are you serious?” she said, finishing the last button on her shirt before heading for the door.

  “I didn’t mean it like that,” Emanuel yelled after her.

  Sophie stopped at the edge of the table where the RVAMP lay in pieces. She slid her hand over the weapon’s smooth exterior. It was fascinating that a metal box with such simple components could protect them from an advanced alien race. But then again, nothing really surprised her anymore.

  “I’m sorry, Sophie. I didn’t mean . . .”

  “Forget about it. It doesn’t matter. Let’s just get to work on the device.”

  “All right,” Emanuel said in a hushed tone. “Alexia, I need you to find a way to increase the wavelength. It has to travel over a longer distance without draining the battery.”

  Sophie watched as Emanuel sat down in front of one of the blue screens and slid his fingers over the monitor. The display glowed to life with the image of a 3D topographical map.

  When she was a kid, she used to hike in the Rocky Mountains with her father, not too far from Cheyenne Mountain. He had taught her to use a topo map, so she knew vaguely what she was looking at. Seeing the lakes and streams, however, put a knot in her stomach. Th
e 3-D image depicted the landscape around Colorado Springs before the invasion. Things were very different now.

  “The mountains are going to be a huge problem,” Emanuel said.

  “Actually, they could probably work to our advantage,” Sophie said thoughtfully. She pointed at one of the taller mountains. “The higher we broadcast the signal, the less interference and the better the range we’ll get.”

  Emanuel ran his hands through his thick mop of hair. “You’re absolutely right,” he said. “But how the hell are we supposed to get it on top of a mountain?”

  “I’ll do it.”

  Sophie cringed. The sergeant was back. She took a deep breath before turning to face him.

  “Forgot my mug,” he said shrugging. He swiped the coffee cup from the metal table, propped his right boot up on the chair and took a long swig.

  “Have a seat and listen,” Emanuel said.

  Overton ignored him and remained standing.

  Sophie wasn’t sure she wanted Overton to hear how close they were to a solution. “In theory, the higher up the weapon is, the more effective the range will be. But even if it works, it still won’t affect the advanced Organics. Their ships are still too far away. Setting the weapon off now could draw attention to the Biosphere. We’d be putting everyone at risk.”

  “Kind of like what happens when you disturb a hornet’s nest,” Emanuel interjected. “I agree with Sophie; we should expect swift retaliation by the mother ships.”

  Overton crossed his arms. “I don’t think you two are seeing things clearly. You’ve both been outside. You’ve both seen what we’re up against. Now that we know there are survivors, we have a duty to help them.”

  “We’ve been through this, Overton. Emanuel has to get the device to work on a much larger scale before I agree to send anyone out there,” Sophie said. Her voice was beginning to get louder, more agitated. “I’m not going to tell you again.”

  Overton took his foot off the chair. “Alexia, if I get this device to the highest point on the mountain, how far will the blast radius carry?”

  “One moment, Sergeant Overton.”

  Sophie held her breath. If Alexia gave Overton the ammo he needed, there would be no stopping him.

  Two seconds later the AI’s avatar emerged over the console in the middle of the room. “My calculations would put the range at approximately fifteen square miles.”

  Overton unfolded his arms and clapped his hands together. With a laugh he said, “That’s good enough for me.”

  Sophie sighed; she was out of options. She could feel Overton’s eyes burning into her back, waiting for an answer. She caught Emanuel’s gaze, but he just shrugged and fidgeted with his glasses.

  “Okay, here’s how this is going to work. I am going to have Alexia deploy our last bot to survey the route to the lakebed. I don’t want any surprises. In addition, I want you to give me a briefing on your weapon situation—how much ammo, how many guns, etc. Lastly, I want a plan to extract the survivors. We won’t have room for many. And we don’t know what will happen if we remove them from the poles.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Overton said, gesturing with a haphazard salute.

  Sophie smiled. He hadn’t heard her last request yet. “One more thing, Sergeant.”

  Overton narrowed his eyes.

  “That direct route we’re taking? It’s going to be mostly underground. We’re taking the subway.”

  “We?” Emanuel shouted.

  “Subway?” Overton yelled.

  Sophie’s face remained stern. “You heard me.”

  Both men stared at her in disbelief.

  “But Sophie, you’re still not fully healed from the injury you got last time you went out . . .” Emanuel began to say.

  “I’m fine,” she lied.

  Overton grunted. He began to open his mouth but opted to remain silent.

  “Alexia, prepare the bot,” Sophie said as she walked out of the room.

  * * *

  “That’s it? That’s all the ammo we have?”

  Bouma followed Kiel’s gaze across the table. There were only three pulse magazines, a handful of regular grenades, and a dozen rounds for the weapons Jeff and David had brought with them.

  Kiel chuckled nervously. “So we’re going back out there with one mag each?”

  “You’ll go where you’re ordered with the weapons I order you to go with. Last I checked, I’m still breathing. And until I am killed or incapacitated, you will not question orders,” barked Overton.

  “This is insane,” Kiel muttered. He took a step back from the table.

  “What was that?” Overton asked, cocking an eye at the smaller marine.

  Kiel forced the most respectful voice he could conjure. “I said okay.”

  Overton studied the smaller marine. God, it was good to have him back, but the kid was already starting to annoy him. He didn’t need anyone questioning his orders. Especially now, when so much was at stake.

  “Why do you think Doctor Winston wants to take the subway?” Bouma asked, shuffling through his gear bag.

  Overton shrugged. “Don’t ask. I don’t know why she has a hard-on for the underground. When we took the tunnels under Denver Airport, we still ran into those things. Is it safer strategically? I’d say flip a coin.” He stopped to look at one of the maps. “Shit!” he yelled, pounding his fist on the table. “None of these are current.”

  Hunching over the table, Overton folded the maps and tucked them into his pocket. He grabbed a tablet instead. The last thing he wanted to do was rely on bad intel.

  “Hey, Alexia,” Overton shouted. “I need you to upload the current maps you have for Colorado Springs to my tablet.”

  “One moment, sir.” Her avatar appeared a second later. “Task completed. I have uploaded a route from the subway to the lakebed to your HUD. I should add that you will have to drive six point two miles to get to the entrance of the subway.”

  “What’s the plan?” came a voice from behind them.

  Overton closed his eyes. He should have known Jeff would want to tag along. He turned to see the young boy standing next to David in the entrance to the kitchen. David was chomping on a carrot.

  “The plan is that you are staying put.”

  “Like heck I am,” Jeff said. “I can fight just as good as any of you.”

  Kiel laughed, but Overton remained stern. “Look, kid, I know you held your own out there, but Kiel and Bouma already have to drag Sophie along with them, and I have to haul this thing up a freaking mountain. Nobody has time to babysit on this mission.”

  “I can take the device,” said Kiel.

  Overton grew silent. He hadn’t even considered letting the younger marine do it. But why not?

  Kiel’s voice grew louder and more excited. “I’m the fastest of the group. And I took climbing lessons after high school, right before I joined the marines.”

  Overton nodded. “Yeah, I remember. I read your report.”

  “So you know I’m our best shot.”

  Overton didn’t like the idea of giving someone else that kind of responsibility. He didn’t exactly trust Kiel, but then again, he knew the younger marine was right. He was the fastest and most agile of the team, and Overton’s shoulder still hadn’t healed since the first excursion into Colorado Springs.

  “Fine,” Overton snorted. “Emanuel, get Kiel fitted to the RVAMP.”

  Kiel grinned. “Really?”

  “Yeah, so don’t make me regret this,” Overton replied.

  Kiel smiled. “Don’t worry, I won’t let you down.”

  Overton had heard those words many times before, mostly from men and women who had died in battle. Young marines thought they were invincible, but they were no match for pulse rounds, bombs, and the weapons of war. No, the young ones always ended up cannon fodder.

&n
bsp; CHAPTER 25

  ENTRY 3410

  DESIGNEE: AI ALEXIA

  FORTY-EIGHT hours have passed since I last ran the odds of the team’s survival. The internal program I use to run diagnostics on the Biosphere is one of the most sophisticated in the world. It does not have the capability to learn, as I do, but it can solve the most difficult of equations long before a mathematician could finish reading the problem.

  Camera 15 picks up Overton, Bouma, and Kiel as they prepare to go back outside. I activate the program and it goes to work, collecting data ranging from the level of stress each team member is displaying to the ammunition the marines have at their disposal. Anything and everything is included.

  Two point four seconds later it spits out a new reading. Eight point one percent chance of survival. The lowest in the past six weeks.

  The question now is whether I tell Dr. Winston or Sergeant Overton about the new data. Neither of them has taken much interest in the statistics before. And while Dr. Winston has certainly accepted my advice in the past, I don’t think this information will help her at this point. Overton would likely laugh it off as he does everything else.

  Camera 16 captures an image of the sergeant slamming his hand down on the table again. Another number rolls across the bottom of the screen.

  Survival Odds: 7.9 percent.

  I keep the data to myself and log it into the database. A graph shows the survival odds of the team over the past six weeks; it continues to decline. In entry 1892, I confirmed this. However, much has changed since then. With the team going outside once again, I consider what this means for the fate of the human race.

  Camera 31 shows Dr. Brown presenting another educational lesson to the children in the command center. The action continues to perplex me. The human race is quite irrational when faced with overwhelming odds. Why does she continue to teach the children if they will likely never grow up to utilize any of their education?

  I cannot help but consider one of my favorite quotes. Dale Carnegie said, “When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.”