The Swarm

by Frank Schätzing

  Hurriedly he scanned the water. Anawak was beside him, but Delaware was nowhere to be seen.

  No answer.

  Fear gripped him. With a powerful kick, he dived down and swam towards the sluice.

  DELAWARE WAS HEADING in the wrong direction. A searing pain ran through her back and she felt as though she was suffocating. Suddenly she found herself back at the sluice. The two halves of the hatch had been ripped apart, but the steel flaps were closing. Beneath them the sea was ablaze with blue light.

  She turned on to her back.

  No!

  The Deepflight was falling towards her, pods open and bow first. It sank like a stone. She kicked with all her might. The boat was going to hit her. As she stared up, the articulated arms, folded neatly together, bore down towards her. She tried to speed through the water, long and thin like an otter, but it wasn't enough. The boat rammed into her torso and she felt her ribs break. Her mouth opened in a scream, and she swallowed more water. The vessel pushed her down into the sluice and out into the open water. The cold pierced her body. Through the fog of her consciousness, she saw the steel flaps hit the submersible with a dull thud. The Deepflight stopped sinking. It was trapped, but Delaware was still falling. She stretched out her arms to grab on to the vessel, but her strength was failing and her lungs were clogged.

  Please, she thought, I want to go back. I don't want to die.

  In the gap between the blocked hatch and the trapped submersible she saw a hazy image of Greywolf's face.

  A large dark shape approached from the side, jaws open, showing rows of conical teeth.

  The orca bit into her chest.

  She didn't see the glowing mass shoot past her. By the time it reached the sluice, Delaware was dead.

  PEAK BANGED HIS FIST down on the control panel. His attempt to close the sluice had failed. The Deepflight had jammed the steel plates. Either he opened the flaps entirely and lost the submersible, or he left them as they were and allowed God knows what to find its way into the vessel.

  Browning had disappeared and Roscovitz was hanging from the chain, legs dangling in the water, hands clutching at his throat.

  Where was the damned orca?

  'Sal,' Rubin whined.

  The water in the basin bubbled and frothed. The soldiers were rushing around with no clear objective. Greywolf had dived under water. Anawak was nowhere to be seen. And where had Delaware got to?

  Someone prodded him in the ribs.

  'For God's sake, Sal!' Rubin pushed him away from the controls. His hands danced over the keyboard, fingers jabbing at buttons. 'Why haven't you closed the bloody sluice?'

  'You stupid bastard!' Peak drew back his fist and landed a punch in the middle of Rubin's face. The biologist swayed and tumbled backwards into the pool, sending water spurting into the air. Through the shower of spray Peak saw the blade-like fin of an orca speed towards him.

  Rubin's head appeared above the waves. Now he saw the fin too. His splutters turned into a scream.

  Peak pushed the button to open the steel flaps and release the Deepflight into the sea.

  He was expecting the display to light up.

  Nothing happened.

  GREYWOLF THOUGHT HE was losing his mind. A pod of orcas was patrolling the water beneath the Independence. Seconds ago one had closed its jaws round Delaware and whisked her out of sight. Without stopping to consider, Greywolf swam towards the gap between the two steel plates, in time to see something hurtle towards him from below. Lightning and sparks flashed before his eyes and he was hit by a force like a giant fist that sent him reeling backwards. Everything turned upside down. For an instant he saw Anawak to his left, and then he was gone again. Legs flailed in the water. A body tumbled towards him. The white belly of an orca flashed past in the basin above. Finally he was looking down at the Deepflight trapped between the flaps.

  Watching as a thing pushed its way through the half-open hatch, towards the inside of the vessel.

  It was like a tentacle belonging to an enormous polyp, only there was no polyp on earth with a tentacle that size. It was three metres in diameter, too big for any living creature. Matter streamed up towards the well deck, racing out of the ocean in a never-ending column. As it left the sluice, the single muscle of jelly branched into slender tendrils, whose smooth surface glittered with patterns of light.

  RUBIN WAS SWIMMING FOR HIS LIFE.

  The fin chased after him. Coughing and spluttering he reached the jetty and tried to pull himself out of the basin, crazy with fear. His elbows gave way. He heard shots and sank back under the water to be confronted with an incredible sight. In a flash he realised that his wish had been fulfilled. The alien organism had entered the vessel, but under circumstances he hadn't foreseen.

  Glowing tentacles twisted through the water, thick as tree trunks.

  And the orca was between them, jaws agape.

  Rubin shot back up. Two legs were thrashing over the surface of the water, centimetres from his face. Roscovitz stared down at him through bulging eyes. He looked as though he was hanging on a gallows.

  A terrible gurgling noise spilled from his lips.

  Oh, God, thought Rubin. Dear God. The fin was almost upon him.

  The orca rose in a tower of spray, jaws wide open. Roscovitz's legs disappeared inside its mouth. The jaws clamped shut. For a moment the whale was suspended motionless above the water, then it dropped back.

  Blood trickled from Roscovitz's dangling torso, and Rubin found himself unable to turn away. He heard a long scream of terror, and slowly it dawned on him that he was the one who was screaming.

  He screamed and screamed.

  The fin reappeared.

  COMBAT INFORMATION CENTER

  Li couldn't believe her eyes. In a matter of seconds chaos had erupted on the well deck. She watched Peak sprint along the jetty. Soldiers were firing blindly into the water, and Roscovitz's mangled body dangled from above. 'Get me some sound,' she demanded.

  The next moment gunshots and screams echoed through the room. Everyone started talking at once, as the chaos on the well deck found its echo in the CIC. Feverishly Li considered what should be done. She'd send reinforcements, of course. This time with explosive projectiles. Why were the idiots firing standard ammunition?

  They had to wrest back control.

  She'd go down in person.

  Without a word she went into the adjacent room. The LFOC was the command centre for amphibious operations. From there they could flood the ballast tanks, pump out the water, and open the stern gate, in the event that the control desk in the well deck failed. Only the steel flaps couldn't be operated from the LFOC – another stupid oversight.

  'OK,' she said, to the shocked crew members in front of the screens. 'I want the ballast tanks in the stern pumped dry.' She thought for a moment. Was the sluice in the well deck open or closed? Would the water be able to run out? It was impossible to tell from the confusion on the monitors. Usually it was enough to raise the stern of the vessel and the artificial harbour would drain automatically, either through the open sluice or out of the stern gate into the sea. There was an emergency pump system, in case both were blocked. It took a little longer, but served the same purpose.

  Li gave the order for the pump to be activated, and ran back to the CIC.

  WELL DECK

  The steel flaps weren't responding. He didn't have time to wonder why. Breathing heavily Peak ran to one of the armaments lockers and pulled out a harpoon gun with an explosive charge. His men were firing indiscriminately into the water, while an enormous squid-like creature seemed to be forcing itself through the open sluice, writhing and snaking beneath the surface of the pool.

  From the corner of his eye Peak spotted Rubin hauling himself out of the water. He felt disgusted and relieved. He detested the man, but that was no excuse for knocking him into the water. Rubin's life had to be protected He still had a job to do.

  The fin moved away from the jetty. Anawak and Greywolf were some
distance away, swimming towards the other side of the pool. Glowing tentacles seemed to pursue them, but the jelly was everywhere, stretching out in all directions. The orca was definitely on their tail.

  He had to dispatch the beast before it killed anyone else.

  Suddenly Peak felt calm. Everything else could wait. The key thing was to finish off the lethal mass of flesh and teeth. He raised the harpoon gun and took aim.

  ANAWAK SAW THE Orca approaching. The water in the basin foamed and splashed – it seemed to have come alive, a moving, shimmering mass of blue, through which the orca swam purposefully towards him and Grey-wolf It rose to expel a jet of misty air, and its black head loomed into view. It was only metres away now. They'd never make it to the jetty; that much was clear. But they had to do something. When the orcas had attacked in Clayoquot Sound, Greywolf had arrived in the nick of time and saved them. Right now, their only chance was to out manoeuvre it.

  The orca dived.

  'Let it through!' he screamed at Greywolf.

  Not a very clear instruction, he thought. God knows if Jack will understand. But it was too late for explanations.

  Anawak took a gulp of air and sank beneath the surface.

  PEAK CURSED. The whale was gone and there was no sign of Greywolf or Anawak. He ran along the jetty, searching for the enormous body, but the basin had turned into a surreal underwater inferno, in which flashes of light, blurred shapes and jets of water blocked his view. Ahead one of the soldiers was firing at the serpentine creature in the pool, which was clearly having no effect.

  'Stop that!' Peak pushed the man in the direction of the console. 'Sound the alarm. Get the flaps open and get rid of the Deepflight.' His eyes scanned the water. 'Then close the goddamned sluice.'

  The soldier ran off.

  Peak walked up to the edge of the jetty and peered into the basin, the harpoon gun in his hands.

  AS SOON AS Anawak had ducked under water, the harsh noises of the deck had yielded to low hissings and rumblings. Greywolf was alongside him, treading water, bubbles streaming from his mouth. Anawak hadn't let go of his arm since he'd jerked him under water. He didn't know if his idea would work.

  Something surged towards them. It looked like a huge headless snake. Lines of light pulsated over the semi-transparent shimmering blue tissue. Hundreds of thin, whip-like tendrils extended from its body, sweeping over the floor of the pool. Suddenly Anawak realised that the creature was scanning its surroundings. The whips were registering every detail of the deck. As he watched, in horror and fascination, a fresh set grew out from the body and wriggled towards him.

  The open mouth of the orca loomed between them.

  Anawak felt a change come over him. One part of him shut itself off and calmly asked questions. How much of the aggressor was whale and how much was jelly? How would an orca behave, if it wasn't following its instincts but was in the grip of an alien consciousness? He had to see the orca as part of the luminescent jelly, not as an orca with normal orca reflexes. But maybe that was where their advantage lay. Perhaps they could confuse it.

  The orca shot towards them.

  Anawak dodged to one side, pushing Greywolf in the opposite direction. He saw Greywolf swim off- good, he'd understood the plan. The whale hurtled between them, startled by the sudden division of its prey.

  They'd gained a few seconds.

  Without stopping to look for the orca, Anawak swam into the forest of tentacles.

  RUBIN WAS CRAWLING along the jetty on all fours, gasping for breath. The soldier leaped over him and hurried to the control desk. He glanced at the display panels, got his bearings, and pressed the button to open the steel hatch.

  The system was jammed.

  Like all the other members of his squad, the soldier had been trained to operate the control systems on the vessel, and knew exactly how they worked. An image of Browning, body sprawled over the panel, was etched in his mind. He bent down and peered at the button. It was stuck, pushed down to one side. It wouldn't take much to fix. He jabbed at it with his gun.

  ANAWAK WAS FLOATING through an alien world.

  Veils of tendrils surrounded him. He wasn't sure whether it had been a good idea to swim into the living jungle, but there was no point in worrying about it now. The jelly might react aggressively, or it might not. It might be toxic – in which case it would kill them all anyway.

  The glowing tendrils arced in his direction. The whole basin seemed to be moving. Anawak was tossed from side to side. The web tightened, and he felt one of the whips stroking his face. He pushed it away. More twisted towards him, feeling their way over his head and body. Throbbing, buzzing noises filled his ears, and his lungs ached. If he didn't make it to the surface soon, his attempts to fend off the jelly would be in vain.

  He reached into the tendrils with both hands and tore them apart. The organism was like a strong, highly flexible muscle, and it never stopped moving or changing shape. Tentacles that had wrapped themselves round him fell away, withdrawing and merging with the main trunk, which immediately started budding new ones.

  He had to get out of there.

  A sleek, elegant body darted forward.

  He saw a smiling face: one of the dolphin fleet. Without hesitation Anawak held on to its dorsal fin. The dolphin continued at high speed, shooting out of the mass of tentacles and pulling him with it. Suddenly the view cleared. He clung to the dolphin and saw the orca approaching from the side. The dolphin shot upwards as the enormous jaws snapped shut behind them, missing by a hair's breadth. They rose through the surface, on course for the embankment.

  THE SOLDIER PRESSED THE BUTTON.

  The repair job had been carried out crudely, but it had worked. The steel flaps swung open, releasing the submersible. It continued on its downward path, dropping past the jelly that was surging through the sluice. Noiselessly it fell out of the vessel and disappeared into the depths of the ocean.

  For a fraction of a second the soldier wondered whether it wouldn't be better to leave the flaps open, but he'd been instructed to close them, so he did. This time there was no submersible to get in the way. The flaps, driven by a powerful motor, cut into the vast trunk of the organism.

  PEAK RAISED HIS gun hurriedly. He'd caught sight of Anawak. For a moment it had seemed that the orca had caught him, but then he'd reappeared above the water and the whale had sped across the pool. The soldiers were firing at the black back. The orca sank beneath the surface.

  Had they hit it?

  'Hatch is closing,' shouted the soldier from the controls.

  Peak raised his hand in acknowledgement, then set off along the jetty. His eyes scanned the far side of the basin. Bullets could do nothing to harm the squid-like creature, and firing explosives at it seemed too risky. There were people in the pool.

  GREYWOLF HAD COPIED Anawak's example, and swum into the tentacles. His arms powered through the water as he summoned all his energy and sped towards the side. After a few metres the main trunk of the jelly blocked his path and he had to turn round. He'd lost all sense of direction.

  Tentacles wrapped themselves round him, encircling his shoulders. Greywolf felt sickened. He couldn't think any more. The images of Delaware's death played before his eyes in a never-ending loop of film. Ripping the tendrils away from his body, he tried to escape.

  Suddenly he found himself back at the sluice. The submersible had vanished. He watched as the flaps closed, cutting into the jelly and slicing through its trunk. There was no mistaking the organism's reaction: it wasn't happy.

  A MOUNTAIN OF WATER shot up towards Peak as the orca surged out of the basin in front of him. Too surprised to feel afraid, Peak stared into its jaws. He staggered backwards, and at the same time the entire well deck seemed to blast apart. The organism was raging in the water. Enormous snakes of jelly raced up to the ceiling in wild spirals, slapping against the walls and sweeping along the jetty. Peak heard screams and shots from the soldiers, saw bodies flying through the air and into the basin. Then
his legs were knocked from under him, and he slammed down on to his back. The orca's body teetered towards him. Peak groaned, tightened his grip on the harpoon gun and was jerked into the water.

  He sank in a maelstrom of bubbles. A shimmering blue coating stuck to his legs. He stabbed at it with his gun, and the vice-like hold relented. Above him the orca splashed back into the pool. A violent pressure wave sent Peak reeling through the water. He saw the jaws of the whale spring open, less than a metre away. He thrust the harpoon gun into its mouth and fired.

  For a moment everything seemed to stop.

  A dull explosion sounded inside the orca's head. It wasn't especially loud, but it turned the world red. Peak was catapulted backwards in a mass of flesh and blood. He tumbled through the water, hit the side of the basin, and pulled himself on to the jetty in a single fluid movement. Wheezing, he crawled on his belly away from the side. There was blood everywhere, and red slime was mixed with fatty tissue and splinters of bone. Peak tried to stand up, but slid and fell. Pain shot through him. His left foot was twisted at an awkward angle, but he barely noticed.

  He stared incredulously at the scene unfolding around him.

  The organism seemed to have worked itself into a frenzy. There was a chaos of flailing tentacles. Shelving units collapsed, and equipment flew through the air. Only one soldier was visible, running along the jetty and firing into the water. Then a giant arm swept him into the pool. Peak ducked as a semi-transparent stem whipped over his head. It wasn't a snake and it wasn't a tentacle – it was like nothing he'd ever encountered. The tip of the stem changed shape in mid-flight, assuming the form of a fish, then sprouting a host of thread-like feelers that spiralled through the air. The basin seemed filled with vast animals. Dorsal fins loomed out of the water and collapsed. Misshapen heads appeared, lost their contours and slumped into a featureless mass that splashed into the water.