Relapse (Breakers Book 7)

by Edward W. Robertson

  The things were built for Swimmers. Not usable underwater, but fully waterproof. He blew the water from its blunt nose, pointed it skyward, and pressed the two trigger buttons.

  A blue needle shot into the sky. Steam boiled from its tip. He fired again. With his third shot, he aimed at the retreating pirates. He was probably out of laser range at that point, but it was no loss to try. Blue lines blared through the darkness as he flicked the laser on and off. A small orange fire bloomed from the frigate's rigging.

  From the top of the submarine, a second laser leapt toward the clouds. Ness mimicked it, shouting with all he had. The vessel's engines went quiet. Moments later, they resumed. The sub swung about. Ness laughed and paddled toward it.

  Tristan and Sam hauled him onboard. Though they were out of the pirates' rifle range (at least, as fired from the deck of a rolling ship), they moved into the safety of the tower.

  "How's the boat?" Ness said.

  "Dinged up," Tristan said. "Sebastian's not sure we can take it below the surface. How are you?"

  "As usual, fleeing in cowardice saves the day." He rubbed a towel down his torso. "What's the plan?"

  "Find good deeds to do that don't involve getting blown up by rockets?"

  "They only fired one," Sam said. She turned to eye the frigate. "Doubt they have another."

  Tristan muttered something to herself. "Let's skip the part where I explain why this is a bad idea and you all vote for it anyway. The enemy is armed, they know we're here, and we can't sneak up on them from below the surface. What's the plan?"

  "Easy," Ness said. "Sprite drives the sub up behind them. You and Sam pin them down from up here while Sebastian swims me up to the side. Then he and I board."

  Sam swept back a loose strand of black hair. "Could work. They're running a skeleton crew. With the sub at bay, they absolutely won't expect boarders."

  "There's only one problem with it," Tristan said. "I'm coming, too."

  Ness rubbed the towel over his head. "That only leaves one person to cover us from up top. Won't be enough."

  "And even with surprise on your side, two won't be enough to clear out the ship. This is all on Lionel's behalf, right? So bring him up here. Let him fight for his friends."

  "You want to give him a gun? How can you be sure you can trust him?"

  "You're already risking your life for him right now!"

  "I'll watch him," Sam said. "He moves funny, I'll put him down."

  A bullet ricocheted from the tower; a moment later, a rifle boomed in the night. Ness flinched. "Fine by me. I'll go tell the others."

  He climbed the tower and through the hatch to the spiral ramp into the sub's interior. After the calamity outside, the inside felt otherwordly serene. He jogged to the command room. There, Sebastian was entwined in the controls, Sprite looking over his shoulder.

  Ness explained the plan, speaking to Sprite and signing to Sebastian. "Well? You guys in or out?"

  "You kidding?" Sprite said. "I'd love to get behind the wheel. I've been practicing for months."

  "I know you have. Sebastian?"

  "PREPARE TO HOLD YOUR BREATH," the alien gestured. "WE BOARD"

  While Sebastian headed to the arms locker, Ness peeled off to medical. Lionel was sitting up in bed, alert and concerned.

  "Got a mission for you," Ness said. "Should you choose to accept it. We're putting together a boarding party. Need you and Sam to cover us."

  "Absolutely." He swung his feet from the bed. "Just tell me where to aim."

  While he dressed, the engines throttled up. Lionel laced his shoes and walked into the hall. He looked a little shaky and stiff, but he was moving all right. That was good enough for Ness.

  "Oh hey," Ness said. "Before we go any further, I ought to warn you: we got an alien on board."

  "An alien?" Lionel laughed. "Reckon we ought to take care of that before we go after the pirates, yeah?"

  "I'm not kidding. His name is Sebastian. He's a member of our crew."

  The other man drew up short, tossing a quick glance down the dim hall. "Are you pulling my leg?"

  "Where do you think we got this submarine, dude? Does this look human-navy standard to you?"

  Lionel allowed himself a longer look around, taking in the relatively wide hall, the damascened bulkheads, the tacky, slightly spongy floor. "You're serious, aren't you? My God, man, how do you know you can trust him?"

  "Because we been working together for the last six years." Ness laughed, the sound echoing down the tunnel. "Shoot, you think this is weird, you should have seen it when his friends were still around."

  "It's just… I mean, he's… what does he want?"

  "Don't worry, he's recanted the whole 'kill all humans' thing. We've put ourselves to work fighting the Swimmers who insist on continuing the war." Ness slapped the wall. "Are you good or not? We're in the middle of a fight here, remember?"

  "You're right. How about I piss myself about the alien after we've gotten my friends back?"

  Ness led the way to the ramp up top. Sebastian waited there. Lionel stared like he'd walked into a bathroom stall and found a tiger on the toilet, but to his vast credit, he didn't say a word.

  Sebastian handed Ness a rifle. Ness headed up the rubbery orange ramp, feet squeaking on its damp surface. As he exited into the night, an explosion roared across the sky.

  "The hell was that?" he said.

  "I think," Tristan said from behind the tower, "it was a cannon."

  Sam chattered into her walkie, alerting Sprite to the incoming fire. Ness hopped down. There, he handed Lionel the rifle.

  "Your friends," Ness said. "What are their names? What do they look like?"

  "Emma and Greg," Lionel said. "Emma's about yea high, redhead. Greg's about six foot, bit of a belly. Black fellow."

  As they spoke, Sam had set up beside the tower and was firing steadily on the frigate. Sprite had angled them closer and revved up the engines and they were gaining fast.

  "Got it," Ness said. "We'll do our best to bring them home safe."

  As soon as he shut his trap, another cannon thundered from the frigate. Ness pressed himself against the tower, wincing preemptively. The ball landed with a mighty splash far to starboard.

  A tentacle grabbed his arm. Sebastian's bulbous eyes gazed down at him. "TIME TO JUMP"

  Ness made sure his laser was buckled in its holster, then gave Sebastian the thumbs up. Together with Tristan, they vaulted off the side.

  Ness surfaced feeling more than a little sick of hopping in and out of the ocean. Before he had time to swab the salt water from his face, Sebastian grabbed hold of him in a nest of limbs and plowed forward, tentacles churning the water like muscly propellers.

  Their lasers had slashed up the frigate's rigging and the big ship was flagging. Despite the weight of Ness and Tristan, Sebastian rode high in the water, closing on the enemy vessel. Rifles popped from its decks, answered by Sam's steady cadence and Lionel's uncertain fire.

  Behind them, the sub heaved about, either to escape the cannon fire, to corral the frigate to make it easier for Sebastian to catch up with, or both. Spray misted Ness' eyes, but he did his best to keep watch on the frigate's railings. Now and then he spied a silhouette. Looked like Sam was right. Skeleton crew.

  The ship loomed closer. A cannon went off. The sound was so loud Ness bit his tongue. He plugged his ears. And then they were beside it, the ship bashing its way through the waves, tossing spray in his face, and the railings were so high up he didn't see how they'd ever climb aboard.

  Sebastian launched from the water. Half a dozen claws sank into the hull. Tentacles sailed upward like ropes, slapping against the boards. Sebastian bunched his body, then burst upward, clawing for purchase. His topmost tentacles slithered around the railing's posts.

  Ness' stomach lurched as he flew upwards, deposited over the top. He landed in a deep crouch. Tristan thumped down beside him. They were on the starboard side, opposite the sub. On the port side, two men worked
away on a cannon while two more fired rifles. So far, none had noticed the unauthorized arrivals.

  Sebastian rolled over the rails. He raised his sense-pods and signed, "KILL THOSE THERE I WATCH ABOVE"

  Ness glanced up. The air was a mess of quivering rigging and flapping sails. He nodded, got Tristan's attention, and gestured to the sailors at the railing.

  She held up her hand, fingers spread, and began a silent countdown. When she closed her hand into a fist, Ness started across the planks, reeling as the ship rolled.

  "The hell do they want?" said one of the men at the cannon, busy ramming a long pole into its mouth.

  A second man handed him a cloth sack. "Maybe they got a look at your pretty face and can't live without you."

  Tristan shot him in the back, the laser casting warped blue shadows over the deck. Ness opened fire, knocking down his partner. The two riflemen cried out and glanced up. Still jogging forward, Ness and Tristan slashed them down. Another laser flashed behind them. A man screamed, louder and louder, until his body thudded into the deck.

  At the top of the stairs to the aftercastle, a woman opened fire with a submachine gun. Bullets tore into the wood. Ness flung himself flat. Sebastian scuttled from the shadows and cut her down with a blue bolt.

  "YOU ARE WELCOME" he signed.

  Ness rolled his eyes. He gestured, "Cover us."

  He and Tristan ran up the steps to the aftercastle. It was clear, as was the wheel. Another laser flashed through the rigging. A body pitched into the ropes and hung there, suspended like a beetle in a web.

  The forecastle was empty, too. On the way back to the aft, a man wandered from one of the cabins. Ness was ready to take him captive, but Tristan shot him down.

  As she prepared to kick in a door, Ness pulled her aside. "How about you try not shooting one of them?"

  Tristan glanced over, not bothering to hide her annoyance. "Why? They're violent pirates."

  "And one of those violent pirates might be able to tell us things. Like why they attacked Lionel."

  "I think the answer to that is 'pirates.' But all right, we'll try it your way."

  They set up around the door. Tristan did another silent countdown. At zero, she booted in the door with a wooden crunch. Sebastian flowed past her. Inside, a lantern bobbed wildly, throwing wicked shadows across the cabin. A gun went off, deafening. Burnt powder and hot metal filled the room. Sebastian swept up a man and crushed his wrist in a claw. A pistol hit the floor. As the ship tossed, it skidded toward the wall.

  A redheaded woman and a brown-skinned man sat on the floor. Their hands were cuffed. A chain linked them to metal loops on the wall.

  "Emma?" Ness said. "Greg?"

  Emma tore her eyes away from the spectacle of Sebastian. "Who are you?"

  "We're friends of Lionel." Ness paused a moment to relish what he got to say next. "And we're here to rescue you."

  "Lionel's alive?"

  "He's waiting on our sub. We'll bring you over as soon as we're done here."

  "That's wonderful." Greg jerked his chin at Sebastian. "Now what the fuck is that?"

  "Our anti-pirate security system," Tristan said. "Are you okay? You're bleeding."

  Greg touched the wounds on his cheeks and forehead. "They got a bit rough with us. Think we're all right."

  Emma leaped toward the suspended pirate. She hit the limit of her chains and jerked to a stop. "What was that about, you son of a bitch? Killing our friends wasn't enough? You had to squeeze us for every last drop?"

  "Fuck you!" The man wriggled in Sebastian's grasp, clawing a hand at Emma. His accent was thick, Australian. "You think you have some kind of right to life? Tell that to the chickens you eat. Tell that to the old world we lost. We're all prey!"

  Emma yanked against her chains, arms bent behind her back. "Let me loose! I'll wring his neck till his eyes pop like corks!"

  The man laughed. "Go on, let her at me. No one insults Captain Steve."

  He kicked his legs, working his elbows to pry his forearms loose from the alien's crushing hold. Sebastian leaned forward, pulled off balance by the man's gyrations. As the alien's long, tapered head grew near, the man steeled his face and bashed his forehead into what passed for Sebastian's nose.

  Sebastian made a noise—a sort of goose-like honk Ness had never heard before—and hugged Captain Steve to his body, cocooning him in tentacles and claws. A hand escaped, threshing madly. Bones scraped and crunched. The pirate's breath left him in a whooshing groan.

  Sebastian hugged him tighter yet. The hand went limp, dangling at the elbow. The humans watched in shocked silence. Sebastian dropped the pirate to the ground, lifted a pointed foot, and stabbed it into the man's chest, spiking the wood flooring beneath. The body didn't so much as twitch.

  "Shit," Greg croaked. "Anybody who'll do that is a friend of mine, lomster or no."

  "What'd you call him?" Ness said. "A lomster?"

  "You know. Lobster-monsters. Aliens, man."

  "Huh? That's not even a good… double-word."

  "Portmanteau," Tristan said.

  Ness scrunched his brow. "Port-what?"

  "A combination of two other words. And you're right, it's awful. They don't even look like lobsters."

  Greg leaned back against the wall. "Well, what do you call them?"

  "Swimmers," Ness said.

  "Because they swim? Now that's inventive."

  "At least it's accurate!"

  "As vital as this debate is," Tristan said, "how about we get them loose and secure this place before someone sticks a cutlass through us?"

  They rifled through the dead captain's pockets until they found the handcuff keys. Freed, Emma and Greg watched them closely, especially Sebastian, but Ness didn't get bad vibes off them. They made a pass of the ship, but no one was left alive.

  While Sebastian wrestled with a lifeboat and Tristan kept watch on Lionel's friends, Ness made himself go on a sweep of the hold. To his considerable delight, he found a box of gold coins, rings, and teeth. He took one of the rings as a memento and put together a sack of gold. As far as he was concerned it was nothing but dead weight, but sometimes they ran into places that still used it as currency.

  The rest of the cargo was equally mundane: food, water, liquor, bales of shoes, copper pipes, a few solar panels, bins of laptops and DVD players. He tried a few of these, but none worked.

  Figuring they could poke around more later, he headed up top. Sebastian was waving at the sub as it maneuvered parallel to the drifting frigate. The rowboat stood ready. They lowered it to the water and climbed down. It was a quick row across.

  There, Sebastian slapped hold of the side of the sub, grabbing tight to the rowboat's cleats with his other tentacles. They climbed up the sub's sloped hull. Up top, Ness nodded at Sam. On seeing Emma and Greg, Lionel dropped his rifle, burst into tears, and embraced them.

  "I can't believe it," he said. "I thought I'd never see you again."

  "At least we were on a ship," Greg laughed. "How'd you make it out of the drink?"

  "Held tight to whatever I could grab onto." Lionel gestured to the others. "These fellows here pulled me out."

  "That's amazing," Emma said. She touched his arm, then glanced at the others. "I hate to bust up the group hug, but we've got to move fast. The men on the ship—they tortured us. I didn't hold out long. Lionel, I told them about Dr. Gohel. I'm so sorry."

  Lionel's face struggled with conflicting expressions. "No worries. You thought everything was over. I would have done the same."

  "No, Lionel, I told them everything. Including the penicillin. As soon as they heard he could make it, they radioed their friends on the mainland."

  "He makes penicillin?" Tristan said. "You told us you needed him to deliver your wife's baby."

  "I do!" Lionel said. "Without him, I don't think she'll make it."

  She took a step forward, shoe thudding on the hull. "But you want him for more than that, don't you? A man who can make fresh antibiotics is li
ke having an in-house god."

  "What does it matter? I'm here because this is where my wife needs me."

  "It matters because you lied to us."

  "How was I supposed to trust you? You pull me out of the water, but I don't know you from those fellows on the frigate over there. How did I know that if I told you about the penicillin, you wouldn't throw me overboard and go after the good doctor yourself?"

  "Because we're not bloodthirsty killers?" Tristan scoffed.

  "Please," Emma said. "I don't understand who you are or what's happening here. But we need to find Dr. Gohel before the pirates' friends get to him. Can you bring us in to shore?"

  "Of course we can," Ness said.

  Tristan turned on him. "Says who? Is there any line you won't bite down on?"

  "Says me. Because we're sure as shit not keeping them on the sub. The bathroom situation's screwed enough as it is."

  She shrank on herself, nodding. "You're right about that—they're certainly not staying."

  Ness gestured at the newcomers. "Let's get them belowdecks. Get the ship moving toward shore. We'll figure out the rest on the way."

  Sam jerked her chin toward the frigate. "What about that thing?"

  "It's just full of old junk."

  "They had cannons. Rifles. Your pew-pew guns might run on magical never-ending batteries, but our weapons need powder. Ammo."

  Ness wanted to get away from the derelict ship as soon as possible—and to get somewhere they could patch up the sub—but glancing between Sam and Tristan, he saw an opportunity. Wouldn't hurt to earn a little favor with Sam. As for Tristan, she was normally pretty reasonable, but she was in one of her moods. She could be the most stubborn person he'd known since Shawn. Especially when she felt she'd been wronged.

  "I'll go with you and check it out," he said. "But we need to be fast. For all we know, they radioed for backup during the fight."

  "I'll deal with these guys." Tristan nodded at Lionel and friends. "Let's get you down to medical."

  Ness explained to Sebastian. Along with Sam, the three of them returned to the frigate and made a more thorough search of its holds. Sam homed right in on the arms locker, which had enough guns and ammo to outfit a brigade. She picked through it quickly. They loaded up the lifeboat and got back to the sub.