Battle On The Marathon

by John Thornton

  Sylvia then explained. “We had recordings of orca songs we brought up from the station. We have been analyzing them and monitoring what is now happening.”

  “Your monster?” I asked. “Not a submarine? A mutation or freak?”

  “They are called Jellies, but are not mutations or freaks of nature.” She looked at me with a bit more admiration. “It was named by the orcas after they encountered them. Of course, that was in the orca’s songs, and not our language. Jellie is our language’s word, translated from the orca’s language. Those poor, but noble mammals. They tried to save us all.”

  “Now, I am lost again,” I said. “Sorry, but what are you talking about?”

  “The orcas are extinct here in Foreigner. All due to an invasive species, the Jellies,” Sylvia responded. “The orcas tried to talk to the Jellies, and that is how we learned about them. Cetacea—aquatic mammals, and their associated species like squids—all types conversed about this threat, and we have the recordings of those interspecies conferences. At first I thought it might a rogue or mutant, or even the submarine metaphor. To use ancient terms some kind of Tiamat, a Rahav, or a Leviathan. However, that was incomplete. Reality here is far worse. What we called a monster, we now know are a species, a race, a threat, an aggressive predator.”

  Earle joined in, “Cyanea capillata were the first to be exterminated. Oh, let me see, you would not know that name,” his condescending manner was toned down, but not gone. “Jellyfish. A natural jellyfish, also known as the giant jellyfish, lion’s mane jellyfish, or the hair jelly, is, well, it was, the largest species of jellyfish on the Marathon. The orcas said that they were targeted first and thus the mass murders began. Unberufen! Then the orcas tried to negotiate and dialog with these invaders, the Jellies. The Jellies are cruel and vicious, schadenfreude extreme! Now, all the great whales are gone, along with squids, octopus, sharks, and countless others. The water is growing more and more toxic, to natural life.”

  I rubbed the scar on my forehead and eyebrow, which I still did not remember getting, but it was there. “So, some monster, you call it the Jellie, is killing all the marine life?”

  “Buffoon, oh, I just…” Earle sputtered, but stopped as Kulm glared at him.

  “Kalju,” Kulm said as he put a hand on my elbow. “Not a solitary monster, a species. Kal, they are not from Earth. The Jellies are some kind of alien life form.”

  I almost laughed, but could see how serious he was.

  “Jellies?” I finally said. “Alien life, called Jellies?”

  Earle answered, gesturing at his conservation slate. “Yes, the orcas called them that, well an equivalent name, in whale song. I am still not exactly sure why the orcas chose that name, but it is what we call those invaders.”

  “Who knows this?” I muttered.

  Kulm reported, after again glaring at the oceanographers who were starting to answer. “I have told all the remaining militia, and we have reported it to IAM Lenore. IAM, is Insulated Artificial Mind, or Integrated Assault Manager, or Isolated Accumulated Memories, I have seen it various ways in the limited interactions we are allowed. It calls itself Lenore.”

  “Not a system I remember, but I have heard the name, I think. What am I forgetting now?” I asked.

  “Right,” Kulm slapped my shoulder and smiled. “We heard it in that brief contact we had with the MDF, oh, right, the Marathon Defense Force. Lenore is a military artificial intelligence system, supposed to be secondary to the lattice of compeers, but we have not been able to contact any of the lattice systems. The nonphysicality is not as it should be. Only Lenore, and only through this military transceiver.”

  “Defenses? Operation Barnacle?” I asked. Fragments were coming back to me, but more like frozen single images, than fully connected memories in context.

  “I asked Lenore about Operation Barnacle, once. That was all it took. We in the militia are not authorized to even know about Operation Barnacle, but from how snappish Lenore was, and how messed up Foreigner is now, I think Operation Barnacle fouled up beyond all recovery. But maybe I am wrong?” Kulm shrugged his shoulders.

  Earle interjected, “That IAM Lenore has been given all my findings, but gives me no feedback. None! It is outrageous! Dealing with incompetence at every turn. I just know my system will allow us to communicate with those Jellies, and we can eavesdrop on them. Inside knowledge about the enemy could be essential in any battle. Am I right?”

  “Right, you keep saying that, but how?” Kulm said.

  “The translator we made is functional. With the hydrophones, we can hear anything those Jellies are saying, anywhere in Foreigner. It is a very low frequency and it travels a long distance in the water,” Sylvia said. “By using our translator, we can also locate where in the sea the Jellies are. Although, we cannot know what they are doing in the reservoir, down under the sea.”

  “Wait! You are saying an alien species is in Foreigner’s sea, and in the reservoir as well?” I was astounded. “A violent, murderous alien species? Jellies?”

  “Kalju, that is what they said, and all the facts point to that. That thing in the water which battled the boat. That was a Jellie,” Kulm said. “But that is about all we know. Lenore does not give us informational responses about the Jellies. I keep getting a reply that say, ‘Data is being collated,’ and the talk that these two translate does not give us a self-portrait, except that they are killing everything in the sea, and poisoning the reservoir. The Jellies are who put that toxic gunk in the corridors.”

  I rubbed my temples, and again felt along the scar on my eyebrow. “Is this just part of my head injury? Or a delusion?”

  “No. I wish it were,” Kulm responded. “Now for the bad news.”

  “There is bad news? How can things be worse?” I asked.

  “Our fresh water supply, which comes up in that peaceful spring at the center of the island and runs down that brook to the sea. It is starting to show traces of toxins. But we do have a plan for that.”

  “Another boat?” My mind was seeing the explosion on the beach and I was sweating a lot.

  Kulm stood up and led me away from the oceanographers. “No, a boat is not a good idea. We have heard how other boats are being destroyed on the sea. The Jellies rejoice in doing that. I did get Lenore to send us some supplies. We will be receiving gravity nullifiers, and inflatable rafts. Reproduction and Fabrication is unavailable and apparently committed to making other stuff. I image it is battle related items for the MDF. But, I did convince Lenore to send us supplies which were already made and just sitting in storage. Two twenty-person rafts, contained in canisters, are due to be delivered through the gravity conduit. The twenty sets of gravity manipulation nullifiers came yesterday. They were designed for use in emergency medical situations, with stretchers, and I will connect them to the rafts.”

  “Floating rafts?” My mind was thinking about the idea and how to control, maneuver, and guide something like Kulm was envisioning. I could see how it might work, but it would be unwieldly. “We really cannot get some real flying machines? Runabout shuttles can fly inside a habitat.”

  “If we had one we would use it. I was lucky to find the inflatable rafts and the gravity nullifiers. And, if the translations those clowns have done are even halfway accurate, no one should be in a boat on the water. Terrible things are happening. Just terrible.” Kulm patted me on the shoulder. “I hope you remember this tomorrow.”

  “Did you already tell me about it before?” I asked, genuinely confused.

  “Only a few parts, like when we set up the hydrophones, and some of the things about the Jellies, but hey, I will repeat it as needed. You are better now. You look better, and you sound so much better. If I need to tell you about it a dozen more times, that is not a problem. Kalju, we need you. We must get everyone on this island out of here.”

  “Kulm? Do we know where to go?” I asked him. I was trying to recall the general geography of Foreigner, but my mind wondered off on whether I should be thin
king of it as geography, seascapes, or as deck plans, or what. For some reason, I was thinking about a class long ago where geography was defined as the characteristics of the Earth, while the characteristics of the planet Mars were called aerography, and the characteristics of our target world were to be called…. I lost my train of thought.

  “Kal?” Kulm snapped his fingers in my face. “Kalju? I thought you were fading out there for a minute. The other surviving militia people decided to head to the town of Baltia on the island of Bokn. That is the closest town, and the island had access to the sidewalls of the habitat. We should all be able to escape into the shell from there.”

  “That will take several trips, right? How many can fit on those inflatable rafts?”

  “Twenty people on each. I figure two of us on each raft to steer and maneuver it. We can do that using the gravity nullifiers. So, six trips there and back. One of us will need to stay here, to manage things, but I think we can alternate all of that. Of course, Carol goes with the first group. She needs a hospital badly. That Lenore says there is no way to get medical automacubes here, and I suppose that it true. The corridors beneath us are flooded, and there are no safe boats. Lenore refused to send automacubes through the gravity conduit. I really think the inflatable rafts are our only option.”

  “Just some weeks in a balloon? Huh?”

  “Right Kal! That was one of those fiction stories by that Verne fellow. Not hydrogen gas balloons, but a similar concept. And not across an unknown continent, only across the sea for a few kilometers. Mister Fisher would be proud of us, I hope,” Kulm said. Then in a low voice he confided, “I am scared witless of those Jellie things, and only a little less frightened by this scheme we have.”

  That night I was not on watch duty, and fell into a deep slumber. The next morning, I felt even better physically, and mentally. I remembered everything from the day before, at least I think I did. I did not hear the tinnitus or the pulsing in my ears. I rubbed the scar over my eyebrow, and tried to concentrate on recalling getting that wound stitched up, but that still evaded my mind. The scar was somewhat firm, and about as wide as my little finger.

  I knew that some canisters were to arrive though the gravity conduit, so after I ate a bowl of oatmeal, and asked Rolf what was happening, I left his home. He had told me the night was uneventful, and I suppose that was good news. I had sort-of hoped that some real flying craft had landed on the island, or that some armored military boat had come to rescue us.

  The sky tube was shining brightly, but it still looked off to me. It just was not the same color as the light in Kansas, even though I had been months under it now. I also asked myself when rain day would happen, but as my memory had been unreliable, I was not sure at all when the last rains had come. I recalled walking in the rain on that island, on a patrol, but could not put down exactly how long ago it had been.

  Reaching the underground storage room, I descended the stairs. I saw that Kulm, Matkaja, Radha, and Tudeng were already there. Radha looked tired, and I assumed she had been on patrol the night before. The parcels had already arrived, and Kulm and Matkaja were lifting one to carry it outside.

  “Let me help!” I pushed in, but the job really only allowed two people to grab hold. The canister was about a hundred centimeters by thirty centimeters, and weighed about seventy kilograms. It was somewhat bulky and clumsy to move.

  So, I grabbed the other canister and with Tudeng we carried it up the stairs and outside as well. Kulm and Matkaja sat their canister down. He gestured for us to place the other one about ten meters away.

  “Might as well open them here, as anywhere,” Kulm said. He unlatched the canister top, and withdrew a long cord. Backing away he got to the end of the cord, and looked around. “Everyone ready?”

  He pulled the cord, and the canister’s sides split open and the raft was deployed. The inflatable parts lifted over the sections of the canister as they were pulled apart, becoming sort-of like legs beneath the inflating raft. It was bright orange color, with yellow trim. It flipped about and unfolded as gas filled its compartments. Less than thirty seconds later, the raft was fully inflated. It was oblong, and resting on eight solid permalloy pylons. The pylons had been the sections of the canister, but they had disconnected from each other during deployment. A rounded roof was over the top, and had openings at each end of the oblong. It was four and a half meters long, by three meters wide, by not quite two meters high.

  “In all our scenarios, we never practiced with this kind of raft,” Tudeng commented. “And now we are going to attach gravity manipulation nullifiers to it?” The skepticism in her voice was thick. “I know we need to get to the other island, and get these people away, but will this work? What about aerodynamics?”

  “I have that worked out, I think,” Kulm replied. “We attach the gravity manipulation nullifiers, and alter their fields. Eight variables, on the pylons, will give us some maneuverability in the air. We do not have to get far above the sea level. Just enough so that those things, the Jellies, do not detect us as a boat.”

  “So, more like an old-fashioned hovercraft, or an air-cushioned vehicle?” Matkaja asked. “We are back to technology of a hundred years ago? Are you sure that will be high enough off the sea? That MDF boat was on foils and was mostly off the water. We saw what happened to it, and they were fighting back with better weapons than we have.”

  “This will not be an air-cushioned vehicle, as the gravity nullifiers will eliminate any need for lift. Yes, it will be a pain to drive, and it is a cobbled together affair, but I am pretty sure it will work.” Kulm pointed to the yellow cover over the raft. On it was stenciled “20 Persons Maximum Rescue” in black. “If it can carry that load on the sea, it can carry that load in the air.”

  “You will need to reinforce the bottom of the raft,” Radha stated.

  “You think this will work?” Kulm asked.

  “Yes.”

  I looked at the configurations on the pylons beneath the raft, and saw what Radha was thinking. If we stretched a permalloy bar from each of those former sections of the canister, it would make an interlaced frame beneath the raft. That would add stability.

  “Well, we have some work to do, I guess. There is a vibration saw in a shed behind Rolf’s house. Scrap permalloy is all over in the ruined boats,” Kulm said, but he made a squished-up face. “But we will have to pull one of them from the water to do it.”

  “No, we should stay away from the water. Strip Rolf’s shed instead, or tear some of the old elevator apart,” Matkaja said. “No need to risk more than we must. Come on Kal, shall we go get some supplies?”

  I nodded and followed. We trotted to Rolf’s shed, and asked if we could use his tools. He agreed, but was not happy when Matkaja asked if we could disassemble his shed. So instead, we carried the vibration saw and a welder back to the ruins of the elevator.

  We cut the bracing for the raft, long strips of permalloy which we could weld together. We did not have the ability to actually spin new permalloy, only cut and shape it. But we did use some softer metal, steel, to make collars which we wrapped around the permalloy rods to make our frame. We then took everything over to where Kulm, Tudeng, and Radha were installing the gravity nullifiers on the first raft. The second was still in its canister.

  By connecting the parts together, using the steel, and straps for the inflatable parts, the raft was much more rigid, and looked rather strange. The gray colors of the permalloy contrasted with the bright orange and yellow of the raft. Kulm had wired up some rough controls for the gravity nullifiers to a place at the bow of the raft. The raft did not have any self-contained propulsion system, and I still was wondering how it would hover, maneuver and fly.

  As I rubbed my scar, I asked, “A test flight might be a good idea. An attack on our balloon, our flying raft, by condors, would be a disaster.”

  “I have not seen condors in Foreigner,” Tudeng said. “Some sea-hawk type ospreys, but that was months ago. Now that you mention it,
I have not seen many of the birds which were first here.”

  I had been trying to make a joke, remembering some incident in a novel we had read where condors attacked a balloon and some character named Joe, or Joel, had to leap out. Tudeng did not recognize my reference, and I thought maybe I was mistaken in my recollection. I doubted my memory, so I just mumbled, “I have not seen as many birds either. Still, a test flight is always a good idea.”

  “Funny and strange about the birds,” Tudeng said. “I wonder what that means?”

  “When a biome changes, it affects everything,” Matkaja said. “Kal is right, we must have a test flight.”

  After we had the whole contraption assembled, and Kulm had reviewed the work, we ate a small meal. Sitting there, on the greens of the island, working with a raft, modified so it looked like a cage was all around it, seemed almost comical. We ate and drank, and just appreciated being with each other.

  Kulm broke that silent moment. “I think two of us should try the test flight. I would ask Kalju, but he already knocked his brain about too much, so how about you, Radha, help me?”