Leviathan: An Event Group Thriller

by David L. Golemon

  “Is it onboard?” Ryan asked with hopefulness in his eyes.

  “No, the weight of it alone would sink Leviathan right to the bottom of the sea. It’s in one of the most inaccessible places in the world.”

  “Is it—”

  “Lieutenant, I think we’ve covered that subject about as far as we need to,” Jack said, frowning at Ryan.

  “I have a question, Captain,” Collins said, turning away from an embarrassed Ryan.

  “Yes, Colonel?”

  “Your security force, how large is it?”

  “One hundred and seventy. We can deal with most land elements in Special Operations if need be.”

  “I would think that is a rather large contingent just for the security of Leviathan,” Jack said, probing.

  Heirthall pushed her plate away and looked at Collins. She was silent for a time as she studied him.

  “You need not make any bold plans, Colonel. The reasons for bringing you aboard … well, to put it frankly, they are moot at this point. Plans have changed. Your time onboard Leviathan is at an end.”

  Samuels, sitting next to Heirthall, barely moved his eyes, but Jack and Niles saw that this information was news to him.

  “All hands, prepare for getting under way. We are at defense condition two throughout the boat. Midshipmen, secure the young in the aft pressure dome.” The announcement ended their lunch.

  A young lieutenant gave Commander Samuels a message, then left the table. The first officer passed it onto Heirthall, who wadded the flimsy thing into a ball and stood. She was tense as she half-bowed and then left the table, quickly escorted by four of Tyler’s security men.

  “If you’ll come with me, we’re preparing to dive. We have detected the Missouri sitting offshore, so we will immediately run into deep waters,” Samuels said as he stood. “Security will take you to the observation deck.”

  “You’ll not take offensive action against Missouri, will you?” Lee asked.

  “Our actions will be defensive in nature, Senator. Leviathan will run deep; no vessel in the world can out-dive us. If they choose to follow, that is of no concern to the captain. Now, please, follow me.”

  “How deep can this thing go?” Mendenhall asked nervously as he stood with the others to follow the commander.

  “I don’t know,” Ryan said to him, “but the crush depth for most American boats is sixteen hundred feet, some even less.”

  “Oh, shit,” was all Will could say as he and the others felt the first tingling of fear.

  As they were on their way to the observation deck, escorted by ten security men, Everett slid in beside Jack and handed him something. Collins, without acknowledging the move, deftly opened a small piece of paper that had been folded several times.

  “It’s from our little computer nerd. He passed it to me in the mess.”

  Jack quickly looked down at the precise block letters of the note. It was only five words: SOMETHING is WRONG WITH HEIRTHALL.

  “What do you think?” Everett mumbled.

  “This only confirms what we already suspect. The added element here is that our Dr. Robbins is saying the captain has changed since their last meeting. That means if he’s worried, we should be, too.”

  Sarah stepped in to ask what was up when Sergeant Tyler and another security team approached them. They were all heavily armed, and they all sported their Nomex/seaweed assault gear. The Event Group was surrounded just outside of the observation deck.

  “The use of deadly force against you has been authorized by the captain if you attempt any sort of offensive move, or if you attempt to communicate with the outside world. This status will be in effect until you depart this vessel.” Tyler looked directly at Collins, then gestured for his men to take the Group into the observation deck. He then grabbed Jack’s arm and held him in place.

  “It’s time you and I had a little talk, Colonel.”

  Collins didn’t say anything. He looked from Tyler to Sarah, who hesitated at the door. Then he rose, looked at her sternly, and nodded toward the hatchway, indicating that she go with the others. Niles placed his arm around Sarah, and with a stern look at Tyler moved inside the hatchway. Everett, Ryan, and Mendenhall followed—each giving the sergeant warning looks. When they were all inside, one of the two security men reached out and dogged the hatch.

  “I need to know why the captain was adamant about having your people aboard Leviathan, and don’t hand me that crap about needing information about what your agency knew about her and her family.”

  “Even if I remembered my time onboard Leviathan the first time around, I wouldn’t tell you a damn thing, Sergeant.”

  “Colonel, if I don’t get an answer as to why your director and the others were brought here, I will find a way to kill someone very close to you. Now answer me.”

  The cold demeanor of the security man brought Jack to the conclusion that Heirthall had lost control of at least part of her command. If Tyler was against her in some form or another, Collins knew he might have to take his chances with the madwoman over the man standing in front of him. His instincts told him that this man was a killer—once more, he could see in his eyes that he enjoyed it.

  Jack didn’t respond to the threat he had leveled at Sarah. He just smiled, his eyes never leaving Tyler’s own.

  “Why are you here?”

  “Tyler, I will say this to you. You are one of those people I will not mind killing.”

  The sergeant smiled and acted as if to turn away, but instead brought up the sidearm hidden at his side and smashed Jack on the side of the head. Collins staggered, then went down to a knee. Tyler stood over him and brought the pistol down into Jack’s skull. The colonel collapsed to the deck.

  “What is the meaning of this?!”

  Tyler turned to see Samuels standing at the junction of the companionway. His face was screwed into an angry mask as he quickly stepped to where Collins was trying to rise. Samuels assisted Jack to his feet.

  “What in the hell do you think you’re doing, Tyler? Consider yourself on report. Now get to your diving station and remain there. You’ll be brought up at captain’s mast. Now get out,” he said with a growl. “Colonel, we have to get you attended to.”

  “Take Captain America here to sickbay,” Tyler ordered his two men, and then he turned and walked off without acknowledging Samuels.

  Heirthall’s first officer felt the authority of the chain of command starting to slip away as Leviathan ran full speed into harm’s way.

  16

  Niles and the other members of the Event Group were seated in front of the observation windows as Heirthall walked over to the main console lining the inner hull and depressed the intercom.

  “Mr. Samuels, take Leviathan down to three hundred feet. Maintain zero bubble, keel at thirty feet above the cave floor. Prepare for a flank run out of the access tunnel to the sea just in case our unwanted American boat is still watching.”

  “Captain, with the repairs incomplete on the damaged sections to the hull and planes, we will leave a wake and sound signature.”

  “I am well aware of that, Mr. Samuels. You have your orders. As soon as we have entered the access tunnel, have Mr. Tyler set off his mainline detonation.” Heirthall turned away from the main console and sat in a chair fronting the observation windows that now held the hologram.

  The great black hull of Leviathan slipped slowly under the calm waters of the interior lagoon. As her hull started taking on the minute pressures of the shallow dive, her amazing skin started to depress in on itself, actually getting stronger as the pressure increased. There were seventeen layers of spun titanium and nylon material in her hull that could depress and expand with the rigors of deep ocean travel. This makeup of hull matrix, and the difficulty in making the elements adhere to each other in its composite form, was one hundred and twenty years ahead of the General Dynamics Electric Boat Division of the United States.

  Leviathan went to three hundred feet; her giant thrusters fore and
aft maneuvered her until she was pointed toward the thousand-foot access tunnel that would lead her to her natural element—the open sea.

  On the hologram projected onto the closed observation doors, the control center was shown in bright detail from three decks below them. The image only took up a portion of the viewing screen. The rest showed a computer-generated image of the access tunnel and the waters beyond. Niles watched as the crew of Leviathan went about their work. Commander Samuels was in his normal place, standing beside the empty captain’s chair with his arms crossed over his chest.

  “Helm, steer three-five-seven, all ahead at ten knots. Increase speed by increments of twenty knots as we traverse the cave.”

  “Aye, Mr. Samuels, estimate full speed will be achieved upon exit of the tunnel at one hundred thirty-seven knots.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Hind.”

  Heirthall closed her eyes and smiled as Leviathan started her forward run. To Compton it was if she herself were Leviathan, and it seemed Heirthall felt better as she began to move.

  “Sergeant Tyler, you may do your duty,” Samuels said on the hologram.

  A hundred feet down the long row of technicians, Sergeant Tyler was sitting at one of the ten weapons stations.

  “With the captain’s permission,” he said, flipping up a plastic door and then, without hesitation, pushing the red button underneath.

  The cave walls and ceiling gave a mighty heave as the two-megaton nuclear weapon detonated. Leviathan heaved forward when the first pressure wave struck her, and was suddenly pushed to the side as heated water from the cave fought to escape the collapsing home of the great boat. Her port thrusters shot out twenty thousand pounds of water pressure to keep the giant submarine from smashing into the cave’s wall.

  Heirthall now stood as the first of the tremors settled far behind them and the giant submarine finally settled.

  “The first home I ever knew is now gone,” she said beneath her breath. “Commander Samuels, take us out of here. I’ll be in auxiliary control.” She turned and faced Virginia. “Ginny, would you care to accompany me?”

  On the surface of the Pacific, Saboo Atoll exploded. The mountainous center fell in and then expanded outward, forming a mushroom-shaped cloud filled with microparticles of melted rock and coral that had made up the small atoll.

  As Leviathan broke free of the access tunnel, Alexandria sat quietly in her large chair. She watched the end of the tunnel slide by through the now-open portals in the conning tower. Bright lighting illuminated the passing water; Virginia felt the smallest of vibrations as Leviathan started her run up to flank speed.

  “Captain, we have one submerged contact close-aboard, four thousand yards dead-ahead. Prop signature has been identified as our old friend the Missouri,” Samuels said.

  “I felt them out there long before sonar detected them, Commander. All hands are to stand by for evasive maneuvering,” she said with her eyes closed.

  “Yes, ma’am. All hands stand by for evasive maneuvering. All nonessential personnel are to remain in their cabins—seal all watertight compartments.”

  “Brace yourself, Ginny,” Alexandria said as she finally opened her eyes wide and looked through the floating hologram in front of her. She saw the vaguest outlines of USS Missouri. She could also see that they were starting a run on Leviathan. The American boat was going to give chase, thinking all the while their stealth technology kept them hidden.

  “The damage to our outer skin has made us visible just enough for Missouri to get a fix on us,” Alexandria said. She dipped her head and settled her eyes on the sleek-bodied Virginia class boat ahead of Leviathan. “They think we can’t see them because of what they view as a superior technology. Little do they know they have been defeated by the oldest technology in the world: eyesight.”

  Virginia watched as rivulets of sweat broke out on Heirthall’s forehead.

  Alexandria’s blue eyes blazed as she pushed both control sticks to the right, taking Leviathan hard and down in that direction. Then she pushed only the left stick, and the giant submarine dived even harder, bringing Virginia up out of her chair. Only her harness kept her body from crashing into the overhead.

  On the hologram, the depiction of Missouri went to the left and up a hundred feet in a vain attempt to head Leviathan off.

  “Captain, Missouri has acquired the noise from our damaged outer skin and planes. She is attempting to follow.”

  “Commander, we’re going to full emergency speed and full dive on the planes. We’ll be bringing ballast control to one hundred percent—all hands prepare for emergency dive, steering three three-four degrees. Start injecting the hydrogen and helium mix into the hull plates!”

  “All hands, prepare for deepwater dive. Close all inner hatches and seal main bulkhead doors. Close all observation windows, secure all departments, stand by for hull reinforcement for extreme pressure dive!”

  “Where are you taking us, Alex?” Virginia asked over the increasing whine of Leviathan’s thermal-dynamic drive and its four power plants as it pushed raw steam and hydrogen into her jet system.

  “ ‘So all men will know, I am the Lord God of the Sea—thy name is Leviathan!’” Alexandria mumbled, not hearing Virginia.

  “Alex—for God’s sake!”

  Alexandria fixed Virginia with calm demeanor. “A quote from Octavian,” she said finally with her eyes fluttering, and then she lost some of the intensity. “We’re going to the most inaccessible part of the world, my Ginny—a place where men cannot follow in their toy ships—the Mariana Trench!”

  Virginia was tossed back into her chair as Leviathan increased her speed to almost two hundred knots. As the observation window screens closed, Virginia could see the steam and heat rising from the sleek black hull. Leviathan fought for the deep, actually creating friction in the cold seas surrounding her.

  “We’re going to Leviathan’s world, Ginny—we’re going to my world.”

  Virginia cringed at the calm words of her friend—finally realizing there was no going back to the real world for Alexandria Heirthall.

  “Alex, what in God’s name has a hold on you?” Virginia screamed above the din of surging power.

  Leviathan was now headed for the deepest part of the known world, and she was going there at two hundred and thirty miles per hour, faster than any seagoing object in the history of humankind.

  As the crash doors closed over the observation widows, the last thing the members of the Event Group saw was the fleeting image of USS Missouri as Leviathan went headlong in front of her. Then a violent downward turn sent them high into their seats and slammed them back down as the giant submarine maneuvered hard to starboard, then to port, and then dived beneath the thermal cline on her way to deep water.

  The Event Group silenced as the world turned upside down and the great submarine rolled. A few dishes and bar bottles fell and shattered; then Leviathan righted herself.

  “I can’t begin to understand the science involved here—helium-hydrogen mix? Has she found a way to defeat the very pressures of the ocean depths along with the physics of the planet?” Lee asked aloud.

  Niles Compton looked at the green holographic readout below the depiction of the onrushing seafloor.

  “Captain Everett, do you know these coordinates?” Compton called out loudly over the din of the engines at full power.

  “Eleven twenty-one North latitude and one-forty-two twelve East longitude,” Everett said to himself. Then he looked at the flat expanse of seafloor highlighted in holographic blues rushing toward them. “Jesus Christ,” Everett shouted, “everyone hold on tight—this crazy woman just may be on a suicide run.”

  “Explain, Captain,” Lee asked loudly as the observation deck began to flicker and then went out, leaving the only light the green, red, and blue colors of the massive hologram in front of them.

  “That ocean bottom coming straight at us is what’s called the Abysmal Shelf. The mountainous area to the front is the continental plate o
f Asia. We can only be headed for one place—where no attack submarine in the world can follow—the Mariana Trench!”

  Mendenhall and Ryan exchanged looks. When Captain Everett got scared, that meant they were going into the extreme of all dangers.

  The green readout started pumping out numbers that were hard to follow as Leviathan ran deep.

  “Captain, Missouri is giving chase at their maximum speed of forty-seven knots!” Samuels announced over the intercom from his station in control.

  “The Missouri will never catch us; she better turn and head for home. They’re already too deep!” Everett said as the hologram split into two sections to show Leviathan‘s bow and stern and the computer-generated depiction of the Missouri.

  “God, she’s a fast boat, but she has to turn away,” Everett said proudly, even as he prayed Missouri’s captain would give up.

  “Turn away, damn it!” Niles said as he watched Missouri three miles behind.

  “Four thousand meters—thirteen thousand feet deep!” Everett called out. “We’re at the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean—there’s the Trench!”

  As they watched, the black image of the Mariana Trench grew in scope before their eyes. It was rushing at them just as Leviathan‘s inner hull started to bend inward, and to the amazement of all, they actually witnessed the composite material shimmer in the dark as its matrix started changing right before their eyes. The interior hull looked as if it were sweating as the composite fibers tightened, making itself stronger against the depths.

  “How can this material take this depth?” Niles asked just as the pressure in the boat started to increase, making them all dizzy and grabbing their heads.

  “How deep is the trench, Carl?” Sarah asked as she watched Everett pull his harness tighter.

  “If you sank Mount Everest to the bottom of the trench, there would still be more than seven thousand feet of water above it.”

  “Can this damn thing hold up to that pressure?”