“It’s been rumored for years that General Dynamics Electric Boat Division has been working on a chemical-electrical mix that would reinforce a composite design for deepwater submergence, but this is far beyond anything ever dreamed.”
Mendenhall and Ryan were shaking as hard as Leviathan herself. Will closed his eyes and started praying.
“I think we’re too close to the depths of hell for that to help!” Ryan called out.
Virginia watched Alexandria’s eyes narrow once more to slits as Leviathan screamed for the deepest part of the world.
“Captain, the thermal-dynamic drive is going into the red; the reactors have been running at one hundred and twenty percent power for three minutes. Estimate power plant scram in thirty-eight seconds!”
“Maintain current power output, Commander. We need this demonstration for the benefit of our American friends.”
There was a momentary silence from the control center, and then Samuels answered. “Aye, Captain, maintaining one hundred and twenty percent on the reactors.”
The sound of the hull compressing did not affect the crew of Leviathan as she entered the trench. Three miles distant, Missouri still came on.
“Fools, they can’t take this depth. They must turn away!” Heirthall screamed, watching the jagged scar depicting the gaping maw of the world’s deepest valley open up fully before Leviathan.
Outside Leviathan, the topmost walls of the Mariana Trench slid by and the giant submarine disappeared into the blackness of the abyss, a place far more deadly and inhospitable than the deepest reaches of outer space.
“Look,” Everett called out. “Missouri is turning away and heading for the surface.”
“Why in the hell did she risk imploding like that?” Alice asked.
“Because they had to try,” Sarah said, thinking about Jack.
The observation deck became quiet as they watched the hologram turn to black. As they entered the trench, the computer-enhanced depiction of the giant Leviathan started to lessen the steepness of her dive.
Once in sickbay, the two guards unceremoniously tossed Jack onto one of the unoccupied beds. They turned and left without a word to Dr. Trevor, who watched without comment. He checked Collins and quickly found his problem.
Thirty minutes later, Jack slowly came around. The doctor was nowhere to be seen. Collins rubbed the gash in his head, which Trevor had cleaned, stitched with six very neat stitches, and dressed with a small bandage.
Jack looked around until his eyes fell on a man staring at him from one of the six beds in the clinic area. The pale blue eyes never blinked, never moved. Collins knew him immediately. Jack made sure he wasn’t feeling any ill effects from the blow to his head, then sat up and slowly walked over to the occupied bed.
“Colonel,” Jack said, sitting on the bed next to the Frenchman. “Sarah told me you had booked passage on this little cruise.”
Farbeaux said nothing as he fought slowly to sit up in his bed. He was grimacing a little more than he actually had to.
“Look, I heard what you did for Sarah at the complex, and I—”
“Let us dispense with the pleasantries, Colonel,” Farbeaux said as he looked at Jack. “Young Sarah had to have also told you why I was there in the first place. I was willing to let things go with the news of your supposed death, but now I see and feel that this can no longer be accomplished.”
Jack smiled and shook his head.
“So, you want to kill me?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Because you lost Danielle in the Amazon?”
“No.”
“Really? Then what is your reasoning?”
“I do not like myself, and you, Colonel, are the architect of that.”
“Well, that puts us at cross-purposes, Henri, because I like myself a lot. I’ve been there, so I don’t want to die again. If it makes you feel better, though, I don’t like you, either. However, I still want to live and have no desire to kill you. Where does that leave us?”
“We all want what we cannot have. I will kill you and I will feel better for it.” Farbeaux looked away and then back after completing a thought. “However, since we both find ourselves in a rather strange predicament here in fantasyland, I am willing to forgo my hostility toward you until such time as we are freed. Then I can kill you and Captain Everett at the same time, and at my leisure. So unless that can be accomplished during our escape from this vessel and without altering my own fortunes, we will call a truce until such a time as we can take up old habits.”
Jack reached out and patted Farbeaux on the leg near his wounded hip, making the Frenchman jump in pain. This time he didn’t have to act at all.
“Okay, Henri, once we’re out of here, we can resume the game. Until then, I can definitely use your penchant for planning, cheating, lying, and being one sneaky bastard.”
“It will do no good to flatter me, Colonel.”
When the doctor left sickbay half an hour later, he escorted Collins back to his Group and then made his rounds of the departments, checking for deep submergence sickness amongst the crew. Henri Farbeaux eased himself out of his bed. He steadied himself, then slowly limped into Dr. Trevor’s private office. He saw the file cabinet where he had watched the doctor place Jack Collins’s file. It wasn’t locked. Because of that, he wasn’t interested enough to check it. He went down the three rows of drawers until he came to one cabinet secured by a built-in lock.
“Eureka,” he said, smiling as he removed a small clip he had stolen from his own IV drip. He twisted and bent it until he had the shape he wanted, then inserted it into the lock. He raised his brows when he heard the click and the lock disengaged.
“A little too trusting, Doctor,” he whispered as he pulled the drawer open.
There were at least three hundred thick files inside. He recognized some of the names as crewmen onboard Leviathan. When he didn’t find the one he wanted, he opened another cabinet. Then his eyes caught the one file he wanted. He pulled out the thick chart and then closed the drawer.
He looked at the name again—Captain Alexandria Olivia Heirthall.
Belowdecks, Samuels watched as reactor numbers three and four went offline. He maintained reactor one at 50 percent for pressure control, and took power down on reactor two to 60 percent, maintaining life support and their current speed at thirty-five knots.
“Mr. Samuels now has the conn,” Alexandria said from her observation suite.
Commander Samuels took a deep breath as the sound of the four reactors started winding down, and Leviathan slowed as they went deeper into the trench.
Outside the pressure hull, Leviathan continued on a journey to a spot in the earth’s depths, where the hull would be taking on twenty-eight tons per square inch. The magic of the Heirthall science was the only thing keeping every man, woman, and child onboard from being crushed to the size of a microbe—and still she went deeper.
The final deep run of the magical Leviathan had begun.
PART FOUR
FROM HELL’S HEART
Why does man believe that intelligence, coupled with thumbs, sets him apart from the rest of the natural world? It is the soul of a creature that truly sets species apart, and in that regard, humankind is sorely lacking, and thus has created Hell upon his Earth.
—Captain Octavian Heirthall, 1865
17
“I have no idea where to go from here,” Jack said to Carl, far away from the others. He felt the bandage on the top of his head.
“We’re too deep for any sort of attack on the crew, at any rate, Jack.”
“Right now that’s the only saving grace—she can’t kill anyone down here because she’s the only person in the world who can go this damn deep.”
Everett was about to respond when the hatchway opened and Sergeant Tyler stepped into the observation compartment with four of his security men. They were quickly followed by Virginia and Captain Heirthall.
The security team took up station on either s
ide of the hatchway with their automatic weapons at the ready across their chests. Virginia walked in with her head lowered and joined Alice, Sarah, and the senator at the large table. Niles took a step forward, but Tyler held his hand up to stop him from advancing.
“Has it been reported to you that your Sergeant Tyler here nearly killed Colonel Collins? Did he do it of his own accord, or was he acting on your orders?”
Alexandria Heirthall sat in the nearest chair and closed her eyes as she felt the rush of the Demerol finally taking effect. Then she looked at Compton. She mentally fought the urge to turn on Tyler, instead looking at Jack.
“My apologies, Colonel, for the sergeant’s temper. We are all under tremendous strain.”
“Is that what you call it? My God, woman, you and your trained killer are damn well out of control!” Lee said, pointing at Tyler with his cane. This time Alice didn’t try to silence him.
“And now do you believe that the world will sit idly by and have you threaten the starvation of millions of people? Men like the ones onboard Missouri will keep hunting you,” Niles said as calmly as he could.
“I’ll do what I can for the survival of my people, my vessel, and for the life in the seas, Dr. Compton. Moreover, I have never once doubted the bravery of your nation’s submariners. I just thank God they have a captain that understands the limitations of American naval science.”
Alexandria finally seemed to focus with dilated eyes as the heavy dose of Demerol hit her system in earnest. She looked into the faces staring at her from around the observation deck. Then she stood with what looked like grim determination, fighting the helping as well as the debilitating effects of the drugs in her system.
She paced to the front of the compartment, then stopped and turned to face the Event Group. Virginia was now seeing a very different woman from the one she had seen less than thirty minutes before, maniacally piloting Leviathan on her deep run into the trench. She was now calm, and although drugged, seemed more in control emotionally.
At that moment, Commander Samuels stepped into the compartment and stayed by the hatchway. Alexandria gestured for him to come forward.
“My apologies, James,” she whispered near his ear. Her eyelids fluttered, closed, then opened. “I believe it’s time I explain a few things to you and our guests. Please stand by the hatchway, and take this.” Alexandria slipped a small .32-caliber pistol into his hand. He pocketed it and then turned away.
She cleared her throat and waited for Samuels to take his station.
“My ancestor, Roderick Deveroux Heirthall, was the first to discover what I am about to reveal to you.”
Tyler looked from Samuels to Heirthall. His features were twisted and ugly.
“Captain, I ask you not to do this,” the sergeant said, taking what everyone thought was a menacing step toward Heirthall. “These people won’t understand. No one will.”
“Sergeant Tyler,” Alexandria said, looking fatigued, “you are relieved. Report to your quarters, and inform security to stand down.” She steadied herself against the sill of the observation window.
Tyler abruptly turned to the hatchway and then out of the compartment, roughly brushing by Samuels. His security team quickly followed him.
Heirthall nodded and Samuels closed the hatch. She rubbed the back of her head, then shook her head as she advanced toward the glass where Niles was standing.
“Now.” She looked up at Compton, who stood challengingly before her. “I believe we are at a point in the trench system where we can begin to answer some of your questions, Dr. Compton.” She reached into her pocket and brought out a small bottle of pills. Without looking, she turned the bottle up, and shook two pills into her mouth, and dry-swallowed them. “Then I will tell you the reason why you are here.”
Alexandria nodded toward Samuels, who moved to the control chair and threw a switch. The protective shields of the massive observation windows began to part. To the Event Group it was as if they were looking deep into the darkest void in the entire world. As their eyes started adjusting to that blackness, they began to see the swirl of unnatural colors surrounding the bow of the giant vessel. A glow of bluish-green light extended outward to almost to sixty feet, showing a sight that no man outside the crew of Leviathan had ever seen before.
“The combination of helium, hydrogen, and our electrical field is what you are seeing. In essence, the field is assisting in pushing back the very pressures of the sea, actually forming a bubble of depressurized water around our compressed hull.” Alexandria again had to hold on tightly to the sill in order to keep her balance, but she continued, as she knew her time in control was short. “Even though the pressure of the abyss is still seeping through, it is controlled, being held at bay by the combination of our electrical field and Leviathan’s composite design. Dr. Compton, if you will, go forward and touch the observation window, please.”
Niles stepped toward the acrylic window and then looked back at Heirthall, who nodded for him to continue. He placed his fingers against the glass and felt the extreme coldness. Then, to his surprise, the glass was soft and pliable under his touch.
“The entire composite matrix of Leviathan has been altered. We are not fighting the pressure of the deep so much as we have become a part of it.”
Alexandria nodded at Samuels, who hit a switch and spoke into a hidden microphone.
“Conn, this is Commander Samuels. Bring the exterior lighting to one hundred percent, please. Helm, dead slow.”
“Aye, Commander, slowing to two knots, floodlights coming on at full illumination.”
“I tell you this not to explain the dynamics of Leviathan, but rather to show you just how extreme an environment we are in, and the magic of what this environment holds.”
At that time, Henri Farbeaux, assisted by the doctor, entered the observation lounge carrying his robe bundled in one arm. Henri placed the crutch he was using against the conference table and then sat. The doctor seemed interested in what was happening and moved to the side of the compartment. Farbeaux, for his part, looked at Collins and gave a slight nod of his head. Jack understood that Henri had come across something in sickbay.
As the Event Group tuned toward the large and expansive windows, the deep sea opened up around them and the blackest night became day. There were audible gasps from Alice and Sarah.
“My God,” was all Niles Compton could utter.
The view of the depths showed the far southern wall of the Mariana Trench. There were crags and ridges common to undersea ranges, but interspersed in the wall were small holes. Billions of them, each hole aligned with its neighbor. Lined up straight in many rows, they looked ancient to the eyes of the Group, as though excavated a million years before. Samuels hit another control, and the center viewing window glazed over and then magnified the wall of the trench at one of its many bends. Then the engineering of the openings became apparent. They were actually small arches that could never have been created naturally by the currents and tides of the ocean.
“It looks like the Anasazi Indian ruins of the Southwest,” Sarah said as she recognized the high arches of the small excavations.
“Exactly what my great-great-grandfather said when he first saw them in eighteen fifty-three, only in the much shallower waters off of Venezuela. James, you may order all-ahead standard for the next ten minutes until we reach”—she smiled as she looked back at Collins and the others—”the grounds.”
“Aye, Captain,” Samuels said as he relayed the order, allowing the Group to feel the minute acceleration of Leviathan.
Alexandria noticed that the doctor and Farbeaux had joined them. Her attention stayed on Trevor for a moment, enough time to make him feel slightly uncomfortable.
“Doctor, it is fortuitous that you are here. Please explain to Ginny my diagnosis. She seems worried that I am not myself.”
Trevor swallowed, but didn’t move from his position against the bulkhead. He uncrossed his arms and looked at the many people looking his way.
He had no choice but to explain the captain’s illness.
“Captain Heirthall’s disease is hereditary and one that causes severe cramping, possible blood clots, and hemorrhaging inside the brain. Naturally, all of this places immense pressure on the captain and may cause episodes of severe mood swings, even schizophrenic behavior. I will tell you, since obviously the captain has not, this illness is fatal; all of her family has succumbed to it. It’s mostly developed in females, thus they succumb at a much younger age.”
“For the most part you have described Osler’s disease, Dr. Trevor,” Collins said, looking at Farbeaux, who returned the look with mild surprise. “One of the symptoms you described is not listed in her family history as being a part of Osler’s.”
Trevor looked from Jack to Heirthall, who was watching him closely. He cleared his throat. “And that is?”
“There is no history of schizophrenia attached to the description of the illness,” Collins said, waiting for a reaction. There was none because Heirthall continued talking as though his comment regarding her illness had never been made. If this was done intentionally Jack didn’t know. However, he did observe Heirthall’s gaze linger for an extra moment on Trevor.
“My compliments, Colonel, your research justifies my suspicion that your Group knew more about my family than my crew believed. Now please, all of you take a seat. We have much to discuss, and I’m sure after I have finished, you will have more questions,” Alexandria said, cutting the doctor’s explanation off before it started.
As they sat, they all could see that Alexandria was functioning much better with all of the pain medication, although her eyes were hazy and unfocused. It was a testament to her will power.
“I need to ask some questions of you first. Senator Lee, whose knowledge in natural history is far beyond most, is a good person to start with, since his hatred for me is so hard to hide.”
There was no protest of innocence from the senator; only a stern countenance as he waited.
Leviathan: An Event Group Thriller Page 32