“Answer quickly, Senator, and keep your answers to one or two words if you will. The first answer that comes into your mind—are you ready?” she asked as she looked from Lee to the others around the large table.
“Fire away, Captain,” Lee said as he patted Alice on her hand, trying to tell her he would keep his cool.
“Excellent. Answer ‘true’ or ‘false’ to these questions about the Event Group’s vast archives.”
“If it’s games you would like to play, have at it, young lady—especially if it keeps you from killing.”
“Flying saucers?” Alexandria asked, ignoring the senator’s comment.
Lee smiled knowingly. “True.”
“A large animal in Loch Ness?”
“Once true, but no longer. The species finally went extinct during World War Two.”
Ryan and Mendenhall looked at Alice at the same time and with the same question etched on their faces. She only nodded her head.
“Bigfoot?” Alexandria asked quickly, trying not to give the senator time to think.
“No hard evidence—false.”
“Yeti?”
“Again, no credible evidence—false.”
“Mermaids?”
“Myth, fairy tale—false.”
“Wrong. True,” Heirthall said, shocking the Group.
Everyone in the room looked over at the captain of Leviathan, confirming beyond anyone’s doubts that she had lost her mind.
“You did very well, Senator; three out of four.”
“What sort of nonsense is this?” Lee asked, looking angry at being played for a fool.
“A bit melodramatic, I agree; however, it was just too tempting, Senator. The excavations you have just seen were accomplished by a life form that predates our human existence by twenty-three million years—give or take a millennium.”
“Mermaids, please,” Ryan said, looking the smallest bit hopeful.
“That’s just what my ancestor referred to them as. He was a mystical man, after all. He first thought they were angels that had come to take him to a better place—so what is more fanciful, angels or mermaids? They actually saved him from sure death when he escaped a French prison.”
“The Château d’If,” Farbeaux said aloud.
“Yes, the very same. He would have drowned upon his escape, but a group of what we now know as symbiants saved him. He was lucky, as this group of small symbiants was no longer indigenous to the Atlantic. They accidentally came upon Roderick Deveroux, the father of Octavian Heirthall, the man who built the first Leviathan.”
“You call them symbiants. Why?” Compton asked.
Alexandria lowered her head and then paced to the observation window.
“Because they can live inside of a human host,” Farbeaux answered for her, finally speaking up from his chair.
“Score one for you, Henri,” Jack said, nodding in the Frenchman’s direction.
“When Roderick Deveroux discovered them,” the Frenchman continued, looking from Collins to Alexandria, “they were a dying species. At only four to five feet long, and grown from an octopuslike body, like a cocoon, they were formally known as Octopiheirthollis.“
“Impressive, Colonel Farbeaux,” Alexandria said, looking not at Henri but Dr. Trevor. “Continue, by all means.” Her eyes flicked to Commander Samuels, who nodded once and then moved his attention to Trevor.
“They eventually shed their outer shell. They are like us in skeletal structure, but that is where the resemblance ends. They have a clear membrane they use as an outer skin, gelatinous to our eyes. They live in the deepest part of our seas. One of the last known areas, outside of the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico, was in the Mediterranean. That was why Leviathan was there during the Atlantis incident that nearly claimed the life of Colonel Collins, much to my personal horror.”
“The children,” Jack said, more to himself than to anyone in particular.
“Yes, the children,” Heirthall said, turning away from the window where she had been listening. “You must explain to me your vast knowledge on the subject, Colonel Farbeaux.”
Henri unwrapped his robe and tossed the book-sized medical chart and history onto the table. He opened it, pulled one sheet of paper out, and passed it to Jack. The colonel read it, then placed it in his pocket.
“I’m what you would call a speed reader, Captain. You’ll forgive my inquisitive nature. Colonel Collins, I have done my part.”
“That you have, Colonel,” Jack said.
“I think I understand,” Virginia said, wanting to approach her old friend but staying well back. “They are symbiant with the human children, two beings living in the same body—you’ve taken them from the seas to protect them.”
“My Ginny, you see, don’t you? All of the small children onboard are the last of the Gulf of Mexico young.”
“That’s why the strenuous attacks on Venezuela and Texas City?” Lee asked.
“Yes. That is why we will continue attacking until the gulf is emptied of production platforms and all oil facilities. There can be no negotiation on that point. Now for the hardest truth of all—the midshipmen, the teenagers onboard, used to live right outside of these windows. They are the very last of these marvelous creatures from the trench. Only a few adults remain here. The very first of their kind.”
“Where did you get the human element for this cross-breeding?” Niles asked.
“They are throwaways, Dr. Compton—children that your world could not, or would not, save. Third-world, dying children; starving, disease-ridden, saved by us—saved by the introduction of symbiants into their systems. They both use each other to live. When they grow too large, other hosts will be found for the syms. The midshipmen have the eldest of the young inside of them, but they must be removed soon, or both will die. The syms are starting to grow beyond the human brain’s capacity to hold them.”
“What gives you the right to take children against their will?” Virginia demanded.
“I saved them; my ancestors saved them, just like we are still saving them … not from natural extinction, but from the human element of this planet. The trillion tons of pollution you have sent into the seas from petroleum and the fall of acid rain are killing this life form.”
Just as she stopped talking, the hatchway opened, and the young woman they knew as Yeoman Alvera stepped inside. She looked from person to person until her eyes settled upon Dr. Trevor. Then her gaze wandered to Henri Farbeaux.
“Why have you left your station in control, Yeoman?” Samuels asked.
“It’s all right, James; part of her knows she’s home. Allow her in,” Alexandria said. “Come here, Felicia.”
They watched as Alvera slowly approached Heirthall. Once standing before her, Alexandria turned the young girl to face them, keeping her hands on her small shoulders.
“Yeoman Alvera is from Nicaragua. I found her fourteen years ago in a small village where she had just witnessed the execution of her parents by a death squad. When a shore excursion found her, she was starving to death. Dr. Trevor saw a long and painful recovery for her. I ordered one of the symbiants placed inside of her, where it wrapped around her cerebral cortex. She recovered quickly after that.” She gestured for the girl to look at Niles. “Tell Dr. Compton about being host to the symbiant.”
As Collins watched the scene play out before them, he caught sight of Everett. They both saw that the visage and demeanor of the young yeoman had changed. She no longer looked innocent and sweet at all.
“Can you control this … this … thing?” Niles asked.
“The question is moot, Doctor—neither one controls the other. I and my symbiant are merely sharing the same body. We share knowledge and learn together.”
Farbeaux looked from the girl to Dr. Trevor, watching and gauging his reaction to the lie that was being presented to the Americans. Henri saw that the girl was starting to make the doctor uncomfortable.
“Are you saying each one of the children we saw being brough
t aboard are hosts to one of those … syms?” Mendenhall asked.
“Yes, just like all of my crewmen you have seen, they all at one time were hosts to their own symbiant, at least until their life spans ran their course.”
“That’s why they are so fiercely loyal to you and your cause,” Collins said as he turned and walked back to Sarah.
“Your perception is accurate, Colonel.”
“But why destroy the vaults at the Group complex when you would have eventually told us anyway?”
“It wasn’t only the Leviathan vault, Dr. Compton, it was the vault below it I was really after. It was that damnable relic stolen from my family by P. T. Barnum more than a hundred and eighty years ago. It was purely selfish on my part, but no trace of the syms can be left behind.” Heirthall leaned down and kissed the top of Yeoman Alvera’s head.
Samuels cleared his throat and nodded to the observation windows.
Alexandria closed her eyes and gestured for Samuels to commence.
“Please cover your ears. A few of you may feel some discomfort, but it will pass in a moment.”
Yeoman Alvera pulled away from Heirthall, almost as if she was being held against her will, and then she faced the glass expectantly.
“Officer of the deck, this is the first officer. Begin the tones,” he said into the microphone embedded into the large chair.
“Aye, Commander, tones have been initiated.”
Before the orders were confirmed from below, Alice, Everett, Lee, and Mendenhall placed their hands over their ears as a soundless tone penetrated into their brain through the ear canal.
“Okay, that hurts … uh … really … it hurts,” Mendenhall said as he leaned into Jason Ryan.
“The tones are used to call the syms. It resembles their own style of speech and can carry up to a hundred miles. This is what led to my family’s understanding of whale song.”
The tones stopped, and Alice was the only one who had to sit, feeling sick to her stomach.
“Oh, God,” Virginia said, looking through the glass.
All eyes turned in that direction, and then one by one the Event Group slowly approached the large windows as Leviathan came to a complete stop at the deepest part of the trench.
“Conn, lower exterior lighting to twenty-five percent power,” Samuels ordered. Then he too advanced to see the wonder of the entire world.
“Beautiful.” Ryan was the first to react.
The adult symbiants came out of the darkness. They had long ago shed the protective shell of octopuslike armor and were in their final form, as they would remain for the rest of their lives.
The tails, shaped like maple leaves, gently pushed them through the water toward the humans staring at them from their strange environment. They had small, thin legs that extended through the tail like veins, ending in tiny humanlike feet that exited the tail at its sides. There were discharges of internal electricity that coursed through the tail, pulsating soft pink and light blue in blood veins and arteries far different from that of man. The center of the tail radiated a soft greenish color, pulsing as their small hearts beat at the center of their chests, which could be seen through the clear membrane of their outer skin.
The first symbiant to reach the glass raised a small hand and touched it as its tail kept its body in pace with the drifting Leviathan. As the Event Group watched, its deep blue eyes shrank, allowing the creature to view them through the intense light.
“Yes, Mr. Ryan, it is beautiful,” Niles said as he slowly reached up to the glass. He stopped and looked at Alexandria. She nodded her head that it was all right to touch the window.
The symbiant, with blinking eyes, smiled. The clear mouth curved upward and the hands slid across the window to mimic Niles’s movement. The small creature tilted its head and looked directly at Niles. The smile remained.
“Captain, what nourishment do they consume at these depths?” Everett asked the practical question.
“There are over two million lava vents that supply nutrients and animal life that the symbiants harvest. Their needs are not all that great. When we visit, we like to leave them several tons of goods on the sea floor. Vitamin-filled feed, usually reserved for cows and horses. We do the same for the small children and their adults in the Gulf of Mexico.”
“I count ten in all,” Jack said as he too became entranced by the legend of all legends before him. He could feel Sarah next to him take a deep breath as she took in the wondrous sight.
“There is more. We estimate this colony is down to fewer than a thousand,” Samuels said as he helped Alexandria to a chair. She sat and watched the Event personnel closely. “Captain, have you noticed there are only a few here? Where are the rest?”
Heirthall counted and then recounted the syms outside the glass.
“This is strange. There should be what’s left of the colony here,” she said, looking concerned.
Other symbiants came to the window and examined the faces looking at them. The colors in their tails enhanced to deeper blues and brighter pinks. They crowded around the glass, seemingly looking beyond the gathering of humans, looking for something that wasn’t there.
“They look like a species of jellyfish. They must use the electrical current and colors for—” Virginia started to say.
“Mating, communication, navigation; right now they are asking a question,” Alexandria said, watching Niles and the others closely.
“May I guess, Captain?” Sarah asked.
“I can see you have figured it out through their body language, Lieutenant, but go ahead.”
“They want to see their children,” she said as she moved her gaze from the window to the captain.
Alexandria nodded once more, and Samuels nodded at Yeoman Alvera. The girl stepped to the glass, placed her hand up, and sighed. Then several other midshipmen came through the hatch. Thirty-one in all approached, looking excited and sad at the same time.
“This small group is all that is left of the Mariana Trench young,” Heirthall said sadly.
The teenagers were stretching and pointing, placing their hands on the glass, trying desperately to seek out their parents. The symbiants outside the glass had become excited as their colors turned to the purest pinks and the brightest blues. Their hands reached out toward the gathered midshipmen.
Soon, even more syms had joined the grouping at the windows, and then the momentary joyfulness dissipated. The humans watching this amazing event saw that several of the adults were being assisted by other syms as they made their way to the glass. The colors and electrical discharges on these syms were dull, less vibrant.
One of them reached outward toward the glass, and that was when Niles and his people saw that its clear skin had become milky in color. Its fine black and gold hair was sparse as it looked upon the men and women inside.
Yeoman Alvera stepped over, saying nothing. She tilted her head, staring at the sickly adult.
The creature tilted its head, mimicking Alvera, and then held its small, clear hand to the glass. The colors in the adult briefly flared to life, but just as quickly faded as the yeoman watched. She held her other hand to the window, hoping that the adult would follow suit, but two creatures advanced and slowly pulled the parent away from the glass. The adult’s hand, still on the window, slowly fell away—the fingertips lingering for as long as they could keep contact until the parent was assisted out of the dimmed lights of Leviathan. Then it was gone.
Yeoman Alvera watched for the longest ten seconds Jack could ever remember. When she turned away from the glass, the look in her deep-set blue eyes was terrifying as she glanced from face to face. Then she abruptly left the observation lounge.
“You see our predicament, Mr. Director?”
Niles swallowed and turned to look at Alexandria. He could only nod his head.
“Regardless of what happens next, Doctor, thank you for that.”
“Now that the family reunion has been concluded, I think it’s time for the doctor to explai
n how much trouble we are in.” Everyone turned and looked at Farbeaux as he stood and made his way to the bar. He found a bottle of whiskey and poured himself a drink.
“Especially since the captain’s pain medication will soon wear off, and she’ll become someone other than who she really is.”
Heirthall stared at Farbeaux and allowed her body to relax for the first time in months. She slowly walked to a chair and sat. She placed a hand over her face and held it there.
“Explain,” Samuels demanded.
“Colonel Collins, I must say that it is fortuitous indeed for us to have you and your men aboard. We will need some of that magical escapism that you so readily apply to bad situations.” He took a drink of the whiskey, exhaling when he emptied the small glass. “It seems there has been a small mutiny aboard Leviathan in the past few months.” He poured another drink.
Dr. Trevor tried to get past Samuels but the commander blocked his way, pulled the small .32-caliber pistol from his pocket, and placed it against the man’s chest.
“Captain, amongst your medical papers is a description of a small procedure conducted by the boat’s surgeon. This will explain the symptom added to your hereditary illness that isn’t listed in any medical journals. Colonel Collins was quite right; the schizophrenia is brought on by something else.”
Jack turned from Farbeaux to look at Trevor, who backed away from Samuels until he could sit in one of the chairs.
“You placed a symbiant in her?” he asked.
Trevor swallowed, lowered his head, and then shook it. He refused to look up.
“You son of a bitch,” Samuels said, taking a menacing step toward the doctor. “That’s why the captain has been aggressive, changing her own orders!”
“I suspect that she has moments of clearheadedness.” Farbeaux poured one last drink, limped toward Trevor, and sat down. “The good doctor became suspicious, and had the good sense to note it in his case file.” Henri patted the doctor on the knee, then looked up at Heirthall, who was looking ill and lost. “She has much more stamina than the sym she has inside of her. She’s quite rational when she is exhausted, like in the early morning hours, or—”
Leviathan: An Event Group Thriller Page 33