The Shadow Beneath The Waves

by Matt Betts

  Cass waded into the group. “The radio is back up.”

  “That’s great, but I’m not sure we can get supplies here fast enough,” Ozzie said. “Has anyone tried to raise nearby ships.”

  “I’m with the government.” Cass put it bluntly, pulled her identification from the phone case and tossed it on the table. “I was supposed to make sure no one stole the Cudgel or sold it off to some foreign power or any of that shit.” She felt tired telling her story again. “I just called my superiors to tell them what happened here. They’re not onboard with my version of everything just yet. They’re looking into it.” She stared around the table, not sure what they were thinking, but they didn’t look thrilled with her.

  “Jesus,” Takis said. “Who cares? How are we going to help Martin? If none of your friends are coming, what can we do?”

  Cass looked again at the skeptical faces around the table. “I have an idea.”

  28

  When Linden entered the break room, Holli was stirring her coffee. “Don’t you have your own break room on your floor?” She poured another drop of liquid sugar into her cup.

  “Yes, but all of our agents are in the field, and it’s really quiet down there. Plus, Lou hasn’t come in yet,” Linden said.

  “In other words, Lou is the one who makes the coffee?”

  Linden’s coffee was for shit, but Lou brewed a sweet, smooth blend every morning. “I think he grinds his own beans, maybe.”

  Holli dumped in a few more drops. “I’m not coming over to work for you.”

  “I know. But I might actually need your analytic skills for this one.” He looked around and lowered his voice. “I got a call from my agent on the Adamant and she says they found the Cudgel.”

  “That’s great.” Holli seemed genuinely happy for him, but not terribly shocked. “So what would you need me for?”

  “Well, she also claims that they released a giant sea monster of some sort, so I might need you to confirm some sounds that vessels in the area have recorded before going dark.”

  Holli stuck a lid on her coffee and walked for the door. “Fucking hilarious. Thanks for thinking so highly of my skills.” She walked briskly and disappeared into the office.

  It was a long minute before Linden realized she’d taken the last of the coffee in the pot. He walked back to his side of the building with his empty mug and waited next to the coffee maker for Lou.

  When his phone rang a few seconds later, he answered to an admiral’s assistant asking, rather insistently, that Linden head for his communications room and log in to a conference-in-progress immediately. In a matter of moments he was online and waiting to be logged in for the discussion. His main screen lit up and went through protocol screens before satellite images began to appear.

  “Thanks for joining us, Agent Kemp. We received your intelligence on the potential discovery of the Cudgel A-9.” A voice came across the line. “We need to speak with you about a few of the details.”

  I’ll bet you do, Linden thought. Speak to me about a straightjacket and some medication, I’ll bet. “Yes, sir.”

  “This message says that your agent reported a large creature escaped from a cave or something when the Cudgel was discovered?” The voice didn’t sound terribly incredulous.

  “And that it disrupted power and communications?” It was another voice, a woman. “Then headed approximately due east in a straight line toward the American mainland?”

  “Yes. Why?” Linden noticed they didn’t ask about the Cudgel itself.

  The screen changed slightly in front of him. As he reexamined it, he noticed Lou walk in and set a coffee on the table and sit down with his own. Linden nodded and looked up at the screen again.

  “Your operative was here,” the man said as a dot appeared at the location of the Cudgel and the Adamant. At oh-four-twenty, our people lost track of a naval supply drone that passed that imaginary straight line.” A dot lit up on the screen with the time above it. “Two hours and thirteen minutes later, the aircraft carrier USS Ellis went off radar, along with two escort ships, the Wallens and the Mitchell. A drone flyby twenty-three minutes later found all three ships sinking.”

  “Were there survivors?”

  “Yes,” the woman said. “And they all talked about the power going out, communications disruptions and a giant sea monster.”

  Linden sat staring at the map and bouncing the words around in his head. The same sort of details that Cass had used.

  “And since we’ve sent a battle group out toward that position, we thought it prudent to ask if you had anything to add to this report.”

  “I gave you a full accounting of what our agent told us, I don’t know...”

  “You could start by telling us what it is.”

  Linden looked at Lou and shrugged. “No idea.”

  “None?” It was the woman again, and she sounded shocked that Linden hadn’t formed a hypothesis.

  “Our agent reminded me that this all happened during the war, so maybe it could be manufactured by the RLT during the war, but that doesn’t…”

  “Great. That’s a place to start. Find any living scientists with the RLT and find out if they know anything. And be quick about it. That battle group will make contact in a few hours. We can use all the help we can get,” the man said. There was discussion between the two on the other end and then the line clicked off.

  There was a deep sigh and then Lou laughed. “Find a living scientist? Uhhh… I think there are maybe four big name scientists from the war that are still around, right? The others were killed in bombings, disappeared, killed themselves.”

  “Two. One was executed last year and another died in prison of old age,” Linden said. “So that leaves two. One of the top dogs, a guy named Nicholai Androvney, and a low end tech named Tsui.”

  “And which do you think we should visit?”

  Linden was sure that one of the top guys in the RLT science division wouldn’t roll over too easily, but the little guy was probably privy to some good stuff, even if he wasn’t directly involved. “Get your shit; we’re off to prison to meet the low-life tech guy.”

  They grabbed their coats and other necessities and made for the elevator. Standing next to the buttons was Holli. She did not look happy.

  “Hey, we were just leaving,” Linden said. “I won’t get in your way for a while.”

  “No shit.” She stared at Linden.

  Lou pushed the down button, and they all stared at each other until it opened. The trio stepped in and Linden pushed the ground floor. “What floor can I push for you?”

  Holli’s frown increased. “Let’s just stop. I know you got me transferred to your team for this fuckery.”

  Lou and Linden looked at each other. “What are you talking about? We literally just got off of the line with the admiral and he didn’t say a damn thing about bringing you along.” Linden was wondering if Holli was carrying a weapon, because he felt wildly unsafe when she stared at him.

  “Don’t bullshit me.”

  “No bullshit,” Lou said.

  It was quiet except for the ding of the elevator passing floor after floor.

  29

  They finished putting on their gear and sat on the edge of the dive platform.

  “The Cudgel has a medical bay. They gave out supplies in emergencies and were well stocked with durable goods,” Cass said.

  “But it’s been a decade; nothing is going to still be viable.” Ozzie kept putting on his fins despite his own objection. “Ten years, Cass.”

  “The war was the dawn of the HBOC’s. Basically, powdered blood that just needed to mix with the right reactant. It doesn’t go bad. It’s all there on the Cudgel. It’ll take us an hour to get down there, find it and get back.”

  “Look, I know about HBOC’s, I used them in the field during a number of conflicts. They weren’t a solution, just a temporary fix,” Ozzie said. “We didn’t use them much, because they weren’t always a reliable match.”

&nb
sp; “Better than waiting for help from the navy, right?” Jakob said. He looked around at the group one by one. “No, seriously. I have no idea. This is better than the navy, isn’t’ it? This is the play to make, right?” He looked at Cass finally.

  “We have no idea who or what is going to show up for us, or when.” She looked up at the window to the radio room, and assumed that Rina was still on the radio trying to get someone to come and help them. Takis told her that if help came while the rest of the group was down below, she shouldn’t hesitate to let them take Martin, if they could save him.

  Off the side of the boat, Mister Punchy bobbed on the waves. Takis had loaded the drone’s hold with explosives, in case they needed to blast an area around the Cudgel’s hatch to get in. The plan was for the group to descend with the drone, Cass controlling it manually through the proper stops on the way down. They’d use it to enter a maintenance airlock somewhere around the Cudgel’s torso on the left-hand side. “Let’s go,” Cass said. “If we’re going to do this, we can’t dick around about it. Martin’s life depends on it.”

  They nodded back at her one at a time, ending with Ozzie, who seemed the most reluctant. They slid on their helmets and slipped overboard. Cass swam to the drone and rechecked the controls, powering the propellers on and engaging the steering. She dove with Mister Punchy as soon as she was able, watching a monitor from the back of the machine. The sunlight cascading down from above made the cave a little less foreboding than it was the last time they’d come. Immediately, the team noticed the differences; all of the tiny amoebae were gone, leaving narrow shafts in the rocks and coral where they’d protruded. The black creatures that had attacked the crew were gone on both the outside and the inside of the cave. As the group neared the Cudgel, they found it was easier to see, the things that covered it were gone. All of it was either a part of the creature, or had been knocked loose when it escaped. As the giant robot hung askew from only the bolts on the left side, the group got a look at more than just the front portal, they got to see the whole ‘head’ unit which resembled an executioner’s hood draped across the broad shoulders of the main body. A large rectangular protrusion jutted from the chest, and the thick legs ended in wide ‘feet’ with sharp angles all around.

  They all swam with Mister Punchy until they reached the torso. Cass kept a running clock in the corner of her screen to make sure they didn’t get low on oxygen. “Let’s head around to the thing’s port side and get cracking on this hatch.” One by one, they all acknowledged and stopped gawking at the skyscraper-sized behemoth before them as best they could. This was the tough part, the part that concerned Cass: How to actually get into the Cudgel. It was airtight, locked down, and built to keep the crew inside safe. It had been trapped with a creature for a decade which hadn’t managed to crack the hull. Cass had several security codes in the back of her head that she believed could work, though none were meant to be used specifically on the Cudgel. It was a guess, really. It was yet another shot in-the-dark on top of wishful thinking, with a big fat cherry of hope on top. And she hadn’t told the others just how tough it could be. She also didn’t tell them about her backup plan.

  “We’re here, Rina,” Takis said.

  “Copy.” The answer came through the static.

  Mister Punchy came to rest on the hull and clamped on with the touch of a button. Nearby, the hatch for supply load-in was certainly big enough for each of them to swim through with no problem. Once it was opened.

  Ozzie pulled the kit from the drone and attached it to the outside of the sealed keypad, then plugged the wire in to a nearby jack. They both waited to see if the wire would still work with the jack. If the Cudgel had any power at all, it should seal the area and allow Cass to use their kit just like the keypad below it. It took a second, but the light on the kit turned green and its number pad lit up blue. It was a small victory, but meant absolutely nothing without codes. It was just a means of punching in numbers.

  “We’re hooked in,” Cass said, trying to sound cautiously optimistic. She took a moment to get her head straight and removed her right dive glove to better punch in numbers. The first code was one that was a general maintenance code that the builders had installed to work around security so they didn’t have to log in every time. She’d read about it on the web, on a Cudgel bulletin board that had been running for years.

  She punched 8-8-6-4-2, carefully and then waited. She looked from the hatch, to the keyboard twice before the keys turned red for a few seconds, then changed back to blue, then the ready light turned back to green. Strike one.

  “Hey, do we get so many chances before it locks us out? My phone only gives me, like, ten or something,” Takis said.

  Cass realized that the others were opening the storage compartments on the drone already. She turned back to the keypad and thought about the other codes. She tried 1-2-3-4, just for the hell of it. The lights turned red.

  Cass looked back at the others, who were pulling bags out of the drone holds and distributing them to each other. They swam off in pairs.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Just keep us up to date on your progress and our countdown clock,” Ozzie said. “We’re just implementing a backup plan.”

  It was obvious that some thought went into their plan, what they were doing wasn’t spur of the moment, it was orchestrated beforehand. There was only one thing that they would be doing with all of those bags. “You’re not considering raising the Cudgel, are you? Jesus, I only suggested this to get to the medical supplies. We’re not supposed to disturb it any further.”

  “Look, if you can’t get that hatch, we’re going to run out of air and have to surface without the medical supplies,” Takis said. “This is just insuring we still have the opportunity to get at those supplies.”

  “We have to leave it where it is,” Cass said. “So the NIA can examine it.”

  “Sorry, they can examine it floating on the surface,” Ozzie said. “After we get those supplies.”

  “Guys, you have maybe nine bags and they can raise, what? A ton each? And that’s stretching it. How are you going to raise this thing? It certainly weighs a lot more than nine tons, I assure you.” Cass shook her head. Let them waste their time. She turned back to the keypad. There were more codes to try—she knew one from the hangar where the Cudgel was stored.

  “Cass?” It was Rina’s voice.

  “Yes?”

  “Your phone was ringing again, so I answered it.”

  “What?” Despite Rina’s justifiable anger at Cass, she had no right to use government property like that. “Why would…”

  “Chaperone? This is Blind Date Mobile,” Linden’s voice came through Cass’s headset.

  “This is Chaperone. Be aware this is an open line and my cover…”

  “I assumed your cover was blown when a civilian answered your phone,” Linden said. “Listen, things have changed on my end as well. The higher-ups are starting to come around to your report. We’ve had at least one major incident, and we’re investigating others. There are reports of a giant creature destroying a battle group east of you.”

  “How many?”

  “Three ships down,” Linden said. “They have me following up on the possibility of it being a remnant of the war; I’m heading to Sacramento Bay Prison to interview a member of the science team.”

  There was another voice, Jakob this time. “Look, I don’t know what we unleashed, but we have bigger problems, now. When can we expect help? Martin is dying.”

  “Look, I can’t get any military craft to you anytime soon. They’re all being either sent back to their bases, or rerouting to converge on this… thing you guys encountered. I’ll see if we can get any civilian craft involved or a drone to deliver something, but I can’t promise anything.”

  “Blind Date,” Cass said. “I’m at the supply hatch on the Cudgel. I don’t know the code. I know there are medical supplies inside that might still help us.”

  “Shit, Cass. That�
�s a highly sensitive piece of military equipment. You can’t go in there. You know that. Jesus, you know that. You’ve been briefed about this. Your job is to keep people from doing what you’re suggesting.”

  “I know, but Martin…”

  “Like I said, I’m sorry but we can’t send help. And you can’t go inside. Look, the VTOL is landing outside. I need to go,” Linden said.

  Cass had nothing to lose, as far as she saw it. “Look, get the code for me and I’ll quit. I’ll leave my job. I’ll take full responsibility. No one here will ever tell who gave me the code. I’ll pay for any supplies we use. Whatever. I’ll say I found the code through our source or the Obsidian Web.”

  “This isn’t right.”

  Cass agreed. “This whole situation isn’t right. Come the end of the day, do you think giving me the code is going to make headlines over a giant monster attacking our fleet?” She paused and listened to the static in her earpiece. “He’s going to die.”

  “I’ll give you a three-hundred year old gold doubloon I found off the coast of Cuba… and a big hug,” Jakob said.

  “Heck, he’ll give you two hugs,” Takis said.

  The line was silent for a while, until Linden came back on the line. “Fine. I’ll give you the code. But this conversation never happened, and when you get back, I’ll expect your resignation.”

  “Fair enough.” Cass thought about it and was sure she was doing the right thing. She was saving someone’s life, and that was what was important.

  30

  Martin looked around and blinked at the bright sunshine that streamed through the window of his room. He felt dizzy with every movement, so he decided not to move at all.

  “You’re awake, I guess that’s a good sign.” Ben wheeled himself around the bed and closer to Martin. “Let me get you some water.”

  “I…” Martin tried to talk, but his throat wasn’t cooperating. “I…”

  Ben leaned a cup closer and closer to Martin’s face until the straw met Martin’s lips. It took a good few seconds before Martin could even open his lips to draw the straw in so he could drink.