The Guillotine

by Lucas Pederson

  Ash nods. “Understood.”

  She shakes her head, chuckles humorlessly. “You’re one crazy son of a bitch.”

  Grinning, Ash says, “Not by choice.”

  “You should see him standoff a river of lava,” Julia spouts. “Now that’s crazy.”

  For the first time, Kayla beams a genuine smile. It brightens up her entire face and Ash can’t help but notice how beautiful the woman is.

  She bends, picks up a black vest with a long, thin rectangular tank fixed to the back. “Good thing for you, Mr. Jones funded us well and we have the latest in dive gear. Top notch tech.” She taps the rectangular object on the back. “We don’t use oxygen tanks here. Instead, we have this.”

  After a few seconds of silence, Julia says, “Um…what is it?”

  “The latest in oxygen filtration, the X-600 Shark. It draws the water in through it, harvests the oxygen produced by the flow and natural oxygen all water has.” She runs a finger over a thick, black tube fixed to a modified helmet. “Air goes through here, filters into a regulator in the side of the helmet and dispenses into the mask.”

  “So,” Ash says, “you never run out of air during a dive?”

  Kayla nods. “Only problem you might face with the Shark are the water intakes. Sediment tends to clog the valves if things get stirred up too much out there.”

  No one says anything for a while.

  Ash stares at the dive vest and helmet. “Are there techniques to clear the intakes if they do get clogged?”

  Kayla points at a blue button built into the vest. “There is. You push this button. Before you do, though, hold your breath until you hear the beep. The Shark uses the air in the mask to blow out the intakes in a reversal of flow.” She lowers the vest. “But there’s some risk doing this. Sometimes it’s not enough to clear the clogs and no more oxygen can be produced through the Shark, leaving you without air until either help arrives, or you die.”

  “And if I don’t push the button?”

  “You’ll have enough air in your mask and in the tube, so if you breathe normally you can return to the Moon Pool. We’re a close team, so if one of us is in trouble, there’s always someone nearby to help too.” Her face hardens some. “Since you won’t have the experience and full training one should have before going on a deep dive like this, I’ll assign someone to stay by your side at all times.”

  Ash holds out a hand and this time Kayla shakes it. Her grip is firm. Strong. “Thank you.”

  Kayla nods. “For what it’s worth, I’m really honored to meet you…and Dr. Remus.”

  “Holy hell,” Julia says, sounding all aghast. “You do know who I am.”

  “Of course. You have a following.”

  “I…do?”

  Kayla laughs, holds the X-600 Shark up for Ash. “Ready to do the quickest deep dive training known to man?”

  TEN

  Through the helmet’s earpiece, Kayla’s voice is firm, yet gentle. “We’re going to dive below the Moon Pool. Sixty feet to the lake bed. We’re one thousand feet deep, so the pressure will be the first thing you notice. The suit you’re wearing decreases the pressure, but you’ll still be able to feel some of it. I want you to find a clam and bring it back to the surface of the Moon Pool. Remember, if you get disorientated or something feels wrong, call me. I’ll be close.”

  Ash nods. They tread water in the center of the Moon Pool. It’s been a little over an hour since they began training. The greatest obstacle, at least for Ash, was not holding his breath when he went under water. A natural reaction. Humans aren’t made to breathe underwater, after all. But the more he practiced, the more he learned to breathe normally. The air in the mask has an odd minerally odor, though not unlike standing near a lake on a breezy day. Nothing unpleasant. Eventually Kayla made him stay under and swim around the Pool for half an hour until he felt completely comfortable breathing in the modified helmet.

  Now is the true test, though, and Kayla told him if doesn’t pass it she can’t let him go on the dig, and he agreed.

  “Okay,” Kayla says. “Just dive to the lake floor, find a clam and bring it back up. Ready?”

  “Yeah,” Ash says, hearing both his own voice and breathing through the mask like a tiny echo chamber. Another little quirk he needs to get used to. Good thing he’s not claustrophobic.

  “Dive,” she tells him, and he does as he’s told, bending at the waist and sinking downward. He kicks and in seconds he’s cruising toward the bottom opening of the Moon Pool.

  The room above, according to Quinn, is pressurized to keep the rest of Lake Superior from flooding the facility. Which hadn’t boded well for Julia, but, in usual Julia fashion, she snarked it off.

  He dives to the bottom of the Moon Pool, remembering to keep his breathing steady. Already he feels the pressure of being one thousand feet underwater. And as Kayla mentioned, it’s a bit uncomfortable. He waits a moment, holding onto the lip of the hole at the bottom of the Pool, letting himself get at least a little used to the slightly crushing feeling. He wonders why they don’t just use dive-mechs? Would definitely make things easier. And hadn’t Murdock funded something a few years ago involving dive-mechs? Ash vaguely remembers reading something about an old oil rig in the South Pacific. Also, about the leviathan creature. The very creature Julia mentioned before.

  “Everything okay, Ash?” Kayla, sounding calm.

  “Yeah. Just getting used to the pressure thing right now.”

  “No one ever gets used to it, but I promise, you won’t be crushed.”

  “Why don’t you have mechs to do this?” Asking the very thought slipping through his mind.

  “Mr. Jones felt that, since we’re in a lake, the mechs would be a useless expense.”

  “This is just as deep as some parts of oceans, though.”

  Kayla grunts. “We know this, so does he, but apparently it’s not enough to convince him.”

  Ash shakes his head, positions himself toward the lake’s floor, and pushes off. The floor is about twenty feet from the bottom of the Moon Pool. He swims to the lake floor, lake bed, whatever, and spares a look around. The water isn’t entirely murky and to the right, a couple of clawed mini-subs dig into a slight rise in the floor, collecting specimens and whatever else might be there. They stir up silt and other sediments, but they’re too far away to affect visibility much.

  By all accounts, the water is rather clear. Another sturgeon, this one almost as long as he is tall, swims by.

  Enough gawking. Get the clam.

  A patch of thick weeds sway below him. Rocks stick out here and there like brown, rotten teeth. Ash lowers himself into the weed patch, parting them carefully so not to stir up any silt or sand. He’s more afraid of the silt clogging the intakes of the Shark than being able to see. Still, he searches, eventually pulling weeds out of his way.

  Nothing in the weed patch, he moves on to the rocks. Beyond the scattering of large rock is a gradually rising hill, ragged with more rock. No weeds grow on the hill.

  He frowns at this, shakes his head, and continues his search for a clam. Not that he’ll ever find one, but…

  There. Right beside one of the brown rocks. A smile spreads over his face behind the clear mask. He swims toward an unsuspecting clam, arm reaching, fingers splayed—

  Something smacks the back of his head hard enough to shove him into the silty, sandy floor of the lake. Pain blooms, spreading over his skull, and all he sees is darkness. On his back, whatever struck him is now shaking him. He’s flung, tumbling over and over in a storm of silt. When he finally comes to a stop and catches his balance with a few firm kicks, all he sees is a swirling wall of dark brown and tiny bits of debris.

  “Ash?” Kayla, her tone calm. And when all he can do is try to control his out of control breathing, she says, “What’s wrong?”

  Once he catches his breath, he manages, “Something attacked me.”

  There’s a long pause, then, “There’s nothing in this lake that will attack hum
ans, nor pose a threat, Ash.”

  “Tell that to the back of my head and whatever tossed me around like a fucking ragdoll.”

  “Ash, it might’ve just been a sturgeon. They sometimes bump into divers, but—”

  “Since when do sturgeon have teeth? Because whatever attacked me shook me like a shark shakes a damn seal.”

  Another long pause. “Get back up here.”

  “When I can see. It shoved me into the lake floor. Too much silt right now.”

  “Okay. Swim backward. Don’t let it get in the intakes.”

  Ash snorts. “No shit.”

  “Ash, I really need you to stop and think. Profanity and sarcasm doesn’t help. Can you see the opening of the Moon Pool?”

  He cranes his neck. There’s faint light above, surrounded by the high-density lights set around to light up the area clear as day. Well, unless there’s a storm of silt obscuring everything, of course. Still, that faint light is wide. Has to be the Moon Pool.

  “Yeah,” Ash says. “I see it.”

  “Okay. Swim for it and—no, wait. Stay right there.”

  “Huh? What? What’s wrong?”

  Kayla, very quiet, says, “Quinn just came out with lifeform scans. Just…don’t move.”

  All around, save for above, walls of swirling darkness.

  “What do you mean, ‘lifeform’ scans? What’s out here with me?”

  “I…don’t know. Something big. Scans aren’t detailed enough, but Quinn and Julia are working on it. Just don’t move.”

  Heart galloping, he opens his mouth, then closes it, not really sure what to say. All at once, his mouth feels way too dry. His stoMach churns. A shiver trickles over his skin. The special suit he’s wearing cuts out most of the chill due to the depth, but this isn’t a shiver caused by the outside. No, this is the chill of fear.

  Something big is here with him. Not a sturgeon. Something…else…

  Something with teeth.

  “Okay,” Kayla says in his earpiece, startling him. “Looks like we have a shark.”

  Ash blinks. “A…wait, what? Shark? In Lake Superior?”

  “The waters aren’t as cold as they once were before the climate changes. You’re swimming in forty-six degrees right now. Bull sharks have been found here before, just not at this depth.”

  “Whoa, whoa, there’s a bull shark down here with me?”

  “Looks like it. Bigger than average though…”

  “Oh, that makes me feel so much better,” he says.

  “Just stay put. I’m coming down to clear the silt and get you back up here.”

  “Well, hurry up, then.”

  He’s walled off, can’t see anything in any direction except for up. Christ, why does it take so long for silt to settle? Then again maybe—

  It bursts through the dark wall in front of him, mouth gaping and lined with pointy teeth. He swims to the side. A pectoral fin clips his arm hard enough to send pain into his shoulder. He’s turning when…

  Hands grip his shoulders and shove him downward with so much force he’s buried into the silt and sand again. All is darkness. The hands on his shoulders squeeze, agony shoots through him and he screams.

  “Ash? You alright?”

  He screams again when whatever is attacking shakes him again.

  Can’t be a shark. Sharks don’t have hands.

  “I’m on my way, Ash,” Kayla says.

  Too late, he thinks. It’ll kill me before she even gets out of the Moon Pool. It’ll—

  He’s turned around yet again and from out of the stormy silt emerges a gaping mouth filled with so many pointy, jagged teeth he’s damn sure it’s not a bull shark. Gray arms protrude from just in front of the gills. Arms attached to the hands gripping him.

  “Wha…what the fuck?”

  The mouth is broad, like a tiger shark. The teeth, a dead giveaway. He’s seen plenty over the years. Whatever the hell else it is, the mouth and head is that of a tiger shark.

  Mutation, his mind wails. It’s a damn mutation.

  The hands and arms pull him closer and closer to the snapping mouth. With no way to stop it, Ash simply closes his eyes and waits for the inevitable. Soon those massive jaws will clamp down over his head. Soon all those sharp teeth will puncture his skull and neck. Soon…it’ll shake and saw his head off. Soon—

  The hands release his shoulders.

  A loud roar blasts through his earpiece and when he opens his eyes, blood mingles in the swirling stew of silt. The shark mutation is gone.

  His breathing whooshes in his ears as he tries to look everywhere at once.

  An arm and hand shoot out of the bloody silt, grasp his vest and pull him forward until he’s face to face with Kayla.

  “Swim,” she says. “Fast as you can.”

  In her other hand, she holds some kind of slender gun.

  He does as she says and kicks his legs as fast as they can go until he’s at the opening of the Moon Pool. Here, he stops and looks down in time to see the large mutant shark glide by directly under him.

  “Go,” Kayla says as she speeds toward him.

  Ash wastes no more time and enters the Moon Pool. He swims hard, kicking and stroking his arms until he breaches the surface.

  A few seconds later, Kayla pops up beside him.

  Both of them are breathing too heavily to speak. They simply stare at each other through the clear masks.

  Finally, Kayla says, “Gotta call Green and get an extermination crew out there.”

  “H…How?” It’s all Ash can manage between breaths.

  “River channels from the Mississippi, I guess. Only way, really.”

  “We’re doing an entire lake scan right now,” Quinn says as she approaches the Pool.

  “You alright, dude?” Julia asks, kneeling. Her face is drawn, eyes somewhere between tearing up and stony.

  He gives her a thumbs-up. Although, now, he’s beginning to feel the effects of the attack more. Pain laces around both shoulders and slices down his back.

  Kayla, drifting toward the ladder to climb out, says, “I shot it in the back but—”

  Gray arms shoot out of the water, hands clamp onto her Shark vest and yank her down.

  Quinn screams. Julia scrambles away from the edge.

  Ash sucks in a breath. For a moment, he’s lost.

  Stop being a weak ass, his mind says. Save her.

  He takes a few slow breaths and tuck dives. As the bubbles clear, he gapes at the scene not far below.

  Kayla struggles against the thing holding her. The toothy mouth opens wide behind her head. Through the mask, he marks how wide her eyes are.

  Ash darts downward, shoving terror aside, grabs the slender gun from Kayla, jams the muzzle into the creature’s mouth, and pulls the trigger.

  The sound is a muffled whoosh.

  Blood billows, consuming Kayla as she kicks and writhes in the creature’s grip.

  Then she’s there, dragging him away from the creature and back to the surface. The breach, and she wastes no time, shoving Ash toward the ladder.

  “Get out of the water,” she shouts.

  Ash, struggling with the flippers on his feet, climbs the ladder a foot to the edge of the Moon Pool and flops out. In an instant, Julia is there. She strips off the flippers and unbuckles the helmet from the vest. Then she carefully pulls the helmet off. Her face is full of worry. To Ash, she looks to be on the verge of vomiting.

  “You okay?”

  He manages a nod before Kayla bursts out of the Pool and crawls away. Quinn’s right there to help her out of her gear.

  “Call…Green…” Kayla breathes once the helmet is off.

  “Scans are still incoming,” Quinn says. “Will have them in five minutes. Tops.”

  Kayla nods, repeats, “Call Green.”

  Quinn pats Kayla’s leg and sprints to the Scan and Retrieve office.

  Ash rolls onto his back, catching his breath and stares at the mirrored ceiling. Stares at himself staring back.
>
  “Thank you,” Kayla says.

  He turns his head, smiles wanly, and shoots her a thumbs-up. “Anytime.”

  “Jesus…” Julia says, her voice brimming with both awe and horror.

  Ash sits. She’s standing near the Moon Pool, hugging herself, hands stroking her arms as though she’s cold.

  Kayla rolls onto her side, sits, also facing Julia. “Stay away from there.”

  Julia flinches likes she’s just been slapped and stumbles away from the edge of the Pool.

  Gaining his feet, Ash catches her before she trips over her own boots and falls.

  “Easy,” he says.

  Her eyes are wide. “Let’s go home. Can we go home now?”

  “Why…?” He spares a glance at the Pool and his blood turns to ice water.

  Floating, white belly up and gray arms sprawled on either side, is the creature that nearly killed him and Kayla. The entire pool is scarlet with the thing’s blood. Small waves sway the creature back and forth, back and forth, sloshing against the sides of the Pool.

  “Okay,” Quinn announces as she rushes out of the office. “Green and team are on their way and—holy scuttle shit, what’s that?”

  “That,” Kayla says, standing. “That is what attacked us.”

  Quinn shuffles closer to the Pool, stops. “Are those…arms?”

  “It seems,” Ash says, leading Julia away, “a mutation made its way into Lake Superior. Or maybe these lakes have mutations like the ocean. I don’t know. All I know is my shoulders hurt like hell and I need coffee for my friend here.”

  Quinn blinks at him, nods and bustles off. Not to the office but through a small door next to it.

  “That’s the kitchen for this area, by the way,” Kayla mutters, waving a hand at the door. She clears her throat, straightens. “The dig is postponed until Green and her team clear the area. Might be more than one down there.”

  Ash nods. “Good call.” He leads Julia to the office and helps her into a chair.

  She stares at him. “I…I never saw an actual mutation before.”