Aimee felt the beat of her heart in her throat, racing faster and faster. She willed every ounce of her strength to the engines, so they could stay in front of the pursuing monster. They were so close now, almost free. She just wanted to see Joshua, the sunlight, the surface, just one more time.
“Oh, for chrissake.” Blake’s brow furrowed and he looked about to leap out of his chair. He spun. “Now we got another signature — coming right at us.”
“What, you sure that isn’t some sort of sonar echo?” Alex yelled.
Blake shook his head. “Nope, big mama is still right on our tail, but something else coming in at twelve degrees starboard — fast.”
Aimee cursed and hung on to a railing, her legs braced as the deck tilted downwards. She grabbed Cate, who began to slide past.
Cate nodded her thanks. “Might be another cephalopod? After all, the creature didn’t fertilize those eggs by itself.”
“Jesus Christ, we can’t even fight one of them down here.” Alex rubbed a hand up through sweat-slicked hair. “Blake, how long till bottom?”
Blake read numbers from the screen. “Four hundred feet until we hit the deck, and whatever is down there better be big enough for us to pass through, or we’re a paint smudge on the rocks.” He looked at another screen and grimaced. “We’re not gonna win the race.”
Over the external speakers there rose a noise above the background clicks and squeaks of the underground sea. This one a deep rumbling that sounded more like a low moaning.
“What the hell…?” Casey sat back, staring into space. “That doesn’t sound like it did before.”
The sound came again, louder, as whatever it was drew nearer.
“No.” Cate’s face had drained of color. “I’ve heard that before. When Alex and I were first in the water.” She looked across to Alex. “Just before the pliosaur attacked.”
“Well, Doc, if that’s what it is, there’s two of them this time.” Blake stared at the screen, eyes wide. “The new bogey coming in from starboard has now broken into two distinct signatures, one about seventy feet long, and the other about fifty.”
Cate nodded. “Makes sense, probably male and female. I’m betting they’re territorial… and we just wandered into the front yard.”
“Two more of them? Ha!” Casey rocked in her seat. “Well, if they want to eat us, they’re going to have to wait their turn.”
The Sea Shadow momentarily shuddered, and then totally stopped. Everyone was either thrown forward or swung on the struts and handholds they had gripped.
Aimee flew forward. Alex shot out a single arm to catch her as she went to fly past. “Oh no,” was all she could think to say. Frustration welled up inside her — so close. Perhaps they were never meant to escape.
The next noise made even Alex’s face pale. It was the sound of the submarine’s metal skin groaning around them.
“It’s got us,” Blake said.
The Sea Shadow was twisted one way, then the next. Blake was whipped forward, smashing the bridge of his nose on the wheel, and Casey’s forearms bulged from the effort of keeping herself in her chair.
Alex felt the cold hatred enveloping them just as surely as the train-tunnel thick tentacles of the giant cephalopod. He looked up, hearing the steel complain at the tightening of the rubbery, striated muscle.
“Blake, get us the hell out of here.” Alex knew they couldn’t just wait for it to rip them open, but also knew there was little they could realistically do. The Kraken was far larger, and far stronger than they were, and at home in this environment. They were just sardines in a can, waiting to be peeled open.
The strengthened steel hull groaned once again as monstrous pressure was applied to its surface. The control panels popped, lights began to go out, and one of their screens went dark.
“We’re fucked; not going anywhere,” Casey yelled.
Behind them, one of the walls started to compress, and then one of the reinforcing elliptical-frames began to lower from above them. Alex was underneath it faster than anyone could follow, and he reached up to hold the curved beam. He felt it then — so close. He and the creature were separated by a thin skin of strengthened steel.
He glimpsed its alien mind. It wanted them, not just as food, or as playthings, but it wanted them for revenge. It wanted to torture them, rip them to pieces slowly, and then devour the bits. It knew human beings, and knew what made them scream the loudest.
Alex gritted his teeth, as the steel started to come down hard. He focused all of his strength, and locked his arms. The steel bending stopped momentarily, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to hold it for long. He turned slowly, and could only let the words hiss from between his teeth.
“Blake — get us — out — of here — NOW!”
“Trying.” Blake wiped blood from his nose as his hands flew over the console. “Already at full power. Trying something…” His hands flew again. “… reversing.” After a few seconds, he swore, smacking his fist down hard on the console. “Nothing; we’re stuck.”
There came an abrupt boom of steel from somewhere back in the metal corridors. Soong screamed, and Shenjung covered her head with his arms and then together they sank down in a corner. Alex turned to where Aimee stood. She was silent and ghost like, clutching a wall strut. She just stared at him. There was resignation in her expression.
He heard her: Joshua, her mind repeated, over and over.
Alex turned back to the hull, screaming his defiance, releasing every demon from his id, and throwing them into war with the thing on the ship. He felt his bones start to bend, and tendons popped. But with all his great strength, inexorably, the steel beam still came down.
He turned back to Aimee. “Sorry,” he whispered.
“Fuck it.” Casey was on her feet, and punched one hand down on the torpedo room comm. link. “Rhino, fire all…”
“Belay that order,” Alex screamed through his pain. “You’ll blow us wide open.”
“We’re opening up now,” Casey yelled back. Her fists were balled. “We’re dead if we don’t.”
Alex was torn; the roof continued its slow drop. He was a flea holding back an elephant. “Not here, not now.” He prayed.
Blake hunched forward, one hand to his ear phone. “Something out there — mechanical.” He switched it to external. Over the speakers there was a tiny rotational whine. “What is that?”
Suddenly there was an impact explosion. He spun. “Was that us?”
“No.” Alex immediately felt the weight on the Sea Shadow’s surface vanish. They lurched free.
Blake clapped once, grabbing the controls. “Hey, we’re free, we’re free… it let us go.”
“Something just happened out there,” Cate said.
“Don’t care. We’ve been given a chance. Blake, take her down, soldier.” Alex dropped his arms, and immediately felt the pain of torn muscles and cracked bones. He nodded to Casey. “Now you can get Rhino.”
Casey grinned and pressed the comm. “Hey, big fella, still there?”
“Yo, shaken, but not stirred,” came the reply.
Alex smiled. “Ready on all tubes.”
The deep voice came back immediately. “Standing by, just say the word.”
The orthocone squid was an old female, the largest in its territory, and it had known more centuries than it could remember. It knew joy, boredom, curiosity, excitement, it knew love for its offspring, and it knew rage and hate. When it battled its own kind for territory or for food, or when the rocks fell from above to try and crush its limbs or its home, it had raged.