Hassan thought about the question for a moment before answering. “Well, I suppose the primary function of blood is to ferry oxygen to tissues. Mammalian blood uses iron as the oxygen-transporting metalloproteinase within the hemoglobin of red cells, as do all vertebrates, whereas crustaceans and the like use a copper-rich haemocyanin—”
“Maybe you skip to interesting part now?”
“Yes, of course. Blood also supplies cells with nutrients, removes waste, passes hormones, regulates temperatures, assists the immune system, coagulates around broken vessels, and even engages in certain hydraulic functions.” The words spilled from his mouth as though he’d been asked to recite for his medical examination board.
“What is this hydraulic function?”
“I imagine the best human example is the male erection. But that’s rather beside the point. What is most key is that all of these functions could be supplemented — even replaced — with an enhanced artificially derived liquid compound. Imagine an Olympic runner who is never short of breath, a mountaineer on the Himalayas who need not carry oxygen bottles. The applications for trauma victims alone could be revolutionary. Artificial blood may prove superior to our own in virtually every way… at least in theory.”
Vitaly nodded, but Hassan was unsure how much the Russian really understood. Besides, he was probably distracting the man. Vitaly had been in the process of rigging a ramshackle collection of gauges to his former workstation, a sort of analogue reproduction of his now-disabled computer console. “I have last question. Why you cut here and not in cabin?”
Hassan winced, phrasing his response almost as a question. “Because it all smells quite badly?”
“I know this,” said Vitaly, now waving the wrench aggressively. “And I have much important work. Smell is very distracting.”
Hassan heard the sound of shuffling feet interrupting him before he could respond. Alexis and Dalmar entered the command compartment, the pirate looking decidedly worse for wear with Alexis propping him up. The engineer carefully helped him into a chair before casting a sideways glance towards the partially dissected organism.
“That is so nasty,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “Every time I see that thing, it’s somehow worse.”
“Because of smell?” suggested Vitaly.
“No, it’s not just the smell. It’s everything about it. That thing defies all I know and love about machines. And now its guts are all over the compartment — disgusting.”
“It is a dead metal snake,” agreed Dalmar. “No true warrior would use such a weapon.”
Hassan shook his head. He could see past the rot, past the stomach-churning amalgamation of flesh and technology to the underlying elegance, the beauty of the design.
“It’s more than just a mechanical snake,” said the doctor. “It’s perhaps the most sophisticated and revolutionary technology of our generation.”
“So, you’re saying Jonah just killed the most amazing thing you’ve ever seen by jamming a crowbar up its ass?” teased Alexis.
“In so many words, I suppose,” said the doctor, trying not to scowl. “Some days I feel my entire function aboard this ship is to clean up after that man. He’s a walking tsunami of unmitigated chaos.”
“You also cook things for me,” said Alexis, gently kissing him on the cheek. “So you have at least two functions.”
“Lest I forget,” said Hassan. “And how are things coming in the engine compartment?”
“Crappy,” she said. “But it could be worse. I’ve pulled out every single wire connected to a computer. The problem isn’t the engine — she runs — it’s everything else, the thousand ways any single cog can break down without warning. Normally, I’d just have the onboard software tell me when a subsystem is operating outside usual parameters. Now I’m stuck monitoring everything visually.”
“And yet she smile,” said Vitaly. Hassan looked closer. The Russian was right — Alexis was smiling.
“I suppose there’s a certain poetry to it,” she admitted. “Maintaining the engines by how they sound, how they smell. I figure the Scorpion is more than just a sub. She’s our home. She’s always whispered to us. Now we have to learn to listen.”
“You speak nonsense,” said Vitaly. “Computer invented for reason. Very annoying that metal worm thing with plastic blood crash all my system.”
“So, you make any progress on your little science project?” asked Alexis, wrinkling her nose as she pointed to the mechanical organism.
“I’ve actually learned a great deal,” said the doctor. “As we suspected, it’s a hybridized organic and mechanical device capable of interfacing with, learning from, and manipulating an impressive variety of computerized systems. Once a connection is made, its ability to subvert electronic programming is all but unlimited.”
“Same device that destroyed the Japanese fleet? Killed all those people in the underground North Korean contraband base?”
“I believe a similar organic payload was launched by air from the island to reach North Korea. The Japanese fleet was undoubtedly attacked under nearly identical circumstances. But as you can see from Jonah’s electronic dive watch, simple proximity to a wireless interface is all the device requires to infiltrate and rewrite existing software.”
“And it’s designed to kill.”
“Indeed. An ‘asymmetric weapon’ as Jonah might say. And perhaps as destabilizing to the regional balance of power as the newly-invented atom bomb of 1945.”
Alexis lowered her head, absentmindedly scratching at her chin as she thought out loud. “This is all going to blow up, isn’t it? It’s bigger than the ambitions of a single man. Yasua Himura built a powder keg, and now, he’s going to light it.”
“An outbreak of war does appear all but inevitable.”
“That’s what I figure, too,” said Alexis. “I just hope we won’t be anywhere near the area when it all goes off.”
CHAPTER 23
Jonah stepped into his cabin. The entire knob had been all but wrenched off the thin, wooden door. Freya sat up in his bed, smoothing the sheets before pulling her long, blond dreadlocks back over her shoulders with one hand. She held the blanket up to her neck with the other, covering her entire body. Only her bare arms were exposed. She stared him down without saying a word, tilting her head slightly as though considering a meal.
“Don’t bother getting up,” Jonah said, pointing to his filthy shirt and pants. He’d been helping Alexis with the messy job of checking the propeller shaft, a task that required pulling apart half of the engine compartment. “Just here for a change of clothes.”
Freya slouched back down in the bunk without responding, as though already losing interest in the nonexistent conversation.
“You never told me how it happened,” said Jonah without looking up from the drawer. “When you learned Himura had been lying to you.”
“What’s it to you?”
Jonah shrugged. “Call me curious.”
“He told me to hurt people who didn’t deserve it.”
“Who?”
“A group of graduate students onboard a research vessel. Marine biologists from Japan and the US. He wanted me to take over the bridge and steer to intercept a North Korean spy ship, and escape before I was taken hostage with the rest. It was all a setup. But I couldn’t go through with it.”
“Well, good for you for taking a stand.”
“No,” said Freya. Fire leapt into her eyes, a fury he’d only seen before when she was sinking one bloody fist after another into his ribs. “Not good for me. Not good for anybody. Himura said if I didn’t finish my mission he’d be forced to take many more lives, to do something much more terrible. I have no idea what he’s going to do — but I think we both know what he’s capable of.”