Brusilov agreed. “It’s ancient.” It felt strange giving the ship such a label with its advanced nature when compared to human technology. “It’s lain dormant for thousands of years and now it’s on the move the stress is ripping it apart.”
The sounds of stressed metal that had quickly increased in volume and frequency enforced Brusilov’s reasoning and accompanied their hurried dash away from the monsters in pursuit. They rounded a corner and noticed water trickling from a ceiling vent. The chief placed a hand in the stream as they passed and put it to his nose. “It’s not ice melt―it smells briny. I wonder where it’s leaking from.”
“Does it really matter?” said Brusilov. “We can’t stop it, but let’s hope the sea isn’t leaking in somewhere or the monsters might not be our only problem.”
A loud crash echoed along the corridor when something struck the ceiling behind them from above. The men still around the corner who had their gazes and weapons aimed back along the corridor as they fired occasional shots at the approaching monsters, saw the ceiling buckle before it fell and the wall of water that gushed through the gap. The wave picked up the lead monsters and sped towards them.
Bullets were useless now.
The men turned and ran.
The water flowed after them.
Alexei and Kolya, the two engineers at the back, shot glances behind at the tidal wave only a few yards away. A large dark shape, hazy and indistinct, surged forward and attacked the monsters desperately trying to escape the water before they drowned, swallowing them whole.
Alexei glanced at Kolya. “Did you see that?”
Kolya nodded. Though he had witnessed it, he wished he hadn’t. There was something in the water.
The dark shape swam forward to the front of the wave and observed the fleeing men with its six eyes for a moment before opening its massive jaws, as if proud to display the wicked teeth within to its intended victims. Something leaped from the water and latched onto Kolya’s back.
Kolya screamed and stumbled.
Alexei grabbed his arm to prevent him from falling. “Don’t stop, I’ll get it off.”
Alexei grabbed the alien parasite and yanked it free, ripping Kolya’s skin in the process. The parasite turned its head at Alexei as its jaws chomped on a chunk of Kolya’s flesh. Alexei threw it against the wall.
Brusilov’s light picked out an open door ahead. As soon as he was through he searched for the door control. With a hand hovered over the button, he stared back through the opening his men rushed through and caught his first glimpse of the water rushing towards them through the corridor and the horror it brought with it.
Alexei and Kolya saw the doorway ahead. Not far now and they would be safe. The Leviathan surged forward and shot out of the water. It slid along the floor and plucked Kolya up in its mouth. Kolya screamed when the monster fish clamped its jaws around him.
Blood sprayed Alexei’s shocked face. Blinded by the blood filling his eyes, Alexei stumbled and crashed into the wall as the water caught up and flowed over the giant amphibian.
The men in the doorway had watched in horror as another comrade died a gruesome death. When Alexei stumbled into the wall, Brusilov knew there was no saving him now and closed the door.
As Alexei regained his balance, he cleared his vision with his hands. He saw the door close and the guilty look on the faces of the men staring at him through the ever-narrowing gap. To save themselves he had been sacrificed. There was no escape for him now. The wave gripped him in its cold grasp, carried him along the corridor and smashed him against the door. As soon as the pressure subsided, he turned. Teeth filled his vision. Bubbles poured from his mouth when he screamed. Pain flooded his senses when the monster’s mouth-claws grabbed hold and fed him into the Leviathan’s maw. His blood clouded the water before his dimming eyes.
The men stared at their captain when he turned his gaze away from the door. All knew why he had done it and all knew it was a decision that would weigh heavily on his shoulders.
Brusilov glanced around at the men. Brave as he knew them to be, none were prepared for the horrors they had recently encountered. He now knew the Englishman, Richard Whorley, had not exaggerated his retelling of his own encounters with the alien monsters; if anything, he had underplayed their ferocity.
The door holding back the tons of water creaked from the pressure.
The captain glanced down the dark corridor a couple of the men shone their lights along. “Rozovsky, Vadik, lead the way,” he ordered.
As the men set off along the corridor, Brusilov glanced back at the door.
Nikolay laid a hand on Brusilov’s shoulder. “To save us you had no choice, my friend. Alexei would have known this and understood.”
Brusilov looked at his comrade. “That doesn’t make it rest any easier.” He headed along the corridor and Nikolay followed.
“Are my ears ringing or can anyone else hear that humming?” asked Vadik a few moments later, slapping his ears to try and clear them of the sound.
“It’s not your ears, you idiot,” Rozovsky pointed his rifle at the door at the end of the corridor. “It’s coming from behind there.”
The captain and the chief moved to the front.
Nikolay cocked an ear to the sound. “It sounds like machinery.”
Brusilov stared at the distant door. “We have nowhere else to go, so I guess we’re about to find out.”
The humming grew louder as they headed for the door.
Brusilov looked back at his men. “When the door opens, be prepared for anything.”
Weapons were aimed at the door and when it slid open a green glow seeped out, bathing the men in eerie light.
Brusilov peered through the opening and gazed around the room before stepping through onto a walkway that crossed to a door on the far side. The men followed close behind. The green light emanated from a series of clustered, six-foot diameter transparent pipes that ran the length of the long round tunnel. Contained within the pipes was a liquid that glowed green and crackled softly. Smaller transparent cables snaked out from the larger pipes and connected to black tubes or cables that disappeared into the curved walls and ceiling. A walkway raised a foot above the pipes and cables that covered the floor led off down the center.
Brusilov glanced at his chief engineer, who roamed his eyes over the tunnel. “What do you make of it, Nikolay?”
Nikolay was fascinated by the discovery. “It could be the main power and utility conduit that feeds the ship with whatever it needs to keep running.” He pointed along the tunnel towards the main source of the humming. “I assume there’s some sort of distribution plant that way.”
He turned to the captain. “It could be worth checking out. As well as weapons, its technology we’re after and we might find some there.”
Brusilov nodded. “It’s a good an option as any.”
The men, alert for danger, walked along the tunnel and entered the large room at its end. Tubes and cables of varying thicknesses snaked out from a large device that hummed steadily. Pieces of complex machinery, fittings, dials and small red lights covered the large machine. One of the wide tubes connected to it had pulled away from its housing on the machine, revealing thousands of smaller cables crammed inside.
Nikolay gazed at the machine that towered from a lower level to almost reach the seventy-foot high ceiling. “It seems to be a transformer, or the alien equivalent, to distribute power throughout the ship.”
The captain walked up to the rail of the balcony that ran the entire circumference of the room and peered over the edge. Strange pieces of smaller machinery covered the floor twelve feet below. All had cables attached that disappeared into ducts, the walls, under the floor or into the ceiling and some connected to other pieces of machinery. Though no doubt technologically advanced, he saw nothing easily transportable. “Let’s keep moving.”