“What are those things?” Peterson asked no one in particular then added, “They sort of look like squids.”
“They’re not squids,” Cheryl said firmly. “Squids don’t move like that.”
Dixon didn’t have a background in science like she did, but you didn’t work security of places like the Alpha One platform and not pick up a few things over the years. “Squids aren’t that fast,” he agreed.
Dixon turned to Cheryl. “Do you think they were what Thomas was picking up down there?”
“I don’t see how. Thomas showed me his data. It didn’t point to anything like those creatures,” Cheryl said.
“What did it point to?” Dixon asked, not sure he really wanted to hear her answer.
“Thomas thought there was a single, massive lifeform at the bottom of the trench.” Cheryl frowned as she ran her fingers through her jet black hair.
“Frag,” Dixon muttered. “And you gave him clearance to go anyway?”
“I agreed with him that whatever was down there had to be dormant, maybe in some kind of extended hibernation,” Cheryl explained. “We both figured anything asleep that long wasn’t going to be woken up by a brief visit from the X-29.”
“I can see the logic in that, but clearly Thomas and Pitts stirred something up. Let’s just hope they didn’t pay too high a price for doing it,” Dixon said.
“The copter is in route,” Peterson cut in. “Louis says he has a visual on the X-29.”
Louis could see the X-29 drifting in the water. The submersible’s hull had taken a beating. Dents covered its surface. There were long gashes in the metal of the hull as well as if something had been clawing at it, trying to get inside. Louis understood why Alpha One had lost contact with the X-29. As badly damaged as its exterior was, he didn’t doubt that the submersible’s comm. and sensor array had been torn off it completely.
“This is Rescue 1,” Louis said over the open channel to the platform. “I have eyes on X-29 Alpha. She’s beat up pretty bad but appears intact. Commencing deployment of the rescue team.”
“Hold off on that, Rescue 1,” Cheryl’s voice yelled into his ear through his headset. “Do you see any signs of activity in the water?”
“I’m sorry, ma’am,” Louis paused, “say again?”
“You heard me, Louis,” Cheryl growled at him. “Do you see anything in the water near the X-29? We have reason to believe it was attacked by … We don’t really know what at this point. Squid-like creatures, very hostile and aggressive. Putting your team in the water may not be the best option in terms of how to proceed.”
Louis bit his lip, wishing he had a cigarette. “There’s no sign of anything down there but the X-29, ma’am. At least not that I can see from up here.”
Had it been anyone other than Cheryl, he would have figured they were yanking his chain. Cheryl was always serious though. Louis turned in the copter’s pilot seat to look into the rear section where Brandon and Nathan were standing, waiting on his order to go.
“The boss lady says there might be trouble in the water, boys,” he told them. “Hold up for a second before you go down there.”
“Can you get a winch onto the X-29, lift it out, and bring it back to the platform?” Cheryl asked.
“I think we can manage that, ma’am,” Louis answered, “but I’m not seeing any kind of movement aboard the X-29 either. What if Thomas and Pitts…?”
“Thomas and Pitts are either safe inside the X-29 or dead,” Security Chief Dixon answered him.
“Understood, sir,” Louis replied, nodding his head slightly.
“And Louis,” Dixon added, “don’t let the rescue team touch the water. Hook up the wench from the air. Do you read me?”
“Loud and clear, sir.” Louis watched the X-29 bobbing on the ocean’s surface as he answered. “We’ll haul her in A.S.A.P.”
“What’s going on?” Brandon asked, moving up to take the unmanned co-pilot seat. Teague, Louis’s co-pilot, was back aboard Alpha One with a nasty stomach bug that had hit him out of the blue.
“Nothing good,” Louis shook his head. “Alpha One says that getting in the water could be a very bad idea. They seem to think some kind of creatures did this to the X-29 and they might still be around here.”
“Creatures?” Brandon laughed and then saw that Louis wasn’t joking.
“Heard it straight from Cheryl herself,” Louis assured him. “They want us to get a winch hooked up the X-29 and haul it home.”
“That seems pretty extreme.” Brandon looked through the copter’s window at the X-29.
“You’re telling me.” Louis wanted to laugh but it didn’t feel right. Not with the chance that Thomas and Pitts could be dead, victims of whatever had crippled the submersible.
“You and Nathan make sure you’re careful getting the winch hooked up,” Louis warned. “We have no idea what we’re dealing with down there. It’s going to be dangerous enough even if you both stay out of the water.”
“Roger that,” Brandon said and headed back into the rear compartment to get to work.
Chief Dixon looked over the battered hull of the X-29, appraising the damage that had been done to it. The submersible sat on where Louis’ copter had deposited it on the wide, open expanse of the Alpha One platform’s forward section. The X-29 had taken quite a beating. Long grooves were slashed into the armor of its hull. None of them were deep enough to have penetrated it, but they were more than a little disturbing. What kind of sea life had the strength to do something like this to the X-29? Nothing that Dixon knew of that was for sure. His gaze shifted to the dents that also peppered the hull of the X-29. The strength behind those kinds of blows had to be enormous.
The X-29’s forward window had been shattered and the submersible was flooded with salt water. A good portion of the water had leaked out of through the broken window during the flight to the station, but when they had opened its side door, water had still poured out it as if they had cracked open a fish tank. There was no sign of Pitts or Thomas. Both men were simply gone. Dixon’s best guess was that whatever had shattered the forward window had dragged the two men out through it before Louis and the rescue team had arrived to collect the X-29.
As Dixon walked around the X-29 where it sat continuing to examine the damage, Cheryl hung back, watching him. Hank stood beside her, a loaded 12 gauge held ready in his hands. Despite the fact that Dixon had cleared the X-29 in regards to immediate threats, Hank remained on guard.
The only other member of the Alpha One Platform’s crew present was Riggs, the platform’s engineer and mechanic. His mouth continued to hang open as he took in the full scope of the damage the X-29 had suffered.
When Dixon was finished with his inspection, he approached where the others stood. “Cheryl, I know you don’t want to hear this, but I think the platform needs to remain on high alert.”
Before Cheryl could start to protest, he added, “Whatever did this, whatever those things were that we saw in the video stream from the X-29’s final moments, they’re still out there.”
Cheryl gave a reluctant nod.
“You really think they’re a threat to this platform, Chief?” Hank asked.
Dixon gestured at the shotgun in Hank’s hands. “You wouldn’t be carrying that if I didn’t,” he pointed out. “We don’t know crap about those things. For all we know, they could be out there in the water right now, circling us.”
“I thought you said they were squids,” Riggs spoke up.
“No,” Cheryl answered. “We said they looked like squids. They’re not though. There’s not a squid alive today that could do that kind of damage to the X-29.”