Ocean Voyagers
The 'stranded' Kaiju are on the move. Which is bad news, however you look at it.
[Author's Note: This story follows A Nexus of Unforeseen Events and Operations.]
Jin Wei had a series of reports spread out on the desk in front of him. He had read through them several times, and was now trying to see how they might fit together.
One dealt with the Iceland Breach, including the Gottlieb-Geiszelt projections for the next time it would open. Not long.
At the end of the report, Newton Geiszelt had added a handwritten note.
Despite my respect for Dr Gottlieb's maths, it said, we should bear in mind that the Precursors may not do what we expect. They have shown a great ability to surprise us. There is much we do not know about them. But we know they are not stupid.
Jin put the paper aside and turned to the next report. It was about the incident in Singapore, when the bear-sized Kaiju, codenamed Ursu, had been stolen. The exact identity of the perpetrators was not known although most of the speculation pointed towards Hannibal Chau. But no-one knew why he wanted Ursu: the amount of material that could be harvested from it did not seem to justify the extensive planning and resources involved in the operation.
The final report dealt with the course of the three Kaiju: Namazu, Xia Ci and Snakehead. They had all been in the seas south of Japan, now they were heading towards the Marshall Islands. There was nothing there for them, as all the islands of the South Pacific had been evacuated long ago. So they were on their way somewhere else.
He sat thinking for a while. Eventually, he picked up the phone and called Marshall Hercules Hansen.
"They are on their way to the Iceland Breach," he said.
"But they have never shown any interest in it before," said Hansen. "We assumed they were too far away for any telepathic connection. It's the other side of the world, about as far away as you can get."
"It was Ursu," said Jin. "As soon as the blocking transmitter was removed, it established a link with them. So now the three of them know about the Iceland Breach. They are on their way to protect it."
"How do you know that?"
"It is what I would do."
Hansen considered. "Okay," he said. "If they get there and establish themselves, there's no way we'll be able to stop it from getting to full size. Not that anything we've done so far has worked."
"I suggest that both of the Jaegers and as many other forces as possible be moved to the Iceland Breach at once."
"That's a big commitment of resources. If you're wrong, we'll be open everywhere else."
"Do you believe I am wrong, Marshall?"
Hansen was quiet for a long time. Then he said: "I'll call Tendo and the Jaeger teams."
[END]
