Chapter Seven

Planet Earth, over 65 million years BC

Shelter hill, Great Valley

Littlefoot had a horrible feeling in his mind. It said "The storm is getting closer. It will destroy the valley, and this is where you're going to die!" He tried to shut it out, but he could not. He felt one of those times when one believes certain death is near. If this storm was more powerful than any other, it could flood the valley greater than it was flooded before and swamp the shelter. He could not shut out the image from his mind.

The storm continued to rage like there was no tomorrow, while the howling of the wind and sounds of destruction, torrential rain and thunder continued to resonate through the walls of the shelter. Many dinosaurs believed that they would never leave the shelter, either due to death or permanent isolation. The storm was more terrible than any they had seen recently, even the whirling winds that had struck the valley during Doc's visit. Even if they did survive, they wondered if there would be a valley for them to come back to once the storm ended.

Scenes of terrible devastation and permanent damage flashed through their minds, especially the mind of the old Longneck. However, he had seen many terrible disasters strike the valley, yet the dinosaurs had always found a way to survive, even when they were once forced to leave after the plague of swarming leaf gobblers. All of the adult dinosaurs had gone through an immense battle for survival just in reaching the valley, and he was confident they could survive again.

Soon, against all expectations, the howling of the wind, the roar of thunder and rain and the flashes of lightning ceased. A deathly silence began. As quickly as it had begun, the storm had ended. To everyone's relief, no-one was harmed. The storm had not penetrated the shelter. The old Longneck breathed a sigh of relief, before making an announcement to the others.

"The storm has passed. We can now leave the shelter."

The dinosaurs were about to move the rock that sealed the entrance, before Tops interrupted them.

"Hold on a moment! What if it's flooded out there?"

There was a pause. The old Longneck looked upwards at one of the holes in the roof that ventilated the cavern, and then turned to Petrie's mother.

"Can you fly through that hole?"

"I should be able to."

"Good. We need you to scout outside and see if the valley is flooded, by how much, and if there are any other dangers. We need a full picture, so fly over the whole of the valley. We're counting on you."

"By all means! I just need some room for take-off."

The dinosaurs gave her room, and the flyer was soon airborne. As she headed up to the hole, she heard Petrie call "be careful Mama!"

The mother flyer flew up out of the roof and began to climb. Soon she was cruising steadily above the valley, her membranous wings flapping and soaring with the wind. She pointed her beaked and crested head downwards, until she got a full view of the ground.

As she expected, there was much devastation. Large portions of forest had been smashed to matchwood. Trees were fallen and crushed, and earth churned up. The ground was littered with debris. But to her relief, there was no serious flooding, apart from a slightly burst bank on the river. Yet the river had not swamped the valley, and the lakes remained their normal size. But as she flew higher, she soon corrected herself – there was no flooding inside the valley.

Apart from a strip of land leading to the wastes outside, the Great valley was completely surrounded by water, so much so that it was now a peninsula. The massive Tsunamis and risen sea levels had swamped the flat land outside, but had not been able to flow over the mountains that surrounded it like a fortress. The valley was closer to the sea than it had ever been before.

The female flyer was thankful that life in the valley had not been affected, despite the fact that was now surrounded by ocean. As the last flood, the water levels would recede, and things would be back to normal again. And from what she could see, no sharpteeth had broken into the valley after the Mysterious beyond was swamped. The effects of the storm had been destructive, but there was no cause for serious concern. Although large portions of forest had been smashed, enough green food remained and there was still plenty of drinkable water.

Still, the flyer decided to fly around the mountain walls, just in case there was a potential point where the new water could breach the walls and flood the valley.

Luckily, she found none, but she found something that made the situation not quite as normal as she thought. On one part of the valley walls was a plateau, connected to the valley floor by a sloping green hillside, lined with trees, like most of the valley. The Plateau itself had a few trees, but not as many due to the soil being not as fertile as it was on the valley floor. On the side of the feature opposite the connecting hillside, there was the new water, which stretched out for thousands of miles until it reached the sea.

Here there was nothing but the big blue. The tops of mountains that had been partially submerged formed a kind of large sheltered bay.

It was here, in one corner of where the bay met the plateau, with what looked like it's front wedged between the sides of two mountains and what looked like it's rear end held up by a ledge, placing it in a position in which it's front end was underwater and the rear end was sticking out of the water, lay a huge dark mass.

The flyer was speechless. The thing seemed solid, with a raised section close to the rear, with red mottling (including what looked to her as being like a red star), strange objects like bent tree trunks that stuck out of the raised section and a stocky, finned tail, with two circular, bladed appendages that meant nothing to the flyer. The object was completely alien to her. But then the red markings ignited a spark in her mind.

The same red markings were on the mysterious floater. The same dark monster where that floater had come from, that Littlefoot had seen in his dream, and that Mo had described to Cera, had come to the Great valley and she was staring at it, right here!

"How did that get here?"

She guessed that the storm had brought it here, but could anything be powerful enough to bring something that large from the bottom of the ocean? The currents would have had to have been fantastically strong. There was no way it could have moved itself, if it was "built" like the smaller floater, as Mr. Thicknose had said.

Or maybe that was not the case. Maybe it was alive, and was now hungry…

She brushed away that thought. If that was the case, she would see it moving and displaying signs of life. Instead the huge mass was simply resting where it had settled. Still, the others needed to be informed.

The Flyer made a U-turn, and headed to the shelter hill to inform the other dinosaurs that the valley was safe – and that it had a strange and massive newcomer.

Soviet Navy submarine K-128 K.K. Rokossovsky, Alfa-class SSN

The Rokossovsky continued her passage up the tunnel, which to the crew now seemed almost endless. Occasionally it dipped or rose, and delicate manoeuvring was required to prevent a collision with the sides of the passage. She passed ancient shipwrecks similar to those that her crew had previously seen, rotting wooden hulls and masts, which told of previous adventurers who had come this way and never returned.

Often they were Viking vessels, which were once sailed by the hardy and fierce men of the North who journeyed stormy seas, reaching as far as Russia - contributing to the founding of Rankov's country - and North America. The wrecked vessels probably formed part of those fleets which reached the continent and Greenland, only to be caught in the mysterious currents that came from this tunnel. Perhaps they had heard of some ancient legend about this place and came here in search of glory, or had simply been sucked down unaware of what lay beneath them. Either way, they were nothing more than ancient wrecks now.

Captain Vasili Rankov began to believe that he and his crew would never get out. Every time they came to what seemed like an exit, they found it was merely the tunnel going up or down. It was an endless, dark passage, currently lit only by the sub's twin searchlights. Yet still she continued on her voyage to what looked like nothingness to the crew. The crew themselves remained largely silent, save for Mishin and his ridiculous propaganda speech.

Judging from what his sonar officer had reported was going on at the other end, Rankov didn't fancy going there too quickly, a plus point for such a long passage. He had been told of the sounds of a hurricane, much more powerful than the one at the end of the tunnel they had entered from. A hurricane like that would cause major tidal waves, incredibly powerful currents. In other words, a dangerous place for any sailor. It was still going on at the moment. Then the sonar officer reported some new findings.

"Sir, the storm at the exit appears to have stopped."

"What?"

"It ceased as suddenly as it began."

There was no mistake. The sounds of crashing waves and currents were no longer roaring on the hydrophone. It was another mysterious anomaly, but at the same time a stroke of luck, since the boat would not be faced with a hurricane once she got out of the tunnel. So Rankov now felt comfortable about pressing onward.

Sure enough, after going through several twists and turns, the sonar officer reported that they had reached the end of the tunnel and that the exit led into open sea. No longer would the Rokossovsky have to move slowly and cautiously.

"Helm, bring her into ahead standard. Sonar, get those scans stronger, the TK-95 wreckage should be here."

Rankov had seen shipwrecks from every era inside the tunnel – but no sign of the TK-95. Rankov guessed that the currents it was caught in were strong enough to drag it all the way along the tunnel and out the other side. Going at that speed, the larger sub would have been bound to strike the sides of the tunnel, puncturing it's hull and sinking it. It had to be here.

But to everybody's surprise, it was not. Once again, the sonar detected no steel wreckage. But it did find evidence that something large had sunk here.

"There is a large impression in the sea bed close to the tunnel, which marks an impact point of something large."

"Like a submarine?"

"Quite possibly. It seems a landslide was also started, and some of the rocks and ground here are broken up by the impact. The impact area is extensive; it couldn't have been made by one of the ships we previously saw."

"But there is no wreckage?"

"None Comrade Captain. Except for a minor debris field."

"What kind of debris?"

"There is a part of what looks like a submarine tail fin, a hydroplane, some fragments of metal, including what I can conclude is part of a periscope and conning tower mast."

It was pointless to search the debris field further; since it was doubtful any survivors or warheads would be here. To find those, he would have to find the main body of the boat, if it remained intact. But if it had settled here, where was it now? It seemed impossible for it to bury itself in the seabed, the ground was to hard. Perhaps it had simply bounced here, and then settled somewhere else. That seemed improbable, but it was the best explanation. Another of Rankov's priorities was to find out where exactly he had emerged.

"Keep moving ahead. Sonar, give me a full scan of the area."

Once again, a long range sonar pulse was made, giving a picture of the area around the Rokossovsky. When the images came through, they puzzled the lieutenant on sonar watch.

"Captain, the terrain is completely different from the geology of where we came in. The area is much more mountainous, including what looks like undersea volcanoes."

"Unusual for the Arctic."

"Yes sir. There are also several small ocean ridges. There are also brine spires and undersea volcanic vents."

"What is our depth?"

"Less than what it was where we came in. There we were at 1000 metres, now we are at 350 metres."

That was astonishing. Could they have travelled all the way along the tunnel and reached a shallower sea? It seemed impossible. Could they have found a tunnel leading all the way under the Arctic to the North Pacific, where such geology and shallow depth existed? Unlikely, but not impossible. Rankov decided to find out. He turned to the navigation officer.

"Activare the wire aerial and tune into the navigation satellite. We'll soon find out where we are."

The lieutenant deployed the aerial and attempted to reach the satellite, but to his surprise, there was no response.

"Sir, there is no signal from the satellite."

"What do you mean no signal? Try again."

"It's no use sir. I keep requesting co-ordinates, but they don't appear. Its almost as if the satellite was not even there."

Rankov turned to his communications officer.

"Very well. Planesman, go to periscope depth. Communications, activate the High frequency transmitter once we reach the surface. Prepare the following message. Have arrived in unknown location. Request co-ordinates and assistance."

The boat's ballast tanks gradually emptied of water and took in air, just enough to bring it to periscope depth. Once that happened, Rankov ordered the communications mast to be raised.

"Send the message."

They waited over half an hour for a response, but there was none. Rankov was becoming nervous. Where the hell were they? Surely there had to be other vessels around. So he turned to his sonar officer.

"Tune into the long-range hydrophones and see if you can hear any propeller sounds. There have to be some surface vessels around."

The lieutenant listened to the hydrophones, but did not hear anything, not even an outboard motor.

"There does not seem to be any…wait!"

"What?"

"I'm picking up an underwater contact, just below us. I can hear it's wake."

"Sonar, scan it completely. Is it another submarine?"

"There does not seem to be any propeller sounds."

"Put what you hear on the speaker."

The lieutenant on duty switched on the speakers. The sound was chilling. They heard the rush of water, and the sounds of the water being beaten by something like great paddles. But droning above this at a far louder volume was a low groaning or bellowing sound, like that of an animal. And it was getting louder. 2nd class Captain Volkov gazed down at the sonar officer's workstation, where the screen displayed the acoustic representation of the sound. Despite its disturbing nature, he was immediately asking for an analysis of the noise.

"Could it be a pod of whales?"

"Not according to the sonar. There is only one large contact, rather than several smaller ones. But it is definitely biological."

Finding large and strange biological contacts was not unusual to submariners. American and Soviet nuclear submarines had reported a strange sound known as the "Bloop" (due to it's sound) on their long-range voyages, particularly around South America. It had matched the profile of an animal, but no known animal was large enough to produce such a sound, possibly pointing to a massive sea animal unknown to science. The source of the sound still remained unknown.

This however, was much more than just a brief and loud sound, like the so-called Bloop. It was a continuous bellowing, with a sonar contact to prove it. It seemed logical at first to say that it was a whale. Volkov had heard whales before on previous voyages and knew that certain species did make similar sounds.

"Then it must be a large whale. The contact is nearly 25 metres long according to the sonar."

"I don't think it's a whale. From what I can detect it's not using echolocation."

"Get it on the cameras."

The viewing screen turned to the underside cameras. There was nothing but the blue/black depths of the sea. Then the sonar officer began to panic.

"Contact is coming up fast from below, headed straight for us!"

Before any of his superiors could reply, something appeared on the screen that sent terror into every one of them, and once again silenced Mishin's idiotic speech. The screen at first showed the same dark depths. And then something else appeared.

A head. A huge, fearsome head with a mouth full of sharp teeth, like a crocodile. Behind the head a huge body was visible, and attached to that body were four flippers, two on each side, that beat furiously, driving the immense bulk through the water at an incredible speed. But these were not visible for long, since once the creature got close it opened its mouth, and then only the teeth were visible. The teeth closed in on the camera and then the screen went into distortion.

Simultaneously, a huge jolt was felt throughout the boat. The creature had attacked. For the first time, the captain showed fear. He had not been trained for something like this.

"What the hell was that?!"

"It's moving away sir. It could be getting ready for another charge!"

"Helm, bring us to its depth and put her into ahead flank!"

If they did not move fast, then the massive jaws of the sea monster that the cameras had witnessed could cause a hull breach. The Alfa's powerful turbines sprung into life, taking it to it's top speed of 45 knots. It soon reached a depth of two hundred metres. Rankov knew he had to take control of the situation, deciding instantly what to do.

"Got to battle stations!"

A red light flicked on and the crew went to battle stations. Two extra officers entered the control room, going to the combat shift of eight men. They were ready for action, and needed a strong will and a capable show of leadership, but what they did not need was a new, louder speech from Mishin trying to raise morale for battle.

"Courage comrades, we have courage, resilience and the motherland on our side, we shall prevail, and…"

Rankov lost his temper at Mishin.

"Shut up!"

He then turned to the sonar officer.

"Do we have that thing's position on our sonar?"

"Yes sir, it is turning back towards us, and is 50 metres below us."

"It won't be able to match our speed. Bring her behind it, number one."

As Volkov relayed the new course co-ordinates, the Alfa's hydroplanes and pump jet turbine went into action. The submarine made a wide battle turn, moving like a fighter plane thanks to its light construction, easy and automated handling and powerful engine. The creature was overwhelmed by the speed of this unknown quarry, soon losing sight of it. It did not occur to the beast that the swift, black thing that it proposed eating was now right behind it. Rankov gave combat orders briskly.

"Weapons, tubes one and two loaded?"

"One and two are loaded."

"Flood both tubes, lock them onto the target."

Soon both torpedo tubes were ready.

"Tubes one and two ready?"

"One and two are ready."

"Fire!"

The two heavy anti-submarine torpedoes left their tubes. For the moment they were wire guided, their co-ordinates and commands, fed to them by the weapon systems officer at his workstation. Under his guidance, they were directed towards the monster, which heard a hissing sound, but had no inkling of what was going on. Then the torpedoes were released from their guiding wires and the deadly warheads homed in on their target.

The giant predator had no chance of escape. Two huge explosions roared and boiled the water. Within seconds, a cloud of blood appeared. The boat's forward cameras showed the huge body sinking towards the depths. The weapons officer grinned with satisfaction.

"Target destroyed. Well done sir."

The crew were about to applaud him, when Rankov silenced them.

"Don't celebrate yet. There may be more in the area. We had better leave quickly, before the smell of blood attracts them."

The swift moving Soviet submarine left the area and the sinking dead mass. Now that the action was over, the crew had the opportunity to try to answer a billion questions in their minds.

"What the hell was that thing?"

"Where are we?"

But of course nobody had an answer. But the captain hoped to find one.

"We will analyse that footage in the wardroom later. That thing was nothing like I'd seen, with those four flippers."

"What was it?"

He shrugged.

"There are the other mysteries to worry about. Why didn't we pick up a signal from our satellite? Why did no one answer our radio message? And why have we not found the wreckage we are looking for?"

It was then that the communications officer chipped in.

"Sir, while there was no response to our message, I did pick up a signal."

"What kind of signal?"

"A distress signal, S.O.S."

"From another radio?"

"No it seems to be an automated signal, like a distress beacon."

"Like a distress buoy?" suggested Volkov.

Rankov smiled. Now they were on to something.

The High Command had thought the TK-95 had not released it's buoy. Judging from this signal however, it evidently had. It had probably been dragged into the tunnel along with the Typhoon boat by the strong currents.

Maybe if he could find the distress buoy, it would give him a precise search area for any wreckage; the buoy was not designed to stray far from the scene of the disaster. If he simply homed in on the source of the signal, he could find the buoy and hopefully find the wreck. He gave a new order.

"Get me the co-ordinates of that signal. That'll be our new destination."

Somewhere in the Tethys ocean

Around 50 miles off flooded coastline

The pod had only a few hours ago battled with the surging waves and currents as the great storm hammered marine life, smashing coral, churning the waters and leaving death and devastation in its wake. Now the sea was calm as if nothing had happened, save for the ruins of coral reefs and broken rocks. There was a sense of relief that the entire pod had survived by staying deep and in open water. They had thought everything had returned to normal.

Then they saw two bright flashes far off in the distance. These were soon followed by dull booms, whose sound, while incredibly loud, travelled slower than the flashes of light, even underwater. The lead female was instantly alert. Her young son was nervous.

"What was that mama?"

"I don't know Mo, but don't worry; it'll be all right, just stay close."

The sounds were brief before passing, and the flashes soon vanished. Mo's mother guessed that it was some sort of volcanic eruption underwater – she had seen them before in her time. But then she heard something strange. Like all fish lizards she had extremely acute hearing, and the rest of the pod heard what she heard as well.

It was an odd pinging sound, with a few small pings and then a single large one following in constant succession. It seemed to be getting louder, and closer. It was like nothing the pod had ever heard before, totally alien to them. It was hard to figure out what could be making such a sound; there was no visible creature nearby. And then their acute eyes saw something emerge from the dark blue waters.

A monster. A black, mouthless, eyeless, headless, faceless mass. It was slowly moving through the water, at some distance below them. The heard the rush of water along its large body as it cruised through the sea. They all stared open mouthed, and then all of them, including Mo, realised that it was similar to the larger entity they had seen dead near the tunnel.

Except this one was alive; and it was this that was making the strange noises which became louder as it got passed closer to the pod. Mo also saw that while it was larger than anything he had seen in the ocean, it was small in comparison with the other mysterious cruiser. It was also of a different shape. The other had been large and bulky; this one was much more streamlined and slim. The raised section was longer, with more rounded edges, placed more to the front of the cruiser than the back, like the other one.

Yet it shared the same red mottling on its raised section. Perhaps that told of what pod both cruisers were from. Perhaps it had come to look for the dead one, although Mo saw that it was heading in the opposite direction.

It continued to pass them as they stared at it in complete silence. They had thought that mysterious events had passed after forgetting about the larger object. This newcomer had proved them wrong. As it left them, Mo saw those bizarre circular blade-like fins and understood how they helped it to swim. They were rotating steadily, churning up the water and leaving a visible wake.

It soon left them and vanished into the blue shroud, although they continued to hear the strange pinging for several minutes afterwards until it faded away. Mo then saw that it was heading in the direction of where the Great Valley had been.

The Rokossovsky had been unaware of this encounter. She continued on her journey towards the source of the TK-95's distress buoy signal, in search of her lost comrade in the Soviet Navy. She soon reached a now submerged shoreline, which sloped like a hill in front of her. Far beyond that stood a ring of mountains, submerged only up to their bases, still faithfully shielding the lush and green world within.