Chapter 7
The mandrill made its way down the shaft trying to locate the scent given to it. As it moved it began to grow in size as it was released from the spell that held it in place. It moved slowly and sniffed as it encountered each junction and each new grate. Its quarry's smell was everywhere but what it was currently scenting was residual, nothing fresh.
It continued to move through the shafts in the boat when suddenly it froze, its nose twitched and it turned its head towards the junction ahead. It approached the cover over the vent shaft stealthily so as not to alert its prey. It peered cautiously up and down the corridor below as best it could and then it heard the sounds of footsteps moving down the hallway. It watched silently as a man passed by the vent and continued on past. This was him, this was its prey.
The mingehe pushed on the grate in front of it until it swung open. It leapt to the floor below and began to stalk its unwitting prey. The man in front of it was staring intently at something in his hands and not paying much attention to anything around him. He reached a junction in the corridor and as he stopped to look at something he heard a soft shuffling sound behind him.
He looked over his shoulder and froze startled by the full grown male mandrill moving slowly down the corridor towards him. "What the hell? Where did you come from?" he said aloud though not really expecting an answer. The animal stopped and regarded him inhaling the air deeply and snarled slightly.
He cautiously eased his way over to the handset on the wall picked it up and clicked the button on the mic. "Control room this is Watkins."
"Control room, O'Brien here," came the response.
"Lieutenant I'm down here near the circuitry room and there's a…"
Watkins couldn't continue as the mandrill rushed him, like greased lightning, its mouth open baring its formidable three inch fangs. It was on him in an instant biting, scratching, tearing away at its hapless victim. The only thing the men in the control room heard were the blood curdling screams from Watkins and guttural, feral roars from whatever had found him.
O'Brien acted instantly sounding the alarm alerting the entire boat to something amiss. He immediately dispatched security to the area near the circuitry room to aid Watkins and get whatever was attacking him.
"Control this is Crane, report." The page occurred almost instantly following the sounding of the alarm.
"Control room here Skipper," O'Brien replied. "Sir, Crewman Watkins reported finding something in the corridor near the circuitry room and the next thing we heard were screams and growling. I've dispatched security down there to find out what's going on."
"Very well I'm on my way there," Crane replied and signed off.
(o)(o)(o)
It froze at the sound of the klaxons, their screeching noise tearing into its ears. It backed off its prey and looked quickly around for some place to hide from the hideous noise. It scampered down the corridor and tried the first door it found that being the circuitry room. It somehow managed to get the door open and ducked inside. It looked frantically around the room trying to find some place to hide. It spotted a small vent shaft at the top of the room and moved to the circuitry panel in front of it and began to climb.
As it grabbed the first bunch of cables trying to launch itself towards the vent, the cable pulled loose spewing sparks and smoke and imparting a powerful shock. The sudden shock stunned the mingehe knocking it to the floor sending it into an uncontrolled rage. It attacked each of the circuitry cabinets tearing out the wires and sparking fires. Seaview reacted immediately as control systems were compromised and began to pitch and roll in response as she plunged helplessly out of control towards the bottom.
The rapid pitch and roll of the vessel pulled the creature back from its mindless rage and it once again scampered up the front of the first circuitry bank and tugged at the vent cover, wrenching it open. It clambered inside then began following its nose back to its master all the while shrinking in size as it moved along.
(o)(o)(o)
Lee quickly pulled on his clothes, shoved his feet into his shoes and barreled out of his cabin towards the circuitry room closely followed by Chip as he also bolted from his cabin.
"What's up?" Chip inquired as he hurried after Lee.
"O'Brien said Watkins found something in the passageway near the circuitry room and it attacked him. He said he's dispatched security there already," Lee replied over his shoulder as he nearly ran down the passageway.
As they reached the next hatch all hell broke loose as Seaview lost all trim and began to pitch about wildly as control systems were knocked off line. Unprepared for the sudden shift they were thrown into the bulkhead and then slammed to the deck. They laid there stunned and bleeding as they helplessly rode Seaview to the ocean floor. As the boat hit bottom and slid to a stop the lights winked out along with the majority of the other systems. The red emergency lighting snapped on almost immediately.
Fighting hard to regain his senses Lee groaned, slowly rolled over and forced himself up to his knees. The world around him spun frantically for a moment causing him to cram his eyes shut and breathe deeply to help reestablish his center. As he gained control he looked to his right and saw Chip lying motionless on the deck.
"Chip? Chip are you okay?" He was greeted with silence. He cautiously crawled over to his XO and peered down at him. He placed his hand gently on his shoulder and shook him.
Chip groaned loudly and brought his hand up to his head. "Oh god, what happened?"
"Got no idea," Lee replied. "Are you injured beyond the cut on your forehead?"
Chip quickly took stock of his body and slowly shook his head in the negative. He regretted that movement immediately as it felt like he was riding tilt-a-whirl. "Other than one hell of a headache I think I'm okay. How about you?" he answered as he slowly pushed his way up to a seated position.
"Same headache," Lee replied. "Can you operate?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"Okay then make your way down to the control room and see what's going on. I'm on my way to the circuitry room to get a status on things there." Lee pushed himself up to his feet and quickly cradled his left side and inhaled sharply.
"Lee! You sure you're okay? Do we need to call Jamie?" Chip asked immediately concerned at Lee's reaction.
"Yeah I'm fine, I must have made contact with the side of the hatch and bruised my ribs," he answered as he gingerly prodded his side. "Nothing broken, just painful."
"You're sure?"
"Yes mother. Now if you're up to it get to the control room and let's get control of this boat," he replied as he extended his hand to his friend and helped him to his feet.
"Aye Skipper," Chip replied as he collected his balance and then headed off towards the control room.
Lee turned and began making his way to the circuitry room as quickly as he could. As he encountered downed men in the passageway he checked them over to make sure no one was critically injured. Those relatively uninjured were dispatched to their stations to help begin recovery operations and those that were having more problems he told to sit tight until a corpsman could get to them.
He climbed gingerly down the ladder to the deck where the circuitry room was located and continued on. He came across Kowalski slowly pulling himself up to his feet. "Ski, you okay?" he asked as he gave the rating a hand.
"Yes sir, just stunned I think. What happened Skipper?" Ski asked.
"I haven't a clue but bet it's associated with whatever Watkins reported. Come with me to the circuitry room."
"Aye Skipper."
They continued down the passageway and as they rounded the corner to the circuitry room Crane suddenly slipped in something wet. Ski made a quick grab for his arm and kept him from going down eliciting a gasp as Crane strained his bruised ribs.
"What the hell?" Lee said as he regarded the wet smudge on the deck. In the red emergency lighting it was impossible to tell what the substance was. He looked down the corridor and saw someone lying face down on the deck in front of them. He moved quickly over to the downed man and as he turned him over he didn't need lights to tell him what he had slipped in.
"Watkins," Ski whispered as he took in the badly mauled body of the crewman.
Lee kneeled next to the downed man and placed his hand on the side of his neck and felt for a pulse even though he already knew it was pointless. The man's throat had been nearly ripped out, and there were deep rips and scratches on his face, chest and arms. "Damn," Lee said quietly.
Lee struggled back to his feet. "Come on Ski," he whispered as he made his way to the circuitry room door. He slowly turned the knob then eased the door open. The smell of melting plastic and smoke flowed into the corridor making the men cough as it invaded their lungs. After a moment he pushed the door open fully and entered. Much to his relief any fires had been extinguished. He and Ski cautiously made their way around the room noting the extensive damage to nearly every cabinet and panel.
"What a mess," Ski said as they completed their tour of the room. "No wonder we're sittin' on the bottom dead in the water."
"Can't argue with you there. See if you can find a couple of flashlights Ski and let's see if maybe we can get the lights back on."
"Aye Skipper." A few seconds later a narrow beam from a flashlight cut through the smoky air in the room. Ski walked back over to Crane and handed him a flashlight. With lights in hand they more closely examined the extent of the damage.
"What the hell did this, sir?" Ski asked.
"I have no idea but by the looks of poor Watkins it was powerful," Lee replied as he played his light over the lighting console. "Ski go grab a tool kit and let's get to work."
Ski nodded and headed over to the supply cabinet and grabbed a tool kit and a couple of spools of wire. He returned to the skipper and they each pulled out pliers, wire cutters, and screwdrivers and began making repairs. Within 15 minutes the lights winked on resulting in a relieved sigh from everyone on board.
"Ski continue working here, I'll send down help once I get to the control room," Lee said as he dropped his tools into the kit.
"Aye Skipper," Ski replied. "I'll jump on the air revitalization circuits next." Lee nodded and then exited the circuitry room.
(o)(o)(o)
On his way to the conn Lee encountered the security team sent down to aid Watkins. They were out cold having met up with the bulkheads when Seaview threw her fit. He knelt down next to the Master at Arms and placed his hand gently on his neck feeling for a pulse. He was gratified to find a strong beat. His contact with the downed man seemed to stir him awake and Henderson groaned and slowly forced his eyes open.
Henderson looked up at the captain in some confusion wondering why the captain was kneeling over him. "Skipper? What…what happened?" he asked as he winced in pain when he moved his head.
"You okay Jim?" Lee answered.
"Yeah I think so," he replied as he began moving various parts of his body then struggled to sit up. Lee quickly assisted him up to a seated position and kept him in place until he was sure he was stable.
"Something attacked Watkins and killed him then tore the hell out of the circuitry room. If you're okay check out the rest of your team, get help for those who need it then get down to the circuitry room corridor secure the scene and get security outfitted with side arms and patrolling the corridors until we get that thing. You'll need to get Watkins' body bagged up and down to Jamieson so he can perform a cursory autopsy and hopefully identify what killed him."
"Aye sir," Henderson said as he cleared his throat and gently moved his neck and head trying to clear the cobwebs out. Sure that his MMA was going to be okay Lee continued on his way to the control room.
(o)(o)(o)
Entering the control room Lee spotted Chip speaking with the admiral up by the chart table. He began moving forward towards them, taking his time to touch base with his crew and make sure they were all right. He was immediately spied by the XO and he broke off his report waiting for the skipper to join them.
"What did you find in the circuitry room Lee?" Harri asked and Lee drew near.
"Well sir, whatever Watkins found killed him. He was quite literally torn to pieces, it's a gruesome sight. It then went into the circuitry room and severely damaged almost every panel in there. As you can see Kowalski and I got the lights on and he's working on the air revitalization unit right now. Once he gets that going we can begin prioritizing repairs to the other systems," Lee explained. "I found Henderson on my way up here and got him back on his feet. He's securing the scene and will take Watkins' body to sick bay so Jamie can hopefully give us some indication as to what attacked him. He'll also get armed security patrols established and roving the boat until we capture whatever caused all this. How do things stand here?"
"Initial surveys indicate that we are tight and dry. We're sitting on the bottom at 2300 feet. There are numerous reports of injuries ranging from bumps and bruises to severe concussions and broken bones thanks to our unplanned trip to the bottom. The reactor scrammed due to the problems in the circuitry room so it's currently off line but undamaged and Lt. Marks has begun restart procedures so hopefully we'll be able to restore full power in 8 hours. Navigation, communications, steering systems are all down and repairs are currently underway but that is going to be controlled by how quickly repairs are made in the circuitry room," Chip reported.
Lee nodded as he listened to his XO's litany of the boat's woes. "Thanks Chip. Chief, Kowalski needs assistance in the circuitry room, get Patterson, Wilkes and Rodriguez down there to help him out if they're undamaged."
"Will do Skipper," Sharkey replied and headed out the aft hatch to track down the men.
"So any idea what Watkins found?" Nelson inquired.
"Not at this point. I really didn't have much opportunity to look around for it as we needed to start getting systems back on line. There was no indication where it went after it got done trashing the circuitry room so it could be anywhere on the boat. The big question is how did it get on board?" Lee replied.
"Could it have been brought aboard with Blanchard's cargo?" Chip asked.
"Possibly, it seems the most logical source. Chip check with whoever conducted the security check of their equipment and cargo to see if he spotted anything out of the ordinary," Lee answered as he rubbed distractedly at his temple trying to beat back the headache that threatened to explode his head.
"Will do Lee," Chip replied and moved off to check the duty roster to determine who was on duty the day they loaded the scientist's cargo.
"How are you doing Lee" Harri asked once Chip had left. "Chip said you had a rough meeting with a hatch sill and by the squint of your eyes I'd say you're nursing more than just a headache."
Lee gave Harri a quick smile. "I'm fine sir, just a little bruised is all. How about yourself? Did you have any rude encounters with the walls or deck?"
Harri just rolled his eyes at Lee's stock answer. Unless there was incontrovertible proof that he was injured, like a gaping chest wound or a missing limb he was always 'fine'. He'd have to sic Jamie on him after they got things better under control to find out the real extent of his injuries. "I just bet. Luckily I managed to avoid any damage. I was coming down the staircase and was able to sit down and hold on until we hit bottom."
"That's good to hear sir," Lee replied, his relief evident in the smile that shot across his face. "I would suggest we head down to sick bay," Lee started, then bit back a scowl at Harri's shocked expression. "To check on the injured and see if Jamie has had an opportunity to look over Watkins yet," he finished hopefully forestalling any of Nelson's attempts to deposit him into Jamie's clutches.
Harri nodded in agreement and started making his way towards the stairs. Lee scanned the control room and spotted Chip reviewing old duty rosters. "Chip we're heading to sick bay to see if Jamie has any information on what killed Watkins."
"Alright Lee," Morton acknowledged. "Baker had security watch in port, I'll get with him and see if he noticed anything out of the ordinary when he screened the cargo brought aboard." Lee nodded and then turned and followed Nelson up the stairs.
(o)(o)(o)
