A/N - Okay, JSRobertson... here you go!
Chapter Nine
Lee leaned heavily into the laser sights as Chip Morton guided Seaview into the danger zone where the creature's flailing tentacles could do damage.
"A little more…" he instructed, seeking to bring the sub close enough for a visual of the creature. "Got it!" he shouted spotting the creature with a death hold on the flying sub.
"All stop!" Chip ordered in the background, just as Lee saw the electrifying glow of a nuclear charge surround the flying sub like a halo.
Lee took aim and waited for a clear shot. The squid had stopped the forward motion to its beak, but had failed to relinquish its hold, stubbornly taking the incredible shock rather than release its quarry.
"Again, Admiral!" Lee shouted, ordering a second charge through the hull.
The flying sub glowed again, this time invoking a jerking reaction as the squid lurched to escape the pain, followed by an immediate release of its prey.
"Now, Lee!" Harry yelled from the flying sub.
Lee found the opening he needed and pulled the trigger, focusing a sustained laser blast straight into the creature's mantel. The flailing arms of the squid thrashed about wildly in pain while silt stirred and clouded the water, providing a veil of protection to aid FS1's escape. Immediately it set to searching for the source of its agony. The flying sub momentarily forgotten, it propelled itself forward, traveling an incredible 60 knots and covering the span of ocean between itself and the Seaview in seconds.
"Where is it?" Chip demanded.
"I don't see it!" Kowalski reported from sonar.
"Steady men," Lee cautioned, still leaning into the sights and searching the ocean.
"Hydrophones, what do you hear?" Chip inquired.
"It's quiet; it's like it disappeared," Patterson reported perplexed.
"Where are you?" Lee whispered rhetorically while searching the murky water. He had a gut feeling the creature hadn't given up on its meal that easily, and quite aware that in its natural state, the squid had even been known to attack whales.
In the background, Lee ignored Sparks' unanswered hails as the radio operator attempted unsuccessfully to make contact with the flying sub. He buried any concern for Harry and Sharkey's well-being and focused keenly on the search for a wounded creature, well-aware that its massive size could crush the hull of Seaview in one swift move.
"Contact; dead astern!" Ski reported.
"Evasive maneuvers!" Lee ordered over his shoulder, then refocused on his sights hoping to catch a glimpse of sea monster on their six.
"Hard left rudder!" Chip ordered almost immediately.
The sharp turn provided Lee with a fleeting view of a tentacle before it disappeared into the vastness of the dark ocean.
"Where is it, sonar?" Lee shouted, knowing damn-well that a creature of that size should be showing up on sonar's green monitor like a giant blob at this close range.
"I don't see it," a frustrated Kowalski admitted before making a sudden realization. "Unless… it must be hiding in the sea bed below us!"
"Where?" Chip demanded.
"I won't be able to tell until it makes a move," the skilled sonar operator explained, turning dials and fine tuning his equipment.
"Stay on it, Kowalski, it has to show itself some time," Chip ordered while taking long strides to Lee's side.
"Not necessarily," Lee differed quietly, continuing to search for any sign of the squid through the sights.
"What do you mean?"
"With its long reach, all it has to do is hide in a valley and move its feeder tentacle slowly until it has us," he surmised flatly.
The thought would have filled both men with overwhelming dread had they not been so thoroughly trained and experienced in dealing with danger.
"What do you propose we do?" Chip asked, knowing full-well that Seaview's Captain always had a contingency plan and never gave up when it came to protecting his boat and crew.
"Engage active sonar, let's see how it reacts to our pings," he ordered, leaving the driving to his first officer in order to man the laser, but still very much in command of his boat.
"Aye, aye, Skipper," Chip replied in full agreement with Captain Crane's plan to force the creature to reveal its position by startling it, much the same way the eel had been stirred from its concealment earlier.
Lee continued to scan the sea, his attention focused but still aware of his surroundings as Kowalski switched from passive to active sonar, resulting in repetitive metallic pings echoing throughout the control room, as well as Chip's orders issued and acknowledged in the background. He used all of his self-control and training to stay on task, readying to deliver a clean kill shot once the squid revealed itself; the importance of his task effectively demonstrated by the sound of Seaview's Communication Officer's unanswered hails in the background.
"Seaview to Flying Sub; come in FS1…"
# # # # #
A pungent odor of ozone and burnt wire hung in the smoky air above Admiral Nelson's and Chief Sharkey's heads. The red glow of emergency lights flashed ominously, as if to somehow arouse the unconscious men and alert them of the dangers of the wounded creature they had barely escaped. Their plan had worked, using the flying sub as bait they had lured the squid close enough in order to set up Seaview's attack. The yellow sub had been ensconced in the terrifying grip of a feeder tentacle and was well on its way to the monster's beak where it would surely crush FS1's hull like an eggshell. A nuclear charge to the hull had finally convinced the overgrown calamari to release its meal, though it had taken a second round to do so. The flying sub was released in the creature's reflexive movement of pain avoidance, providing Nelson the opportunity to apply power and bolt to safety. In that same moment, Seaview had fired her powerful laser, invoking innate evasive maneuvers from the squid. It was as large as a sea mount, but moved faster than any submarine in the world, including Seaview. With incredible agility, it escaped the powerful laser and abandoned its meal in favor of attacking the source of its agony and the bigger meal opportunity. The most primal of instincts was invoked in the sea monster; the instinct to hunt and kill on a level it had not enjoyed since abnormally growing far past its natural size. It drew its long appendages inward and then lunged forward, propelling itself toward the object of its primal rage with wicked speed and agility. But in doing so, one of its long tentacles inadvertently made contact with the fleeing yellow sub as it lunged toward Seaview, sending FS1 in a head over heels tumble in the tumultuous waves of the churned up sea.
Her occupants were knocked about wildly as the deep ocean thrashed the flying sub in the creature's wakes. Her reluctant journey took her far from the ensuring battle between the titan squid and the windowed submarine, until she finally settled to the sea bed in a hard, uncontrolled landing. Battered and without power, she lay on the ocean floor keeping her two charges alive with emergency power, but even that would soon come to an end if Nelson and Sharkey didn't wake soon.
# # # # #
Metallic pings sounded throughout the quiet Control Room of the SSRN Seaview; each crewman attentive to their duty; each man keenly aware of the dangerous sea monster that was possibly hiding in a valley or crevice of the ocean floor.
"Nothing, Sir," Kowalski reported. "It's like it disappeared," he lamented, puzzled that he hadn't seen the giant creature's escape.
"It's there," Lee reassured, knowing full-well that Seaview's sophisticated sonar would have been able to track a creature of that size for almost a half-hour before it traveled out of range, even at 50 knots, "it just doesn't seem to be bothered by the pulse." He had assumed that the creature would be uncomfortable with active sonar; it wasn't a far stretch since it was now believed that active sonar interacted with whales' and dolphins' echolocation, confusing their feeding and mating habits. Unfortunately, they had failed to stir up the squid since utilizing active sonar a little over ten minutes ago. Lee bit his lip in thought before deciding on his next course of action. "Mr. Morton, establish a search pattern and engage echo sounding."
"Aye, aye, Skipper," he replied and then leaned in for a private word. "We could be in for a long search," he commented, not disagreeing with the captain, but simply stating the facts. Lee's plan entailed utilizing the same technology used to determine depth to bottom readings and then comparing the data to the current sea maps. In short, they were looking for an uncharted mount or perhaps a missing valley.
"I'm aware of that, but it had to have gone somewhere, and my gut tells me it's down there," he stated confidently.
"Licking its wounds?" Chip surmised.
"Perhaps… more likely just waiting for the best opportunity to attack."
It was an ominous thought, but hardly pessimistic. Chip had learned a long time ago not to dismiss Lee's gut feelings. The crew even believed that Seaview's Captain had a sixth sense regarding danger and it was uncanny how many times his hunches were dead-on.
"What about FS1?" Chip reminded; they had yet to reestablish radio contact and worse yet, the emergency locator wasn't transmitting.
"The search pattern is just as likely to turn up the flying sub as the creature," he answered dispassionately, working hard to detach in order to stay focused. He couldn't indulge in extraneous emotions right now; not when a man-eating squid was lurking somewhere waiting to strike.
"Aye, aye, Skipper," Chip answered dutifully, but aware that Lee had placed the highest priority on finding the squid. If they happened upon FS1, all the better, but the search parameters were designed to find a massive sea monster hiding somewhere below them.
Lee sighed, sensing Chip's reticence and out respect for his long-time friend, offered an explanation that he didn't owe the junior officer. "I know its labor intensive, but we ignited something primal in the creature. As far as it understands, we drew the first blood, it's not going to nurse its wounds; it will attack. If not us, then some unsuspecting surface boat with no means of protection. We have to find it," he finished passionately, answering the unasked question of just which was the highest priority; finding the giant squid or the flying sub.
Chip nodded, silently acknowledging the fact that there wasn't a man aboard as close to Harriman Nelson as Lee Crane, and consequently, no one felt the burden heavier than Seaview's Captain. "It's a good plan, Lee," he encouraged, "we'll find it," he finished reassuredly and then turned to see to his orders.
# # # # #
Harriman Nelson coughed, reflexively attempting to clear the fouled air from his lungs, his eyes stinging as he blinked himself awake.
"Chief," he said in between coughs. "Chief," he repeated, reaching over to check on his shipmate.
Sharkey stirred, coughing and shaking his head to clear the fogginess of his brain. "We're not dead?" he asked once he opened his eyes and assessed their situation.
"Not yet," Harry deadpanned, the two's banter consistent with their unlikely friendship despite their difference in rank. "But we will be soon if we don't get power back on and scrub this air."
"Aye Sir," Sharkey acknowledged, shaking the last of the fuzziness from his brain and working his end of the console to power back up.
Harry flipped the main power toggle switch from the on/off position several times, "Nothing, he announced," before turning his chair and unstrapping the safety harness. He headed to the main circuitry board and opened it, making a quick assessment. "Here's our problem. Hand me the repair kit," he ordered over his shoulder.
Sharkey retrieved a black bag of tools from the aft storage locker and handed them to the Admiral. "Is it bad?"
"I don't think so, just a burnt out connection. As long as it didn't cause a short elsewhere, we'll be in business," Harry replied, easily dividing his attention between the repair and the conversation.
"It's dark out there," Sharkey noted with a cough. "We must have been thrown pretty far from Seaview."
"Uh-humm," Harry replied, having already made that assessment.
"Do you think she's okay?" the Chief asked tentatively. "I mean, you'd think she would have mounted a rescue operation by now."
"We'll know soon enough," Harry answered evenly as he soldered the damaged connection. Though the same thought had crossed his mind, years of experience had taught him to deal with fact, not conjecture. "Okay, this should be good. Turn on main power," he instructed and then waited with the panel opened to watch the result.
Sharkey sat in the co-pilot's chair and leaned toward switch. "Here goes nothing," he said unceremoniously and flipped the switch on, then grinned like a Cheshire cat when the flying sub responded by booting up exactly as she should. "Hey, hey, hey!" he sang out to Harry's tight-lipped grin.
"We're not out of this yet," the Admiral cautioned, closing the panel and heading back to the pilot seat. "First things first; how's air revitalization?"
Sharkey checked the gauge to his far right, watching it for a few seconds before answering. "It's starting to scrub the air," he reported, which was good news considering the persistent cough the two men endured from time to time.
"Fine, initiate cold start up procedures," Harry ordered, reaching for the throat mic as Sharkey acknowledged and then began working through the check list. "FS1 to Seaview," the admiral called and waited for only a second before hailing again. "FS1 to Seaview; come in, Seaview." Their hail was met by silence; Harry flipped the switch again and adjusted the gain to no avail. "Everything looks good here," he said after a quick troubleshooting routine, "I'd say the trouble is with our antenna."
"We must have lost it when that thing was squeezing us," Sharkey assumed.
"Obviously," Harry replied, his mind already working on a possible solution to another of their problems. "Chief, check the ELT," he ordered to test the hypothesis he had already formed.
"Aye Sir," he answered, testing the emergency locator transmitter with several flips of the switch. "Nothing," he announced.
"Well, that explains why Seaview hasn't found us yet," the Admiral answered without emotion.
"Aye Sir," Sharkey replied, deciding not to add the other explanation, that Seaview herself was damaged or worse yet, destroyed in the attack.
"Systems report," Harry inquired.
"Sonar is still booting," he reported before smiling widely when the green screen popped back on. "Hey, hey!" he noticed before clearing his throat to curb his excitement and returning to proper etiquette. "All systems operational, Sir."
Harry nodded, already studying the green contact on the sonar screen. "There's Seaview," he pointed out.
"Looks like a standard search pattern," Sharkey noted after watching it briefly. "Hey! That squid is gone. Do you suppose Seaview took care of it?" he asked enthusiastically.
"Possibly," Harry answered noncommittally, "Let's just see if we can get underway; the sooner we dock, the sooner we'll know for sure," he added in what was actually an unvoiced order to continue the startup sequence.
Sharkey cleared his throat. "Aye Sir, all systems go," he reported.
"Very well," he replied, adding power and grinning with satisfaction as the flying sub lifted from the silty sea bed and moved forward.
"What do you know!" Sharkey proclaimed proudly at FS1's ability to take abuse from a giant mutant squid and still glide like a graceful lady.
Harry chuckled, although much more reserve in his emotions, he heartily agreed with his enthusiasm.
The tone took a decidedly different turn, however, when Sharkey's brow tightened and his eyes widened.
"Admiral! What… what's that?" he exclaimed, pointing to the large green mass that abruptly appeared out of nowhere on the sonar screen.
# # # # #
"I've got something, Skipper!" Pat called from hydrophones.
Lee headed over, standing between sonar and hydrophones. "What do you have?"
"I'm not sure, sort of like a gurgling sound," he answered while handing the spare headphones to Seaview's Captain who arguably had the best "ears" on the boat.
Lee donned the headset and listened, then leaned toward sonar. The screen was clear but the sound was too distinctive to ignore. "Almost like a school of fish on the move," he assessed, holding one of the headphones to his ear, "but not quite," he considered to Pat's agreeing nod.
"Flash contact," Ski reported from his left.
"Position?" he inquired, examining the sonar screen which was now clear of any contacts.
"Close Sir, 15 degrees off our starboard side, I'd say about a hundred yards, but it's gone now."
"What do you make of it?" Chip asked quietly.
"I don't know for sure. Sonar should be tracking something that big," he answered, almost thinking out loud, handing the headset back to Patterson. "Unless…" he stopped to ponder. "All stop," he ordered over his shoulder.
"Contact," Kowalski interjected and then shook his head in frustration. "It was there a second ago," he said, lamenting that the screen was now clear again.
Lee placed an affirming had on Ski's shoulder and squeezed. "I saw it too," he confirmed.
"I got that same reading as well," Pat added, holding the earphone tighter against his ear to hear.
Lee nodded, his next course of action decided. "Mr. Morton, bring us about, heading zero-one-zero and load torpedoes one and four."
"Zero-one-zero, aye," the XO repeated as Lee headed for the laser unit once again with Chip ordering a hard right rudder behind him. He leaned into the sights and searched the dark sea before turning back to the Control Room. "Stay sharp, men. Unless I miss my guess, we're about ready to scare up a giant squid."
Chip's brow tightened in an unvoiced question, which Lee answered for the sake of the entire Control Room.
"The flash contact is on an intercept course; unless I'm wrong, the squid is hiding in a valley and the movement is a tentacle," he explained, leaving the men with a very vivid image of the oversized feeding tentacle of a massive mutant squid slithering along the ocean floor, hunting and readying to strike.
With that, he turned back to the laser and squeezed the trigger, issuing three quick blasts and spreading his fire randomly in the general direction of the flash sonar contact. Almost immediately, Lee's hunch was proven true when a huge green blob suddenly filled the sonar screen as the giant squid rose ominously from the sea bed.