Thanks for reading everyone, hope this helps Seasoul!
Chapter Fourteen
Harry paced the sterile white room void of any furniture, decorations, or implements of any kind except for the large stainless steel gurney he had awakened upon. His characterization of the "large" gurney was made almost facetiously, for it rather engulfed him in both length and depth. The gurney itself was in fact, evidence that the giant of a man he saw before being clobbered, was real and that he had not dreamt the encounter; the thought invoking a reflexive rub to the back of his sore neck.
He glanced at his watch, determining that he had been unconscious for about twenty minutes and had since been pacing for another ten minutes. His patience was wearing thin and he had many questions for which he sought answers. Indeed, he had already come to one obvious conclusion concerning the nature of research that would require the fissures' elements. The fact that the table he woke upon was a medical gurney, and not a bed or cot, had added validity to his deduction. But there were still questions he couldn't answer with the information available; namely, how all of this was accomplished in less than one year's time. The only thing he knew for sure was that there was big money behind the project, and that fact fueled his curiosity even more.
His contemplation was interrupted by the turn of the deadbolt as he instinctively turned toward the door opening inward.
"You will come with us," the black clad man ordered, the "us" in his command included the indisputably large man standing behind him. This was his first good look at the fellow who had rendered him unconscious with one blow, and he realized with one appraising glance that his earlier estimation of height had been correct. He was over seven feet tall and yet bulky, unlike the occasional seven-foot basketball player who was tall and slender, the large man before him was truly a giant.
Harry pursed his lips and followed compliantly, hoping the fact that he was being summoned meant he would soon have answers to his many questions, not the least of which was what had become of Lee. The latter question he would keep to himself in the hopes that Seaview's resourceful captain had avoided detection, or at the very least had evaded capture.
He was led down a hall, taking several turns until he was guided into a large, impressively outfitted laboratory. Specimen tanks lined one wall, various apparatus and microscopes filled lab tables in the middle of the room, and bookcases with books, journals, and lab notes were lined up on a third wall, and on the fourth, was a door that appeared to be a cold-storage compartment.
The giant moved to a corner of the lab and positioned himself with his arms crossed before him, but the officer who had come for him left without a word. Harry figured that he was on a "parole" of sorts and tested his hypothesis by nonchalantly strolling about and looking over the experiments in progress. When he got too close to the door, the giant growled and Harry resigned himself to making a study of his surroundings.
The specimen tanks held indo-pacific gobies in various sizes. He was aware that this species was a small fish, reaching just over three inches at maturity, and had he not already deduced the research being done here, he would have marveled at the tanks holding gobies of eight, nine, and twelve inches in length. The tanks were methodically labeled with a parts-per-million dosage amount. Harry was somewhat lost in the observation when a voice behind him drew his attention, her voice as familiar as the tone in which she spoke.
"Hello, Harry, it's so good to see you again."
He turned, his forehead tightening in bewilderment. "Belinda?" he questioned in obvious disbelief, never once considering the possibility of her involvement in the events that had brought him to the island.
"I'm rather surprised you even remembered me," she answered coldly. "As quickly as you dropped my project and moved on."
It had been five years since he had last seen her, and those years hadn't been unkind to the petite, blonde. Her white lab coat was worn open over a black pencil skirt cut above the knees and was paired with a white button-up blouse, while her hair was worn in a stylish bun; practical yet feminine. Her pleasing facial features however, were marred by obvious scorn, coupled with a sense of superiority that she displayed openly.
"Your project had merit, but it wasn't the direction that the Institute was moving toward," he explained, wondering why they were having this particular conversation at the moment and somewhat surprised by her obvious disdain for him.
"Ah yes," she said in a patronizing tone while stepping further into the room and totally ignoring the giant standing guard in the corner. "And that was food-from-plankton as I remember? Tell me, Harriman, did anything ever become of that project?" she asked with a look of false interest in his answer, knowing full-well that the plankton project had had several setbacks and was still being researched to this day.
Harry was somewhat bewildered. This exchange was as unexpected as seeing Dr. Belinda Barnes after all these years; her obvious contempt for him and his decision to leave her unrelated research on the life cycle of the basking shark certainly was.
"I was overseeing Seaview's sea trials and I couldn't divide my time between too many projects. It was, in no way, a reflection of your work or its value," he replied.
"That's right... Seaview," she said walking around the room as if in thought while Harry turned to keep eye contact. "Do you want to know what happened to my research, Harry?" his name rendered with disdain. She didn't wait before answering. "I'll tell you what happened. All the major grants dried up one-by-one, until my research was dropped from the Oceanic Foundation. You see, you were quite the cat's meow after Seaview was built. Your decision to walk away was seen as a lack of confidence in my project... and in me."
"I told you, that was never my intent… but I'm a little confused. What does the gestational period of a basking shark have to do with using previously unknown elements to produce abnormally large growth?" he asked bluntly in an attempt to get the important matters at hand.
"You don't get it, do you?" she asked rhetorically. "When my funding dried up, I went everywhere in search of someone with vision, but as soon as they saw your name all they wanted to talk about was Seaview this and Seaview that and just why you broke ties with my research."
"Belinda…" he tried to interrupt, but she barreled on.
"I had given up, Harry, I couldn't afford a lab much less a ship to continue my research," she said almost exasperated. "But then I was contacted by a man who was willing to make me the lead scientist in his own research. He had the vision and the means if I was willing to take on his projects. No more grant applications, no more crawling on my hands and knees begging for funding! I would have everything I needed including the finest equipment. Look around you, Harry, there isn't one thing in this lab that isn't the very best technology of our day…"
"So, you sold your soul to the devil for money and funding. Is that it, Belinda?"
"Sold my soul?" she fired back.
"What else do you call it? You're experimenting on human beings," he accused with an arm held out to the giant in the corner who stood expressionless, not even fazed when the subject of the conversation had turned about him. "Why didn't you come to me? There would have always been a job for you at the Institute," he implored.
"Oh, that's rich! The Nelson Institute of Marine Research," she scoffed, emphasizing his name. "You would have loved that, wouldn't you? To have me come begging for a job from the famous Admiral Nelson!"
"It wouldn't have been like that, Belinda," he softened, having no clue when their paths had parted that she felt this way.
"Don't you dare pity me, Harry," she warned. "I'm not the same woman I was five years ago."
Harry nodded, that was at least one thing they could agree on. "Obviously… I could have never believed you would drop your moral code and everything decent to participate… No!," he amended, "to head a project that experiments on humans. He is your creation, isn't he?"
Her callous smile reminded him of another betrayal from another woman, Dr. Lydia Parish; another woman who had turned her brilliant mind to work for evil. The only difference between these two was Dr. Parish at least had a cause; as traitorous and wrong as it was, it was something that she believed in.** The same could not be said of Dr. Belinda Barnes for she had traded her soul for money and power.
"Yes, he is my creation," she replied, her smile growing wider and more sinister.
Harry had lost his patience. He could tell just by the look in her eyes that she was too drunk on power to listen to reason. All he could do now was to gather the facts and try and find a way to stop whatever plan was driving this laboratory in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
# # # # #
Garrud, the giant, reeled in his aggression, having made a concerted effort to remember what it was like to be in control of his own emotions again; to have compassion on another; to feel what it was like to be human once more. He had frozen his fist in mid-air, ready to plunge a final blow, when upon looking down on his hapless victim, he remembered a time when the thought of striking an unconscious man would have been inconceivable. The thought brought sorrow, followed by rage of what he had become; not of his own choosing, but by someone else's design. The thought infuriated him and his primal aggression needed an outlet, and in his rage, he plunged his fist downward, purposely missing Crane's jaw and pounding his fist, instead, into the ground beside him.
He breathed heavily and tried to access his reasoning power within an increasingly foggy brain when Crane tossed his head and a moan escaped through his parted lips. His eyes fluttered opened but then closed as darkness took him once again.
Fully aware of what was expected of him and the punishment of those who disobeyed, Garrud gathered Crane into his arms and threw him over his shoulders... there would be severe consequences if he failed.
# # # # #
Harry observed Belinda carefully as she conducted a "grand tour" of her laboratory and the experiments in progress. He was keen to understand the science of the new elements but not impressed with the applications for which the experiments appeared to be directed. For her part, she was very much showing off her work in an effort to prove that she had bettered him. He studied her and wondered if a person could have changed so drastically, in both thought and deed, in just five short years. Her arrogance and pride were over-the-top and foremost in what he noticed first, as was her coldhearted disregard for life.
Of her science, he found no fault. Her methodology, experiments, and observations were tasks completed in good form, but as the tour went on, he was sure that there was calculated evil, as well as genius behind her work. He couldn't fathom how she could have changed so drastically, but he was aware of how unrealized dreams and selfish ambitions had been blamed for many a deviant's behavior in history. Though, he couldn't understand it, he was forced to conclude that by her own words and actions, that she was one such deviant. With this conclusion now reached, his attention turned fully on learning what her end-goal was and just who was footing the bill for this so-called research. To that end, he hoped to probe the answers from his "host".
"It's all rather impressive, Belinda, but I have a hard time believing you did all of this in the course of just one year," he simply stated, hoping that her pride would indulge him with the information he sought.
She pursed her mouth tightly in obvious indignation before answering. "I stand on the shoulders of no one, Harry," she said blatantly. "But there was a scientist before me. He conducted his research based on manipulating growth hormones by studying acromegaly."
Harry nodded his understanding of the disorder caused by excess growth hormones.
"His work produced less-than-satisfactory results for my employer. Though, the hormone could be reproduced, he was unable to control the subject's behavior afterwards, that is, until Dr. Sterling's fissure. You see, Harry, Cara Sloane was frantic to find a cure for Dr. Sterling after your initial denial to come to the sea lab, and in her desperation, she presented her case to other scientists. My employer was made aware of her dilemma, but before he could make an offer, she made one final plea, and you accepted. My services were garnered immediately, and samples of the fissure were obtained as soon as you left sonar range. It was enough to begin my research until arrangements could be made to reopen the fissure for more highly concentrated samples, and the result is what you see here," she finished proudly with a sway of her arms outward.
And here was the crux of it all, to produce giants that could be controlled. He found her cold-hearted disregard for life as disgusting as it was disturbing. The next question that he needed answered was just what means of control had she employed. Had she found a way to keep the subjects from going mad as Sterling had? He doubted it. As brilliant as Belinda Barnes was, her expertise lay in marine biology not neurology.
"What I see here is a giant with little capacity to think for himself. Look at him," he demanded, pointing to the giant in the corner. "He looks like he's been lobotomized, there's no fire in his eyes at all!"
"Don't be so dramatic, Harry," she patronized. "According to your own report, direct exposure to the fissure drove Dr. Sterling mad. My research was simply focused on whether limiting exposure to the elements would produce the desired features. Through my experiments, I proved that both the growth and the mental deterioration could be controlled."
Harry turned to survey the tanks of various-sized gobies. It was apparent the direction she had taken in her research. "Then he's not your first subject," he stated as much as asked after drawing a logical conclusion.
"I currently have two giants modified by the fissure elements," she replied with a prideful upturn of her lips at her accomplishment.
"Where are the others?" Harry countered quickly and without responding to the fact that there was a second giant of which he hadn't seen yet.
"What others?" she deadpanned.
"Your failures," he shot back.
Her answer was a nonverbal glance at the large cold-storage door on the far side of the room.
# # # # #
Lee reached for his head even before opening his eyes. His shoulder was sore and moving his arm was more of a chore than he expected. A dark bruise had already formed on his jaw and blood from his busted lip had already crusted. He expected to wake in a cell of some kind but was surprised when he realized that he was lying in a cave. Sunlight filtered through an entrance only partly obscured with jungle brush that naturally concealed the opening. He raised himself to his elbows and looked over his surroundings more closely, his gaze moving methodically around the cavern until it stopped to rest on the giant sitting on his haunches watching him. Lee moved slowly to sit straight up and moved himself against the cave wall.
"My name is Crane," he introduced, having no clue why the giant had subdued him only to hide him away in a cave.
"Garrud," the giant answered.
"Your name is Garrud?" he repeated in question.
A soft, frustrated growl followed. "Not… my real name," he answered in broken English, though he had no accent to indicate English was his second language. "Here," he said, rising slowly and pointing to a crude carving on the cave wall.
Lee rose slowly, careful not to startle the large man and to hopefully, retain the passive mood of his host. He walked closer to get a better look at a word scribbled into the soft volcanic rock in child-like writing.
"Jaco," Lee read.
The man's eyes lit up. "Jacob," he corrected. "I tried not to forget," he explained. "But I couldn't remember the rest," he said struggling with the frustration of it all.
"The letter 'b'," Lee finished perceptively.
"Yes," he answered sadly.
Though he didn't know all the facts yet, Lee could see that there was more to this gentle giant's story and suspected that Jacob was as much a victim here as the lives lost at sea.
"Jacob, I came to this island with a friend. We're looking for answers to explain the recent giant sea creature attacks. We suspect a laboratory is here. Would you know anything about that?" he asked, believing he already knew the answer, but seeking confirmation.
Jacob nodded. "Laboratory... yes. I have changed," he answered.
Lee nodded; his suspicion confirmed. "Someone changed you?" he clarified.
Jacob nodded, lowering his eyes with an obviously troubled heart.
"How long have you been here?" Lee continued.
"I… don't know…" he said, frowning and almost frantic that he couldn't recall the memory.
"It's okay," Lee assured.
"Thinking wasn't hard… before," the large man lamented.
Lee was starting to get the picture for the diabolical work going on here. Jacob was obviously not a willing party to the experiments, and knowing what he knew of bad guys capable of such barbarism, he calculated that the objective was to produce some sort of super army.
"Are the people who changed you still here?"
Jacob's eyes darkened and his face hardened. "Yes."
"I need to find my friend, Jacob. He might be able to help you. He's very smart," he answered with a small smile. "Can you help me find him?"
"I will help. It's too late for me, but for others…" he started before the band on his wrist suddenly lit up and Jacob roared in pain. He turned away from Lee, burying his face in his hands and groaning heavily, leaning against the wall and riding out the pain until the wrist band turned off and the agony abated.
"Jacob, what's happening?" Lee asked, touching his shoulder in a show of compassion and concern.
The giant flinched but didn't shirk away, as he breathed heavily gathering his voice. "I must return," he said simply. "She will be angry."
"Then take me to them. That's what they want, right?"
"No, not good for you," the giant struggled, his articulation slowing and clearly concerned for Lee's safety.
"I have help, Jacob. I'm not in this alone… and neither are you," he promised. "Help me get to my friend and together, we'll find a way out of this."
# # # # #
Ski sat in the left seat with his feet propped on the co-pilot's chair. He'd been left to babysit the flying sub and with a radio blackout and the shutters closed over FS1's windows, there wasn't much to do but wait for word from the Skipper. On that regard, he'd been less than patiently waiting, since Captain Crane's signal was already ten minutes overdue. Not for the first time, he wished he was there in the thick of things, instead of stuck in sixty feet of water without the benefit of even seeing a fish swim by from time to time.
His thoughts were interrupted by a beeping alarm as he clumsily swung his feet from their lazy rest and stumbled to the radio board. The coded flashes indicated a different signal than he'd been expecting of "all was well". This code carried a completely different message; it meant "Standby." He replayed the coded flash message, just to make sure. He knew it wasn't originally part of the mission parameters, but he and the Skipper had worked together a lot these last few years, and he knew just what to do. Immediately, he gathered together his diving gear and a dry bag for his gun and clothes in an effort to be ready for the next message. When he had done all he could to prepare, he sat again and watched for the next message, this time with ready resolve to act and knowing that the game plan had just been changed.
# # # # #
Belinda opened the deep-freezer and swayed a hand inward for Harry to enter. "We had to refine our original plans," she explained. "We achieved the twelve-foot specimens after limiting exposure. Of course, we weren't interested in reproducing Dr. Sterling's final growth, but both specimens went mad only days after they had reached their designed height," she said with no emotion and completely detached from the barbarism of what Harry was seeing: deceased human subjects, lying on shelves stacked one above the other and covered with sheets that outlined their grossly, unnatural sizes. "Now, the nine-foot specimens offered great promise," she continued, "but their mental capacity was unusable. They simply couldn't be trained for the simple tasks they were designed. You see, B-4710 deteriorates brain cells as rapidly as it produces growth."
"B-4710… B, as in Belinda Barnes?" Harry questioned, only partially able to keep the fire of indignation from his face at the inhumane research being displayed so callously.
"Well, I discovered it. It's my right," she answered with a slight shoulder shrug. "Now, the seven to eight-foot specimens, these carry our greatest potential. This one couldn't adjust and had to be destroyed, but you can see how beautifully the transmutation took place," she admired, pulling the sheet back for Harry to see.
"What I see is an immoral, blatant disregard to life!" Harry shot back, unable to keep his disgust back any longer.
Belinda waved a dismissive hand and walked out of the cold storage with Harry following. She closed the door behind them and continued.
"Study the great societies of the animal kingdom, Harry. The bees have drones and the ants have slaves. Their societies are orderly and well-managed and those in the lower positions have no desire to do anything but what they have been bred to do. All we are doing is engineering drones into the human equation."
"I can't believe these men underwent the experiments by their own free will," he charged heatedly. "It's an absolute travesty of all that is holy and right!"
"Think of the betterment of society," she contended walking around the lab as if trying to convince a jury in final deliberations, "no more sending the brightest and best minds of our youth to war; our soldier drones will take on the task. No more wasting time on menial labor; our servant drones will see to that…"
"This is madness, Belinda! Surely, you can't believe a word of what you're saying!" he shouted, leaning over the worktable between them and slapping his hands down in front of him in his disgust.
At this movement, the giant in the corner stepped forward. The submissive, vacant look in his eyes was instantly replaced with intensity so primal, that he hardly seemed the same man who had stood without emotion, though he had been the direct subject of their conversation. He growled almost feral as he took another step closer; his senses awakened at Harry's outburst, which he perceived to be a threat against Belinda.
"Bremer, no!" she commanded to which he obeyed at once, stopping his forward motion, though the new-found fire in his eyes still shone with barely controlled fierceness. She glanced at Harry and smiled at the power her spoken word had over the giant man. "I would advise you to show less aggression, Harry," she stated smugly.
"Bremer," Harry repeated thoughtfully, "a derivative of the name of a mythical giant of Norse legend," he said, carefully watching the giant whose eyes had yet to lose their violent passion.
"How utterly perceptive of you, Harry. We gave Bremer and Garrud new names when they were transformed. It helps to remind them of their roles," she stated, her black-hearted reply offering no resemblance to the woman he thought he knew.
"I simply can't believe that you could have changed this drastically. Has ambition so clouded your senses that you can't see how wrong this is?" he pleaded on a personal level.
"Ambition doesn't drive me, Harry," she stated coldly and in a voice inflection that said she was about to reveal a secret. "My hatred for you drives me," she said in a bombshell statement that took him by complete surprise. "I wasn't initially interested when my new employer contacted me, but when I found out that this research was tied to you and Seaview, I joined without a second thought. I knew that you would investigate the fissure, but I would have never put money on you defeating the squid. I fully expected you and your precious ship to be rotting at the bottom of the ocean," she spewed hatefully. "But this is even better, because now you know that you are to blame for all those ships sinking and all those lives lost, and you bear as much responsibility for my 'failed' giants as I do," she said pointing toward the cold-storage, "because you drove me to this!" she declared.
"I drove you to this?" Harry repeated incredulously.
"You and your titanium monstrosity flourished, while I was forced to abandon my dreams!" she yelled with a hand to her chest to make her point and in more emotion than she had shown thus far.
Harry stood flabbergasted. Had she really dropped to the depths of any sane person's moral code because of professional jealousy? Furthermore, there was neither sorrow, nor regret in her eyes for the dozens of lives lost, or the men she had inhumanely subjected to her experiments.
"You're a monster!" he accused with emotions raw and passionate, and momentarily forgetting Bremer, he took a step toward her in anger.
In one large stride, Bremer was upon him, striking him with a powerful backhand that sent Harry across the room and sprawling to the floor. The giant took another raging step toward him, ignoring Belinda's commands to desist in the background, while Harry searched for a way to move out the giant's reach with stars dancing around his head. He had nowhere to go as Bremer took a final step toward him and reached toward his throat, but then inexplicably stopped. Immediately, the giant tensed in apparent agony as the band around his wrist illuminated. With pleading eyes, he wheeled about and turned toward Belinda who stood emotionless, holding a small cigarette-sized device. She pressed on the device a moment longer, until Bremer staggered back to the corner before she unceremoniously turned the device off and returned it to the pocket of her lab jacket.
"I warned you, Harry. Next time, I'll let him tear you to pieces."