Chapter Fifteen: Leviathan
Yooperlite lazily dragged her fingers through the water as the skiff carried on. She, as well as the others, had gotten quite good at occupying themselves doing nothing after all this time stranded here. Perhaps it was because of Gems' near-limitless lifespans, but neither cabin fever nor ocean madness had even come up after all this time. Even Emerald, who had the least experience at waiting, was in no hurry to be anywhere else.
In addition to steering the skiff, Tanzanite was keeping an eye on the scanner, watching for any sign of…anything, really. The planet had changed so much in all these years that it was nearly impossible to remember where anything was, if they even could before. Be it land, another facility, an approaching enemy ship, anything that would show up. "Any signs?" asked Lefty.
"Nothing," answered Tanzanite. "Even less than should be expected: this area of ocean seems to be completely devoid of life."
"I noticed that, too," said Yooperlite. "There's nothing swimming down there. It's like…it's like this entire place is dead."
Emerald glanced down into the water. "No doubt those Talutar separatists can be blamed for this too. We know they've been killing planets…what I don't get is how. I mean, an entire planet seems pretty difficult to strip of life."
"Not exactly," said Tanzanite. "As a consequence of Gem colonization, many planets end up stripped of life. In fact, the presence of organic lifeforms is necessary in the process of Gem incubation."
Although she knew this, something about that statement bummed Emerald out. "I know, but…that's different. I think. It is, right?"
Lefty nodded. "I get what you mean. However they're doing it, it probably takes a lot of time to accomplish. So to gradually wear this planet down, and from the sounds of it, do the same to other planets…there's no way these guys are acting alone."
"Well, of course not," Yooperlite said. "That whole Talutar rebellion's probably working on that."
"But considering the information gained, the movement has only been around for forty-five years," said Tanzanite. "By contrast, this world's decline began hundreds of years ago. I suspect there are other forces at play."
Yooperlite threw up her hands. "Ah, this kinda thing's beyond me! Whatever's going on, if something really is, it's probably bigger than us. I doubt that we'll get involved even if we make it out of here."
"What do you mean? Of course we will!" said Lefty "We can't just leave this for someone else to deal with, right?" She stood up, addressing them all from the back of the skiff. "Someone is out there ruining Gem colonies, preventing new Gems from being born! And if those planets are anything like this one, who knows how many Gems got left behind, forced to fend for themselves? Now that we know what's going on, we're the best Gems for the job! Right, Mera? Mera?"
But Mera wasn't really listening, instead staring out to sea. "Hmm? Oh. I suppose." Lefty shook her head, slumping back down into her seat. "Who knows what's going on out there? For all we know, Homeworld might have already dealt with whatever was causing this. Dealt with it and moved on. Maybe it's for the best we stay under the radar."
"But, how are we gonna help the other Gems who're stranded if we do that?" asked Yooperlite. "That was your plan, wasn't it? So nobody's left alone on a planet like us?"
"See, I'm not really sure that plan is even viable anymore," Emerald said. She didn't have to explain why; that revelation was still fresh in everyone's mind. Instead, she let the silence linger, having said all she needed to say.
But the silence didn't last much longer, as something suddenly appeared on the skiff's rader. "I am picking up something approaching," Tanzanite reported. "Something quite large, from the looks of it."
"How large?" asked Lefty. "Is it a ship? A base? An island?"
"Neither–it appears to be coming from underneath us," she reported grimly. "And it is beginning to match our speed."
Yooperlite peered nervously over the side. "You don't think it could be a pack of thalassaraptors, do you?" she asked.
"No. This is bigger. Much bigger." The scanner showed an object about the size of a freight ship rising towards the surface just beneath them. "Should we take evasive maneuvers?"
"Wait. Look." The massive object eventually evened out, heading along directly beneath them. "What's it doing?" Emerald asked.
Yooperlite kept peering over the edge, searching for the shape. "I'm not seeing anything. Maybe it's some kinda ship with cloaking tech?"
Their questions were seemingly answered as lights began to glow from below. Blinking red streams illuminated the area beneath the skiff, coming from what looked like numerous creatures swimming in tandem. The four of them watched the shimmering lights, amazed.
"Wow," Lefty said, entranced. "I've never seen organics like these before. They're beautiful…"
Even Emerald, morose though she was, couldn't help but take in their glowing forms. "Where did they all come from?" she wondered aloud. She reached down to touch one, but found it was just out of her reach.
Tanzanite was the only one who wasn't enraptured by the creatures. Instead, she looked back and forth between the water and the scanner. What looked like a school of creatures roughly the same size as Lefty, the scanner was still only picking up as one large entity. Even if they were clustered tightly together, which they weren't, it shouldn't have been doing that at this distance. "Something is not right here," she said.
"What do you mean?" asked Yooperlite. "You think they could be dangerous?"
"Yes." Tanzanite turned the skiff to the side, moving out from above the creatures. As though attracted to the vehicle, they followed, so that they were once again beneath it. She moved to the other side, and they moved to meet her again. This confirmed whatever her suspicions were, and she sped ahead as fast as the skiff could go.
Lefty stumbled. "Tanz, what are you–"
Just as they sped ahead of the school, there was an explosion of water behind them, accompanied by a deep bass rumble that was felt more than heard. Looking back, all they could see was a massive gaping hole lined with a circular ring of teeth like needles, leading down to a bottomless throat. The form the mouth belonged to disappeared back underwater, speeding after the Gems.
"What the frack is that thing!?" asked Lefty, the wonder of the creatures immediately forgotten.
"Some manner of superpredator!" replied Tanzanite, glancing at the scanner. The giant beast was still right on their tail. "I suspect that display was a means to mesmerize its prey–in this case, us."
More glowing lights could be seen underneath the water, though this time not taking any kind of pattern. It occasionally surfaced to try and engulf the skiff, with the Gems gradually able to determine its physical appearance. It was very simple despite its large size, with two large winglike fins stretching out to either side. There seemed to be a pair of water jets attached to these, allowing it to speed through the water after them. Its front was entirely composed of its massive mouth, with no eyes or other organs in sight.
"Any ideas? You're the organic expert!" said Yooperlite to Lefty.
But the Peridot was out of her element. "I've never seen anything like that before!" she exclaimed. "It must not be native to this area. Maybe it's a deep-sea lifeform that got displaced by the shifting climate!"
"Deep sea…" said Emerald. "Tanzanite, could you head for shallower waters?"
Tanzanite went back to the scanner, this time adjusting it for elevation. The area they were in was mostly open ocean, but there was a small archipelago not far away. "Way ahead of you." She turned towards the islands, with the monster still close behind.
"Stars above, doesn't this thing get tired?" wondered Lefty. "No predators I've seen chase prey this intently, especially at speeds like this!"
"Yeah, especially because I doubt we'd make for a good meal!" said Yooperlite.
Whatever this thing was, it wasn't about to let them get away from it anytime soon. Even as the water began getting shallower, it continued on, not even minding as sand began to scrape against its underside. But before long, there wasn't enough water to keep it going, and it was forced to crawl away, lest it become beached.
The skiff skidded to a halt, stopping atop one of the small islands. Calling it an 'island' might have been overstating it, considering it was still technically underwater–only about an inch, but still. Each of the Gems hopped off onto not-dry land to assess the situation.
"Okay, so we're safe now, right?" said Yooperlite. "We're safe? We're safe now. Right?"
"Uh…what do you consider 'safe?'" Lefty was staring out beyond the islands, where telltale disturbances could be seen on the water's surface. Unable to approach them directly, the animal was stalking them, waiting for them to make the first move.
"Doesn't this thing have anything better to do?" Emerald muttered. "Like, try and eat something that's not us?" She sat down in the sand, anticipating that they would be here for a while.
Tanzanite looked all around them, trying to find an ideal means of escape. "Considering the speed of the creature, it will likely be able to catch up with us no matter when we make our getaway."
"Then I guess that means we'll have to make our stand here!" said Yooperlite, pounding her fist into her palm. Her confidence wavered soon after, seeing nobody felt the same way. "So, any ideas?"
"Thalassaraptors were one thing, but killing something of that size?" said Emerald. "We'd need some serious firepower to manage that. More than we have, if that wasn't obvious." She glared at the monster's wake.
Lefty sat down on the skiff's edge. "At least this gives us a moment to just sort of…sit and talk, you know? We've all been so silent since then, and–"
"Since when?" said Emerald, even though she already knew the answer. "I already said, I've made up my mind. I'm not letting you all take the fall just for associating with me. And if that means we have to go our separate ways once we get off this planet, so be it."
"And what about what we think?" Yooperlite sat down beside Emerald. "You're being really nice for doing that, don't get me wrong. But you're one of us–we stick together, right?"
"Right!" said Lefty. "You're one of the only reasons we've gotten as far as we have! So, maybe Homeworld won't be happy with what you are…but you can be sure we'll fight like void to keep you with us!"
Emerald sighed. "And then what? Then you go down with me?"
"Worst case scenario, but yeah. That way, either we live together, or we die together," said Yooperlite. "'Together' is the operative word here."
"Is this really our most pressing matter at the moment?" asked Tanzanite, climbing back into the skiff. She went up to the scanner, examining their surroundings for miles around. "We are being hunted by an unidentified lifeform, now does not seem the time to be arguing about our future fates."
"Well then, when are we gonna talk about it?" Lefty asked. "If we wait until we get offworld, it might be too late to make plans. I figured you, of all people, would want to plan ahead!"
"I am planning ahead," she said. "We can only outrun this animal for so long, even at top speed. I am searching for another area of shallow water where we can take shelter."
As she looked, Lefty got up to help. "How 'bout over here?"
"I looked there already."
"You sure? It doesn't seem that deep over there…"
"If I say I looked, I looked!"
"Hang on!" Both of them shouted out at once, noticing something just beyond their current quadrant. The distribution of land below the water seemed uniform, but raised in just such a way to indicate something specific: land. And not just an island, either, but a full continent.
"Are you seeing this?" said Lefty. "This might be one of the last bastions of surface left on this entire planet! If it isn't underwater yet, there might be a facility there!"
Tanzanite double- and triple-checked the location. "You mean you do not remember?" she asked. "If I am correct, this was the future location of the Beta Kindergarten."
"Meaning…?" asked Yooperlite.
She got an annoyed look. "Meaning, there is likely a station already set up there. And if it is anything like ours…"
"There'll be ships there," Emerald finished. Suddenly, she was a lot more eager to get going. "If–If we can get past this thing, how long would it take us to get there?"
Tanzanite checked the measurements. "At top speed? Roughly ten minutes."
Emerald climbed back onto the skiff as well. "All the more reason to get a move on."
"Well, look at you!" said Lefty. "I guess all it took was a rabid sea monster to restore your tenacity!" She boarded the skiff as well, followed by Yooperlite.
"Yeah, well, not like moping will get you all to Homeworld any faster," she said. "I imagine we should wait until it's on the other side of the islands, yeah?"
Tanzanite was busy watching the creature's movements. "That would help, but it would only buy us seconds, at most. Given its top speed, it would be able to catch up to us in mere moments, even if we had a head start."
Deep in thought, Lefty got an idea. "What if…? Mera, hand me your spear! I think we might be able to distract it!"
Emerald summoned her blade, pulling out the halberd it was attached to from her gem. "I think I know what you're going for, but I don't know how this thing would be a substitute for whatever that thing usually hunts." She handed her the weapon.
"You'll see!" Lefty held out the halberd, which began to levitate above her hands. Using her magnetic abilities, she began to spin it in place, around and around, faster and faster. Before long, it was rotating like a turbine, ready for launch. "Just say when!"
Tanzanite had already turned the skiff on, preparing to blast away at full speed. Her eyes were fixed on the scanner, waiting for the beast to be on the exact other side of the island from their destination. "Hold…hold…release!" she shouted.
Lefty let the spinning halberd fly, throwing it into the water. It kicked up a sizable bit of wake behind it as it skimmed across the surface, drawing the creature's attention. Whether it thought it was a wounded animal or just something that piqued its curiosity, it went after the commotion, earning them the head start they needed.
As soon as the weapon hit the water, Tanzanite gunned it, racing towards land. All four of them held on for dear life as they sped across the water, hoping that distraction would be enough to throw it off their trail. Despite this, they all knew this was incredibly unlikely. It had chased them this far, why give up now?
For a good few minutes, there was no sign of it; but this was no reason to let down their guard. Tanzanite refused to slow down until they arrived at the base. This, however, was proving to be quite taxing on the skiff, from which a dull whine was now coming. "Are you sure we're gonna make it?" asked Emerald.
"I do not believe in such things as luck," said Tanzanite. "That said, we will be incredibly fortunate if we do not come apart now!" As though to drive the point home, she patted the skiff's handles as though urging it to stay together.
Just then, on the horizon, Yooperlite spied the faint silhouette of "Land!" she shouted, pointing. "We're almost there! Think we can afford to slow down?" she added nervously.
"No, I don't think we can," said Lefty, just as nervous. "Don't look now, but our old friend is catching up!" Behind them, the tell-tale wake of the creature was rapidly approaching. But not just the wake: as it got closer, they could see that it was moving so fast, it was skimming along the top of the water. Its already-cavernous mouth was gaping even wider, barreling straight towards them.
"Why does this thing want to eat us so much!?" Emerald shouted. She leaned forwards, as though willing the skiff to go faster. Unfortunately for them, Tanzanite's calculations were slightly off: it wasn't merely keeping up with them, it was outpacing them.
As anxious as the other three were, Tanzanite managed to keep her cool. She kept one eye on the scanner, watching as the beast grew closer and closer. "Hey, Tanz? We're in a bit of a spot here!" said Lefty.
"Noted!" Tanzanite grabbed hold of the handlebars, ready to pull to the side. With one giant burst of water, the monster launched itself into the air, its shadow falling over the tiny skiff. Just as it was about to engulf the Gems in its maw, Tanzanite pulled hard to the left, just barely steering them out of harm's way.
The creature crashed down, its wake throwing the skiff further to the side. Its pilot was able to quickly recover, but so was the creature. It leapt up again, trying to catch them from underneath. Through it all, Tanzanite pressed on, land her only goal.
"We're comin' in too hot!" shouted a concerned Yooperlite. "And I know these things, I'm a pilot!"
"'Too hot' is the idea!" Tanzanite responded. Smoke was billowing from the skiff's engines now as they raced forward, but the monster didn't care. Its mouth was mere inches from them, able to feel the heat of its breath. "We may need to bail!"
Yooperlite already had Lefty and Emerald under her arms. "Way ahead of you!" By now, the land could be seen clearly, a Gem structure hanging off of a cliff. There was a forest just beyond the beach, which was their destination.
"Go!" Tanzanite leapt from the skiff just as she turned it to the side, followed by Yooperlite. Not a moment after, it sank down the beast's gullet, where it was crushed into scrap. The Gems crashed down into the sand, rolling to a stop, as the monster carried on into the forest, where it rolled to a stop against the trees.
Emerald was the first to get up, taking a moment to feel the solid sand beneath her. "Still alive," she said, partially in disbelief. "Right?"
"Pretty sure," Lefty answered. She and the others got up, examining their surroundings. "So much for that skiff, though. Hope we can find whatever we need at this place." She looked up at the structure.
Everyone's attention was soon drawn to the form of the giant creature, still against the forest. "Can we confirm that it is dead?" Tanzanite asked. Cautiously, everyone approached to check, none of them eager to meet its business end should it not be.
Yooperlite was brave enough to get close enough to its mouth to see it wasn't breathing. "Definitely dead," she said. "Must've crashed a bit too hard."
"Not just that," said Lefty. "Look." She pushed aside one of its fins, revealing its chest. On the creature's underside; its skin was so tight that they could see its skeletal structure pressing up against it.
"And…what does that mean?" asked Emerald.
Lefty looked at the creature with what might have been pity. "It means it was starving," she said. "No wonder it was chasing after us so intently…" She took a step back to examine it once more, before heading up to the clifftop.
Emerald followed after her. "So, what do we do now?" she asked.
Following her as well, it was Tanzanite who answered. "With any luck, the base will have at least one usable spacecraft. And with further luck, we will be able to find our way to a Gen spaceport, where we can hopefully be taken to Homeworld."
"Oh, so now you believe in luck!" Yooperlite chuckled, playfully nudging her. Tanzanite ignored her.
Noticing that Lefty seemed troubled, Emerald jogged to catch up with her. "Hey, Lefty, are you alright? I guess you really do have a thing for organic life, don't you? Considering it tried to eat us and all…"
"It's not just that," she said. "It's this entire thing. This whole planet is dying…probably already dead. Even if we make it back home, I don't think there's anything we can do for it. And I…I've been trying not to think about it, but isn't this what happens to every planet Homeworld colonizes? It just…dies."
As much as she wanted to help, Emerald felt that she didn't know enough about it to speak on it. "I-I suppose so… Let's just focus on actually getting back home before we start worrying about that."
"Yeah," Lefty said, as the base came into sight. "Let's worry about that first."
