Chapter 7: Attack of the Leviathan
Meanwhile, in the radio room, Mrs. Packard placed a used cigarette in a coffee cup. She was about to make another phone call until she heard something on the radio. She adjusted the settings of her radio to figure out what the sound was, but she couldn't understand it.
"Commander," Mrs. Packard said, "I think you should hear this."
Back at the bridge, Milo was hard at work, examining the first pages of the Journal. He studied over the codes to solve some clues. He was translating the Atlantean language from the book to English.
Emily stood by her brother's side, reading his lips.
"Predeshtem...log tunug...na geb," Milo read, trying to read the dialect.
"Commander?" Mrs. Packard called again.
"'Enter the lair of the Leviathan…'" Milo read.
"Commander?"
"… 'There you will find the path to the gateway'," Milo concluded, finishing the translation.
"Commander?" Mrs. Packard repeated again.
Finally, Rourke turned his attention to Mrs. Packard and decided to find out what was up, hoping it better be important.
"Yes, Mrs. Packard," he said. "What is it?"
"I'm picking up something on the hydrophone I think you should hear," the elderly woman informed him.
"Put it on speakers," Rourke said.
Mrs. Packard flipped on a switch from the radio to turn on the submarine's speakers. Milo, Rourke, Helga, and the other crew members listened to the sound coming from the speakers. They heard whooshing and loud groaning.
Emily couldn't hear the sounds that were reverberating from the speakers. But when she looked at the expressions of apprehension from the others, she could see that whatever the sound they were hearing, was bad news.
Milo? What's going on? Emily signed to Milo.
"I'm not sure Em," Milo signed back.
Outside, the mysterious giant creature was swimming by the left side of the submarine and was completely camouflaged by the darkness of the water.
Back in the submarine, Rourke and Helga entered the radio room to find out what was causing the strange noises.
"What is it? A pod of whales?" Rourke asked.
"Uh-uh," Mrs. Packard shook her head. "Bigger."
"It sounds metallic," Helga said, adjusting a setting. "Could be an echo off one of the rocks."
"Do you want to do my job?" Mrs. Packard asked, sarcastically. "Be my guest."
"Is it just me, or is that getting louder?" Milo asked.
Everyone glanced and listened as the noise was getting closer and closer. But within a matter of seconds, the noise died down and everything was completely silent.
"Well, whatever it was, it's gone now," Helga said.
"Helmsman! Bring us about," Rourke ordered. "Tighten our search pattern and slow us to…"
Then, a crashing sound was heard, causing Milo, Emily, Rourke, Helga, Mrs. Packard, and the Helmsman to fall back!
Outside, the sea creature emerged and roared as it began to attack the submarine. It was none other than the REAL Leviathan!
Inside the Ulysses, red lights flashed and the alarms began to blare. Audrey ran through a hallway passing the alarming crew members.
"Out of the way!" Audrey yelled. She sprinted to search for the nearest exit to reach the engine room.
Outside, the Leviathan roared in rage. It swam straight for the submarine, preparing to attack.
Audrey reached the hull and looked down from the upper railings. The crew members screamed and ran for their lives as ocean water began pouring into the hull and engine room. Audrey realized that they were in grave danger.
Back at the bridge, Rourke began to give commands to fight back the Leviathan and save the crew.
"Tell Cookie to melt the butter and break out the bibs. I want this lobster served up on a silver platter!" Rourke said, passing the order to Helga.
"Load the torpedo bays!" the German woman ordered. "Sub pod crews, battle stations!"
Then, a powerful blow struck the ship, causing Helga to fall back!
In another section of the submarine, Mole, Vinny, and the other members all got inside into some heavily equipped submarine pods to fight back the Leviathan.
"Battle stations!" An Ensign yelled.
"Steady, boys. Don't panic," Rourke ordered calmly through the intercom, as the crew members were getting ready for the launch.
The Leviathan grabbed the Ulysses with its giant claw and rocked it. Milo and Emily were thrown off from the bridge and landed on the front windows. The Thatch siblings took one glance at the creature and grew alarmed when they noticed there was something off.
"Jiminy Christmas! It's a machine!" Milo exclaimed.
Emily's eyes widened, and her hair flew up in terror when the large red eye of the creature shrunk down in rage.
The Leviathan clutched the submarine within its' smaller claws, and began to puncture holes. Inside, Audrey hurried over to a lever to shut the hatch door. Three mechanics hurried straight for the closing door as water was gaining in on them.
"Wait! Wait!" One mechanic yelled.
Two of the mechanics managed to jump through as the door was shut, but one was left out. The door shut in time before water could flood in.
"Launch subpods!" Rourke commanded.
"Subpods away!" The ensign yelled.
At his order, the subpods were launched from the Ulysses, and soared through the ocean! They spun back and went straight towards the Leviathan to prepare for their attack.
In their sub pod, Vinny and Mole were listening in for Rourke's instructions.
"Fire!" Rourke said over the radio.
The subpods fired their missiles at the Leviathan, creating blue fog as they made impact on the creature, stunning it.
"We're free. All ahead full," Rourke ordered.
The crew navigators steered the Ulysses back to its upright position as the Leviathan fled.
"Fire torpedoes!" Rourke commanded.
"Fire torpedoes!" the Ensign repeated. On the upper level of the submarine, soldiers were in the domes positioning their guns. Within a few seconds, they fired their torpedoes at the Leviathan as the crew in the subpods fled.
But no matter how hard they tried, the Leviathan wouldn't give up. Within its mouth, it created a powerful light blue laser beam and it shot towards the submarine, puncturing the walls.
Down in the boiler rooms, rivets began to shoot through like bullets from guns. Audrey held her arms up to defend herself from the impacts. She grabbed a mini shovel from nearby, used it as a shield to protect herself and hurried towards the ladder to climb it.
When Audrey reached the top, two mechanics pulled her up, and closed the latch.
"Get me the bridge!" Audrey said.
Back at the bridge, Mrs. Packard was in her radio cubby and reading a magazine, titled Crime. She was unaware of the dangerous situation they were in.
"Sir, it's engineering on four," Mrs. Packard said to Rourke, before returning to her magazine.
Rourke turned on a switch by the intercom and flinched when Audrey shouted. Despite the yell, he regained his composure to listen to her update.
"Rourke! We took a big hit down here, and we're taking on water fast. I don't want to be around when it hits the boilers!" the raven-haired girl informed.
"How much time do we have?" the man asked.
"Twenty minutes, if the bulkhead holds," said Audrey. Then, an explosion was heard. "You better make that five."
From the moment on, Rourke instantly knew that they have to abandon the submarine and escape from the Leviathan!
"You heard the lady," Rourke announced. "Let's move!"
"Move! Where? Move where?" Milo asked. A crew member pushed him and Emily to the exit.
"Packard, sound the alarm!" Helga said.
The elderly woman was sitting at her desk, currently on a phone call.
"He took his suitcase? Marge, honey, I don't think he's comin' back," Mrs. Packard said.
"PACKARD!" Helga yelled, impatiently.
"I have to call you back," Mrs. Packard said, putting out her cigarette. "No, no, I'll call you."
Milo and Emily hurried through the hallways with their belongings, running as fast as they could to the docking bay. The red lights flashed, sirens wailed, and steam emerged from the pipes.
"All hands, abandon ship," Mrs. Packard announced from the intercom.
The siblings caught up with Audrey and Sweet as they made their way to a submersible escape pod, and jumped inside. Helga stood by the trap door ensuring that they made it.
"Move it, people! Sometime today would be nice!" Helga shouted.
Once they were inside, Helga closed the hatch door and ran past Milo, Emily, Audrey, and Sweet.
"Come on! Everybody grab a seat and buckle in!" she ordered.
Milo, Emily, Audrey, and Sweet took their seats and placed in their seatbelts. Helga hurried to the front to where Rourke was in the driver's seat and sat next to him.
"Lieutenant, get us out of here!" Rourke commanded.
The submarine was sinking towards the floor of the ocean. The Leviathan halted and watched the Ulysses making its' plunge. It roared.
In the escape sub, Helga was struggling to pull on a tight lever to release.
"Lieutenant!" Rourke yelled.
"I'm working on it!" Helga shouted.
The Leviathan swam towards the submarine, creating another laser beam. The laser went through the submarine, and was close to obliterating it. Helga shoved the heel of her foot hard on the gas pedal! The submersible activated, and broke loose from the docking bay!
"Hang on!" Helga called to the others. She took a hold of the controls and drove the submersible away from the submarine! From the moment the three escape submersibles drove away, the Ulysses exploded in the depths!
The Leviathan roared, and emerged from the clouds of debris. It started its pursuit of the survivors. Emily held her brother's hand tight, feeling the shaking and vibration of debris and rocks hitting the submersible.
"Where to, Mr. Thatch?" Rourke asked.
Milo opened the Journal, and scrambled through the pages before coming up to a map. "We're looking for a big crevice of some kind," he called back.
Rourke and Helga looked up ahead to see an underwater gorge in the distance.
"There! Up ahead!" Rourke said, pointing.
The German woman grabbed the intercom to pass the message.
"All craft, make your mark 20 degrees down angle," Helga announced.
"Roger! 20 degrees down angle," one navigator said in his pod.
"Right behind you!" Mole answered.
The submersibles and subpods began to drive straight for the gorge. Behind them, the Leviathan was swimming right behind on their tails, and destroyed one of the pods and made an explosion behind Mole and Vinny's pod.
"Sacré bleu!" Mole exclaimed.
"We're getting killed out here!" A male solider yelled.
The Ulysses crew dove deep into the gorge to search for the tunnel that would take them to the air pocket. The Leviathan chased after them, and shot out a laser destroying another subpod!
"Look out!" A sailor shouted as he and his partner's submersible crashed into the upper walls of the tunnel and exploded on impact! The last submersible and pod traveled up through the tunnel at full speed!
Emily clutched onto her seat as her nails dug into the leather cushion. She was terrified for her life and her brother's! We're gonna die! We're gonna die! We're gonna die! She thought, feeling the violent shaking of the vehicle and her heart pounding mightily in her chest.
Milo was in his seat and was clutching the Journal tightly in his hands. He felt himself going into a panic, praying that he wouldn't end up dying on this adventure.
"It's only a grease trap. It's just like a sink," Milo said to himself, doing his best to remain calm.
Audrey looked at him and glared. "It's only a grease trap, it's just like a sink!"
The Leviathan continued to chase after the submersible and subpod, and shot out its beams to destroy them. The vehicles continued to drive faster away until they could no longer hear or feel the roars and lasers from the creature.
Rourke and Helga drove the submersible until it reached a dead end, and they steered it upwards. Mole and Vinny followed suit as the intense pressure of the water formed a crack on their front window. Without wasting a moment, the vehicles made their way to the surface.
With a loud whoosh, the submersible and subpod have reached the surface! Mole and Vinny opened the hatch door of their subpob and emerged to look at the area of the air pocket.
Helga exited from the submersible and helped Rourke up. The woman turned on a headlight and shined it around the air pocket.
Within this area were ancient buildings, pillars, and a staircase leading up to a giant fish statue with its large mouth wide open. What is this place?