Chapter 19: The Folly of Man.
Marcus and the surviving members of the marine squad landed back on the Essex. They were met on the deck by a medical team and were taken to sickbay to be evaluated for radiation exposure following their investigation of the Russian ship.
"What the hell?" Private Simmons complained. "Nobody said anything about us being contaminated by anything before we left and now all the sudden it's a big deal?"
Simmons' protests were mostly ignored as he and the rest of the team were scanned with Geiger counters by technicians wearing radiation suits. Oddly enough, just small traces were found on Brock, and that was only because of his close proximity to the case containing the Uranium rod. Everyone else tested completely negative.
At that moment, Admiral Malek entered through the sickbay door and approached the team. The chief medical officer, Dr. Carter, spotted Malek and signaled for him to stop while he was still in the walkway. Unlike the medical staff, the admiral was only wearing his regular uniform and was completely unprotected from possible radioactive contamination. The admiral looked impatient but stopped in his tracks.
Meanwhile, Dr. Carter had Brock put the case containing the uranium rod on a shelf and then continued to pan over him with the probe. Brock registered no radiation and was in the clear. Only then did Dr. Carter look back over to Admiral Malek and give him the thumbs up that it was safe to approach. The Marine captain who had led the mission saw Malek enter and stood up respectfully.
"Officer on deck!" Captain Lennox announced, bringing everyone to attention.
"At ease." Admiral Malek replied. "I heard you boys were successful. I think congratulations are in order."
"Yes sir, thank you sir." Captain Lennox replied, handing over the manifest to the admiral before retrieving the case with the uranium rod inside. Admiral Malek took the manifest but let one of his aids handle the case. "I would have retrieved the captain's logbook too, but we ran into some trouble over there sir." Captain Lennox reported. "I lost several good men."
"Yes, I heard something about that." Admiral Malek replied. "You'll be happy to know, nothing aboard that derelict ship could have survived the hammering we just gave it. I'll see to it that the appropriate letters are sent out to the families of the men you lost." He assured Lennox. "The captain's log could have potentially contained some useful information, in particular, where the ship was heading, but we'll make do without it." The admiral started to inspect the manifest. "What you got us here is good enough though."
"Sir, would you like a report about what we encountered aboard the Russian ship?" Captain Lennox asked. The Admiral was distracted though, thumbing through the pages of the ship's manifest. He noticed it was entirely written in Russian. The admiral started to leave, seemingly having not heard Lennox's question. "Sir…?" The captain began to repeat.
"What..?" Admiral Malek asked, looking up at Captain Lennox. "Oh… yes, write up a report and I'll look it over in the morning. For now, I'd better get this to Ling to translate." Malek left sickbay without another word.
"Yes sir." Lennox replied. "I'll have it for you tomorrow."
When the admiral was out of earshot, Private Simmons spoke up.
"Well Captain, I don't want to wait for the report." Simmons began. "I want to know right now, what the hell were those things that attacked us in there?"
"I'm honestly not sure myself, did anyone get a good look at them?" Lennox asked. "Marcus...?" Marcus said nothing, but shook his head no. He looked over to Brock.
"A good look...?" Brock began. "No. But in the light from my muzzle flashes, they looked like some sort of giant bugs to me. What do you call those little bastards that get in your house and eat through the pages of newspapers?"
"You mean silverfish?" Captain Lennox guessed.
"Yeah, that's it, they kind of looked like silverfish, only with big nasty mandibles poking out from under their shells." Brock noted. "Couldn't see much beyond that though."
"Whatever they were, the admiral sent us in there unprepared, and less than half of the squad ended up coming back." Simmons said furiously. "And he doesn't even seem to care. What kind of shit is that?"
"Calm down Private." Brock barked. "He couldn't have known."
With that, Marcus unexpectedly rose to his feet and started walking out of the room. Since he was cleared of contamination, he was free to venture back out onto the ship as he pleased.
"Hey Marcus, thanks for coming in after us, even if it was stupid." Brock called out from behind him.
Marcus did not say anything in return, and instead just kept walking.
"Hey, don't you ignore me!" Brock came thumping down the hallway after Marcus. "I was only half-serious. I'm not trying to give you shit, but let's be fair, if you went down in that wreck, the rest of us would have been sitting ducks without a pilot." Brock pointed out.
"Yeah, I suppose you're right, that was dumb." Marcus conceded as he kept walking. Brock had been expecting more protest from him and sensed something was amiss.
"You were uncharacteristically quiet back there." Brock observed. "I've known you long enough to tell when something is on your mind. Spill it."
"I'm a little concerned, that's all." Marcus replied.
"Concerned about what?" Brock grunted. Marcus stopped and looked around, ensuring no one else was within earshot.
"Didn't it strike you as a little odd that Admiral Malek didn't seem very surprised or even interested by our run in on board the Russian ship?" Marcus asked. "If you were him, wouldn't you want to know more about what happened? Several marines under his command died, and he doesn't even have one follow up question about it?"
"What are you saying?" Brock countered, somewhat confused.
"I'm saying that maybe he knows more than he's letting on." Marcus whispered. "Something doesn't feel right here."
"Don't you think that sounds a little paranoid Marcus?" Brock replied. "I mean, I get it, we both almost died in there, and that has a way of getting your blood up. And sure, Admiral Malek is kind of a prick. It's easy to see the worst in a person like that, but it doesn't mean he is in on some type of conspiracy. I know you're not the irrational type, but right now, you're sounding a little like that hothead Simmons."
"Simmons might have been upset, and speaking out of turn, but he was right about a few things back there." Marcus countered. "Think about it, we went to the trouble of going out of our way to gather radiation suits back at Bikini Atoll, why didn't they have our team put them on prior to entering the Russian ship?" Marcus asked.
"Go on…" Brock invited, intrigued.
"You can choose to see it one of two ways." Marcus continued. "Either the admiral doesn't care about grunts like us, or alternatively, he knew ahead of time that we wouldn't need radiation suits on the Russian ship. To the former, Admiral Malek hand-picked most of the men of this crew. Now maybe the man does not place a high value on human life, but he did put a lot of effort into filling out his roster. I figure a man like him doesn't waste resources when he doesn't have to."
"Fair point." Brock agreed.
"To the latter..." Marcus went on. "The admiral has plenty of radiation suits at his disposal and chose not to utilize them in this case. I do not think that is a simple oversight. You can say many ill-things about the admiral. He may be a callus officer, but I've never seen any needless malice in his moves. If he thought we'd need radiation suits, I believe he would have made them available for us. I think he somehow knew the suits wouldn't be necessary for our mission."
"Wait, I know you are a smart guy Marcus, but that sounds all sorts of stupid." Brock grimaced. "For your theory to work, that would mean the admiral somehow knew the radiation levels on the Russian ship would be well-below lethal levels. But how could he have known that for sure? I can tell you from first-hand experience the Russian ship was carrying radioactive materials, and a lot more than the single uranium rod I found. There was a whole compartment half-ripped out of the ship with empty containers. So, the freighter was definitely carrying a lot of heavily radioactive cargo."
"But despite being in that room, you came back with hardly a trace of radiation on you." Marcus pointed out.
"Yeah... I guess that is pretty odd." Brock admitted. "If there was such a big breach, I should have had some contact with it. Enough to be in a decontamination chamber right now buck-ass-naked being scrubbed down, and not standing here talking to you."
"Thanks for that graphic mental image Brock." Marcus winced.
"Come to think of it, how did the fleet follow a trail of radiation to the Russian freighter if the ship wasn't leaking radiation to begin with?" Brock went on, ignoring Marcus. "That doesn't make any sense."
"Maybe something absorbed it ahead of us?" Marcus suggested.
"Let me get this straight, your argument is hanging on the theory that something came along and soaked up the radiation ahead of us and the admiral already knew about it?" Brock frowned at him. "What the hell could do that?"
"I don't know." Marcus admitted. "I'm not saying that there is anything like that. All I'm saying is there's a big piece to the puzzle we're missing, and I think the admiral knows something about whatever it is. Did you happen to notice how he was going to waltz right into sick bay without any sort of protection?" Marcus raised an eyebrow. "He didn't have a care in the world. The only reason he stopped was because of Dr. Carter."
"Wait, I didn't see that." Brock interjected.
"Yeah, you were too busy still being scanned by the doctor and facing the wrong direction." Marcus replied. "From where I was sitting, I could see the whole thing. "The admiral looked pretty putout having to wait. I don't think the doctor was acting on the admiral's orders. I'd say he took it upon himself to give us that examination. It is his job to think about the safety of every member of the crew. Since the admiral failed to act, he must have felt compelled to."
"If that's true, then we just have to take a peek at the medical logs to know for sure." Brock noted.
"It's on my to-do list." Marcus replied. "I might need a diversion for that though."
"I'm good for that." Brock smirked.
…
The next morning, Brock was in the galley when he fell ill with a sudden bout of sharp abdominal pain. Dr. Carter was rushed to the scene with all of the on duty medical staff in toe to evaluate him. Upon close examination, they dismissed Brock's symptoms as only being a bad case of indigestion.
When Brock told them that he had eaten two helpings of the chef's infamous 'mystery-stew' for breakfast, they laughed the whole thing off. Afterwards, Brock thanked Dr. Carter, and then found his way to Marcus' quarters.
"I was right Brock." Marcus began. "The doctor was acting independently last night. He even noted that the admiral sending us in without suits was unusual and irresponsible. He made sure to note that he played no part in it. I guess he was worried about being blamed in an official inquiry if things went south."
"Well, that is troubling." Brock joked. "First my breakfast was ruined, now this?"
"That's very funny Brock." Marcus shook his head in disapproval. "All of these strange and unanswered questions around us. Nothing adds up. The Admiral is acting too casual to be in the dark as much as we are. In his position, I'd be looking for answers. The fact that he isn't asking any questions whatsoever makes me suspect he has more information than we do. I'm not saying that the admiral is up to something nefarious, but I'm certain he's holding something back."
"Have you come up with anything new since last night?" Brock asked.
"Something has occurred to me." Marcus answered. "The Admiral told me during my interview that there were previous attacks on Russians ships, but they hadn't found any wreckage until now. What if that wasn't the whole truth? What if they had found another semi-intact ship before, and had a similar experience?"
"You mean to say that Admiral Malek previously found a ghost ship with no traces of radiation, which was also infested with some type of unknown hostile organisms?" Brock asked.
"Exactly." Marcus confirmed. "That might explain why he is so unphased by all of this and seems to know so much ahead of time. I suspect there is a greater mystery out there. The Admiral has a few clues already, but even he isn't one hundred percent sure what is going on yet. Maybe it's just one more reason he has collected us and brought us out here to investigate."
"I had given this some thought too." Brock replied. "Could the giant bugs be soaking up all the radiation? Maybe that's part of the reason they are so big?"
"Maybe, but I don't think so." Marcus answered. "If that were the case, both of us got close enough to them to be swimming in radiation. I even got some of their blood on my flight suit, but the Geiger counters didn't even bobble when their probes went over it. Still, those bugs have to be tied into whatever is going on somehow."
…
Without a logbook to indicate the Russian freighter's destination, the Archimedes fleet had little other alternative but to resume the hunt with their scout helicopters. The crew of the Essex hunkered down into what they anticipated would be a lengthy, labor-intensive search. However, to the surprise of everyone, almost immediately, something unexpected was found. The trail of radiation that had brought them to the freighter had not come to an end at the ship as they had assumed it would.
Instead, the trail continued onward out into the ocean, and no one could quite explain why. The ocean's current was flowing in the opposite direction, which meant that the radiation could not be coming from the wreck of the sunken Russian ship.
After giving it some thought, Dr. Orsini came up with a possible explanation. He suggested that perhaps some of the surviving crew members from the Soviet freighter had removed the missing reactor rods when they realized their ship was hopelessly stuck in the reef. It was feasible that they were close enough to their destination to make it there in just the lifeboats. Marcus had noticed about half of the life craft missing in his flyover, so there was some evidence to support the theory.
It was also possible that some of the fuel rods were cracked, and the Russian sailors did not realize it. That could be what was leaving the trail. If that were the case, the survivors were getting poisoned slowly by the leaking radiation without even knowing it. Radiation was tasteless, odorless, and certainly could not be seen by the naked eye. The Russians would only notice something was wrong after it was already far too late. The bigger question in Dr. Orsini's mind was if the Russians would be able to reach their destination before succumbing to the radiation exposure.
With a path to follow, and a sound theory to explain its existence, it was not difficult for a decision to be made. The fleet was going to follow the trail and see where it led them. The Essex and her escorts tracked it for the rest of the day.
After many miles, the search helicopters discovered something else that was noteworthy. The radiation level they were detecting was actually increasing in intensity. As luck would have it, Marcus just so happened to be the pilot of the helicopter that made the discovery. He quickly reported his findings.
…
'What the hell?' Dr. Orsini thought confused as he stood on the bridge of the USS Essex. "Marcus, this is Dr. Orsini." He said as he depressed the button on the radio. "These readings don't make any sense. Are you sure they are correct?"
"I'm not an expert Doc." Marcus' voice crackled back in reply over the radio. "I'm only telling you what the instruments are telling me." Dr. Orsini sat there thinking for a moment before reaching for the radio again.
"If the men on the lifeboats are leaving a trail of radiation this strong, they would be dead within a day." Dr. Orsini remarked. "They definitely wouldn't have the strength to row anymore. If they got this far, they would not likely get much further, not against the current."
"Acknowledged." Marcus replied. "Orders…?"
"Admiral?" Dr. Orsini turned to ask Malek, who was sitting in his chair listening.
"Continue the search." Admiral Malek replied flatly.
"Remain on the trail for now and keep an eye out for them Marcus." Dr. Orsini said. "I'd be very surprised if you didn't see something soon."
"Roger." Marcus replied. "Over and out."
…
An hour later, Marcus finally spotted something, but it was not a lifeboat on the water. Instead, he saw a column of smoke rising on the horizon. Marcus was about to change course to investigate it, but then he noticed the trail of radiation was already steering him right towards it.
"Search chopper one to Essex, search chopper one to Essex." Marcus signaled. "Come in."
"This is the Essex search chopper one." The radio operator answered. "Proceed lieutenant, what do you got?"
"I got a huge pillar of smoke." Marcus reported. "Looks to be coming from an island maybe twenty miles away. Looks like the radiation trail will intersect it. Please advise."
"Affirmative search chopper one." The operator replied. "Please stand by."
"Roger." Marcus waited patiently while there was dead space on the radio. He stared off towards the plume of smoke. He got a feeling of foreboding about it.
"Search chopper one." The radio man crackled back on abruptly. "Return to the Essex immediately."
"Order confirmed." Marcus replied. "Returning home now."
…
When Marcus' helicopter reached the Essex, he could see strike aircraft being prepped on the deck. They looked like they were ready to launch at a moment's notice. He radioed the tower to ensure they still wanted him to land, as that would put him in the way of the fighters. The tower confirmed the order, they wanted him on the deck. With their confirmation, Marcus swooped around and brought his chopper in.
Upon touching down, members of the deck crew ran over and began to refuel Marcus' helicopter. A few moments later, Marcus saw a group of men heading his way from the carrier's island. Dr. Orsini and Admiral Malek were leading them. Brock and Captain Lennox were close behind and armed. When they reached the chopper, the air crew were wrapping up and beginning to withdraw. Admiral Malek and his escort opened the doors and entered.
"Alright Marcus, take us to the island." Admiral Malek shouted to him over the hum of the helicopter's blades.
With the helicopter refueled, they lifted back off and were on their way again. As they drifted away from the fleet, Marcus could hear the fighters being launched behind them. The Sabres kept their distance but were shadowing Marcus' helicopter. They were acting as their escort, just in case they ran into trouble, he guessed.
However, as the helicopter gathered more and more Sabres behind it, it became clear that the fighters were more than just an escort. When the total number of fighters had reached ten, eight of the Sabres broke off and accelerated ahead of Marcus' helicopter. Within a few seconds, he was barely able to see them anymore. Though they were still quite a ways off, Marcus could see the Sabres darting towards the island and the plume of smoke.
'I guess if what lies ahead is a Red Bamboo Base, those fighters are going to make sure its defenses are flattened before we get there.' Marcus thought. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see other helicopters from the escort carriers beginning to form up into a tight cluster. They were far away, but each looked to be full of armed marines.
Marcus felt a little tinge of anxiety and tightened his grip on the controls. His search mission was quickly starting to feel more like a full-scale assault. He had a flashback to one of the particularly hairy missions flying an evac chopper out of an active combat zone during the war. The other pilots used to call those hot drops. Marcus hoped this wouldn't be as exciting as those were.
The fighter jets ahead of Marcus disappeared off into the distant sky, while the two that remained nearby were joined by another freshly launched squadron. Marcus wished he were flying in one of the nimble strike craft and not a clunky search helicopter full of VIP passengers.
Minutes went by, and the island off in the distance grew larger and larger with each passing moment. Marcus was scanning the sky, looking for any sign of the fighters that had taken off ahead of them, or worse, enemy fighters who might be targeting them. He found neither though. Marcus was a cautious flyer, however. He never took an unnecessary risk when it came to potential combat, so to be extra careful, he flew a little lower to the sea, which would make them harder to pick up on radar.
Moments later, they were flying over the actual landmass of the island. The terrain was very hilly and full of trees. That was bad. If the Red Bamboo had AA-guns, it meant they could easily place them at higher elevations with perfect cover. It would be very difficult to avoid them. A slow-moving helicopter would be an easy target. Marcus tried to keep an eye out for arcs of fire that might suddenly come up at them, but thankfully, that did not happen.
Marcus maneuvered the helicopter through the hills, staying on course towards the giant plume of smoke. Now that they were closer to the source of it, Marcus and company could see that along with the main pillar of smoke, there were also several dozen smaller ones. They were all scattered around one localized section of the island.
Marcus brought the helicopter over one final hill, and as they crested it, they came upon a shocking scene. It was the shattered ruins of what had once been a military base. As they passed through, they saw utter devastation in the valley below. Only burnt-out structures that had once been buildings remained.
In all, there had been at least twenty-five buildings, but nothing was left standing. The remnants were crumbling and smoldering. Even the grounds of the base were damaged. The foundations were mostly built on rocky terrain, but the places where there was loose soil, the area was extensively torn up. It was not very clear what happened, but the impression was complete carnage. When the initial shock began to fade, the team could see the main source of smoke was one large building at the base of a stone hill on the far side of the base.
"Dr. Orsini…" Admiral Malek gestured to the building. "What do you make of that?"
"That could be the remnants of a nuclear reactor Admiral." Dr. Orsini replied.
"Take us in a little closer Lieutenant." Admiral Malek ordered.
Marcus obeyed and guided them towards the smoldering building, which looked like it had exploded. Pieces of the structure were definitely blasted away. What remained of the building and the ground around it were charred black from being on fire.
"Looks like there was an explosion." Admiral Malek remarked. "Do you think the reactor had a melt down?"
Admiral Malek directed the question to Dr. Orsini, who did not answer. He was too busy studying the damage. Marcus meanwhile switched the Geiger counter in the nose of his helicopter back on. The needle bounced up immediately. Dr. Orsini poked his head up into the front to get a better look at the readout.
"Well, there's definitely radiation being detected down there, but if the reactor core went critical and caused an explosion big enough to level the rest of the base, I'd expect a whole heck of a lot more radiation than we are picking up." Dr. Orsini remarked suspiciously.
"Sir, over there, starboard." Brock spoke up, drawing everyone's attention to something else. Just about a hundred yards outside the perimeter of the base, there was wreckage from a crashed jet. Marcus anticipated they would want to get a closer look, so he turned the stick and took them over to it.
"Do you think someone already attacked the base?" Dr. Orsini asked, looking over to Admiral Malek. "Maybe the regular Navy?"
"No." Admiral Malek shook his head. "I've heard nothing about an operation."
"That jet is not American." Brock pointed out. "See the red star on the tale? That means it belongs to either the Chinese or Soviet Air Force."
"Are you sure?" Dr. Orsini asked. "It looks a lot like a Sabre."
"No doctor, that's a Mig-15." Marcus replied. "It's a very similar design to a Sabre, but there's a difference. I've seen enough of them to know. Look closely at the fuselage."
"There's another one over there." Admiral Malek noted. "This is starting to look more and more like a fight."
"You think the Russians launched an attack?" Dr. Orsini asked. "They hit the reactor from the air?"
"No, that's not what I mean." Malek replied. "Never mind. Lieutenant, take us to the shoreline if you would."
Marcus banked the helicopter left and came around towards what used to be the base's port area. The wooden planks that had made up the docks were splintered and scattered. What remained of them was being tossed back and forth by the tide or had already washed up on the beach. Two decent sized passenger ships were sunk at their moorings. The tops of their radio towers were still peeking out above the water, which gave them away.
"What about radiation here?" Malek asked. Dr. Orsini looked at the gauge again.
"Still present here, but a lot less of it." He replied.
"Alright, I think we've learned about as much as we are going to from up here." Admiral Malek announced. "We are going to go back to the ship, suit up, and then take a closer look on the ground."
…
Within two hours, the team had returned to the demolished remnants of the base and were walking amongst the ruins. On the ground, they could see just how many bodies were left in the wake of the base's destruction. Nothing and no one were left standing.
At ground level, it was a lot easier to identify what things had been, including the bodies. The men were Asian and the writing on the buildings was clearly Chinese. The admiral had brought Ling along this time, and he could confirm that much. While it was safe to assume the men's nationality was Chinese, pinpointing exactly who they were, wasn't as simple. They were undeniably soldiers, but they were not wearing a standard-issue Chinese Army uniform, which would make it difficult to directly connect them with the Chinese Government.
The foot soldiers wore tan fatigues and very odd cylindrical hats with a symbol no one in the team could identify. It seemed to signify their organization. The officers wore a more traditional military hat with the same red symbol. They were only armed with small arms and machine guns, though the base itself had heavy weapon emplacements built in with much stronger firepower. As the team continued their investigation, they walked past a smashed AD turret which contain a powerful AA-gun.
"There's not much left Admiral." Dr. Orsini observed.
"No, not much at all." Admiral Malek agreed. "But we are bound to find something useful, even if it's on a body. We've taken plenty of pictures, but I want more."
As they talked, Captain Lennox came up to them to report on what his group had found so far.
"My men have discovered at least seven downed fighters scattered around the base's perimeter so far Admiral." Lennox informed them. "Looks like an entire squadron. There may be more, we're still looking."
"Have you found an airfield?" Admiral Malek inquired.
"No sir." Captain Lennox replied. "The search helicopters have combed over the whole island. They haven't found a thing. I don't know where the fighters came from sir, but it wasn't here."
"Anything else you can tell me soldier?" Admiral Malek asked.
"The pilots are too burnt up to be identified but appear to be Chinese sir." Captain Lennox replied. "Looks like they may have been called in from the outside to defend the base. We found a record of a coded message being sent out from what used to be the headquarters here. We don't know what it said, but we will have the code breakers take a crack at it when we get back aboard the Essex. My gut tells me it was a distress call for fighter support."
"That means there is at least one more base somewhere out there like this one." Admiral Malek remarked. "And it has to be within the range of the fighters. What is the operational range of a Mig-15?"
"Somewhere between seven-hundred and fifty miles to a thousand sir." Lennox answered. "Marcus could probably tell you more about that. Would you like me to go find him sir?"
"No, that won't be necessary." Admiral Malek replied. "You've at least narrowed it down for me some."
"That is a lot of area to cover if you want to go looking for it admiral." Dr. Orsini noted.
"When we are done here Captain Lennox, get on the radio and make sure Captain Hillard on the Essex knows he should be rotating our own fighters in constant combat air patrols." Admiral Malek went on. "If there is a Chinese airbase nearby, the situation will get real sticky if their fighters see a US fleet within striking distance of their wiped-out base. I don't want to get caught with our pants down if they decide to get trigger happy."
"Yes sir, I'll make it a priority." Lennox agreed. "One more thing sir, the burning and burnt areas of the base are too radioactive to search. Even in our suits, they're too hot for us to get close to."
"It's strange, you'd think the whole base would be too radioactive for us to set foot anywhere on it." Dr. Orsini observed. "As it is, there are just certain hot spots, that doesn't make much sense to me. A reactor explosion should have left this whole area uninhabitable."
"When we find the reactor, I imagine we'll have a better understanding of what happened here." Admiral Malek remarked.
"I'm not sure that we will find it." Captain Lennox noted.
"What…? Why not?" Admiral Malek asked confused.
"The engineers told me that the large building over there contained the reactor core." Captain Lennox began, directing their attention over to the still burning structure at the base of the hill. "If it did contain the reactor, what's left of the equipment is too badly damaged to be certain one way or the other. What you see now is mostly just the shell of the structure. The actual hardware would have been where you see that big burnt-out crater."
"Are you saying that the reactor core is missing?" Admiral Malek asked.
"Well, if it was even there to begin with." Captain Lennox replied. "But there's definitely not one there now."
"Admiral, we've found something you really need to see!" One of the marine grunts came up running.
…
"One… two… three… four toes." Admiral Malek counted. "Dr. Orsini, would you say that this fits the characterization of a giant footprint?"
"Yes, yes I would." Dr. Orsini agreed.
"Yeah, I was afraid you were going to say that." Admiral Malek sighed.
"I guess we couldn't see them from the chopper since most of them are here in the tree line." Dr. Orsini remarked.
"How wide across is it?" Admiral Malek asked.
"Well, let me put it to you this way: I didn't bring my measuring tape, but even if I did, it wouldn't be big enough for this." Dr. Orsini observed. "You said Kameras had been sighted in the area. I'd say there's a good chance he has something to do with this base being destroyed."
Admiral Malek didn't respond to Dr. Orsini's comment. He just stared at the footprint intently.
"Well, if Kameras was here, then I'd say he's got himself a big problem." Dr. Orsini went on. "He must have soaked up a great deal of radiation from the reactor core. The footprints heading back towards the sea are registering really hot on the Geiger counter. I guess he stepped on the wrong building at the wrong time. Maybe the core was smashed down into the ground before exploding. Might explain why we can't find any of the hardware and the giant crater."
"Also, why the whole base isn't contaminated." Captain Lennox added. "I wouldn't go digging around just now."
"Sir we've found a survivor!" Brock came running up to them. "You'd better come quick. He's hurt pretty bad."
…
By the time Admiral Malek, Dr. Orsini, and Captain Lennox made it on the scene, the witness was already dead. Marcus and Ling had found the soldier and did the best they could for him. It wasn't enough though. His injuries were just too severe.
"What can you tell me Ling?" Admiral Malek asked.
"The man was definitely Chinese, and he witnessed the whole attack." Ling reported. "He said they were attacked by a monster."
"That makes sense, we just found footprints in the jungle." Malek replied.
"We didn't get too much more out of him Admiral." Ling went on. "He was suffering from shock. The man just kept rambling. He was terribly frightened."
"He was scared to death?" Malek asked.
"No, that's not really what I meant by shock." Ling began to explain. "I mean it more in the sense of overwhelming physical trauma to the cardiovascular system."
"Well either way, that's too bad." Admiral Malek replied. "There's no telling how much information we could have gotten out of him alive."
"He's the only one we've managed to find breathing so far, how many dead?" Dr. Orsini asked Brock.
"So far we counted up to eighty bodies, but there's no telling how many more cadavers we would find if we excavated all of the collapsed buildings around us." Brock replied.
"We don't have the time or equipment to do so." Admiral Malek noted. "Have the men continue to sweep the island." He instructed Captain Lennox. "I'm going to return to the Essex and report what we have found so far."
…
Later that evening aboard the USS Essex, Marcus was sitting down with Brock, Captain Lennox, and a few other marines in the mess hall. Each man was recounting their experience on the island.
"I was with the admiral and saw them for myself." Captain Lennox continued. "Big nasty footprints in the forest. I'm a little surprised word hasn't gotten around about them yet. I guess the admiral isn't in a hurry to stir up all the grunts with the news of a Kaiju being responsible for all the mayhem yet. But plenty of ground-pounders already saw the tracks. Size ten-thousand sneaker prints complete with four big pointy toes, there's no way to keep all of the boys quiet about that. The Admiral sounded pretty sure they belonged to Kameras. I'd say the news will travel around the whole ship by morning."
"Except Kameras only has three toes on each foot." Marcus muttered.
"Wait, what?" Lennox asked with half a smirk, not having heard Marcus clearly.
"Kameras only has three nubby toes." Marcus repeated more clearly. "Not four sharp ones."
"Are you sure?" Brock asked, leaning forward in his chair warily.
"Positive." Marcus replied coolly. "I saw a file photo right before we left." He assured them. "Three toes."
…
An hour later, the whole ship was buzzing. The commotion was emanating from the brig. A second survivor from the Red Bamboo base had been found on the island and had been taken into protective custody for questioning. The man had been trapped inside one of the collapsed buildings for over a day before a marine squad found him. He had seen better days, but his life was not in danger. His wounds were only superficial.
Dr. Carter patched him up and then had food and water brought to help him regain some of his strength. Soon after, Ling was brought in to interview the man to see what he could tell them. When an hour had past, Ling came back out. Marcus and Brock were loitering in the hallway, waiting to see what he found out. Ling spotted them and instantly cut off any of their questions.
"I can't say too much at this point." Ling informed them. "Admiral's orders. However, I can say our new friend in there did not witness the actual attack. He didn't even make it outside before the building he occupied collapsed around him. He was lucky to have endured long enough for us to find him and pull him out."
"Did he say anything else?" Marcus asked.
"He said it was a monster." Ling answered. "There was more but…." Ling paused, as if to consider his words. "I think we are heading towards something really bad."
…
The next day, Admiral Malek ordered the fleet to set sail. Marcus found the orders curious, because he felt like they had not really finished searching the base. There could have potentially been more clues about the Red Bamboo Organization and what had attacked them, possibly even more survivors. The admiral, however, did not appear concerned about any of that. Instead, he just seemed to be in a hurry to move on.
The search helicopters were sent back out. It was Marcus' turn in the rotation to be on standby, while other pilots went on active duty, so he spent his free time trying to gather more information about what was happening. Clearly, there was more going on than he was being told. He happened to be walking by the Admiral's quarters when he overheard him and the Captain of the Essex having a conversation about their guest in the brig.
"Let me make this clear Captain, there were no survivors from that base." Admiral Malek said plainly. "Our embassy spoke with officials in Beijing just this morning. According to the Chinese Government, they have no knowledge of any overseas military bases in the pacific. So, this man officially does not exist, meaning we can do anything with him we like."
"Sir, I must inform you, I'm not entirely comfortable with this." Captain Hillard remarked. "This seems to be pushing certain Articles of the Geneva Convention."
"The Geneva Convention only applies to prisoners of war." Admiral Malek countered. "There is no war, and he is not a prisoner." He reasoned. "Don't worry Captain, he is our guest, and will be well taken care of. He may only be a low-ranking officer, but he is bound to have some information we can use."
"Admiral, surely…" Captain Hillard began to protest.
"I'm not going to let him go until he does." Admiral Malek cut him off. There was a pause, and brief quiet in the room. "I have to get back to my duties now Captain. I hope this little chat has helped to put your mind at ease." Marcus could hear Admiral Malek moving towards the door and bolted around the corner to avoid being seen by him as he came out.
…
Meanwhile on the bridge, the executive officer of the Essex had gotten word from one of the search helicopters that they had picked up another radiation trail. Admiral Malek left specific standing orders in that event. The X.O. ordered the fleet to change course in order to follow the trail and summoned Admiral Malek and Captain Hillard to the bridge over the P.A. system.
It did not take long before the fleet came to their next stop. Only a few hours later, the radiation trail had brought them to a small archipelago of islands. Upon arrival, Admiral Malek issued out his orders and the fleet slowly began to circle the islands. Marcus watched and waited for nearly three hours as the fleet went in circles. In that time, most of the scout helicopters returned to the fleet. Marcus was watching from a porthole as the last of the choppers touched down on one of the escort carriers.
As Marcus stared out the window, someone came up behind him. He turned to see that it was Dr. Orsini. The doctor had come to quietly collect Marcus on the admiral's behalf. The doctor brought him up to the flight deck and Marcus could see that he had been mistaken. It turned out, not all of the search helicopters had returned from scouting. One of them was missing.
Marcus also noted that Admiral Malek was nowhere in sight. He looked over to Dr. Orsini looking for answers. The doctor did not explain, but instead, instructed Marcus to fly him to the main island in the center of the archipelago. Marcus shrugged and went along with it, quickly getting them underway.
…
"Ok doctor, what's going on?" Marcus finally asked as they were roughly halfway to the island.
"Sorry about the secrecy Marcus." Dr. Orsini began. "The Admiral insisted I say nothing while we were on board the Essex, too many prying ears. The scouts found something on the island and the Admiral wants both of us to come see. He said he didn't want the whole crew to know about it."
"And what is that?" Marcus asked. "Since we're alone now, I think it would be okay."
"He didn't actually say." Dr. Orsini replied. "I don't think he wanted to mention it over the radio. He just told me to come, and to bring you with me."
"And that was it?" Marcus asked impatiently.
"No, he also said that we'd know where to land once we got there." Dr. Orsini replied. "All I know beyond that, is the Admiral spoke with one of the scout helicopter's pilots when he came back to the Essex, then he took off again with him, bringing along a small detachment of marines. I could see them from the bridge. Once they took off, he radioed in and ordered the rest of the choppers back to the fleet until further notice."
"Cryptic." Marcus remarked. "Alright, I guess we'll just have to look for the admiral's helicopter and go from there." Marcus grumbled.
"Indeed." Dr. Orsini agreed. "But at least it's exciting, no?" Marcus glanced over at the doctor with some irritation.
"The admiral has been acting pretty sketchy since we found that Russian freighter." Marcus remarked. "Do you happen to know why, doctor?"
"I couldn't say for sure." Dr. Orsini responded. "I've always found the man to be a little dubious. However, his behavior as of late has been even more evasive than usual." The doctor grinned. "I'd say there is something bothering him."
"So, you've noticed it too?" Marcus remarked.
"Yes, I have." Dr. Orsini acknowledged. "Logic would suggest it is related to recent events, though I must confess, I do not know why. I believe you heard that we found tracks yesterday. The Admiral suspects they belong to a new monster, and there's no doubt in my mind that he is correct about that. However, Admiral Malek became noticeably more agitated after the discovery. But why should that disturb him so? That is, after all, part of our primary mission, and Malek doesn't strike me as the timid type. Our mandate is to hunt down and study monsters." Dr. Orsini observed. "You would think he'd be more excited. If anything, I'd say he's worried."
"Well doctor, I've been around enough monsters not to get excited about the idea of getting close to any of them." Marcus countered. "If the admiral is afraid, it just means that he still has some good sense left in him. Whatever is scaring him, my gut tells me we won't like the answer when we finally get it."
Marcus and Dr. Orsini exchanged concerned glances. They were both quiet for a time, just listening to the hum of the engine as it brought them over the landmass of the island. The sun was hanging low in the sky and was maybe an hour away from setting.
"There, I think I see the admiral's helicopter at the base of that hill." Dr. Orsini announced. "About two o'clock low."
"I see the helicopter, but you had better get your glasses checked doctor, that's no hill." Marcus observed.
"Oh my goodness gracious!" Dr. Orsini exclaimed. "That's the monster Kameras!"
"Yep, that's what it looks like to me." Marcus agreed.
From their vantage point, Marcus and Dr. Orsini could see the back of the kaiju's turtle-like shell. The position of the setting sun behind it did indeed give the impression of Kamera's silhouetted shell being a simple hill. However, it did not hold up under close scrutiny.
"He is just laying there." Dr. Orsini noted. "And the admiral's helicopter is parked right next to him. Is he sleeping?"
"I don't think so." Marcus answered. "I don't see any signs of breathing."
"Ah… I see." Dr. Orsini announced as they got closer. "The radiation must have gotten to Kameras. Looks like he couldn't handle the exposure to the reactor core after all. Do you see the Admiral's party down there? Take note, they are all suited up and keeping their distance. Kameras must be emitting a fair amount of radioactivity. I am a little surprised it killed him so fast though, I would have thought something his size would have lasted a few more days." Dr. Orsini remarked.
Marcus did not contribute anything to Dr. Orsini's assessment of the situation. Instead, he was quiet and began to circle the helicopter around towards the front of Kamera's body. As he did, Marcus noticed something that killed Dr. Orsini's theory on the spot.
"Take a look at the neck doctor." Marcus directed his attention. "Do you see what I'm seeing?"
Dr. Orsini looked down to find what was unmistakably a nasty bite wound on the side of Kamera's neck. There were two parallel lines of deep puncture wounds which curved together forming a red semi-circle. As the helicopter continued to circle, they could also see a significant burn mark present on the chest-portion of Kameras' shell. The shell had not been penetrated, but the damage to the top layer of armor was plain to see. It was blackened from being scorched. Finally, there were four significant claw marks scratched into Kameras' right forearm. They had not pierced through to the flesh below though.
"I think you'd better take us down for a close look lieutenant." Dr. Orsini requested.
…
A short time later, Marcus and Dr. Orsini had joined Admiral Malek, Brock, and Captain Lennox on the ground. They began discussing what they had found.
"So, what do you make of this doctor?" Admiral Malek asked.
"Well for starters, Kameras couldn't have been here for very long." Dr. Orsini began. "Maybe… two days at the most? There is very little decomposition to the body."
"What about the unusual burn damage on his chest?" Captain Lennox asked. "Could it be a result of the explosion of the Red Bamboo's reactor core? We have found strong traces of radiation on the body, particularly around the burnt area."
"It is possible, but there is no way to know for certain without getting some equipment to perform further testing." Dr. Orsini answered. "The one thing I will say with some certainty, is that Kameras was attacked by another monster. There is something else out there, and it must be bigger and nastier than Kameras was." He paused to adjust his slipping glasses. "In fact, I'm not convinced Kameras was the one committing any of the recent attacks."
"Who do you think fought and killed Kameras then?" Captain Lennox inquired.
"To know that, we have to look at Kameras' wounds." Dr. Orsini began. "The key clue is the bite marks on the neck. That is, after all, what did Kameras in. The bite was deep enough to nick his jugular artery and it appears that Kameras bled out from there. However, what is not clear, is if the battle took place nearby or somewhere else. It may even have taken place in the water."
"What makes you say that?" Admiral Malek asked.
"There is very little blood to be found here on the scene." Dr. Orsini pointed out. "That suggests Kameras came from somewhere else and collapsed here before dying."
"That might explain why the landscape seems mostly undisturbed." Brock observed. "If a kaiju battle took place here, you would expect to see a lot more torn up soil and downed trees."
"Indeed." Dr. Orsini agreed. "With that said, let us run through the list of probable murder suspects. By my estimation, there are only two monsters that we know of who could have inflicted such wounds. The first is Anguirus. He has big nasty jaws which could have inflicted the lethal bite, and we are not so far away from where he was last spotted. His front claws could also account for the marks on Kameras' forearm."
"Who's the other primary suspect?" Brock asked.
"Manda is also a good candidate." Dr. Orsini continued. "This patch of the Pacific Ocean isn't very far away from where he attacked the Japanese fleet. It could be that Manda considers this area to be part of his turf. The fact that Kameras invaded his territory is a good motive for the attack. Like Anguirus, Manda's jaws could fit the bill for the bite wound."
"If Manda was responsible, it could explain the burn mark." Brock pointed out. "Japanese sailors came out of their battle with Manda with horrific burns from his electric attacks."
"True, but if the battle took place underwater, as our working theory presumes, then Manda's electric attacks shouldn't have burnt Kameras." Marcus noted. "Also, the claw marks on Kameras' arm look too big for Manda to have inflicted them. His appendages are pretty undersized, I doubt they could do that kind of damage."
"What about the Rodans?" Captain Lennox suggested.
"No, if either of the Rodans had moved out from the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Russians would be all over it." Admiral Malek noted. "Every time the Rodans so much as sneeze, it sets off alarm bells all over the Russian Federation. We closely monitor their signals and there has not been any significant radio chatter over the last two months. As you already pointed out, this kill is still somewhat fresh."
"Also, the Rodans have beaks, and wounds made with them would not be consistent with what we are seeing here." Dr. Orsini added. "I think we can safely rule them out."
"Okay, who else?" Captain Lennox asked.
"Varan is another possibility, but I'd say him being behind this is very unlikely." Dr. Orsini remarked. "We are quite far away from his last known position. However, it is noteworthy that Varan is one of only a handful of monsters that has fought another Kaiju."
"If that makes him a suspect, then there is also Mothra." Captain Lennox observed. "She was spotted in the Pacific somewhat recently, right? Maybe she came to finish the job?"
"Mothra and Kameras have certainly had their differences in the past." Dr. Orsini agreed. "But I don't see how she could inflict the wounds we are seeing with her traditional methods of attack. Additionally, I suspect she could have killed Kameras in their last encounter if she had a mind to. Nothing about this fits her character at all."
"I'm not sure if the character of a giant flying bug factors too much into it." Brock scoffed. "Otherwise, your reasoning is pretty sound Doc. What's left? I think we are fast running out of candidates."
"There is Gezora, but in addition to residing in the Mediterranean, he also has no claws or jaws to speak of." Dr. Orsini remarked. "I think we can one-hundred percent rule him out too."
"There's Baragon." Brock noted. "The scoring on Kameras shell could have been a result of his flaming breath, he definitely bites, and he's got claws too."
"That is all true, but I'm not sure that Baragon swims." Marcus reasoned. "At least not this far out. In our prior dealings with him, he mostly stuck to the land. Also, if it was Baragon, I think he would have taken more than just one bite out of Kameras. In fact, I don't think there'd be much left for us to find if he were behind this."
"Good point." Brock smirked. "He did have quite the appetite."
"There is one more possibility that we have not discussed." Marcus noted. "It could be that we are dealing with a completely new entity, one that we do not understand yet. We have been trying to hammer circular pegs into a square hole, trying to make them fit the mold. The answer may be that there is simply something else we haven't seen yet."
The group was silent, though Marcus did catch a thoughtful glance from Admiral Malek. The silence was broken by the pilot who had brought Admiral Malek to the island.
"Admiral, I just got a message from Captain Hillard." The pilot began. "He wanted you to know that the Essex is picking up an S.O.S. from a ship called Eiko Maru, it sounds like a Japanese merchant ship. They say that they are under attack."