Chapter 33: Fire and Ice.
Following the battle between Godzilla and King Kong, the Archimedes fleet set off to track the two monsters in the waters off of Japan. Unfortunately, they were not able to immediately sail out after them. Japanese civilians were still disembarking from the American ships in Yokohama as the chase on the high seas began. Admiral Malek was furious with the delay, but there wasn't anything he could do about it.
The Japanese air force followed Godzilla and King Kong for as long as they could until they exceeded their maximum range and were forced to turn back. Visual contact was lost before the day was out, and Kong's fate was unclear.
The Archimedes fleet finally got underway four hours behind the monsters. With little other alternative, they set a course for the projected trajectory of their last known position. As the task force closed in, Marcus and Brock were once again sent out to scout, along with all of the other helicopters in the flotilla. They employed their Giger counters and zigzagged along the surface of the waves, trying to pick up on Godzilla's trail. Unfortunately, the trail was well-past cold. After three hours of searching, they had come up entirely empty.
"If we are actually serious about finding the Big Monkey and Big-G, then maybe we should just try going to Farou Island." Brock pointed out irritated. "Wouldn't that be the logical place for Kong to retreat to?"
"I don't think that's a good idea." Marcus replied. "If Kong did indeed go back home, then that's a good thing. That way, he won't be out causing trouble anywhere else. If we want him to stay on Farou, it's best to leave him be." He reasoned. "The fleet sailing there could be more trouble than it's worth in the end. I'm sure Admiral Malek has accounted for that in his calculus. As for me, I hope Godzilla gave up, and Kong made it back home safely. None of what happened was his fault."
"I'm not sure Godzilla would agree with you on that, but yeah, Kong kind of got dealt a rough hand." Brock agreed. "At least that asshole Tako got what was coming to him. A little jail time should suit him well."
"Well, when you consider that bringing Kong into the fold lured Godzilla away from Japan in the end, I think the authorities might just go easy on him." Marcus replied. "The destruction Kong caused is very minor compared to what Godzilla might have done on his own if he was left unchecked."
"I suppose you're right… as usual." Brock sneered. "It's a good thing you got that brilliant mind to offset those weak arms of yours." He smirked at Marcus tauntingly.
"Hey… you're just lucky I'm flying, otherwise I'd pop you right in the mouth." Marcus smiled, joking and waving his fist in a comedic fashion. Brock just laughed at him.
"How much longer until we are forced to turn around?" Brock asked impatiently. "We're not really accomplishing too much out here."
"Oh… not too much longer now." Marcus said, peeking down at their fuel gauge.
…
Thousands of miles away in the Sollgel Islands, a team of scientists from the United Nations Agricultural Commission were conducting a series of climate experiments. They had constructed a sophisticated base which included four big colorful weather towers. The impressive red and yellow pylons served dual purposes for the scientists. First, they had sensory equipment located at their tops to monitor weather conditions before, after, and during the experiments. Second, the towers had specialized thermospheric injectors built into them which would release silver iodide into the atmosphere for the final testing of the project.
The rest of the base consisted of a red and white candy-striped generator shed, various smaller living quarters, the yellow and orange Sonde-equipping laboratory, a blue and silver headquarters, and finally, the defensive emplacements. The base had started out as a strictly scientific endeavor. However, several pressing factors had led to it becoming militarized. First, the local fauna had proven to be extremely dangerous, and perimeter defenses immediately became necessary. Second, the Russians had established a military base of their own on the southernmost island in the chain. This made the UN team very nervous. The scientists assumed that the Soviets had designs on their project. However, what the Russian's actual interest in the area was, remained a mystery.
The UN team was largely made up of Japanese men, Professor Kusumi and his crew. Kusumi was a no-nonsense by-the-book type of researcher. He worked his men hard and expected results. The Sollgel Islands were tropical and located near the equator. The heat on them was oppressive year-round. That just so happened to make them an ideal location for the experiments, to the chagrin of several of Kusumi's subordinates.
Professor Kusumi didn't much like the fact that his research facility had been invaded by soldiers, but he recognized them as a necessary evil. Base security was becoming more and more of a concern as time went on. In order to avoid trouble with any language barriers, the UN oversight committee recruited ex-Japanese soldiers, mostly veterans of the Second Great War, to protect the facility. They would defend the base against any outside incursions and safeguard the scientists while they worked.
One day, a mysterious aircraft showed up on the base's radar. It put everyone on high alert. The whole base came to life responding to the intruder. The guards in the watchtower eventually spotted the trespassing aircraft visually through their binoculars. It turned out to be a small white commercial plane. Almost as soon as they saw it, the aircraft turned around and was going back the way it had come. In its absence, the soldiers could see a man parachuting into the shallow waters of the nearby lagoon.
By the time a security team rushed out to meet the man, the plane which had brought him there had already disappeared from the area. The recent arrival, who had just set foot onto the beach, was stunned to see a row of soldiers pointing rifles at him as a greeting. He put his hands up and tried to explain who he was, but the soldiers wouldn't listen to him. The stranger was tackled into the wet sand and immediately taken into custody. He was brought to a makeshift holding cell and then interrogated.
After an hour, Professor Kusumi himself came to talk to the interloper. At first, Kusumi just looked him up and down, studying the man carefully without saying a word. The intruder hadn't been changed out of his gear yet and he looked a little strange. He was wearing a bright yellow shirt, a red helmet with a white racing stripe down the middle, water goggles, and an orange life-preserver. It was hardly an inconspicuous outfit if he hoped to blend into the jungle.
"So, who are you, and why are you here?" Professor Kusumi asked suspiciously, lighting up a match. "Toyo tells me you claim to be a reporter." The grumpy looking security chief was standing behind the professor as he brought the flame to his pipe and began puffing out smoke. "He's having a hard time believing that a reporter would jump out of a plane and expect to be welcomed when they are both unannounced and uninvited. It seems a little far-fetched to me too."
"Well, it's true." The reporter replied unshaken. "I'm Goro Maki, a reporter with United World News. I knew I wouldn't be welcome here, but since I just dropped in, I knew you wouldn't be able to send me away. There isn't a way off the island until your supply-ship comes next month. Until then, you're stuck with me." Maki pointed out smugly. "Your security officers took my ID, but you can contact the UWN offices if you feel compelled to verify who I am. My boss is well-aware of where I'm at. I could smell a good story here, and I don't plan to leave until I get it." He folded his arms stubbornly.
"We don't want or need any publicity." Professor Kusumi replied dryly, unimpressed with Maki's antics. "We already have all the funding we could possibly need, and our work is top secret. We certainly will be contacting UWN. For your sake, I hope they know who you are. My security chief is not a forgiving sort of man." Toyo eyed Maki malevolently. "I'm not really sure what he plans to do with you if you're not who you claim to be. He thinks you are a Russian spy trying to infiltrate our operation. He is of the opinion that we should just shoot you now and save ourselves some time and effort. I'm willing to at least check out your story though. You will remain here until we can determine exactly who you are." With that, Professor Kusumi walked away.
…
Back in the Pacific, the Archimedes fleet had finally given up actively looking for Godzilla and King Kong. Admiral Malek decided to sail the fleet back to Pearl Harbor to resupply and wait for more information to surface. The Masers that had been mobilized during Godzilla and Kong's battle were likewise re-routed to Pearl. It was just a matter of time before Godzilla would reappear, and they wanted to be ready for him. Marcus and Brock were on their return flight back to the USS Independence and chatting to pass the time.
"I feel like my kids are growing up without me." Marcus lamented. "Every time we set out on one of these long missions, I'm missing milestones at home. Don't get me wrong, the kiddos are always happy to see me when I come back, but being gone for months at a time, it's hard to make up for that kind of lost time, you know? Shauna has been an absolute saint through all of this. Me being away for this long has got to be driving her nuts. I guess I'm just glad I'm nearing the end of this extended tour of duty." He sighed.
"Well, for what its worth, I'll miss you when you're gone." Brock replied. "But I get it, you want to do something more with your life beyond just chasing giant monsters around all of the time. It's really not a job for a family man. We'll have to make the most out of your last couple of months."
"Just keep me from doing anything too stupid in the meantime." Marcus said. "Getting short on time is making me nervous, like something bad is going to happen before I'm discharged. God forbid, if I should get myself killed, Shauna would probably come find me in hell just to chew me out for it."
"Yeah, she's a sweet lady, but I've seen her temper when provoked." Brock smirked. "Even I want to stay on your old lady's good side." He laughed. "But you shouldn't joke about stuff like that. It's bad luck. What do you have left now, like eight months?"
"Yep, that's about right." Marcus answered. "I just got to stay out of trouble for another eight months, and then I'm free and clear. You think it's too much to ask for Godzilla to take a break until then? And also, for no other new monsters to show up in the meantime?"
"Ha, you just asked for the moon buddy." Brock replied.
…
"Well, it's your lucky day." Professor Kusumi announced, walking back into Maki's cell after leaving him to stew for an hour. "We managed to get through to the UWN office in Tokyo, and they do seem to know about you. Toyo still wants you gone, but that's simply not an option for the time being." Toyo crossed his arms, staring disapprovingly at Maki from behind Kusumi. "My assistant Fujisaki has suggested an alternative." Kusumi went on. "We're short-handed around here. Our cook disappeared about two weeks ago and we could use a replacement. Your boss mentioned you worked as a fry-cook before coming to work with him." The Professor's implication was plain as day to Maki.
"And if I refuse?" He asked.
"Well, you have two choices." Kusumi countered. "You can sit here and rot in the brig for the next month. Or… you can take on the chef role. You'd be cooking for about fifty men." Maki looked to the side, thinking it over briefly. It was an inescapable fact that if he was confined to the brig, he wouldn't be able to get his story.
"I'll do it, but only under the condition that I can document your experiments." Maki answered.
"I think I can agree to that, so long as the story isn't released until the end of our project." Kusumi replied. "And only upon my express permission. I'd want to review your report first."
"Deal." Maki agreed.
"Very well, I will release you to the supervision of Fujisaki." Professor Kusumi gestured towards his assistant.
…
"Over the last six months, we've been trying to conduct weather research here." Fujisaki explained as he walked Maki around the grounds of the outpost. "If we can master control over the climate, then we could manipulate harsh conditions in places like Siberia, the Sahara Desert, and the Australian Outback. Make them more stable and fertile for crop production. We have the opportunity to guarantee that all of mankind has enough food for the foreseeable future. We could virtually eliminate world hunger within a generation."
Fujisaki continued the tour of the facility and began to explain the rules of becoming a member of the team. The biggest ones were related to where Maki could and couldn't go. Certain areas of the base were off-limits, but even more so, the jungle beyond the fence was considered strictly out-of-bounds.
"What's wrong with the jungle?" Maki inquired. Fuji got a strange look on his face. It was clear that he didn't want to talk about it. But it was unavoidable. Sooner or later, he'd have to tell Maki.
"The jungle is an extremely dangerous place, particularly during the night." Fuji noted grimly. "The previous cook didn't just disappear. He was killed while trying to gather herbs outside of the fence." He paused, as if he were envisioning it. "Yuji thought that he would be okay during the day, so long as he stayed nearby the base's perimeter. He was wrong." Fuji simply remarked, grimacing. "He was my friend. He didn't deserve to die like that."
"What happened?" Maki asked confused.
"It's getting more and more hazardous venturing out into the jungle." Fuji went on. "When we first arrived on the island, there didn't seem to be any threat here whatsoever, but after the first experiment, a huge species of praying mantis appeared out there in the wilds. They're roughly the size of a man and quite hostile. Aside from the Meganulon, they are the largest insect species discovered to date, and they killed Yuji."
"Have you seen them for yourself?" Maki asked. "Has anyone gotten a picture of one?"
"Yes, and no." Fuji replied. "Trust me, when you see one of those things, the last thing on your mind is going to be pulling out a camera." He warned. "When we discovered the Mantis', there was talk of moving the base to a different island in the chain, but the towers had already been erected by that point, and it would have been extremely expensive to dismantle them and relocate. So instead, the military was rushed in. A fence and guard towers were quickly built to keep the bugs out of the base's grounds."
"So, we're safe so long as we stay within the fence?" Maki asked.
"Yes." Fuji answered. "The mantis seem to be mostly just active during the night, and standard issued rifles have kept them at bay on those rare occasions when they have ventured too close to the fence. None-the-less, a number of men have been killed by the bugs over time. Team members have to occasionally leave the safety of the base defenses to check on the equipment in the weather pylons. That makes them vulnerable. Incidents have been on the rise, and it seems as though the numbers of mantis are too. Sightings are up. We've given them the name Kamacuras."
"Okay, you've got me convinced." Maki remarked apprehensively. "I'm not setting a foot outside of the base."
"Good, because the Kamacuras aren't our only problem." Fuji went on. "The other main concern, though it seems almost pedestrian by comparison, are the Russians. Professor Kusumi is certain that the Soviets are trying to spy on our experiments. Some time ago, we heard gunfire out in the jungle. Upon investigating, our security patrols found the bodies of several men which were badly mutilated. They could only be Russian infiltrators."
"Their uniforms?" Maki asked.
"No, they weren't wearing any identifying marks that gave them away." Fuji answered. "But the corpses were built much bigger than us, and what was left of their skin was Caucasian, and hairy. I don't know if the Russians knew about the Kamacuras prior to their mission, but either way, they understood the danger the bugs posed afterwards. Those types of espionage missions stopped promptly afterwards, but a spy plane still flies over us occasionally."
"I guess you got to give them credit for their persistence." Maki observed.
"Spying is about the only thing those damned Russians are any good at." Fuji scoffed spitefully. "Consider all of their noteworthy scientific achievements within the last ten years: Nuclear weapons, stolen from the Americans. Rockets, stolen from the Germans. Jet fighter designs, stolen from the Germans and Americans. Masers, well they got their hands on the design specs a year ago from the Americans and they have to be close to reproducing those too. Whatever they can't achieve by their own merits, they steal. They're like a pack of hyenas trying to sneak kills away from their betters. Now they want to get a piece of the weather-control pie too? No sir, I won't have it. Not this time. They keep an eye on us, and we keep an eye on them."
"You sound a little bitter." Maki pointed out.
"You're damn right I am." Fuji replied. "They're no better than parasites. Professor Kusumi is worried that the Russians are trying to steal the experiment so they can freeze any part of the world they want. And I think he is right to assume so."
"Perhaps they want to use the technology to drive the Rodans out of their land?" Maki suggested. "If they make it inhospitable enough, the monsters might move on."
"Yes, I suppose that makes sense." Fuji agreed. "They've tried just about everything else, including nuclear weapons. So, I'd say they're probably desperate enough to try just about anything. For the record, I don't personally think trying to freeze the Rodans out would work though. The monsters live underground in a volcano. They could simply outlast any changes in the weather on the surface by staying underground. I'll tell you what I do find interesting though."
"What's that?" Maki asked.
"The Russians have brought in a lot of heavy equipment lately." Fuji went on. "We thought they were perhaps planning to expand their existing airstrip, but that's not what they are doing at all. They are actually over there digging for something. What that could be… we have no idea. But we've seen it with our float plane. A whole apparatus rigged up around a mountain near the island's center. This archipelago is not known for its mineral resources either. In fact, it's quite to the contrary."
"That is curious." Maki agreed, growing more and more intrigued.
"We've been picking up on some odd interference since the Russians set up shop over there." Fuji continued. "At first, I thought their goal may simply have been to disrupt our operations until they were ready to make a move on us, but I'm not so sure now. The interference just seems to come and go randomly. There's not much of a pattern to it. If it is the Russians messing with us, then they have been moderately successful. We've had to delay several experiments until the interference has died down. It's been quite the nuisance."
…
In Darwin, Australia, a seven-year-old boy named Cooper was walking down a dirt road after school. He was on his way to the powerplant that his father worked at. Cooper's mother had been called into work to cover for an ill friend for the next two nights. As he was only seven, Cooper couldn't be left on his own at home until his father was off work, so for the next two afternoons, he was going to join his father Ethan at the jobsite. Letting Cooper run around the plant was out-of-the-question, so Ethan planned on letting him play inside of his office until he was done for the day.
Ethan was the chief-engineer at a recently completed powerplant. His office wasn't very big, but Ethan had an ace up his sleeve to keep his son Cooper entertained. He had the foresight and wisdom to buy a new package of army-men for his son to play with. The set included some tanks, jeeps, and jets. Ethan had gone an extra step further and found an antagonist at the toy store for Cooper's army-men to clash with. It came in the form of a fire-breathing dinosaur. Ethan was confident the new toys would please Cooper well-enough to keep him inside the office and out of trouble for the next two days.
The plant was located along the Adelaide River, drawing hydroelectric energy from the water's current. It helped power the city of Darwin. Cooper arrived at the front gate of the powerplant and found that his father was already there waiting for him. Ethan was pleased to see that Cooper was in good cheer about the arrangement. He'd been worried about a potential tantrum since his son's normal routine had been thrown off. However, Cooper had never been to the powerplant before, and it may as well have been a chocolate factory for all the sense of wonder the sprawling industrial complex inspired in him.
Ethan padded Cooper's head through his yellow baseball cap and then picked him up, throwing him up onto his shoulders to carry him inside. Cooper's hat nearly fell off after a gust of wind blew by them. The workers inside the plant smiled and waved to Cooper as they went by, seldom did they have young visitors there. Cooper was shy, but he waved back energetically. As they reached the office, Ethan's secretary gave Cooper a sweet and a wink. It was a good first impression for Cooper.
Upon entering the office, Cooper was overjoyed to find his new toys waiting for him on the floor. Ethan would never admit it, but he enjoyed arranging the soldiers ahead of time to make it look like an epic battle was unfolding. Before Cooper got too engrossed, Ethan took a moment to explain the rules of the office. Cooper had to stay inside and not wander off by himself. Ethan promised that if he did a good job, at the end of the day, he'd show him around more to look at the machines and tell him how they worked. This seemed to please Cooper. He nodded in understanding.
"Mr. White, Larry is calling from the substation." Ethan's secretary Marge knocked, poking her head into the office. "He says they are reading a lot of power fluctuations in the grid coming from the generators."
"That's strange." Ethan replied. "We just inspected the entire system last week, and didn't find any problems. Maybe have Larry check to see if the gauges are reading correctly."
"Larry told me he double-checked that already." Marge countered. "He said he has detected a noticeable drop in the power output over the last two days."
"Alright, well I guess I'm going to have to take another look myself to see if anything is out of order." Ethan sighed. "Do me a favor, and make sure Cooper stays out of trouble while I start some diagnostics."
"Can do boss!" Marge replied with a smile.
…
On Sollgel, night had fallen. It was Maki's first evening on the island, and the feel of the place had completely turned on its head in just a few short hours. When he arrived, it felt like an island paradise. Sure, it was hot, but Maki liked it hot. He figured this assignment would be like an extended tropical vacation. He'd fought to get the job. However, now that it was dark, the island took on a whole new sinister persona. The jungle just outside of the basecamp felt forbidden and ominous.
The biggest problem Maki was facing at that moment was the site's lack of any indoor plumbing. It was the middle of the night, and he had to go to the bathroom, the issue being, the nearest privy was clear across the grounds of the camp. Maki felt like a five-year-old who was too scared to get out of bed and walk down a dark hallway at night. After sitting and thinking it over for about three minutes, he summoned the courage to climb out of bed and then made his way outside.
Even at night, the island was fairly warm. The damp humidity clung to Maki. He looked around and saw dim lights providing speckles of illumination to the grounds, but only in patches. The scene was fairly spooky. Maki was used to Tokyo nights, where the overwhelming light pollution constantly kept the darkness at bay. Only at that moment did Maki realize just how far away from civilization he really was. Out in the middle of the ocean, a small generator was the only thing keeping them from true natural darkness.
Upon realizing how encroaching the dark was, Maki considered just peeing on the wall of the bunkhouse, and then going back inside. But then he considered the ridicule he'd face if someone were to see him doing it. Maki's pride started to whisper to him. He was an adult and a man, why was he so afraid to walk the grounds of a secure compound? The guys living on the base had been doing such things for months. Was he not cut from the same cloth as they were?
Maki stiffened his spine and marched out into the open area of the camp. The night's sky was beautiful and speckled with stars. It was the silver-lining of having very few light sources. Maki could hear the pleasant chirping of some type of island insects as they sang to each other. They weren't crickets, but the sound reminded him of them.
Maki's path took him close to the outer fence which was covered by coils of barbed wire. It made him feel better. Anything trying to get through that twisted mess of razor-wire would be in bad shape afterwards. The outhouses Maki sought were clear on the far side of the compound. For obvious reasons, they were built far away from the other buildings. The camp layout was set up before they realized they had to be wary of natural hazards.
The fence had been installed as tightly as possible to the camp's physical framework, meaning there was only a few feet between the outhouses and the fence. Maki did not like that fact too much. He felt pretty exposed out there by himself as he got further into the open area. He looked up to see if the guard on duty in the lookout tower was keeping an eye on him. Maki didn't see any movement above him. He hoped the guard hadn't fallen asleep. The spotlight was on, but it was stationary, pointing at nothing in particular out in the jungle. Maki thought about shouting up to him, but he didn't really want to draw attention to himself either.
Maki continued onwards towards the outhouses. He could already smell them forty paces away. Again, Maki briefly questioned his decision to come to the island. There was nothing for it though. That ship had sailed. He pulled up his shirt over his nose and continued until he was inside. Maki urinated just as quickly as he could, breathing through his teeth and then left again, pulling up his shorts as he moved away. Every step he took away from the building made him feel more relieved.
When Maki was about halfway back to the guard tower, he heard a noise out in the jungle. It was a rustling sound coming from the bushes. He instinctively froze, then stared out into the darkness trying to locate the source of the disturbance. Maki's heart started to race, and he got the fight or flight urge. He didn't see or hear anything else though. He tried to tell himself his mind was just playing tricks on him, but in his heart of hearts, he knew it wasn't true. There was definitely something out there, he just didn't know what it was.
Slowly and carefully, Maki started to move again. He watched the limited amount of jungle he was able to see for anything stirring. There was so much more covered in shadow though, he wished he had taken a flashlight with him. The hair on the back of Maki's neck was standing on end. He felt as though he was being watched.
Step by step, Maki moved without any incident, though he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being stalked. He couldn't decide if it was just paranoia or something more. All Maki knew was he wanted to get back to the comfort and safety of the bunkhouse as soon as possible. If he could just make it back there, he could calm himself down. His heart was pounding in his chest.
'Only poddy breaks in the daylight from now on…' Maki thought, promising himself that he'd never drink water before bed on the island ever again. Little by little, he was putting distance between himself and the unidentified sound.
As Maki was nearly back to the guard post, he heard another noise. Some sort of crackling. Again, he came to a halt and looked around anxiously. This time, Maki couldn't tell where it came from. He seriously considered making a break for it, but he ultimately decided not to. Sweat was starting to form all over his body.
In his gut, Maki knew something was very wrong. The ongoing tension was starting to make him feel nauseous. His hands started to shake. He couldn't remember the last time he felt this scared. He needed any kind of security to give him comfort. Maki saw a shovel resting at the base of the guard tower. In his fragile state of mind, it looked like a promising weapon. At the very least, it would give him a fighting chance if he was confronted by an inhuman threat.
Maki quickly and carefully made his way towards the tower until he finally reached the shovel. He grasped it tightly, half-expecting something to come flying at him through the night. He put his back against one of the wooden pillars of the tower so nothing could sneak up on him from behind. Then he raised the shovel upwards, prepared to strike.
Maki stayed in that position for what felt like ages, too scared to move. Finally, he pulled himself back together enough to continue onwards towards the bunkhouse. It wasn't so far now, and he had a weapon. He could always run the last leg if he needed to. He could be inside in less than thirty seconds if he ran as hard as he could. Sweat was dripping from his face by that point. In the end, Maki psyched himself up enough to make a move. He stepped away from the pillar, looking behind him just to be safe. Nothing was there. Things were quiet again. He rested the shaft of the shovel on his shoulder and stepped out from under the tower. As he did, Maki felt something wet hit his face. Then something dropped out of the tower, landing next to him onto the ground with a thud.
Maki brought his free hand up to his face and wiped away the warm fluid. He pulled his hand back and saw that it was covered in blood. He looked down and realized what had fallen from the tower was a severed human arm that had been chewed off at the shoulder. Maki was too horrified to make a sound. Chills shot up and down his spine. His chest felt tight, and his breathing became sharp and quick. He looked up and saw two bright yellow bulbous eyes staring down at him. It was one of the Kamacuras. The creature had somehow gotten over the fence and killed the guard in the tower. It was now in the process of eating him.
The fight or flight sensation came surging back to Maki. He reacted almost without thinking, taking up the shovel and using it like a spear. He twisted the handle around in his hand and then launched it up at the giant mantis, letting out a furious primal roar. The shovel darted up and hit the Kamacuras in the face, damaging one of its compound eyes. The bug was caught completely off guard by the attack and instinctively sprang away from the tower. It took flight and glided over the fence back into the jungle.
Maki's shout had alerted everyone in the camp to the incident, and everybody came running with their rifles. Maki just stood there, soiled by the guard's blood, and breathing hard while watching the jungle. He was on the verge of tears. The shock of the ordeal was starting to set in. Maki couldn't explain what had happened to the others, but he didn't need to. The remains at the scene told the whole story. Fuji softly put a hand on Maki's shoulder, trying to calm him down and urging him to come back inside. They'd leave the rest to the soldiers. For Maki, there was no question now. Coming to the island had been a big mistake.
…
The next morning was rough. Maki hadn't slept a wink the rest of the night. He couldn't, not after what he had experienced. He just sat in bed staring out the window. Such as it was, Maki got straight to work making breakfast for everyone as daylight broke. It helped him get back to a feeling of normalcy. Fuji stepped in beside him at his station and started to talk.
"I want you to know, that's never happened before." Fuji began, almost apologetically. "The Kamacuras are obviously getting more aggressive." Maki said nothing. He just kept working, watching the food below him sizzle on the skillet. "It sounds like you made quite a shot with that shovel last night. Did you secretly get raised by hunter-gathers, and we just don't know about it?" He asked, trying to lighten the mood.
"I did the decathlon in college." Maki answered flatly. Fuji didn't immediately pick up on the meaning, so he clarified. "I threw javelins regularly for about four years."
"Oh… so that's it." Fuji replied genuinely surprised. "Still, I'm impressed you could be so accurate with a shovel."
"Well, I just reacted in the moment." Maki replied. "I guess my body did the rest all on its own." There was a moment of silence while each man thought about what to say next.
"So… why didn't you just pee on the side of the bunkhouse last night?" Fuji asked. "I never go out there that time of night with those things running around." Maki stopped and peered over to Fuji with a look of betrayal in his eye, but then he grimaced when he realized Fuji was being totally serious.
"Well shit…" It was the only thing Maki could think to say in response. "Does everyone here feel like that?" Fuji tilted his head to the side and kind of just shrugged his shoulders, nodding in agreement. Maki shook his head, scoffing in frustration.
"The professor has decided to move up the timetable for the main experiment to today." Fuji quickly changed the subject. "He thinks an ice storm will likely kill the Kamacuras. A little revenge for the men we've lost to them over the last few months. He thinks delaying will just put more of us at risk. Conditions will be good enough by the afternoon. In the meantime, he said nobody is to go anywhere by themselves anymore."
"I have no problem with any of that." Maki replied.
…
A few hours later, the Sollgel Research Station was alive with activity. Equipment was being prepared and the science team were all at their posts. Maki was running around taking pictures and documenting the process. Professor Kusumi even allowed Maki into the main control room. Inside, Maki discovered massive computerized control panels with flickering lights. They were monitoring weather conditions such as wind speed, temperature, and humidity. The control environment was ideal, and the test went ahead as planned.
In the Sonde-equipping laboratory, they were readying an advanced weather balloon. All over the lab, there were scientific gadgets Maki had no way of understanding. In particular, Fuji was readying a silver metallic sphere which had several antennas sticking out of it. The gizmo resembled a small-scale sea mine, but it was much more complex than that. The weather balloon was a little more straightforward. It contained a super-cold chemical agent in gas form which would freeze the air around it to negative one-hundred and fifteen degrees once it was exposed to the atmosphere. It was to be detonated once it reached eight-hundred meters in the sky.
When all was confirmed ready, a ten-minute countdown began. The recording devices inside of HQ were turned on. The towers around the base were activated and began to come alive. Their roofs opened up and the equipment inside of them raised up into operational position.
With five minutes to go until launch, an alarm was raised to alert any of the remaining security guards who were still outdoors to get themselves inside asap. The klaxons sounded a lot like a submarine's dive alarm to Maki. Red warning lights flashed at all the key areas. It was their last warning. Remaining outdoors while the experiment was taking place would be extremely hazardous to a person's health.
"Launch minus five minutes." Fuji cautioned over the PA system. "All personnel to emergency interior stations. This is not a drill."
Time slipped away quickly after that, and before they knew it, Fuji was counting down the final ten seconds. When the mark finally hit zero, the domed roof of the Sonde lab opened up and released the primary weather balloon. It floated up higher and higher into the sky. Maki wanted to go out and record it, but the scientists simply wouldn't allow that. Fuji caught his arm, shaking his head in disapproval. Maki met his eyes and nodded, understanding that it was an ill-considered idea.
Once the balloon reached eight-hundred meters in elevation, the team detonated it. The explosion spread the specialized gas far and wide into the atmosphere above the island. A swift updraft began to pull the warm air away from the island's surface. At that point, the injectors atop the weather towers were activated. The tops began to spin rapidly, releasing silver iodide into the air. From a window, Maki could see a yellowish mist being emitted from them. Within seconds, the temperature on the island had dropped by nearly thirty degrees. As the minutes went by, the surface temperature on the island reached forty-degrees Fahrenheit, down from the base level of one hundred.
The team was ready to begin the next stage of the experiment. They prepared to launch the radioactive solar heat capsule. A secondary port in the roof of the Sonde lab opened and the pod drifted upwards through it. Only moments after they had released the capsule, interference from the Russian held island started up again. It disrupted communication between the capsule and the control transmitter.
Professor Kusumi became very agitated upon being informed of the situation. He demanded that they try to recall the capsule, but that just wasn't possible. He warned that if they couldn't gain control of the capsule in time, the experiment would have the opposite effect of what they intended. Instead of bitter cold, they'd produce intense heat. The team struggled with the controls, doing anything they could think of to regain control over the experiment, but the interference was the most intense it had ever been, and it wasn't subsiding.
Communication was finally restored to the pod, but only after it had gotten much, much higher than it was meant to. The detonation signal got through at the worst possible time and an explosion occurred. Within minutes, the temperature on the island had shot back up nearly seventy degrees.
A radioactive storm was generated, and an unbelievable heatwave began to savage the island. At its peak, the temperature got up to one-hundred and forty-five degrees. The intense heat spread quickly, battering all of the surrounding islands in the Sollgel Archipelago. To the North, many of the Russians were killed, caught out in the open without shelter. The heat simply cooked them to death.
On Sollgel proper, the industrial-sized air conditioning systems were working overtime to compensate, keeping the science team alive. Fortunately, they had been designed with just such a contingency in mind. The temperature finally started to drop again as rain began to pound down in hot torrents, but it was still well-above what a human body could withstand. Fortunately, the roofs of the base were up to the challenge of keeping the water out, otherwise the men inside might have been boiled to death.
Four days of heat storms followed. Each day got a little better, but it wasn't until day five before anyone could set foot outside. In four days, the island had been completely transformed. The grounds of the base were battered and soiled. The paint had started to peel off all the buildings. A river of hot water had cut its way through the center of camp, leaving a huge, grooved channel of displaced soil. It had swept away a small section of the fence. Debris and mud were everywhere. Most of the vegetation around the base seemed to have weathered the storms well enough, except for those which snapped in the wind. It had been quite an ordeal, but the men had survived.
…
In Darwin, an unexpected thunderstorm was brewing. The forecast at the beginning of the week made no mention of inclement weather, but none-the-less, a vast system was quickly approaching from the North. The storm hit the city with strong winds, heavy rain, and frequent lightning strikes. It was the worst tropical storm Ethan could recall in many years.
The next day, Ethan had a lot of fires to put out at work. Powerlines were down all over the area and needed to be repaired. Most were simply down due to tree limbs falling on wires or the wind simply snapping them off, but one of the large metal power towers East of the town had taken a particularly bad hit from a bolt of lightning. The tower was located close to the power station hub, and thus, it was preventing power from circulating to several sections of the city. Fixing it needed to be a priority. Crews were sent out and repairs quickly got underway.
It was important enough for Ethan to go out himself to inspect the damage. The area nearby the power hub seemed to be hit harder than anywhere else by a wide margin. He couldn't ascertain why though. The morning news said that over one-hundred lightning strikes had occurred in just this one neighborhood alone. They could have been exaggerating, but Ethan didn't think so. The whole landscape had the hell beat out of it. It looked like a warzone. Numerous trees were cracked and charred from the impact of the strikes. There were pockmarks in the soil. The power tower must have been hit several times, judging by the state of it. Some minor fires had started but were put out by the rain.
Ethan discovered something else quite strange as he wandered around the area. His compass was not working correctly. He shook and then tapped it, figuring the needle had simply gotten stuck. This was not the case though. One of his workers had noticed him fiddling around with it and came to see what was wrong. Ethan showed it to him, and the man pulled out a compass of his own. To both of their surprise, his was reading the exact same incorrect direction. Perhaps they had both gotten turned around and were simply mistaken to which way was true north? More and more men joined in on the mystery until there was a dozen of them. Each was getting the same results.
Ethan tried walking around to see if that would make a difference, and to his surprise, the needle did start moving again, but it still wasn't pointing North. Ethan instructed his men to spread out and see what kind of results they would get. The group got further and further apart as they fanned out over the field. After they had all gotten fifty yards away from each other, Ethan asked each of them to indicate with their arms which way their compasses were pointing.
To Ethan's shock, all of their pointing converged in the center of the field. He realized that they had discovered a magnetic field in the pasture, one strong enough to fool all of their compasses. Ethan had the men spread out even more to try to determine the size of the disturbance and establish the boundaries of its influence. In the end, they discovered the affected area was about fifty-eight meters long by about fifteen meters wide. The hairs on the back of Ethans neck started to tingle and stand on end. It wasn't because he was frightened though. There was electricity in the air. Something was awfully wrong, and he knew it.
"Everyone get out of here!" Ethan shouted to his men. He didn't really know what to expect next, but he knew he didn't want any of them to be around for it.
The ground in the pasture began to rumble under the feet of the men as they ran away. Fissures in the ground started to form, and an unnatural hill forcibly raised up from the earth. Finally, the grass split open, and the soil fell away, rapidly revealing bulbous green skin underneath. It was a kaiju.
Ethan ran back to his truck and started the engine. He looked back to see the progress the monster was making unburying itself. The creature was pushing itself up with its outstretched arms. Within moments, it was climbing out of the hole it had created. Ethan stared, mesmerized as the monster got on its feet and stood upright.
For a minute, Ethan thought it was Godzilla. The monster's build was similar, but it was lacking several key features that set it apart from the King of the Monsters. Most notably, the new kaiju lacked Godzilla's tail and was also missing his signature dorsal spines. This kaiju had a flat back and stood upright, much like a human would.
The creature did have a few features of its own which stood out. While it appeared reptilian in nature, the crown of its head had tufts of orangish-red hair. Also on its head were two pointy protruding ears and a single line of sharp spikes between them. The largest of these, located at the very top, stopped just short of its brow. The monster had a pug muzzle, large nostrils, and sharp teeth. It also had piercing orange and yellow eyes. The face had an overall expression of malice on it. The monster's chest, neck, and abdomen were covered by thin tan armored plates. Finally, it had clawed fingers and toes. The monster let out a throaty and gargley roar to announce its presence to the world before it started moving.
The monster walked over to the recently repaired power tower and grabbed the top of it. Almost immediately upon contact, the tower exploded with sparks, and energy began to surge. Electricity danced along the monster's arm, but it wasn't causing the monster any pain. On the contrary, it was seemingly drawing the power into its body. The horn on top of the kaiju's head glowed yellow. The monster was enjoying itself, but it gripped too hard on the metal frame of the power line. It toppled the tower over and broke the connection. Seemingly unsatisfied, the creature roared and then moved on.
…
Following the storms on Sollgel Island, a damage assessment of the base's equipment was necessary. The professor's intention was to try the experiment again if that was feasible, but they needed to know what they had left to work with before anything else could be done. The radio had been knocked out during the storm, which made calling for help impossible. Until repairs could be made, they were on their own. The weather towers had sustained some damaged due to hot water seeping in and shorting out some of the electrical circuits, but the team had the spare parts on hand to fix them given a little time.
There was no sign of the Kamacuras around the base, and they didn't attack any of the scout parties on their way to the towers either. It seemed as though they didn't survive the extreme heat and radioactivity of the storms, so perhaps the failed experiment wasn't entirely a waste of time after all. Not having to worry about the Kamacuras from that point forward would certainly help things move along faster.
Maki went up with Fuji using their float plane to survey the damage to the rest of the island chain and check up on the Russians. As they flew over the northernmost island, they made an interesting discovery. Apparently, some of the Russians had survived. But it looked as though they were packing it in after the horrendous storms. A large cargo ship was anchored just offshore from their now ruined landing. A heavy-duty helicopter was approaching the ship from the island's interior. It was carrying some type of secret cargo below, wrapped in a tarp to conceal what it was. When it reached the ship, the payload was lowered into the cargo hold. Once it was inside, the heavy doors were shut above it. Whatever it was, the Russians seemed intent on keeping it a mystery.
And that was it. Afterwards, the Russians were seemingly done with the Sollgel Islands. The helicopter landed on the deck of the cargo ship, and then the vessel weighed anchor and departed. Maki and Fuji flew over the remnants of the abandoned Soviet base. It looked like they had left a lot of equipment behind. Fuji decided that they would make a return trip later to see if there was anything worth salvaging. They just might have left a working radio down there, or at the very least, some parts they could use. In the meantime, the Russians were no longer an obstacle in the area moving forward.
…
On the USS Independence, Marcus was sitting in the mess hall reading over reports about unusual storms popping up all over the Pacific when Brock sat down next to him.
"I got something here I know is going to peak your interest even more than those." Brock presented Marcus with a photograph and a brief report attached. Marcus could see a black and white photo of what appeared to be a Mothra egg floating in the water. "Yep, just like the last one they found, drifting in the ocean. This time though, near Japan."
Marcus just looked over to Brock and smiled.