David Golemon - Leviathan

The tilt-wing settled to the deck and her engines started to spool down. Then one of the other craft settled beside them and the remaining flight behind. Compton turned and sat in his seat while looking at the others.

"This is not the first such vessel to carry the name," Lee commented.

The tall man rose from his seat and completely removed his body armor, his eyes watching Lee. The rest of his men were now fully awake and seemingly glad to be home as they joked and made their way to the rolling stairs that had been pushed into place.

"Correct, Senator. This is the third vessel to carry the name Leviathan ," he said, handing his armor and weapon to the nearest man.

Niles looked at Garrison Lee, who winked. "Vault 298907, level seventy-three, inactive file."

Recognition etched Compton's face as he remembered one of the Group's more prized possessions. He knew what vault the senator had referred to, and now he knew one of the reasons for the vault's destruction.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if you would follow me, please." The man hesitated and looked at Henri Farbeaux. "I will ask you for your word as a gentleman to behave upon this vessel. We will tolerate no activities that may harm the crew or systems aboard. If you can't agree to this request, we can set you adrift before diving. You will be picked up within the day, I assure you."

Farbeaux stood and looked at their host and then at Niles and Sarah, who in turn were looking at him expectantly.

"Why of course, my word as a gentleman," he said without a trace of humor.

The man held the colonel's gaze a moment, trying to detect any form of deceit, and then he turned for the large doorway.

As they gained the stairs, they saw at least a hundred men and women moving about the hangar deck. They were busy with tasks such as washing the four aircraft down, freeing them from metal-eating salt. A loudspeaker echoed among the fifteen helicopters and four tilt-winged aircraft.

"Stand by to secure hangar doors. All hands make ready for submerged operations."

Garrison Lee leaned on his cane as Alice placed one of her hands on top of his and watched the sunlight of the outside world be slowly shut out. The giant doors hissed closed above them with a finality that made Alice cringe slightly.

Sarah watched the crew members around them as they secured the tilt-wings to the hangar deck with long nylon straps, using come-alongs to tighten them to piano-wire tightness. Arrayed along the wall were projected and enhanced electronic readouts displaying the exact weight of what was carried in the hangar. She was amazed that an object that could travel under the sea could tolerate such weight, as it had to be a hindrance to their speed. She was also amazed at the ethnic makeup of the crew; black, white, Asian, and others worked together side by side with children not more than sixteen.

The tall man was again watching them.

"If I may ask, what is your function aboard this vessel? Or are you just the resident killer and kidnapper?" Niles asked as he rolled down the sleeves of his white shirt. The eyes behind his glasses held firm against the glare from the tall man.

He smiled at last — a cold, mean-spirited smile.

"I follow my orders. However, I am the resident security specialist and special forces commander for Leviathan —Sergeant Tyler, Benjamin Tyler. And if I hadn't been good at what I do, the people back at your ridiculous little complex would be burying quite a few more associates today." Tyler gestured toward a young woman who was standing by at one of the larger consoles awaiting his orders.

They watched as the young woman walked over. She was dressed in a red shirt and blue shorts, different from the hangar deck crew who wore blue jumpsuits, not unlike the military members at the Event Group. Her brown hair was braided — coiling around both ears — and her smile was genuine. Her eyes were deep and dark blue, with a ring of soft silver around the pupils. She was an amazing-looking girl.

"This is Yeoman Felicia Alvera. She will show you to your quarters so you may rest and change clothes. We are conducting operations this afternoon, so your lunch will be served in your staterooms. The captain sends apologies."

"When you say operations, you mean attacking merchant shipping and killing more innocents?" Niles asked.

"Is there such a thing as innocence in your world, Doctor? Even in this world we have our faults, and at times, very little innocence." Tyler turned and strode quickly away.

"I must apologize for the sergeant. He has his manner; that's why we don't allow him out very much," the yeoman said, smiling. She saw her humor did not sit well with Leviathan 's new guests, so she cleared her throat and gestured to her right. "If you'll follow me, please."

Niles allowed the senator and Alice to fall into place behind the woman so he could assist the former director if he needed it. Virginia, unusually quiet, stepped up and took Niles by the arm as if fearful of something or to keep Niles in check with his insults, he wasn't sure.

"After you, dear Sarah," Farbeaux said with a wave of his arm.

"Colonel, just because there are no armed guards on us does not mean we are not being watched."

"I've already spotted ten security cameras, my dear, and they are tracking us, indeed. Someone is quite interested in our little group."

Sarah just realized who it was she had given the warning to. This man had a sense about him that others could only dream of. He was a survivor beyond measure and a master predator. She decided she would keep close to Henri Farbeaux. She took his arm to steady him and they followed the others.

The group stepped into a plastic-lined, carpeted elevator that blended well with the bulkhead. The yeoman waited until all were inside and then said aloud, "Deck ten."

As the elevator doors closed silently, they all felt the movement of the car. In just about ten seconds, they felt the elevator glide to a soft stop, then another strange feeling began and that was when they realized they were moving horizontally. They followed their progress on a multicolored chart on the wall that depicted their car moving at a rapid gait along a multitiered grid. The elevator traveled another thirty seconds and then stopped. The doors slid open with only the slightest hiss.

" Deck ten ."

Sarah looked at Alice and Virginia as the computerized female voice controlling the elevator announced their deck.

"Is that—?"

"If not, she has a sister," Niles said as he commented on the computer-controlled voice. They were all startled when they realized it had the same sexy and embarrassing audible print as their own Europa system at the Group.

"This woman must make a fortune doing these damn recordings," Sarah said as she followed the yeoman out of the elevator.

"If you're speaking of our computer's voiceprint, it may be just like your system." She gave a small laugh. "It's recorded by a little old lady in Akron, Ohio." She gestured for them to step free of the elevator. "She's seventy-six years old."

"Oh," Sarah said as she waited for Lee, Alice, Niles, and Virginia to catch up with her and Farbeaux. She frowned toward Alice. "Don't ever tell Carl, Ryan, or Mendenhall. It would shatter their fantasies about Europa's voice."

As they entered a very long and curving hallway, they saw magnificent laser prints of the oceans of the world lining the wall. Each was backlit and was a depiction of a bay, a sea, or a moonlight view of the Arctic. As they walked slowly behind the yeoman, they all stared at the design of the hallway. The material was unrecognizable. It had the look of hard plastic, but as each reached out to touch the material in turn, they knew it was something beyond their own engineering knowledge. It was soft in spots and hard in other areas. Large panels met at a stringer that felt and looked like painted titanium.