Frank Schatzing - The Swarm

He had to dispatch the beast before it killed anyone else.

Suddenly Peak felt calm. Everything else could wait. The key thing was to finish off the lethal mass of flesh and teeth. He raised the harpoon gun and took aim.

ANAWAK SAW THE Orca approaching. The water in the basin foamed and splashed – it seemed to have come alive, a moving, shimmering mass of blue, through which the orca swam purposefully towards him and Grey-wolf It rose to expel a jet of misty air, and its black head loomed into view. It was only metres away now. They'd never make it to the jetty; that much was clear. But they had to do something. When the orcas had attacked in Clayoquot Sound, Greywolf had arrived in the nick of time and saved them. Right now, their only chance was to out manoeuvre it.

The orca dived.

'Let it through!' he screamed at Greywolf.

Not a very clear instruction, he thought. God knows if Jack will understand. But it was too late for explanations.

Anawak took a gulp of air and sank beneath the surface.

PEAK CURSED. The whale was gone and there was no sign of Greywolf or Anawak. He ran along the jetty, searching for the enormous body, but the basin had turned into a surreal underwater inferno, in which flashes of light, blurred shapes and jets of water blocked his view. Ahead one of the soldiers was firing at the serpentine creature in the pool, which was clearly having no effect.

'Stop that!' Peak pushed the man in the direction of the console. 'Sound the alarm. Get the flaps open and get rid of the Deepflight.' His eyes scanned the water. 'Then close the goddamned sluice.'

The soldier ran off.

Peak walked up to the edge of the jetty and peered into the basin, the harpoon gun in his hands.

AS SOON AS Anawak had ducked under water, the harsh noises of the deck had yielded to low hissings and rumblings. Greywolf was alongside him, treading water, bubbles streaming from his mouth. Anawak hadn't let go of his arm since he'd jerked him under water. He didn't know if his idea would work.

Something surged towards them. It looked like a huge headless snake. Lines of light pulsated over the semi-transparent shimmering blue tissue. Hundreds of thin, whip-like tendrils extended from its body, sweeping over the floor of the pool. Suddenly Anawak realised that the creature was scanning its surroundings. The whips were registering every detail of the deck. As he watched, in horror and fascination, a fresh set grew out from the body and wriggled towards him.

The open mouth of the orca loomed between them.

Anawak felt a change come over him. One part of him shut itself off and calmly asked questions. How much of the aggressor was whale and how much was jelly? How would an orca behave, if it wasn't following its instincts but was in the grip of an alien consciousness? He had to see the orca as part of the luminescent jelly, not as an orca with normal orca reflexes. But maybe that was where their advantage lay. Perhaps they could confuse it.

The orca shot towards them.

Anawak dodged to one side, pushing Greywolf in the opposite direction. He saw Greywolf swim off- good, he'd understood the plan. The whale hurtled between them, startled by the sudden division of its prey.

They'd gained a few seconds.

Without stopping to look for the orca, Anawak swam into the forest of tentacles.

RUBIN WAS CRAWLING along the jetty on all fours, gasping for breath. The soldier leaped over him and hurried to the control desk. He glanced at the display panels, got his bearings, and pressed the button to open the steel hatch.

The system was jammed.

Like all the other members of his squad, the soldier had been trained to operate the control systems on the vessel, and knew exactly how they worked. An image of Browning, body sprawled over the panel, was etched in his mind. He bent down and peered at the button. It was stuck, pushed down to one side. It wouldn't take much to fix. He jabbed at it with his gun.

ANAWAK WAS FLOATING through an alien world.

Veils of tendrils surrounded him. He wasn't sure whether it had been a good idea to swim into the living jungle, but there was no point in worrying about it now. The jelly might react aggressively, or it might not. It might be toxic – in which case it would kill them all anyway.

The glowing tendrils arced in his direction. The whole basin seemed to be moving. Anawak was tossed from side to side. The web tightened, and he felt one of the whips stroking his face. He pushed it away. More twisted towards him, feeling their way over his head and body. Throbbing, buzzing noises filled his ears, and his lungs ached. If he didn't make it to the surface soon, his attempts to fend off the jelly would be in vain.

He reached into the tendrils with both hands and tore them apart. The organism was like a strong, highly flexible muscle, and it never stopped moving or changing shape. Tentacles that had wrapped themselves round him fell away, withdrawing and merging with the main trunk, which immediately started budding new ones.

He had to get out of there.

A sleek, elegant body darted forward.

He saw a smiling face: one of the dolphin fleet. Without hesitation Anawak held on to its dorsal fin. The dolphin continued at high speed, shooting out of the mass of tentacles and pulling him with it. Suddenly the view cleared. He clung to the dolphin and saw the orca approaching from the side. The dolphin shot upwards as the enormous jaws snapped shut behind them, missing by a hair's breadth. They rose through the surface, on course for the embankment.

THE SOLDIER PRESSED THE BUTTON.

The repair job had been carried out crudely, but it had worked. The steel flaps swung open, releasing the submersible. It continued on its downward path, dropping past the jelly that was surging through the sluice. Noiselessly it fell out of the vessel and disappeared into the depths of the ocean.

For a fraction of a second the soldier wondered whether it wouldn't be better to leave the flaps open, but he'd been instructed to close them, so he did. This time there was no submersible to get in the way. The flaps, driven by a powerful motor, cut into the vast trunk of the organism.

PEAK RAISED HIS gun hurriedly. He'd caught sight of Anawak. For a moment it had seemed that the orca had caught him, but then he'd reappeared above the water and the whale had sped across the pool. The soldiers were firing at the black back. The orca sank beneath the surface.

Had they hit it?

'Hatch is closing,' shouted the soldier from the controls.

Peak raised his hand in acknowledgement, then set off along the jetty. His eyes scanned the far side of the basin. Bullets could do nothing to harm the squid-like creature, and firing explosives at it seemed too risky. There were people in the pool.

GREYWOLF HAD COPIED Anawak's example, and swum into the tentacles. His arms powered through the water as he summoned all his energy and sped towards the side. After a few metres the main trunk of the jelly blocked his path and he had to turn round. He'd lost all sense of direction.

Tentacles wrapped themselves round him, encircling his shoulders. Greywolf felt sickened. He couldn't think any more. The images of Delaware's death played before his eyes in a never-ending loop of film. Ripping the tendrils away from his body, he tried to escape.

Suddenly he found himself back at the sluice. The submersible had vanished. He watched as the flaps closed, cutting into the jelly and slicing through its trunk. There was no mistaking the organism's reaction: it wasn't happy.

A MOUNTAIN OF WATER shot up towards Peak as the orca surged out of the basin in front of him. Too surprised to feel afraid, Peak stared into its jaws. He staggered backwards, and at the same time the entire well deck seemed to blast apart. The organism was raging in the water. Enormous snakes of jelly raced up to the ceiling in wild spirals, slapping against the walls and sweeping along the jetty. Peak heard screams and shots from the soldiers, saw bodies flying through the air and into the basin. Then his legs were knocked from under him, and he slammed down on to his back. The orca's body teetered towards him. Peak groaned, tightened his grip on the harpoon gun and was jerked into the water.