Eric Brown: The Kraken Rises

“That … That’s impossible,” Thomas protested.

“Tell them that,” Pitts spat.

The X-29’s engines topped out at their max speed of fifty knots as she cleared the mouth of the trench and continued to streak upwards towards the surface.

Both Pitts and Thomas were shaken in their seats as a large group of the creatures overshot the X-29, darting ahead of her, and the shockwaves of their wake washed over the craft.

“Mother …” Pitts started to curse, but his ability to form coherent words left him as he got his first look at the creatures through the X-29’s forward window. There were roughly two dozen of the things ahead of the X-29 … and only God knew how many more behind it still chasing after them. Thomas was right about the things resembling squids. That was exactly what they looked like: misshapen and deformed squids.

Thomas had opened a channel to Alpha One. “This is X-29 Alpha. Mayday. I repeat. Mayday. We are under attack!”

“This is Alpha One,” Cheryl’s voice answered, sounding surprised and more than a little confused. “We hear you, X-29 Alpha, but did you just say you’re under attack?”

Pitts could almost feel the level of disbelief she had to be experiencing himself. He couldn’t blame her for feeling that way. The whole situation was utterly insane.

The creatures that had been shot by the X-29 swung about in the water and were heading around at it on a collision course. Pitts jerked the X-29 hard to port, dodging the bulk of them. One of the creatures made contact though. It ripped at the X-29’s topside with its longer two tentacles. The screeching noise of them tearing at its hull echoed inside the submersible. Sparks flew from the damage the squid did to the craft, sending a power surge through the X-29’s systems. Thomas recoiled in horror and panic, and the sensor station exploded, taking the X-29’s comms with it. The doctor flopped from his seat onto the floor of the pilot compartment. If he had been in normal clothing other than a wetsuit, he likely would have been on fire and burning as he lay there.

The X-29 was so close to the surface. Just a little more and maybe, just maybe, they would make it, Pitts figured. If they reached the surface, the creatures might not follow them there, and even if they did, help would surely be on the way from Alpha One. The X-29 was a tough little vessel. Taking out her sensors and communications array was one thing, but tearing through her hull to get inside was an entirely other matter. Pitts knew the hull was designed to be impossibly strong. It had to be able to withstand the pressure of the depths it was built to explore. Even if the creatures attacked in mass, Pitts didn’t think they would be able to tear through it before help arrived, if they could tear through it at all.

The creatures had closed in on the X-29. The sound of their thunder-like blows on the small craft’s hull echoed around him. Thomas had managed to get himself together and grab a fire extinguisher, putting out the fire at his station. Flinging it aside, Thomas slipped back into his seat next to Pitts.

“They can’t get in, can they?” Thomas asked in a strained voice.

Pitts chuckled darkly. “You’re the scientist, man. You tell me.”

Before Thomas could answer, one of the creatures slammed itself against the reinforced, specially made glass of the X-29’s forward window. The squid-thing reared back its two primary tentacles, bringing them down onto the glass, again and again. Thomas cried out as the glass began to crack. Pitts started to send the small craft into a maneuver intended to shake the squid-thing off but never got the chance. The glass exploded inward, slicing through his flesh and the water outside followed it, filling up his lungs, as he opened his own mouth to scream.

The control room of the Alpha One platform was in chaos as Chief Dixon came charging into it. Alarm klaxons were blaring throughout the facility. Cheryl, the civilian head of the platform’s crew, was standing over Peterson at the comm. station. She looked at him as he approached her.

“What in the holy freaking Hades is going on?” Dixon snapped.

“We’ve lost contact with the X-29 that Pitts took Thomas out in,” Cheryl told him.

Dixon stared at her. “Weren’t they heading to the trench?”

“It’s more than just the usual comm loss that comes from something like that,” Cheryl protested. “We received a mayday from them right before we lost contact. Thomas claimed they were under attack.”

“Attack?” Dixon repeated the word. “Attacked by what?”

“How the hell would I know?” Cheryl asked, throwing up her hands in anger.

“Calm down,” Dixon ordered her.

“Thomas sounded terrified out of his mind,” Peterson said.

Dixon glared at the comm. tech. “That’s not helping.”

Peterson shrugged.

“Do we have the X-29’s location?” Dixon asked.

Peterson nodded. “We’re still picking up its locator beacon signal. She’s surfaced five miles north of here.”

“Tell Louis to prep the copter,” Dixon ordered.

“Yes, sir,” Peterson replied.

“Why did this have to happen now?” Cheryl complained. “Six months out here and not a single incident. Now two days from pick up and we’ve got all Hell breaking loose.”

“You’re the one who cleared Thomas’ trip,” Dixon reminded her.

“Come on, Dixon,” Cheryl said, cheeks flushing red. “If he’s right about what’s at the bottom of that trench, it could be the find of our lifetimes.”

“A new lifeform,” Dixon commented.

Cheryl shook her head. “No, a very old one.”

‘Whatever.” Dixon turned to Peterson. “I want the platform to remain on alert status until we get this mess figured out. Make sure Reece has medical ready too.”

“Expecting the worst?” Peterson frowned.

Dixon didn’t answer. Instead, he asked, “Do we have any video feed from the X-29?”

“The feed coming in before it just turned to snow and static was pretty distorted,” Peterson said. “I could try to clear it up and play it back.”

“Do it,” Dixon ordered.

“It’ll take a few minutes,” Peterson told him.

“Louis says the copter is prepped and the rescue team is ready to go,” Cheryl said.

However he might feel about Cheryl personally, Dixon had to admit the woman was dang good at her job. She was usually as by the book as bosses came. As Alpha One’s head of security, technically, he outranked her in crisis situations like the one they were in now. Another boss might have let things slip some around the platform during the crew’s long six-month stay but not Cheryl. Thanks to her, Louis and the rescue team had already been on standby when the X-29 left the platform.

Dixon felt helpless though he was doing everything he could. He imagined Cheryl felt the same only worse since she was the one Thomas had conned into giving him clearance to visit the trench. All either of them could do now though was wait and trust the rescue team to do their jobs.

The mention of an attack was certainly odd. Dixon could see that both Cheryl and Peterson were spooked by it. His first thought had been terrorists, and he still hadn’t ruled that out. Dixon just couldn’t imagine the X-29 meeting any sea life that could be a threat to it. The submersible was armored up tougher than a lot of tanks were. And it was fast too. With Pitts at its helm, anything going after it would be hard pressed to even get close enough to engage it, much less do it any serious damage. Something had happened though. He watched the screen that showed the X-29’s current location. It wasn’t moving. It was drifting, dead in the water.

“I’ve got the footage cleared up,” Peterson said, waving at him.