Floating in the waters that were flooding the slowly sinking vessel was a lattice-work of large spherical pods. The entire engineering section was filled with the interconnected, partially submerged pods that seem to emit a soft sickly yellow glow in the darkness. The pods themselves were a pale yellow color covered with blue-black veins that pulsed with life. Covered with a viscous translucent slime the pods pulsed rhythmically writhing in the dark waters of the flooded compartment.
I held my arm out so that that the others could see the video. The overweight technician opened large metal brief-case he had been lugging around in one hand. In it was the mother of all lap-top computers and attached some wires to the Multi-spectrum computer/scanner he carried in the other. Suddenly the 25’ inch monitor in the gun-metal grey brief-case gave us the best seats in the house. ‘Portly’ had tapped into Alpha-unit’s encrypted frequency in less than thirty seconds. An impressive feat that was supposed to be theoretically impossible.
“We get cool toys, too,” Portly chuckled nervously.
The Colonel’s voice came over the com again.
“Professor, are you getting this?”
“…my god there must be hundreds of them,” Professor Schuller whispered his voice trembled with awe, “Y-yes I am seeing the video now.’
Professor Schuller, too valuable to be physically present on the Gossamer Muse monitored the ‘op’ from the newly built PWR Operations Command Centre in New York City via an up-link relayed through the Thuraya satellite system.The Thuraya satellite system from a geo-synchronous orbit 22,300 miles above the equator, in addition to other various functions, tracked movement of and provided internet-connectivity to cruise-liners like the Gossamer Muse.
“What are we looking at here, Professor?”
“I can’t say for certain… without further examination… but my guess is that we are looking at a system of inter-connected …definitely organic… incubation chambers.”
“Eggs.” Portly translated un-necessarily.
“Incubation chambers?” Colt asked uneasily over the Com, “For what?”
“Do you think you can get us in closer?” the professor asked obviously lost in thought.
“What’re you kidding me?” Colt shot back.
We never heard the professor’s answer.
There we stood in the partially lit Casino gathered around Portly’s monster lap-top as it lay on the velvet carpeted black-jack table. Jin-lao saw it first. In the darkness at the far end of the casino something moved toward the exit. Away from us.
“Halt!” Jin-lao shouted and brought up his flash-light mounted M4A1 Chinese triple pulse assault rifle.
The beam of light cut through the black and illuminated the doorway where something or someone moved out of the way.
Jin-Lao bolted toward the doorway with Tan and me close behind.
“Colonel, we have un-known contact! Deck Seven! In pursuit!” I shouted as I ran.
“Negative! Rabbit Hold position. Repeat- Hold your position. We’re coming to you!”
“Sir they’re right there!” I protested to my superior.
“Hold your position, Rabbit! That’s an order, soldier!”
I stopped reluctantly at the doorway and swore under my breath. All I could do was watch as the two Chinese commandos disappeared down the darkened hallway. I un-safed my weapon. A minute later Portly jogged up beside me out of breath,
“What the hell was that?!”
“Unknown, Portly.” I answered clinically still covering the hall-way with my OICWv.2. “It was probably one of the terrorists.”
“What do we do now?”
“We hold our position.” I growled in disappointment.
Chapter 5
April 20th 2021
0645 hours
Gossamer Muse Super Cruise-liner
Deck Seven, Casino
“Did you know that the Marianas trench lies beneath the Dragon’s Triangle? And below us right now are mountain ranges taller than Mount Everest?
“What?”
“I said- “did you know that the Marianas trench lies beneath the Dragon’s Triangle? And below us right now there are mountain ranges taller than Mount Everest?”
“Uh… yeah. Thanks for tip.” I replied trying to ignore him and maintain my focus down the un-lit hallway.
Like that bit of info will come handy right now.
“The name’s Portland, by the way,” he said softly peeping sheepishly around the door-way down the hall.
“Yeah. Sure.”
Two tense minutes, later the sound of several bursts mini-gun fire erupted from the dark hallway ahead of us.
“Colonel, I have gunfire. The commandos are engaging the terrorists. Request permission to engage.”
Static. I tapped at my ear-piece in vain.
“If any unit is receiving this transmission please respond.”
The COM was down.
“Concentrated atmospheric saturation,” Portly offered almost excitedly as he waved his Multi-spectrum scanner before him like a divining rod.
“Fascinating,” I groaned, “Now try saying that in English, Portly.”
“You’re…we’re being jammed but not in the conventional sense, you see. Think more like a fog or invisible mist and it’s spreading randomly in patches about the vessel. I’ve started to loose contact with the sensors we’ve been placing throughout the ship. You see, under controlled conditions to create a concen…”
“Save the science lesson, Portly,” I snapped.
Another tense minute of silence went by until the annoying technician worked up the nerve to speak again.
“Terrorists?”
“What are you on about now?”
“You said terrorists,” he babbled on.
“No offense, friend. But I really don’t see the sense of having you techs in the field. You guys just get in the way in situations like this.”
“This from the guy who thinks we were sent here after terrorists,” he chuckled cynically. “You obviously didn’t read the fine-print when you signed up for this out-fit did you? Hello? Project Blue Book mean anything to you?”
Great, I thought to myself. I get stuck here with the crazy.
The tecnician continued to babble.
“Our units’ insignia is a dragon locked in internal combat with a tiger with the motto “Hic sunt monstra.” Do you even know what that means? Google it sometime, jar-hea-”
With a wave of my hand I cut him off.
“Shut up, Portly,” I growled shouldering my rifle, “I think I hear someone coming.”
Sure enough the faint staggered foot-falls become louder. So did Portly’s nervously chattering teeth. I took a breath, held it, and prepared to fire into the darkness.
Suddenly