As the sun rose, Bill was glad he had left Washington early to avoid the peak hour traffic. He found himself thinking of the important work ahead of him. Years in the waiting, many new discoveries were bound to be revealed. Bryant was right of course, there was no way Bill could be missing for the opening. Streams of data would have to be collated and reviewed. Bill had thought long and hard about leaving Selena under someone else's care for the week. How would she handle being left without him, so soon after her mother's passing? Sure, he'd found someone that Selena knew, at least that brought him some comfort. Nevertheless, it felt so much like betrayal. As if saying to the closest one in your life, 'it's okay, I love you, but I'm going to leave you in your time of greatest need'. Bill checked the tears that welled behind his eyes just at the thought of it, the choices in life that you never want to be confronted with.
Bill had calculated that the journey would take just under four hours. He decided it was time to pull in at a service station after glancing at the petrol gauge on the Hummer's dash. The mornings double shot Latte' had also made its way to Bill's bladder, making it a very appropriate double purpose stop. Undoing his seat belt, Bill decided to fill up the Hummer first, knowing all too well that some service attendants might refuse access to the toilets if they thought you were not going to purchase gas. Bill soon regretted his decision to take the side of politically correct thinking as he remembered how big the tank on the Hummer was. Soon, Bill was crossing his legs and decided to cut short his tank filling process.
In a strange running manner Bill rushed to pay for his fuel, feeling pleased that there was no line up. The attendant simply smiled quizzically at Bill as he hopped on the spot whilst paying. After finally finding relief from his bulging bladder, Bill re-entered the store to obtain some snacks for the remainder of the journey. Coke, chips, and some chocolate bars should be sufficient he thought to himself. Bill headed back to the Hummer. Opening the door he smiled, and threw a packet of chips at Selena as she yawned and stretched.
"Wake up sleepy head."
Startled by the flying chip packet, Selena questioned, "Where are we?"
Getting into the Hummer, Bill Strapped on his belt and kicked over the engine. "Just around an hour and a half to go now, so we'll need to make sure these snacks last."
After yawning one more time, Selena opened the packet of chips as Bill drove on towards their destination. Looking across at Selena, Bill suggested, "You know, I can stop for a more nutritious breakfast, no problem, really."
Selena crossed her legs on the leather seats of the Hummer. Devouring another chip she replied, "Naw, dis is fine."
Bill Smiled as he thought to himself about the choices he didn't want to be confronted with. No, there was no choice as far as he was concerned. He could not leave Selena alone, no matter what the consequence. Besides, Bryant had already given him the option to bring Selena along, if necessary. As far as Bill was concerned, it was definitely necessary!
Selena and Bill both enjoyed the beautiful sunrise together. Looking out her window, Selena's thoughts wandered off to her mother. It wasn't the first time that she had gone with her father on a work trip, but now she had to start thinking that it may be a more common occurrence. She had taken for granted the times she had spent with her mother at home; cooking together, shopping together, and laughing together. No more she thought. How she longed for just one more embrace.
"I'm glad you're here with me Selena. I think I need your company at this time as much as you need mine. Just so you know, we make a great team."
"You're not going to leave me are you dad?" Selena asked with a heartfelt voice.
"Selena, I promise, no matter what happens, I'm never going to leave you." Bill's reply was equally emotional.
"Pinky promise?" Selena held out her finger.
Reaching across, Bill held out his little finger and wrapped it around Selena's. "Pinky promise," was his reply. A beaming smile came across Selena's face. "Hey dad, after this week, Silvia has asked if I can go over their place for a sleepover for a few days. Helen has already agreed, but I said I'd ask you first."
"So, uh, when did you two manage to arrange all this?"
Selena bounced a little in her chair as she revealed her plan. "At the ice-cream parlour, it was Silvia's idea."
Bill replied with a sceptical, but loving tone, "of course it was. Yes you can, even though I'll be all alone.." Bill pouted his face.
Putting her hand against his face Selena responded with a big smile. "Thanks dad, you're the best!"
Bill felt a swelling feeling in his chest as he viewed the beaming smile on Selena's face. He wanted to hold on to that feeling for all his life. Perish the thought of anything happening to his beautiful baby.
The time went by quickly with conversations about school, friends and soccer. Bill steered the Hummer along as they neared Hampton. It certainly was a smooth ride. Heading onto route 664, they crossed the bay area and headed towards Norfolk. Turning off the Western Freeway, Bill directed the Hummer towards the Craney Island US Naval Supply center. One of the oldest and largest Navy facilities, NAVSUP, as it was now named, worked with major government research programs. This included the program that Bryant and Bill had been working on for the last ten years. Of course there was a team of engineers, naval personnel and assistants to help them. Without Bill and Bryant though, the project would never have gone ahead.
Approaching the security gate, Bill showed his pass as the guard made him sign some papers. Looking over at Selena, the guard glanced back at Bill. Bill shrugged his shoulders before speaking, "Sorry, couldn't get a sitter in time." The guard looked one more time at Selena before hitting the button to raise the security boom. Bill drove the Hummer through to the designated car park space as the guard started to think of what sort of studies he would have to do, to get a job that would enable him to afford a car like that.
Stopping the car, Bill looked directly at Selena again, "Promise me you won't get in Bryant's way. He's stuck his neck out for us, so.." Selena just gave him the butter wouldn't melt in her mouth look. As they exited the Hummer, Bill looked towards the main building and beheld Bryant shaking his head for a brief moment. Bill trusted that Bryant would not make a fuss in front of his daughter, no words were needed.
Selena slung her backpack on as they walked towards the building. Bill was carrying his sports bag. Bryant welcomed them both as they headed over towards the dock area.
"How was your trip? Did you encounter much traffic?"
"No, it was pretty clear; we left early and beat the rush," replied Bill.
"Good," turning his attention to Selena, Bryant continued, "so Selena, you looking forward to a week on board a smelly sea station?"
Selena just shrugged her shoulders, replying, "It can't be as bad as the change rooms after soccer!" Bryant laughed as he looked over at Bill, "kids huh?"
Bill took a deep breath as they approached the vessel that would take them to their destination. It didn't look like much at all. Before them was a barge like vessel with an overhead crane at its rear. The peeling scraped paint confirmed the many years the vessel had spent at sea. It was also an indication of the lack of funding that been coming to the project recently. In fact, if they didn't find some major discoveries on this trip, the whole project might be canned. Bryant turned towards Selena as she was staring at the drab vessel. "Welcome to your taxi, please mind your step as you are boarding the vessel." Bryant gestured his arm towards the boat as Selena rolled her eyes.
Getting on board, Bill accompanied his daughter to the front of the boat. There was a simple bunk area to put their bags and a kitchen setup if they felt hungry. Feeling unsatisfied from the earlier packet of chips, Selena walked over to the refrigerator and opened the freezer compartment. Pulling out a box of frozen pizza, she quickly spun around, searching for a microwave. A smug smile developed on her face as she spied the microwave. Bill just shook his head in wonderment at the eating habits of young ones. "So, you'll be right? I have to go talk with Bryant okay?" All Bill got was an inaudible noise from Selena as she watched the pizza spin in the microwave.
Bill met Bryant on the deck as the navy assistants loaded the necessary machinery and prepared to set off. Bryant was looking out towards the Eastern waters, thinking of what they would uncover. "So, how long do you think it will take to get to the ocean observatory Bryant?"
Bryant stuck his finger in his ear, picking out some wax, "oh, shouldn't be any more than three hours." Bryant flicked his successful pickings into the water.
"Gross!" commented Bill.
Ignoring the comment, as if this was quite normal behavior amongst males on a boat, Bryant continued. "I'm glad you could make it Bill. We've put a lot of hard work into this project. Just think of all the new species we are about to uncover." Bryant's voice started to escalate in line with his enthusiasm, "we might even uncover some of the secrets of planet earth, or even the universe."
Bill nodded in agreement, "It's exciting that's for sure, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves." Bryant slapped Bill on the shoulder as the captain started the engines and backed off from the dock. The boat was actually a recovery vessel. Looking towards the rear of the vessel, Bill saw the crane which was more like an 'n' shape. Hanging from the centre of the crane by chains was a small submarine like machine, a deep sea vehicle. It was used to send one or two people at a time for various underwater missions.
Bill thought that they had spent some money on painting the deep sea vehicle until Bryant had informed him it as no more than a clean and polish. Heading back into the kitchen area, they both observed Selena devouring her third piece of pizza. Selena waved to them both as she swung her legs on the chair. A can of coke accompanied the remaining pizza. Bryant and Bill took a seat at the table.
"So dad, what is the cork anyway?" asked Selena with interest. With so much going on recently, it came as a surprise to Bill that Selena had asked the question. Bill had talked about his work around his daughter, but he understood if she was not interested. Microbiology was not high on the conversational list for twelve year olds, especially for one who had recently lost her mother. Selena mentioned to him that she remembered being on the observation station when she was ten, but hadn't understood the research her father carried out. Besides, it was a hard place to be after losing her mother to the ocean only one year beforehand. Being older now, she was more comfortable at sea, and sought a more detailed explanation of her father's work.
"About 10 years ago," replied Bill. "We discovered that there were microbes beneath the earth's surface. In fact, they might make up as much as half of all living material on our planet. They live mainly under the volcanic rock that forms the ocean basins. This accounts for at least fifty percent of the Earth's surface and are the most abundant rock types on Earth. The cold ocean waters circulate everywhere within these porous and permeable volcanic rocks, creating temperatures and chemical gradients that form plausible habitats for a variety of microorganisms. In fact, there is growing evidence that indigenous communities of microbes extend throughout the immense volume of aging basement rocks underlying the global system of mid-ocean ridge flanks and ocean basins, making the volcanic rocks of the ocean basins the largest habitat on Earth." Pausing, Bill became aware that he was rattling off facts like a science geek, instead of talking to his daughter in a more general manner.
Selena nodded, but added, "But where does the CORK come into it?"
Pulling his chair a little closer, Bill continued, "CORK, Circulation Obviation Retrofit Kit, since most mid-ocean ridge flank and ocean basin basement is buried under thick, impermeable layers of sediment, the fluids circulating within the underlying ocean basement are usually inaccessible for direct studies. However we made a CORK observatory affixed to an Ocean Drilling Program borehole. The first one ever installed was on the flanks of the Juan de Fuca Ridge, which is west of Portland, north of the San Andreas Fault line. We ran out of funding fairly quickly, but then, we had a life line from a seismology group who wanted us to install a CORK over on the east coast of America. They still get large earthquakes on the east coast, some which you've even felt in Washington."
"I remember the last one," said Selena. "It made me fall out of bed."
Bill smiled at the memory. Selena's Mom was such a comfort to her in her distress. "That's right," Bill continued. "The thing is, unlike the west coast around the San Andreas Fault, where they know the source of the quakes, on the east coast it is more of a mystery as to how the earthquakes are triggered. In order to get accurate readings, it meant we would have to go into the sea floor with no particular line or ridge to work with. It was a great opportunity for us. The seismology people have been getting their data over the years, and we got another opportunity to find new life below the ocean floor. As it was we got lucky, hitting an ideal location for our research."
Selena decided to rephrase the school lesson into a more general question."So, you drill a hole, the mixture of water destroys the organisms. Then you put a hollow shell down there, fitted out with all your measuring equipment. Plug the hole...sorry, CORK the hole, then come back after 8 years and open it up to see what's there?"
Bill nodded, "that's it in a nutshell I suppose. We have a number of these in other locations around the world. The one where we are going showed some good readings when we first drilled it, as did the first one, but we wanted to do this as a test before opening the Juan de Fuca one. As soon as we re-open it, we will get streams of data all at once. That's why Bryant needed me along." Turning his head, Bill was surprised to notice a tall blonde female enter into the lunch room.
Bryant decided to make the introduction. "Truth is Bill, I decided that we would need more help, so I asked Veronica here, from the Navy base to give us a hand." Looking at Bill, Bryant raised his eyebrows as he questioned, "hope you don't mind?"
Bewildered and a bit embarrassed, Bill got up out of his seat. "Uh, no, of course not, I , just wish you'd.." Holding out his hand to Veronica, Bill Continued, "hi, I'm Bill, pleasure to meet you."
"Veronica Mills, glad to meet you Bill."
Before Bill could continue, Selena had already tugged on his shirt as if he was forgetting to introduce her. Bill turned around to Selena, then back to Veronica, more embarrassed now. "Sorry, this is my daughter Selena." Selena stood up and shook Veronica's hand, happy to know there was another female on board.
With a smile on her face Veronica replied, "Hello Selena, aren't you beautiful. I'm so glad I'm not the only female here. Now we can make a team. What do you say?"
"I think that's a great idea," replied Selena, smiling back.
Sitting back in his chair, Bill resigned to the fact that his services weren't needed. Heading out past Virginia Beach, there was still about two hours to go.
Mark had received the news from Colonel Kevin Hardy. There was a lot more going on here than anyone knew how to deal with. They needed answers, and fast! Mark had received his direct orders and that's exactly what they would do. Mark and his team were some of the best Marines in the country, and they got the job done. With the helicopter blades spinning fast and hard, the team sat quietly inside, thinking about the loss of Will.
Slamming his fist into the cold dark grey metallic interior of the helicopter, Terry felt the anger burning inside him. Will was not only his fellow Marine, but also his close friend. "Dammit! Why did Will have to die. What the heck were those things? Capt, help me out here, because I can't make sense of any of it. Why did those sea creatures attack us, and where the hell did they come from!" The rest of the team nodded in agreement. Terry slammed his fist again, one more time for emphasis.
Mark raised his hand to calm the scene. "Look, we all miss Will, but he died doing his job. We are Marines people, and that's what goes with the job sometimes." Squaring off his team in the eyes, Mark continued, "We just got communication to go and pick up a deep sea creature expert so we can get a handle on what we are up against. What I can tell you is that this is not an isolated incident. I can also tell you that we are going to do our job, and do it well! Get yourselves together Marines, we have to act quickly to prevent more people dying."
Terry hung his head in shame, but then returned his gaze to Marks with a determined look in his eye. "YES CAPTAIN! Let's get these bastards, for Will's sake."
Ellen, Tony, Trey, Ethan and Grace, all responded in unison, "for Will!"
Mark viewed his team with pride. "That's more like it. Now we have to refuel before picking up the creature expert. I also suggest you grab something warm to wear at the base, we're heading past Greenland to the Arctic!"
As the helicopter continued to the base for refuelling, Mark meditated on the information he had been given from Colonel Hardy that he couldn't relate to the rest of the team. As much as Mark liked to think of himself as an open minded person, the events occurring left him dumbfounded. Reports of ocean drilling rigs losing communication, incidents of missing persons at sea and ships like the 'Infinity' made Mark think of it as a co-ordinated attack. 'Sea creatures attacking', he questioned to himself? Surely there had to be more to it than that. In addition, the Colonel had mentioned about increased volcanic and seismic activity around the world.
KOREA
The Shinwa tidal power station resembled something out of a horror movie. The commotion after Chin's death had quickly escalated in the middle of the night into a mass of confusion and screaming. Although in shock after the death of his workmate, Bae sensed that something more was in store. Despite the scene around him, he tried to imagine what could have possibly stopped all the huge underwater fan blades. Bae knew it had to be something big, but what, Whales? There was so much thrashing and frothing in the waters, accompanied with shrieking and metallic grinding noises. Some sounds had sent a shiver down his spine, almost ghost like whirring.
Bright coloured lights moving at lightning speed did not help Bae's fears to subside, or to conclude what was happening. He thought of it being electrical shortages, but the lights seemed too purposeful. Bae stood on the dock, just staring at his fleeing workmates. Amidst the flashing lights and strange sounds in the dark of night, Bae witnessed numerous long elegant tentacles reaching out of the waters. With striking force they wrapped around one of the plant workers who wore the standard bright yellow jacket. Bae's mouth opened in awe as he observed the worker being wrenched from the dock and hurled out over the sea. Bae let out a fearful cry as an evil incarnate goblin shark with barbarous teeth leapt up to fasten itself onto the body moments before it hit the water. The hidden poison within the proboscis, along with the barbarous teeth caused its victim to turn rigid like stone. Bae watched his co-worker's paralyzed body sink in the water as the evil incarnate shark swished after it.
Multiple lighted creatures began swarming out from various locations, picking up more workers as they performed their swift land attacks. 'Land', Bae thought to himself as his legs willed him to run along the dock. Maybe if he could get far enough inland, he could escape. Bae had only taken a small amount of steps before a luminous pyramid like cone, surrounded by a transparent sac, planted itself directly in front of him. Long neon red pulsing hairlike tentacles rippled out of its pulsating body, making it look like a carnival ride in a liquid world. Bae tried to run around it, but the long rippling red tentacles fastened firmly around his ankle, causing him to fall heavily to the ground.
Bae could feel the metallic taste in his mouth from the impact. Bae's heart raced as he awaited some sort of horrible act preceding his death. As a few moments went by, Bae realized that the creature was just holding him. Bae sensed a series of blue and white lights that seemed to be coming from behind where he had left. With the red restraints still firm around his ankles, Bae turned onto his back to get a better view as the lights moved closer. One of the other creatures was coming towards him. Bae was peering, trying to make out what it was. It seemed only about a meter in height, but Bae's eyes soon widened as it unfurled itself to about 2.5 meters tall. It's long, almost skeletal form was highlighted by bright blue lights connected with streams of pulsating whites, occasionally intersected with cross sections of green. Bae recognized the creature's eyes as it walked closely to stand by him. Then, he observed what appeared to be its mouth. Bae trembled as the creature spoke to him in guttural tones, a slick saliva dripping from its mouth. Two piercing blue eyes observed Bae scream with terror as the human emitted words that were translated as, "What are YOU?"
Bae observed a bright glowing from the arm like extension of the creature standing before him. It grew continually brighter and brighter before the brief, pulsing boom, echoed across the docks.