Kaiju: Deadfall, page 21
“No, I’m okay.” Gate stared at the electrical interaction between the crystals. “It could be the power source. I think those crystals are the ends of the columns we saw. The energy absorbed by the armor is transferred here. An attack helps power the creature.”
“So is it a machine or a cyborg?” Walker asked.
Gate shared Walker’s confusion. It had taken him a while to grasp the enormity of the alien’s technology. “It’s a living, breathing creature designed to fit inside an artificial shell, like a hermit crab.”
“We could boil the bitch, but we don’t have the friggin’ nuke,” Costas said. He tossed his M16 to the ground. It clattered on the floor of the chamber and slid to Gate’s feet. “And I’m out of ammo for the rifle. All I have is my .45 and two clips. I can’t do much damage with that.”
Gate sympathized with Costas’ frustration and understood his anger. He had lugged the heavy nuke through Nusku for four hours only to lose it before reaching their destination. Along the way, he had also watched three companions die. The sergeant was eager to strike out at something. He wanted payback.
“I’ve still got my pistol,” he said. He didn’t want to part with it, but he offered the two extra clips to Costas. “You take the ammo.”
“We’re not done yet, sergeant,” Walker said, as he scanned the crystal matrix running the length of the chamber. “We’re where we wanted to be. All we need is some way to cause a bit of trouble. You’re good at starting trouble, aren’t you, sergeant?”
Costas grinned. “I’ve been known to start a ruckus or two.”
“Then find me a way to kill this beast.”
Gate shook his head as he listened to the conversation with growing disbelief. “You two amaze me. The entire U.S. military hasn’t been able to stop this thing, and you think two practically unarmed men can do something. You’re delusional.”
“We have an advantage, Doctor. We’re inside it, and the last time I checked, there were three of us. Are you giving up on me?”
Walker’s accusation stung. “I don’t know what I’m doing yet. I’m just tired.”
“We all are. Look, I don’t know a damn thing about aliens, but you say this thing is part machine. I do know machines.” He grinned. “Costas and I have thrown a few monkey wrenches in quite a few pieces of machinery over the years. It’s what we do. You point out the most likely spot to cause the most damage, and Costas and I will find some way to break it.”
Gate sighed. Walker was right. If he gave up, he would simply die inside Nusku. Being enclosed in the alien monster made him realize just how much of life he had been missing. Maybe his friend Joe Palacio had the right idea – a wife, a family, a life outside NASA.
“Okay, let’s kill this thing, but I warn you, you’ll have to dispose of the other two on your own.”
Gate drank the last of his water, barely enough to wet his lips. Walker saw that his canteen was empty and offered him a sip from his. Though his thirst was strong, he refused. “You’d better save it. You must be low too.”
“Take it. I learned to get by on very little water in the desert. You need it more than I do.”
“Thanks,” he said.
As he took the canteen, he noticed that his hand was shaking, a sign of dehydration. The chamber they were in wasn’t as hot as the blood pit, but it was warm enough, well over a hundred degrees. The heat was slowly baking the moisture from his body. He took a sip and handed the almost empty canteen back to Walker.
“Too bad the condemned don’t get a last meal.”
“There’s a couple of protein bars in your pack. They’ll help take the edge off.”
“I lost my pack back there,” he jerked his thumb toward the narrow slit, “With my helmet and flashlight.”
As Walker rummaged through his pack, he said, “You did quite well, Doctor, much better than I expected.”
“Despite getting us lost?” Gate questioned.
“It’s an unusual situation. Honestly, I didn’t think the LIDAR would work inside the creature. I’m surprised the drones lasted as long as they did.”
“If we could only transmit the data we’ve gathered,” Gate lamented.
“We’re not dead yet,” Walker said, handing a protein bar to Gate.
“You really believe that, don’t you?” he asked, as he tore open the wrapper and took a bite of the bar. “Not only does the ebony armor absorb the kinetic energy of the attacks, it also absorbs solar energy. The entire creature is one vast solar cell. Its alien designers did their job well. If Area 51 attacks, those crystals up there are going into energy production overtime. We’ll be fried in here. It’ll be like the inside of a microwave oven.”
“Maybe we should leave,” Costas suggested. “I wouldn’t want to end up a microwave Hot Pocket.”
“Where do we go?” Gate asked. He finished the bar in two bites. It left him hungry for more. “We’re out of options.”
“We dug our way in,” Walker said. “We can dig our way out.”
Gate couldn’t fault Walker’s logic, but he didn’t share the captain’s optimism. “We’ve gone from one dangerous spot to the next. What makes you think any place we go will be better?”
“Hope.”
Gate shook his head. “You’re crazy.”
“Perhaps, but I don’t feel like giving up.” He took out his knife and pointed toward the wall behind them. “Let’s try that way.”
Reluctantly, Gate joined him. After half an hour’s labor, both men were drenched with fluid from the gash they were carving in the creature’s flesh. Gate wiped his eyes and examined their progress. They had excavated a six-foot-deep tunnel in the creature, but they had no idea how much farther they had to go or where they would come out. The task looked daunting. As he paused, Gate massaged his throbbing right arm. He turned and shouted to Costas.
“Costas, can you spell me?” No answer. He peered out the hole and looked around. No Costas. “Where’s Costas?”
“Maybe he walked off to take a piss.”
“Costas,” Gate yelled again. He glanced at Walker and saw signs of concern in his eyes. “He can take care of himself.”
“Well, he couldn’t have gone far.” Walker looked up at the hole from the gyroscope chamber. “There’s only one way out of here.”
Such an expression of trepidation came over Walker’s face, that some of it rubbed off on Gate. “What?” he demanded.
“The fool has gone back after the nuke.”
“I thought it fell into the acid pool.”
“Costas wasn’t sure. He couldn’t remember a splash. I told him it wasn’t worth the risk. I guess he thought otherwise.”
Now, Gate was becoming alarmed. “If he finds it, will he set it off?”
Walker’s dour expression was all the incentive Gate needed. He continued carving alien flesh, expecting nuclear incineration at any moment. He braced himself against the side of the pocket and dug frantically, using both hands to jab the knife into the wall and hack away chunks of flesh. A clear liquid dripped from the wounds they were inflicting on the creature. The smell was an atrocious mélange of musty old books and bad dog breath. He suspected it was some type of lymphatic fluid and hoped it wasn’t deadly. He worked blindly, trying to keep the liquid out of his eyes. He was so intent on his labors that he would have fallen through the opening that suddenly appeared in front of him if Walker hadn’t grabbed the back of his shirt. For a terrifying moment, he stood leaning precariously over the edge of a precipice, a black chasm with no bottom that he could see. His heart began hammering his chest hard enough to start his injured ribs aching. Then, Walker yanked him back in.
“Dead end,” Gate groaned. “We can’t go any farther.”
Walker thrust his head through the opening to verify Gate’s observation. He snapped a glow stick to activate it and dropped it. As it fell, it revealed a bundle of muscles below them expanding and contracting to the rhythm of the creature’s movements. The glow stick was barely visible when it hit liquid at the bottom and sizzled out.
“It must be fifty or sixty feet down.”
Gate pointed to a large structure sliding back and forth in the opening, resembling an upside-down pendulum. “That’s one of the creature’s legs,” Gate said. “We’re in some kind of hip joint cavity. The liquid must be a lubricant.” He glared at Walker. “So what now?” He didn’t hide his bitterness. He was bone tired. His arms ached, his side throbbed, his eyes burned, and his enthusiasm for continuing was rapidly waning.
“I see something like a strut or a brace just below us. It looks flat and level enough to cross over to the other side. It’s narrow, but we could make it.” Walker paused, as he shined his light on the moving strands of muscle sweeping across the open space. Any attempt to cross the strut would end in decapitation. “But we could never make it through that.” He turned to stare at Gate. “I guess we’re stuck here,”
“It appears so,” Gate said. “I was more comfortable back there.” He jerked his thumb toward the power chamber and started back.
As they entered the chamber, an object tumbled down the slope from the gyro chamber, followed by Costas. Walker shined his light and picked out Costas’ head. A long, bloody slash marred the right side of his face, and his uniform was soaked with blood, but his injuries didn’t suppress his wide grin. He pointed to the bomb at his feet. The backpack was missing. Costas had rigged a sling from several of the belts they had used to try to lower it.
“I found the bomb lying at the edge of the pool. The backpack was eaten away, but the nuke was okay.”
“You look a bit worse for wear, sergeant,” Walker said. Gate detected the obvious relief in the captain’s voice at seeing Costas. He was also glad to see that Costas had made it. He had come to like the big, gruff soldier.
“I had an argument with a few of the residents over possession of the nuke, but I won.” He looked at the new opening. “Is this a way out?”
Gate shook his head. “I don’t think we’re getting out.” He glanced up at the dark crystals. The power surges had grown stronger. Brilliant flashes of light danced along the ebony rod and poured into the floor of the room. He could feel the energy through the soles of his boots.
“Then I suggest we set this baby off.”
He looked first at Walker, and then at Gate. Walker nodded. After a few moments deliberation, Gate nodded as well. It looked as if they weren’t getting out of Nusku alive. Quick immolation by a nuclear blast beat slow cooking by microwaves.
“Five minutes?” Costas asked.
“Five minutes is good,” Walker replied.
Gate found his voice frozen from fear. He nodded his consent.
Costas set the timer and sat down beside the bomb with his arm draped casually over the device. “I lugged this thing all through this beast. Now I get to put it to good use.”
To Gate’s surprise, his fear melted away at the inevitability of death. Since he could do nothing about it, a sense of tranquil acceptance came over him. He sat down and allowed the rhythmic cadence of Nusku to relax him. He looked over at Walker, who had his eyes closed, toying with his knife. His lips were moving. Gate wondered if he was praying.
“It’s been a pleasure, captain,” he said.
Walker opened his eyes and smiled. “I hope you learned what you came for.”
“I only wish I could transmit the information somehow.”
“It seems both our missions were only partially successful.”
The power surges increased. The entire ebony rod now glowed from within with a deep purple light. A high-pitched hum filled the air.
“Three minutes,” Costas called out.
Gate wondered which would kill them first the bomb or the energy discharges. As he glanced up, the light disappeared, as did the humming sound. In fact, the entire chamber had gone silent. Then, he noticed the lack of movement.
“What happened?” Walker asked, as he leapt to his feet.
“I don’t know. I think Nusku has stopped moving.”
He and Walker looked toward the tunnel to the leg at the same time.
“Stop the nuke,” Walker yelled.
Costas struggled to disarm the device, as Walker raced to the tunnel. He emerged a minute later and said, “The leg isn’t moving. I think we can make it.”
“What’s going on?” Costas asked.
Gate shook his head. “Something has happened. If we’re ever going to get out of the creature, now’s the time.”
“Set it for thirty minutes,” he told Costas. “We’re leaving.”
They wasted none of their precious time. Walker went first, lowering himself to the strut below them, a narrow ebony structure barely two feet wide. Balancing with his extended arms like a tightrope walker, he reached the halfway point, where he had to wedge himself into a narrow space between two muscle bundles. Gate held his breath, fearful that the creature would start moving at any second, crushing Walker. He released his breath only when Walker made it across safely.
“Careful, it’s slick,” Walker warned. He played his light around the wall. “The wall is honeycombed with openings,” he called out. “We won’t have to dig.”
Gate went next. As he hung suspended by his fingers and toes, he regretted his decision. Dying clean and quick in a nuclear blast would be better than falling. When he reached the strut, Walker’s light shone on the narrow beam to mark his way. He could see nothing below him, but he knew he was hovering over a chasm. His fear of heights kicked into overdrive, threatening to tip him over the edge. Walker’s comment about the strut being slick was an understatement. Mounds of a wet substance dotted the strut. He tried to avoid the larger piles, but each step was precarious and filled the air around him with the stench of rotting blood.
When he reached the muscles, he threaded his way through them as quickly as he could, hoping that whatever had stopped the creature would last a little longer. As he stepped off the strut onto the ledge on the other side, a sense of relief swept over him. He still might die in a nuclear blast, but he had conquered the chasm.
He examined the wall. Some of the openings were just small cavities in the ebony material. After examining a few, he decided that they served to strengthen the creature’s structure while reducing weight. Two openings that they could reach were as big as the first passages they had encountered. He hoped one led somewhere safer than where they had been.
“Here I come,” Costas called out.
Costas chose to crawl across the strut on his hands and knees, bitching aloud as he smeared stinky goo all over his hands and his uniform. “It’s like pigeon shit.”
Gate’s stomach tightened. That’s exactly what the goo reminded him of. “Hurry,” he yelled, trying to keep the rising panic from his voice. He didn’t know how much time they had. Costas had a difficult time squeezing through the tight opening between muscles. Gate checked his watch. Costas was moving too slowly. They had less than eighteen minutes left.
“Hurry!” he yelled to Costas. Then, he heard a familiar droning sound – Wasps.
Costas heard it too and put on a burst of speed, but he was too late. Two Wasps appeared, one on each side of him, illuminated by Walker’s flashlight. Gate drew his pistol and fired at the nearest creature, but he only had a shot at the creature’s back, and the bullets bounced harmlessly off the armor plating. One of the Wasps dove at Costas. Costas swatted it away with his hands, but couldn’t avoid a savage slash of its massive jaws. They sliced into his right shoulder, almost dragging him off the strut. Gate emptied his clip, and then realized that he had given his extra ammunition to Costas. He stood helplessly, as Walker continued to reload and fire, keeping the creatures at bay until Costas could cross safely. Then Costas, ignoring the deep gash in his shoulder, joined in, firing until they finally brought down one of the monsters. The other one backed away, but didn’t leave. Uncharacteristically, the Wasp continued to hover out of range. Knowing that the creatures were usually ruthless and suicidal in their attacks, he wondered what it was doing.
The droning sound grew louder. Walkers shined his light upwards. Gate swallowed against the lump in his throat, as the light revealed hundreds of Wasps using the struts as perches. They were in the equivalent of the Wasp nest. Most seemed dormant, but the closest ones, aroused by the gunfire, were dropping toward them.
“Run!” Walker yelled.
To Gate’s immense relief, the tunnel led to a passageway running parallel to Nusku’s side, perhaps the same tunnel they had explored upon entering the creature. That meant they were near one of the blisters. They only faced two problems – they didn’t know where their ropes were, and Wasps were chasing them.
Costas, clutching his useless arm and bleeding like a stuck pig, stumbled often. Gate tried to support him, but the heavy sergeant was a handful. After he had pulled Gate to the ground for the third time, Costas groaned in pain and yelled, “Leave me, damn it! I’ll take a few of these bastards with me.”
Walker helped them both to their feet. “No one gets left behind,” he said.
“I’ll be in good company,” Costas said. “Maybe you can say one of them Muslim prayers for me. A quick one, mind you,” he added with a big grin. “I don’t have time for a lot of that pagan gibberish.”
“Come on, sergeant. I’m still giving the orders.”
As he ran, Gate wondered why the Wasps weren’t attacking. Something had happened to change the way the creatures acted. Before his mind could dwell on it, he saw light ahead from an open blister. They stumbled down the short tunnel to the blister. He was surprised at just how much he had missed seeing the sun. He had been inside the creature for only a few hours, but it seemed like days. He held onto the side of the blister, as the creature shuddered from an explosion. A jet swept by less than a hundred yards away.
“An F-35 Lightning from Nellis Air Force Base outside Vegas,” Walked called out. “It’s carrying Storm Shadow cruise missiles and Sidewinders.”
“Looks like we got here just in time to die from our own friendly fire,” Costas said, collapsing on the ground. His face was pale from loss of blood, but he didn’t give an inch. He clutched his .45 in his good hand and faced the tunnel in expectation of Wasp company.
