Leviathan, p.4
Leviathan, page 4
Yuri lifted the mic to get the attention of one of his most trusted and experienced crewmen. It was time to reassemble a piece of technology they hadn’t used in years.
“Mr. Agmanov, please gather a team and ready the harpoon gun. Stand by for orders.” He clicked off the mic and turned to the still concerned looking sonar operator. “Looks like a whale has strayed into international water.” He shrugged. “We’ll take it. For research purpose only.”
Beside him Chekov threw his head back and laughed.
***
The Boris Yeltsin moved further into the freezing Antarctic waters, and the sea around them was still a slate gray and calm as a sheet of polished glass. Yuri wanted to take the whale, haul it in, and then be out of the restricted waters before anyone asked any questions.
He knew that fifty tons of whale meat wasn’t a lot, but it was better than going back with an empty hold. And maybe on the way back they’d catch something else – after all, luck brought luck.
He let Chekov direct them on an intercept course with the cetacean as he watched Agmanov and his team assemble the harpoon gun. It was an older model, a Foyn’s harpoon cannon. He couldn’t exactly go and buy a new one, as the red tape involved would have smothered him, especially as he didn’t have a license for whale hunting.
He smiled as he saw the device come together – it was more than adequate as a forward-mounted, muzzle-loading gun. It fired a heavy harpoon that would bend without breaking, the head of which was equipped with a time-delay grenade to damage vital organs or cause massive bleeding when detonated.
Humpbacks needed to be reeled in quickly as they had a tendency to sink, and fifty tons of dead weight was a considerable job to haul in when using just the net winches.
“On approach.” Chekov’s voice was all professional now. “Ten degrees to starboard, five hundred feet.” He pointed. “Breach.”
Sure enough the back of the whale came to the surface, a geyser of air and water was ejected, and the whale continued, not slowing at all.
“Slow down, you svolach, you’re getting me to burn too much fuel,” Yuri complained.
Yuri put the glasses to his eyes and watched the massive creature as it surged ahead of them. The humpback whale was a baleen whale, and one of the largest members of the rorqual family. But they were basically like giant cows – docile, and rarely fought even after being speared.
He hoped Agmanov struck well with the harpoon – if he delivered a good strike and entered near the brain or heart and detonated the grenade, then the whale would die instantly. But if he caught the flank or near the tail, then they’d be in for a sled ride.
He watched his crew finish assembling the gun. The red-tipped arrow head with the collar of explosives was loaded into the barrel. Agmanov manned the control and ran through a quick check. He then turned and gave the thumbs up to the wheelhouse.
“Good,” Yuri said. “Get us in close. Careful now, I don’t want it getting spooked and diving.”
“I think it is already spooked.” Chekov frowned. “Why is it still moving so fast? I don’t think it is running from us.”
“Must be us,” Yuri replied. “What else?”
“It was running before we even got close.” Chekov gave the engine a little surge and they quickly bore down on the huge animal.
“Steady. Steady,” Yuri said, as they came into range. His eyes widened. “Come on, Agmanov, take the shot.”
And then he did. They heard and felt the explosive discharge of the cannon even up in the wheelhouse. The harpoon and its cable ran out in a looping spiral and struck the whale toward its front end. In seconds there was a pop and a discharge of blood.
Immediately the animal slowed.
“A hit.” Yuri thumped the cabin window edge with his fist. “Very good.” He lifted the mic to speak to the crew. “Good shooting. Quickly now. Attach the winches and haul it in.”
Yuri checked the radar and saw no other ships in the vicinity. Good. It would still take them an hour to get the whale closer, hauled up onboard, and then more time to cut it up and get it into the freezers below deck.
But he’d begin sailing out of the exclusion zone while the whale meat, blubber, and even skin was still being cut up.
He rubbed his chin as he thought through his tasks – he’d order the deck hosed down, and then as soon as they’d crossed into international fishing waters he’d turn the transponder back on. And report he’d had an equipment malfunction. If he could do all that in a few hours, he’d be very satisfied.
He smiled. Something is always better than nothing. And today, something was fifty tons of whale meat.
He watched as the twin net winches dragged the massive cetacean toward the Boris Yeltsin. It was slow work and the machines strained under the enormous weight.
The dead whale began to sit lower in the water as the gas escaped its lungs. Professional whalers had special injector spikes that they used to pump the carcass full of air to keep it afloat. But he’d have to rely on luck and timing.
Plus, he hoped the harpoon spike held. If not, the weight of the deflated animal would pull it free, and it’d sink to the bottom. Then he would have burned the extra fuel, risked having his license confiscated for fishing in an exclusion zone, and go home with nothing but a bad mood, debts, and a ferocious vodka hangover.
Yuri cursed. He couldn’t risk losing the whale, so while the men were still dismantling the harpoon cannon, he decided he had a priority job for them.
“Mr. Agmanov, take a boat and secure a line to its tail. If the harpoon pulls out we’ll lose everything.”
The man looked up at the wheelhouse then to the whale. Yuri could almost hear his mind work – the water was freezing, and he’d need to go in. But to his credit, the crewman saw the problem and nodded.
Yuri wished he had a few more like Agmanov as he watched him professionally organize three other men, change his clothing, and then take a large tow rope while they began to lower one of the rubber dinghies.
In just minutes the men raced across the glassy gray water to meet the rapidly sinking whale. They trailed the thick rope, which had been tied to one of the large, iron deck bollards. Poor Agmanov sat in the boat in a thick wetsuit. Even the cold-water suits never kept out the bone-chilling bite of the Antarctic water.
Yuri would give the man an extra ration of vodka when he returned to get some heat back into his belly.
A few minutes later, the small boat reached the whale, and they had the winches shut off so the men could work. Agmanov pulled a mask down over his face and then went over the side. He grabbed the end of the rope, dragged in one huge, deep breath, and then dived under.
“Better him than me,” Chekov said.
“He’s a good man,” Yuri said. “Crazy, but good.” He could almost feel the bite of the icy water. He lifted his mug of steaming tea and sipped as if to warm his own bones.
“We have contact,” Belsky said.
“More whale?” Yuri turned, his brows slightly raised. “Another boat?” He knew he’d be in the shit if it was.
“No, non-metallic signature.” Belsky listened a little more and stared intensely at the computer as it tried to resolve the sonar impression. “Maybe another whale. Big one. Bigger than the humpback.”
Yuri snorted, relieved. “Maybe husband. Too late, Mr. Humpback, your wife already dead.”
“No whale song. And much, much bigger than a humpback – maybe seventy to seventy-five feet. It’s mid-water and coming fast.” Belsky turned. “Not at us. At the whale.”
Yuri frowned. “It’s heading to the dead whale?” He turned back and lifted his binoculars. He couldn’t contact his men, unless he had someone go on deck with a loudhailer.
He thought about it and then discarded the idea; too much trouble, and he needed them to finish their task. They’d be back soon anyway.
“It’s gone deep,” Belsky said.
Yuri nodded. “And that’s the end of that.”
“I don’t think so,” Chekov murmured. He faced Yuri. “I think we should wait before we –”
“No.”
They had seen Agmanov dive, and then just a few minutes later he came back to the surface and gave a thumbs up. The rope attached to the ship went tight.
“See, it’s done.” Yuri sipped his tea again. It was already cold. Nothing stays warm here, he thought. “Now we have two lines and, even if the harpoon is pulled free, we will still have hold of it.”
“This is strange.” Belsky spun in his chair, looking confused as he faced Yuri and Chekov. “That thing is coming up fast, right underneath the whale.” The warning noise from his console pulled him back to his instruments. “Contact,” he said.
Yuri turned back to the freezing sea in time to see the whale carcass lift from the water in a geyser of foam, blood, and fragments of flesh. There was something huge and off-white within that explosion of chaos.
The Russian captain’s mouth dropped open and he could only stare. The small inflatable dinghy beside the whale was flipped aside, and the men catapulted out. Many immediately started swimming back to the thankfully not swamped raft. But there was no sign of Agmanov.
The remaining men clambered back in the raft and started the engine to then speed back to the ship.
Yuri stared hard at the water behind them – it was still boiling as if there was frantic agitation going on beneath the surface. He watched as a slick of bloody foam and chunks of whale flesh was spreading out over a hundred feet.
“What happened? What was that?” Yuri turned to Belsky, and the young man just shook his head.
“Shark,” Chekov said.
“Horse shit.” Yuri rounded on him. “Are you mad?”
Chekov shook his head slowly. “I’ve seen this before. In South Africa there is a bay where the seal colonies live. The water is deep, and the sharks wait for them down in the depths.” He turned. “They take the seals from underneath, just like this.”
Yuri’s eyes bulged. “That was a whale, not a seal pup. What shark could lift a whale from the water like that?” He snorted his disdain. “And the water is freezing here. No sharks.”
Chekov just stood at attention, and Yuri rested his hands flat on the window ledge. He shook his head. “Everything, gone. Agmanov, gone.”
“Captain, it went back down. But it’s not gone.” Belsky looked up. “Just heading away.”
“Back to the deep,” Chekov said.
Yuri exhaled. “Yes, with half my whale. Enjoy your free meal, you bastard.”
“We still have the whale. Or what’s left of it,” Chekov announced.
“What?” Yuri’s head came up.
“The harpoon has been dislodged, but we still have the rope attached.” Chekov shared a flat smile. “We should haul in what we have left.”
“Yes, yes, do that.” Yuri straightened.
Chekov gave the order, and the tow rope was attached to the winch and hauled in. It came in quickly, indicating there wasn’t a fifty-ton cetacean attached to it anymore.
In minutes it was beside the boat, and then hauled up the port side and hung over the fish catch platform.
Yuri could only stare. Only the tail and last third of the animal was remaining. Above the rear dorsal fin, there was just a massive, ragged stump. It was still dripping oily blood to the deck. Of the forty- to fifty-ton cetacean there remained about eight tons.
Yuri sighed as he watched a few of the men congregate around it. Gobbets of loose flesh fell free, and a slight movement of the deck caused a few other items to be jarred loose.
One man ran in under the remains of the beast and picked something up. He held it aloft and Yuri squinted, and then motioned for the crewman to bring it up.
The man took off his bloody slicker and raced up the metal steps to the wheelhouse cabin. Inside, he held the object out to his captain.
Chekov grunted. “You see?”
Yuri held the object on his open palm – it was a tooth, triangular, serrated, and gleaming white. It was broken off from its root, but the piece was still about eight inches in length.
“Shark tooth,” Chekov announced.
“It’s too big. And what shark can take two thirds of a whale in a single bite?” Yuri lifted his head to look out at the now calm waters.
“One we haven’t met before,” Chekov replied. “A monster.”
“It was white. A rare monster.” Yuri turned to Belsky. “Do you still have it on sonar?”
He nodded. “Yes, moving at depth, but toward the edge of the glacier and into shallower water.”
“Moving toward the continent? Interesting.” Yuri checked their position and found they were still in the exclusion zone. “I have had a stomach full of this accursed cold place.” He turned. “But I want to know what it is that stole our catch. Perhaps we might find something of great importance. And of great value.”
“You want to go deeper into the exclusion zone?” Chekov raised his eyebrows.
“Yes,” Yuri stated. “Something there attacked us, and in my opinion it poses a risk to global shipping. I think it is our duty to find out what it is.” He laughed, and then nodded toward the wheelhouse window.
“Cut up and store that meat. And clean off the deck.” Yuri’s eyes narrowed. “Then full speed ahead, Mr. Chekov. We have a new target.”
***
The Boris Yeltsin stopped in the water, and Yuri held the glasses to his eyes.
“Thwaites Glacier,” Chekov said and looked down at the online charts. “Big, and very old.”
“And melting,” Yuri said without taking the glasses from his eyes. “Our monster shark swam toward it.” He lowered the glasses. “Not just toward it but under it, and then it kept going. What does that tell you, Mr. Chekov?”
“That it’s hollow,” Chekov replied.
Yuri nodded and turned to Belsky “Update?”
“Yes, sir, it was still traveling at a consistent eleven knots. Entered the glacier zone without slowing. Then vanished from the sonar.”
Yuri’s mouth curved into an upside down smile as he looked at the glacier. “That’s new ice melt. A cave. And I think a big one.”
“You’re not thinking of getting any closer, captain?” Chekov asked. “If that sheet calves, it’ll sink us.”
“I am, and I will.” Yuri scratched at his chin. “The fish went closer, and so can we.”
Chekov groaned. “We should at least dynamite the lip. That will dislodge any ice that is about to fall.”
Yuri slowly shook his head. “No, the entrance looks small from the waterline and will be impossible to see via overhead satellite. I also think it is newly formed.” He turned and grinned. “So that means we are first to see it.” He turned back. “And first to claim what we find.”
Chekov threw his hands up. “You can’t claim anything you find in Antarctica. It’s internationally protected, under the United Nations –”
Yuri waved him away. “No one knows. And no one will tell them.” Yuri gazed at the blue-tinted glacier. He’d already decided.
“We go. We take two inflatables, harpoons, ropes, guns.” He nodded. “Plus we will take the portable winch and some heavy fishing tackle. I think today might end up being more profitable than we expected.”
CHAPTER 05
Valery Mironov Enterprises, New York City
Sonya Borashev sat at the huge desk flanked by multiple computer screens that painted her stony visage in cold hues of blue and white. She watched the footage sent to her, the benefactor of the expedition, by her now missing ship, the SeaTayshun.
She watched it again, and again. And then slowed it down until it was frame by frame on the images of the mini submersible, the Krill-1. She stopped the footage at the moment the huge maw came into view.
She sat staring at if for many minutes, feeling her fury rise. She had suspected something strange was emanating from down there but didn’t know for sure. This creature was huge though, and it was white, or a clay color. Was she wrong?
“Could it be something else?” she whispered.
Finally she sat back, closed her eyes and steepled her fingers, thinking about the lost lives. Had she sent them all to their deaths? Had she adequately warned them?
Sonya closed her eyes for a moment. No, she had suspected but hadn’t known for sure. All they were supposed to do was gather evidence. It seemed the crew of Krill-1 had exceeded their instructions.
Her gaze was drawn again to the screen and the huge mouth. Sonya’s eyes narrowed. “Is that where the last of you have been hiding, all these millions of years?” Her voice resonated in the huge room.
Sonya turned to look out the impressive row of windows and over the nighttime New York skyline. She didn’t see the skyscrapers touching the dark sky, or the shadowy streets and laneways; instead her mind conjured the peaks of underwater mountains, the stars became dots of bioluminescent creatures out in the dark void, and the streets became the abyssal valleys as she navigated the depths in the submarine with Valery.
She blinked several times and turned away from the view, feeling the pang of loss that never went away. Sonya exhaled and turned to face the floor-to-ceiling fish tank stocked with a pair of rare dinosaur eels both now in their dens, their heads hanging out, mouths gaped open and displaying near transparent needle-like teeth. Their cold and emotionless eyes were on her. Always on her, as if biding their time until they could get hold of her soft flesh and tear chunks from it.
She hated them. But they were Valery’s pets, and they, and everything about the mysteries of the deep sea, were his passion. They were a small but remaining connection to him.
Valery had been killed in the sea, and many would have said he died doing what he loved. But that wasn’t true at all. Because the truth was, he was eaten by a monster. And he died saving her and his crew.
The great man had always planned ahead as if he could see the future. And in the last trip he had seen his own death, and so made plans to transfer the multi-billion dollar construction and investment company to her. He had loved her, and in turn she had adored and loved him with the intensity of a white-hot fire.
