Chapter 20: Return

“Ready to go, sir?” the sonar operator asked Kai.

The actual sonar device was on the bottom of the ship but it was operated here on the third deck in the sonar room. The machine had already been turned on and was ready to go. All the merfolk had been warned to keep out of the sight of the device and had cleared an area around the Haltija.

“Go.” Kai nodded.

Immediately, the people in the room started working. It was like watching an anthill that had just been kicked.

He was standing in front of a large screen where the images the sonar got would be projected.

Kyma was sitting in a chair behind him, a sketchpad open in her lap and a pencil ready to take down the images. Kai had told her that they could print out the image but she insisted that it would help her think.

“Area clear of any submersible vessels.” someone called out.

“Begin.” another called.

At the bottom of the ship, a device at that moment sent out a sound wave that raced down through the miles of ocean floor.

Kai ignored the technical jargon as he watched the screen patiently. It would take a few moments for the pulses emitted by the device to touch the ocean floor then bounce back to be picked up by the device. It would use the time between when the sound hit it back to give a rather accurate picture of what was down there.

“First image should be coming up soon, sir.” some one told him and Kai nodded to show he had heard.

“Think it will work?” Kyma asked.

Kai shrugged. “Better than trying nothing.”

She nodded and they watched the screen.

A few seconds later, the first image came up.

“No, that's not it.” Kai shook his head. “Try moving a bit further left.” The image was pretty much just blank. The ocean floor tended to look like that when it was empty of anything but the sand.

It was odd seeing his ocean floor reduced to black and white pixels and a hard to determine where he was looking and what direction to go in.

However, under his direction, they managed to find the edge of the cliff which showed up as a line on the screen.

“Alright, try following the cliff edge down for a bit.” he instructed.

“Will you recognize the spot?” the chief operator asked.

Kai shrugged again. “No real way to tell from this image. But the facility hugs the cliff pretty close. Just put the edge as far to the side as you can.”

It took another thirty minutes to find it.

Joe had no idea that the canyon they had been in was so very long. Then again, there was a great lot of the ocean floor she didn't know.

But, finally, Kai called, “There.”

Joe snapped to attention as the sonar readjusted again so that it was scanning over the facility.

And Joe finally saw, in badly rendered 2D, the very ocean base that she had sketched before.

This one was better shaped, the circles actually circles, but it was almost exactly what she had drawn. There was one extra hall that she hadn't seen because, for one reason or another, it didn't have lights. It came off of one of the four halls connecting the outside circles and ended in a smaller, more tear drop shaped structure.

The room went silent as they looked at it.

It was ominous seeing it. That thing was on the bottom of the ocean at this very moment with living, breathing humans in it. They didn't know what they were doing, there was no way to find out. It wasn't even a complex base. It was simple, it was easy to understand.

And still it scared Joe a bit to look at it.

Suddenly, the image blinked out then disappeared.

“What happened?” the chief sonar operator asked as his people scrambled to find the problem.

“Sorry, sir.” someone called back. “We're not getting any response from the machine.”

“I'll go check it out.” Kai volunteered even as he left the room.

Joe jumped up and followed him out.

“What happened?” she asked as they nearly ran up to the top deck.

“Something must have interfered with the sonar machine.” Kai said. “You saw it blink?”

“Yeah.” Joe nodded.

“Something moved in front of it.” he said. “Blocked the signal.”

“And turned it off?” Joe asked. “But you said all the merfolk had given the Haltija a wide berth.”

“They did.” he nodded. “We are creatures of the sea. Sonar can be painful when we're too close to it. It's like listening to an extremely high pitched sound as loud as it can be turned up.”

Joe flinched in sympathy. “So, who would get that close to it to turn it off?”

Kai burst out on deck, Joe right at his heels. Even as he walked forward, he was discarding his clothes. Clothes that Joe was automatically picking up.

“No one would.” he said as he reached the rail. “At least not on accident.”

He climbed over the rail and jumped into the water without a second look back.

Joe ran forward and looked down into the water but he was already gone.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kai swam under the ship, his legs still on but his scales already forming.

He knew the underside of the ships very well. He was familiar with almost every barnacle that had attached itself to the hull. And he knew where the sonar device was located. Right on the belly of the ship.

However, the device was gone.

Not broken, not hanging on by a wire.

Just gone.

And in its place was a long, clear space where the device, and the barnacles, had been stripped clean off leaving only the metal of the ship's hull.

He swam up to it and placed his hands on the cool metal.

Barnacles were sharp, they could grow even on smooth ship surfaces. Touching one almost always drew blood.

But as Kai ran his hand down the newly cleared space, he could detect nothing but smooth metal. It was almost as smooth as the day it had first rolled off the ship dock and into the water.

He swam down and turned to look up at it.

It looked almost like long claw marks except there was only one slash.

He turned his head as he heard a splash and saw a waterproof digital camera fall into the water.

Reminding himself to thank Kyma for her foresight, he swam over and picked it up before it sank too deep.

XXXXXXXXXX

“What could make that mark?” Kyma asked as they looked at through the pictures. Kai had taken them from every angle and close up he could. They were in the cafeteria, talking to only each other.

“It was about six feet long.” he said as they looked them over. “It could have been benign.”

“What? You mean it could just be a coincidence that something took out our sonar just as we got a shot of that facility?” Kyma asked in disbelief.

“Could be.” he nodded. “Maybe something just wanted the sonar to stop.”

“Yeah, well. I'll keep that option in mind.” Kyma said. “But Jack always says that coincidences don't exist especially on a mission. Everything is connected.”

Kai nodded, accepting that wisdom.

Kyma sighed and set the photos down. “I need to talk to Jack.”

“Now?” Kai asked.

Kyma nodded. “Now.”

“What about these?” Kai asked, indicating to the photos.

“I'll send them to Brooklyn.” Kyma said. “If anything mythic related made that mark, she'll know what it is.”

“Hey guys.” Josh came up to the table looking unexpectedly serious.

“What's wrong?” Kai asked.

“You should come look.” he said. “That submarine is back.”

XXXXXXXXXX

The sonar machine was not the only sonar on the ship. However, it was the only one capable of capturing pictures like it did. The other sonar was the standard equipment that told the ship who and what was coming towards them.

Unlike the missing machine, it wasn't active sonar so it couldn't be detected.

The 'sonar' was in fact a man listening to the sounds the ocean made around them. And it wasn't uncommon for the man in that position to be so good at his job they could identify specific ship and engine types that moved through the water.

“Tell them, Tom.” Josh said as they approached.

“Hello, sir. Ma'am.” he nodded respectfully.

“That submarine is back?” Kai asked, skipping introductions.

“Yes, sir.” the man flipped a switch and the familiar sound of the submarines vast engine came from a speaker. It was quieter, much quieter, than when the enormous thing had been passing right over her head. But Joe definitely recognized the deep rumble.

“It's coming up on our port side.” Tom said, tilting his head a bit as he listened. “About...6 miles out I would say.”

“Wow.” Joe admired. “You can tell just by listening?”

Tom nodded once. “Yes, ma'am.”

“Is it, for sure, the same one?” Josh asked.

“Yes, sir.” Tom nodded. “There's a tick right...there.” as he said there, a tiny tick, so small Joe wouldn't have noticed it if he hadn't pointed it out, came through the speakers. “They should probably get that fixed before it ruins the entire engine. It's definitely theirs.”

“What is it doing back??” Kai asked no one in particular.

“Maybe it's bringing supplies?” Josh suggested.

Joe shook her head. “It hasn't been all that long since it last came. If it was just bringing supplies it would bring enough to last a few months at least. It has to be bringing something else.”

XXXXXXXXXX

“Welcome to your new home.” one of Crispin's captors laughed as they removed his blindfold.

Crispin gasped and, as their blindfolds were removed as well, he heard the human girls do the same.

Because they were looking out of a wide window at what, Crispin dimly recognized, as the bottom of the ocean.

“Don't bother screaming or escaping.” the woman said as she leaned against the window.

Crispin could see her now. She looked, he thought, like the femme fatale from an old black and white movie. Her hair was honey blonde and her eyes deep brown. She was beautiful and, he could tell just by looking, deadly.

“No one will hear you scream.” she continued, smiling a bit. “As you can see, we're quite far from any people.”

She had an accent, he noticed. It was strange. Russian? No. German?

“You can try to leave.” she smiled wide. “But you wont get far. You are here until the day you die. Which, if you're lucky, might be soon.”

“Uh, Dora?” one of the men spoke up. “Captain ain't here.”

“I know.” she nodded. “He has so much to do.” she pouted a bit. “He's even beginning to forget about me. But that's okay. He'll be so excited at our catch when he returns. My lover is a bit of a...scientist.” she explained to her captives. “He likes to experiment. It's just so adorable. Siren, you'll probably live much longer than the girls. Isn't that good for you?”

She turned her blank, uncaring eyes to the pregnant women. “As for you two? Well...My lover's toys never last very long.”

They looked completely horrified at being any man's 'toy'.

Dora saw the look on their faces and laughed. “Oh, don't worry, dears. I'm woman enough to satisfy him sexually. No, he'll be doing something much worse to you.”