Viewing Single Post From: The War Monsters-Part Four

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Viewing Single Post From: The War Monsters-Part Four
packmule	Apr 4 2007, 01:47 PM
Site founder - Searching for Cropsy Posts: 32,861 Group: Administrator(staff) Member #1 Joined: January 29, 2006 Favorite giant monster film: Gojira(1954) Favorite horror film: House Of Wax(1953) Favorite sci-fi film: 2001: A Space Odyssey(1968)	*Part Four-Leviathans* January 20th 0845 hours CDR Jim Powers and LCDR Clifford Mason stepped onto the metal grating of the Aurora's starboard side diving platform. "Been awhile since we've had these on, huh?" Mason said, in a U.S. Navy standard issue extended depth diving suit, as was Powers. "It has. Just another standard dive Mase. We've done this plenty of times before," Powers said, holding his helmet in his gloved hands as the platform was lowered along the side of the research vessel. "Except these charges have more ka-boom," Mason said. "Nothing to it. Remember our routine," Powers said. Mason nodded yes. Powers looked up, watching the large winch in action above them, the winch's cables fluttering in the stiff breeze. Powers waved to the bystanders on deck, and then to Lieutenant Wescott, the brunette waving back. "Commander, this is Dr. Bauer," the female voice crackled in Power's interior helmet speaker. "Let's get our domes on Mase," Powers said. He and LCDR Mason, donned their bulky helmets. Powers took one last glimpse at the group of technicians and crew members on the starboard deck of the Aurora-five seconds later he was submerged, like his black comrade. "I read you loud and clear Dr. Bauer. You can drop the charges to us. We're in position," Powers said aloud, the transmitter in his helmet relaying the message back to the biologist on the ship. "Okay. Dropping charges now." Two six foot long, cigar shaped steel tubes entered the water above them. Powers and Mason both secured themselves to the small, tactical nuclear warheads via their primary lifeline, which ran parallel to their thin, flexible, corrugated oxygen tubes. "We're hooked up Dr. Bauer and beginning descent. Keep sufficient slack in the line. Radio check at ten minute intervals," Powers said aloud inside his helmet. Like his other deep dives, the decent was quiet, tranquil, the water becoming murky at one hundred feet. At two hundred feet Powers had trouble seeing his own gloved hand in front of him. Powers listened to his own breathing, which sounded identical to his breaths in the simulators. "Mase, radio check, over," Powers droned. "I'm fine Jim. Over," Mason's voice crackled into Power's helmet speaker. The two Navy officers descended about six feet apart, at a rate of two feet per second. Powers blinked his eyes, looking at the front port of his helmet. The water was black now. "Passing four hundred feet, Commander Powers," the female voice crackled in his helmet. "Acknowledged," Powers spoke clearly. Jim Powers closed his eyes, trying to visualize the topography below them that Dr. David Bauer had described in their last briefing. According to the oceanographer, the two objects were lodged at nearly forty-five degree angles, some one hundred feet apart, on an upwards jutting precipice situated along the edge of a five hundred drop off into the adjacent Cascadia two undersea canyon, where the depth at it's bottom was just over 1200 feet. Powers opened his eyes-the water felt different. "Commander Powers, be advised USS Cassidy reports possible surge at five hundred or six hundred feet," Taryn Bauer's voice crackled into the helmet headphone. "Confirmed. Strong current at six hundred feet, appears to be moving in a southwesterly direction at about five knots. We're okay Doctor, and still descending," Jim Powers said evenly. The Navy Commander had to remind himself, on occasion, that he was among perhaps twenty men in the entire world qualified for a dive of this depth. Powers could hear the sea outside him churning, bubbles vigorously appearing against the plexi-glass port of his dive helmet. "Mase, these things should be less than one hundred feet below us. Stand by to turn on illuminators," Powers said casually. "Acknowledged Jim," Mason's voice crackled in Power's helmet. Despite the blackness of the water outside his helmet port Powers could make out the shape of the cigar-shapped charge beside him. Fish swarmed around it, then flurried away, as they did his helmet port. "Passing six hundred fifty feet," Taryn Bauer's voice droned in Power's helmet. Power blinked his eyes again. "Mase, power up your lamp," Powers said clearly. "Powering up Jim," Mason replied. Powers turned the knob attached to his suit, a control located on his chest plate. A powerful , battery-powered strobe attached to the side of his helmet winked on, a beam erupting into the dark depths ahead of him. Powers was reminded of a strobe coming on in a large, very dark room. The effect looked nearly the same. The strobe, pressure resistant and capable of illuminating a window ahead of him thirty-five feet long and about fifteen feet wide, did just that. "Shit," Powers muttered aloud in astonishment as he slowly looked downwards. "Mase, what are you seeing right now?" Powers asked. "Can't see much. Lots of green colored fluid in the water. Never seen this stuff before," Mason's voice hissed in Power's helmet. "I can only see parts of this thing Doctor. Looks like rock, parts of it anyway," Powers said aloud. "What do you mean by that Commander?" Dr. Taryn Bauer's voice crackled in his helmet. "Just that. Look, it's part rock, and has what looks like some kind of metal alloy in between...no, under the outer rocky layer. Jesus, what the hell am I looking at Doctor?" Powers said sharply, looking upwards. He could not see the top of the object, nor did he expect to, since, according to David Bauer, more than three quarters of it's three hundred foot length remained unburied outside the ledge it was lodged in. "Jim, looks the same over here," Mason's voice crackled. LCDR Mason had drifted one hundred and eight feet away from CDR Powers, and was hovering in from of the second object. "Just wish this goddamn water wasn't so dark so I could see this thing. It looks craggy, that's all I can tell, but there's definitely something man-made under the outer rocky layer, Jim." "Okay Doctor, what next?" Powers asked. "Set the charges," Taryn Bauer's voice hissed in Jim Power's dive helmet. "Acknowledged. Setting charge now. Mase, set your charge partner," Powers ordered. "Yes sir," Mason answered. Powers, like his comrade, attached the cigar-shaped, metal tube to the strange surface of the submerged space rock, using a small metal eyelet, which he removed from the spare breast pocket of his dive suit, and a short metal clasping ring. Powers looked down at the tube,which bumped gently against the giant space rock. Satisfied it was securely attached the Navy Commander spoke again inside his helmet. "Mase?" "Finished Jim. Can we get out of here?" Mason groused. "Affirmative partner. Aurora, this is Powers. The charges are set. Bring us up." "Acknowledged Commander. Well done. Standby for ascent," Taryn Bauer's voice crackled. Jim Powers felt the cable attached to his suit tense, and he slowly began ascending, as did his friend Clifford Mason. The two Navy officers were on their way back to the surface. As they ascended Jim Powers considered the absurdity of his situation: just four days before he was holed up in his mountain cabin, on leave, his Navy discharge papers four days from being finalized. Now he was in a Navy dive suit, three days removed from a cataclysmic earthquake that had just devastated his home state and surrounding areas, planting five kiloton tactical nuclear warheads seven hundred feet below the surface of the Gulf Of Alaska onto an object felled from outer space that absolutely no one could positively identify. Powers closed his eyes as a technician from the Aurora broke the silence of his ascent every two minutes with updates of his depth. Powers anticipated more debriefings, meetings, perhaps even a trip to Washington, to be questioned about the dive, which would postpone his discharge from the United States Navy by months, if not a full year. Things can't get any worse, I guess Powers thought. In about three hours, and unbeknownst to the career Navy officer, they would. U.S. Navy Commander Jim Powers makes final preparations for the dive-January 20th, 1964 The civilian research ship Aurora, on station with U.S. Navy destroyers Ricketts and Cassidy in the Gulf Of Alaska, ten nautical miles from Point Alpha, the expected blast zone for the two Mark 17A nuclear tipped mines- 1145 hours Jim Powers checked his dive watch, looking over at Clifford Mason as they stood on the starboard bridge wing of the Aurora. "How long?" the black Navy officer asked. "Detonation in forty seconds Mase," Commander Powers replied calmly. "Mr. Brackens, are we latched up?" Captain Nils Larssen, the research ship's commanding officer barked. "Aye skipper!" the watch officer snapped in earnest. "You sure you want to be up here?" Powers asked Loren Wescott. The Navy Lieutenant nodded, standing beside brother-sister scientists David and Taryn Bauer. Captain Larssen's loud voice snapped out the last ten seconds of the detonation countdown-"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one..." Powers peered through his binoculars, hearing a low, increasingly louder rumble. He could see the primary shockwave as it hit the surface, looking very much like that of a standard depth charge explosion, except much wider. The swell that radiated outwards was, to his relief, around five feet high, hardly noticeable in the choppy, 3-4" foot seas. What really concerned the Navy Commander was what was going on below the surface. Seven hundred feet below the surface of the Gulf Of Alaska, the two five kiloton tactical nuclear warheads, attached to the pair of large objects, detonated. The shockwaves radiated outwards and upwards, their sound blasting through the water, instantly killing all fish within a mile radius. The two giant objects from space were each pushed outwards, in opposite directions, a pair of passing sperm whales and a trio of great white sharks instantly obliterated by the detonation. The objects were not only ripped loose but also laterally hammered by the underwater blasts, which also deeply fractured both of the emormous space rocks, large volumes of green fluid gouting in great volume out of both objects, the fluid floating upwards. One of the rocks, after settling onto the flat part of the ridge, began to move again. The other object , beginning to descend towards the sea floor some five hundred feet below, began to splinter open, huge, house-sized chunks of it's outer layer being pushed outwards. It took about three minutes for the captive organisms, both enormous creatures reptilian in appearance, to emerge. Both leviathans, still not completely conscious, drifted, through the underwater flotsam, slowly upwards, towards the surface, their one hundred ninety foot long, two thousand ton bulks beginning to twitch in the murky, debris-laden water... The Aurora -1210 hours "So, when will they begin the salvage operation?" Lieutenant Loren Wescott asked, standing behind CDR Jim Powers in his cabin, giving the shirtless Navy officer a much needed neck and shoulder massage. "It''ll be at least twenty four hours before we can enter the restricted zone, that is, assuming the residual radiation is what we expect it to be," Powers said, grunting as the brunette kneaded the back of his neck. "That better?" she asked, with a grin. "Much," Powers answered gratefully. "You've got to learn to relax," Loren said, now massaging Powers shoulders. "I know," he grumbled, feeling the tension in his shoulders melt as the dark-eyed brunette behind him loosened his shoulder muscles with kneading fingers. Loren started to speak again, but was interrupted by the Aurora's ship-wide alarm. Powers bolted out of the chair. "Stay here!" he barked to LT Loren Wescott, putting on his t-shirt as he raced down the corridor. Powers hustled up the steps and within five seconds was in the Aurora's pilothouse. LCDR Clifford Mason appeared behind Powers. Captain Larssen was out on the port bridge wing. "What the hell is going on?" Powers snapped loudly to Larssen's executive officer, Neyland Brackens, who was gripping the helm. Brackens glanced over at Powers and then began staring straight ahead again, looking ashen. "Goddamnit! What's going on Brackens?" Powers repeated, this time in a shout. "Powers!" Larssen shouted. The Navy Commander bolted out on the bridge wing, as did his friend Cliff Mason. The black Navy officer swore under his breath. "Take these and look!" Larssen snapped, pointing about thirty degrees off the Aurora's port bow. Powers peered into the binoculars. "Jesus Christ," the U.S. Navy officer muttered, his dark eyes blinking in disbelief. He handed the binoculars to Mason. Dr. Taryn Bauer and her brother David Bauer appeared in the pilothouse. "Brackens! Call down to the engine room! I want flank speed! Everything they got! Now!" Captain Larssen shouted to his exec, who grabbed the mike next to helm and frantically repeated Larssen's command to the ship's chief engineer, Meekins. Jim Powers handed the binoculars to David Bauer. "I hope you two, and that son of a bitch Ziker are satisfied," Jim Powers said angrily, jacking up David Bauer and pushing him against the pilothouse bulkhead. "Take your hands off my brother!" Taryn Bauer snapped angrily. "You two wanted little green men from outer space. Instead you got goddamn monsters," Powers said clearly. "There's no such thing as monsters asshole," David Bauer said. Jim Powers hauled David Bauer by his shirt collar out onto the bridge wing, pointing. "Really? Then what the fuck is that??" David Bauer looked out in the direction Powers was pointing. "Oh shit," David Bauer said, his eyes widening in shock, and fear. In less than two minutes the pair of giant extraterrestrial creatures had managed to reach the surface, the choppy waters of the Gulf Of Alaska bubbling, then vigorously churning as both monstrosities began to thrash about, some one hundred feet apart, in the churning water. One of the enormous creatures was blue-gray colored, it's skin leathery, possessing an elongated neck, snake-like head, oblate -shaped torso, and a huge tail. It resembled a plesiosaur, except much greater in size, and possessing webbed feet, as opposed to a plesiosaur's flippers. The top of the monster's head was nearly forty feet above it's humped back. The blue-skinned, long necked monster roared in anger and plunged beneath the surface, momentarily. The second monster, reddish in color,struggled to remain buoyant in the water, physically not as adept as it's blue-skinned counterpart at movement in deep water. The red-skinned monster was scaly, it's head much like that of an alligator, it's body elongated, it's legs shorter than it's blue-skinned counterpart, and also possessing a powerful tail. The red-skinned behemoth looked, more than anything, like a terrible blend of alligator and monitor lizard. It too bellowed angrily, snapping it's jaws open and closed repeatedly, it's roar deeper and more guttural than that of the other monster. The red-skinned, scaly giant rolled in the choppy waters, spying it's blue-skinned counterpart. Unknown to anyone on Earth these two enormous creatures had been, thousands of years ago, gladiatorial combatants on a distant planet, both monsters eventually quarantined by their alien captors, and sent into exile in deep space, contained in two giant alloyed, rectangular cubicles, encased in an outer layer of iron, nickel, and rock indigenous to the alien's home planet. The two rock encased cubicles, as a result of random contact with an asteroid belt 987 years ago, had changed course, entering Earth's solar system. The two captive giants had nearly crashed on Mars but the magnetism of a passing comet had pulled the two dormant, captive monster's rocky encasements away from Mars...and towards Earth, where, on January 17th, they had entered the planet's atmosphere, slamming into the Gulf Of Alaska. Had they been left alone the two football-field sized rocks might have remained intact permanently. They weren't, the use of two tactical nuclear warheads providing just enough energy release to fracture the two objects. As a result, two giant , one hundred ninety foot long, sixty foot tall organisms had been loosed into the Gulf Of Alaska, purely predatory and instinctive in nature, unlike any other living things on Earth, and both creatures making a course for the coastline of Washington... The Aurora Captain Larssen had managed to reach, after frantically adjusting the pilothouse radio transmitter dial, the Naval Air Station In Juneau. The blond, bearded Aurora captain stammered, struggling to regain his wits. Jim Powers grabbed the mike out of Larssen's hand, Clifford Mason standing behind Powers, as was Loren Prescott. David and Taryn Bauer were out on the starboard bridge wing, both scientists peering through binoculars. "This is Commander Powers, on board the Aurora! This is not a drill! I repeat, this is not a drill! There are two gigantic, unidentified biological organisms in submerged transit for the Washington state coastline! You've got to get word to Commodore Baskin! " Powers barked into the mike. "Aurora, this is LT Lakewood the staff duty-" Powers cut the duty officer off. "Artie this is Jim! Come back!" Powers snapped. Static blared out of the microphone. "Standby Commander Powers...we're getting an emergency...from the Cassidy...oh shit, ...it's under attack!" the NAS duty officer's voice hissed urgently. Powers looked over at Mason. "Where is the Cassidy right now?" Mason looked at his friend, then down at the Aurora's radar scope. "She's between the coast, and those goddamn things Jim," Clifford Mason said, looking at Powers and shaking his head. "They're about four nautical miles from us Commander Powers," Brackens said, temporarily at the helm. "You're not thinking about-"Captain Larssen started. "I'm doing more than thinking skipper. We need to track those things, and that means staying within range," Powers snapped. Larssen slowly nodded. "I'm not up for this shit," Larssen said, looking ashen. Larssen stumbled out on the port bridge wing and vomited over the rail. "Brackens! Set a course for the Cassidy! And give me a position on the Ricketts!" Brackens looked up from the radar scope. "Ricketts is on a reciprocal bearing to the Cassidy...headed out to sea," Neyland Brackens said, struggling to check the radar scope and hold on to the ship's helm. "Mase, can you take the helm? Brackens, stick to that scope! Loren, check on the skipper, will you?" Powers asked. The brunette naval intelligence officer nodded and stepped out onto the bridge wing. "ETA about fifteen minutes to the Cassidy, Jim," Mason stated. "Assuming there'll be anything left...goddamnit," Powers said aloud, walking out onto the starboard bridge wing.
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