[Original Novel] Pressure: First Encounter, Part 8

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Previous parts:} 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

"I'd just rather not." Of the three, Angie figured Eliot for the bravest. But she was hardly objective, and after witnessing Leonard and Nathan's dreams it was difficult to fault his hesitation.

"We all saw the body, but obviously none of us could've experienced what was in those dreams. And I refuse to believe any of that came from Leo or Nate. It's coming from outside." He glanced over Angie's shoulder, probably not in the precise direction of the trench but his meaning was received.

"The body in the trench. Sleeping, or dead? If it were decaying, the fish would eat it." A brief silence. "Would you?" She was in no mood to appreciate the joke. All around them the hull dripped, and it was beginning to stink. The central table was now their neutral ground, planning center, someplace to touch base and make sure everything they'd seen and heard in the past hour actually happened. Nobody was forthcoming with a plan, and tension continued to accumulate.

Eliot spoke first. "There's the Belusarius." Was he now the defacto leader? Nobody seemed surprised that he was the first to suggest a course of action. Took his sweet time, though. "What's the Belusarius?" Next to Angie, Leonard fiddled with a smartpad, then handed it to her. On its screen, a sprawling complex of pressure vessels and tunnels sitting on supports of varying lengths slowly rotated in glowing green relief.

"Wait, this...this really exists? This is down here? Where is it?" The Argyro slid into view just next to it. A mere speck by comparison. "Little over a mile from here, further down the trench." Angie visibly spasmed. "They built a CITY down here?? There’s going to be THOUSANDS of people living right next to...Oh god, I...I can't breathe..."

Eliot reflexively steadied her. "Not thousands. Six, maybe seven hundred. And it's not complete yet, it'll be running a skeletal crew. Officially it doesn't exist. I wouldn't know either if not for a buddy of mine on security detail. I figure we should head over and warn them." Angie began to regain her composure.

"We have to, given what we know. But before we send anyone over, I really want to see what the machine makes of your dreams." He was already halfway to the docking collar. "No time. We'll do that when we get back. Leo, Nate, prep the Rat Tail." The two exchanged worried glances with Angie, but complied.

"We really gonna let him reach the Belusarius?" Nate leaned on Angie as she brought up the Rat Tail's control interface on the terminal. All three were huddled together in the cupola, watching the bulbous vessel glide slowly away from the docking collar. "Of course not. It must think we're idiots. The Belusarius is the closest population of humans outside the Argyro. We won't let it surface, so it's on to plan B."

Onscreen, a blueprint of the Rat Tail overlapped a layout of the relays dotted along the ocean floor. "What if you're wrong? What if that's Eliot in there and we kill him? And how are we gonna get topside if you...?" Angie shook her head. "I'm not going to destroy the sub, just cripple the propulsion. We'll still be able to ride it up once we figure out what we're going to do about you know what, but it won't be able to reach the Belusarius. I'll make sure of that."

With a few keystrokes, green icons representing the relays lit up and began to rotate. Outside the emitters quietly came into alignment, targeting the Rat Tail's battery pods. "Each laser is only a few kilowatts. Alone, none of them could do much damage. But together..."

She clicked on the slowly moving dot representing the sub, and the icons went red. Outside, hundreds of blinding green beams pierced the darkness and the spot where they converged erupted with burning electrolyte, bubbles and molten metal. A dimmer beam of the same type shot back to the Argyro, and 'Eliot' appeared onscreen.

"Angie! What's going on out there? I'm losing power, and...and I think I have a hull breach!" Nate and Leo looked sincerely worried. Angie just sat back and smirked. "Yeah, I bet you're really fuckin' worried. Maybe you should come on back to the Argyro." His expression underwent a subtle change that did not escape their notice. "No, I'd...I think I can make it the rest of the way." In that moment any remaining doubt left them. Whatever that was aboard the Rat Tail, it wasn't Eliot.

Leo whispered to Angie, "What happens if he's hurt? Does it also hurt the...the thing? Could we kill it?" Angie responded coldly, without taking her gaze off of the screen. "No, I don't think so. We're all seeing this, right? But we're wide awake. It's not a hallucination or a dream, whatever's happening to us has progressed to some new stage. Now it can make us all see the same thing at the same time. Or it can replicate us, I don't know. What we do know is, that's not Eliot in there, just some kind of projection or doppleganger. That's why he wouldn't use the machine. That's why he was in such a hurry to get to the Belusarius. This will be hard to watch, but remember, that's not him."

Onscreen Eliot looked confused and frantic. He'd been right about the hull breach; an inch or so of water sloshed around his feet. "What are you talking about? Why are you...I'm right here! Don't talk about me like I'm not here! The Rat Tail is...I think the scrubber shut off. Air pressure's building up, so is CO2."

Angie leaned in and grinned smugly. "Like I said, bring the sub back so we can patch it up." Eliot went from frantic to furious in a split second. "You did this, didn't you? You fired on me. You crazy bitch! I'm going to put all of this in a report when I make it to the Belusarius." She remained deadpan, and with a small movement of her index finger the relay icons once again turned red. "No Eliot, you won't."

Blue-green beams lit up the abyss, and battery pod two exploded in a glowing, foamy mess of chemicals and melted steel. Eliot's screams came in garbled as the sub's laser comm system faltered.

She knew backup power would keep the basics running, but they'd need to bring in the sub manually using the newt suits. Onscreen Nathan howled and writhed as the water rose past his waist. A voice completely unlike his, impossibly deep and hoarse resonated through the spherical cabin: "Release...me...." All three looked on dispassionately.

"Releeaaaaassseee......mmmmeeeeeeeeee....." his voice reached through the terminal and shook the walls around them. The water was now at his chest. The cockpit lights flickered, and in between those flickers Eliot was briefly visible in his true form.

The pale, sickly creature Angie recalled from the sub incident thrashed in perfect synch with its illusory human counterpart and the two men watching gasped. Just as the water rose to his neck, the cabin lights went out completely. It took several seconds for the meager backup battery to kick in. When the red emergency lights came on the cockpit was empty.

"You sure fucked up the Rat Tail. Hope it can be salvaged." The trio emerged one by one from the cupola, their relief palpable. "If that's our biggest problem we're in good shape." Leo looked concerned. Pre-empting his question, Angie swung open the hatch to the bunk room. There on the bed, asleep and oblivious to everything that had just transpired, was Eliot.

"How did you know?" Angie smiled. "I didn't. I only remembered he was in here after that thing in the sub vanished." Nate ran one hand over his hair, and whistled. "Reckon it blocked the memory?" Laughter. "Could be, could be. Or maybe I'm just a ditz. I do remember now, Eliot slipped past me as I was on my way to the kitchen. Said he'd put on the electrode cap and wait for me."

Eliot's eyelids fluttered. All three gathered around him, and as he slowly regained consciousness he asked the natural question. "What are you all so happy about? Did I miss something?" Angie squeezed his arm, Nate averted his eyes and Leo let out a low whistle. "Man, you...you could say that. Real glad to see you though."

Understandably this confused Eliot, as he'd gone to sleep not an hour ago and it didn't occur to him that they might've forgotten where he was. "Well whatever. Did you get anything good with the machine?" In all the excitement they'd forgotten about the dream imager. It should've been running the entire time, and sure enough when prompted it began to play back the most recent recording.

A barren wasteland stretched out before them, partially engulfed by a rolling fog. The soil was dry and peppered with rocks. Save for the tangled remains of long dead trees there were no signs of life. Angie and the others huddled tensely around the display, but for most of a minute nothing happened. Then, as in the last recording, a silhouette appeared in the mist. At first it was easily mistaken for a quadruped, but as the form approached it was clear that the massive creature was the same one they’d seen before on a much larger scale.

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^{Stay Tuned for Part 9!}