Mega 3: When Giants Collide (Mega Series) Page 25

  Carlos and Ballantine hurried past the door just as Gunnar got there. He looked into the passageway and saw Shane and Mike rushing towards him along with several members of the support crew.

  “What is going on?” Gunnar asked.

  “That device of Moshi’s that makes the engines go way faster won’t work if the engines are shielded with Carlos’s metal shit,” Shane said as he skidded to a stop. “We’re all heading down to the engine room to strip off the shielding so Moshi can get her thing running again.”

  “The engines are running fine now,” Gunnar said, “what’s the problem?”

  “The problem is we have an ICBM headed straight for the island and if we don’t get clear we’ll be crispy critters in about forty-five minutes,” Shane said.

  “Plus the surge from the blast,” Mike added. “These waters are about to be hell. The nuke could produce fifty foot waves, easy.”

  Shane looked in at Darby and Lucy. “You better secure them and do what you can now while we have power,” he said, “because even if we get clear of the blast radius, we’re going to be dead in the water as soon as the EMP hits us. Ballantine doesn’t think we can outrun that.”

  “Fuck,” Gunnar said then waved at Shane and Mike. “Go help. Do whatever you can.”

  The two men nodded and sprinted away. Gunnar was about to turn his attention back to his patients when he heard Max call out.

  “Care if I sit with you guys?” Max asked as he limped down the passageway. “I’m not going to be much use to anyone else. I’d rather hang in the infirmary with you and the ladies.”

  “How’s Kinsey?” Gunnar asked as Max hobbled through the door. “Do I need to go up there and check on her?”

  “There’s no one up there,” Max said. “Ballantine had all the upper decks cleared. Hatches are being battened and shit secured. Even if we live, things aren’t going to be fun.”

  “Have they ever?” Gunnar asked.

  Max looked from Gunnar to Darren and couldn’t help but smile. “Well, yeah. I’ve never had more fun in my life. Haven’t you guys been having a total blast?”

  “Nope,” Darren said.

  Gunnar sighed. “No.”

  “Alright then,” Max said and pointed at a stool. “Set that by my lady friend, will ya? I need to take a load off this leg. Hey! Darby and I will have matching leg wounds!”

  “Not quite,” Gunnar said. “Yours wasn’t nearly as life threatening as Darby’s.”

  “Do me a favor and don’t tell her that, okay?” Max said. “I want to milk the whole wounded together thing for as long as I can.”

  “Jesus, Max,” Gunnar said, “you really have no idea what you’re doing, do you?”

  “What? What do you mean?” Max asked.

  “Never mind,” Gunnar said as he plopped a stool next to Darby’s table. “Just sit down and rest that leg, and rest that brain. You may have overloaded it today.”

  “You’re the doctor,” Max smiled as he sat down.

  ***

  Carlos’s shielding was torn free of the engine equipment and tossed out into the passageway. Men hauled it as far away from the room while Moshi squatted inside, her hands working as fast as possible to get her device hooked back up.

  “You can’t blame me,” Carlos snapped at Ballantine as they stood over Moshi and watched her work. “I did what you said and created shielding for the engines. You never said it had to work with Moshi’s booster. Not once did you mention that.”

  “We are done discussing it, Carlos,” Ballantine replied, “not another word on the subject.”

  “There,” Moshi said quietly.

  “It’s finished?” Ballantine asked. Moshi nodded. “Excellent. Thank you for doing your job, Moshi. It’s greatly appreciated.”

  He tapped at the com in his ear.

  “Cougher? You set up in the auxiliary bridge?”

  “Yeah, I’m set up,” Cougher said.

  “Then push this ship to its limits,” Ballantine ordered. “You red line these engines as much as you can and get us as far as you can, do you hear me?”

  “Yes, I hear you,” Cougher said. “You’re talking in my ear. All ahead, full steam.”

  “Thank you,” Ballantine said, “now, patch me through to the ship’s PA, will you?”

  “I’m not the communications officer,” Cougher said.

  “Just do it,” Ballantine snapped then looked at Moshi again. “Why can’t everyone be as agreeably silent like you?”

  Moshi just shrugged.

  ***

  “Attention crew of the Beowulf III,” Ballantine’s voice rang throughout the ship. “As all of you have heard by now, there is a nuclear missile coming to destroy the island we were just by. While I had intended to use the missile as a way to fake our deaths and free us from the pursuit of our enemies, there have been some unforeseen technical issues that could derail that plan and it may lead to our actual deaths. For this, I apologize.

  “Now, let me just say before everyone panics that my gut is telling me we will survive. Unfortunately, my gut is also telling me that we will not survive unscathed. The ship’s engines have been modified and we are currently moving at sixty knots. That should get us clear of the blast radius, and hopefully, any dangerous waves that are produced by the blast, but it will not get us clear of the EMP that the blast will produce.

  “Carlos has been working hard to shield what equipment he can, but in order for the engines to work at the capacity we need them, they cannot be shielded. That means once the EMP reaches us, it is highly likely that our engines will be fried. Will they be too damaged to repair? That I do not know, but let me assure you that I have the utmost confidence in this crew that we have the skills and expertise needed to get us up, and going as soon as possible.

  “Until that time, I ask that you remain at your stations or in your cabins. Strap yourselves in and hang on. If you thought life with me was bumpy before, it’s about to get a whole lot worse.

  “Thank you for listening. Ballantine out.”

  ***

  “Well, that was a bunch of crap,” Thorne muttered as he sat next to Kinsey’s bunk and held her hand. She muttered something back, but he couldn’t make it out so he just leaned in and kissed her brow. “I think you could have done a better job at a rally speech than that.”

  He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. All there was left to do was wait.

  ***

  The missile soared above the ocean, racing at over 15,000 miles per hour. The water that was only twenty feet below it, spread out in a wide fan in the wake of its passage.

  The island, its target, lay before it, thirty miles away, then five, and then none.

  The missile impacted on the beach that connected with the dock. Both beach and dock were gone in less than .05 seconds after impact. The entire island was gone in less than .1 seconds. All that was left was a massive fireball and mushroom cloud that reached far up into the late afternoon sky.

  The shockwave from the blast nearly carved out the ocean around it, peeling back the water all the way down to the ocean floor. What water that wasn’t vaporized instantly was pushed out at a rate of several hundred miles per hour.

  A wave began to grow from the force and it too climbed up into the late afternoon sky. When it reached its crest, it was over one hundred feet tall, and it carried something with it.

  ***

  “Hold on!” Shane shouted as he sat on the infirmary floor, having decided to join his brother, Mike, Gunnar, and Darren as they watched over Lucy and Darby. “Here it comes!”

  “Dude,” Max said. “We aren’t going to feel the EMP. It’s not like it’s made of rock or something. We’ll probably get a little nauseous and then the lights will go out.”

  “I know,” Shane said. “I just wanted to yell something dramatic.”

  “Well, that’s okay then,” Max said and opened his mouth wide. “We’re all going to die!”

  “You two are not helping,” Gunnar said.


  “We aren’t hurting,” Shane smiled.

  ***

  Ingrid, Carlos, and Moshi sat on the floor of the Toyshop, all wearing harnesses that clipped into rings in the floor.

  “Will the armory make it?” Ingrid asked. “Did you shield it well enough?”

  “I hope so,” Carlos said, “but I’d be a moron to say I’m certain.”

  “Wow,” Ingrid laughed, “never thought I’d hear you admit that.”

  “Never thought I’d admit it,” Carlos said. “Don’t tell Ballantine.”

  ***

  Ballantine sat up in the briefing room, his sunglasses on and his head turned towards the huge nuclear fireball off in the distance. He did some quick calculations then took a drink from the glass of scotch he held. He began to mentally countdown as he watched the horizon. When his mental countdown hit zero, he drained his glass and stood up.

  He grimaced just as the lights went out and he felt the engines die from deep within the ship.

  “Sorry, everyone,” he said to himself, “but now we really get to work.”

  ***

  The days went by slowly as the ship languished in the open waters.

  The three women watched from the observation deck as Lake and Cougher stood below the improvised sails and argued over the proper way to secure the rigging to the helipads.

  “How many times have we had to listen to this shit?” Lucy asked as she shifted her position in the lounge chair. She winced as the wound in her belly stretched, but she didn’t worry about the pain. Gunnar had said she was out of the woods over a week before. “Why are they still fighting about the sails?”

  “They have nothing better to do,” Kinsey said as she closed her eyes and leaned her head back into her chair. Her body was roasting from the bright sun, but it felt good to soak up the rays. It made her feel alive and considering how many times in her life she almost didn’t have that luxury, she didn’t intend to take a single second for granted. “Let them bicker. It keeps them occupied and out of our hair.”

  “Three weeks straight,” Darby said as she adjusted her bikini top and then reached for her water bottle that sat next to her chair on the deck. “Three fucking weeks. I’m going to kill them both if they don’t shut up by tomorrow.”

  “You’re giving them a deadline?” Lucy laughed. “I think you’re softening, Darby.”

  “Hardly,” Darby replied then turned her head and shielded her eyes as someone came up the steps from the lower deck. “Woman time.”

  “Is that code?” Max grinned as he stepped onto the deck, a cane in his hand. “You left this in our cabin.”

  “I don’t need a cane,” Darby said. “It will only slow me down and make me dependent. I’ll heal faster if I put as much weight on my leg as possible to get it back to full strength.”

  “You realize that goes against all modern medical wisdom, right?” Max said as he set the cane by her chair then pulled up one of his own. “Don’t make me tell Gunnar.”

  “Woman time,” Lucy said as she lifted her sunglasses and glared at Max.

  “What?” Max asked. “You’re serious?”

  “Woman time,” Kinsey said. “Not Max time. Go play with your brother or find something else to do. We have the observation deck for the next hour.”

  “You have to be joking,” Max said. “You can’t just call dibs on the observation deck.”

  “Yes, we can,” Lucy said, “and if you have a problem with it then go talk to Thorne. He’s the one that put the sign-up sheet in the mess.”

  “Wait, what sign-up sheet?” Max asked, looking at Darby. “What did I miss?”

  “You missed your chance to sign up,” Darby said. “You shouldn’t have overslept this morning.”

  “Overslept? You told me to sleep in! You said that whatever Thorne had to say you’d fill me in on!” Max protested then arrowed his eyes. “Hold on...did you know this was going down? Did you block me out on purpose?”

  “Hey!” Shane shouted as he climbed the stairs and stormed onto the observation deck. “What the fuck is this shit about a sign-up sheet?”

  “Oh, did you miss the meeting too?” Lucy asked. “Bummer.”

  “Bummer?” Shane snapped. “You said it had been cancelled!”

  “Did I?” Lucy shrugged. “I guess I was wrong.”

  “Dude, we got screwed,” Max said. “They had inside info and totally blocked us out. The observation deck is booked for another hour for ‘woman time’.”

  “Woman time? What the fuck is that?” Shane growled.

  “That is us sitting up here without worrying about all the men staring at our tits and asses,” Kinsey said. “You think it’s fun being on a ship full of men, stranded out at sea?”

  “It kind of is,” Lucy said, “but mostly, it kinda isn’t.”

  “Woman time,” Darby said. “Leave.”

  Max sputtered and fumed then just shook his head and walked over to his brother.

  “Are we just going to take this?” Shane asked.

  “Let’s talk to Uncle Vinny,” Max said, then growled as he saw Ingrid and Moshi in their swimsuits with towels and sunscreen in hand come up the steps. “Not you guys, too.”

  “Sorry we’re late,” Ingrid said as she and Moshi pushed past the brothers. “Hope we still have some time left.”

  “Yeah, but not much,” Max snapped, “only an hour.”

  “Only an hour of woman time,” Kinsey smiled, “but then there’s two hours blocked off after that for book club.”

  “Oh, good,” Ingrid said. “Although I don’t think my skin can take three hours out here in the sun.”

  “Take whatever time you want,” Lucy said. “The deck is ours for the next three hours.”

  “Book club? Book club!” Max shouted. “What fucking book are you reading?”

  Kinsey lowered her sunglasses and looked at Max like he was a small, simple child. “Come on, Max, everyone knows book clubs have nothing to do with books. Stop whining and take off, will ya? Or we’ll have to tack on more time at the end of book club.”

  Even with his wounded leg, Max still had to be dragged away by Shane.

  “Come on,” Shane said, “we’re getting this worked out right now.”

  ***

  Ballantine, Darren, and Thorne, all studied the map that was laid out on the briefing room table.

  “You’re saying it’s here?” Darren asked as he pointed to a spot on the map that held nothing but open water. “How is it possible for there to be an uncharted, secret island in the 21st century?”

  “Easy,” Ballantine said, “you don’t let it get charted. It’s not on any shipping lanes, it’s in a permanent satellite blind spot, and there is no other land for nearly a five thousand square miles. No one in their right mind would go there.”

  “Which is obviously why we’re going there,” Thorne said.

  “Obviously,” Ballantine laughed. “Trust me, gentlemen, it is our only option, and I assure you that you won’t be disappointed when we get there.”

  “It’s just like the other uncharted island?” Darren asked. “With the same type of facility?”

  “In a way,” Ballantine said, “this island’s facility is much larger due to the nature of the work done there, but yes, it is the same. We’ll have more than enough supplies to keep us fed and in relative comfort while we repair the ship. Once the Beowulf III is back in action, then we can decide what to do from there.”

  “Fresh water?” Thorne asked.

  “An almost infinite amount,” Ballantine said. “Almost. Trust me-”

  “Stop saying that,” Thorne interrupted. “I don’t trust you. No one trusts you. You want me to trust you? Then make good on what you are saying here and now. We get to that island and I find it’s all that you say it is, and then we’ll be on the road to trust.”

  “Of course,” Ballantine nodded. “I understand.”

  “So, if it’s there,” Darren said as he tapped at the empty space on the map.
“Then we should arrive in the next day or two as long as we have the wind with us.”

  “Exactly,” Ballantine said. “I’m sure everyone will-”

  “What the fuck is this about a sign-up sheet?” Max snarled as he came into the briefing room. “When the hell did that happen?”

  “This morning,” Thorne replied. “You missed it. Deal. Go away.”

  Shane pulled his brother back and held up his hands. “Uncle Vinny, you have to be joking. Why do we need a sign-up sheet for the observation deck?”

  “Because we have all been in close quarters and under a lot of stress,” Thorne replied. “A little space is good. Now, like I just said, deal and go away.” Max started to argue, but Thorne held up a finger and he closed his mouth. “Good. Go away.”

  Max shook with anger then turned and stormed back out of the briefing room with Shane right behind.

  “What was that about?” Darren asked. “A sign-up sheet?”

  Thorne waited a few seconds to make sure the Reynolds were gone then grinned from ear to ear at Darren.

  “It’s all bullshit,” Thorne said. “Darby was bored and wanted to push some buttons so she came up with the fake sign-up sheet to fuck with the boys. It worked. I haven’t seen them this bent out of shape for a long time.”

  “That’s because they are out of weed,” Darren replied.

  “Are they?” Thorne said. “Huh.”

  “It is always fun to see how people choose to amuse themselves,” Ballantine said, “but I guess you must in times like these.”

  “That’s what I’ve learned over the years,” Thorne said. “If people don’t have a chance to let off steam, then they’ll snap and kill each other.”

  “We wouldn’t want that,” Ballantine nodded.

  “No, we wouldn’t,” Thorne agreed.