Temple of the Gods

23




The Sharkdozer was knocked backwards by the shockwave. ‘Jesus!’ Eddie shouted. ‘What the f*ck was that?’

Nina looked ahead. The view was obscured by a swirling mass of bubbles . . . then they cleared enough to reveal that the other submersible was a crumpled wreck. Something had exploded against its side, tearing a ragged hole – and the crew compartment had instantly collapsed, crushed like a soda can under the wheel of a truck. The inside of its viewing bubble was smeared with a pale red film.

The remains of Hayter and his crew.

Matt grabbed the controls, pulling his sub up and back from the wreckage. The LIDAR trilled again. ‘There’s someone else down here!’ he cried.

Now clear of the temple walls that had blocked its view, the sensor showed three new signals nearby – one large, two small. The larger intruder was ahead and off to the left, higher up, the others moving in from behind.

Eddie squeezed forward to look at the screen – and immediately saw a new threat. ‘Matt, watch out!’

Another blip had detached from the signal ahead, heading straight for them. Very quickly. ‘Torpedo!’ the Australian yelled. He turned the Sharkdozer away, but the big, heavy submersible was sluggish—

Another explosion, much closer. The sub rang like a gong as it lurched sideways, smashing against the ruins. Nina screamed as the impact threw her across the cabin. The lights flickered before coming back on – noticeably dimmed.

Alarms shrilled, numerous indicators on the instrument panels flashing a warning red. ‘Is the hull breached?’ Nina asked, frightened.

‘If it was, we’d be dead,’ Matt replied. ‘We’ve lost main power, though – we’re on the reserves. And there’s a lot of other damage.’

‘We need to surface,’ said Eddie urgently.

‘Too bloody right we do! Hold on, I’ll dump the emergency ballast.’ He reached up to a large, red-painted lever on the ceiling and pulled it.

There was a deep thump from beneath them, the sub shuddering . . . but nothing else happened. Matt pulled the lever again. Still no result. ‘Aw, shit . . .’

‘What?’ Nina demanded. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘The ballast’s not dropping, that’s what’s bloody wrong! We should be flying up like a helium balloon right now!’

‘Is it broken?’

‘There’s nothing to break! It’s a bloody big slab of pig iron held on by an electromagnet – cut the power, it falls, we float!’

‘Forget floating,’ Eddie warned, watching the LIDAR display, ‘just get us moving!’ All three enemy blips were closing on the centre of the screen.

Matt opened the throttles, steering the Sharkdozer clear of the temple. ‘She’s slow,’ he warned. ‘Feels like a damaged thruster.’

Eddie reached past him to take one of the manipulator controls. ‘What are you doing?’ said Nina.

‘Seeing what’s wrong.’ A monitor screen showed the view from the starboard arm’s camera as it moved out from the sub’s side. He brought it round to look back along the hull.

Matt made a sound of dismay at the sight of one of the thruster pods, the casing of which had been torn away to expose the propeller blades within. ‘Eddie, move it down and look under us,’ he ordered.

Eddie did so. The camera revealed that both the port-side skids had been bent underneath the Sharkdozer by the collision with the temple . . . and the buckled metal had trapped the ballast slab in place beneath its keel. ‘The thing’s stuck under there! How long will it take to get back to the surface using the thrusters?’

‘Too long!’ Matt pointed outside as the vessel continued its turn. A set of spotlights was visible in the dark water.

Closing fast.

The approaching submersible took on form as the Sharkdozer’s own spotlights illuminated it. Unlike Matt’s utilitarian craft, this was sleek and purposeful in design, its long prow resembling that of a powerboat. Instead of a hemispherical viewport, it had a pair of long windows set into its bow, giving the impression that it was watching them through slitted eyes.

The wreck of the Evenor came into view. ‘Matt, go down there,’ Eddie told him. ‘We can use it as cover.’

‘Yeah, and we might get snagged on it if we get too close!’ But he tipped the Sharkdozer into a descent.

Nina stared at the LIDAR. All three enemies were changing course to intercept. ‘Can we outrun it?’

‘The sub?’ said Matt. ‘Not a chance, even if we had full power. It’s a Mako; I know the bloke who designed it. It’s a pleasure boat, a millionaire’s toy – but it can still shift.’ He frowned. ‘No way it could have got out here on its own. Max range is only a hundred kilometres . . .’

He turned his full attention back to piloting as the wreck loomed ahead. Torn metal stabbed outwards from the crushed hull, the area around it strewn with debris. Nina watched the approaching jagged shards with growing nervousness, before glancing back at the LIDAR. ‘Oh my God! One of them’s right on us!’

A smaller blip had closed to within fifty feet of the Sharkdozer’s stern. Eddie hurriedly moved the arm to bring it into the camera’s field of view. More lights shone in the darkness.

He recognised their pattern immediately. A deep suit, a halfway house between traditional scuba gear and full-body deep diving systems; the torso and bubble helmet were rigid, allowing the user to breathe ordinary air without risking the dangers of the bends, while the limbs were enclosed in standard neoprene drysuits. Eddie had used deep suits himself on several occasions, and knew their capabilities – which included high-speed movement with the aid of their built-in thrusters.

He also knew what the diver’s weapon could do.

Their opponent held an ASM-DT rifle, a Soviet-designed weapon for use both underwater and above. In air, it fired the same 5.45 millimetre ammunition as the Kalashnikov AK-74 rifle; beneath the surface, it used identical cartridges to propel not bullets, but six-inch-long hydrodynamic nail rounds.

And the gun was pointing at the Sharkdozer.

‘Incoming!’ was all he had time to shout—

The diver opened fire on full auto, blasting a stream of nails at them. Matt was already taking evasive action, but it was too late – the lumbering submarine was an unmissable target at such close range.

Piercing clangs rang through the pressure compartment as the nails struck the hull. There was a flat thump, followed by a fizzing sound – and the Sharkdozer jolted. An urgent warning siren hooted, more red lights flashing. ‘He hit an air tank!’ Matt reported.

Nina pointed at the Evenor. ‘Matt, there!’ A large hole was visible in the side of the survey vessel’s hull, angling upwards towards its main deck. ‘Can we fit through it?’

‘It’ll be tight, but if it stops us getting shot I’ll have to try!’ Matt replied, changing course.

Eddie shifted the arm to keep their attacker in view. The diver was fumbling with his gun, changing the large and awkward magazine. ‘He’s reloading – we’ve got a few seconds.’

‘I dunno how much I can do in that time, mate!’ Matt told him as he took the sub into the gap. Mangled metal clawed at them from all sides – and something larger hove into view across their path, a twisted steel beam. ‘Hang on!’

He jammed the controls hard over – and rolled the submersible on to its side.

Loose objects clattered across the cabin, Nina only holding herself in place by grabbing Matt’s chair, while Eddie thumped painfully against the wall. The beam swept past, scraping along the Sharkdozer’s fibreglass upper bodywork. There was a sharp crack as something was torn away, the sub slewing sideways . . . then they were clear.

Matt rolled the vessel back upright. ‘What’s that drongo behind us doing?’

Eddie found the diver again, who had now reloaded the gun and was following the sub through the passage. ‘Still gaining.’ He looked ahead. The Sharkdozer was coming to the end of the mangled tunnel. ‘Matt, as soon as you get to the top, go hard right.’

‘But that won’t—’

‘Just do it!’ He worked the manipulator arm again, extending it further out – and back.

‘Turning now!’ Matt warned, pushing the controls over to their limit. The Sharkdozer’s thrusters pivoted, throwing the craft into a tight turn.

Eddie opened the claw and swung the arm round as the sub emerged from the Evenor’s ruined deck. He searched for the pursuing diver’s lights.

They reappeared on the monitor, much closer. He pushed and twisted the joystick as if trying to guide a giant robot’s punch, closing the claw again—

It clamped round the deep suit’s chest section.

Eddie thumbed the control harder and the claw tightened, the diver’s limbs flailing as he struggled to break free. If he could crush him, or at least puncture his suit, it would make the fight slightly less one-sided . . .

The man brought up his gun – but didn’t point it at the submarine. Instead, he aimed at the arm itself. Jets of gas burst from the muzzle as he fired more nail rounds, clanks echoing through the metal into the cabin – and a light on the console flashed urgently. ‘Matt, what’d he do?’

Matt checked the instruments. ‘He’s shot out the claw’s hydraulic line!’

‘You mean it’s jammed?’ The camera now showed the trapped diver turning his gun round to bash at the arm with its stock. Without hydraulic pressure, the claw would soon be forced open.

And once he was free, the diver would resume his attack – from almost point-blank range.

Eddie considered using the arm to slam the man against the wreck, but the Sharkdozer’s momentum had carried it away from the angled deck. Instead, he flicked the switch to engage the secondary arm. The view on the monitor changed from the main manipulator to its smaller counterpart. He extended the arm. The paralysed claw and the man clutched within it came into view.

The diver’s face was now visible inside his helmet. He looked up in surprise – then his expression turned to shock. He turned the gun back round, but by the time it was pointing the right way the mechanical hand was right in his face . . .

Eddie didn’t waste time trying to grab him. Instead, he pushed a button marked ‘Drill’.

A tool smoothly pivoted into place from the manipulator’s wrist, the hand itself folding downwards out of its way. The diamond tip of the eight-inch tungsten carbide bit scraped the diver’s bubble helmet, scratching the tough material.

Before the man even had time to scream, Eddie started the drill.

It took under a second for the high-powered mechanism to chew through the polycarbonate helmet. Now the man screamed – and was abruptly silenced as water exploded into the deep suit with the force of an artillery shell. The transparent bubble filled with a churning pink froth.

The extra weight of the water inside the suit finally overcame the crippled claw’s grip. The dead man broke free, falling away into the wreckage of the Evenor.

Eddie nodded in satisfaction. ‘That’s what I call getting the bit between your teeth.’

Nina gave him a look of distaste. ‘At least you didn’t say “You’re screwed!”’ She looked back at the LIDAR screen. A large part of the scanner’s field of view was now obstructed by the sunken ship, the second deep-suited diver hidden somewhere behind it.

But the Mako’s blip was still visible, changing course to come after them.

‘Eddie,’ Matt said urgently as he headed away from it, ‘use the other main arm and reach underneath us. If we can drop the ballast slab, we’ll be on the surface in three minutes.’

Eddie did so. The Sharkdozer rocked again as the port arm extended. Nina’s gaze switched between the LIDAR and Eddie’s monitor. ‘Can you see it?’

‘Just a sec . . . there.’ The submersible’s underside came into view as the claw twisted round. The iron slab was still wedged in place by the bent skids. He moved the arm closer—

It jerked to a stop. ‘What’s wrong?’ Nina asked.

‘I dunno.’ He tried again, pushing the controls harder, but the arm still stopped short. ‘Matt, I can’t reach it.’

The Australian quickly checked the monitor. ‘That’s as far as it goes – try the secondary arm, see if that’ll reach.’

‘You don’t know?’ Eddie said, incredulous.

‘It wasn’t designed to scratch its own belly! Or dodge torpedoes, for that matter.’

‘Speaking of which,’ Nina said in alarm, ‘I think he’s about to fire another one!’

A trill from the LIDAR confirmed her fears. A new blip appeared in front of the other submersible – drawing closer each time the display refreshed. Matt turned again, but the damaged Sharkdozer was even slower to respond than before. ‘Shit! It’s going to hit us!’

Nina braced herself, but knew the effort was pointless. The Mako’s first torpedo had destroyed Hayter’s vessel and killed everyone aboard with a single direct impact, and there was no reason to think theirs was any stronger. She stared helplessly at the LIDAR display as the projectile raced at them—

Eddie abandoned his attempt to release the ballast – and instead swung the arm up at the torpedo.

The Sharkdozer’s occupants were thrown bodily against the cabin wall as the shockwave of another explosion pounded the sub like a strike from a colossal hammer. An air line burst, compressed gas shrieking into the crew compartment. Debris pounded the outer hull.

More alarms sounded, the instrument panel now a battery of flashing red lights. Matt clambered back into his seat and struggled to regain control of the tumbling submersible.

Nina pressed a hand to her forehead, feeling the warm dampness of blood against her palm. ‘What happened?’ she asked Eddie.

‘I caught the torpedo,’ he said. The manipulator arm was visible through the left viewport – or at least, what was left of it. The metal limb had been severed at the wrist, control cables and hydraulic lines hanging like torn tendons from the shattered stump.

Matt finally stabilised the Sharkdozer and rapidly turned a valve on the ceiling. The piercing squeal spluttered and died. ‘How much air did we lose?’ Nina asked.

The engineer only needed to give her a worried look for her to know that their already perilous situation had become worse. The sub reeled queasily as he gunned the thrusters.

Another alert from the LIDAR. Eddie tensed, but it wasn’t another torpedo. The third enemy – another deep-suited diver – had just reappeared from behind the Evenor. ‘They’re both catching up.’

‘I know, I know!’ Matt said. ‘We can’t outrun them.’

Eddie pointed over his shoulder at a dark shadow on the sea floor. ‘Down there! We can lose ’em in the ruins.’

Nina shook her head. ‘They’re not tall enough to hide us – but I know something that is,’ she continued, suddenly hopeful. ‘The SBX! It’s big enough to give us cover.’

‘It’s also messed up enough for us to get stuck in the wreckage, or worse,’ Matt warned.

‘At least we’ll have a chance.’

Face full of trepidation, Matt swung the Sharkdozer round on a new course. The ocean floor rose on the LIDAR display: they were approaching the edge of the excavated area. Many more ruins lay ahead, the Atlantean capital extending far beyond the city’s heart, but they were safely concealed beneath eleven millennia of silt deposits. ‘Where are they?’

Eddie studied the screen. The Mako and the diver were both following them – and gaining. ‘Behind us, and catching up. Matt, how badly are we damaged?’

‘It’d be quicker to tell you what’s not crook,’ the Australian answered, checking the warning lights. ‘Power’s draining fast, the thrusters are damaged, and . . .’ His face sank.

‘And?’

‘And we’ve got maybe ten minutes before we start running out of air. The recycling system’s shot.’

‘You couldn’t have started with that?’

‘Wait, so even if we lose these guys chasing us, we’re still not going to be able to get to the surface?’ Nina said. ‘Well, that’s marvellous!’

The first signs of the SBX’s strewn wreckage came into view at the edge of the LIDAR display. ‘Only way we can get up there before we croak is by dropping the ballast slab. We might be able to knock it loose on the rig debris,’ said Matt.

‘Not with those arseholes shooting at us.’ Eddie thought for a moment, then made a decision. ‘We’ll have to take them out.’

‘With what?’ Nina protested. ‘They’ve got nailguns and torpedoes, and we’ve got a claw that doesn’t work!’

‘Better than nowt.’ He looked ahead. Broken metal poked out from the silt, the debris field becoming thicker. They were coming up on the remains of the SBX. Matt turned to avoid something resembling an enormous broken eggshell: part of the giant fibreglass dome that had covered the platform’s main radar antenna.

Eddie looked at the LIDAR again. Their pursuers were still closing, the sub slightly ahead of the deep suit. ‘Have you explored any of this?’

‘Nope,’ Matt told him. ‘It’s a grave site – off-limits. The only people who’ve been allowed down to it are US navy divers.’

‘So you don’t know what’s in there?’ The engineer shook his head. ‘Oh well, at least we’ll all be in the same boat. One that’s up shit creek!’

The Sharkdozer swerved to skirt a fallen girder standing out of the seabed like a flagpole. One of the SBX’s six gigantic legs rose at an angle ahead. The concrete cylinder was surrounded by a nest of twisted metal. ‘Eddie, give me some hints here,’ Matt said urgently.

Eddie indicated a long beam protruding almost horizontally from the wreckage. ‘Can we fit under that?’

‘Yeah – but there could be anything on the other side.’

‘You want to find out what?’

‘Not especially.’

Nina saw plumes of bubbles from the diver’s rifle obscure his spotlights on the video monitor. ‘He’s shooting again!’

‘But I want a nail up my backside even less!’ Matt decided quickly, turning the Sharkdozer on a course that would take it beneath the overhanging girder. A couple of the six-inch steel spikes clipped the submersible’s back end, but the rest shot harmlessly past. ‘What do you want me to do?’

‘Just go through and make sure he has to go under that beam to come after us,’ Eddie said as he took the arm controls. On the monitor, the Mako’s lights were now dazzling as it caught up. Another few seconds, and it would be impossible for a torpedo to miss. He raised the remaining manipulator, turning it to look ahead. The long strut stood out clearly in the sub’s floodlights. He brought the arm higher, the paralysed claw now on a collision course with the beam. ‘Soon as you’re clear, turn so he can’t get a shot at us.’

‘There’s nowhere to bloody turn!’ The space beneath the leg was choked with mangled debris from the radar platform’s underside.

They were through—

The raised arm hit the girder with a crash, the base of the claw catching its edge – and acting as a pivot. The Sharkdozer swung sharply upwards, before the strain on the already damaged manipulator became too much and half the claw was wrenched away. Matt jammed the thrusters into reverse to stop his sub from ploughing into the wall of curved concrete above.

Behind, the girder shuddered, a mournful groan of metal echoing through the freezing waters . . . then it broke free and dropped towards the sea floor.

It hit the Mako as it fell. The submersible was slammed to the seabed in a roiling cloud of silt. The impact flung the pilot against his control panel, knocking him unconscious.

Not that anybody aboard the Sharkdozer was in a position to celebrate. Even full reverse power was not enough to slow it in time to prevent the collision. Matt tried to swerve to turn a head-on impact into a glancing blow—

There was a hideous crunch as the tubular steel bumpers protecting the viewing bubble were flattened, the acrylic hemisphere itself grinding horribly against the concrete. Hairline cracks flicked out from the ragged line where the viewport had been abraded into opacity. Another, harder impact threw the sub’s occupants around as the port-side arm was sheared from its mounting, taking an entire section of the outer hull with it and exposing the cylindrical pressure vessel of the crew compartment within. The LIDAR display went blank as the turret housing the scanning lasers was ripped away.

The Sharkdozer slewed round, only stopping when it thudded starboard-side-on against part of the SBX’s crushed superstructure. Nina was first to recover. ‘Is everyone okay?’

Matt clutched his left hand, blood oozing from a deep gash. A red smear ran along a sharp edge of the instrument panel. ‘Got a bit of a wallop,’ he gasped as he attempted with little success to make light of the pain. ‘Eddie, you all right, mate?’

Eddie had ended up at the back of the compartment beneath the submersible’s entrance hatch. Loose equipment lay all around him. ‘Took a laptop to the head, but apart from that, just fine,’ he said, giving the offending computer a nasty look. ‘Did we get him?’

Matt moved the Sharkdozer away from the wall. The submersible was slower to respond than ever. He managed to turn it about. ‘Yeah, yeah we did!’ The Mako was pinned beneath the fallen girder.

‘Great,’ said Nina, relieved, but still wary. ‘So where’s the other—’

Six-inch spikes stabbed into the submersible’s hull.