The ocean floor was miles away, but death was only ten yards off the port bow.
"Hard to starboard!" Isolde screamed, yanking the yoke of the White Raven.
The ship—now a submarine—banked violently. The water around them churned as three massive shapes tore through the dark.
Iron-Maw Leviathans.
They were sharks the size of freight trains. Their skin was plated with overlapping sheets of rusted iron, scavenged from the sea floor and fused to their flesh. Their eyes were dead, red lights. Their jaws were hydraulic presses lined with serrated titanium teeth.
CRUNCH.
One of the beasts snapped its jaws inches from the cockpit glass. The sound reverberated through the hull like a hammer striking a bell.
"They're too fast!" Skid yelled from the sonar station. "They're circling us like a wolf pack! Torpedoes are offline—the tubes are jammed with barnacles!"
"Ramming speed," Isolde growled. "If I can't shoot 'em, I'll bruise 'em."
She slammed the throttle forward. The hydro-jets screamed. The White Raven surged, slamming its reinforced nose into the flank of the nearest Leviathan.
THUD.
The beast was knocked sideways, spinning into the darkness. But the impact shook the ship violently.
"Hull integrity at 85%!" Skid reported. "We can't take a bite, Isolde! If the pressure seal breaks, we implode!"
"We have a passenger!" Lyra shouted, looking at the aft monitor.
The third Leviathan had latched onto the rear of the ship. Its massive jaws were clamped around the starboard engine housing. It wasn't letting go. It was thrashing, trying to rip the engine off.
SCREEE-GRIND.
Metal shrieked. The ship began to spin out of control, dragged down by the weight of the monster.
"I can't shake it!" Isolde fought the controls. "It's chewing through the intake! If it breaches the turbine, we lose propulsion!"
Julian stood up. He was already wearing the Abyssal Exoskeleton. The black, scale-like armor hummed with power. He grabbed his helmet.
"Keep her steady," Julian said, his voice calm.
"What are you doing?" Lyra asked.
"I'm going out to walk the dog."
He shoved the helmet on. It locked with a hiss. The HUD flared blue.
SYSTEM: ONLINE. PRESSURE: 600 PSI. OXYGEN: 100%.
He stepped into the airlock.
The EVA
The airlock cycled. Water rushed in, filling the small chamber.
Julian didn't float. The boots of the Abyssal Suit were weighted and magnetic. He clamped onto the floor.
The outer door opened.
The ocean roared. It wasn't silent down here. It was a cacophony of groaning metal and rushing water.
Julian engaged his mag-boots and stepped out onto the hull of the moving ship.
He was underwater, moving at forty knots. The drag should have ripped him off the hull, but the suit's hydrodynamic plating cut through the water like a knife.
He stomped toward the rear of the ship, fighting the current.
There it was. The Iron-Maw.
It was terrifying up close. A mountain of grey muscle and rusted metal. Its teeth were buried deep in the engine casing. Blue sparks were flying underwater as it chewed through the power cables.
The beast sensed him. It stopped thrashing. Its red robotic eye swiveled to look at the tiny figure on the hull.
It growled—a low frequency vibration that rattled Julian's teeth inside his helmet.
"Let go," Julian commanded.
The Leviathan released the engine and lunged at him.
It moved with blinding speed.
Julian didn't dodge. He activated his Resonance Gauntlet, integrated into the suit's left arm.
Focus: Hydro-Cannon.
He punched the water.
BOOM.
A cavitation bubble the size of a car exploded from his fist. The shockwave hit the charging shark directly on the nose.
The beast was thrown backward, tumbling through the water. But it recovered instantly. It was enraged.
It opened its mouth wide. Rows of spinning, saw-like teeth began to rotate.
It charged again.
It's too big to punch to death, Julian realized. I need to break its buoyancy.
He waited.
When the shark was ten feet away, Julian deactivated his mag-boots. He pushed off the hull, floating freely.
As the shark passed beneath him, jaws snapping at empty water, Julian grabbed its dorsal fin.
He slammed his crystal hand onto the rusted iron plating of the shark's spine.
INTERFACE.
Panic.
Julian pushed a frequency of pure terror into the shark's primitive brain. But he mixed it with a command.
DIVE.
He overloaded the shark's swim bladder control.
The biological sac inside the beast burst.
The Iron-Maw shrieked in silent agony. Without its buoyancy control, it became heavier than the water. It stopped swimming. It began to sink.
It thrashed, trying to stay afloat, but gravity took hold. It spiraled down into the black abyss, disappearing from sight.
Julian drifted in the water, watching it go.
"Julian!" Lyra's voice crackled in his helmet. "Grab the line!"
A tether shot out from the airlock. Julian caught it. The winch hauled him back inside.
The Descent Continues
Julian cycled back into the ship, water draining from his suit. He removed his helmet, gasping. The adrenaline crash was intense.
"Engine status?" he asked.
"It's chewed up, but functional," Skid said, her hands flying over the console. "We're running at 70% power. But we're clear of the pack."
"Depth check," Isolde said. "Passing 3,000 feet. We're leaving the Twilight Zone."
Outside the viewports, the last traces of sunlight vanished. The ocean turned pitch black.
The only light came from the White Raven's spotlights, cutting narrow cones through the gloom.
"Welcome to the Midnight Zone," Skid whispered. "Where everything is hungry and has too many legs."
They continued to dive. 10,000 feet. 15,000 feet.
The hull groaned constantly now. The pressure was immense.
"There," Julian pointed to the sonar screen.
Ahead of them, the ocean floor dropped away completely.
It was the Abyssal Trench. A scar in the planet's crust that went down another five miles.
But hovering over the trench was a structure.
It was a massive, circular gate made of black stone, suspended in the water by colossal chains anchored to the cliffs. The center of the gate was a swirling vortex of water—a whirlpool that didn't suck, but pushed.
The Hydro-Shield.
"That's the door," Julian said. "The Titan is inside the trench. But the gate is sealed."
"It's an Aether-Current," Skid analyzed the vortex. "If we try to fly through that, the ship will be torn apart by the shear forces."
"So we knock," Isolde said. "Julian, can you open it?"
"I can't open a whirlpool," Julian said. "But I can find the off switch."
He pointed to the structures anchoring the chains. They were massive statues of sea kings, holding tridents.
"The anchors," Julian said. "They're generating the current. We have to disable them."
"We?" Lyra asked.
"The ship can't get close to the turbulence," Julian said, putting his helmet back on. "I have to go out there. Again."
"Julian," Lyra warned. "That's 20,000 feet down. If your suit fails..."
"Then I'll be a very compact corpse," Julian said.
He stepped back into the airlock.
"Skid, guide me in. Lyra, Isolde... keep the lights on."
Julian stepped out into the crushing dark. He engaged his thrusters and swam toward the massive stone sentinels guarding the grave of the world.