Max Part 20

"There's writing on the containers," I said.

"s.h.i.+ning lights on it now," said Captain Perry.

This close, with the floodlights. .h.i.tting them full on, we could see dim markings on the sides and tops of the barrels. Brigid's radiation detector was practically in hysterics, and I wanted to say, "Okay! We get it! There's radiation! Now shut up!"

"There are Chinese characters," said John.

I looked at the barrels and saw they were also stenciled with English words. "It says, Danger, Keep Away." I read slowly, peering through the water. "Property of the Chu Corporation. Huh. No surprise there. And they're marked with some kind of yellow and black sign."

"That's the symbol for radioactive material," said Brigid.

"Some of the containers' lids are popped," said Gazzy. "Like they've rusted open. I a.s.sume that's an 'uh-oh' kind of thing."

"I guess you were right about the radiation causing the monsters," said Nudge.

"It hasn't been proved yet," said Brigid. "A scientist needs conclusive proof. But it does certainly look possible."

"It's all making sense now," said John. "The Chu Corporation is dumping illegal radioactive material into the ocean. He created his army of robots to keep it hidden and protected. The CSM was doing a lot of work to bring ocean pollution to everyone's notice, so we became a threat." He rubbed his hands over his eyes, looking tired.

"Now what?" said Iggy. "Who you gonna call?"

A quiet voice in the hallway outside said, "Ghostbusters!"

Captain Perry and John groaned. "That phrase is ruined forever," said John.

"Well, let's get back up to the surface," I said briskly, trying not to sound too eager. Knowing I could breathe under water was comforting, but at this depth, if I went out of the sub, I'd be mushed flatter than a pancake in less than a second. "We can call the EPA or the CSM or the navy or whoever, and tell them where this stuff is."

Not so easy, Max, said the Voice. It's never that easy. You should know that It's never that easy. You should know that.

Okay, who saw that coming? Be honest. Everyone but me?

"Uh-oh," said Angel.

"Double uh-oh," said Gazzy.

I rushed back to the window and looked out, cupping my hands around my eyes. The sea was moving. Wait - no, not the sea...

It was a wave of Mr. Chu's weatherproof all-terrain a.s.sa.s.sins. There were hundreds of them, and they were rus.h.i.+ng toward the sub.

It was battle time. Again.

69.

CAPTAIN PERRY HIT the intercom. "Prepare for attack! This is not a drill! Repeat, this is not a drill! We are at DEFCON one! Arm the torpedoes, and plot evasive action!"

There was a scurry of activity as men rushed to their battle stations.

The first M-Geeks. .h.i.t the sides of the sub, and we all grabbed on to something. I happened to grab on to Fang. We couldn't just go out into the water and fight them, not at this depth, with its crus.h.i.+ng pressure. So if I was about to die a horrible watery death again, again, this time I didn't want to go out alone. I wanted to be with Fang and the rest of the flock. this time I didn't want to go out alone. I wanted to be with Fang and the rest of the flock.

Alarms were sounding, people were shouting, and we heard the first clanging, grinding noises of the M-Geeks trying to breach the sub's hull. (That's fancy sailor talk for them trying to punch a hole in the boat's side, so we would all drown.) This seems to be a glaringly obvious weakness of the whole submarine concept. I'm just saying.

"You kids stay here!" commanded Captain Perry, starting to head up to the control room.

"Um - if I might make a suggestion," said Gazzy.

"No time, kid," said the captain, half out the door.

"You should listen to this," said Iggy firmly, and there was something determined about his face and sightless blue eyes that made the captain pause.

"What?" he asked tensely.

"This one time, when we were surrounded by M-Geeks, there was a storm coming, and we rigged a delayed-timer electricity booster," Gazzy explained. "When lightning hit the rod, it was amplified, and we aimed it at the M-Geeks. They all, like, turned inside out, and fried. It was excellent." He beamed at the memory, and he and Iggy slapped high fives.

"That was good thinking, son," said the captain, "but I don't see how that helps us now."

"You've got torpedoes, torpedoes," said Iggy, as if this made it all perfectly clear.

"Torpedoes are good at hitting a particular target," said the captain. "These things are many smaller targets, and they're in direct contact with our s.h.i.+p. We can't do anything to them without harming ourselves."

I groaned to myself as I recognized the exaggerated patience of a grown-up who can't comprehend the fact that eight-year-old Gazzy and fourteen-year-old Iggy probably knew more about demolitions, detonators, and explosive devices than almost anyone else on earth.

"No, no," said Iggy. "You take the detonator out, then wire it directly to the sub's hull."

"If you want to give it extra oomph, take the actual explosive stuff, like the ammonium nitrate stuff, and diffuse it throughout the water," suggested Gazzy. "Then, when you electrify the metal hull, it'll ignite and spread the damage out into the water, but not too far, and you'll take out mostly M-Geeks, since I bet they probably scared off most fish in the area."

Captain Perry just looked at Gazzy, and then at Iggy, and blinked a couple times.

"They're really good at this," I said, as the grinding and clanging got louder. "They like to... blow up things."

"We know how to do it lots of different ways," Gazzy said eagerly.

Captain Perry paused for a moment, then got on the intercom. "Lieutenant Youngville, report to the map room!" He turned back to us. "She's our demolitions master."

A moment later, a harried-looking young woman with short brown hair came in and saluted.

"At ease," said Captain Perry. "Young man, explain your theory to Lieutenant Youngville. Fast."

Gazzy did.

It took the lieutenant a minute to digest what Gazzy and Iggy said. Then she nodded slowly. "You're a diabolical little pyro, aren't you?" she asked Gazzy.

He blushed modestly.

"Let's do this thing!" the lieutenant belled, running out of the room.

It was barely three minutes later when a huge flas.h.!.+ flas.h.!.+ from outside lit our small room like lightning. It had seemed much longer - listening to the grinding, sc.r.a.ping sounds, wondering how quickly the M-Geeks would punch through. Then tiny, crackling lights skittered through the water. We waited anxiously. from outside lit our small room like lightning. It had seemed much longer - listening to the grinding, sc.r.a.ping sounds, wondering how quickly the M-Geeks would punch through. Then tiny, crackling lights skittered through the water. We waited anxiously.

Seconds later, there was a larger series of popping explosions as the torpedo's powdered explosive drifted out into the water, where it was detonated by the electrical sparks still dancing around the metal hull of the sub. Gazzy crowed and held up his hand to slap high fives with the captain, who just looked at him.

"It's like M-Geek popcorn," Iggy said, as we heard a fast string of small booms, one after another, each accompanied by a flash of light.

"Yeah," Gazzy chimed in excitedly. "It's like an ignart! ignart!"

I was about to say that this was no time for fart jokes when the grinding metal sounds stopped abruptly.

"It seems to be working, sir," reported Lieutenant Young-ville, poking her head into the map room. "The technique -"

"The Gaz-Ig-Nart technique!" Iggy corrected.

"Yes, the Gaz-Ig-Nart technique seems to be neutralizing the enemy," the lieutenant finished.

The captain tried. We all tried. But there was no way. When the ensign came to report, he found us all laughing so hard we had tears coming out of our eyes.

70.

"WE'RE GOING TO RETURN to base now to make a formal report," Captain Perry said once he'd gotten his voice back.

"Wait - what about finding my mom?" I asked.

"She's got to be around here somewhere," John agreed. "Can you wait on that report so we can comb the area more thoroughly?"

"There's leaking radioactive waste out there," said Captain Perry. "Who knows where that radiation is ending up, how far it can travel? It must be contained as soon as possible."

"We came out here to find our colleague," John said.

"My job is to protect the United States, which Hawaii and its surrounding waters are part of," said Captain Perry, looking steely eyed.

I was calculating the chances of success if the bird kids staged a mutiny and seized control of the submarine, when Nudge suddenly said, "Where's Angel?"

And if those words don't strike terror into your heart by now, then you haven't been paying attention.

It took barely two minutes to search the entire sub. The systems engineer determined that someone had opened the diver's air lock approximately four minutes before.

"She couldn't have gone out into the ocean!" the captain said, horrified. "The pressure at this depth is tons per square inch. She'd be crushed instantly!!"

"Or... not," I said, looking out the window. The water, even with the floodlights s.h.i.+ning into it, was cloudy and hard to see through. It was still full of bits o' 'bots, drifting downward like evil, metallic rain. Plus, all the explosions had stirred up aeons of debris on the ocean floor.

Even so, I could see the light color of the small jumpsuit Angel had been wearing, and the flash of gold as her hair floated around her like a halo that she so so did not deserve. She was dog-paddling away from the sub, looking extremely uncrushed and three-dimensional. did not deserve. She was dog-paddling away from the sub, looking extremely uncrushed and three-dimensional.

"That's... impossible," Captain Perry said, sounding stunned.

"Totally and completely impossible," John agreed, staring out the window in awe. "There's no way anyone could be out at this depth without a pressure suit and survive. It - it just can't be done."

"h.e.l.lo?" I said. "We're children with wings wings. And now gills. We fly fly. Angel can read minds and communicate with fish, Iggy can feel colors, Nudge can draw metal to her, and now you're saying that there's simply no way Angel could be out there? Have I mentioned the wings wings part?" part?"

John nodded, still looking shocked. "But still - this defies any kind of understanding we have of vertebrate animals. It's ... almost impossible to comprehend."

"You mean, more than the freaking wings? wings?"

Captain Perry looked at me seriously. "Yes, actually. More than the wings. This is, in fact, stranger and more impossible."

"Oh," I said. "Well, then." I gave a little cough. "Anyway, let's get her back in. You got any of those claw-arm thingies?"

"No, I'm afraid not," said Captain Perry.

"Max," said Nudge. She turned away from the window with wide eyes. I hurried over and peered out into the murky water.

"Oh, jeez," I said, my heart sinking. Or rather, sinking more.

Angel, being Angel, was being: (1) stubborn, (2) a rule breaker, (3) not sensible, (4) reckless,... and (5)... swimming directly at a group of the sea monsters, who were heading toward our sub at light speed.

"They're gonna kill her," Gazzy breathed, his face pale.

Yeah, I thought grimly. I thought grimly. And then I'll bring her back to life and kill her again, for doing this to us. And then I'll bring her back to life and kill her again, for doing this to us.

One of the creatures spotted Angel. It slowed, turned, and began to head toward her.

"Oh, G.o.d," Nudge squealed, covering her eyes. "Max! Do something!"

I was already striding toward the door. "On it."

71.

I SLAMMED MY FIST against the pressure pad that opened the air-lock chamber. I knew Captain Perry and the others were right behind me, and if they wanted to get sucked out of the diver air lock along with me, that was their business.

Ten seconds ago, one of those creatures had been speeding toward Angel. That image, seared into my brain, made me feel sick. I couldn't believe that after all we'd been through, everything we'd done, Angel had basically just committed suicide by sea monster.

The air-lock door opened, the interior of the chamber still wet from Angel's escape.

Brigid grabbed my arm. "Max - don't," she said. "You know you can't go up against them. The best thing would be for us to get out of here, fast, before they start attacking the whole sub. Remember what they did to the Minnesota? Minnesota? This one is so much smaller and more vulnerable." This one is so much smaller and more vulnerable."