Page 85 of Fallen from the Stars

He moved to the door, sank to the bottom, and plunged his hands into the loose sand. He scooped it away in large handfuls. Dracchus joined him as Theo tugged the straps of her backpack off her arms and swung it to her front. She opened it and rummaged through the tools within — she’d found them all in the Facility, and each was designed for underwater use. She removed a rock hammer.

Kane scanned the hull again and adjusted the projected outline of the door to match the bit of visible frame. Frowning, Theo swam closer to the hull and ran her fingers over the buildup caking its surface. A few loose bits crumbled away, but most of it remained intact. She scraped at it with the pick side of the hammer. A clump of grime fell away, and the hammer scratched the bare hull beneath, producing a metallic whine she felt vibrate through her arm.

“At leastsomeof this stuff will come off,” she muttered, turning the hammer around in her hand. She banged it against the door several times in rapid succession; the clanging impact resounded through the water, loud enough to be picked up by her suit’s external audio receivers. Only a few chunks of sediment and debris fell from the door, leaving cloudy trails in their wakes. “This is going to need something with a little more power. I bet that sonic jackhammer would do the trick…”

“We may have a problem,” said Kane. “Somethingbig.”

A ping at the edge of Theo’s field of view prompted her to turn her head to the left. Kane highlighted something at the base of the submarine ten meters away — a head. It was in profile relative to Theo, with two huge, pale eyes staring toward her and a set of long, wicked teeth jutting out of its mouth.

Despite the diving suit’s precise temperature regulation, Theo felt suddenly cold. She watched in horrified silence as the head pushed out from beneath the sub. The body that emerged behind it began as a hulking set of shoulders with three legs on the side facing Theo, ending in claw-tipped, paddle-shaped appendages that scrabbled over the soft sand to drag the monster’s long, flat tail out into the open.

“Well,that’snew,” Larkin said. She swam in front of Theo, raising her harpoon gun.

Dracchus joined the other kraken, who tightened their defensive semicircle with spears and harpoon guns at the ready.

The creature shook itself. Sand particles rained from its body. For an instant, it stretched to its full length and parted its massive jaws; it had to be at least eight meters long from its teeth to the end of its tail.

Turning its head toward Theo and the others — revealing two more eyes and three more legs on the previously hidden side of its body — it darted forward with a burst of speed so immense that Theo’s heart leapt into her throat.

Harpoon guns thumped. The creature let out a piercing cry and veered away, leaving a faint trail of dark blood behind. Within a second, its body was lost in the darkness beyond the hunting party’s light, granting Theo a brief glimpse of a pair of reflective eyes glowing like moons in an otherwise empty night sky.

“Get that door open, Theo,” Larkin yelled.

Theo’s eyes widened as the huge creature charged out of the blackness. Though it had no pupils, she knew in her bones it was staring right at her. Its body flicked and undulated as the kraken attacked; they were fast, but the monster was faster.

A strong arm snaked around Theo’s waist, and she was turned away suddenly and pressed against the hull of the ship. A large body covered her, solid and powerful but somehow gentle.

Vasil.

He held her in place as something zipped by overhead, displacing enough water for Theo tofeelthe movement even through her suit. Only after it had passed did he release her and back slightly away.

Theo turned to face him. His features were strained with tension and concern, and fear gleamed in his eyes. He glanced over his shoulder in the direction the creature had gone before meeting Theo’s gaze again and gesturing to the door. Then he turned away, skin scintillating red as he scanned the water for signs of the terrifying monster.

Heart pounding, Theo looked at the door. This was a life-and-death situation, and she needed to move quickly; the sub would provide the only possible shelter from the monster. Her racing thoughts somehow outpaced her frantic heartbeat. The sounds in the water all around made her skin crawl; she wasn’t familiar enough with the environment to know what each noise meant.

All she knew was that things were happening. Things weremoving.

“Kane, can you predict this thing’s movements or something?” asked Larkin, her voice ragged.

“I’ll attempt to, but its movements are quite erratic. I can’t guarantee much accuracy.”

“Just show me!”

Theo clenched her jaw. The door, the submarine, the tools in her bag…sheknewthose things. Even if she’d never worked with them specifically, she’d worked with similar components for more than half her life. She wasn’t a hunter, a warrior, or even much of a soldier, but thiswasher thing.Thisshe could do. She wouldn’t let fear prevent her from doing her job.

She opened her bag to find the sonic jackhammer.

Vasil’s gaze followed the indistinct form moving on the fringes of the light. He longed to pull Theo into his arms and tell her it would be all right, thatshewould be all right, but he could not lower his guard. The creature attacking them was unfamiliar to him, but the danger it posed was apparent. It was big, had a mouthful of pointed teeth, and swam with startling speed.

That the kraken had essentially invaded the creature’s territory had likely heightened its aggressiveness.

He spread his claws and eased a little closer to Theo as she worked. The best he could do now was defend her, which meant keeping himself between her and the creature. His own safety would ever be secondary to hers.

Something tapped his shoulder, drawing his attention to the side. It was the butt of a spear, offered by Dracchus. Vasil accepted the weapon with a nod.

Grasping the shaft in both hands, he thrust it out as the creature made another pass overhead. The monster swayed, its long body rippling like the surface of a puddle in a strong wind. The point of the spear grazed its flank, inflicting little more than a superficial wound.

The creature swung its head to the side, snapping its jaws at Dracchus. The big kraken propelled himself backward, narrowly avoiding the gnashing teeth. Larkin kicked her legs, rising above Dracchus, and fired her harpoon gun. The monster thrashed so quickly its body became a blur. A cloud of sand rose from the bottom, obscuring the hunting party as the creature vanished from sight again.

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