Deep Sea Chapter 11

11.

 

The Surface

Lady Jan looked at the man who was recovering from his artificially implanted exo-skeleton spine. The healers were the best from the far lands and were armed with the new knowledge they have shared their skills to perform the feat there. The new ex0-skeleton was clumsy like the exoskeleton frames. It was incorporated into the bones and nerves and worked in sync to the commands by the electrical nodes implanted in the stem of the brain

Kosovan stood next to the lady. They were in a secret establishment outside of the city in the countryside. It was a huge structure in the shape of a four-leaf clover. The structure was a green-shaded standing structure with flat tops spanning over one acre each and vertical walls of over fifty feet in height. Each wall had their spaced-out openings of cloverleafs design in rows. Each structure was code-named by the compass bearings of North, South, East and West. They were in the East Structure which was named the Centre for Automation where the sun was seen rising then.

The other structures were all research centers too but for different sciences. The northern one was on medicinal purposes the western one was on creatures breeding and the southern was the General Quarters and Barracks. The area was surrounded by the deep moat and outside of it was the one-mile radius of open land before the outer thick walls which housed the sentries and more of the exo-skeleton machines. Then there was the extra one mile of open land which any trespassers will be exterminated by the patrolling military dirigibles.

“Was it a good idea to include him?” Kosovan asked. He was the second successful implant after the lady. He knew the pain of defeat but there was nothing compared to the pain of the implants. The person must not be sedated for that will hide the senses to the new implant. Every node of the metal implant was mapped to the correct nerve points to infect the correct responses. The master who was subjected to the treatment had his vocal cords paralyzed with acupuncture needles.

“You could have asked me when we defeated him. Why wait now after a week on his way to recover?” Lady Jan replied. “The new hydrotreatment with the chemicals will speed up his recovery and allowed the nerves to assimilate. What took us months could now be done in days.”

“How fares my new exoskeleton's guards?” Lady Jan changed her focus to the six figures placed vertically in the new exoskeleton frame. It looked like the ones that Lord Henry encountered but these were improved with the same works like the spine assimilation. The assimilation in the new exoskeleton was more elaborate for the human operator was embedded into it. The new inventions allowed the machines to moved like the human as it was powered by the former using the body nerves to move the limbs. It replaced the slower cumbersome stop and move found in the earlier models, but with the new models, they moved seamlessly.

“They are still in the final stages where they are fitted with weapons. The so-called volunteers were …” Kosovan was interrupted.

“They are not volunteers. They are personal aides which were to assist the exo-skeleton in its ability. It was never the other way. We are living in the world of technology. Five years ago, we were still in the steamer and coal works but we have advanced very far. New knowledge and skill sets have advanced our inventions. Today, we have electric but in the research side we hold the knowledge beyond it into electronics. Electrical transform the current it produces to generate energy but electronics convert the energy into something more useful like data signals and motions.

“It’s the era of automation. No more human to intervene. The machine does it. That will be how we will conquer the world. On the land and sea.” Lady Jan glorified her ambition. “But we are still outplayed by someone named Lord Henry. I wonder where he is now.”

“Perhaps I can give you a reply.” Lord Ian Stuart walked towards them. “They are at this moment on the high seas being pursued by the Navy. We did not attack the ship as per your instruction. We will have trailed it to the hidden island.”

“My Lord I asked for his location and not your Navy reactions.” Lady Jan replied. “Tell me his coordinates.” 

 

The Depth

“The way we map on the sea is to look at the stars and the …” The Captain held the wheel while steering the ship across the waves. “And the sun. We have been sailing for four hours now and given the sea current speed and the wind speed, I would say we are…”

“Far from the land I presume, Captain.” The Sergeant Major cut in. “I will reckon you are lost.” 

“A sea Captain is never lost. He will navigate you to anywhere.” The Captain then looked at the First Officer. “Stacy, tell me where do I steer next?”

“I give up.” The Sergeant Major sighed. “You are the few Captains I knew who could not navigate in the womb to impregnate the lady.”

“Insults will not hasten the works here, Sergeant Major. I am not one of your raw recruits. I am….” The Captain was interrupted by the First Officer who was calculating the distance on the maps.

“Twenty-five to port and maintain speed at ten knots. We should be there soon.” Stacy replied for she was given the coordinates. The other crew members were at their post to man the ship.  Then she looked at the Sergeant Major. “He aren’t afraid to fuck but he disliked the ladies.”

The Sergeant Major shuddered at the thought. He had met recruits who had that desire and shudders every time when it was shower time. More so when someone called out that he dropped his soap there.

“A sign of the advanced age, my dear Captain. Never fear, my good man. I can soon guide you to the righteous end.” The Sergeant Major sniggered before he steps away and bumped his head on the doorway of the wheelhouse.

“I think they made the door too low for you or was it God’s retribution on you. Watch your arse next.” Jones laughed at the Sergeant Major. It was then when Lord Henry pounced into the wheelhouse.

“Are we there yet Captain?” Lord Henry was all excited to know.

“Aye, my Lord. I believe we are …”

“Five minutes away, my Lord.” Stacy assisted him. Lord Henry looked to his watch and smile.

“Good.” Lord Henry then looked at the Sergeant Major. “Can you ask the crews to fire at those Navy dirigibles? I can’t have them around in five minutes.”

The Sergeant Major saluted from the doorway and had Jones along to carry out the command.

“His Lordship does not want them on our…. back.” The Sergeant Major was selective with his word. “Fuck … I mean fire away with the guns.:

The machines guns on the bow and stern started firing at the dirigibles shadowing the ship and causing them to steer away. The clock ticked away while the gunners took turns firing. Soon, the dirigibles were at a safe distance from the guns.

It was then Lord Henry asked Stacy to stop the sail and idle the ship engines.

“All engines to halt.” Stacy called out to the Engine room. The ship slowed on the termination of the push on the engine and soon it was floating on the sea waves. It was never a good sign to idle on the high seas for the danger lurks below in the water. The crews were on alert for any predators that may loom over their position.

Lord Henry was all excited while he checked his duo watches for time precision. A seagull came swooping down and then perched on the rail at the port side. It quacked for a while and then began to preen its feathers. Tensions were high but the crews remained quiet. Everyone was watching the sea and surprisingly the dirigibles kept their distance.

“Sharks!” A crewman called out. He pointed to the moving predator seen by the moving water flow when it cuts across the sea waves. “It’s on portside. It’s moving to …the aft.”

The shark soon emerged from the waves but it was not a shark as seen by the crewmen. It was enormous for a sea predator when its upper body cut away from the sea waves. The three hundred feet in length soon broke surface a short distance from the ship. It was no shark but the submersible Sea King. It rose with the two upper compartments appearing at the rear. Six top deck hatches were seen later popping open and the Sea King crew members stepped out. They fixed the metal struts to support the dual Lewis gun on the deck before they took position behind it.

“Captain Arthur, it’s time we jump ship. Lord Henry ran out of the wheelhouse to the port side. There he instructed the ship crews to lower the lifeboat. He soon boarded it with the Sergeant Major, Corporal Jones with Captain Arthur and First Officer Stacy.

“Tell the crews to sail on. And then return to port. They will be well compensated.” They rowed to the new Sea King on her maiden voyage. They were met by the Boatswain I Abigail Conlay.

“Boatswain Conlay, please meet your new Captain and First Officer.” Lord Henry told the Boatswain I.

“Good day to you, Captain. Please come in. We may hurry. We got some predators on the prowl.” Boatswain I Conlay replied. She then looked at Corporal Jones.

“Hello…” Corporal Jones short greeting was met by the solid right punch into his midriff and then the left hook to throw him off the deck into the sea water.