An Unexpected Turn

The general ordered to transfer the connection with the pilot to the main command post and took his place there himself in fifteen minutes, having had enough time to shave.

– Came out to the sector. – It could be heard by communication. – Beginning to fly around.

Later the pilot reported the situation every thirty or forty seconds, as it was supposed to be.

The situation was sad. There ship was no to be found. Alongside with it, the borders of the sector were selected in such a way that the ship could not cross them in the time passed after the latest communication, even if it had put forward such a foolish task.

– Flying round is finished, – it was heard ultimately in the end, and it was something which one did not want to hear at all.

– Let him return, – ordered the general somberly.

He sat for another minute in the armchair and when he wanted to get up he heard the excited voice of the pilot:

– I’ve been attacked! Attacked, but I do not see the enemy. Two holes in the wing!

Pete Tuccert reacted at once:

– Get back to the coastal line!! – he shouted in such a voice that the officer on duty did not have to repeat it in the air.

– Yes, Sir, to the coastal line.

The general himself got connected to the pilot.

– Fire on board?

– No fire. But the wing is becoming bare.

This term, maybe funny for the civilians, means a very fast approaching disaster. The damaged metal on the frame is becoming to get torn by the air streams. The rest, according to the type of the aircraft, is a matter of a minute or ten seconds.

– Is it tearing strongly?

– Middling…now, already strongly.

– Catapult!

– Can hold on for a while.

– At once!

He knew what every second could bring with it. Pilots get nervous and miss the moment when the aircraft, losing at once its aerodynamics, starts flying down, circling and whirling. And the catapult saves rarely in these cases: the pilot dies having hit his own wing, or he is covered by the machine falling from up.

But thank God! The signal of the working catapult has already sounded.

The rest of the orders took no more than a minute. He had only, having declared the general alarm, to call the number of commands known to each subdivision.

Two fighters on battle duty flew into the air in ten seconds, and in one and a half minutes four other battle machines followed them. These six were to block the sector from the air and, having discovered the enemy, hit the target. Straight after them a rescue hydroplane followed to pick up the catapulted pilot. These were standard measures. And now their innovation – launching a rocket from the side of a ship. It will reach the given coordinates already in two minutes and in the middle of the sector at the height of five miles a parachute with a minilocator station will hang down. The parachute will not lower down, because the station has a vertical motor unit. It will start to transmit everything here, looking not only through air, but water, at the depth of a mile, that is the depth lower than which modern submarines cannot go. The one who attacked the aircraft, thus, is sure to be found. He will have no time to leave the sector.

The cruiser and three other ships already turned in the opposite direction and were sailing at full speed.

But who could, who could dare to to attack a fighter of the US navy? What kind of weapon was it? Hit at the height of two miles… The pilot did not record an explosion of an antiaircraft missile the splinters of which could do it. Then what? And where from? The pilot would have seen any ship when flying around. It means, from a submarine. And the volley has been made from under water. Whose submarine? The Chinese, the Russians’?

North Atlantic allies were warned about the tests in this region, his own people – more so. What follows is that it was not a chance mistaken volley.

The general gave one more command, having ordered the fastest of the three ships to follow the coordinates of the downfall of the aircraft. They were lucky, it fell down near the coastal line. It will not be difficult to lift it.

Quiet Shallow Waters

They managed to find the boat with the lads quite soon. Because they have taken the only correct decision: at the place of the unique find, where the day before yesterday the skeleton of a cachalot was discovered, a buoy was set up, and they guesses that it was the best to loiter around that place.

The news about the terrible death of their comrade shocked all the three.

– In the present conditions I am obliged to stop our research work and get you at once to the nearest port, – Marc Tuccert announced to them. – You must not stay in such a dangerous neighbourhood.

– And you, Professor, can you?

– I do not know still what I shall do myself, but judging by the unusual size of the squid it will not be difficult for it to overturn and drown a ship like ours.

– But why has it not done it but just attacked a man?

– Maybe because he was busy with other catch under water.

– With a military ship, – explained Christian, – which was to be in that very place.

– And before this the squid finished up the cachalot?

Professor thought for a long time. Everyone became silent watching his fingers tuck at his wiry beard too nervously.

– Everything is too unclear, – he said at last. – Too much! Even for me it is too difficult to believe in such gigantic size of the squid.

– If he is an albino it means that it lived at a very great depth, – one of his students dared to suppose. – But something drove it away from there.

– This is not the point! – Tuccert frowned, irritated. – I don’t understand, first of all, how such tentacles could let go of the cachalot from the depth. For them it is just a toy. But the main thing is something else. The jaw hook of this giant must be no less than thirty feet, and its blows can be compared to the force of an enormous industrial press. But the skeleton is intact. Not a single broken bone, not a single dislocated part due to fantastic squeezing by the tentacles. – Professor let go of his beard and spread his hands almost angrily. – I don’t understand!

– Besides, – Christian reminded, – I have not seen the suckers on the tentacle.

– Why can’it be some unknown deep water species, Professor?

– Because everything which acquires quite specific qualities not characteristic of other individuals is already not species! – he kept silent for some time and added gloomily: – It is another animal.

– Do you want to say that it is not a squid at all? – asked the assistant.

– Yes, one can’t exclude it.

In half an hour they entered the bay of a small resort island and tied up at the pier.

It was strange that with all this nightmare having happened he was feeling hungry. But of course, they did not have breakfast, plus the brandy…

But nobody mentioned breakfast, and the lads were looking at him as though awaiting new explanations.

They sat down in gloomy silence under the bow tent into folding cloth chairs.

– We have examined everything there, – said Tuccert guiltily, – only water was around…

– Do not torture yourself, Professor, – said one of the students consoling him, – you are not to blame.

– Besides, he took the ship to the ocean himself, – supported someone else, – what did he need it for?

– “When a man suddenly perishes in the world”, my father used to say, “it means there is something wrong with this world”, – he answered sadly.

And, after a short silence, spoke again:

– I don’t know if I have the right to let out the information known to me… in any way, I did not sign up anything. Well, just recently in this region military men conducted experiments: gamma-irradiation at the depth. And I suspect that by this they troubled and brought in an aggressive state someone who would never think of sailing to the surface.

– May I ask a question, Professor?

Tuccert nodded.

– It is known that gamma-irradiation is deadly for man, but can cause growth and mutations of primitive organisms.

– They can, but not in such short time. If we were speaking about plants or microorganisms, then yes, the effects can be seen quickly there. But squids are not primitive at all, this is the first point. Secondly, if we mean the mutation mentioned, its basis is the following. – Suddenly he stopped and looked at his assistant. – Christian, you know all this very well, that’s why look after breakfast. We haven’t eaten anything yet.

Three pairs of eyes stared at him in expectation.

– Well, colleagues, mutation is often equaled to regeneration of cells and structures consisting of them. It is only partly so, because one should be very attentive and cautious towards the word «regeneration». It means transformation from one state to another. Do you understand me? One should at once make a conclusion that another state is in principle made possible by nature for the given species of animals. In other words, the natural potential of any organism is much wider than what has been concretely formed. Why? Because in the process of evolution all living beings tried to get the maximum safety margin. Otherwise there would have been no evolution. – Professor raised his finger. – This is the most important point, and I will explain it now. Imagine that a man has ideally tuned himself to one and only situation. What, I am asking you, does that mean?

– Well… – there was an indefinite answer.

– It means – he subjugated all his resources to it rigidly, – said Christian, going towards crew’s quarters. – And he won’t be able to adapt himself if the situation changes a little.

– Thank you, but do not get distracted from cooking.

– The stomach is like the one of a hungry shark, – a pitiful voice supported the professor.

– But the blood does not flow from the head, – he consoled. – Well, friends, listen attentively further. Primitive theory of evolution thinks this way: the one conquers in nature who is adapted to today’s circumstances better than the rest. It is nonsense. It means he would be the first to perish during their frequent changes. And hence follows, accordingly, that it is not profitable to adjust as much as possible to concrete circumstances, that is, to give all the strength to this task. But what is then profitable?.. Two things: proceeding from the given conditions of life to percept its main contents, and not the details, directing maximum strength at the answer to all possible changes of the details. In other words, only the minimum strength is directed to the necessary present moment survival and maximum for the readiness for the changes of the situation. The one who follows this principle preserves himself the best in the animal world.

– Excuse me, Professor, can we say like this: nature makes the living being give away its resources for the programming of the situations, making stronger the one who looks aside?

– Not just can, but must say like that.

– But you have mentioned some second point…

– Yes. And you will not find it in Darwin’s works, moreover in the works of his not too intelligent followers. The second point is the collectivity of survival of any definite species. Even the man – a very young creature compared to any species of oceanic fauna – is guided first of all by collective motives of survival. All wars which have ever taken place were caused by ethnic or macrogroup social interests. And if a “middling man” did not put them subconsciously higher than personal ones no war would have taken place. But the man, as I hope you understand, has not quite proved his evolutional stability yet. It is not clear whether we shall exist in thirty or forty thousand years, but it is clear that in this very ocean the same squids, sea-urchins, jellyfish will exist… What do we know at present about their program potential and collective methods of survival stored in them?.. Now, going back to mutation: this is just switching over to one of other programs which corresponds to new conditions better. But however did the Colorado bug, for instance, mutate, he still remains a bug, and you can be sure, he will not get transformed into a rain worm.

– But why can’t we suppose that the mutation of the squid has led to its losing his hook and jaw apparatus and acquired instead of that a huge sucking hole.

– You mean that now he can swallow the food alive and digest it till only skeleton remains? I am not against most fantastic suppositions, and the same thought, I confess, came to my head too. But it was not difficult to make some calculations in my mind. We cannot go beyond the main and fundamental biological laws. For example, the speed of certain chemical reactions. It has its limiting constants. The same, in their own way, as the speed of light. The military men conducted their first radiation here just eight days ago. Transformation of living structures could have begun at once. But even according to boldest calculations it is a funny term for the squid to change its supersolid and superfirm jaw apparatus and the chemical complex of digestion system. These are not those wonders in which one should believe.

– Maybe my question is not very competent, – began one of the students cautiously, – but was the difference noticed between one organism subject to radiation and a group of them? I am asking it in connection with your words about collective survival.

– A wonderful question, my boy! Unfortunately, it has been studied very little still. But the problem you formulated is one of the most important. Imagine that a man appeared alone in a burning house. What will he do? Simply save himself, run away. Everyone will have this program working in him. And if there is a big group of healthy strong men in the house? They will undertake quite different actions: begin to extinguish fire, save the belongings. Moreover, interacting they will launch several different programs: somebody will bring water, somebody will take the fire away from curtains, take away the furniture which has not caught fire yet, and so on. That is, the program of escape will not work at all, and instead of it there will be a complex of several functional links. Something like that may happen with a big group of similar organisms. But the difficulty is that the unexpected laboratory conditions should really put into action one of potential programs of collective action. What experiment and in regard of what organisms is it better to conduct? Alas, it is very difficult to plan such investigations.

– If one follows the suggested logic, Professor, squids are very old creatures on the planet. They used to exist in the epoch of ichthyosaurs. Nature has changed since then, but the squids stood it. It means they have a great inner potential. Why could it not respond to stiff gamma-rays?

Professor nodded, agreeing reluctantly:

– I do not state categorically that the squid failed to transform. But then we should make a conclusion that we know almost nothing about the genuine speeds of biological reactions.

– And why – not? Einstein’s theory of relativity is also doubted by some scientists.

– Let it be so. But we know very little about sea depths. Who could be preserved there besides the squid?

– I’ve got everything ready, – declared Christian putting his head out of crew’s quarters.

The Search for the Enemy

Already in the first minutes of its work the location system established with the help of missile launching signaled the sector. Zero! No objects!

General Tuccert did not expect this at all.

And, strictly speaking, he had to make only two conclusions: the fighter was attacked not from water but from air. And the plane which had attacked it was invisible of “stealth” type because radar installation on the fighter controlling surrounding space did not respond. And the second: the enemy submarine could go down at the depth of more than a mile. But there have never been any data in the intelligent services of the country about the existence of such military technology and even of their projects in Russia or in China.

As such there are more than enough means of immersion to big depths in the world. Only this is purely research technology. They are very heavy because of the thickness of their body meant to sustain big pressures, slow and unable to maneuver, but the main thing is that they cannot surmount large ocean spaces independently. More so with armaments on board, which can aim exactly from under water at a modern fast fighter plane. But where could this slow moving vessel go? And that taking into account that the enemy has no military bases nearby. As to fighting submarines, their depth limit is a little over half a mile.

He reported everything to Navy headquarters. There they were also perplexed and confirmed: there are no large ships of the enemy which could be the means of transporting the deep-water submarine in the radius of several hundred miles from here. They asked what help was required.

He did not know it himself.

A ship and a deck fighter have been lost. Just like that, without any signs of the enemy.

Mark also told some terrible things about six hundred feet squid. Does it mean that its length it just a little less than that of the cruiser?.. It is difficult to believe, though its weight ought to be a hundred times less than the cruiser’s, anyway.

His brother is simply in panics, no doubt. It is clear, their small military ship became the victim of the same aggressor as the airplane. Military ships are always battened down safely. And no squid can drag such a ship under water. Because the resistance here is caused not by weight but by the tonnage. But anyway, there is too much ubnormal in everything happening.

Pete Tuccert looked at the photo of his father, as though expecting help. It is strange… sometimes it seems to him that father looks from the photo kindly and even caringly, and sometimes like now, like in their childhood, when he and his brother happened to be guilty of something.

Only one thing is consoling: now it is only eight o’clock in the morning, in seven and a half hours they will be at the place, and there will still be enough daylight to look into the things.

He got a report that the catapulted pilot had already been found and the hydroplane which had picked him up was on the way back.

In half an hour the pilot was brought.

The general knew already that he was an experienced pilot who had flown a lot, and actually there were no novices on the cruiser.

– Sit down, Captain. How are you?

– Quite normal.

– There is no “quite normal” after catapulting. You will go to the doctors all the same, but first tell me everything in order.

– During flying around, as I reported, nothing was found, except a small ship that was moving towards the coastline. But I was warned that it was known about it.

– Yes, a research ship.

– Having got a command to return I turned around and flew back.

– Where were you at the moment of the attack?

– Approximately at the place where these arched for ship was to be according to the coordinates.

– Go on.

– I felt a side blow and spontaneous bank to the left. I looked at the right wing. There were two lacerated holes at the distance of a foot from each other. It looked as though I had been attacked by a large-caliber machine-gun.

– From below or from up?

– Definitely from below. It could be seen by the bank of the machine, and by the metal characteristically damaged in the places of the attack.

– They could not fire from water, Captain, could they? The fighter has too high a speed to attack it from a machine-gun, and that at the height of two miles.

– Very unlikely, Sir.

– Then it could only be another plane which attacked you somewhere from below, from the side of the fuselage.

– Will you allow me to speak out my opinion, Sir.

– Yes, I am listening.

– It could only be invisible stealth, otherwise my radar would have discovered it.

– Certainly.

– I can’t understand, Sir, then he would have completely destroyed my wing. I know the technical data of the enemy’s planes and their shooting equipment. Simple machine guns have long gone into the past being not effective enough. During the last ten years they have not been used either by the Russians or by the Chinese. They have been preserved only at the old models which can’t be modern “stealth”.

The general nodded in agreement.

– And one more consideration, Sir, – said the pilot somewhat hesitantly. – If the holes had been made by splinters of a missile “air-to-air”…

– I know, Captain, your board radar would not have recorded “stealth” itself, but would have certainly recorded a rocket launched by it.

– Just so, Sir.

– We’ll find out what it is! – encouraging himself more than the pilot said Tuccert. – Soon your fighter will be lifted, and the expertise will show what kind of holes there are in the wing.

In an hour the general, having thought over everything again, ordered to connect him to his brother.

– Where are you?

– In the bay, – professor called a small island. – I am standing near the pier moored.

– And I am going back. To the place where our ship disappeared, where our fighter was shot by someone unknown and where, in addition to all that, as you claim, there lives some fantastic animal. You must not sail to the ocean on your old tub, Marc, that’s why I invite you to be a guest on my cruiser, and I will soon deal with all submarine villains at once.

– With pleasure, Pete. Moreover, I would like to share some ideas with you, but I would not like to do it in the air.

– That’s all right, I’ll soon send a hydroplane for you.

It is Still “Far till Evening”

– Listen, Chris, the lads will have to be sent home. And you will wait for me here and look after the ship. I request you not to sail into the ocean.

– Marc, why shouldn’t I work in shallow waters? I could do something alone according to our research plan.

– It is dangerous, think yourself. That whom we think to be a squid is too strong.

– Listen, but judging by the words of your brother it is already clear that the military ship perished as a result of somebody’s diversion and not because of a sea beast.

– And what about the tentacle which you saw?

– But it did not attack the ship, it selected a man.

– Is it not enough for you? Besides, I suspect that this giant is able to act in shallow waters. That skeleton, Chris. We have not found a clear explanation for it.

– Though the skeleton is lying in shallow waters, but just at the edge of a hollow. Most probably, the giant, having digested the food, threw it out somewhere not far away to the surface. You know, there is a strong current to the shore, and before the skeleton sunk it was brought into shallow waters.

– This is too free an explanation!

– But it is natural, more so because there is not any other.

– All right, let us act in another way. I forbid you to leave the pier. Do you hear me?! Forbid!

Still in another hour a two-engine hydroplane landed in the bay of a pleasant tourist island. Professor said goodbye to everybody warmly and flew away.