Far Pangaea 17 : Depth Charge

Elle Franklin led Greta Winston through the darkness with a flashlight. The woman shivered out of sheer terror at every shadow.

"Sorry for the inconvenience. We don't have the power to light this place up just yet. James is working on that. So, for now we use flashlights until the batteries go dead."

"Fancy candles." Greta hisses nervously.

"1873? Wow!"

Greta folds her arms chilling at her surroundings in the corridor.

"2019? Ya'll say?"

Elle chuckles, "Yep. We flew out of the Philippines and got caught in a storm. Ended up crashing here. Buried our dead and trying to survive. So far so good."

"Sorry to hear about your losses. I'm alone here. Certainly glad Jack found me."

"Life is precious. He did good bringing you here. You're among friends as long as you want to stay."

"Where else would I go? I'd die out there alone." Greta follows Elle at a steady pace.

"Here's a vacant room. Keep in mind that the quarters was designed to accommodate a race of aliens called the Ganthorian's. Lizard like in appearance. We can show you images of them in the morning when there's more light."

"Aliens? From like up there?" Her eyes look at the ceiling.

"Appears so. I never truly believed in aliens from outer space before this last week. Since we've been here there's been a lot of strange things happen."

"Did Jack really lose his arm?"

Elle smiles with a hint of sadness, "He did. James and I found a way to attach it again. The Colonel nearly died. Lucky man."

"I reckon God was looking down on Ya'll."

"You as well, or you wouldn't be here with us Greta." She shines the light on a pod bed.

"Funny looking bunk." Greta examines it.

"As I said it was made for the aliens. It's still soft just a tad cramped. They were smaller than us. Not by much but still."

"How do you see in the dark?" Greta quickly looks up at Elle beside her.

"Recall that strange things I said happened? I'm one of those. I can show you as long as you don't panic. I'm definitely friendly."

"Let me see."

Elle removes her glasses carefully and doesn't directly point the flashlight into her eyes, but offers a good enough inspection of her diamond facet like eyes.

"Sweet Jesus!" Greta huffs yet continues to examine the eyes.

"Pretty huh? I miss my big browns though. There's more."

Elle hands Greta her flashlight in order to roll up her hoodies left arm. Exposing her diamond flesh Elle opens and closes her hand flexibly.

Greta is mesmerized and decides to touch the arm. Hesitation makes Elle use her good hand to hold Greta's fingers to the diamond. She could now see both hands in the light.

"I think your Man over did it." Greta sheepishly grins.

Elle nods, "I like you. I'm gonna be singing Beyoncé tonight for sure. Get some sleep. We can talk more in the morning."

Elle excuses herself letting Greta feel around for her bed. No blanket she covered herself with her arms.

"Beyoncé. Must be one of those Opera singers."

Out like a light.

Jack, Ruby, and James reached the cloning banks by flashlight and discovered Animahni in her tube. The light's glare forced the girl to flinch.

Shining the light between them Jack took the communication collar from James and dons it.

"How many of you are there?"

Animahni holds her arms in front of her with a look of terror. Ruby then stepped up to calm Jack. Seeing Ruby defend her made her less tense.

"Four of us. They live below. I live here. It is my home."

"Four? Dangerous?"

"They can be. I am afraid of them. This is why I reside here."

Ruby claims the collar and takes over more calmly.

"Don't be afraid of us Animahni. I gave you my word you would be safe with us. You should have told us about the others. One of them attacked us. A shark."

"That is "Karnog". He is ferocious. Unforgiving."

"How did all of you survive all this time?" Jack speaks through Ruby.

"In the depths. There are fish. Lots of fish. We feed without worry of starving."

"And, the others? They live in the caves below?"

"No. They visit the caves but live in the water. Like me."

"So you lied. The others had to have helped you dig into the depths." James reveals.

Ruby turns to Jack and informs him, "She's not even sure she's amphibious. She's never tried breathing air."

"How could they not have? It take's time to dig down as deep as you said earlier." Jack grunts.

Animahni appeared terrified for lying. She only wanted to protect both her friends and these new inhabitants.

As the group looks toward each other Animahni peers down at the base of her tube to witness it open up. A massive tentacle reaches up and grabs the girl by her legs and yanks her violently through the bottom of her tube. The commotion made everyone look at each other in shock.

"Basement. Move." Ruby rushes past Jack and James.

In a mad race downstairs they meet Elle who follows along behind them. There was no time to explain.

Reaching pool side Ruby flashes her light about, "Where's Sophia? Dammit!"

Jack circles the pool shallows seeing more vividly in the dark. Elle trailed along beside him pocketing her glasses for safety.

Suddenly, the pool bubbled up toward the center as if a struggle. A tentacle swung about madly holding Animahni up out of the water. She gasped for air then suddenly realized she could catch her breath. The shock nearly made her pass out.

Both Jack and Elle dove into the water and swam to her side. Grabbing the tentacle Jack produced a hunting knife and began sawing at the meaty flesh. Elle went deeper and came face to face with the creature. From within a sunken feature emerged a humanoid face that glared at her in fear. The head bobbed in and out of the curling recesses. Then came the ink. Luckily Elle's eyes had an immunity to it's texture as it tore at her vision.

In pain of being severed by Jack the creature bolted away into the darkness below. Jack surfaced with Elle and cradled Animahni in their arms. Laying her on the floor at the edge of the flooded arena she eventually awoke. To her amazement she was breathing air.

"Take it slow Animahni. You're safe now." Ruby kneels beside her.

Her eyes dart about their faces until she could focus. Then, she smiled. Followed by laughter.

"Learn something new every day." Ruby patted her shoulder cautiously.

Realization sets in and the hybrid beauty sets up looking at the pool.

"Tyrakuus! He was helping me escape you. He meant no harm. Unlike Karnog he is peaceful. Only Karnog and Oulapho are maddened. They kill without regret. Yet, Oulapho can be reasoned with."

Jack flinches hiding his knife, "Your friend is alive. If he's part Squid I'd say his tentacle might grow back."

"He was showing me I could breath outside the water. I told him of our talk earlier. My fears. Karnog will discipline Tyrakuus for this."

The water churns yet again more violently than before. This time the results force everyone to dart aside as a massive head and spine flies from the water and crashes lifelessly to the floor next to Animahni.

Surfacing was a sparkling Sophia Ridge, "Sushi anyone?"

"Sophia! I thought you were taken." Ruby races into the shallows to assist the girl. Trying not to touch her skin.

"It's all good. I just went deep sea fishing. Sharkskin boots for you Daddy." She grins at Jack.

Animahni looked haunted by the head of Karnog at her feet. The remainder of his body no where to be found.

"Chased this bad boy probably a mile down before we tussled. Fed the boys."

Animahni carefully stands and hisses toward Sophia.

"Whoa! Calm down! He tried to eat me too."

Ruby steps between them holding her hands out, "Sophia! Did you even think that the shark there was like family to Animahni?"

"Not really. Should I apologize?"

Animahni twists around Ruby and offers a hurtful glance at Sophia before diving into the depths and disappearing.

"Let her go." Jack growls.

James clears his throat behind them.

"WHAT?" Both Ruby and Jack snarl.

"Maybe we should stop pumping the water for now. Blood and ink and all."

Ruby swiftly shuts the pump off standing in silence.

Elle breaks in with a depressed look, "Ruined my best hoodie."

Lights probe around everyone as Cameron and Malcolm come looking for them.

"Now you guys show up." Jack shakes his head.

Seeing the giant shark head on the floor both men turn tail and head back up.

A shared stare between Ruby and Jack led them to usher everyone upstairs.

At the top floor Jack shuts the door and breaks the lock.

That was that.