Necessity is the Mother of Invention
Chapter 12
The same accident that caused the loss of his leg at age six also stimulated the latent genetics that ran in his family to trigger a mutation. Although becoming one of the ‘exo-humans’ the government monitored would prove to be the least of his worries once he stumbled upon his family’s secret.

Brought to you by the warped mind of Nuuan

Stepping through the portal Ryan encountered a sea of black and white moving away from the portal as hundreds of penguins surprised by the sudden appearance of the portal, pushed, shoved and squawked their way toward the safety of the water. Deesa stepped out of the portal moments later, followed by Gwen, all wearing their full armor.

Looking around at the snow and ice covered wasteland Deesa sighed, “Please tell me this isn’t Hoth?”

Ryan’s suit signaled that it picked up a known communications signal, ~Sara?~

~Hello and welcome back Ryan,~ The voice of Sara came through his helmet clearly. ~Were you successful in rescuing David? I’m detecting two alien life forms with you wearing armor of a similar construction as yours, one similar to your own and another that I have never encountered before.~

~They’re friends Sara. The one like mine is Gwen, she is my wife. The other, um that’s David.~

~I can confirm their armor works on the same communication matrix as your own, shall I connect to them?. Wait David’s coyote has begun uploading its memory files. Give me a moment to complete the upload and review as that should negate any questions I need answered.~

Looking around at the rocky, desolate, ice covered coastline Ryan and his group had stepped out of the portal onto, ~nothing but rocks, snow and ice here. I think we might need a lift home.~

~Yes, I have your location in the South Sandwich Islands, five hundred and thirty six miles east of the southern tip of Argentina. We have some acquaintances in that area that I am contacting to provide transportation.~

Several minutes later the speakers in Ryan’s helmet came on with Sara’s voice once again, ~Ryan I’ve completed the review of the coyote’s memory files. I am eager to review the information on the tablet Gwen possesses to determine why I would agree to doing this to David.~

~I hope you have better luck than I did. I was told the knowledge had to be kept from anyone else to keep temporal distortions to a minimum.~

~I’ll need to speak to Gwen about this. I’ve reached our submariner friends, I am told one of their ships should arrive shortly. It has no landing craft so you will need to swim out to it when it arrives. I am now adding everyone into this conversation~

~Hello D’eesa,~ Sara greeted. ~I am glad to see you are well. And hello to you Gwen. I hope we can become friends.~

~Hi Sara, I recognize your voice from the tablet. It’s nice that we can finally have a two way talk. I take it that being able to speak with you means we are back on our earth?~

~That is correct Gwen, I do not possess a means of communicating with other realms.~

~Good, then we all need to have a long talk before we meet up with any people.~ Turning to look directly at Ryan even though their armor hid their faces, ~Another video unlocked on the tablet last night. In it Sara and the older me stated that it was extremely important everyone believe that David died in that warehouse.~

~But Mom and Dad!~ Deesa wailed.

Stepping over to take Deesa’s by the hand, Gwen knelt down in front of the young girl, ~They can know the truth, but you’ll have to call them Uncle Dan and Aunt Teri from now on. It’s the only way to keep you safe from some really bad people that want to force David to work for them.~

~Will I still be able to see mom and… um, I mean Uncle Dan and Aunt Teri?~

~Of course you can, we would never keep my daughter away from her favorite Aunt and Uncle!~

~What about me building stuff? Do I have to stop doing that?~

~No, you can still make things, you’ll just do it as mine and Ryan’s daughter.~ Giving that a moment to sink in Gwen continued, ~No one on Earth is crazy enough to even think about kidnapping the daughter of Apocalypse.~

Thinking about what she was being told, Deesa knew what Gwen was saying made sense. People had already kidnapped her once trying to get the formula for aegisium, if David completely disappeared she would be safe and there was no way she could reenter her old life as Deesa without everyone finding out she used to be David. As David’s cousin she would still be part of the family so she wouldn’t really lose her real mom and dad. ~Okay, I’ll do it.~

Turning her head to look toward Ryan, ~Daddy can I have minions?~

~What?~ Ryan turned from where he had been watching the ocean to the two.

No one could see the playful grin hidden behind Deesa’s mask, ~Minions Daddy. Super villains have minions and if I’m going to be the daughter of a super villain I’ll need my own.~

~I’m not a super villain!~

~And I’ll need my evil laboratory where my minions work and I make my plans on taking over the world.~ Deesa did her best to keep from laughing, glad he couldn’t see her face as it would have given her away.

~Not just no but hell no!~ Ryan denied.

~But Daddy!~ Deesa pleaded, ~All the other kids of super villains will make fun of me…~ Unable to say more Deesa broke down in a giggling fit.

Laughing along with Deesa, Gwen looked over at Ryan, ~You do know she was pulling your chain?~

After the giggling died down, which took some time as any time Deesa or Gwen looked toward each other one of them would begin giggling again Deesa began watching the water off shore trying to discern what Ryan was watching for. Spotting a large dark hump surfacing offshore twenty minutes later, Deesa pointed, “Is that a whale?” Although instead of re-submerging as one would guess a whale would do, the dark shape not only stayed on the surface as it continued in their direction, it grew larger.

Watching the approaching shape grow closer Ryan announced, “It looks like our ride is here!”

“Our ride?” Deesa gasped, “I’m not riding on that things back!”

“What?” Turning to look at Deesa, “Why would you think we have to ride on its back?”

Waving both hands back and forth in front of her, Deesa’s voice became almost shrill, “If you think I’m riding in its mouth you are crazy!”

“Mouth? You think that’s…’ laughing too hard to continue.

“What’s so funny?”

“Calm down Deesa,” Placing an arm around the girl’s shoulder while pointing at the mysterious black shape out in the water, “It’s a submarine.”

Watching the dark shape Deesa saw the distinct figure of a man climbing up out of a hatch on top to the left of the highest point of the hump she had thought was a whale. Cupping his hands around his mouth the man yelled, “This is as close as I can bring her in. You’ll have to swim out!”

Holding his hand out toward Deesa, Ryan spoke, “Give me your backpack.” Seeing the girl hesitate, “You don’t want everything in it to get wet?”

Shaking her head, while pulling the straps off her shoulders, Deesa handed over her backpack.

~o~O~o~

Stepping off the last rung of the metal ladder inside the strange submarine, Deesa noticed two women in the room. Both wore a type of form fitting one piece golden brown coverall that had a round patch above the left breast and on the right shoulder a black rectangular patch with a large gold letter ‘N’ in the upper left quadrant of the patch. The shorter and much younger of the two, who Deesa thought to be about her own age, appeared to be pleading for permission for something in typical teenage fashion.

Feeling a vibration on the ladder Deesa still gripped in one hand, she looked up to see Gwen coming down the ladder. Letting go of the ladder, Deesa took a couple steps back, away from the ladder and further away from the two strangers in the room. Glancing around Deesa could see the walls, ceiling and even the catwalk-like grating of the floor was all the same dull golden brown color, which reminded Deesa of tarnished bronze. On one wall she saw the same rectangular emblem the two women had on their right arm painted on the wall, although close to five feet across. Beside the ladder a recessed panel bore several gauges and controls, an identical panel was recessed in the wall near the hatchway on the wall.

‘Oh crap!,’ Deesa thought as she grabbed Gwen’s hand, pulling her away from the ladder and the two women, ‘There’s only one group of people in history that used a flag with a black background!’ Hoping she got the suit comms right so that only Gwen could hear her, Deesa whispered, “I think these guys are pirates.”

“Keep your eyes open and your mouth shut until we learn more,” Gwen sent back to her through the comm of her suit.

Turning toward Deesa after descending the ladder, Ryan formed the backpack from his armor that he had kept dry during their swim out to the submarine and handed it back to Deesa, as his armor began melting away, “We’re safe here, you both can remove the armor.”

Turning back toward the man in the heavy pea coat, which had descended the ladder while he had spoken with Gwen and Deesa. “Thanks for coming so quickly,” holding his hand out toward the man.

Taking Ryan’s outstretched hand in his own, “Welcome aboard the Zoeken Mr. Scythe. I’m Captain Kellum,” waving his free hand toward the two women, “This is my wife, Elizabeth, our ship’s executive officer and our niece Allison,” directing his gaze toward the girl, “whom I’m sure has an explanation for her presence in the wet room?”

Placing both hands on Allison’s shoulders from behind, Elizabeth answered, “Sorry Captain, she was hoping to get a look at the surface.”

Nodding while looking at his niece, “Aye, I’d allow it if there was more time. I promise you’ll get to see the surface when we reach our destination.” Turning back to face Ryan, “May I ask who be these fine ladies you have accompanying you?”

“Captain, this is my wife Gwen,” gesturing with his hand toward Gwen, then toward Deesa, “and this is…”

“Our daughter, Deesa.” Stepping forward Gwen held her hand, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Captain Kellum. I want to thank you for going to all this trouble for my family.”

Noticing the girl, clutching the tattered backpack to her chest, still covered in the silvery armor, step back defensively behind her mother as he offered his hand to Gwen, “The pleasure is all mine and my crew’s, Mrs. Scythe. It is a great honor that we are the first of our people to greet the family of such a revered individual as your husband.”

Looking sideways at Ryan, Gwen chuckled, “Revered? Ryan? I think most of the world sees my husband differently.”

“That’s because the surfacers believe the propaganda their so called news stations spout as the truth,” Elizabeth added as she and Allison walked across the room to the group. “They show the destruction your husband has caused but fail to show the terrible things he actually destroyed.”

“There’s many things we need to discuss but as there be a satellite due to pass over this area within the bell and I would prefer to be deep before that occurs.” Walking over to a small panel near the room’s hatchway, “I’ll begin purging the nitrogen just as soon as the hatch is secure.” Looking over in Gwen and Deesa’s direction, “We use a helium-oxygen air mixture instead of the nitrogen-oxygen mixture of the surface world.”

Looking up at Gwen as her own armor dissolved, Deesa explained further, “It’s common to use helium for deep diving to keep divers from getting the bends.”

“Aye, your daughter is correct,” The captain looked up from the console, his voice already beginning to sound much higher in pitch, “Helium is also easier for our people to obtain.”

Following her husband to the panel, Elizabeth opened a panel in the wall beside the controls Captain Kellum began operating. “You’ll need these once the nitrogen is purged,” turning around with three bands slightly over two and a half inches wide of the same color as the cloth of their uniforms. Walking back over to their three guests, Elizabeth handed out the bronze colored cloth bands. Raising her voice enough to be heard over the loud noise of the helium, oxygen mixture hissing out of multiple orifices in the ceiling above them, her voice sounding several octaves higher. “They go around your neck,” demonstrating by showing them a seam in thickest part of the circle of material which she pulled apart before looping it around her neck and allowing the two ends to join back together. “It relaxes your vocal chords allowing your voice to sound normal,” her voice returning to normal as she explained.

Looking over the unusual neck device in her hands, Deesa could see the front of the device was more than twice as thick and reasoned it must have some kind of electronics embedded within. Knowing the change in voice when breathing helium was because helium traveled faster over the vocal cords, therefore the device must somehow slow the helium down in the throat or relax the vocal cords in some way. Deesa felt certain that it had to be the latter since she felt it much simpler to modulate the vocal cords than build anything that could affect the helium inside the throat.

Pulling apart the seam easily, as if held together by weak magnets, Deesa couldn’t fight the urge to hear what her voice sounded like in the helium atmosphere and get an answer to how they worked, “These relax the vocal cords?”

“Yes,” Elizabeth answered.

“Oh this is cool,” Deesa continued speaking without putting the device on her neck, “I sound like Alvin and the chipmunks.”

“More like one of the Chipettes,” Gwen chuckled.

“Somebody please put that damn thing around her neck before she starts singing pop songs!” Ryan chortled.

Remembering that she had been introduced to these people as her Uncle Ryan and Gwen’s daughter, the side of Deesa’s lip curled upward while looking up to Gwen saying, in her helium induced chipmunk voice, “Mooom Dad’s being mean to me!”

Watching the readings on the control panel, Captain Kellum pretended to ignore the girl’s antics. It wasn’t the first time he had seen a child take off his or her throat device and speak in the squeaky high pitched voice the manufactured atmosphere produced, he could remember many times he and his older sister had done the exact same to their own parents.

Seeing the readings where he wished them to be Captain Kellum turned to the others, “Pressure’s normal, Mr. Scythe if you would follow me I’ll update you on what has occurred during your extended absence. Mrs. Scythe, Elizabeth can show you where you and your daughter may freshen up and issue you both some clothing more appropriate for our submersible.”

Looking toward Elizabeth then the captain Gwen asked, “If you don’t mind I’d like to be included in that sitrep.”

Ryan quickly added, “Captain it would be for the best if my wife did accompany us.”

“Yes, yes,” Captain Kellum acknowledged, “You’re more than welcome to attend. My apologies for not including you ma’am.” Looking over at his own niece, “Allison would you be so kind as to escort their daughter to ship stores and procure her some under and outerwear.”

~o~O~o~

“This is our map room,” Captain Kellum stated while motioning Ryan and Gwen in as he held the door for them. Following the two in Captain Kellum closed the door, “In the months you’ve been absent there have been incidents that have made many believe you to be dead Mr. Scythe.”

“Months? It’s only been…” seeing the look Ryan gave her Gwen stopped. “Sorry Captain Kellum please continue.”

One eyebrow rose as he looked at Gwen then to Ryan, the captain continued, “Um yes, there were several major incidents of organized crime activity that occurred within the part of the northern hemisphere that would have normally gained your attention. As you did not appear at any of these, most of the world believes that you died during your last appearance.”

“They’ve made that mistake before,” Ryan snorted.

“Unfortunately, this time the Russian government must also believe this as they began a campaign against the Japanese government taking several of the Kurils islands that were under Japanese control, including Iturup.”

“Shit!” Ryan shouted. Taking a deep breath before speaking, “Do you know if they have reached the monastery yet?”

“All we know for sure is that two weeks ago a large convoy of Russian surface ships made way to Iturup, some making port while others along with two of their Akula class attack submersibles began patrolling the island.” Locking eyes with Ryan the captain continued, “Three days ago one of the Akulas fired on and damaged one of our Mobula class ships.”

“I thought your Mobula subs were faster than the Russian Shkval torpedoes?” Ryan questioned.

“Faster than a supercavitating torpedo?” Gwen gasped, “Even if your ships also used supercavitation, I don’t see how you could propel them that fast.”

Looking Gwen in the eyes, “While our technologies are comparable, there are differences between your surface technology and our sub-oceanic. Our propulsion systems are one of those differences. To put it simply, we transfer the water density from the front of our ships to the rear, allowing the pressure itself to push our ships forward. Our speed is only limited by the amount of electricity required to generate the field around the ship.”

Looking toward Ryan, Captain Kellum answered his question, “It appears the Russians have either modified the Shkval or developed a newer faster one. Luckily it seems the new Russian torpedo has a much smaller explosive payload.”

Leaning against the table, focusing on the three dimensional map, Ryan asked, “So what are your plans captain?”

“When your friend contacted us I was ordered to transport you to Iturup with all haste. We will be joining with three of our Kraken class vessels that are currently en route to the Kuril Islands.” The captain continued. “Although we will be stopping at Atacama to take on supplies and drop off my niece. Her grandmother would keelhaul me if I took her into what will become a war zone. I would assume that you would prefer not to bring your daughter into one also? She is welcome to stay in Atacama until we return.”

Ryan let out a heavy sigh. “Your attack ships will start a war.”

Nodding his agreement, Captain Kellum explained, “Unfortunately I have very little say in the matter Mr. Scythe. My personal belief is that if we could get you there prior to the arrival of the Kraken, your presence could persuade the Russians to return home. They do seem to have a healthy respect for you since your visit to Vladivostok. But my orders are to secure the safety of my niece prior to taking you to Iturup, I don’t see how we can beat hunter killers there.”

“What kind of time are we looking at with the detour?”

“Below ten-thousand feet our speed becomes limited due to the pressure wave created by our drive. I would estimate our trip to Atacama adding between twenty-four to thirty-six hours total.”

Having been to two of their underwater cities in the past, Ryan knew Atacama and those other cities had all been built in the very depths of the deep ocean trenches that exist in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans and understood the time involved in descending and reemerging from those depths. “Captain were your orders to specifically deliver your niece to Atacama, or just to a safe place?”

“A safe place of course, Atacama is the closest port along our route, diverting us for the least amount of time.’

“So it doesn’t have to be Atacama.”

“No, but as I said, it is the closest safe port and would have you at Iturup in the earliest amount of time.”

“There’s another place,” Ryan suggested, “It’s secure and you can run full speed the whole way there, saving us a lot of time. I can also have anything you need waiting on the dock for us.”

“No such port anywhere along the coast of either North or South America my friend.” Captain Kellum shook his head.

“It’s hidden off the coast of California,” Ryan informed. “Has a large grotto only accessible from underwater that’s been built into a sub pen.”

Working the controls on the side of the table, the map changed to show the western coast of North America. Waving his hand across the map, Captain Kellum said, “Show me the location of this place.”

Pointing to a spot off the coast from Los Angeles, “I can’t give you the exact coordinates but it’s about here.”

Folding his arms across his chest, the Captain looked skeptically over at Ryan, “The channel islands? We have extensive mapping of all those and the undersea terrain.” Leaning forward the captain adjusted the map display to zoom in on the chain of islands. “Which of these islands is your safe port on?”

Shaking his head, “It’s not on your map Captain, it’s not on any maps.” Meeting the Captain’s gaze, “I don’t know the specifics but the place has some unknown protection that makes even those few that know about it, and forget its precise location.”

“Pray tell Mr. Scythe, how we locate your hidden port of call?”

“When I communicate your list of supplies to my colleague, she will have informed them to be on the lookout for us so that they can guide us in.”

“Alright Mr. Scythe, we’ll set course for this mysterious Island or yours.”