Blood Cruise: A Deep Sea Thriller

Blood Cruise

Jake Bible

Copyright 2015 by Jake Bible

1.

Six levels of security.

Dr. Harold Glouster had insisted on ten, at the very least, but the company he worked for, Oceanic Applied Sciences, had told him six would be sufficient. After all, despite the passive sounding name, they were one of the world’s leading defense and weaponry research and development firms. If they could not keep Dr. Glouster’s project safe then no one could.

That was the point that was hammered home to Dr. Glouster time and time again when he made his weekly report via video conference to the OAS board.

“It has become too smart for its enclosure,” Dr. Glouster sighed as he stared at the eight faces that filled the split screens on his computer monitor. He gave a sidelong glance at the massive tank of saltwater that took up almost the entire room he had been working in for the past eighteen months. “I cannot stress enough—”

“Yes, Doctor, we know,” Mathias McDowell, CEO of OAS, interrupted. “And your concerns are noted and being taken seriously. As I have said time and time again.”

“Yet you do nothing about it,” Dr. Glouster responded. “I stated four weeks ago that I would need a new facility. You did not deliver.”

“You are working in the most state of the art bioweapons labs in the world, Doctor Glouster,” McDowell snapped. “It is not a simple matter to just move you to a new facility. Your work has specific needs to be considered that would render any outfitting of a new facility useless to future work.”

“You mean it is too expensive,” Dr. Glouster countered.

“I do,” McDowell said, smiling the smile that had had Wired, Forbes, and Vanity Fair magazines scrambling to get him on their covers once OAS went public the previous month. “Do you know why, Doctor? Because I run a company that is in the business of making products that make money. Your projections show that OAS will not see a profit from your product for at least a decade.”

“It is not a product, McDowell,” Dr. Glouster said. “It is a living creature. I have manipulated its DNA, giving OAS two hundred and four new patents, but it is still a living, thinking, sentient being.”

“Sentient?” McDowell asked. “Like a dog or cat, yes?”

“Closer to a primate,” Dr. Glouster replied. “Its intelligence tests are off the charts as of yesterday. I do not know how, but it has made considerable strides in complex reasoning as well as applied recall. It is remembering significant amounts of information and using those memories to inform its decisions. Tricks I have used on it in the past, as recent as last month, to try to find its weaknesses are no longer effective. It knows the tricks and is even anticipating them.”

“But it can be controlled, yes?” McDowell asks. “Like a dog or a cat?”

“Have you ever tried to control a cat?” Dr. Glouster asked. “I believe you should be looking for a different example.”

“Then forget the damn cat!” McDowell shouted. “Can the creature be controlled? Can it be given a mission, complete that mission, and return for further orders? Can it be trained like a dog and be just as obedient? That is what you promised me, Doctor Glouster. You did not promise me an eight-legged sea monkey that is more trouble than it is worth. And believe me when I say that it is worth millions upon millions at this point since you have gone well over budget and over schedule!”

The look on Dr. Glouster’s face could not be interpreted as anything but contempt. It was reflected back at him by all eight boxes on the split-screen monitor. The man fought down the urge to tell McDowell to go to hell and walk away from the project. Just walk away from it all and let OAS sort it all out.

But he could not do that to his creation. Not after all of the hard work, the loss, the sacrifices made. Not after what happened to Melanie Hecht. A true tragedy that would have ended any other career. But her death was the project’s breakthrough. A terrifying and repulsive breakthrough from any viewpoint, even by McDowell’s loose standards of morals, but a breakthrough that rocketed the project forward at an exponential pace.

“Doctor?” McDowell asked, his calm restored that smile of smiles back in place. “Are you hearing what I am saying to you, Doctor?”

“It has become too intelligent,” Dr. Glouster stated. “Let me explain why that is a problem.”

“There is no need,” McDowell said, sighing heavily.

His eyes flitted back and forth and Dr. Glouster could tell he was looking at his own split screen version of the board meeting. Dr. Glouster watched the expressions on the other board members’ faces and realized that something far beyond his control was going on.

“What have you done, McDowell?” Dr. Glouster asked. “I would think an explanation of the subject’s rapid progress would be of the utmost importance. Is that not why we have these weekly meetings?”

“It was,” McDowell said. “But this will be the last meeting. Everything I need to know is in your notes which I have handed to my top people for a full analysis.”

“My notes?” Dr. Glouster gasped. “Those are encrypted on a laptop that I do not connect to the internet. You cannot possibly have access to my notes!”

“Yes, yes, I know,” McDowell said. “But did you really believe a laptop given to you by OAS would ever be truly private?”

He chuckled and rubbed at his temples.

“Since we are nearing the end of the conversation, I’d like to let you in on a little secret, Doctor. Nothing you have been doing for these past eighteen months has escaped my notice. Nothing. Not even what happened to Dr. Hecht. Which, amusingly enough, you reported as a workplace accident. She slipped and hit her head, Doctor? And somehow her body was lost before it could be transported off ship? How do you lose a human corpse, Doctor? I have made sure protocols are in place to account for every damn paper clip, staple, and roll of toilet paper on that ship. A body does not go missing unless someone wants it to. Even then…”

The split screens were replaced by an autopsy photo of the late Dr. Melanie Hecht, her body bone white and desiccated.

“Surprised? You really shouldn’t be, Doctor,” McDowell continued. “Dr. Hecht was not a paper clip or roll of toilet paper. She was an expensive asset that OAS lost due to your negligence. Lucky for us all, her death was the turning point in the project. I was this close to pulling the plug on you, Doctor Glouster.” He held up his thumb and forefinger, squeezing them together until they were only a hair’s breadth apart, as his image replaced that of Dr. Hecht’s corpse. He was the only image on the screen, the splits of the OAS board no longer visible. “And when you get the plugged pulled by me, you never get plugged back in.”

He leaned back from the screen and folded his hands behind his head.

“I am sorry, Doctor Glouster, but your request for a larger enclosure, as well as a larger facility all together, has been denied,” McDowell said. “I am also sorry to tell you that your services are no longer needed. We have what we need to proceed on our own and your continued refusal to be a part of the OAS team is just not acceptable. Consider your plug pulled.”

The screen went blank before Dr. Glouster could respond. He stared at the monitor for exactly two seconds before jumping up from his seat.

Six levels of security.

All of which were designed to protect the ship from outside threats. But Dr. Glouster knew that outside threats were not the problem. It was what was already inside that was the true danger.

2.

“I just want you to be smart and safe,” Ben Clow said as he leaned against the door jamb of his daughter’s bedroom. “I know your mother will say yes to pretty much anything you ask this weekend, without any thought toward the consequences. It sucks, Tee, but I need you to be the adult while you are over there.”

“I got it, Dad,” Tanni Hunsaker-Clow replied as she reclined against the mound of pillows on her bed. “I’ve been to Mom’s before, ya know? I am prepared for the complete and total lack of supervision and logic.” She looked up from her phone, her fingers pausing from their constant typing. “I’ll be sure to make nothing but rational decisions that have been thought through from all angles. I will not let emotion cloud my judgment or inform my choices.”

“Don’t make fun of me,” Ben said. “I haven’t been in the game for over four years now.”

“I read the blog, Dad,” Tanni said. “And you spout some form of that motto at the end of every single entry. Who are you trying to convince? Your readers or yourself?”

“How old are you? Sixteen?” Ben laughed. “The world will be screwed when you actually know what the hell you’re talking about.”

He sighed and rubbed at his face, the salt and pepper scruff on his cheeks and chin making an audible scratching noise. Ben moved from the door and sat on the edge of Tanni’s bed, smiling down at the comforter that still sported oversized, brightly colored flowers.

“Listen. Do me a solid, okay?” Ben asked.

“If you promise never to say do me a solid ever again,” Tanni replied.

“Promise,” Ben said. “Just look after your sister. Alright? I know you want to sneak off from your mother to go spend time with what’s his name.”

“Who?” Tanni asked, her eyes going wide.

“You know, the guy you’ve been texting with for the past month,” Ben replied. “You think I didn’t notice you were sending love texts to some boy? What is his name? Alex?”

Tanni’s face went pale and Ben laughed.

“Chill. It’s all good,” Ben said. “I’m not the dad that wants to buy a shotgun and cram it up his daughter’s new boyfriend’s butthole. Not that dad, okay? Considering what your mother and I were up to in high school, I have no room to talk. Not to mention the hell your grandfather put me through.”

“Pops was a good man,” Tanni said, the color returning to her cheeks. “Don’t say one bad word about him.”

“Your grandfather was a good man,” Ben agreed. “He just never thought I was.”

“You did end up losing a couple hundred thousand dollars of his money,” Tanni said and shrugged. “Can’t think why he’d have been pissed at you.”

“Who told you that?” Ben asked then shook his head. “Never mind. I know your mother did. But that is in the past. And it’s not like he didn’t have plenty of money left when he passed away.”

“Which is locked in a trust fund for me and the Norms,” Tanni said. “Safely out of reach from you or Mom.”

“I’m not that bad with money,” Ben said. “I used to make a living at money management, you know.”

“Playing professional poker is not money management, Dad,” Tanni said. “Setting up IRAs and 401ks for middle managers is money management.”

“Which is why I have the check book,” Maggie Rodriguez-Kimura said as she walked into the room. “And why you have new clothes and get fed every day.” The woman leaned down and kissed Ben on the forehead then ruffled his hair. “Isn’t he just adorable when he tries to act like he knows what the hell he’s talking about?”

“Is adorable the right word?” Tanni grinned.

She pushed off the bed and gave Maggie a big hug.

“Take care of him,” Tanni said.

“I always do,” Maggie replied, kissing Tanni on the cheek. “But I do agree with your father. Watch over Norma and if you do leave to go hang out with Alex, take her with you. I know it’s not sexy fun to have your little sister around when you’re with your—” She paused and gave Tanni a serious look. “When you are with your new squeeze, but do not dare leave Norma alone with your mother. She’ll end up coming back with a blue Mohawk and inappropriate body parts pierced.”

“My mom lives in Olympia, not a circus freak show,” Tanni replied then nodded. “But, yeah, I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“Norma all packed?” Ben asked, giving the two women a confused look.

“Norma is all packed,” Maggie said, ignoring the look. “Tee? You ready?”

Tanni pointed to a single backpack. “Yep.”

“You don’t want to bring more than that?” Maggie asked.

“Nope,” Tanni said. “Norma is the one that needs half her room put into suitcases when she leaves the house. Not me.”

“You pack that crimson skirt?” Maggie asked. “The one that goes great with your grey sweater?”

“I packed both,” Tanni said.

“Good,” Maggie said. “You look cute as hell in that outfit. It’ll be perfect when you go out.”

“I thought we just established that Tanni wasn’t going out,” Ben said.

“No, we established that Tanni wasn’t going out without taking Norma with her,” Maggie said. “You can’t expect a teenage girl not to go out at all on the weekend, Benjamin. That’s just asking for deception.”

“I’m the actual parent here, ya know,” Ben said. “So why do I feel like I’m the outsider with you two sometimes?”

“Because you’re an idiot,” Tanni said.

“An idiot with a cute ass,” Maggie said.

“Ew. Gross,” Tanni laughed.

“Daddy!” a girl screamed from the hallway. Footfalls echoed into the room then ten-year-old Norma Clow came bursting in, her clothes covered in sawdust. “We have a Code Seven Hundred emergency! Jail break! Jail break!”

Then the curly haired redhead was gone, a few specks of sawdust floating to the carpet in her wake.

“I’m guessing there is a guinea pig on the loose,” Maggie said, kissing Ben. “I’ll let you deal with that while I run back to my place and grab a couple of things for the trip.”

“What is over there that isn’t here?” Ben asked. “You’ve been living here full time for a year now.”

“There are some items that I haven’t brought over,” Maggie said. “Personal items.”

“She has all her sexy underwear at her apartment,” Tanni said. “Not the night on the town underwear, but the underwear that is only on for a minute before it is off.”

Ben and Maggie looked at Tanni for a couple of seconds. Maggie smiled and blushed. Ben scowled and blushed.

“Go,” Ben said to Maggie. “I’ll be over to pick you up by three.”

“Sounds good,” Maggie said, kissing him again. “Love you.”

“Love you too,” Ben said.

“DADDY!” Norma screamed from down the hall.

“Jesus,” Ben said. “How the hell does a guinea pig manage to escape so much?”