Tigers of The Deep

Mariana Trench

"There's nothing left to repair," Captain Hoppe said, staring into the abyss from the observation deck.  "Whatever attacked the Prometheus literally tore the screw off the drive shaft."

Benedict stroked his goatee, deep in thought.  "Contact the Goliath.  Inform them I want to complete the sub and crew exchanges twelve hours ahead of schedule.  I expect the Epimetheus to be in the water and descending within the hour.  Captain Warren, assemble your crew aboard the Prometheus, your shift is over.  Lacking propulsion, you'll have to allow your sub to drift free from the docking bay.  Wait for the Benthos to clear, then drop your ballast and free float topside for repairs."

"Aye, sir," Captain Warren said.  "What about the girl?  She's expecting to ascend."

"For now, the girl will remain aboard the Benthos."

"Benedict, what harm would it do to let her go?" Captain Hoppe asked.  "She knows nothing—"

Benedict's eyes seemed to sizzle.  "Are you questioning me again, Captain Hoppe?"

"I only—"  Benedict's piercing gaze cut off the man's objection.  "No, sir."

"Sir, what about these creatures?" Captain Warren asked.

"Where's our paleo-biologist?"

"Williams should be in his lab," Hoppe said quietly.

"That's where I'll be.  Gentlemen, carry out your orders.  Oh, and Captain Hoppe, have Sergei join me in the lab."

*        *        *        *        *

CIA Agent Heath Williams slipped the microcassette into a hidden compartment in his duffel bag, then finished packing his belongings.

"Going somewhere, Professor?" Benedict asked, entering the lab.

"Mr. Singer, you startled me.  Yes, I heard the Prometheus was surfacing early.  As I told you when you hired me, I have to be back at Scripps Institute this week for a series I'm hosting on he distribution and diversity of Cretaceous Chelonoids.  But I'll be returning the following week.  The section of fossilized skeleton you recovered—it's absolutely incredible."

"Is that so?"

"Yes.  I left you a complete report detailing the species—"

"I detest reading reports, Professor.  I prefer to hear verbal details directly from the source.  So, if you don't mind."

"Of course not, uh, if I have time.  When will the Prometheus be leaving?"

"Not until you and I have completed our discussion, so take your time."

Heath led him to the back room where the immense grayish-black object lay beneath surgical lights.  Four steel tables had been positioned together to support the relic, which was over ten feet long and eight feet wide, rising upward of five feet at its highest point.

"What we're looking at," Heath said, "is a cross section of a skull from an extinct order of marine reptiles known as plesiosaurus.  There were two major subspecies of plesiosaur, which differed if the lengths of their necks and in their feeding habits.  This particular specimen is a member of the superfamily, pliosauroidea, a short-necked, carnivorous breed considered by paleo-biologists to have once been the tigers of the Mesozoic seas.  As you can see, these monsters possessed extremely large heads with short necks, which streamlined their bodies for swimming.  The jaw muscles were quite strong, the teeth were particularly hideous—needlelike cones, slightly curved and razor-sharp, protruding out of the jaw like those of our modern-day crocodile.  Here, take a look for yourself."

Heath pointed to the narrow end of the skull.

"It's a little difficult to see, because the jaws themselves have been so severely crushed by the predator that killed it, but if you look here, you can still see fragments of four-inch teeth."

"And you call this a pliosaur?" Benedict asked, examining the jaw.

"Actually, I've identified this particular animal as a Kronosaurus, the largest of the known pliosaurs.  The species dates back to the early Cretaceous, more than one hundred million years ago.  Until Carcharodon megalodon came along, these monsters were the true lords of the sea.  Kronosaurus dominated the warm shallow seas along the landmass that eventually became Australia.  Fossilized evidence indicates the creature's length reached more than forty feet.  This animal was four to five times heavier than a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and could probably have eaten one for breakfast."

"And this was the creature's skull?"

"Just a section, beginning about its midjaw, extending back to its forelimb girdle and upper rib cage.  See these two holes," Heath stated as he pointed along the dorsal skull.  "It's hard to tell because they're crushed, but those were the creature's orbital bones, or eye sockets.  Kronosaurus's head was flat-topped, with a set of powerful jaws larger and more destructive than that of T-Rex.  Each upper and lower jaw contained twenty to twenty-five teeth.  The rest of the body was ellipsoidal, very streamlined, with two pairs of elongated limbs, which acted like wing-shaped flippers.  The torso tapered back, ending in a short, muscular tail.  The rather large limb girdles we've collected from other fossils indicate the creature's were pursuit predators, capable of swimming very fast through the sea."

Benedict stared at the fossil with respect.  "How old is this specimen?"

"That's what's so incredible.  The animal we're looking at inhabited these waters less than two thousand years ago.  What's more, this animal shows clear anatomical adaptations to its environment."  Heath pointed to the crushed rib cage along the wider end of the skull.  "Again, it's difficult to tell because of the overwhelming damage, but these grooves along either side of the gastral rib cage appear to be gill slits."

"Gill slits?  I thought this was a reptile?"

"It is, or rather, it was.  What you're looking at is a prehistoric marine reptile that adapted to a deep-water habitat by growing gills.  This particular species apparently evolved over tens of millions of years in order to exist within the unique environmental conditions of the Mariana Trench."

"Then you believe the Prometheus was attacked by Kronosaurs?"

"As unbelievable as it sounds—yes.  Look, we know that most of the dinosaurs disappeared worldwide at the end of the Mesozoic era, about sixty-five million years ago.  The ancient marine reptiles disappeared about the same time, but their extinction was more gradual, due to a steady drop in sea temperatures."

"Reptiles, being cold-blooded, rely on the sun as their main source of energy and heat.  Scientists always believed that life couldn't exist without the sun.  The discovery of hydrothermal vents in 1977 changed all that.  Now we know that bacteria and other sea creatures of the abyss are able to utilize sulfur and other chemicals that spew out of hydrothermal vents.  Instead of photosynthesis, these creatures rely on chemosynthesis."

"You're not telling me anything new, Professor."

"I realize that, sir, but everything I've just said leads up to an incredible theory I have about the Trench."

Heath pulled out a U.S. Geological Survey map of the Western Pacific.  A red line circled the arching chain of the Mariana Islands.  The dark outline of the Mariana Trench ran parallel, just east of the landmass, as if shadowing it.

"We know the Mariana Trench, Ridge, and the adjacent Mariana Islands were all formed by the continuous subduction of the Pacific Plate thrusting beneath the Philippine Plate.  This tectonic process has probably gone on for billions of years.  At one time, the Mariana Islands, which are a classic example of an active chain of stratovolcanoes, were all, in fact, underwater.  One hundred million years ago, the area from here to the Australian landmass was a warm tropical sea teeming with all sorts of prehistoric species of fish and reptiles.  And at the top of the food chain were the Kronosaurs."

"Sixty-five million years ago, an asteroid collision set off a series of mass extinctions.  Sea levels dropped, the air cooled, as did water temperatures.  Kronosaurus, being a reptile, suddenly found the sun no longer capable of sustaining its body temperature.  Desperate for warmth, many of these creatures would have ventured into the deepest warmer depths of the Mariana Trench, where the superheated waters rising from hydrothermal vents act like a primordial furnace, allowing the marine reptile to maintain its body heat."

"Interesting," Benedict said, stroking his goatee.  "So the Mariana Trench became an oasis for certain prehistoric species of marine life."

"Exactly."

"This animal, Professor—what killed it?"

"The only natural enemy the Kronosaurus had was Carcharodon megalodon.  Even though the sharks didn't evolve until much later in the Cretaceous, Megalodon was bigger, meaner, and better equipped to handle changes in water temperatures.  Fossilized records of Megalodon teeth indicate the sharks continued to thrive in oceans all over the world up until the last ice age, about one hundred thousand to two million years ago."

Heath glanced at his watch.  "I've read Jonas Taylor's theories on how Carcharodon megalodon managed to survive extinction after the last Ice Age by inhabiting the warm bottom layers of the Mariana Trench.  The one thing I always questioned was how these enormous sharks could survive, isolated in the abyss, with only a limited food supply.  It turns out that the food supply wasn't limited at all.  Kronosaurus had been proliferating in the Trench for tens of millions of years, long before the first Megalodon ever sought refuge in the gorge.  Of course, once Megalodon moved into the Trench, the hunters became the hunted."

Heath pointed to a series of holes lining the rib cage of the fossil.

"See these holes?" Heath said.  "They're bite marks.  This Kronosaurus was killed by a Megalodon.  The shark clamped its jaws onto the animal's head and upper torso, chomping through bone in one powerful bite that not only crushed its prey's spine, but actually severed the marine reptile in two.  I'll bet the reason these Kronosaurus now hunt in packs is to defend themselves against Megalodon attacks."

"So the mysterium trememdium is finally resolved.  And how do you propose we defend ourselves against this pack of Kronosaurus?"

"In the Mariana Trench, size matters.  The Kronosaurs are nearly as large as the Prometheus, so they'll continue to attack.  But even four of these beasts are no match for the Benthos, the largest moving thing in the Trench.  My advice is simple:  Keep the Benthos close at all times, even if it means delaying the completion of your mission."

"I understand."

Heath turned as Sergei entered the lab.

"Sergei, wait for me in the corridor, please," Benedict said, "I'll be right with you."  He turned back to Heath, extending his hand.  "Better get down to G deck, Professor."

Heath smiled, shaking Benedict's hand.

Instead of releasing his grip, Benedict placed his left hand over the inside of the paleo-biologist's wrist, feigning a gesture of warmth.

"One last question before you go," Benedict said, positioning the fingertips of his left hand over the man's pulse.  "Have you ever heard of Devil's Purgatory?"

Heath's eyes locked onto Benedict's, the CIA agent's pulse racing.

"Devil's Purgatory?  No, never heard of it.  Sound like a kid's ride.  Why do you ask?"

Benedict smiled, releasing the Professor's hand.  "No reason.  Again, thank you, and have a safe journey.  Your information has helped me to see things much more clearly."

*        *        *        *        *

Terry hastily tossed her belongings into her travel bag.  Word had spread quickly about the Prometheus 's early departure and she was determined to be one of the first on board.

A knock startled her.

"Who is it?"

"Sergei.  I am to escort you to sub."

Terry felt herself break into a cold sweat.  "That's okay, I'm fine, thank you."

"I wait for you here," replied the Russian.

Terry sat down on the edge of her bed, her body trembling.  She stared at her travel bag, tears of frustration and anger welling in her eyes.  She knew that Sergei had no intention of escorting her to the sub.

The message had been delivered, its meaning quite clear:  Terry was now a fly in Benedict's web.  She would not be permitted to leave the Benthos alive.