Dark Horizons: Early Warning Signs

Hermann, Dee, Newton and Elle might think that the battle has been won. They are wrong.

[Author's Note: This story, the start of a new Pacific Rim series, takes place a few weeks after the end of the story collection The Iceland Breach.]

"Well, this is certainly different to Hong Kong," said Hermann Gottlieb. "There are … uh … "

"Those are trees," said Newton Geiszler.

They were in the Naptha Valley, where the forest was growing back after Trespasser's rampage, years ago now. On the skyline they could see the rebuilding of San Francisco under way, with the towers of the New Golden Gate Bridge rising from the water, glinting in the morning sun.

They were at a Ranger research/manufacturing facility/base. This was where the new Mustangs were being built, after Apache and Blackhawk had been lost in Iceland. Their wives, Dee and Elle, were here to do the test-driving. The two women had been here for several days; Hermann and Newton had arrived only an hour ago.

"Hermann," said Newton. "Was there something about that latest round of research that we did, where we found the signature of Anteverse radiation in the Phillipines, that seemed … well, not quite right?"

"The satellite tracking, and then the aerial reconnaissance, showed a clear signature," said Hermann. "Clear formation, classic structure, a logical place for it, near Mount Mayon volcano. It was … perfect." He paused. "Perfect. Which is why Tendo Choi and Hercules Hansen are leading a good part of the world's military, including the two Jaegers, there right now."

Newton nodded. "Yes," he said. "It was a perfect signature. Stronger and clearer than the others we have seen."

At that moment, the doors of the hangar swung open, and two Mustangs walked out. They came up to Hermann and Newton. "Greetings, earthlings," said one of them. The front panel swung open. It was Elle. "What do you think of my new wheels? It's called Navajo. Dee's is Kiowa."

"Perfect," said Hermann.

"Well, maybe not perfect, still a bit sticky in the lateral hydraulics," said Elle.

The front panel of Kiowa opened. "Hi, guys," Dee said. "I … er, excuse me." The panel closed and Kiowa headed back to the hangar.

"Perfect," said Hermann again. "Mathematically speaking."

"No, actually she was saying she has felt a bit off-colour the past few days," said Elle.

"I think what Hermann meant," said Newton, "is … Elle, is there scanning and communications equipment on this base?"

"Sure," said Elle. "Jump up and I'll give you a ride over there."

They were sitting at a computer console in the Computer/Communications building of the base. Dee had joined them, and they were trying to get a link with Tendo Choi.

His image came onto the screen.

"Find anything?" Newton said to him.

"Not yet, although we're sure that we're at the place that your maths indicated," said Tendo. "The techs are running scans. Why do you ask?"

"We are … having doubts," said Newton.

"We are?" said Elle.

"I thought you said the signature was perfect," said Dee.

"That is what I said," said Hermann. "That is what the analytical algorithms said. But … "

"It's too perfect," said Newton.

"I thought you liked numbers because they were perfect, Herm," said Dee.

Hermann grunted.

Tendo, on the other side of the world, did not look happy. "We'll keep looking," he said, and signed off.

Hermann and Newton looked at each other for a long moment. Then Newton turned to Elle and said: "We need to see the satellite sweeps for the past forty-eight hours," he said.

"Where do you think they go when they do this?" said Dee. She and Elle were watching their husbands poring over metres of printout, studying the huge procession of figures.

"Somewhere that certainly isn't here," said Elle.

The two men were mumbling to each other. It was hard to tell if they were arguing or respectfully exchanging views and insights. The two women had come to call this peculiar process Gottzler.

Finally, Newton pointed to a block of figures and said: "That's it. Right there."

"I agree," said Hermann. "But it's a weak correlation. Weak and irregular."

"Just what," said Elle, "are you guys talking about?"

"We think we have found an anomaly," said Newton. "A leak of Anteverse radiation. Not too far from here, in fact."

"But what about the other one?" said Dee. "The one in the Phillipines. You said that the maths on that one was perfect."

"Yes, I said that," said Hermann. "But the fact that the signal was perfect … well, it bothers me."

"What he is saying," said Newton, "is that every move the Precursors have made so far has been … a change. Different. Like they're trying to find a weakness. Except the Phillipines signal. That was exactly what we would have expected, based on previous experience."

"So what you're saying," said Dee, "is that we should be expecting radical moves from them, not similar ones."

Hermann nodded. "But as I said, this new anomaly is … weak and inconsistent," he said. "The data – "

"Forget the data," said Elle. "What does your gut tell you?"

"My … what?" said Hermann.

"The bit that loves me," said Dee. "Amongst other things."

Hermann stared at his wife for a long time. Then he said: "My gut tells me that the Phillipines signal is a decoy, and the real threat is this other one."

"But I seriously doubt we can call Tendo and Marshall Hansen and tell them that Hermann's gut is worth listening to," said Newton. "They would, well, laugh."

"Sweetie," said Elle, "you said that this new signal was pretty close. Where?"

Newton pulled a map from a file and looked up the co-ordinates.

Yosemite National Park.

"Goddamn," said Dee. "Right in the neighbourhood. An hour's flight."

"Plenty of underground seismic activity there," said Newton. "Makes sense for a Breach site."

"And all our military assets are on the other side of the world," said Hermann.

"Not all," said Elle. "We have the two new Mustangs, and there are three combat choppers and two JumpHawks on this base. And I am the ranking officer here at the moment."

Newton gave a little start. He often forgot that his wife held a significant position in the Ranger hierarchy. "Do you rank highly enough to order up a strike force, based on a weak signal and something that might turn out to be heartburn?" he said.

"Uh, no, I don't," said Elle. "But there might be an alternative."

She called another Ranger over, a UH110 chopper pilot, according to her shirt. "Kaye," said Elle, "I am implementing a practice drill. To, er, test the readiness of Ranger personnel to respond to a sudden crisis. So load up your chopper with K-Stunner missiles and armour-piercing Gatling rounds, and tell the other pilots and co-pilots to do the same. And alert the JumpHawk drivers as well. I'll organise the prep of the Mustangs."

Ranger Kaye Lambert looked at her. "K-Stunners and AP?" she said. "That's pretty heavy duty for a drill."

"May as well make it realistic," said Elle.

"A … drill?" said Kaye. "A … practice … drill?"

"And an exercise in plausible deniability," said Elle. "So if it all goes sideways, the only person who'll get shitcanned is me."

Kaye smiled. "I'll get the choppers organised," she said.

"Damn, this is beautiful territory," said Newton, as the JumpHawk copter carrying Kiowa zoomed over the striking landscape of Yosemite Park. The Park had been evacuated at the same time as the major cities of the American west coast, but the absence of people for many years had, if anything, improved its remarkable natural beauty.

"Let's hope we can keep it that way," said Dee. "Even though I'm Canadian, I'd hate to see any more of the US trashed by Kaijus."

"You're Canadian?" said Hermann.

"Yes, husband, I am," said Dee. "From Quebec, originally. Which is why I have a French name."

"Huh," said Hermann, who had obviously never thought to ask about his wife's background.

Ahead of them was the other JumpHawk, with Navajo, and the three UH110s. Kaye's voice, from the lead combat chopper, came over the radio: "Coming up on those co-ordinates. Nothing so far … wait. Scanners are picking up … something. Over there, at the foot of that mountain. Near that stream."

They were flying up a valley, and Elle was studying the ground below for possible landing sites. She directed the JumpHawk pilots to set the Mustangs down on a patch of flat ground. The JumpHawk landed beside the machines, and Dee, Elle, Newton and Hermann got out. The chopper lifted off. The UH110s hovered.

Newton studied the portable scanner he carried. "Over there," he said. "Five hundred metres."

Dee and Elle were carrying heavy automatic rifles. Now they handed them to their husbands, along with two ear-clip mini-radios.

"Don't complain about it," said Elle. "If we're lucky, you won't need to do a thing."

"Are you feeling lucky?" said Newton to Hermann, as they watched the two women climb into the Mustangs.

"In respect of my lovely Quebecois wife, most certainly," said Hermann. "But that is where it ends."

The Mustangs tested their limbs. They were an upgrade on the previous models, with a massive gun on the left arm, a blade on their right, and a shoulder missile-launcher.

The four of them set off.

"I … I don't like the look of these readings," said Newton. "Energy output is building."

They came to the edge of the stream.

"It's … right in the middle," he whispered. "Under the water." He didn't know why he whispered, it just seemed like the thing to do.

Suddenly, there was a gush of water, straight up.

"Breach!" shouted Newton, looking at his readings.

A creature came shooting up from the Breach, zooming straight into the air. It unfolded a set of bat-like wings.

"That's what we saw in the Anteverse!" shouted Hermann.

"Type now designated as Ptero," said Elle. "Now kill it!"

The UH110s opened fire with their Gatlings, and the creature disintegrated. But another one, and then another, came bursting from the Breach.

"Breach dilation approximately two metres!" said Newton. "It happened nearly immediately. No slow growth this time."

"Is it stopping?" said Dee, as she brought down one of the Pteros.

"I … think so," said Newton. "But I'm reading a lot of activity in the chamber."

"How many?" said Elle.

"Oh, quite a few … " said Newton.

Hermann looked at the scanner.

"About a hundred," he said.

A dozen Pteros had already come through the Breach, and more were appearing. They were emerging faster than the choppers and the Mustangs could shoot them.

"Ground Kaijus on the way!" shouted Newton. "Dogs and bears!"

"The dog ones are now designated as Cani and the bears are Ursu," said Elle calmly. "Choppers, focus on the Pteros and try and stop them from getting out of this valley. Dee and I will concentrate fire on ground targets. Newt, you might want to climb onto my shoulder. Get off the ground."

"Damn right!" said Newton, clambering onto Navajo. He saw Hermann climb onto Kiowa.

A stream of Canis and Ursus erupted from the Breach under the stream. The two Mustangs fired … and fired. Newton and Hermann did their best with the automatic rifles.

Kaiju after Kaiju went down. But then …

"They're coming through too fast!" said Dee.

"You get the ones that have got through, I'll focus on the Breach," said Elle.

Navajo retreated a few steps. The missile launcher popped up.

"Dee, get back!"

Elle fired the K-Stunner missiles. They smashed into the stream of Kaijus emerging from the Breach and exploded with a deafening roar. For a moment, there were no more.

"Well, that wasn't so hard," said Newton, taking the chance to re-load the rifle.

"Wait," said Elle.

A dozen Kaijus, maybe more, came boiling through the Breach.

Overhead, the choppers were doing everything they could to take down the Pteros. But the Kiajus had turned to attack. Two of them smashed into one of the choppers, sending it spiralling earthwards, trailing smoke. Kaye's voice over the radio, to the other pilot: "Fire tracking missiles … now!"

Dee, in Kiowa, was confronted by a dozen Kaijus that had got through Navajo's fire. She brought down one, and then another, and then another, and then –

Three Ursus leaped at Kiowa together. Dee killed one with the blade but the other two smashed into the Mustang. One of them nearly tore the Mustang's left arm, with the gun, away. Kiowa staggered backwards, tottered, and then fell.

Hermann leaped off as the machine went down. In the radio on his ear, he heard his wife shout. He brought the rifle up and fired. A Cani in front of him fell, but it was obvious that the rifle, even with armour-piercing bullets, was of limited use.

He saw the panel of the fallen Mustang swing open. Dee clambered out. But she was clearly hurt, dragging an injured leg behind her.

Three Kaijus were about to leap onto her. They bared their teeth and gave a ferocious howl. Then –

They stopped. They seemed to be staring at her.

And then a fusillade of heavy bullets smashed into them. It was Hermann, holding the massive machine gun from Kiowa's arm. The gun was heavy and the recoil was immense, but somehow he held on, gritting his teeth as he swung it from one target to another.

He glanced at the shell counter on the side of the Mustang. 105 – 90 – 72 – 59 – 41 –

And there were more Kaijus yet.

"Newton, Elle," he said into the radio headset. "Dee is … in trouble. Help her. Please."

22 – 11 – 3 –

Empty.

A Cani leaped at him – and then was knocked aside by a stream of rifle bullets. "Hold on, buddy!" came Newton's voice in the headset. "We're coming!"

And then Navajo was amongst the last of the Kaijus, shooting and slashing. There were four left, two Canis and two Ursus. They looked at the Mustang and gave another howl. And then they turned and ran. In a few moments, they had reached the cover of the trees. And then they were gone.

Another of the combat choppers had gone down.

"Kaye," said Elle into the radio, "you still with us?"

"Yes, but three of those things got away. We're still in the air but we took some damage, not able to pursue. We're going to have to land before we fall down."

"Do so," said Elle. She climbed out of Navajo, and she and Newton joined Dee and Hermann.

"That was quite a stand you made, with that BFG," said Elle to Hermann.

"Well, I … I … you know ... Dee – " stammered Hermann.

"Yeah, we get it," said Newton.

They helped Dee to her feet. Her ankle had been badly twisted when Kiowa went down but she was otherwise unhurt.

"Why didn't they take you when they had the chance?" said Newton. "I saw them all around you. And then they just stopped."

Dee looked at each of them.

"I don't know if this is relevant," she said, "but I think I'm pregnant."

"You're … what!?" said Elle. "How?"

"The usual way," said Dee. "Just a couple of weeks, I think. Occasional puking being the main symptom to date."

"A couple of weeks," said Hermann, "But that means that it would be the last time we … er, had sex. Which would mean it happened … "

"Yes," said Dee. "When we were in the Anteverse."

END (AND TO BE CONTINUED)