Habitat Zero (Sam Reilly Book 15) Read online

  Habitat Zero

  By

  Christopher Cartwright

  Copyright 2018 by Christopher Cartwright

  This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork herein is prohibited. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. All rights reserved.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Epilogue

  Prologue

  South Pacific Ocean – Two Weeks Ago

  The extravagant pleasure cruiser tore through the light blue waters surrounding the constellation of tiny islands and atolls that made up Micronesia as though it were a racecar. The ship had a length of two hundred and eighty feet, two helipads, a swimming pool with a retractable roof, and a sand-covered hydraulic platform that slid out of its port side right at the water line to create a perfect oasis. Not only did the floating oasis boast real sand and deck chairs, but also palm trees for a truly authentic experience. Inside, the ship was embellished with gold trimmings. It was the sort of overt and ostentatious show of wealth one would expect to see in a new class of new money – the mega rich of Silicon Valley.

  She was owned by Travis Macintyre, whose digital startup was recently bought out by one of the bigger players for a sweet 1.2 billion dollars. Like the ship’s name, Carpe Diem, the owner had seized the day with his unimaginable good fortune, bought the ship and filled it with every extravagant toy a kid could dream of, including a three person submarine, a small armada of jet skis, two helicopters and a seaplane.

  Alicia Yeager stretched out along the front deck of the pleasure cruiser. She knew that she was just one of those expensive toys. She could have fooled herself into believing that Travis had fallen in love with her and one day the two of them would get married and have beautiful children. She had the looks and the guile to possibly even make it happen. But Travis wasn’t the type of man she wanted to marry. He was still a kid and billionaires, she’d discovered, made the worst kind of kids.

  No, she didn’t want to marry Travis.

  Oh, Travis adored her, all right. And why wouldn’t he? She was twenty-five years old and had deep blue eyes and light brown hair. She had smooth, tanned skin and the sort of face that somehow formed the shape of a heart when she smiled. Just shy of six foot, she had small breasts, with a slim and athletic figure. She wore a tasteful, but scant bikini that accentuated her long legs. She smiled mischievously. Right now, he would give her anything she wanted, but she knew that when he got bored with her, she would be discarded like the rest of his used toys.

  It didn’t bother her. Travis was like no guy she’d ever met or was likely to meet again. It was like living in a dream, where she could go anywhere she wanted or do anything that took her fancy based on a whim. He was good looking, and good in bed, too. So why should it bother her that she knew it wouldn’t last forever? Nothing lasts forever anyway, right?

  The fine vibrations of the ship’s powerful engines eased as they came to an idle. She felt the ship slow, and sat up. Ahead of them was an island covered entirely in white sand. She smiled, revealing a set of evenly spaced teeth like a model.

  What’s taken his fancy today?

  She stood up, slid into a light see-through kaftan and made her way up to the bridge. Travis stood there studying the navigation table with James, the skipper. Travis was so engrossed by whatever he was studying that he didn’t even notice her walk in.

  After waiting for a moment to be noticed, she said, “What is it Travis? Where have you taken me today?”

  Travis grinned. “I have no idea.”

  Alicia’s eyes swept the small white island in front of her. She matched his smile. It was coquettish, calculatedly alluring. “No idea…where?”

  “That’s just it. I don’t know.”

  “It looks nice,” she said.

  “Sure it does. But it doesn’t belong here.”

  She shrugged. “What do you mean, it doesn’t belong here? Islands don’t just move, do they?’

  “Not usually.”

  “But this one does?” she asked.

  Travis opened a large admiralty map out onto the desk in front of her. With a pencil he made a marking of their current latitude and longitude on the map with an asterisk. “We’re here. What do you see, Alicia?”

  She studied the map. Despite her somewhat ditsy and playful persona, she was highly intelligent. Travis never would have fallen for her if she wasn’t. He was rich enough to have a dozen beautiful strippers, but he wanted more than that. She could see clearly where they were, but there was a real difference between what she saw on the map and what was out the front of the bridge. In fact, it showed the Carpe Diem in the deep waters south of Guam, more than a hundred miles from any island. She glanced at the latitude and longitude displayed on the GPS and then noted the depth sounder – it read 1000 feet and had a plus symbol in front of it, which meant the real depth was greater than that amount – possibly much greater.

  Alicia looked up at Travis, a genuine smile filled with curiosity spread along her face. “Where have you taken me, Travis?”

  *

  Travis studied the white island using binoculars. It was roughly the size of a football field and appeared flat, not more than a few feet high all over, with the exception of the middle section which was about ten feet. The island’s shore was rolling in and out with each ripple of the gentle waves. He adjusted the focus on the binoculars and then smiled again. The shore wasn’t just being swept by the waves; it was being gently lifted, too.

  “What the hell is that?” He handed the binoculars to James. “Have you ever seen anything like this?”

  James adjusted the binoculars, but remained silent.

  Alicia asked, “When did you spo
t it?”

  “About five minutes ago.”

  “You didn’t see it earlier than that?”

  “No.”

  “What about the radar?”

  “It didn’t spot it, either.”

  Alicia said, “What did it do, just turn up?”

  “Yeah, something like that,” Travis said. “It just popped up, and a new island was born.”

  She turned to James, “Well. What do you think it is?”

  James smiled, and shook his head in disbelief. “It’s not an island.”

  “Really?” Travis said. “It’s much too big to be anything else. What do you think it is then?”

  “Pumice!” James said.

  Travis stared at the island in a new light. He could see it clearly now that his mind had gotten past its preconception. It was a sea of white volcanic stone and it wasn’t an island. It was floating. “Let’s bring her in closer for a look.”

  “You can’t be serious?” James said.

  Travis pushed the twin throttles forward and the pleasure cruiser eased forward. “Of course I am, why not?”

  “It’s probably not safe!” James and Alicia replied in unison.

  “Of course it is. What’s it going to do to us?”

  Alicia shrugged. “What if the thing breaks apart?”

  “It’s not high enough to damage the Carpe Diem.”

  Alicia looked at James. “You want to tell him that he’s acting like a fool?”

  James shrugged. It wasn’t his ship, and the man knew better than to contradict the owner and real master of the vessel.

  “It’s all right, Alicia.” Travis eased the throttle back a little and glanced at the depth sounder. There was still more than a thousand feet beneath the hull. “I’ll just take her in a little closer so we can get a better look. That’s all.”

  “All right,” Alicia said. She wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed the back of his neck with her soft lips. “Be careful, please.”

  “I will.”

  James idled the Carpe Diem in close to the shore until the portside of the pleasure cruiser rested against the floating pumice island. He pushed the throttles backward until the vessel slowed to a complete stop.

  Alicia asked, “Now what?”

  Travis smiled. “Now we go exploring.”

  *

  Alicia watched as the sand-covered hydraulic platform was adjusted outward until it sat level with the waterline and the floating island of pumice. A slight crack in the island began to form where the bow wave of the large pleasure cruiser shifted the island. The water now settled back to its glassy stillness.

  Travis stepped out of Carpe Diem’s portside door, crossed the narrow, sandy platform and squatted down at the edge where sand now mingled with the pumice shore. He picked up a piece of pumice. It felt warm in his hand, but not too hot to touch. He threw it onto the island. The stone skipped along the top of the island for a few feet and then came to rest.

  He smiled. It was a big movie star type of smile – full of evenly spaced teeth. Travis looked so happy. For a moment Alicia felt a pang of loss as she considered how beautiful their kids would have been if she did go against her own reservations and married the man. He then picked up a bigger stone and through it onto the shore right next to them. It made her smile. He was just a big kid at heart. She took a step back, waiting for the splash.

  The stone struck the floating island hard, but it didn’t fall through as they were both expecting. Alicia glanced at Travis. His eyes were wide and his mouth open, as though he had discovered some tremendous idea, but wasn’t quite certain how to put it into words yet.

  “What are you thinking?” she asked.

  Travis grinned. “It looks stable.”

  “Stable enough for what?”

  “To walk on of course!”

  Alicia frowned. “Are you sure that’s safe?”

  He spread his hands. “Sure, why not?”

  “It might not be stable.”

  Travis shrugged.

  “It’s not like I can’t swim. If I fall through I’ll just swim back to you.”

  “Okay,” she said, surprised by her own feelings of concern.

  She watched as Travis moved along the artificial sandy beach looking for the thickest section of pumice shore. He paused after about ten seconds, and then jumped. His feet struck the pumice. The shore dipped a little and he wobbled, coming close to falling, but then balanced. Travis looked more like someone learning to surf for the first time. He was standing upright, but something about his posture gave her the impression it wouldn’t be for very long.

  The edge of the shore started to break apart, and he jumped further inland. This time the ground appeared as solid as any real island.

  Travis grinned.

  Alicia said, “Well?”

  “Look at that, it holds my weight!”

  “That’s great.” Alicia had only known the man for about two weeks, but sometimes she wondered how someone so rich could be so enrapt by something as simple as a pile of floating debris. She smiled; it was somehow a cross between coy and lascivious. “Now what?”

  Travis made a show of standing up proudly to make a salute to an imaginary flag. “I claim this island in the name of the king, and call it, Macintyre Island.”

  She smiled genuinely now. Boys. So predictable. “So what does that make you?”

  “The king,” he said. “Are you going to join me?”

  She eyed the strange floating island, her eyes darting between the shore and the newly proclaimed king. “And then, pray tell, what does that make me?”

  “My queen.”

  She clapped her hands. “In that case, I accept.”

  Alicia stepped lithely onto the island, skipping between the larger stones until she reached the deeper section where Travis now walked freely on thick layers of pumice. She caught up with the king, and he embraced her passionately. Their mouths met, and he kissed her. He could be dominating and commanding, but at the same time gentle, timid and unsure of himself. She felt him caress her back, running his fingers down her spine.

  He stopped just short of her derriere and whispered in her ear, “Now, what shall we do on our island?”

  She opened her eyes and met his sky gray colored eyes. “Anything you like. The island belongs to you, and so does everything on it.”

  Travis stepped back. “Good. In that case, I would like to explore my kingdom.”

  She laughed. It was like dating a child. Alicia glanced around the island. “The place looks pretty barren to me. Did you have any ideas?”

  “Over there!” He pointed toward the largest section of the island, where the pumice was at least ten feet thick, creating a small mound. “Let’s climb it.”

  “Okay, you’re the king.”

  “Race you to it!” Travis yelled, and started to run.

  Alicia sprinted after him. It didn’t take long, maybe a little under a minute to reach the small hill and race to the top. She trailed only a few feet behind him until he increased the gap as he pushed on through the thicker piles of pumice, and disappeared over the crest.

  Her thighs burned as she climbed to the top, clearing the crest at a run. A split-second later, she felt Travis’s muscular arms grab her and force her to the ground. There was no playfulness in his motion, nor was their malice. He’d done it to protect her. She fought him as he tried to keep her on the ground. But she’d been sunbaking before they’d discovered the island, so she wore sunscreen all over her body.

  Travis struggled to keep a grip on her. She slipped away and faced him. “What the hell is it?”

  “Don’t look!” he shouted.

  It was the sort of thing that inevitably made anyone look. Her eyes turned from his handsome face, into the opening at the center of the island. Alicia tried to comprehend what she was staring at. She tried to be strong, and keep her eyes fixed on it – but instead she found herself screaming, like some heroine in a badly acted seventies era horror film.


  “It’s okay,” he was quick to comfort her.

  She felt his warm arms wrap around her body, and in an instant she buried her head in his chest. She could have stayed there forever, protected from the sight, but instead she faced him, looking straight into his eyes. “No it’s not. Nothing will ever be okay, again… will it?”

  *

  Alicia closed her eyes, but the image burned in her mind. The mound formed a hollowed crater like the inside of a volcano. It had a diameter of about forty feet and was at least ten deep. At the center were approximately five hundred birds. They were white all over with a black scalp. If either of them knew anything about migratory birds, they would recognize them as Arctic terns.

  The birds had recently been made famous after the recognition of their lengthy migration. Arctic terns fly from their Arctic breeding grounds to the Antarctic and back again each year, across a minimal distance of 12,000 miles. They were amazing creatures, and right now, every one of them was dead. Not just dead – grotesquely damaged. Their eyes bulging out of their sockets, their bodies hideously deformed, blisters formed over their once cute little faces.

  She opened her eyes and met Travis with a direct stare. “What do you think killed them?”

  “I don’t know. Most likely the gases. This is obviously some sort of volcanic ash, from an underwater volcano. It’s pretty rare, but not unheard of. Maybe when it came up the gases killed the birds?”

  “Do you think we’re safe?”

  “Of course we are,” he said. “I remember hearing somewhere, probably on one of those Planet Earth documentaries or something, that pumice is formed by gas bubbles that were trapped in the rock during the rapid cooling of a gas-rich frothy magma. The material cools so quickly that atoms in the smelt are not able to arrange themselves into a crystalline structure. Thus, pumice is an amorphous volcanic glass. During the process of floating to the surface, the pumice would have been surrounded by intensely heated gas. The flock of birds must have been unlucky enough to be flying over at the time.”

  At times she forgot that underneath his boyish playfulness, lived a genius and a nerd. “How can you be so sure?”

  “It would have been the heat that killed them. Now that the pumice and rest of the island has had time to cool and the hot gases dissipate, we should be perfectly safe.”