Read Online Beyond Hades: The Prometheus Wars by Luke Romyn - Free Book Online

place despite the intense pressure.
    After what seemed like an eon, the external thumping finally began to subside, and Talbot heard the commander bark out an order to the deck officer, though he couldn't understand the words. It took him a moment, but he finally realized they were both speaking a language Talbot had never managed to learn - Russian. He glanced over at Captain Benedict who merely shrugged.
    "They're our allies now," Chuck said simply. "And we needed their sub. The Russians would never hand it over without having their own crew on board to keep an eye on things."
    Talbot began to reply, but was cut off by another rumble from outside the hull, followed by a slight rolling sensation. The docking clamps must have detached, releasing the sub. The twin nuclear reactors rumbled slightly as the massive craft powered-up. It began to push forward against the water still flooding into the dock.
    The Archangel surged forward, commencing a journey that would push them through the gates of Hell.

CHAPTER 4

    Several hours passed without event, and Talbot relaxed enough to actually doze in one of the tiny crew bunks, exhaustion from the stressful day finally overcoming him.
    His nap was abruptly interrupted, however, when he was flung roughly from the bunk and into one of the walkways. The fogginess of slumber clouded his mind and for one terrifying moment Talbot had absolutely no idea where he was. The submarine was gone from his memory, as were the events leading up to it, including the death of his brother.
    Thomas was dead.
    That recollection emerged first from the mists of his memory, and along with it came everything else, an avalanche of details, incredible and terrifying, crushing Talbot beneath them.
    He was meant to stop this mess.
    And how the hell was he supposed to do that?
    The enormity of the situation was thrust aside as the sub shook horrendously once more, the groaning of the hull terrifying, as though every single rivet were straining to the point of bursting - along with Talbot's sanity. The entire sub tilted wildly to port, and a horrendous screeching echoed through the hallways, increasing Talbot's panic immeasurably. Struggling to his feet with difficulty, he stumbled down a narrow corridor to the ship's bridge.
    The sub's commander barked an order to the crew, and Talbot noticed a distinct lack of strain in his voice, a fact he found odd under the circumstances. A huge plasma screen - obviously not part of the original ship's design - descended from the ceiling and an eerie picture sprung to life on it. Spotlights lit an external camera which, judging from the angle, must have been located on the tail fin of the sub. At first there was no sign of what attacked them. The camera panned....
    And then he saw it.
    "What the hell is that ?" asked Talbot incredulously.
    Several serpentine heads flickered on elongated necks in front of the camera. The massive snake-like body of the creature wrapped around the hull, squeezing it in the way a python would constrict a mouse.
    "That, Doctor, is the Lernaean Hydra," answered the commander calmly in perfect English. "Your brother described it flawlessly, but we underestimated its size."
    " Underestimated its size ? That thing is enormous!"
    The Commander peered over at him, unperturbed by the outburst. "We are prepared for this, Doctor Harrison. You needn't worry."
    Talbot began to answer, but the commander turned away, effectively cutting him off. How in the world could they be prepared for something like this ? A colossal, multi-headed beast of Greek mythology shaking the world's largest submarine around like a maraca wasn't commonplace stuff.
    The Commander barked something in Russian, and the deck officer relayed it in English. "Prepare to fire torpedoes!"
    Activity electrified a corner of the bridge. "Fire," ordered the commander.
    On the screen, Talbot saw four guided torpedoes shoot away from the sub, looping back through the water toward the thick body of