Godzilla 2000 (6 page)

The director cued the cameraman, and Robin's face filled the monitor once again. "Some people call this crater the Graveyard of the Dinosaurs."

The director signaled for her to speed it up as he flipped the page on the clipboard. Robin skimmed the words as she picked up the pace.

"Scientists estimate that the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs was twice the size of the largest one now heading toward the earth."

Again, Robin modulated her voice to sound grim and portentous. Again, the director signaled her to pick up the pace.

This time, Robin ignored him.

"It took nature millions of years to recover from that first cataclysmic asteroid impact... millions of years to restore the rain forests below and the varieties of animal and vegetable life that abound all around us."

For dramatic effect, Robin turned and looked out of the window as if she were meditating on the fate of our puny planet.

"How long will it take nature to restore Earth if another asteroid should strike the planet in the next two months?" she asked dramatically.

The cameraman never wavered, though he wanted to burst out laughing at the director's obvious annoyance with the intern's theatrics.

Fortunately, the segment was winding down.

"In the next half-hour, INN's Nick Gordon will pose these questions to Dr. Ramon Reyes, the co-discoverer of -
oh my God, what's
that?"

The director ripped off his headphones and almost choked. Luckily, the cameraman was on top of things. He shifted the camera and focused in the direction Robin was pointing.

Through the lens, the cameraman saw an immense dark green blur in the blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Hastily, he tried to focus.

As the cameraman worked the lens, the director whistled in amazement and the pilot dipped the helicopter lower. The pilot was also a seasoned journalist, and he knew when to chase a story.

Suddenly, the image on the monitor sharpened, and the astounding vision was revealed to the viewing public on live, nationwide television.

Science Sunday
had just been interrupted by the appearance of a giant prehistoric monster swimming in the Gulf of Mexico!

"Keep talking!" the director screamed through Robin's headphones. The intern snapped to attention, then turned away from the creature in the water, to stare, wide-eyed, at the camera. She looked like an idiot.

Fortunately, the camera's eye was focused on the creature swimming in the surf far below.

"Talk!" the director shouted again.

Suddenly, Robin Halliday regained her composure and began to report on what she was seeing. As she spoke, Robin was able to summon up a measure of calm, poise, and professional detachment, much to the director's surprise.

"As we watch, a gigantic animal is moving through the Gulf of Mexico toward the resort complex below..."

The director fumbled with his headphones. As he put them back on, he nodded encouragement to the intern, who continued to speak.

"Though I can't make out the details of the creature from this distance, I think I can say with some certainty that this animal is a totally new species. This creature is
not
a whale, and it is
not
Godzilla..."

The helicopter swooped over the monster, and the cameraman switched to a wide-angle lens so that the creature was clearly visible to the television audience. More and more details of the astounding monster were unveiled.

Pleasure boats swept past the creature, fleeing its path. A speedboat, pulling a water-skiing couple, capsized in the churning waters. The monster swept the sinking boat and the floundering swimmers aside as if they were toys bobbing in a bathtub.

As Robin described the event, the creature emerged into shallower waters close to the white, sandy beach. More details about the leviathan's anatomy were revealed.

"The creature looks like a long, thin iguana," Robin observed, "though its legs are arranged more like a toad's. It has very long legs and a leg joint below thick thigh muscles. I believe that the claws and feet are webbed.

"The head is round, not wedge-shaped, and the mouth seems frozen in a perpetual sneer. The jaws are lined with irregular teeth. I would describe its overall color as brown and gray, but there are blue and green splotches on its back and sides.

"The eyes are large and narrow, and seem to follow movement..."

As Robin Halliday spoke, the monster pulled itself onto the beach, directly in front of a twelve-story glass and steel resort hotel. Frantic vacationers on the beach fled in terror as the mysterious creature approached the hotel.

The pilot began broadcasting a general warning in Spanish over the radio while maneuvering the helicopter deftly. The aircraft was hovering to the right of and above the strange monster. Robin continued to describe the creature to her viewers.

"The reptile has a prominent line of translucent, bony spikes that run in a straight line from the crest of its head to the end of its long tail.

"There also seems to be a thin webbing, or membrane of some kind, that runs along its torso, connecting the front and back legs. The creature has a leathery layer of flexible armor plating that covers its back. This plating is covered with round bubbles or knobby bumps..."

Suddenly, the creature opened its mouth and emitted an eerie, whistling roar. The noise shook the helicopter and surprised the INN news team. A swarm of jungle birds burst from the trees below, narrowly missing the chopper's swirling blades.

"I hope you heard that sound at home," Robin said, instantly regaining her composure. As she spoke, she glanced at her director. To her shock and delight, he was beaming. Once again, the technician gave her a thumbs-up.

He was beaming, too.

Meanwhile, the monster strode onto dry land on all four legs. Its massive front claws knocked aside abandoned outdoor furniture and brightly colored beach umbrellas, some of which bounced down the beach as if a terrible wind were blowing. Sand was kicked up from the beach as well, and began pelting the helicopter blades and fuselage.

At that moment, some of the people who had taken refuge inside the main hotel building began rushing out the other side. They crossed a huge parking lot and ran in a mob toward the main ribbon of highway. And not a moment too soon...

With a tremendous roar, the amphibious creature slammed into the hotel. Instantly, every window in the structure exploded outward in a shower of sparkling shards. The roof collapsed next, spilling debris, and several screaming guests, into the huge swimming pool.

From the area of the first floor near the restaurant, bright crimson flames gushed forth as a gas main ruptured. A secondary explosion quickly followed. The force of the blast sent a geyser of flames into the bright blue sky and knocked the startled creature backward.

Robin couldn't speak fast enough to describe the amazing event to her millions of viewers. Circling over the destruction, the news team was getting remarkable footage of the devastation. But in the excitement of the moment, the pilot of the INN news chopper had flown too close to the disaster.

As the creature was rolled onto its back by the force of the explosion, the helicopter was buffeted by shock waves from the blast. As the pilot struggled to regain control of the vibrating aircraft, the helicopter's blades were struck by flying debris.

Inside the aircraft, Robin Halliday, the satellite technician, and the director were thrown to one side. The cameraman, realizing that the satellite link had been broken, tried to load the camera with fresh videotape even as the chopper tumbled toward the earth.

Robin screamed. The director paled. The technician fainted.

But the pilot struggled on. Just when it seemed as if the chopper was going to strike the earth, the pilot twisted the aircraft around and landed it on the soft sand of the beach.

Despite the sandy cushion, it was a hard landing. The support struts instantly caved in and the chopper tilted to one side. Then the swirling blades struck the sand and dug in, spinning the helicopter around and slamming the fuselage against a copse of tall palm trees.

The blades shattered, and the main body of the helicopter leaped into the air for the last time and came to a rest in the middle of a huge, manicured garden - part of the resort hotel's luxurious grounds.

"Everybody out!" the pilot cried when what was left of the helicopter came to a grinding halt. The director kicked open the door and tugged the satellite man out by his collar.

The technician was out cold.

Robin, meanwhile, struggled to open her door. The cameraman, bleeding from a cut on his head, pushed past her and slid the door wide open. Then he jumped out, still clutching his camera.

"Hey!" Robin cried. "How about some help?"

The pilot rushed over to the shaken intern. Her seat belt was jammed, but the pilot cut her free with his emergency knife.

As they stumbled away from the demolished helicopter, the fortunate survivors watched in awe as the monster righted itself and moved past the burning building.

Despite a mild case of shock, the director smiled. "Attaboy, Chuck!" he shouted when he saw the cameraman shooting more footage. The director turned to Robin and patted her on the shoulder.

"You did good, kid. But
that's
what I call a
pro!
" he said, pointing to the cameraman.

Just then, the monster emitted another piercing, high-pitched squeal. Robin covered her ears.

While the cameraman filmed, the rest of the team watched as the monster reared up on its long hind legs.

"It's swelling up like a blowfish!" Robin exclaimed into her dead microphone. "The creature seems to be inflating..."

As they watched in awe, the bubbles on the armor plating dotting the monster's back and sides began to expand. The entire creature seemed to swell up. Finally, it leaped into the air like some nightmarish giant toad.

As it left the ground, the creature flew right over the cowering news team. In its wake, a tremendous wind swirled around them, kicking up sand and almost knocking them down.

The wind lasted for only a few seconds, then subsided. Suddenly, the air all around them smelled very sweet. Robin sniffed the air, then she looked at the director. He was smelling the air, too.

"Look up there!"
the cameraman cried, without taking his eye from the eyepiece. The pilot, who was busy administering fist aid to the unconscious satellite technician, ignored the cameraman. But Robin and her director both looked into the sky. Far away now, they could see the silhouette of the monster as it disappeared into the low clouds over the jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula.

The monster's arms and legs were spread wide, and the membranes that ran along the beast's torso were stretched to the limit, so that they seemed translucent.

"He looks like Rocky the Flying Squirrel," the director quipped.

Robin nodded. Then she turned and looked behind her at the smoldering ruins of the hotel.

"But this flying squirrel is a lot more dangerous than Rocky," she whispered.

* * *

Sunday, May 23, 1999, 2:00 P.M.
Osborne County, Kansas
A grain field

A single foraging praying mantis crawled along the fertile and familiar land of Oswald Peaster. The creature was hungry, and it sensed sustenance was nearby, so its tiny legs moved forward until it reached an unnatural pit in the plowed earth.

Cautiously, the mantis approached the edge. At the bottom of the pit, there were many strange rocks. One of them suddenly popped open with a loud hiss. The movement and sound caused the mantis to retreat momentarily, until a thick yellowish substance leaked out of the still-smoldering meteorite and attracted the mantis's interest.

Once again, the mantis approached. This time it moved down into the pit to dip its mouth into the slime.

As soon as the insect's mandibles touched the substance, a violent biological reaction occurred. Even as the mantis stumbled away, it was changing, shifting, mutating.

The mantis soon attracted a female of its species. The two insects mated, and according to its instinctive programming, the female devoured the male mantis at the moment of consummation - ingesting the same toxic substance that had mutated the male.

In the days that followed, the infection spread through the entire mantis population of Osborne County and beyond.

As more insects were exposed, more radical genetic changes took place.

A voracious hunger was one of the many adaptations that seemed to ensure survival. Uncontrolled growth was another, so the creatures began to grow bigger and bigger and bigger...

Sunday, May 23, 1999, 3:18 P.M.
Project Valkyrie headquarters
Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada

Klaxons blared throughout the three-story concrete and glass structure that served as the living and training area for Project Valkyrie's six-member team of trainees.

The alert surprised everyone, because Sunday afternoon was technically "down" time. So nobody thought it was a drill
this
time. Their faces were grim, serious, and reflective as they filed out of their rooms, toward the command center.

Toby Nelson, Martin Wong, and Pierce Dillard exchanged meaningful glances as they rushed down the long white corridors. Behind them, Tia Shimura walked with Lori Angelo. They were subdued and pensive.

"Look, Lori," Tia whispered, pointing at the senior Air Force personnel who were also streaming toward the command center. "They don't know what's going on, either."

Lori, who was yawning, had just awakened from a nap. Her short hair was messed up and she was cranky.

"Trust me," she said knowingly "This is just another surprise inspection or something, or maybe another senator on a fact-finding mission..."

But Tia glanced at the hard faces of Toby and Pierce, and she wasn't so sure.

At the far end of the long corridor, a steel door flew open and Kip Daniels rushed in. He was the only one not wearing G-Force overalls. Instead, he wore battered Levis and a worn T-shirt with "May the G-Force Be with You" emblazoned across his chest. He was also flushed and out of breath.