Godzilla Returns (13 page)

"No!" the admiral replied.
There will be no more loss of life
, he decided. "Tell them to break off the attack and get as far away from the creature as possible."

The radioman nodded and sent out the command. The destroyer shuddered again, and the fire alarms blared. Godzilla's roar echoed throughout the doomed ship.

"Damage report!" the admiral cried.

"Fire below deck!" the first officer said as he gripped the controls.

Admiral Toyohashi stumbled to the bulletproof windows. He looked up at Godzilla. At that moment, the creature stepped back from the
Hatsuyuki
and stared down at the crippled ship with a predatory gaze. Blue lightning flashed, and Godzilla opened its mouth.

It's karma
, Admiral Toyohashi thought.
We can do no more.

* * *

Brian watched as the
Hatsuyuki
exploded. The ship was lifted out of the water by the blast, and then split into two pieces. The stern sank instantly. The front half of the ship turned over on its side. Brian could see sailors leaping off the
Hatsuyuki
's deck and into the Sea of Japan.

His enemy defeated, Godzilla turned away from the wreckage. With a triumphant howl, he continued forward.

Following the admiral's final command, the rest of the Japanese fleet was giving Godzilla a wide berth.
We should try to rescue some of the survivors!
Brian thought when he realized that the other ships were nowhere near the men in the water. But the
Kongo-Maru
did not alter its course. It still approached Godzilla from behind.

In the air above its head, the Seahawk helicopters continued to fire flares and munitions into Godzilla's eyes in an attempt to cover the fleet's retreat.

Suddenly, the
Kongo-Maru
turned. Brian lost his precarious grip on the hatch and almost fell into the Sea of Japan when the hydrofoil jinked to one side, then another, in an attempt to get past Godzilla's thrashing tail.

A smell burned Brian's nose. It was a combination of cordite, gunpowder, ozone, and wet fish. They were close enough to Godzilla to smell the beast, Brian realized. Fortunately, the creature seemed oblivious to the
Kongo-Maru
's rapid approach.

On the catwalk, Buntaro pointed the harpoon at the back of Godzilla's neck - a target almost two hundred feet above the waves. Brian grabbed the railing and climbed onto the catwalk, too. He slowly edged his way toward the harpoon station.

I want to see this
, he thought with determination.
I want to have something to report - that's my job.

* * *

Two hundred feet above the ocean, one of the Seahawk helicopters got too close to Godzilla.

The monster flailed its arm and backhanded the aircraft. The Seahawk's tail rotor was ripped loose, and the pilot lost all control. The helicopter flipped over Godzilla's shoulder and slammed into a row of dorsal spines. Then the Seahawk, its main engines still turning the five-bladed rotors, bounced and rolled down Godzilla's broad back.

The
Kongo-Maru
, which had just dodged Godzilla's thrashing tail, streaked right into the path of the falling helicopter. Brian watched in horror as the mangled machine dropped toward the very deck he was standing on. Time seemed to slow down.

"Buntaro! Look out!" Brian cried over the noise and chaos. The harpooner, who was preparing to shoot, took his eyes away from the scope on the harpoon gun. He saw the rotors spinning toward him.

And he froze.

Brian hit the deck just as the helicopter crashed into the sea off their starboard bow. The fuselage missed the
Kongo-Maru
by mere inches. But the rotors did the damage. As Brian watched helplessly, five whirling blades cut through the deck, shattered the catwalk, and struck the paralyzed harpooner.

Buntaro disappeared in a red mist.

The whole vessel shuddered. Then the rotors caught for an instant. The helicopter's fuselage slammed against the hull as the ship dragged the shattered remains for a few yards before the twisted wreckage finally broke loose.

Still clinging to the deck, Brian could smell kerosene. Fuel from the helicopter was splattered all over the bow. He also saw blood and bits of cloth - all that remained of Buntaro.

Then he looked up. The hydrofoil was almost past Godzilla's tail. He knew what he had to do.

Scrambling to his feet, Brian climbed over the twisted debris of the wrecked catwalk. He reached the harpoon, which seemed to be intact despite the accident. Brian spotted a headphone/microphone set resting in a cradle. He put it on.

"Uncle Maxwell," he cried into the microphone. "Can you hear me?"

* * *

Up on the bridge, Admiral Willis and Nick had watched as the chopper took Buntaro's life. Then they watched as an unidentifiable figure ran across the deck and took the dead harpooner's station. The radio speaker above their heads crackled to life.

"Uncle Maxwell!" the voice cried "Can you hear me?"

Nick's eyes widened. "That's Brian!" He turned and saw Lieutenant Takado standing in the doorway. Their eyes met, and then she looked away guiltily.

"Brian, what the - what are you doing out there?" Admiral Willis barked over the radio.

Unfortunately, Brian's radio receiver had been damaged in the wreck. Brian knew he was listening to his uncle's voice, but the words were almost unintelligible.

"I can't hear you," Brian replied. "But
keep circling Godzilla
... I'm sure I can fire this thing!" He grabbed the handle and elevated the harpoon. He tried to look through the sight, but there was a streak of red on the lens, blocking his vision. Shivering, Brian wiped the blood away.

Godzilla's back loomed in the gunsight.

"Brian, you have to hit Godzilla in the neck, repeat, th...ck." His uncle's voice crackled in his ear. "Don't for...to release th...ty, remem... rel...saf..." Brian ignored the garbled command and squeezed the trigger.

Nothing happened.

Then the voice crackled into his ears again. "You have t...release...safety..." Brian looked at the harpoon. Of course - the safety switch! He located the button and depressed it. A red light on the base of the harpoon gun lit up, showing the weapon was armed and ready.

Again Brian peered through the sight. He was still on target. Brian held his breath and squeezed the trigger.

The harpoon left the barrel with a loud whoosh. To Brian's surprise, the gun had a powerful kick that slammed into his shoulder. Brian ignored the pain. He watched as the harpoon arced into the air.

It struck Godzilla right at the base of the neck, near the spinal column. The long, fiber-optic cable whistled through the winch and was strung along behind. When the harpoon hit flesh, smaller anchors, like super-sharp fishhooks, embedded themselves into Godzilla's hide. The monster was so huge, its skin so thick, that it didn't even notice the harpoon striking its flesh.

Brian heard whoops of triumph over his headset. Suddenly exhausted, he slumped to the deck and started to shake uncontrollably. He still gripped the handle of the harpoon gun as the
Kongo-Maru
stopped circling the monster and took up a position behind it.

Brian was still slumped there - cold, wet, and shivering - when Lieutenant Takado and Nick came out onto the fuel-soaked deck to get him.

May 31, 1998, 3:55 P.M.
Aboard the Kongo-Maru
Somewhere in the Sea of Japan

Brian showered, rested, and dressed in fresh clothes before he stepped into the lounge of the
Kongo-Maru
.

The tiny room was empty. He boiled some water at the kitchenette and made green tea and an instant noodle pack he selected from the shelf. As he ate, Brian recalled his uncle's reaction to his stunt. He smiled at the memory.

When Brian had been dragged back into the ship, stinking of fuel and held up on his feet by Nick and Lieutenant Takado, it was a stern-faced officer of the U.S. Navy high command who greeted him.

"Just what do you think you were
doing
out there?" Admiral Willis barked angrily. "You could have been killed, boy! Just what was I supposed to tell your family? That I took their oldest son fishing - for Godzilla!?"

Brian was too weak, and too numb, to respond. But he smiled at his uncle - which
really
made the admiral mad!

Admiral Willis put his beefy hands on his hips. "And
don't
give me that smart-assed grin of yours, either! I'd tear your head off except for one thing - you did
good!
"

Then the admiral's craggy features broke into a smile. "Yes, you heard me. You did good.

"I'm happy to say we're getting solid data through the cable," he informed them all. "The
Kongo-Maru
will follow Godzilla until he submerges too deep for our cable to reach, or until the cable is broken for some other reason. Every second that cable is feeding us information is precious. We're learning about Godzilla, troops!"

The admiral paused again. Then he slapped his nephew on the back. "Congratulations, son." he said. "I'm proud of you. And I'm sure your father will be proud of you, too."

With that, the admiral turned and headed back to the bridge.

* * *

Brian finished his noodle pack and tossed the cup into the garbage bin. Then he picked up the remote and switched on one of the televisions.

This monitor was tuned to CNN, where an attractive anchorwoman was updating world financial news.

"...Word of the tragic attack and the Japanese Navy's failure to stop Godzilla has the financial markets of the world - which were already jittery - near panic. The Japanese stock market is in meltdown. The Nikkei average has plunged almost twenty percent since noon, Tokyo time. The yen is also down against the dollar and the pound.

"There is fear that the economic panic will spread to other financial markets when the New York and London stock markets open in the morning. In other news -"

Brian turned it off.
I've heard enough
.

At that moment, Nick entered the lounge.

"Hey, if it isn't our international star!" he quipped.

"Huh?" Brian replied.

"Our pal Yoshi - the eye behind the camera who never misses a shot - was filming the attack from the top of the bridge," Nick informed Brian. "He's got the whole battle on tape: the destruction of both ships, the helicopter crash... everything!"

Brian swallowed hard. "Everything?" he asked weakly.

"Yup!" Nick beamed. "Including your little stint as a harpooner. Yoshi sent those pictures back to INN through a satellite uplink.

"Your homage to Moby-Dick has been broadcast worldwide on INN. You're a
star
, son!"

Brian's mouth dropped open. Then he actually giggled. He began to laugh uncontrollably. Soon, Nick joined in. Their laughter echoed throughout the ship.

Lieutenant Takado and Yoshi were passing through the hallway. They peeked in, exchanged puzzled glances, and left again, unnoticed by the laughing duo.

For Brian, the laughter washed away the terrible tensions of the day. When he was finally finished, he rubbed his tired eyes. He discovered that he actually felt better.

"How
do
you feel, old man?" Nick asked when they calmed down.

"Not bad for someone who was in a sea battle, a helicopter crash, and a close encounter with Godzilla, and gained international stardom - and all before noon!"

"Well," Nick said, "you've got to admit it's more exciting than covering the Winter Olympics." They laughed some more.

"So" Brian said, sighing. "Yoshi got it all on tape, did he? And he sent it back to headquarters..."

"He did," Nick nodded. "He'll probably win an Emmy."

"It'll be awarded posthumously," Brian said. "'Cause I'm gonna kill him."

* * *

He's aged a decade since this morning
, Brian thought when Dr. Nobeyama entered the crowded lounge two hours later. The Japanese scientist was tense with anxiety, and the weight of the world seemed to be on his stooped shoulders.

The old man nodded to the assembled officers and technicians of the
Kongo-Maru
. They were packed into the lounge, along with Nick and Brian. Everyone was anxious to hear what Dr. Nobeyama's experiments had revealed.

The Japanese scientist took a seat at the head of the table. Admiral Willis stood at the old man's shoulder. His face, too, was grim.

Lieutenant Takado entered last, carrying a videocassette. She slipped a tape into the VCR and pressed PLAY. Instantly the four television screens were filled with an image of Godzilla, taken just that morning. She froze the picture, turned to the assembly, and spoke.

"Before Dr. Nobeyama speaks, I've been asked to give you an update on the battle - and on Godzilla's movements," she said in English. Though most of the technicians present were Japanese, some were from other countries. English was the scientific team's language of choice.

"Four American airmen were lost in the initial air attack," Lieutenant Takado said grimly. "Two Japanese ships were lost with almost no survivors - there are over five hundred Japanese dead, including Admiral Toyohashi, the commander."

Everyone gasped. One of the technicians - a Japanese woman who was engaged to an officer aboard the
Iwase
- began to sob. Tears rolled down her cheeks as the lieutenant continued her briefing.

"Less than an hour ago, the fiber-optic cable broke and we lost contact with the probe imbedded in Godzilla's body."

This information was greeted with disheartened moans. Lieutenant Takado pressed on.

"The good news is that over ninety percent of Dr. Nobeyama's probes, tests, and experiments were successfully performed. We managed to collect valuable data on Godzilla's physiology.

"The bad news is that Godzilla has shifted direction once again. The creature is currently moving through the Shimonoseki Straits."

Almost everyone in the room was shocked at this bombshell. Brian gasped, too. The Shimonoseki Straits separated the Japanese island of Kyushu and the main island of Honshu.

"My God," Nick blurted out, "that will take him into the Inland Sea!"