The Whorls of Jupiter

Chapter 18 Forsaken Bravo

August 8th 2521 UTC+06 7:34am

Inspector Jendyose stood on the deck of the Tartar's Source, a fishing trawler that had braved the violent swells in search of the hardiest fish that thrived in the whorling seas. Above hovering in the trembling winds was a Bridgemoor C-Class Osprey VTOL with its line lolling about. Jendyose looked at the net of flapping fish and shouted, "Are you certain it's here?!"

"Yes Inspector!" the Captain shouted over the howling winds using a translator on his wrist.

"Show me!"

The Captain reached into a net of thrashing fish and sorted through until he pulled out a large metal walnut shaped case with a single ocular lens dangling from it. His heart pounding in his chest, Inspector Jendyose carefully took the scorched case from the captain and set it upon a barrel. No death so far. Is it hiding in there or is it truly gone? Jendyose flipped a switch and the ocular lense flickered.

"Bravo Twenty Nine... Do you hear me?"

As if summoned from the most isolated layer of hell itself, B29's consciousness stirred. "Aww shit..."

Jendyose reached over to the ocular stalk and aimed it at his own face so B29's onboard AI could read his lips. "Bravo Twenty Nine, respond. Blink once if you can hear me. Blink twice if you cannot."

The ocular stalk blinked once. Then twice. Then rapidly blinked as fast as mechanically possible as B29 screamed in agony and despair, unable to scream or thrash or kick.

"Well you're alive at least. I'm going to need your cooperation for my investigation. I've received news that you encountered something called a 'kirin.' We need to know how to stop it. You've been remanded into my custody for the duration of this crisis. Once I get you back to the station in Antarctica I'll see about getting you, your voice back. Does that sound good?" B29 continued blinking rapidly. The captain pointed in inquiry and Jendyose just shrugged.

On the trip back within the Osprey, Jendyose played news reports for Bravo Twenty Nine. High resolution replays showed his burning body emit a blazing flare of light that dove into the hurricane bands and swept across the globe in less than 9 minutes. From there the hurricanes emitted light that struck dead every human in the 48-48 zone in a matter of hours. Ships that had ventured into the eyes of the bands became trapped within the eyes of hurricanes or face certain death from lightning strikes if they dared venture too close to the storms.Meanwhile, all travel over the bands had to increase altitude to the rare 120,000 ft. altitude. Hundreds of local aircraft were struck and outright torn apart from the fierce lightning in the traditional 30-40,000ft range. Jendyose's Osprey had been specially fitted with a space farer's lift package to quickly recover Bravo Twenty Nine's remains.

Bravo Twenty Nine had no choice but to watch what the Kirin had used him to accomplish. Millions of people were struck dead with estimates that mankind was all but extinct now in the 48-48 zone. Then they started moving. At first just a few but now several hundred thousand. Glowing eyed corpses plotting, planning, strategizing, organizing and mobilizing. And they were all heading south with what they could carry. Some had weapons. Some had children. The safe Antarctic region was not prepared for the wave to come.

B29 watched with horror as earth's elite sent drones to bomb ships the infected were boarding and then they simply marched into the sea. Millions now. All marching into the sea and swimming towards Antartica with unnatural speed and resilience.

Inspector Jendyose narrated the disaster for him, "You're probably wondering how much time we have. Perhaps you don't want to think it's real. Our drone footage confirmed they are on the way. They are swimming distances that aren't human. They don't even seem to be breathing. They're navigating the freezing water deep enough to make it difficult to stop them. We'll reach Antartica in 10 minutes. They'll be on our shores tomorrow morning."