Chapter 74: Under the Ice

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Arctic Ocean. Under the Ice Cap.Depth: 300 Meters.Time: Unknown (Eternal Night).

Ping... Ping... The sonar pulse was the only sound in the silent submarine. It sounded like a heartbeat. Or a countdown.

In the cramped sickbay, Sebastian was thrashing on a narrow cot. He was burning. His skin was dry and hot to the touch, temperature spiking to 40°C (104°F). The "God Protocol" was rewriting his immune system, stripping away the old, weak cells and replacing them with the enhanced ones. But the process was agony.

"Hold him down!" Dr. Braun shouted, trying to inject a sedative. "His heart rate is 180! He's going into cardiac arrest!"

Harper pinned Sebastian’s shoulders. She was terrified. The man who had crushed steel with his bare hands a few hours ago was now fragile, broken by his own power.

"Julian..." Sebastian gasped, his eyes wide open but seeing nothing. "It's cold... why is it so cold?"

---

[The Hallucination]

Sebastian wasn't in the sub. He was back in the underground lab.But the tank wasn't broken. Inside the glass, Julian was floating.Julian looked at him. His eyes were sad."You took my life, brother," Julian’s voice echoed in his head. "You took my blood. My bone marrow. And now... you take my strength."

"I didn't know," Sebastian pleaded in the dream. "I would have saved you."

The glass cracked. Water poured out. But it wasn't water. It was black oil.Arthur Sterling stepped out of the shadows. His father."You are a weapon, Sebastian," Arthur smiled cruelly. "A weapon doesn't have a brother. A weapon only has a target."

"NO!" Sebastian screamed.

---

[The Hunter]

"Wake up!" A sharp slap across the face brought Sebastian back to reality. Harper was hovering over him. The red emergency lights were flashing.

"Sebastian! We have a problem!"

Sebastian blinked. The hallucinations faded, leaving a metallic taste in his mouth. "Report," he croaked, sitting up. His head swam.

"Sonar contact," The Russian captain shouted from the doorway. "American. Virginia-class nuclear attack submarine. fast and quiet." "They are tracking us. They think we are a rogue Russian vessel."

Sebastian stumbled out of the sickbay, leaning on Harper. They reached the Command Center. On the sonar screen, a green dot was closing in fast.

"They are pinging us with active sonar," the captain said, sweat beading on his forehead. "They are locking weapons." "We are in an old diesel sub. We can't outrun a nuke. We are dead in two minutes."

"Do not... fire," Sebastian rasped, gripping the plotting table. "If we open our tubes, they will blow us out of the water instantly."

"They will blow us up anyway!" The captain yelled. "This is a restricted zone!"

"No," Sebastian stared at the green dot. His brain, feverish and overclocked, began to analyze the sonar frequency.Ping... Ping... It wasn't just noise. It was a digital handshake.

"They are using the NATO encrypted identification system," Sebastian muttered. "Protocol 7-Alpha."

"How do you know that?" Dr. Braun asked.

"Because I wrote it," Sebastian’s eyes flashed gold. "Sterling Defense Systems built their combat software."

---

[The Handshake]

"Captain," Sebastian ordered. "Give me the hydrophone. Now."

"You want to talk to them?" The captain scoffed. "They will hear a Russian accent and fire."

"I'm not going to talk," Sebastian grabbed the microphone used for underwater communication. He didn't speak. Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone (which he had modified in Berlin). He connected it to the comms system.

"Harper, the frequency," Sebastian’s hands flew across the screen. "34.5 kHz. Burst transmission."

"What are you sending?" Harper asked, adjusting the dials.

"A backdoor key," Sebastian grinned weakly. "I'm going to tell their computer that we aren't a target. We are a Ghost."

He pressed SEND.

---

[The USS Colorado]

A mile away. Inside the high-tech command center of the American submarine.

"Target locked, Captain," the Weapons Officer announced. "Russian Kilo-class. Unresponsive. Tube 1 and 2 ready."

The American Captain narrowed his eyes. "We are under the ice. If we fire, the explosion might destabilize the shelf. But we can't let them pass." "Fire on my mark." "Three... Two..."

Suddenly, every screen in the Command Center went blue. A single logo appeared. A silver shield with a lion.[ STERLING DEFENSE SYSTEMS ]

[ OVERRIDE CODE: OMEGA-CLEARANCE. ][ ASSET: "THE ARCHITECT" ][ STATUS: DO NOT ENGAGE. ]

The Weapons Officer gasped. "Sir! The fire control system just locked me out! I can't launch!"

The Captain stared at the screen. He knew that logo. He knew that clearance code. It was above Top Secret. It was "Eyes Only" for the Pentagon. "The Architect..." the Captain whispered. "That's Sebastian Sterling." "But he's dead. Or a terrorist."

He looked at the sonar screen. The rusty Russian sub was drifting silently. "Belay that order," the Captain said slowly. "Unlock the tubes. Let them pass."

"Sir?"

"You heard me," the Captain wiped sweat from his brow. "We didn't see anything today. That is a ghost boat." "Delete the logs."

---

[The Crossing]

Back on the Russian sub. The green dot on the sonar turned from red (hostile) to yellow (neutral). Then, it slowly moved away.

"They are disengaging," the Russian captain breathed, staring at Sebastian like he was a wizard. "You hacked a nuclear submarine?"

"I just... called in a favor," Sebastian slumped against the console. The adrenaline faded. The fever returned with a vengeance. He slid down to the floor.

Harper caught him. "You did it," she whispered, rocking him. "We're safe."

"Not yet," Sebastian mumbled, his eyes closing. "Alaska... the ice..." "Julian is waiting... in the cold..."

He passed out.

The submarine continued its silent journey through the dark, icy waters. Crossing the top of the world. Heading for the one place wild enough to hide them.