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To prove his theory, Kurt and Joe took one of the high-speed patrol boats from the island and raced to get out in front of the swarm heading for Africa. Using a suite of radio receivers, he and Joe looked for a signal. Before long they’d picked up a repeating electromagnetic pulse. Shortly thereafter they found the device that was transmitting it.
A hundred miles from the African coast, he and Joe reported their findings to Rudi. “The sea locusts are following a signal from a self-propelled AUV. Looks to be about twenty feet long, completely automated, and broadcasting a repeating pulse.”
Joe streamed video of the device as they waited for a response. The navy-blue autonomous underwater vehicle was moving along the surface at a slow and steady pace. No more than four knots, just enough to keep it ahead of the brood, which at the moment remained under the surface.
“Looks like something we should destroy or send to the bottom of the ocean ASAP,” Rudi suggested.
“That won’t solve the problem,” Kurt said. “It might make things worse. If we take away the signal, the swarm might go off in alldirections, which means they’d still end up somewhere we don’t want them to be.”
“I see your point,” Rudi replied over the radio. “What do you propose?”
“We capture those AUVs, take over control, and make the locusts go where we want them to,” Kurt said.
“Sounds reasonable,” Rudi said. “Where will you take them?”
“Back along their existing course,” Kurt said. “To the most barren spot we can find. We can park them there and leave them with nothing to chew on except each other.”
“Interesting concept,” Rudi replied. “You’ll have to prove it. The Chinese are so concerned about the brood approaching Thailand that they’re getting ready to go the nuclear exterminator route. Can’t say I blame them. The swarm is two hundred miles wide.”
“We figured you’d need a proof of concept,” Kurt said. “You’ll either have it in an hour, or Joe and I will need an industrial shipment of bug-bite ointment.”
Rudi signed off and Kurt put the radio down.
“Once more unto the breach,” Joe said from the helm.
Kurt nodded. “Get us in close.”
As Joe eased the patrol boat up beside the AUV, Kurt used a boat hook to grab it and pull it alongside. It was perhaps ten feet long and covered by a small but not insignificant number of barnacles. Kurt felt like they were trying to lasso a shark or small whale. “Isn’t this where we came in?”
Joe laughed, but said nothing.
Finding a couple of hard points, Kurt secured the AUV with a metal cable, which he anchored to the stern. “Secured for towing,” he told Joe. “Take us back around and head for the dead zone.”
Joe swung the patrol boat in a wide one-hundred-eighty-degree turn.
Doubling back on their existing course took them right over the submerged brood of sea locusts, and the miniature beasts didn’t wait long to respond. A hundred yards behind them, the sea began to churn. Soon the locusts were erupting from the water and taking flight. The sound of their wings beating the air went from eerie to ominous and all-encompassing. It overrode the hum of the patrol boat’s engine and the sound of the wind. It rendered normal conversation impossible.
Joe picked up the pace, putting some distance between them and the growing swarm.
“I’m the Pied Piper of locusts,” Joe shouted.
“I just hope Vaughn was meticulous on his maintenance,” Kurt shouted back. “This would be a really bad time to stall out.”
“Did you check the fuel level?” Joe asked.
“I thought you were going to do that,” Kurt deadpanned.
The fuel was plentiful, and the engine ran without skipping a beat. They held their course and tracked along the path of destruction, the sea appearing deep blue and oddly clear.
Kurt kept his eyes on the trailing insects, watching in astonishment as they grew into a cloud ten miles wide and two miles high.
“How far back do you want to lure them?” Joe asked.
“Ten miles at least,” Kurt said. “We should probably make it twenty.”
Joe checked their position on the GPS and nodded.
Twenty miles from where they’d picked up the AUV, they reached the point of maximum devastation, where the locusts had stripped the ocean bare and the natural recovery process had yet to even begin. There was nothing for miles but salt water and open sky.