Spawn Of The Deep

by Michael Bray

  “The sausages are tasty,” Ross said between mouthfuls, ejecting a few flecks of meat back onto his plate.

  Rainwater leaned forward, looking down the length of the table. “Where’s Decker?”

  “He’s not here, I’m afraid.”

  Rainwater turned towards the man that had spoken who was sitting a few seats down. He was thin with high cheekbones and wire-rimmed glasses which made his brown eyes seem large and almost bug-like. His mouth was a thin cruel line, and his hair was jet black and side parted with what looked like enough oil to fill a tanker.

  “What do you mean he’s not here?” Rainwater asked, feeling the prickle of anxiousness in his gut.

  The man dabbed the corners of his mouth with his napkin and set it on the table. “Mr. Decker sends his sincere apologies. Unfortunately, he had to sail back to the mainland in the middle of the night on urgent business.”

  “He’s gone? You mean we’re stuck here?”

  The man smiled, the gesture devoid of any emotion. “Nothing so dramatic I’m afraid. Although Mr. Decker was forced to leave unexpectedly, he will return by nightfall. Until then I have been asked to offer you every courtesy.”

  “And who are you?” Jade asked, a forkful of bacon held midway towards her mouth.

  “My name is Styles, but you can feel free to call me Ben or Benjamin if you wish.”

  “Decker knew I wanted off this facility. Why the hell didn’t he wake me before he left?”

  Styles looked to Rainwater, magnified eyes blinking as they stared at him. “As I said, Mr. Decker was forced to go back to the mainland in the middle of the night. He was disappointed to have to leave so suddenly knowing you were here as his guests. The downside of being the CEO of a major international company, I’m sure you understand.”

  “What’s back at the mainland that’s so urgent?” Jade asked.

  “Business.”

  “What kind of business.”

  “Mr. Decker’s business,” Styles shot back.

  “Convenient, don’t you think?” Rainwater said, glancing at Jade then at Styles.

  If he was flustered, Styles didn’t show it, he merely shrugged. “Mr. Decker is a very busy man. This is just one of his many, many business ventures. As much as I’m sure he was looking forward to entertaining you here, he has other places where he simply has to be as need arises. I’m sure you understand.”

  “No, I’m not sure I do. He said he’d be here to personally speak to us about this facility and what it holds.”

  Styles nodded. “Yes, Mr. Decker said you would have questions. I have been given authority to answer anything you wish to know.”

  Rainwater shook his head. “That won’t do.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because he needs to understand what he’s dealing with and I still don’t think he does.”

  Styles made the gesture which best passed for a smile. “We know more than you think.”

  “No. If you did you wouldn’t be breeding these things.”

  “Hey fisherman.”

  Rainwater looked further up the table to where Darrell Conway sat, cocky grin on his lips.

  “Are you talking to me?”

  Conway nodded. “I was just telling my friends here how spooked you are by our fish.”

  “I seem to remember you were pretty vocal about them too yesterday,” Rainwater fired back, unsure why Conway so easily got under his skin.

  “My concerns are from a safety point of view.” He pointed his fork at Rainwater. “You’re just plain scared.”

  “If you’re trying to make a point, I think I missed it.”

  “You know what I’m saying,” Conway replied, eating the food from his fork.

  “No, I don’t think I do.”

  Conway grinned. “Come on, don’t make me say it in front of all these people and embarrass you.”

  “You obviously have something on your mind. Spit it out.” Rainwater was in no mood for Conway’s shit, and was determined not to back down.

  Conway’s reaction didn’t change, he continued to grin, his friends mirroring the expression. “Alright,” he said, turning more towards the foot of the table. “I want to know why you’re so shit scared of these things.”

  Silence filled the room as everyone looked at Rainwater, some people were awkward, others merely curious. Rainwater did his best not to cringe away or show weakness, but even Jade was looking at him with expectation.

  “Alright,” Rainwater said, glancing at his untouched breakfast for which he no longer had an appetite. “I assume you all know who I am. What experience I have with these things. If it will help you all see sense, I’ll tell you why I fear these creatures.”

  Conway frowned, and this time it was Rainwater who smiled. “Oh yeah, I admit I’m afraid of them. If this little show was designed to embarrass me, you’ve failed. Having said that, you all seem interested to know, so I’ll tell you.”

  He took a deep breath, half-wishing he had kept his mouth shut and allowed Conway his petty attempt to cause embarrassment. He cleared his throat, making sure to keep eye contact with Conway despite everyone else watching. “These things you have, these creatures. To you, they’re harmless enough. Sure they’re big, but you have them in captivity. You only see what’s in front of you. These things are unlike anything you have ever seen before. Tell me something Conway, how big are their teeth?”

  “What?”

  “Their teeth. Has anyone kept measurements of them?”

  “Of course. The biggest of the three has eleven-inch teeth right now.”

  Rainwater nodded. “Fully grown, you can almost triple that number. You would be looking at a creature with, what, forty to fifty teeth?”

  “Sixty seven,” a white haired scientist a few seats down said. “They have sixty seven teeth.”

  “Sixty seven,” Rainwater repeated. “Imagine that. Sixty seven backward facing serrated teeth, each almost thirty inches in length. Do you have any idea what kind of damage that would cause?”

  He paused, waiting for someone to comment. All seemed mesmerized as he spoke apart from Conway, who was red faced, the attempt to cause embarrassment backfiring badly. “You don’t have to imagine, because I’m telling you first hand I’ve seen what they can do. There was a blue whale, eighty plus footer, maybe two hundred and fifty thousand pounds. It was washed up on the beach and a... friend of mine was sent to look at the body.” He flicked his eyes to Jade as he said it, wishing she wasn’t watching so intently.

  “The whale had been decimated. Imagine a forty foot bite radius, the bite itself delivered with the force of a full speed freight train. Bone. Whale blubber. Muscle. All crushed with ease.”

  “We know their traits, sir,” the scientist who had spoken up earlier said. “We have studied our captives closely since they were hatched.”

  “I’m not talking about captives. I’m talking about in the wild.”

  Conway grunted. “You give them too much credit. They’re dumb animals. Nothing more.”

  “No, you’re wrong. All you know is what you’ve studied in a controlled environment. Out there it’s different.”

  Conway nudged his friend on the arm. “Our fisherman here thinks he’s an expert in marine biology now.”

  “I know more than you think. I learned from a very, very good teacher.” He glanced again at Jade as he said it, and felt an overwhelming sadness that surprised him. “What I’m trying to tell you, is that these things are dangerous. You have a moral obligation to—”

  “Wait right there,” Conway said, showing a large, calloused palm. “I have no moral obligation. You sit there and preach and try to tell us how you know best, when you forget that we’re experts. The best in our field. We’re also employees. Decker pays us and we do what he asks. Don’t sit there and feed us all your bullshit stories.”

  “I was responding to the question you asked. You started all this.”

  “And now I’m finishing it,” Conway snapped. “Nobody wa
nts to hear any more of your bullshit half-baked idea when out of everyone in the room you probably have the least knowledge.”

  Rainwater could feel his pulse thrumming in his temples, and had to force himself not to ball his wrists. “Alright, then let me ask you a question.”

  “Shoot.”

  “What makes you think you can control these animals?”

  Conway had reverted back to his grin, which increased Rainwater’s desire to knock it off his face. “It’s easy,” he said, standing up and walking towards Rainwater. “The fish wants food. I provide food if the fish does as I want it to. If the fish doesn’t do what I want it to, the fish gets no food. Simple behavior modification, Fisherman.”

  “But they haven’t been behaving, have they?” Rainwater said, smiling himself despite the steady anger which was building inside him. “In fact, I bet you’ve been scratching your head trying to figure out why those very techniques you just described are failing.”

  “You don’t know anything,” Conway grunted, skin flushing pink.

  “Oh, I think I just hit the nail right on the head. I bet Decker has been on you, hasn’t he? Wanting to know why you can’t control them. Let me guess, you worked at SeaWorld or somewhere similar training whales or dolphins?”

  “That’s none of your—”

  Rainwater carried on, not letting Conway get a word in as he too stood, knuckles planted firmly on the tabletop. “I bet you’ve sat up at night haven’t you, trying to figure out why they won’t do as you tell them. Trying to figure out what you have to do to get them to behave.”

  “I already told you, they’re just fish. Dumb ones at that.”

  “Really?” Rainwater said, grinning at Conway despite the fury. “Then let me ask you this. If they are as dumb as they say and you can’t control them, what the hell does that make you?”

  “You son of a bitch,” Conway said, lurching across the table, Rainwater returning the gesture. Glass shattered and dishes were spilled as the rest of the crew separated the two men.

  “Enough,” Styles said, glaring at Conway. “You have insulted our guests.”

  “This is bullshit,” Conway said from behind the tangle of arms holding him back.

  “Mr. Decker will deal with you later. Right now, you need to leave the dining area.”

  “I haven’t finished eating yet,” Conway hissed, still glaring at Rainwater. Styles walked towards him, locking those weird, reflected eyes onto Conway. “Oh I think you have.”

  Conway looked around the room, realizing that all eyes were on him, and then pulled himself free and walked towards the exit. “This is bullshit and you all know it,” he shouted as he opened the door and disappeared out of sight. Slowly, everyone returned to their seats as two janitors appeared to clean up the mess.

  “I’m sorry about that,” Styles said to Rainwater as he retook his seat.

  “What the hell is that guy’s problem?” Rainwater replied as he too sat.

  “It seems you may have gotten too close to the truth. Conway isn’t a man who likes to fail.”

  “Yeah? Well tough shit for him.”

  “Tell me,” Styles asked, removing his glasses to clean the lens. “How did you know that the creatures were being uncooperative?”

  Trying not to smile at how mole-like Styles looked without his glasses, Rainwater responded. “These aren’t creatures that can be trained. They are predators. They act on instinct alone. Nobody is going to change that, not even someone used to training animals like Conway is. This is why I need to speak to Decker. I need him to see sense.”

  Styles replaced his glasses and folded his spindly hands on the tabletop. “I think you’re right. My personal opinion is that humans make enough problems for our own species without interfering in the animal kingdom.”

  “Halleluiah.”

  “However, the decision to do or not to do this isn’t mine to make. It’s Mr. Decker’s money that funds this program, much like it is his millions which have built this very facility. Convincing him to abandon his investment will be incredibly difficult, I’m afraid. Even impossible.”

  “Surely it’s better to lose money than be responsible for losing lives.”

  “Again, I agree. But it’s not me you have to convince, Mr. Rainwater, is it?”

  “Just my luck. So where is he? When can we expect to see him again?”

  “He will be back by nightfall as I mentioned earlier,” Styles said, standing and folding his hands in front of him. “Until then, you have full access to the facility. The staff will answer any questions you may have. This evening, you will be able to address any additional questions to Mr. Decker himself.”

  “What about Conway?” Rainwater asked. “I can’t see him being accommodating to any questions I might want to send his way.”

  “No,” Styles said, smiling thinly. “It might be wise to avoid him until he calms down.”

  “Yeah, I was intending to.”

  “Well, Mr. Rainwater, as you can appreciate, I have much to do. My office is by the boardroom which I believe you were shown to yesterday. If you require anything, please feel free to drop by. Please, take my advice and keep away from Darrel.”

  “Oh don’t worry; I have no intention of going near that asshole again.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Still angry, Conway made his way down towards the nursery. He knew it wasn’t like him to get so easily frustrated, but for the last few weeks, every little thing had been getting to him, not least that fact that Rainwater had been mostly spot on with his assessment. Conway walked through the deserted corridors, the staff all upstairs still enjoying their breakfasts. Conway, however, was determined to be proved right, and had decided that today was the day he expressed his superiority over the creatures and made sure they knew he was in charge. He came to the steel door and punched in his code, granting him access to the pool area. It was in darkness, the undulating waves on the surface of the water throwing rippling shadows up the walls. Although it was officially the creatures rest period between training sessions, Conway was determined to have his way and switched on the lights before walking to the water’s edge. He scooped a ladle full of fish from the blue plastic bucket, the stench making him gag. How he hated that smell. No matter how often he showered, he could never quite get rid of it. It had seeped into his skin, and he was sure that no matter what he did, that stink of fish guts would be with him forever. Conway tossed the scoopful of chum into the water. They came almost immediately, three wakes converging into one, coming to investigate the bloody water. As he stood there in the gloom, Conway realized that he had grown to hate them. His love of marine biology had been soured by his experience of working for Decker, and that made him hate the billionaire even more. The creatures were hesitant in their approach, unaccustomed to the change in routine.

  “Come on you pricks, what you are waiting for,” Conway said, voice echoing around the cavernous space.

  Still they didn’t come, circling thirty feet away. Conway threw another ladle of fish into the water, growing more and more infuriated at the creature’s lack of cooperation. He walked back to the locker room area and retrieved the controller for the electro shock unit then returned to the poolside.

  “I’m in charge here. Not you,” he said as he activated the control, jolting the large male and sending it thrashing towards deeper water, a huge wake rolling up over the edge of the pool and soaking Conway to his ankles. Still he didn’t stop. Shocking the creature over and over again, smiling as it bucked and swam in distress, turning the water into a churning, broiling mass.

  He was about to shock it again when he froze, grin melting from his face. Directly across from him, the two smaller creatures were watching him, heads above the water line, opaque eyes on him. They were motionless.

  A stab of terror gnawed at Conway’s gut and he let his arm fall to his side. He watched as the largest of the three captives swam to join its kin and also raised its head out of the water and stared. Conway and t
he creature he had been torturing locked eyes across thirty five feet of water, the silence total. The larger creature vocalized, a screeching, high-pitched sound, and its two siblings submerged, heading off into deeper waters. The large male remained, keeping its black, emotionless gaze on Conway, before it too submerged and followed its siblings, leaving the water once again flat and calm. More shaken than he dared to admit, Conway stared at the water wondering if they were still watching him from somewhere out there in the deep.

  “Screw this,” he muttered, tossing the control on the floor and retreating back towards the changing area. Part shaken, part embarrassed by his actions, he desperately wanted a drink, something stronger than beer that would help him to forget what he had done and that he was failing in his job. He had something in his room that would do the trick, and even if it meant Decker and his investors would have to wait for their perfectly conditioned creatures, then that was how it would have to be. He didn’t care anymore. For as much as he had developed a strong dislike to Rainwater from the start, there was one thing he agreed with. The best thing for everyone would be to get off the Triton Spire and back to dry land before the creatures killed someone.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  NEW YORK HARBOUR