by Alten-Steve
"Capture the Meg?" Frank Heller was livid. "Masao, listen to what you're saying! This creature killed D.J.! It's a menace. Trying to capture it would be a tragic mistake. It should be destroyed. How many more innocent people have to die?"
Masao turned his back to Heller, facing the sun as it melted into the Pacific. He breathed in the salt air, closing his eyes in meditation.
Heller turned to face Jonas. "This is your fault, Taylor! D.J. died because of your incompetence, and now you're gonna kill all of us!"
"Frank!" Masao swung around, his eyes burning into the man's face. "This is my project, my ship, and I have made my decision. You either support the team's efforts, or I'll have you dropped off in Hawaii. Is that clear?"
Heller glared at Jonas, then looked at Masao. "You and I go back sixteen years, Masao. I think you're making a big mistake listening to this nut. But I'd like to stay on board and help if I can, out of respect for you and Terry."
"If you stay, you'll be working with Jonas. I've decided to name him group leader to capture the Megalodon. So tell me now if you two can work together."
Heller focused on the deck. "I'll work with him." He looked at Jonas. "I'll do all I can to protect the lives of this crew."
"Good." Masao turned to Jonas. "When is your meeting?"
"Fifteen minutes. In the dining room."
* * * * *
The dining room had been converted into a war room. Jonas had attached to one wall a large map illustrating the migration patterns of the whales, along with red pins marking the locations where whale carcasses had recently been spotted. A pattern was apparent: the female looked to be headed to the northeast, toward the Hawaiian Islands. Next to the whale map hung a large diagram illustrating the internal anatomy of the great white shark.
Terry and Masao sat next to each other, while DeMarco and Mac Mackreides stood before the whale map. Heller was the last to arrive.
"Mac," asked Jonas, "have you met everyone here?"
"Yeah. Hello, Frank. It's been a while." They shook hands.
"Mac. Didn't know you were gonna be mixed up in this shark business."
"You know me, Frank, always looking to make a quick buck."
Jonas addressed the group. "Mac and I will be flying together in his copter, trying to spot the Meg. Since the tranquilizer harpoons and harness are being readied in Honolulu over the next few days, our first objective is to see if we can tag her with a homing device."
"How the hell are you gonna find one fish in all this ocean?" smirked Heller.
Jonas pointed to the map. "As you can see, this map illustrates the locations of the winter breeding grounds of whales currently migrating south from the Bering Sea. The Megalodon can detect the massive vibrations produced by these whale populations to the east and west of Guam. Based on recent kills, she seems to be heading east and west of Guam. Based on recent kills, she seems to be heading east, toward the whale populations located along the coastal waters off Hawaii."
Jonas looked at Masao. "It's not going to be easy to locate her, but we know that her eyes are too sensitive to surface during the day. That means she'll do the majority of her feeding at night, attacking whale pods close to the surface. Mac's helicopter has been equipped with a thermal imager and monitor, which will assist us in spotting both the Megalodon and the whale pods in the dark. I'll be riding shotgun, using a pair of night-vision binoculars. The Meg's hide is fluorescent, she should be easy to locate at night from above, so that helps." Jonas looked around the room. "Once the female begins hunting, we'll have a fairly dense trail of blood and debris floating along the surface to spot."
Jonas held up one of the homing darts. It was attached to an electronic device roughly the size of a pocket flashlight. "This transmitter fits into the barrel of a high-powered rifle. If we can inject this homing dart close to the Megalodon's heart, we'll not only be able to track her, we should also be able to monitor her pulse rate."
"What good will that do?" asked DeMarco.
"Once we tranquilize the Meg, knowing her heart rate could be vital to our own safety as well as to the Meg's survival. The harpoons will contain a mixture of Pentobarbital and ketamine. The pentobarbital will depress the Meg's cerebral oxygen consumption, which concerns me a bit. The ketamine is more of a nonbarbiturate general anesthetic. The Meg's heart should slow significantly once the combination of drugs take effect. I've estimated the dosages based on the female's size. I'm just a little concerned about the potential side effects of the tranquilizers."
Heller looked up. "What side effects?"
"The pentobarbital could cause some initial excitement in the Meg."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"It means she's going to be mighty pissed off just before she falls asleep."
"Masao, are you listening to—?"
"Let him finish, Frank." Masao looked at Jonas. "Once we manage to tranquilize this creature, how do you expect to drag it to the lagoon?"
"That's the tricky part. The harpoon gun will be positioned at the Kiku 's stern. We'll use the steel cable that's wrapped around the big winch as its line. The harpoon won't remain fastened very long in the Meg's hide, so it's important that we get the harness around her as quickly as possible. The harness itself it basically a thick two-hundred-foot fishing net with flotation buoys attached every twenty feet to its perimeter. The net will help keep her afloat while we drag her into the lagoon. The harpoon should remain attached to the Megalodon's hide long enough for the Kiku to drag her forward until the net's secured. That's extremely important. If we don't keep circulating water through her mouth, her gills will cease functioning and the Meg will drown."
"And how do you propose we secure the net?" asked DeMarco.
"One end of the net will remain attached to the stern of the Kiku. I'll be using the AG I to run the other end beneath the female."
Terry looked at Jonas. "You're going to put yourself back in the water with that monster?"
"Terry, listen..."
"No, you listen! This reeks of macho bullshit. Risking your life to capture this monster... I've already lost a brother, I don't... " She stopped herself in mid-sentence, afraid of what might come out next. "Sorry, Dad. I'm not up to this."
Masao watched his daughter leave the room. "It's D.J.'s death. None of us has really had time to mourn." Masao rose from his seat. "I must go and speak with her. But, Jonas, tell me, is there any danger to yourself while in the AG?"
"We'll be monitoring the Megalodon's heart rate and I'll be in constant communication with the Kiku. If the Meg begins to wake, her pulse rate will increase rapidly as a warning. The AG I's a fast sub, I'll have no problems getting out of harm's way. Believe me, Masao, I have no desire to play hero. The Meg will be knocked out long before I enter the water in the AG I."
Masao nodded, then left the room to locate his daughter.
"Hey, I have a question." Mac walked up to the diagram of the great white's internal organs. "You say we gotta implant this little dart near the shark's heart. Where the hell is that?"
Jonas pointed to the great white's mouth. "If you follow the path into the mouth and through the esophagus, the heart should be located just below the point where the esophagus connects with the stomack. Of course, this is the anatomy of a great white shark — no one knows for sure that the two species are not only physically similar but anatomically as well. If we can shoot the tracking dart about here" — Jonas pointed to a location along the underbelly of the shark between its gill slits and pectoral fins — "I think we'll be okay."
Mac shook his head. "And if we miss?"
ATTACK
The full moon reflected off the windshield of the helicopter, illuminating the interior of the small compartment. For nearly four hours, Mac had flown his chopper along a thirty-mile semicircular patch of ocean, hovering tow hundred feet above the black Pacific. They had located nearly two dozen pods of whales without seeing a trace of the Megalodon, and the initial excitement Jonas had felt was quick
ly fading into boredom as he realized just how difficult their task was going to be.
"This is crazy, Jonas!" Mac shouted over the noise of the rotors.
"How are we set for fuel?"
"Another fifteen minutes and we'll have to turn back."
"Okay. Look ahead, Mac, about eleven o'clock. There's another pod of humpbacks. Let's follow them a while, then we'll turn back."
"You're the boss." Mac changed course to intercept the pod.
Jonas focused on the Pacific with his ITT Night Mariner Gen III binoculars. The bifocal night glasses penetrated the dark, improving light amplification by using a coating of gallium arsenide on the photocathode revealing the quickly moving behemoths as they rose up and down along the surface of the Pacific.
Mac had "borrowed" the Agema Thermovision 1000 infrared thermal imager from the Coast Guard. Mounted below the helicopter was a small gyrostabilized platform which held the thermal imager pod in place. Inside the cabin was a television monitor, attached to a video recorder. The thermal imager was designed to detect objects in the water by the electromagnetic radiation the object emitted. The internal temperature of a warm body would appear on the monitor as a hot spot against the image of the cold sea. The warm-blooded whales were easily detected; the Megalodon's internal temperature would be slightly cooler.
Jonas was worried. It was vital that the Megalodon be located quickly. With each hour that passes, the circumference of the female's predicted course would extend an additional twenty miles. Soon there would simply be too much ocean to cover, even with their sophisticated tracking equipment.
Jonas was exhausted. He felt himself becoming mesmerized by the moonlight dancing across the ocean, barely noticing the white blur streak across his peripheral vision. The moon had illuminated something below the surface. For a moment it had seemed to glow.
"See something, Doc?"
"Not sure. Where's that pod?"
"Just ahead, three hundred yards."
Jonas located the spouts, then focused with the night glasses. "I can make out two bulls, a cow and her calf... no, make that two cows, five whales total. Get us on top of them, Mac."
The helicopter hovered above the pod, keeping pace as the whales changed direction, turning north.
"What's goin' on, Doc?"
Jonas concentrated on the black water. "There!"
To the south a white glow appeared, streaking beneath the surface like a giant luminescent torpedo.
Mac saw her on the monitor. "Holy shit, I can't believe it. You actually found her. Good job. What's she doing?"
Jonas looked at Mac. "I think she's stalking the calf."
* * * * *
One hundred feet below the black Pacific, a deadly game of cat and mouse was taking place. The humpbacks' sonar had detected the hunter's presence miles back, the mammals altering their course to avoid a confrontation. As the albino predator closed to intercept, the two cows moved to surround the calf, the larger bulls taking positions at the front and rear of the pod.
The Megalodon slowed, circling to the right of her quarry. The warm-blooded creatures were larger than the female, their close formation preventing a direct attack. The humpbacks remained close to the surface, continuously breaching, nervously observing their unwanted guest. The Megalodon circled once more, sizing up her prey, marking the position of the calf.
As the predator crossed in front of the leader, the forty-ton bull broke from the group and made a run at the Meg. Although the humpback whale possessed baleen instead of teeth, it was still quite dangerous, able to ram the female with its enormous head. The male humpback's charge was sudden, but the Meg was too quick, accelerating away from the pod, then returning in a wide arc.
* * * * *
"What do you see?"
Jonas was peering through the night glasses. "Looks like the lead bull is chasing the Megalodon away from the pod."
"Wait a minute, did you say the whale's chasing the Meg?" Mac chuckled. "I thought this Megalodon of yours was supposed to be fearsome?"
Jonas loaded the tracking dart, snapping it into the custom-designed barrel of his rifle. "Don't be fooled, Mac. Don't be fooled."
* * * * *
The pod once again altered its course, heading southeast to lose the hunter. But the Meg's wide circular path intersected that of the two cows. The lead bull again turned to intercept, and this time the Meg retreated to the rear, leading the bull farther away from the safety of the pod's numbers.
As the male humpback turned to rejoin the others, the predator circled quickly, intercepting the isolated bull along its flank. With a frightening burst of speed and power, the Megalodon launched her 42,000 pounds of muscle and teeth at the retreating humpback. Her upper jaw hyperextended away from her mouth, her bite radius expanding to its full nine feet, sinking into the helpless humpback's huge fluke. In a fraction of a second, the razor-sharp upper rows of teeth sliced through the muscular tail of the whale before the mammal knew what had happened.
So large and powerful was the bite that it completely amputated the fluke from the apex of of the whale's tail. The bull writhed in a violent contortion as the Megalodon swallowed its prize whole. An agonizing, high-pitched moan reverberated from the bleeding beast.
* * * * *
"What the hell was that?"
"I can't be sure," said Jonas, the night glasses pressed against his eyes, "but I think the Meg just tore off the humpback's fluke."
"What?"
"Forget the pod, Mac. Stay with the bull."
Warm blood gushed from the gaping wound as the crippled humpback feebly attempted to propel itself forward with its massive lateral flippers. The Megalodon's second attack came from the front and was even more devastating than the first. Seizing the baleen-fringed edges of the dying creature's mouth within its nine-inch fangs, the Meg ripped and tore apart an entire section of the humpback's throat, whipping its enormous head to and for as a long strip of grooved hide and blubber peeled away from the mammal's body like the husk from an ear of corn.
Helplessly drifting in the ocean swells, the tortured humpback wailed a death song of agony. Fleeing in panic, the rest of the pod propelled themselves as one body away from the carnage. The Megalodon did not pursue, but instead continued to feast on the soft flesh of her prey, swallowing thousands of pounds of warm blood and blubber, obsessed with her kill, oblivious to all else.
And then the Meg sensed the rapid vibrations from above.
* * * * *
"What's happening, Jonas?"
"It's hard to tell, Mac, there's so much blood. What's your thermal imager picking up?"
"No good, Doc. The blood's spreading out over the surface and it's so warm that it's camouflaging any objects the imager could pick up. I'll have to bring us closer."
"Not too close, Mac. There's no predicting what the Meg might do."
"Relax. You want to get a good shot, don't you?" Mac descended to fifty feet. "Can you see any better now?"
Jonas looked through the night glasses. Yes, now he could just make out the Megalodon's white hide, her glow minimized by the warm blood pooling along the surface.
Then, as Jonas watched, she simply disappeared.
"Damn."
"What?"
"She went deep. I wonder if the vibrations of the copter scared her off. Or maybe she feels threatened by our presence around her kill."
Jonas searched the sea below. He could see the dark shadow of the dead humpback floating in its entrails. Where was the Meg?
"Mac, I've got a bad feeling about this. Take us higher."
"Higher?"
"Goddamnit, Mac, higher — now!"
The Megalodon launched straight out of the sea like an intercontinental ballistic missile, flying at the hovering helicopter faster than Mac could increase his altitude. Jonas slid out of his seat, his right foot losing its grip on the floor as the G force of the copter's climb pushed him toward the open door. Only the seat belt kept his body from falling into the night
where the garage-sized head closed quickly, its bloodied fangs — now only five feet away — reaching for him. As if in slow motion, Jonas watched the upper jaw jut forward of the mouth, revealing crimson gums and white teeth, so close he could have kicked them with his dangling right leg. But he couldn't move, paralyzed with fear, his body dangling out of the open copter door. Somehow he held on, whipping his leg back into the cockpit as the jaws slammed together in the spot his limb had been. The vision of white death was still rising.
The copter reached sixty feet just as the broad snout connected from below sending the airship sideways and out of control. The cabin began spinning.
"Come on, goddamnit!" Mac clutched his control stick with both hands.
The copter was slicing toward the sea at a thirty-degree angle when the mighty rotors finally caught air. Mac pulled the chopper out of its nosedive seconds short of plunging into the Pacific. The pilot groaned with relief as his airship soared above the waves, making its getaway.
"Gawd-damn, Jonas, I think I just shit in my pants!"
Jonas fought to catch his breath. His limbs were quivering, his voice abandoning him. After a good minute, he forced the words out of his parched throat. "She's... she's a lot bigger than I thought." He tried to swallow. "Mac, how high... how high were we when she hit us?"
"About sixty feet. Shee-it, look at me, I'm still quivering like a little girl. Did you get a soht off?"
Jonas looked at the rifle, still held tightly in his right hand. "No, she caught me off-guard. Do we have enough fuel to circle back?"
"Negative. I'll radio the Kiku to rendezvous, then we'll follow the trail." They flew without speaking for several minutes.
"Tell me something," asked Mac, finally ending the silence. "That monster... is that what you saw coming at you in the Mariana Trench seven years ago?"
Jonas looked at his friend. "Yeah, Mac, that's what I saw."
NETWORK
