by Michael Cole
“No, that would’ve been less a pain in the ass,” Nelson said. “That was the Mayor. He’s up my ass right now, because after you were taken by the ambulance, I tried to get an order out to ground all vessels.” Forster’s mind went back to the shark, and the damage it seemed to cause effortlessly.
“I’m guessing he didn’t take well to that idea,” she said.
“Nope.” He shook his head. “I’m still stunned. I’ve never seen anything like that. You’re a scientist; what the hell was that thing?” It was the inevitable question that she knew was coming.
“Honestly, I have no idea,” she said. “Also, I didn’t get a good enough look at it. All I saw was a red thing that was shaped like a shark, but it doesn’t fit the description of any species I’m aware of.”
“Something that big, you’d think it’d be well known,” Nelson said. “Whatever it is, I’m not comfortable with fishermen going that far out. It’s a mean bastard.”
They arrived at the resort. Nelson parked near Forster’s car, and they both stepped out.
“Thanks, Chief,” she said. “I’m just gonna run upstairs and leave my instructions, then I’ll be out of here.”
“Good deal,” he said. Forster went inside and took the elevator. She went into the care exhibit, where the sick dolphins were still being looked after. She spoke with the aide on duty and wrote down instructions for the next couple of days.
She fumbled in her locker, looking for her car keys.
“What the…” she mumbled after failing to locate them. Then she remembered, “Oh, they’re in the boat.”
She took the elevator back down. Upon exiting the double doors, she walked past the Great White Exhibit, which was still blocked off by tents and signs. The Neptune was at the dock. She could see the crumpling in the port side, and the missing portions of guardrail along the bow. The crane was usually folded down when not in use, however, it was stuck in a curved position. A gear was likely jammed from the hit it took. At the moment, Forster didn’t care. She wanted nothing else but to go home and surrender herself to the couch and the television. She couldn’t even remember the last time she was able to do that in peace. She located her keys, which had fallen onto the floor. She snatched them up and started back out the entrance.
On deck, she noticed the monitors, which had both fallen during the attack. The camera monitor’s screen was cracked, while the tracking monitor appeared to be okay. Looking at the cracked camera monitor, a wave of curiosity filled her brain. She dipped back into the wheelhouse and took a seat at the table, switching on one of the other monitors. The camera feed was recorded into all the computers. The computer came on, and she brought up the camera files. A bar on the bottom left corner of the screen allowed her to select a specific date and time to narrow down the search.
She set the time to their approximate arrival on scene. The feed was from the portside mid-section. She fast forwarded through several minutes of nothing but blue ocean. Then, a quick view of the great white’s tail swept over the screen. It was from its first attempt to snatch the bait. She waited a couple of minutes, until she saw it return for its second pass. It was a slightly clearer view. She could see its white underbelly, and the edge of its jaw.
Then, in the blink of an eye, the mysterious red creature burst into frame. The motion was so fast, that when she freeze framed it, the screen caught nothing but blue. She reversed the frames slowly until she recaptured the image. She could see its head, shaped basically like that of a shark. Its nose was pointed, and there was a clear upper and lower jaw. In the frame, she could barely see the connecting point for its pectoral fin.
Then there were the abnormalities; firstly, the red coloring. No shark of that size was known to have a red pigment. What was more mysterious, however, were mysterious appendages that appeared to be attached to its snout. The image on the frame was slightly blurry, so she adjusted to the next frame. The creature was just coming into view from the lower right corner.
“What the hell?” she mumbled to herself, astonished at what she was looking at. The protruding objects resembled antennae, like that on a crustacean. The fascination acted like a natural painkiller, numbing her headache almost completely. She switched the feed to the stern camera, which pointed almost directly downward. After fast-forwarding through some blank footage, she finally got a view of the white and its attacker. She froze the frame once again. This time, she had a wider shot of the mysterious creature.
It only grew more mysterious the more she looked at it. She noticed the bizarre texture of its exterior, which contained multiple pointed spines. In addition, it appeared very rigid, though it was difficult to tell through the image. Its body seemed to be jointed to provide movement.
What am I looking at?
“What the hell is that?” A voice spoke from behind her. Forster nearly jumped in her seat. She turned and saw Felt looking over her shoulder, staring intently at the screen. Suddenly, her headache returned with a vengeance.
“I don’t know,” she said, trying not to wince in pain.
“Is that what attacked the boat?” he asked. Forster was about to answer, when he nearly shouted another question. “And it killed the white?!”
Is it a special day for stupid questions?
“Yes,” she said. She clicked play and Felt watched in astonishment as the creature ripped into the white. There was no doubt in Forster’s mind that he was upset about losing his prized shark.
“Oh, God,” he said. She couldn’t tell if it was spoken out of fascination or distress. Finally, he looked away from the screen and noticed her bandage. “Oh..!” it was as if he had forgotten she had been to the hospital. “I’m glad to see you’re feeling better.”
I feel like shit. Her fascination was completely replaced by her desire to leave. With a few clicks of the mouse, she saved the frame image and emailed it to herself. She then reached into the pocket for the doctor’s note.
“Actually, the doctor wants me to stay in for a few days,” she said. She placed the paper down on the table. Felt stared at it, as if in defeat. “I already left instructions to the aides on how to care for the dolphins,” Forster quickly said. She stood up, wanting to leave before Felt could express any displeasure.
“Okay…” his voice trailed off. With a doctor’s note, he knew he couldn’t stop her. However, he was still desperate for answers. “What about that shark…thing?”
“I’ll look into it,” she said.
“Could we go out and find it again?” he suddenly asked. The headache worsened. She walked out onto the deck.
“What do you mean?” she asked. She instantly regretted asking. Felt followed her outside.
“Oh, come on,” he said. “Clearly you’re curious about it! You’ve never seen anything like that, have you?” Forster didn’t answer as she climbed down to the dock. She did desire to study the tapes more, but more than that she wanted peace and quiet. And more painkillers. Felt didn’t stop. “Listen, you’re the scientist. Perhaps we could…”
“I was a scientist,” Forster said. She could almost taste the bitterness of the words, “…and barely that. I’m an animal doctor now.”
“But clearly you’re interested in this thing,” Felt persisted. “You saved those images. What were you planning on doing with them?” Forster stopped walking. The pain throbbed harder with each word Felt spoke.
“I know a biologist in Maine,” she said. “I studied under him. I was gonna send him these images and consult with him. He has the resources to deal with this kind of thing.” As long as he doesn’t disown me like everyone else. Felt stood quiet for a moment, while staring at the empty Great White Exhibit. Forster knew exactly what he was thinking, and why he was interested in her course of action.
“You know…we could…”
“Oh, no!” she nearly shouted. “That thing almost killed me, whatever it is. I’m not going to try and catch it.” She turned and started walking away, followed by her boss.
C
hief Nelson stood by his vehicle with his phone once again to his ear. After he had dropped off Forster, he received a call from one of his officers, relaying new information to him that prompted him to phone the Mayor’s office again. It was the same agenda; to ground all watercraft. And once again, it was the same uphill battle. However, the new evidence convinced the Mayor to allow him a forty-eight-hour period. The local community would be in an uproar, but Nelson didn’t care.
“Like I said, Chief, that’s all I can grant you,” the Mayor said. “If you don’t find anything during that time, then people can go back out.” Nelson wasn’t sure if it would be adequate enough time, but he knew it was all he was going to get.
“I’ll do my best, sir,” he said. His eyes went out towards the dock. He saw Forster walking from the dock, followed by Felt, who appeared to be pestering her with questions. Nelson could read Forster’s body language. Her face was pained, and the rapid way she walked indicated stress. Most importantly, he noticed the unconscious tightening of her hands. “Gotta go!” he said and hung up on the Mayor. He walked past the pool over to them.
“I’m telling you, Julie,” Felt said. “Think of all we could learn from it!”
“You mean, all we can earn from it,” she said. He never cared for the science. He just wanted another tooth monster to mesmerize people.
“Well…” he shrugged his shoulders, “How do you think I sign your checks? Understand, that white was our biggest attraction, and now it’s gone. What do you expect me to tell everyone?”
“First, that it wasn’t our biggest attraction,” she told him. They had only recently put it on display. “Second, tell everyone the truth; that somebody broke in and released it. Not hard.”
“Don’t you think we could go out again and…”
“Nobody’s going out, anywhere,” Nelson chimed in. Felt straightened his posture once he saw the chief, as if to exude some degree of authority.
“Excuse me, Chief, but I didn’t ask your opinion…”
“It’s not a matter of opinion,” Nelson said. “It’s the law right now. All boats are grounded for the time being.” Felt tensed briefly.
“Wha—you can’t do that!”
“I sure can,” Nelson said. “I cleared it with the Mayor just now.”
“That’s horseshit,” Felt said, not holding back. “I know why you’re doing this. You’re in love with my employee here, and you’re trying to show how much you care.” Nelson’s blood pressure went up, but he kept in control.
“Mr. Felt, unless you’re blind, you saw the damage that thing did to your vessel. Also, there’s a bigger issue at hand.”
“What happened?” Forster asked.
“I just got word that parts of a wreckage were found adrift. The boat, what was left of it, belonged to a Bob Willis. There’s another person missing, along with his fishing boat. Old Hal, you know him?” Forster nodded, and realized what Nelson suspected.
“Oh, God,” she said. “You think it might have…”
“After what that thing did to us, it adds up,” Nelson said. He exhaled sharply. “Needless to say, I have a lot of work ahead of me. I’m gonna try and get a consultant on the case. In the meantime, Julie, are you gonna have a problem getting home?” She grinned, as the question pertained to both her injury and her annoying boss.
“I’ll be fine,” she said. “Thanks for the ride.”
“No problem,” Nelson said. She started for her car. Nelson deliberately waited, seeing that Felt didn’t follow her. The two shared a minute of unpleasant eye contact with each other. After which, Nelson turned and left.
Felt stood by himself, staring at the empty pool. With more reservations being cancelled after the incident, he saw the future of the resort being equally empty.
CHAPTER
15
Evening cast a twilight shadow over the island community at the usual time of 8:30. For the first time in months, Forster didn’t even notice the daylight slip away, nor the usual quietness of the community as people settled in for the night.
Dressed in loose athletic shorts and a tank top, Julie Forster laid on her living room couch. She sipped on a soda while a movie played on the television. It was such a normal pleasure, easily taken for granted. Yet, it was the first time in what seemed like forever that she enjoyed it. With her phone turned off, and some Excedrin to numb the pain in her head, this was the most relaxed she had been in a long time. Leaning back against the arm of the couch, she felt herself beginning to drift off.
A knock on the door snapped her back into reality. She stood up, wondering who it could be at this hour. Forster opened the front door. There stood Felt.
“Hi,” he immediately said. His eyes opened wide, and he suddenly turned red before turning to look away, pretending to be casual. Forster looked down at herself, realizing her outfit barely covered her goods.
“Oh, damn it,” she said, embarrassed. She put a hand over her cleavage and stepped back into the house. “Uh… give me a sec,” she said. She went into her bedroom and dug for a shirt to put over her tank top. Felt peeked into the living room.
“Mind if I come in?” he called.
“Sure,” she called back. Felt stepped into the living room and closed the door behind him. Forster came out of her bedroom, now wearing a zipped up light jacket. Felt could tell she was less than pleased to see him.
“Sorry, I tried calling, but it kept going straight to voicemail,” he said.
“You think you’d take a hint from that,” she said.
“Well, uh, you know…we’re on an island and signals are sometimes bad around here…” he said. “I just stopped by to check and make sure you were doing alright. I was told you had a nasty bang on the head there, and…”
I can’t take this bullshit any longer.
“What do you want, Will?” she interrupted him. Felt grinned uncomfortably.
“I know you’re on medical,” he said. “But I really want to run a thought by you. It’s about that thing on the camera, whatever it is. Have you sent the images to that professor, yet?”
“No,” Forster said. Oh damn, why didn’t I lie and say Yes? “Luckily, I called first, and I guess he’s out of town for a while. I’m gonna wait until he’s supposed to get back, so the message isn’t buried under a hundred other emails.”
“Oh, good,” Felt said, as if relieved. He then saw Forster staring at him questioningly. “Oh…well, I think there is a unique opportunity here before us. I was hoping you would be willing to track down that creature, and bring it to the resort.”
Once again, that headache was returning. Forster hissed a sigh of annoyance.
“You’ve got to be kidding me, Will,” she said. “Listen, we don’t have the resources.”
“We have the pool!” Felt said. Forster shook her head.
“We know nothing about this thing. We don’t know how much to feed it; or what to feed it. It’s most definitely dangerous!”
“Clearly it eats everything a normal shark does,” Felt said. “Listen, hear me out. If we manage to find this thing and contain it, we’ll truly have something that no other zoo or aquarium has. It’ll be something new! I’m telling you, people will FLOCK to see this thing if we manage to capture it.” His hands waved with every word, and his face was very animated.
“Oh, jeez,” she said. “There’s no way I’m going after that thing. First of all, the Neptune is damaged…”
“I already have people repairing it,” Felt said.
“It won’t be done for a few days, I can guarantee you that,” Forster said. Felt bit his lip as he pondered ideas.
“Well…you could take the Fairbanks.”
“The MAINTENANCE BOAT?!” Felt jumped in place. Forster was surprised that she actually shouted at him. She held up her hands, as if questioning him further. She shook her head again, “You know what?” She dropped her hands. “It doesn’t matter anyway. There’s a maritime ban in effect, remember? If I go out there, I’m risking bei
ng arrested. I’ve been through that already, and I already pushed my luck far enough yesterday. Hell, no.”
“You know as well as I do that they don’t patrol the waters that often,” Felt said. “If it makes you feel better, I’ll have people on lookout. They’ll let me know where the police are, and if they’re out on the water.”
Forster was growing tired of the conversation. In fact, she was fed up with Felt’s very presence. It seemed she couldn’t even enjoy a simple relaxing night without her employer intervening.
“Will…” she spoke slowly, maintaining her composure, “…I know you’re my boss, but please…give it a rest.”
It was as if her words had the opposite effect. Felt became more energetic, holding his hands out in front of him as if illustrating his ideas.
“Tell you what…you do this for me and you’ll get a huge raise!” he said, with his arms spread as if about to give a big hug. “I’ll hire more help around the aquarium, including another doctor, and I’ll get you another assistant! Also, you want more time off, you’ll get it.” These offers did more to agitate Forster than anything. If nothing else, most of these intended enticements were things she felt he should’ve been providing. On top of everything else, there was the realization that her employer was blatantly willing to break the law.
The offer of time off nearly made her snap, considering he was currently interrupting her medical leave with an unwelcome visit. Her silence communicated to Felt that his offers weren’t working. He realized by offering these bribes, he sounded like a low-level gangster, or a snobby politician. He sighed and brushed a hand over his face.
“Listen…this’ll benefit both of us. It’ll renew interest in the resort like that!” He snapped his fingers. “The best part for you; you’ll be credited with the discovery of a new species! Think of it, you found it, you discovered it!”
