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The party broke
up around 11:00pm. Max was in his hotel room shortly after. He
had the sonar sled video tape in the V.C.R. He got a
soda from the room's wet bar, and pushed play. Most of the
tape's 125 minutes, would be nothing but the bottom of Maalaea.
Max didn't care, it would allow him time to think.
As the bottom
slid by over the T.V. screen. Max went over the Tokyo event...
He had indeed, known about the earthquake of 1952, and the monster
story it had spawned. But why did it irritate him, so? Perhaps,
it was that crazy old college professor... John Stanton. It was Prof.
Stanton, who had made the Tokyo event, required study... Stanton, who
offerd up endless lectures and... And his stubborn belief,
that the monster story was real! Of course, Max thought... Prof.
Stanton was obsessed with the whole thing. He had offerd up everything
from suspended animation, to Government conspiracy... Max, along with
many of his peers, reguarded the professor as a lose nut.
Now, Max sat... Pondering the crazy professor.
The underwater image
continued as the tape played... Max didn't believe in Monsters or
Myth. According to science, neither were real. That was the thorn in
the Tokyo story. Stanton had twisted this thorn, turning the
mild irritant, into a major loathe. Max now knew why, the
Tokyo event disturbed him. He got up for another soda
The video continued...
With soda in had, Max hunted around for a snack. The
train of thought now led to Tammy. The girl had touched
off this feeling of loathe, once again. It wasn't on purpose,
but it happened. Here was a woman, with direct ties to the
event. Once more, she firmly believed in the monster! She even
gave it a name... "Godzilla." Max had heared it before.
Even though, it wasn't widely known. Pondering all of this, he sat
back in the chair... Until something on the T.V. screen, startled
him out of it.
On the screen, Max
watched what the Argo had seen. As he did, the bottom of
Maalaea tilted wildly out of frame. Now the image was black
with deep water. Then, another object slid into range of
the sled's floodlamps. Max sat tranfixed... The image blurred. ( Between
the darkness, grainy film and violent motion made by the sled... it
was a wonder, that anything was even caught by the camera. )
The fuzzy object seemed to part into darkness...The the tape went
static. This marked the end of Argo. Max sat for a moment...
stunned by it all. Then excitement took over. They HAD caught
something! But what was that thing?
He rewound the
tape, and pushed play again. This time, in slow motion. He
again saw the object come into frame. Max squinted, trying to
get a better grasp. The image seemed sharp... Like shards of metal.
What it didn't look like, was a whale. Max tried desperately to
understand. Pausing the tape, he thought for a moment. He then
rushed over to his paper supplies, grabbing a tracing tablet.
He went right up to the Screen, and placed a sheet of
Paper over it... tracing the light and dark image. Once
done, he advanced the tape to the next frame, and repeated
the process. Max spent the next several hours doing this. Once
done, he flipped through the drawings.
Puzzled,
he flipped through them again in a sudeo animated fashion. Now,
the combined drawings looked like a massive vice grip with sarrated
edges... No, not sarrated, sharper...More like the teeth of a
table saw.... More like....Teeth! Max felt a wild chill sink in.
That awful feeling he got at Maalaea came back, only worse.
There was no whale on the face of the planet, with teeth
this size! This was something else... Something bad... And, something very
real! He reached for his cell. It was now 4:43, and his
turn to wake Murphy.
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Although Murphy
looked tired, he still looked better than Max. Who had that subtle,
got run over by a train, look going. Murphy understood why,
after being shown what Max had seen. Now, Murphy inherited the
awful feeling. Losing his characteristic "No worry " attitude... Even
if it was, only for a moment.
Now, the two men
sat. Trying to decide the next course of action. Breakfast
won out. (Why think on an empty stomach? Besides, Coffee
was in order.) Both went down to the hotel's eatery.
The two found a
quiet table in order to continue the discussion. "Max... you do
realize, this kills the whole whale thing? There ain't a freakin'
animal on record, with teeth that size!" Murphy offered. "I kinda figured that much... I
hate to ask this but, what about the Paleontology books?" Murphy
looked to him, mildly surprised. " Well, my friend...I'm glad you
brought it up. I wasn't too sure, you wanted to go there." "...
I'm thinking, we have no choice at this point." Max said, feeling
backed into a corner. "In that case, we do have something
close. Liopleurodon..." Stated Murphy. Max sat, looking lost. "Come
again?" "Liopleuro... Nevermind, It's a giant, meat eating reptile." "Really?"
"Yeah, really... Here's the best part. It lived in the ocean!"
Murphy finished. Max took this in, Then thought. "You're just
full of information, today. Where'd you come up with that?" "Well,
I got it from a good source, actually." Murphy backpeddled. Max
caught on. "Just who, is this good source?" He pushed. "A guy
from Washington. Named Stanton." Murphy broke. Max looked incredulous. "John
Stanton?! The crazy professor??" "The one and only." Murphy added,
then continued. "But wait, there's more." "Like what?" inquired Max.
"He want's you to bring what we found, to Wahington. He
want's a look at it." Max shuddered. "Why not ask the Navy?
They got a copy." "He asked for you, personally." Murphy insisted.
Max sat, still confused. "But, Stanton hated me." Murphy rolled
his eyes. "Max, you think the world, hates you!" Both men
laughed over this. Murphy looked up behind Max's shoulder. "Speaking
of the hit squad..." Max was confused, Until she spoke. "You
two, don't look so good!" It was Tamara. "We've been better,
actually." Max replied. Murphy looking to Max, nodded in her
direction. Max understood, and agreed. "Do you got a minute?"
He asked the woman. (She was dressed down. Looking totally
different than in her waitress uniform.) "Yeah, I came in for
my check. I've got all day, remember? " That's right, she had
the day off, Max thought. "Then, you might wanna take a
seat." He said. "You might need one." Added Murphy. The woman
saw the gravity of it all, and silently sat down... Leaning into
the conversation. Max again thought out the right approach. " I...really
hate to admit this,... But I think you might be on to something." She
never wavered. "Whad you find? " She inquired. "Teeth...Really, really big
teeth." said Max...She looked confused, so Murphy added. "The sonar
video showed something with sharp teeth. And it ain't no whale!"
The woman turned pale. A look of frightened understanding in
her eyes. "Now do you believe me, Max?" She asked. Max thought
a moment, then answered. "I believe, there is something very wrong
in Maalaea Bay... Yes. Now, I have to sell it to Washington."
The woman's expression turned to puzzlement. "Isn't that the Navy's
position?" Murphy, seeing a wonderful opening to gain his friend
some brownie points, added. "Ordinarily yes, but they asked for
him, personally." The woman looked to Max. "So, when do you
have to leave?" "Pretty soon, actually." He said, looking to his
watch. "Could I run you to the airport?" She asked. Max
didn't know if this was a good, or bad thing. But accepted,
just the same.
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