Unexpected Sea Life

Gail Rusk

 

   The SSRN Seaview had finally docked in her underground berth at the Nelson Institute for Marine Research, after a very long very tiring mission at sea.

 

***

 

   Admiral Harriman Nelson was walking alone along the almost empty corridors of the research vessel.

   He was restless after leaving his lab. Something didn't seem right he could feel it, but whatever it was he was not able to identify the source, so he tried to dismiss the feeling.

   Nelson was only one of a handful of personnel still aboard Seaview, along with Kowalski, Chief Sharkey, a small docking crew and Captain Lee Crane.

   Ski and Sharkey were in the missile room to stow Deep Sea Diver, one of the deep sea rovers, developed by the institute, used in gathering specimens from the depths of the sea bottom.

    Nelson knocked on Lee's door but there was no answer.

   "Lee, are you there?" Again, no answer.

   So he cautiously opened the door.

   Immediately Nelson was confronted by a creature so extraordinary he was briefly stunned. For a fraction of a moment his heart froze solid with fear.

   The organism was unlike anything he had encountered before.

   Its body was a quivering, gelatinous mass it glistened a luminescent transparent grey in the light from Crane's desk lamp.

   The organism oozed opaque luminescent slime. There were two intense eyes that glowed from two red rimmed hollow black orbs from what he assumed was its head.

   Nelson confronted the creature powerless to move; suddenly his eyes caught sight of a crushed uniform shirt on the deck. The scene caused an unaccustomed chill to shoot down his spine.

   As he watched the creature, it quavered; he heard a strange gurgle coming from within the organism.

   "What are you and where is Lee?" Nelson approached the creature as fear built inside him, at the thought of his Captain in danger.

   A slight scratching sound came from the small head in Crane's cabin. "Lee is that you?”

Nelson shouted hopeful, “are you hurt?”

   “Yes,” Crane’s voice was very low, almost strained. “I feel strange. Is that thing still out there?"

   “Yes, it's still here."

   "What is it?" Crane sounded weaker.

   Nelson, controlling his fear, in order to observe the organism with his innate scientific curiosity. “I’m not sure. It must be some kind of sea life, nothing I have ever seen before. It could have come aboard when we were bringing specimens back from the heat trenches."

   "Don't get near it, it attacked me, I'm not sure what it did to me, "The Admiral could hear Crane struggling. “I feel dizzy, nauseated...too weak, can’t stand.”

   "Lee, I'm going to get you out. Just hang on."

   Nelson slowly backed out the door to the intercom in the corridor and pulled the hand set off the wall. He keyed the mic.

   "Nelson to the missile room."

   "Aye sir. Admiral, Sharkey here."

   "We have a situation in the Captain's quarters. Chief I want all exterior hatches secured no one leaves or enters the ship until further notice. Then I need you and Kowalski up here, but first stop at my lab and get two canisters of liquid oxygen and bring them with you."

   "Aye sir. Right away."

     He keyed the mic a second time.

   “Nelson to sick bay."

   "Yes Admiral." Jamieson answered.

   "Lee's hurt. I need you, a corpsman and a stretcher at the captain's cabin on the double."

   "Is there anything I should know?"

   "I don't know much. Just get here."

   "Aye Sir."  

     As they all converged in the corridor in front of Crane's cabin, the men wanted to know what was happening.

   "Sir,” A tall, dark haired crewman named Kowalski asked, “where's the Skipper? Is he okay?"

  "No he's not, Kowalski.”

  Nelson gave them a brief explanation of what he knew just enough information to carry out his immediate plans to get Crane out to some much needed medical attention. “We need to get him out of there and quickly. Who knows what the thing has done to him. I don't think we have much time."

   Nelson ran through his instructions again asking." Does everyone understand what they need to do?"

   "Aye, sir, whenever you're ready, Admiral."  The Chief made an affirmative nod to the assembled crew and answered for everyone.

     Nelson took one of the canisters of liquid oxygen, leaving the other for Sharkey. His instructions were clear. He and the Chief where to hit the creature with the liquid oxygen, and when they had the creature either dead or cornered, Ski was to get the Captain out and onto the waiting stretcher.

   Nelson and the Chief advanced on the creature cautiously began dousing the organism with liquid oxygen, not really knowing what to expect. Nelson was hoping to render the organism helpless or at the very least remove it from their path, long enough to rescue Crane.

   To everyone's surprise the creature flattened to the deck and slithered away up the wall into the ventilation ducts leaving a luminescent trail of slime behind it.

    With the way clear, Ski rushed in opened the door and pulled out the unconscious Captain, carefully putting Crane onto the awaiting stretcher. Moments later he was rushed to sick bay.

    Nelson and Sharkey continued to keep vigil at the ventilation duct just in case the creature decided to return.

     Nelson knew he needed to find this creature and get it off his boat. His first priority was the organism, he didn't want anyone else to be attacked or even killed. Nelson was divided amid his concern for the safety of his ship and crew and his worry for Lee. It was reassuring to know Crane was in Jamieson’s capable hands.

  

***

   In sick bay, Crane was semi conscious fading in and out, as the Doctor examined him, not knowing what to expect, searching for any sign of injury. He found a large circular wound with what appeared to be two puncture marks on the Captain's right side just above his waist. He cleaned and dressed the wounds but he knew that wasn't nearly enough. Jamieson determined a blood sample would provide more insight into what the creature had done to his patient.

   He already had a sense of what was taking place just from the Skipper’s symptoms.  He proceeded to hang an IV drip in an effort to support Crane's system. If he was correct he had precious little time to turn things around.

 

***

 

   Admiral Nelson was in his lab analyzing the slime left behind by the creature. Its chemistry closely resembled that of a crustacean but with slight differences. The slime had higher concentrations of bacteria, hydrothermal fluid and Saxitoxin similar to life found around geothermal vents. He concluded it didn't look or act, like any crustacean he had ever seen. Perhaps it was a mutation brought about by the heat and pressure around the geothermic vents.

   After all researchers were always finding new life around those vents, or he mused, conceivably an alien life form. That wouldn't have been a first on board Seaview.

   Seaview's last mission had taken her to the Eastern Pacific Rim to the geothermic vents and geysers to collect samples to be used in medical research. 

   If he was correct, in his assumption, the creature must have come aboard in a much smaller form attached unnoticed to Deep Sea Rover.

   The new rover was of great benefit when divers couldn’t survive the temperatures and pressures associated with the vents.

   To Nelson's surprise the slime was also faintly radioactive. That one fact gave Nelson a clue to where it possibly had taken refuge.

   At present he had crewmen posted at the ventilation ducts throughout the boat to stop the creature from escaping.

   "Sick bay, this is Nelson."

   "Jamieson here, Admiral."

   "I have the analysis of the slime I collected.  I found the cell structure of the organism to be similar to that of a crustacean. Just from my brief analysis I believe Crane has been poisoned with saxitoxon.

   "Yes, that's what I was thinking although the blood tests have yet to be confirmed. The captain has two puncture wounds on his side, meaning the poison has been injected much like venom." Jamieson's words chilled Nelson.

   “His condition is rapidly declining, Admiral. I’d like to administer the anticholinesterase agent as soon as possible. Not recommended procedure I know… but with your findings…”

   “Yes, yes doc I understand, you have my permission.”

   “Under the circumstances I’d like to use more than the standard dosage.”

   “Yes, I agree. Do that.”

  

***

 

The Admiral gathered the remainder of the crew still on board Seaview to issue new instructions on locating, trapping, and ultimately killing the creature.

   With his new delivery system cobbled together with spare parts from ships stores, it gave the crew a more efficient method of attacking their prey.   

   He broke the crewmen up into teams of two; each team had canisters of liquid oxygen, with explicit instructions on how he wanted it to be used.

   His theory? That with enough liquid oxygen it could disable or kill the creature, long before it tried to feed on anyone else.

   Starting at the nose the teams searched through the boat, checking all the vents, storage rooms, compartments and cabins for luminescent slime, deliberately herding the creature to the reactor room, where Nelson suspected the creature had found shelter.

   Nelson, with what little crew he had left had stationed them and himself in the reactor room, waiting for the creature to return to where it had been concealed.

   After several tense minutes the creature slithered out of the reactor room air duct and disappeared under the reactor housing, a place were no one would have thought to look.                

   Knowing where the creature was was the first hurtle.

   Now it needed to be lured out into the open in order to take full advantage of the liquid oxygen.

   But he needed bait. That brought Nelson's mind back asking himself, why, did it attack Lee? What did it need from a human body?

   Nelson picked up the mic outside the reactor room and keyed sick bay.

   "Doc, did you get any results from Lee's blood yet?

   "Yes, Admiral I did. It is saxitoxon poisoning, as you suspected. The results also show low values in key nutrients. So low he almost died. I’m replacing the nutrients through his IV drip.

   “Doc, do we have any whole blood on board?" Nelson asked with a glimmer of hope.

   "Yes, some, why?"

   "We've got to get this thing out into the open. If it fed on Lee, we can entice it with another meal."  

   When the blood arrived, Nelson positioned his team in a circle around the main reactor.            

   He opened the packets of blood, making a trail away from the reactor to the center of the room, expecting to lure the creature out onto the open deck.

   At first nothing seemed to happen, and then slowly a very small flat gelatinous creature slithered down onto the deck headed for the offered food. As it moved it grew in size until it more closely resembled the creature in Crane's cabin. It made a gurgling sound as it moved through the trail blood.

   When the creature was in position, Nelson shouted to the men with the canisters. "Now!'

   As they continued to drench the creature, it started to flatten out moving to escape.

   "Don't stop. Keep with it." Nelson ordered.

   After several minutes the organism slowed, then stopped, it began to reduce in size until it was a small frozen glob, covered in frozen slime on the deck. 

   "Good work men."

   He turned to Chief Sharkey who was now standing beside him.

   "Chief, form a detail to clean this up. And have the remains taken to my lab and put in the deep freeze."

   Sharkey looked puzzle." Do you think it could still be alive, Admiral?"

   "No, Chief, it’s just a precaution." Patting the Chief on the back," I suspect it is quite dead."

    

***

 

   Satisfied with the Captain's improvement, Jamison left his patient for a moment to inform Admiral Nelson of Crane’s progress.

   "Sick bay to Nelson."

   "Yes, Doc."

   "Admiral I thought you would want to know Captain Crane is responding well to the anitcholinesterase agent, and the IV nutrient drips. His condition has stabilized."

   "Thanks, Doc, I will be right there."

   "It's not necessary, Admiral, he is resting comfortably."  

   "I said, I will be right there." Nelson repeated with emphasis.

   Before long a slightly winded Nelson was at the door to sick bay, Jamison would not have been surprised if the Admiral had run the entire way.

   "How is he really, doc?" Nelson insisted, stepping through into the cramped office.

   "Well, you can ask him for yourself, he’s awake. You can talk to him but just for a few minutes. He’s weak and drained and needs rest above all right now."

    Nelson looked down at Lee, his eyes were closed and he seemed very pale.

   “You said he was awake,” Nelson sighed a bit disappointed.

   “He was just a moment ago…” Lightly touching Lee’s shoulder, “Skipper you’ve got company.”

   “Lee?” Nelson reached down and took Lee's hand not caring how it looked.

   “Lee, it's Nelson. Wake up for me… Doc says you'll be fine."

   A weak smile pulled at the corners of Lee's mouth, as his eyes fluttered open. "I hear I missed all the fun. Doc said you got the creature."

   With a wry chuckle. "Well I wouldn't call what we just did exactly fun, but yes, we did kill the creature. It can't hurt you or anyone else again. "So how are you feeling?"

   "Just a bit weak and tired."

   He lightly squeezed Crane's hand. "You just rest now. I'll come back later."

   Almost before Nelson finished speaking Lee had drifted off again.

   Jamieson walked over to the Admiral, who was watching the Captain sleeping form.

   “Admiral" Jamieson sounded determined.

   “Yes, doc."

   “You need rest too. It's been a difficult day for all of us."

    The Admiral turned starting to protest.

   “I could make that an order." Jamison said sternly.

   “No, no need," Realizing for the first time today, he was tired.

    The doc rested his hand on the Admiral’s shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. “Lee will be fine, don’t worry. We can move him to the institute clinic in the morning after we’ve all had a nights rest.”   

   “Alright doc, I’ll be staying onboard Seaview until Lee is transferred ashore. If you need me, I’ll be in my cabin. Will that do?

   “Yes, I suppose it will have to."

   A very tired Admiral Nelson, content in the knowledge that the creature was dead. And his best friend would recover. Headed for his cabin for some much needed rest.