The Good Son
Riley flashed his light around the cave in awe, as he dropped the regulator from his mouth. "This place is crazy, Mr. Morton!" He pulled himself out of the water. "We're underwater, and look at this! How is this possible?" He turned as the XO climbed out of the water and looked around.
"We're above the water level in here, Riley." Mr. Morton shone his flashlight toward the back of the cave. "But when the tide comes in, this place is probably underwater." The flashlight's beam reflected off a pool of water at the back of the cave. "Looks like there may be more caves beyond this one." He strode briskly toward the water, and Riley followed behind him, targeting the cave walls with his light.
"Limestone, right, Mr. Morton?" He guessed at the construction of the cave from the porous rock of the cave walls.
"Basalt, most likely. Littoral caves this size usually form in basalt."
Riley blinked at the words. Littoral? Man, that was one weird word. "Uh… Littoral, sir?"
He could have sworn that Mr. Morton was trying not to smile. "A sea cave, Riley."
Oh… Well, that made sense. Riley looked down at the floor of the cave, noticing the rocks studded around. He picked one up and looked at it, interested by the tiny shells that studded it. Maybe something in here would interest the admiral, so he wouldn't yell when they came back without brain coral… "Are these basalt, too?" He thrust the rock under Mr. Morton's nose as the XO turned to look.
Mr. Morton blinked and took a step back from the rock. "No… That one's limestone. May have washed in." He took the rock from Riley and turned it carefully in his hands. "Limestone sometimes carries fossils. We might find something interesting if we look around."
Riley nodded and immediately began exploring, cocking an ear toward the XO. Mr. Morton would let the boat and the other diving party know where they were first.
"Morton to Seaview. Do you read me?"
Yup. Riley smiled to himself. Man, the XO was so predictable. You could set your watch by him. Of course, nobody said that was a bad thing. There was a reason why the crews of other boats sometimes referred to Seaview's command team as Madness and Method. The skipper was Madness, going off on a wild hare a lot of the time, always thinking outside the box and making it work. But Mr. Morton was Method personified, going solidly by the book whenever possible. It wasn't that he couldn't think outside the box, because, man, when he had to, he absolutely could give the skipper a run for his money… But Mr. Morton preferred the tried and true. He was the one who grounded the crew in the midst of the chaos, while the skipper was the one who pulled the fat out of the fire.
His flashlight beam caught a rock a few inches from him, and he squatted down to look at it. Man, this was one wild rock. Some sea creature from millions of years ago was fossilized within it, but it wasn't like anything Riley had ever seen before. Long and conical, it had a series of arcs running through it, and came to a point at both ends. Only the shell of a sea creature, he knew, since the soft parts usually didn't fossilize… But what kind of weird, crazy thing was it? He picked it up and took it to Mr. Morton.
"… littoral cave at the north shore. We're above the tide level at the moment." Mr. Morton scowled at the rock Riley presented, but continued talking to the boat. "We have about forty minutes of air left. We'll explore here and start back in about twenty minutes. Any word from Lee and Ski?"
"They're about a mile from you, sir. Nothing interesting reported from them. I'll tell them what your situation is. They may want to come take a look."
"Roger, Seaview. They're very welcome." Mr. Morton signed off and glared at the rock that Riley still held inches from his nose. "Riley…"
"What's this, sir?" Riley jumped right in, hoping to distract the XO; one thing he didn't need right now was a disgruntled officer ready to tear a strip off him. Or worse, give that glare that could freeze the blood. Man, Mr. Morton could make the temperature drop with that glare of his, and it was cold enough in this cave.
Mr. Morton heaved an exasperated sigh and took the rock from Riley. "Limestone," he said, rather less than patiently, but broke off when Riley's flashlight revealed the fossil. "That's a nice orthoceras, there. Good eye, Riley."
"Orthoceras?" It never ceased to amaze Riley that for someone so square, the XO was so smart. Almost as smart as Admiral Nelson… Of course, nobody on earth was as smart as Admiral Nelson, but Mr. Morton knew a powerful lot of stuff.
"A prehistoric nautiloid. That's an ancient nautilus to you, Riley." Again, the smile was in his voice, as if he knew Riley needed the plain talk, and not those fancy words he and the admiral and the skipper tossed around. But it was a kind smile; Mr. Morton wasn't making fun of him, just making it easier for him to understand.
Riley looked at the fossil again. This thing didn't look anything like a nautilus. It didn't have a curved shell for one thing. The nautiluses he was familiar with had lovely curved shells, works of art, really. This one stretched out straight to a pointy tip. He knew that it was the creature that had lived inside that shell that was the nautilus, but still… "Crazy!" He took the fossil back and put it carefully into a sample bag, then returned to his search, hoping to find something else cool.
As he searched, he kept his eye on Mr. Morton, because Chief Sharkey would probably behead him or something if anything happened to the XO. The COB tended to be a little over-protective. He acted like the officers were children who couldn't even look after themselves. If Patterson hadn't been on watch, Riley might not even have gotten to dive this time around. He was glad of the chance, but all things considered, he'd rather have been partnered with the captain. Mr. Morton made him nervous. He'd seen that frosty glare a little too often, and man, he really didn't want to see it again… The XO was actually pretty easy to work for and all, square, but cool, but man, he could make you feel about an inch tall, when you messed up. Riley really tried not to mess up, but sometimes he got a little too exuberant, and things didn't quite go as he'd planned…
The chief didn't help matters any; if Mr. Morton got mad and glared, then the chief got mad and yelled. Sometimes the chief got mad and yelled, even when no one else was mad… Oh, he was all right, the chief, but he had high expectations. That wasn't a bad thing, all things considered, but his thing about looking after the officers… Man, what was that about? Okay, sure the skipper was kind of a trouble magnet, and the admiral had a number of bad-ass enemies, but Mr. Morton was sane and practical and safe. He never got into trouble. Well, okay there was that thing with Dr. Kelly, but no one had expected that. And then, too, there was Admiral Lura, but man, that guy was some kind of sadist or something... The XO couldn't be blamed for that.
But on a routine dive for a bunch of weird brain coral that they couldn't even find? No one was likely to get into trouble here!
Mr. Morton had moved to the back of the cave where that pool of water was. Riley watched his light sweep across the back wall and floor of the cave, gleaming off the still water. After a moment, he crouched down, reaching for a large rock that lay half in the pool. Realizing that he'd found something, Riley edged closer, hoping to see what. He couldn't resist asking. "What you got, sir?"
Mr. Morton glanced at him, and Riley was surprised to see puzzlement in those frosty blue eyes. "I'm not sure. I don't recognize it."
Man, oh, man… It must be big then. Riley edged closer, and looked at the rock illuminated in the beam. It held the imprint of what could only be an enormous tentacle. The suckers were clearly visible, and each carried the imprint of a wicked little spiky hook in the center. Whatever this thing had been it was one crazy sea monster. "Some kind of octopus, sir?" Riley really hoped it was an octopus. He'd never heard of a fossil octopus… But he'd never heard of an orthoceras either. "Want me to bag it, sir?"
"More likely some kind of squid." Mr. Morton didn't sound like he was one hundred percent certain though, which meant he might be wrong, and it might be an octopus. "Odd for the soft tissue to be so well-preserved…" He handed the fossil to Riley. The sailor reverently lowered it into a heavy-weight sample bag. It had already passed one major litmus test: Mr. Morton didn't recognize it. If the admiral didn't know what it was either, then maybe they had a brand new prehistoric creature. Maybe they'd even name it after the admiral!
"Do you think Admiral Nelson will know what it is, sir?"
Mr. Morton sighed. "I couldn't say, Riley." He rose and walked along the edge of the pool of water, looking for more fossils. They weren't supposed to be fossil hunting, but there wasn't much else to do in here, and they hadn't found any of the brain corals that the admiral was looking for. An unknown prehistoric fossil might just appease the admiral when they came back coral-less. At least, Riley hoped so… Because if it didn't, the admiral would yell. And nobody could yell like the admiral could. At least, if that happened, it would be the skipper and Mr. Morton taking the brunt of it. And they seldom got all hot and bothered by it. Mr. Morton would just stand there calmly and take it. The skipper, now he might yell back a bit, but more likely he'd just make a joke, and start everyone laughing, and before you knew it, the admiral would be smiling too…
He turned away to hunt for more fossils. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the water start to bubble and boil, as if something were moving below the surface. He gave a hesitant warning, not sure what it was. "Mr. Morton…"
But Mr. Morton had already noticed it, and stepped back from the water's edge. The water splashed outwards, vigorously roiling with the motion. Man, whatever was under there was big. Mr. Morton retreated some more and trained his flashlight on the pool. Riley's own flashlight beam lanced toward the spot as well, and the two of them studied the surface of the pool, hoping for a glimpse of the creature beneath.
Something broke the surface, arrowed upward then flopped down on the cave floor, just a little too close to Mr. Morton for Riley's comfort. He edged a little closer to the XO, noting that Mr. Morton was prudently moving a bit farther away. The thing flopping on the dusty floor of the cave looked like a tentacle and acted like a hand searching blindly for something. Mr. Morton waved Riley back with a sharp command, but didn't get the chance to retreat himself before the questing tentacle curled suddenly around his leg and pulled. The XO slammed down against the hard floor with a surprised cry, followed by a grunt of pain. He dropped his flashlight, and the bulb shattered, leaving only Riley's light piercing through the gloom. Mr. Morton jerked out his diving knife, hacking at the tentacle. Riley scurried forward, pulling out his own knife, but trying to keep his light on the struggle in front of him. "Sir…"
More tentacles boiled outward from the water, seizing Mr. Morton unerringly, wrapping around legs and torso, and dragging him toward the water. He slashed at them furiously, but snapped an order at Riley. "Stay back! Don't let it…" He broke off with a cry, and Riley heard the crack as bones gave beneath the tentacles' tightening grip. Oh, man, was it one of his legs, or maybe his ribs? Riley scrambled closer – disobeying a direct order, but it couldn't be helped - and tried to hack at the tentacles, too, but his efforts were too timid. The things had wrapped so tightly that he was afraid he'd cut Mr. Morton.
The XO slid several inches toward the water, his foot sending ripples through the madly bubbling waves. Riley dropped knife and flashlight. The beam of light winked out as the flashlight crashed against the floor of the cave. Riley ignored the sudden darkness and wrapped his arms around Mr. Morton's shoulders, pulling back against the monster, but he didn't have the strength. The thing jerked against his grip hard, dragging Mr. Morton from his grasp and into the water. He could hear the XO scrabbling frantically for something, anything that would stop his slide under the madly heaving pool, but there was nothing to hold onto, and in seconds the water had swallowed him.
Riley scrambled back from the edge, heaving strangled, sobbing breaths, and covered his mouth with his hand, hoping to stifle a panicked cry. He had to get help… Maybe he could dive into the pool and see if… See what? He'd lost his flashlight and his knife… He groped around on the cave floor, but he had no idea where he'd lost them, didn't even know how close he was to the water, or if the thing would come back for him, too.
Frightened, he scampered away from the back of the cave, until he reached the entrance, his hands submerging in the cold saltwater… He could swim back to Seaview… Oh, God… What was he thinking? Mr. Morton was gone… Surely there was something he could do… He lifted his hand to his throat mike. "Skipper! Skipper, help! I've lost him…" The chief would be listening on the other end… He would know that Riley had messed up… Badly… But maybe he, too, would come to the rescue. Right now, the only thing that mattered was that the XO was gone, and they had to find him…
The answer couldn't have been long in coming but to Riley's disoriented senses it seemed to take forever. "We're nearly there, Riley. What do you mean, you've lost him? Where's Mr. Morton?"
"Something ate him…" It was the only possible explanation… Whatever that thing was it had been hungry and… Riley buried his face in his hands and tried desperately not to sob. "Something big… I don't know what…" His hands were shaking, and his voice rasped out painfully. "Skipper, hurry… Please…"