Sea Beast
By: JAG
Chapter 1
I noticed something strange in the water beside me. A yellow submarine swam towards me, it's smiling jolly roger seemed to wink at me as it swam next to me. I reached out and brushed my fingers against its cold glass windows that faced the front of the sub.
A sudden warmth spread under my fingers and I peered closer to the window. A man with a white hat and black jacket looked at me with an impassive expression, though his eyes showed a glint of interest. I smiled and looked closer into the window past the man. There was three other men in the room as well as a polar bear. They were all wearing white boiler suits, except for the bear whose suit was orange. Two men were gawking at me, little nose bleeds were seen as they appeared to be shouting something at me. The other man seemed to ignore me as he focused on navigating the sub, though he was glaring at me. I looked down and noticed that I covered most of the window and that he probably couldn't see. I shifted and moved towards the side so he could see before turning my attention towards the bear.
A tap on the window dragged my attention away from my observing, towards the man in the white hat. He tilted his head to the side and pointed at me, before looking up to the surface. I smiled at the motioned question and spread out my hands on the glass. I tapped each finger on the window before curling three of my fingers in to leave seven resting on the glass. He stared at me for a moment before smirking and moving his hands again. He motioned to the two men with nose bleeds with a writing motion, never turning his head from me.
The men seemed to know what the man wanted and disappeared from the room for a moment before returning with a pad of paper and a pen. He wrote quickly and turned the paper so I could read the sheet.
What are you doing out there? I snickered at the question before rolling my eyes. I gently launched off the window to swim in a few small circles before the sub reached me again. I looked through the window again to see the man nod before returning to the paper again.
10 what? I paused for a moment, trying to think of a way to explain to him the meaning. I smiled before tapping the glass with my finger. I placed the finger on my chest and made an slow up and down movement that resembled breathing. He watched me for a moment before nodding and went back to writing.
Breathing? How long is 10? I nodded before placing my hands on the window again. I tapped my all 10 of my fingers before pulling back one hand, now showing 5. He paused, thinking for a moment before writing.
Minutes? I beamed a smile and nodded my head, shifting to rest my side on the window and look around at the sea as I was gently pushed through. Swarms of fish past the sub in a slow pace, bouncing light through the sea making them appear to shimmer in the water. A few sharks swam in front of the sub, looking for a good meal nearby. I felt a gentle tug in my lungs, letting me know that I was almost out of air. I turned to face the man again to find a question on his pad.
What's your name? I tilted my head to the side and thought hard on how to show it. A fog spot sat on the window from where I had been lying and shifted down so I could write on it.
Flick. I need to surface, you can join me if you want. I nodded to the man, before turning and taking off towards the surface. My lungs were beginning to burn as I swam faster towards the surface. A shadow on the surface slowly began to grow as I drew closer. The shadow soon grew to be as big as small ship when I reached the surface.
I bursted from the water and took a deep breath of air. The sunlight bounced off my red hair as I swam over towards my ship, Garden. It was a decent sized ship, equipped with three rooms; two of which had ten hammocks to act as beds for other crew members. Then there is the kitchen and galley, two bathrooms, two storage rooms, and a navigation room. The ship itself was a little thing compared to navy or other pirate ships. Its railings were littered with planters that held flowers of every color. Up by the steering wheel of the ship, was a grove of weeping willows that hid a small pond that I had filled with small and colorful fish that I find out at sea. There was an advanced filter system that I had designed that pumped the saltwater from the sea to the pond and back to help oxygenate the water.
I smiled as I grabbed a rope I had left for when I needed to climb up, and crawled up to deck. As I reached the railing, I heard a loud alarm start to cry out. I leaned over the railing to see a large shadow coming up to the surface. I smiled and quickly pulled up my four anchors before running to the kitchen to prepare for guests. The smell of coffee, alcohol, and meat began to waft through the room as I heard a loud splash followed by the now ear piercing alarm. A moment later, the alarm was turned off and I breathed a sigh of relief. I turned off the heat from my stove and took off towards the deck to see where the submarine had emerged.
To my surprise, the submarine had pulled up onto the right side. It had somehow managed to go under my ship without disturbing it. A loud clang of metal sounded and a group of men began to run out, shouting in joy at being on the surface. Suddenly, the large polar bear bursted through the crowd and caught himself on the railing of their ship facing me. I snorted and watched as he panted and fanned himself in an attempt to cool down.
'Poor bear. Maybe he can go for a dip in the pond to cool off.' I nodded at the thought just as the man with the white hat came up. He turned towards the bear before noticing me past him. A shout rang from the men as the two with the nosebleeds bursted through the crowd and pointed at me.
"IT'S THE SEXY LADY!" they cried as the other men noticed me and joined in the two's shout of joy. I laughed at the antics and covered my mouth in an attempt to control my laughter.
"Hahahahaha Oh God STOP! I'm gonna die⦠Oh boy." I wiped a tear before turning to face the man with the white hat.
"I'm sorry that I took off like that but I needed air. Thats a nice submarine you guys got there. I haven't seen too many of those in this blue before," the man's eyebrows rose at that before turning to take in my ship. A gentle breeze came through and pushed my willows' branches, causing them to brush the steering wheel. It turned slightly and moved closer to the ship. The men gave a cry of surprise and moved to protect their ship. A light chuckle escaped my throat as I grabbed a rope that had been resting on the planter boxes, giving it a firm tug to adjust the ship. Now it rested beside their ship, lightly bobbing in the water.
"Sorry bout that. Give me a minute to put down my anchors." I took off running around the ship, roughly spinning the anchor wheels to send the anchors back over board to hold us down. As the last one hit its end, the weight pushed the boat down causing ripples to appear around the ship. A moment later, everything settled and I walked back over to see the other ship. The other men stared at my ship and took in its effect on the water.
"What was that?" the man with the white hat asked. I smiled and pointed towards the closest wheel.
"When all of my anchors are settled in the water, a filtration system I have set up on the bottom of the ship kicks on and moves the surrounding salt water through my ship. The main intake is what caused the ripples you saw a second ago. After a minute though, the system begins to also pump back out the saltwater to create a continuous flow of water. When that happens, the water goes back to normal and there is only slight suction on the intake pipe so that no one gets hurt swimming around or under it." the men on the ship gawked at me as the man with the white hat grew a wicked smirk on his face.
"Anyway, did you guys want to come on board? I got some food and drink ready. I haven't had guests in a really long time. Plus, there is a pool for your bear there. It seems like he is going to pass out in a little bit." I stated, looking at the man with the white hat since he seemed to be the captain of the ship. He looked around to see all of his men giving him puppy eyes. He turned to look at the bear who only looked at him with pitiful eyes.
A deep sigh emitted from him as he nodded at me with his crew crying out in joy. I laughed and moved towards the grove to grab some long boards that I have for this kind of occasion. Lifting three of them up, I walked back over and placed them on my railing. I pushed out the other end towards their ship where a group of the men reached out and grabbed onto the wood. I reached down and threw over a few lines of rope that both me and the men attached them to our respective railings. Luckily, our ships are about the same height so it was a simple walk over for everyone.
