Gone Fishing

Edward 'Teddy' Gómez had wanted to be a chief from the moment he made his first cake in kindergarten. That passion had seen him work his way up from doing dishes and waiting tables to pay for his way through cooking college, through menial job to menial job diligently learning his trade all the way up to where he was now, the executive chief of a top Miami hotel. To the outside world he had it made but professionally there was one thing he lacked, a true signature dish. Over the years he had created many great dishes but none he felt were truly unique or worthy to be called his signature dish. There was one dish he had fantasized about since his teens; he'd often be caught day-dreaming amidst piles of dirty plates, thinking and planning the dish. As he grew in skill he devoted many hours to reading and studying, researching old cooking books, he even taught himself to read Latin and Arabic so to better study the more ancient manuscripts. It was there amongst the volumes of the Smithsonian that he had found the clues that he was looking for. Everyone he had told about the dish had laughed, some though he was making a joke others that he was crazy, but he knew otherwise. Still it could harm his reputation so he gave talks about his historical studies and joked about his teenage obsession, he even ordered a cake baked like his dish for his birthday. The ruse work, the jokes stopped and people recognized him as an authority on ancient cookery, albeit an eccentric one, but one people would pay top dollar to have cook for them. He put this wealth to practical use and brought himself a big motor yacht and kitted it out with the best sonar he could find. For special clients he would personally get the fish from the sea himself, and all the while the sonar was recording what was there under the sea. After years of searching he found what he was looking for. Early one morning he sat in his favourite diner having breakfast prior to the biggest fishing trip of his life. He mused about how people had laughed at him when he was growing up. They didn't laugh in his face now but he was sure they laughed at him behind his back. But not today, well today they would but in a week or so he'd be hailed as a genius, the creator of a dish no other mortal would dare to create again. He looks out to sea and pondered his creation, a simple seafood dish, a seafood dish like no other.

"So Teddy, you gonna catch your mermaid today?" He looked up to see Gino, a sous-chef from a restaurant opposite his hotel.

"Yep, today's the day Gino." Teddy motioned for him to join him.

"Yeah, that's what you say every week."

"True but today is different.

"You say that as well."

"Yeah," Teddy Stretched "but today feels different, I got a new lead; last week I received a copy of an old manuscript for Fordham University which is the last piece in the puzzle."

"Man you should be a professor, not a chief."

The two talked over breakfast till it was time for Teddy to leave, tide and time wait for no man and the manuscript had been very specific about the conditions.

Ariel the mermaid was swimming with a pod of dolphins passing through an area known for troubles. There were frequent skirmishes between orcas and dolphins over feeding rights and territory here, and while things had cooled down ever since King Triton had decreed a settlement neither side were happy with the result. The king was happy with this as it meant neither side could claim to be winners, despite this tensions still bubbled under the surface so the presence of a member of the royal household was required to keep a lid on things till tempers cooled. Ariel loved swimming with dolphins, they playful nature matching her own. The pod was made up younger dolphins with a few older ones to keep them in order and to try to teach them something about the area. The older ones knew they would fight again over this area so the more the younger ones knew about it the better. This would have worked had Ariel not been them, her exuberance and playfulness kept getting in the way. Finally the elder dolphins gave up and decided to try to keep Ariel under control and stop her from swimming accidentally over the border. They were close enough that even the younger ones became cautious and slightly subdued. The older ones sensed it first. One gave an alarm call, the pod stopped and turned, forming up into attack formation as two orcas loomed out of the gloom. The orca's had deliberately crossed the border, was this an act of war or were they just here to make a point that the area was still in dispute. The elder dolphin knew they had recently done this so hoped the Orcas' were just returning the favour.

The eldest dolphin swam forward to confront them.

"This isn't your feeding area, go or we will attack."

"Ok, ok, calm down." Ariel swam between the two groups.

The lead orca thrashed her tail in annoyance and looked at Ariel "I'm not here to feed, I'm here to warn."

"Warn? Warn who?"

"Warn you princess Ariel; we've seen a pattern, a pattern in human activity we haven't seen for centuries, the pattern of shame."

The eldest dolphin swam in circles, clicking in annoyance "There are uninitiated young here; you have no right to mention that in their presence."

"Just 'cause it was your fault."

"No it wasn't."

"Yes it was, or are you calling me a liar." The two squared up to each other while the others hung back and looked menacing, which was a lot easier for an orca. While the younger dolphins had had some military training, none have ever faced a real orca in combat. An experience pod could easily handle an orca, but this pod was young, only a few had fought in the last conflict whereas both these orcas were combat veterans. If there was fighting it would be a bloodbath.

"Knock it off!" shouted Ariel "What's this pattern anyway?"

The orca and the dolphin looked at each other.

"Is she serious?" whispered the orca.

"Princess Ariel, you must have heard of, of emm the pattern. I know it's in the briefings you get before patrolling here."

"Oh, emm the briefing, I, I was doodling."

"Princess Ariel!" the eldest dolphin exclaimed.

The other orca turned and emitted a set of sounds.

"What are you doing?" asked the first.

"Getting backup. If this goes wrong it'll make the battle of the three channels look like a social gathering."

"Enough, I command to be told." Ariel folded her arms.

The orca bowed "As you wish your highness. Humans hunt mermaids, normally mermaids are warned by orcas so they can stay away," said the lead orca
"Or dolphins." Interrupted the elder dolphin "It is rare your highness but some humans do hunt mermaids."

"So?"

"On that day the dolphins and orcas were at war, it was the height of the conflict, neither side was holding out. In that moment the signs of a human hunt was missed and a number of mermaids were caught by humans, never to be seen of again."

"Oh, but humans aren't bad now. I've met humans before and they were fine. That's all old history."

"Not anymore, we've seen the hunt pattern. A single boat true, but it is following the pattern exactly, we were here waiting for it when it arrived, right on time."
"Oh my!" the elder dolphin swam around Ariel, clearly alarmed "Princess Ariel, you must heed the warning of the orcas and leave immediately. We will escort you from the area."

"And we will obstruct the passage of the boat," the orca nodded at the dolphin who reciprocated, this would please King Triton, it might even help ease tensions.

"No." Ariel folded her arms emphatically, if only cetaceans could face-palm "I am a princess of the sea and can go where I please. Plus I know humans, everything will be fine."

With that Ariel turned tail and swam away towards Orca territory.

"Pass the word old pips, we're off to see King Triton and we need clearance to move through here it'll take too long to go around the area."

The dolphin frowned at the nickname but the orca was right, he turned around and emitted a series of low frequency clicks and whistles. They waited till they head a reply in the distance.

"Go, the message has been passed ahead. Better remind him who is on patrol here."

"You don't have to remind me." The orcas swam off at flank speed.

By the time Ariel had calmed down she was miles away, she sort of knew where she was by the taste of the water but she'd never been here before. There were humans about alright, she could hear the rhythmic thum-thum from propellers, the low frequency rumble of engines; the sounds of a fishing boat hauling in its gears and the high-pitched whine from speedboats closer to shore.

Ariel gasped "A fishing boat, oh my!" perhaps the orca was right!

She listened carefully, dove below the layer and listened again and let out a sigh, the boat was miles away. Still she didn't want to blunder into a set of nets by mistake. Ariel swam in a circle as slowly and as quietly as she could to get a detailed picture of what was going on in the area. There quite a few fishing boats around so decided to play it safe and hide under another boat while it left the area then return home for the obligatory telling off from her father. She didn't want to hide under big ship, they were too noisy; made the water taste odd and the propellers could turn her into sushi if she wasn't careful. There was another boat nearby, a medium sized pleasure cruiser by the sounds of it, these sometime engaged in fishing but she could hear music and children. The boat was underway so there would be no divers and was heading for one of the human ports so probably not fishing. Ariel swam over to the boat, sure enough it was making slow but steady progress towards port, by the sound of it there must be a children's party on board. Under the keel of the boat she noticed something sparkly shiny. Swimming up to it she could see a small cluster of glowing objects attached to the bottom by a small tether. The pattern of pulsing changed as she grew closer, it changed again when she touched it. Ariel was entranced, whatever it was seemed to be interacting with her. Spellbound by the lights she didn't notice the world around her getting darker.

"Who dares disturb the king at this hour?" Roared Triton getting out of bed.

"Your majesty, two orcas, they were cleared to come through dolphin territory next to the disputed zone." Triton frowned, this wasn't good; he threw on his robe and hurried to the throne room. King Triton like formalities and the niceties of being a king, he also knew when it was time to dispense with all the formal BS and get down to business. He nodded at the lead orca, they had air caps over their blow holes allowing them to breathe, another sign of the effort they had expended getting here.

"Your majesty, the pattern, we have seen the pattern."

"Where?"

"The disputed zone."

"Ariel! Did you?"

"We tried, we crossed the line to warn her, she was escorting a pod. They tried, we both offered, the pod would escort her back and orcas would intercept and divert the boat but..."

"But she didn't listen. Sebastian!"

"Yes your highness." Sebastian scuttled over as fast as he could, he'd already been briefed and had already started a search and rescue mission.

"Initiate a search, no expense is to be spared."

"I'm already on it sire. I suggest we go to the situation room."

The situation room was several levels below the throne room, it was the nerve centre of the kingdom handling all of the military and diplomatic traffic going to and from the palace. Triton's military chiefs and their staff were up and running about here and there trying to organize and coordinate. The atmosphere in the room was already tense when Triton entered.

"Grand Admiral Lieberwitz?"

An elderly squid rose from a platform in the centre of the room and jetted over to Triton. "Sire wanderers are airborne over the area now and are tracking several likely targets, they are in contact with orca command to co-ordinate the search. The pod are conducting an expanding circular search and have been given permission to enter orca territory. A couple of marlins should be there now to do a quick pass through the areas not covered by the pod or orcas, we'll have a flight of manta rays there within the hour and three squadrons of hammerheads within two."

The squid led Triton to a large map as he spoke, shrimps with symbols on their backs moved about under the direction of several octopuses, Triton squinted at the map; military symbology wasn't his strong point but he got the picture that everything was in order. Lieberwitz may be old but he knew his stuff.

Ariel looked around, to her left and right she could see nothing but darkness. Directly in front she could see a line of bright blue water a couple of feet wide but already blocked by bars. She cried out in alarm, the gap was closing. Too late she realized it was a trap, two halved of a sphere were closing around her, the edge of had protruding bars preventing her escape before the spheres closed. Ariel went to gap pointed to deep water and screamed for help with all her might, second later she was silenced as the sphere closed up. The light went out leaving her in absolute darkness. There was roaring noise as the water was pumped out of the sphere. Ariel pounded on the side of the sphere and called out for help but knew the noise wouldn't get far. There was a faint hissing noise, a faint unpleasant smell filled Ariel's nostrils. She was already struggling to breath, mermaids took time to adjust to breathing air and this wasn't fresh air. Her head began to spin, she was finally able to breathe but every breath made her feel more unsteady and woozy. Despite her best efforts she couldn't stop herself falling asleep.

A representative of the secretive National Sonar Agency spoke up "Listening stations report getting a snippet of a mermaid distress call, not long enough to get a precise location…"

Shrimps on the map reconfigured themselves to show the new search area Lieberwitz gave some orders to some junior officers then to Triton.

"The wanderers and marlin will be sent directly to that area as will two of the hammerhead squadrons. The location will allow the hammerheads to get there quicker but we can't rule out other areas."

A messenger hurried up to Lieberwitz and saluted "Sir, orca command is requesting permission to attack likely target boats in that area."

The admiral turned to Triton "Sire, what are your orders?"

King Triton took a deep breath, being king wasn't all parties are social events; you made decisions and had to live with the consequences. He'd assigned Ariel the task of escorting the pod and now had to deal with the consequences of that decision, and live with the consequences of his next…

"No," Triton picked up the royal battle standard and planted it into the ground in the centre of the room "mobilise the navy, we are going to war."