FIFTHTEEN
Dr. Yuji Shinta and Dr. Mika Mitsurai are sitting across each other in the JSDF's Mitsubishi Type 73 Light Truck. They are accompanied by Elizabeth and Sonji as well as four other JGSDF's soldiers. After the Prime Minister's decision to destroy the three creatures, Yuji and Mika requested to investigate the previous battle site for any forensic samples. They are given the permission to do so with supervision from the soldiers for their safety.
"I don't think we've been introduced," Mika says staring over at Yuji while extending her hand.
"I'm Mika Mitsurai and this is my colleague Sonji Hiku from the governments Agricultural and Environmental Division."
"Pleasure Dr. Mitsurai, I'm Yuji Shinta and this is my assistant Elizabeth Rooke," as Shinta begins shaking both Mika and Sonji's hands.
"May I ask how you were involved with this?"
"Dr. Mitsurai was asked by my division to investigate the missing wildlife in the Izu Islands," Sonji interjects.
"Her research on environmental ecology, population ecology, and community ecology are among the most insightful within her field. This is why we courted her expertise."
"Sonji, you're inflating my ego," Mika responds as everyone laughs.
"I was honored when I received the call to help our government. I won't lie this will also be a great opportunity for future funding once news spread around about my involvement with the government. As you know Shinta, it's becoming harder and harder to obtain funding and sponsorship for our researches."
"What about you, you mentioned a lost continent?
"Yes, I was provided funding for an expedition to find the lost city of Atlantis. An eccentric, William Bishop, came into some lost literature referencing its location. He provided me all the ancient texts; my team deciphered the location and pin pointed a set of coordinates. We deemed it was somewhere in the South Atlantic and that is where our deep sea investigations began. We came back with only one artifact, the slab in our slide."
"William Bishop? Of Bishop Internationals, the multi billionaire corporations dealing in Steel, Textiles, Pharmaceuticals, and international trade?"
"Yes, the precise one. Apparently, we share the same sentiment regarding Atlantis and he sought me ought to find it with the intended goal to prove its existence. It would have been the greatest discovery and revelation of the millennia. But, this slab, though significant in its own rights, is not conclusive enough to do so."
"I'm sorry Yuji I find this extremely hard to believe. You were in search of Atlantis? I thought Atlantis was myth created by misinterpretations of literature and perpetuated by pop culture?"
"This is precisely why I did not mention this in our conference with the Prime Minister. Many are not opened minded enough to believe in the existence of Atlantis."
"What are your thoughts though Yuji?"
"I believe this is an artifact from Atlantis. But I have been troubled since I started deciphering its glyphs. The slab seems to be part of a greater artifact, perhaps even an obelisk of some sort. I believe it is part of Atlantean history, but more importantly, a time table. Most of the glyphs are too worn to decipher and what I could decipher did not make much sense. I could only gather bits and pieces but I believe Gyaos and Gamera existed during the same period as Atlantis."
"This doesn't explain Gyaos's evolutionary development though. It's growing very speedily, and consuming resources exponentially. The creature was reported as being 30 meters, but in the last encounter its grown to 40 meters. Nor does it explain Gamera, a turtle that can swim and fly. You said it should be part of an obelisk?"
"I believe so, but we did not find any other parts of the artifact in the ocean depths."
Their conversation is interrupted when one of the soldiers announces their arrival at HimeShima Island.
Yuji, Mika, Sonji, and Elizabeth travel to the site of the previous battle. The landscape is horrendous, as the mountain has been leveled down to boulders and pebbles. It's similar to the aftermath of a great forest fire, nothing is left and everything is brown and grey. There are many others already at the site.
Yuji and Mika can see areas sectioned off with yellow tape as other scientists and military personnel work continuously. They begin their search around the area. Yuji and Mika searches the eastern battle grounds while Elizabeth and Sonji searches the western side making sure not to separate too far from the soldiers.
What little of the three creatures tissues are gathered, collected in test tubes, and placed into cold storage containers. While Yuji was searching through the rubble, he notices something shining. Lodged underneath broken debris Yuji can see a mechanical object. He begins removing all the rubble to get to it. The object he extracts looks like a microphone. It has a long cylindrical body with a rubber ball like cap at the top. There's also a short antennae like rod protruding from the tip of the cap. The object is hard and heavy almost indestructibly durable, and the back side has a broken circular chain dangling.
Yuji waives Mika over and shows her the object.
"Do you happen to know what this is?" as he hands the object over to Mika.
She stares at it for a while, turning it over and inspecting the top and bottom.
"This looks like a tracking device used on marine animals. They are usually used on deep sea dwellers such as sharks and manta rays. The device is attached to the animal and released into the wild, see the rubber ball? That sustains the buoyancy of the unit. Once the device is ready it releases itself from the animal and floats to the surface. The unit emits a tracking signal to be picked up afterwards."
Mika returns the device to Yuji as they both stare at it in confusion. Before they can say another word, one of the soldiers rushes over.
"Dr. We just received news the creature Gyaos has been spotted nearing Tokyo. We have orders to move you to safety. Please come with us."
Everyone is escorted back to the jeep to proceed to the designated safety zone.