Oceanic Food Chain

By: Landray Depth Charge

Massive triangular wings slowly beat water, pushing his surprisingly buoyant body forward. Here, on this primitive planet, the marine world was his. No other being, organic or not, could traverse this amazing realm with as much ease as Depth Charge could. Although he was typically a slow mover, he was capable of powerful bursts of sustained speed exceeding eighty miles-per-hour. That was damn good speed underwater.

His body, flat and supple in beast mode, easily twisted and turned with the currents, thanks to a very flexible spine and muscular system. Depth Charge was coming to realize that he preferred his beast form to his robot one. On land he was fast when he wanted to be, but his wings and tail oftentimes made speed and accuracy difficult. His bipedal conformation was ungainly and awkward. But here, now, there was nothing he couldn’t do. Plus, he could do it all with the utmost dexterity and grace.

The oceans are mine.

Diamond-shaped optics the color of deep saffron scanned the sandy ocean floor, searching for nothing, yet everything. Depth Charge’s beast mode mentality was taking over, pushing the universe from his musing and replacing it with calm, nonchalant thoughts. Thoughts about things that didn’t matter.

The hunter pushed a deep, content sigh, back and sides heaving slowly. His speed decreased dramatically as he lowered his head, drifting down towards the tawny white sea floor. Lifting his wide forequarters before he hit bottom, Depth Charge arched his back, raised his wings and gracefully glided back upward. The pattern continued for some time. Down, up, down and smoothly back up again. Eventually the enormous metal fish closed his optics, napping as his body automatically continued the down-up up-down motion that kept him from sinking to the sand.

The manta’s well-deserved siesta was rudely interrupted by a pod of bottle-nosed dolphins frolicking at the surface. The group of twelve or so didn’t notice him at first, but all snapped to attention when they did. Highly tuned audio systems picked up the squeals and clicks and whistles of the mammals signaling to one another. Dammit. A menacing snarl, uncharacteristic of a manta but perfectly normal for Depth Charge, echoed through the water. Much to his dismay, the dolphins had a fit.

The gray streaks of animal sped around him in circles, jaw snapping and clicking, threatening him. The massive Maximal just rolled his optics and did his best to ignore the angry party. His best, however, was not enough. The more insouciant side of the manta disappeared, giving way to the predatory side; Depth Charge’s influence. The need to kill for food was basic, but the robot part of him had added something else. The ability to do something that the Maximal mentality would not allow: killing for pleasure.

Another rasping growl resonated through the water, a deeper, more dangerous one. A warning. The silver streaks slowed and moved away, at least, most did. The one that remained, the dominant male, or so Depth Charge assumed, moved directly into his way, staring at him and snapping angrily.

Suddenly the ray felt very, very angry.

Slamming his wings down with unearthly force, the hunter dove at the smaller mammal, jaws crashing down on nothing with a deafening clap. The dolphin, small as he was, was faster. Mammal and Maximal taunted each other for the next ten or so cycles, one trying to eat the other, the other spinning away just in time and coming back to challenge his antagonist. Depth Charge was fed up.

The massive ray’s attack stopped and for a second he just hovered there. The dolphin sped away for a nano-click, filled his lungs with air at the surface then darted back down. For a moment Depth Charge regarded the mammal, then his pod. A low toned rumble thundered through the water, traveling for miles, as the manta turned to leave.

The rest of the delphinidae swiftly moved out of his way. The male dolphin chirped as the metal giant swam away. He chirped and trilled and whistled after the hunter, as though advertising the fact that he’d won. The pod soon joined him.

Depth Charge’s saffron optics watched the male follow him, nipping at his tail and rear-facing pectorals. Dolphins were supposedly smart, and indeed they were, but no dolphin or any other earthen creature could even begin to measure up to the kind of intelligence robots, Depth Charge in particular, possessed. All along the manta knew that his prey he could not catch by conventional means, all along he knew that the dolphin would win, and celebrate that fact by chasing him off. All along he knew what the dolphin did not.

A silver blade shot through the water with lightening speed, speed greater than even Depth Charge’s prey was capable of. The antagonizing dolphin’s round-eyed stare locked on nothing and glazed over, his body split in the middle by the hunter’s deadly bladed tail. The ocean became eerily silent.

An intelligently savage sneer decorated Depth Charge’s unsmiling face as he languidly turned to retrieve his kill. The blood from his victim was already beginning to flow down-current, staining the crystal blue water crimson. The manta’s cavernous maw swallowed the dribbling halves whole while the rest of the frightened pod watched.

Depth Charge glared at the dolphins for another moment, then turned and swam into the abyss.