8.Feb.09
Summer Waters
Chapter
One:
Discovery
The
ship was a 350 foot long catamaran class vessel, and a massive one at that,
sitting on two hulls instead of one making the craft far more stable than normal
ships. The deck spread out evenly on top with the lowest point of the top half a
good thirty feet off the surface of the water. Centered in the middle was a
retractable grate ‘floor’ that split in the middle so that one of three
submersions could be lowered safely in. On the aft of the ship was ramp that
lowered as well, letting pangas be slid into the water or pulled back up to be
stored for longer journeys.
At
the moment the mini-fleet of four pangas were parked by the outer hauls where
they had been tied the night before. Or rather earlier that morning if one was
to get technical.
The
research vessel was called the Particle
Plankton. Or, as its crew fondly call it: The Big P. The ship was privately
owned by one Dr. Charles Paterson, a man who was a marine biologist that
involuntary inherited a relative family fortune. One that Dr. Paterson had been
oblivious to throughout college as well as thirty years of working with various
aquariums and research stations around the world.
Now,
the man had put half of said inheritance into his custom built research ship and
the rest was being invested in various things to be cashed in when retirement
rolled along. He lived on his ship with other biologists, geologists, scientists
and crew members as well as six Divemasters. Although Dr. Paterson himself lived
full time on the ship, the others were mostly only there for the year long
exploration and discovery mission of the glob’s oceans.
Everyone
right now was having a well earned siesta, most having been up practically all
of the night before. Both in and out of the water Divemasters and crew helped
with watching over the scientists as they collected samples and a few specimens
that would be released before leaving this aria.
One
of the Divemasters was taking her time off alone, stretched out in the little
panga, a small boat that was used to ferry the researchers and divers to and
from the massive research vessel to dive sights.
The
young woman was about five foot nine, had dark brown eyes and shoulder length
black hair that was tied up out of the way. At age twenty she was a southern
California native, one that knew all her relatives across the Mexican border and
that had lived on and by the sea all her life.
It
was pure dumb luck that she had gotten this job. Being in the right place at the
wrong time, or the right time depending on how one looked at it. Alaina had
already been working as a Divemaster at the dive shop Dr. Paterson and the
Caption of the Big P, Richard, had been getting some equipment. They had been
talking with the owner and one thing led to another and somewhere Alaina’s
name popped up as an eligible Divemaster.
Right
now though Alaina shifted in the skiff before putting her MP3 headphones in and
turned the device on with one hand. A few moments passed before the songs sung
by humpback whales, recordings from about two weeks ago, start to play. There
was some background noise of water and faint splashes, but the sound files she
had were primarily that of whales’ songs that had been recorded both on this
trip and previous ones.
She
listened to natural songs, her MP3 on a random shuffle so that Alaina had to
really listen to tell the species apart, not to go from memory. The deep,
resounding song of a lone Blue Whale filled her sleepy world. The old man’s
song was indeed old and more then likely sung miles upon miles from where it had
been recorded.
It
was hard to believe that the great blue whales were capable of singing to others
in another hemisphere before men had introduced sound palliations on top of the
garbage and waist products.
Alaina
smiled faintly as she imaged what it might have been like before humans had
started to muck up their planet. How rich and healthy the waters and oceans must
have been!
The
slightly higher toned sympathies of a pod of Orcas started and the young woman
slowly fell asleep listening to the chatters and tones of the ‘wolves’ of
the seas.
It
could have been five minutes, or a little over an hour, Alaina wasn’t exactly
sure which. Ether way she was jarred out of sleep as something other then a
large wave hit the panga. Startled, and half expecting to see one of the other
Divemasters trying to pull some kind of joke, the young woman looked over the
bloated air pockets of the zodiac like panga.
No
snorkeler or free diver. Alaina checked the other side only to find the same
thing: no one. She snatched up her mask and put it on after pulling her now
turned off MP3 player. Maybe it had been an hour since that thing wasn’t on
repeat and shut off on its own when not playing.
Having
only a t-shirt on over her swimsuit, Alaina wasn’t shy about getting wet. She
was in the water head fist at the same time flattening the strap on her mask.
Once underwater the young woman looked around and righted herself. Seeing no one
she frowned and twisted in water, use to the aquatic versions of
‘keep-a-way,’ ‘hide-a-way,’ as well as the classic ‘tag.’
Okay
this was weird. Maybe it had been a fish that hit the panga, or possibly a
flying fish that colloid with the side of small boat. Alaina knew that when one
was in a state where you were neither awake nor asleep but in that odd spot in
between, sudden sounds seemed appeared much loader then they should be.
Mentally
hitting herself, Alaina kicked and broke the surface. She inhaled and looked up
at Willem, another Divemaster was leaning on the rails of the top deck, smiling
down at her.
“Hey,”
the young man waved, “What’s up ‘Laina?” he called down.
“What?
A girl can’t get any exercise?” Alaina laughed and splashed at the boat
since she couldn’t get to her friend, “The guests doing anything today?”
“Nah,”
Willem shook his head, “We wore them out last night. Some might join you
snorkeling though and maybe a dive later this evening.”
Alaina
nodded and looked around, she was up now and didn’t want to go back into a
nap. Looking up again she asked, “Could ya come down and get my player? And
tell Rich I’m going to paddle over to swim with the mantas!”
“Just
don’t go on the island proper!” Willem called down.
“I
know that!” Alaina rolled her eyes before getting her fins out of the panga,
once on she turned in the water. Head down she streamlined her body and swam,
careful not to thrash about. After all she didn’t want to attract silky
sharks.
Truthfully,
she was a little bit more nevus about the smaller silkies and reefs then the, much,
larger hammerheads. She made it to the Isla San Benindito with no incident
however. Other then dodging a few colorful, and thus poisonous, jellyfish that
is; but made it she did and paused as she caught her breath.
She
was using her actual snorkel at this point so she could keep her head down in
the watch and see what there was to see as well as breath at the same time.
Letting go of the rock she was holding, Alaina started at a slower pace as she
worked her way to the small point ahead. On the other side she knew the
sheltered bay was where quite a few manta rays had been there the day before.
The
giant, flattened out yet still graceful creatures had been a little shy the
other day, but Alaina thought (as did a couple of the dive masters) that that
was because of the panga and the size of the group. Right now, the young woman
was hoping that since she was alone she’d have better luck. Not clad in
strange dive gear as well as being a bit on the small side, even more so
compared to the mantas, had to help as well.
Just
before she rounded the point, Alaina braced her heels on a rock under the water
and lifted her arms over her head. One hand holding the opposite wrist she made
a very clear ‘Okay’ sign. Pushing her mask up to see beyond the water
droplets on it she saw a few people make the sign back to her. There was some
movement at the aft of the ship and Alaina prayed that they weren’t going to
bring a mob and fallow her.
Best
to get a head start then!
Alaina thought as she sank back in the water, her mask in place once again.
It
ended up being a smart move. Or not, but that fully depended on the person and
how they looked at things.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
The
water was a sparkling aqua shade on the surface, the color deepening to an
indigo blue the deeper you went. But on the surface it was light and a warm as
she floated up to it. Sounds were different down here as well, no birds were
heard or the thousands of light splashes of the waves on the surface. Clicks and
scraps of fish, crabs, shrimp and thousands of other, some muffled, little
things replace all that.
Exhaling
a stream of bubbles just before she broke the surface and Alaina inhaled the
humid air before treading the water. The young woman bubbled in the water in a
mild show of childish impudence and pleasure. Before arching her back and
floated like that, holding perfectly still in the ocean waters.
She
stared up at the blue sky for as long as she could, but it was only for a minute
before her mask amplified the sun’s rays. Alaina had to twist back to being
face-down and automatically scanned the sea floor some ten feet below.
Five
others had swam out after her and were closer to shore, another Divemaster was
with them just to make sure no one went on the island proper.
Right
now though…Alaina couldn’t think of anywhere she’d rather be. It was one
of those moments in ones life that lasted forever.
Popping
her head up to make sure no one was paddling over where she was, Alaina sucked
in air and dove. The Divemaster expertly stream-lined her body using it all to
do so with her legs held together in what was called a ‘dolphin’ or
‘mermaid’ kick. Alaina was careful not to touch anything as she popped her
ears and skimmed over the bottom.
Brown
eyes flicked from one side to another in a habit of keeping an eye out for
divers or something interesting. Even if she was only free diving and alone at
the moment. It was still a good habit she planed on keeping.
Alaina
came back up for another breath and dove back down again. She did this several
times, slowly going down deeper until when she was about fifteen to sixteen feet
down.
The
distinctive shine of metal flashed in the corner of Alaina’s eye and she
blinked. Twisting in the water the woman swamp over to what looked like storm
damage on some coral. There was also old, hard lava rock as well that bulged up
in an odd pattern not normal with other flows. In fact the shin of metal was
coming from in between the crushed coral and the lava rock.
A
burning feeling in her chest, the lungs made Alaina come back up for air.
Gasping and spiting out some salt water, Alaina treaded water as she took slow
deep breaths before diving back down.
Risking
a possibility of a good yelling later on, Alaina carefully move the larger,
still living chunks of coral. After another air run, she used the water itself
to help get the sand out of the way. Soon Alaina was sure now without the shadow
of a doubt that what she had seen was metal.
She
smoothed her hands over the two foot space she cleared and blinked.
The
skipper and Dr. Paterson had to know about this!
“WILLEM!”
Alaina yelled ounce she broke the surface, waving her arms elaborated motion
that meant ‘help’ or ‘something’s wrong’ in the direction of the other
group of snorkelers. “OVER HERE!” She ducked her head down to make sure she
was treading water over the right spot before waving an arm to hurry up her
fellow Divemaster and the other four.