Ocean: The Sea Warriors (11 page)

Gwyneth scowled, but did not say anything.

Alicia spoke next, saying that one of Kimo’s cousins, whom she had not met yet, was arranging with a garment manufacturer to produce a line of clothing that would be sold to raise funds. “One of the ideas is to have individual endangered or extinct species on each item,” she said, “such as the Steller’s Sea Cow that went extinct in the eighteenth century because of over-hunting by humans.”

A number of people made suggestions of other animals that might be featured, and Foley Johnson recommended a cooperative effort with organizations involved with saving endangered land-based species. A woman said that this particular sea cow was the ocean’s version of the dodo bird, whose extinction was also caused by humans.

“These are all good ideas,” Alicia said. “Kimo’s cousin has already developed new swimwear for us—black suits emblazoned with the name ‘Sea Warriors’ in ocean blue, and the stylized images of endangered ocean species on them. We should have the suits soon. He’s developing tee-shirts as well, for those Sea Warriors who want to contribute without being transformed into a hybrid.”

“Why don’t we just swim naked?” Monique Gatsby asked. Tall and auburn haired, she had a classically proportioned face and large blue eyes.

With a smile, Alicia said, “Everyone does not have your perfect figure, Monique. Besides, we are an army, we are Sea Warriors—and armies wear uniforms. They do not go naked into battle.”

“I guess I’ve been put in my place,” the actress said. Looking hurt, she sat back down.

“I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just that Kimo and I have discussed so many details of how to get this organization going that we’ve already covered that subject—no pun intended. Maybe I’m a little tired right now, and didn’t answer you as tactfully as I should have.”

“No apology needed,” Monique said with a broad smile that showed her perfect teeth—a friendly expression that relieved Alicia.

Then Monique said, “If it’s all right with you and Kimo, I’d like to use my Hollywood contacts to get sympathy for the Sea Warriors, and big donations. They can also stage protests, and maybe even produce a documentary film about us.”

“OK,” Kimo said, “but I don’t know about a film, unless all the profits go to the welfare of the ocean.”

“I might be able to help arrange that,” Monique said. “If it’s OK, I’ll go into town now and make a couple of phone calls.” She smiled. “I brought a credit card, just in case.”

Kimo waved her on, and she set off at a brisk pace, on her bare feet.

Just before sunset, Danny Ho catered a meal for those who wanted it—which turned out to be only a few people. This caused Jiddy, who was enjoying the food, to quip that he wished he had another metal storage chest in his cave for the leftovers, along with electricity, a refrigerator, and a freezer.

Kimo scowled. “I know you don’t really mean all that, my good friend, because you have basically opted out of the system—except for occasional forays into smorgasbords that might be presented to you, of course. But it reminds me of an important point. Human beings need to stop over-consuming, taking more from this planet than they give back to it. I hope we can do something about the ocean portion of that unbalanced equation, and if we are successful, perhaps the message will go even farther, to things people do on the land and in the air as well. It’s just a hope I have.”

“And a good one!” Jiddy said, as he nibbled on a piece of pineapple upside-down cake.

That evening, the warriors camped on the beach. Alicia snuggled with Kimo, and she couldn’t help noticing some of the other pairings—including Vinson Chi’ang and the pretty young Pauline Deveaux, who went off somewhere to be by themselves. This seemed to upset one of the other members, Emily Talbot, who watched them leave together. Earlier, Alicia had noticed Emily trying to get Chi’ang’s attention, and having some success—although he seemed to prefer the company of Pauline.

A week and a half ago, when Jeff Ellsworth received the warning from Pauly Tahina, he had flown his tour helicopter out over the sea and dumped his computer and everything else that might tie him to drug trafficking. Then he’d flown back to the ranch and performed an even more thorough cleansing of the craft’s cargo hold than he’d done before, using strong chemicals. But as days passed Jeff had been worrying increasingly about the helicopter itself. News reports said the cops had drug-sniffing dogs that could smell the residue of illegal substances even after the most stringent efforts to clean them up.

So late one afternoon he took off again, telling the maintenance crew he was going to pick up a date and show her the sunset. That was the farthest thing from his mind. Instead, Jeff flew several miles offshore and dumped most of the fuel in the ocean, then got in closer to the shore of an uninhabited portion of the island, where he waited for the fuel to run out, and ditched the aircraft in the water. He swam ashore, wearing a lifejacket.

That evening, he reported to his grandfather that he’d run out of fuel on the way to pick up a girlfriend, and had crashed in the sea, barely escaping with his life. He showed him a bruise on his forehead, supposedly from the accident, but it was actually self-induced, an intentional bump he gave himself before ditching the aircraft.

“It was careless of you not to check the fuel before taking off,” the old man said, “and it’s going to cost me some money.”

“But you have insurance.”

“With a high deductible, twenty-five thousand dollars. I’ll call my agent tomorrow and notify him of the claim.”

“I didn’t know the fuel was low; the gauge showed that I had plenty, so it must have been malfunctioning, and the maintenance guys didn’t catch it.”

“Did you look inside the tank yourself before taking off?”

“No,” Jeff said. “I guess I was thinking about the girl I wanted to take out. I’m sorry, Grandfather.”

Preston Ellsworth did not look pleased, but Jeff had seen him that way before. Finally, the old man said, in resignation, “Well, there is a silver lining, I suppose. With our tour income down so much, maybe we only need one helicopter anyway.”

Jeff’s action may have reduced his chance of being apprehended, but this concern competed with another very large problem. Because his drug earnings had been curtailed, he needed to find a way to replace that income stream so that he could make the payments on the Ferrari and oceanfront condominium that were in Pauly’s name, in accordance with the unwritten agreement they had entered into. Pauly’s guest was leaving in a couple of weeks, and a short time after that Jeff was scheduled to resume the payments—and if he didn’t, the drug lord did not need anything in writing, or any threat of legal action.

He had other, more effective methods of enforcing his agreements.

***

Chapter 14

Alicia stood on a wave, surging forward at the head of one of the squadrons that the Sea Warriors were launching against the major beaches of the Hawaiian islands—a military-style operation that encompassed tactical recommendations made by Dirk Avondale.

In the short time Alicia had known Kimo, she had become radical in her beliefs, and felt strongly that human beings needed a wakeup call—and a loud one. She hoped that the demonstration she and her fellow Sea Warriors put on today would be exactly what was required, and would be heard around the world. Jimmy Waimea would run the first story in the Honolulu Mercury News, informing the public and the state government why Kimo Pohaku and Alicia Ellsworth had decided to shut down the major beaches, and how humans needed to radically change the way they treated the ocean and the creatures and plants that lived in it.

A number of environmentalists were already Sea Warriors, and many more wanted to join as associates, even if they were not on any recruitment list and would not be physically transformed. Many scientists were also clamoring to join, including Fuji Namoto, who had managed to get past the police that morning and had spoken briefly to Kimo. Impressed with her, he’d accepted her as the organization’s first associate member. Even though she was an oceanographer, Fuji was going to set up an office to coordinate fund-raising, and manage the other associates who would be based on the land. It was something she wanted to do, in addition to any scientific expertise she could provide.

Alicia felt a warm breeze on her face as her fast-moving squadron passed Barbers Point on the southern shore of Oahu, and then entered the channel on the way to Kauai. In the channel, a wind picked up from the east, and whitecaps danced on the bright blue carpet of the water, but they did not buffet Alicia’s own wave much, because she was able to make adjustments. Looking back, she saw her aquatic companions faring well, too, their speed steady and undiminished.

Immediately behind Alicia swam fifty hybrid Sea Warriors, some of them commanding the sea creatures in her squadron—thousands of Lion’s Mane jellyfish, schools of aggressive reef fish, and even the hard round shells of hawksbill and green turtles, looking like small Civil War submarines that had surfaced. On the far right and left, flying fish leaped in and out of the water, looking impressive with their airborne bodies sparkling in the sun.

As if lifted by the cause of the ocean, some of the species were displaying swimming abilities that were beyond anything they had previously been known to possess—and they were stronger as a group than they were apart. Some of the species were led by hybrid Sea Warriors, such as Foley Johnson, while other sea creatures proceeded under another command, having answered a call to action that Kimo had made underwater, using Moanna’s molecular communication system. As Kimo worked with the creatures, trying to get them to do his bidding, he was discovering that some were easier to persuade than others.

At the rear, Alicia saw Gwyneth swimming on her own between a pair of humpback whales—animals that would not be used in today’s assault but which kept the teenager busy while the other species were used to clear the beaches. Both whales had barnacles on their heads and tails—organisms that usually attached themselves to humpbacks in the arctic, and then fell off when the animals migrated to warmer tropical waters.

Alicia had taken it upon herself to keep an eye on the autistic girl, and didn’t want to put her under too much pressure, not until Gwyneth became more comfortable working with the Sea Warriors. The girl already seemed quite at ease in the water, and that was a big step in the right direction.

Alicia’s assignment was an important one—beaches on Kauai and Niihau. A mile behind Gwyneth, she could see another Sea Warrior squadron, this one led by Kimo, heading toward the heavily populated island of Oahu, which had many attractive swimming beaches. Two additional squadrons—one led by Dirk Avondale and the other by Jacqueline Rado—had been assigned to the Big Island, to Maui, and to a cluster of smaller islands that included Loa’kai.

Kimo even planned to shut down one popular swimming beach with what would look like an infestation of poisonous red tide, but was only a harmless pink algae that would look frightening, but would cause no injuries. At another beach in a shallow cove, he was depositing numerous sea cucumbers that would discharge strings of organic material in the water and on the seabed—sticky, repulsive extrusions from their guts that would frighten away waders and swimmers.

In addition to the other animals under Alicia’s command, her Kauai-Niihau operation would involve crabs and lobsters that would nip at the ankles of swimmers on the beaches, without seriously injuring anyone. To set up the crustacean portion of the plan, Vinson Chi’ang and Emily Talbot—both of whom had demonstrated the ability to direct the creatures—had gone ahead of Alicia, getting their portion of the operation organized and ready at both islands.

Reaching the other side of the channel, Alicia slipped off her wave into the water and began to issue additional molecular commands to her squadron, instructing them to divide into eight sections—seven for Kauai and one for the smaller, less populated island of Niihau. Confirmed by responses she received in her mind, these commands were received by her squad leaders, including Chi’ang and Talbot.

On Kauai, Alicia started by observing the jellyfish, reef fish, and aggressive turtles as they swarmed into the swimming area of Mahaulepu Beach, and then she proceeded around the island, observing the assaults on the other major beaches. In each case, sharp-clawed crustaceans had already done the advance work of sending the waders fleeing from the water, while the other creatures dealt with the swimmers. In short order, all of these beaches were evacuated, amidst warning sirens and the blue strobe lights of police cars.

By the time Alicia rode a wave to Kapaa Beach Park to the north, she realized that Gwyneth was no longer with her, and neither were the girl’s two whale companions. Alicia sent her a molecular command to return, but received no response, and no information on her from any of the other Sea Warriors in Alicia’s squadron, or in the other squadrons that were performing their duties throughout the Hawaiian islands. No one knew where the teenager had gone.

Alicia worried about this, but she had her priorities. So she continued her rounds, including the small island of Niihau. Afterward, as she was crossing the Kaulakahi Channel on the way back to Kauai, she heard a complex amalgamation of sound. Part of it was sonar, as from the echolocation noises made by whales, while other portions of it were high-pitched or deep, and unidentifiable. In their midst, like a common sound, she thought she heard something resembling Gwyneth’s voice….

When Alicia left for Loa’kai with the warriors in her squadron, Vinson Chi’ang and Emily Talbot remained in the waters off Kauai, saying they would leave later that evening, but wanted to do a little exploring first on their own, looking for a species of crustacean that they thought would be even better than the ones they already had.

Swimming side by side, Vinson and Emily crossed over a limestone shelf, on which grew a garden of coral in splashes of orange, red, green, and purple, looking like clumps of colored cabbages growing in the sea. As the pair approached, small fish sped away, while eels and worms slipped into their protective holes and crevices in the rock. But not crabs, who showed no fear and scuttled around excitedly on the seabed.

Emily flipped over a mushroom coral quickly, and scooped up a handful of tiny worms from the sand beneath it. She offered some of the wriggling creatures to Vinson, but he shook his head, so she stuffed them in her mouth and swallowed, then dug around and found a nest of sea snails, which she also ate. Instead of that fare, Vinson used quick hand thrusts to capture little golden cardinalfish, and swallowed them whole. Emily tried this herself, but was unsuccessful, so he captured several for her.

After eating, they dove deeper into a hole between rock formations, the bottom of which was perhaps fifty feet below the surface. At the bottom, Vinson saw that the currents had brought in pieces of metal, plastic and other trash. Something golden was glinting between pieces of garbage. Reaching into the trash pile, he pulled out a small gold statuette, bearing a face that made him think of Incan or Mayan sculptures and artwork he’d seen in museums. Then, rummaging deeper, he found gold and silver figurines, including stylized renditions of horses, birds, fish, and other interesting objects. He examined an exquisite golden carriage fitted with small green and blue gemstones, which he presumed to be emeralds and sapphires. It looked very valuable; all of the items looked valuable.

He handed a tiny golden fish to Emily, saying to her in a transmitted thought, “A little trinket for you.”

As she slipped it into a safe pocket in her waterproof backpack, she thanked him. With her broad face and small eyes, she was not nearly as pretty as Pauline. But Vinson was coming to realize that he had more in common with Emily, and he might even like her more.

“Maybe we’ll run into more treasure,” he said, keeping a small golden bird for himself, and slipping it into a pocket of his own pack. “But just in case we don’t, let’s remember where this place is, and come back when we have time. I suspect there’s a lot more treasure somewhere nearby. Maybe a Spanish galleon sank around here, and there were no records left of its whereabouts.”

“You could be right,” she said.

“It’s probably not a good idea to tell anyone about this.”

She nodded, but he noticed a glimmer of uncertainty in her eyes.

Keeping his thoughts to himself, he tucked the bulk of the items back under the garbage, and pushed some of the heavier pieces of trash over them. Then, thinking of something just before leaving, he took an old glass bottle and tucked it into his own backpack, and handed a couple of smaller bottles to Emily, to show Kimo that they were cleaning up garbage wherever they found it.

During their swim back to Loa’kai island, Chi’ang thought of how many fabulous treasures must be concealed beneath the waves of the seas of the world, and not just valuable artifacts that had been lost by human beings. He’d also heard that there were vast deposits of valuable minerals on the bottom of the sea—manganese, platinum, and even veins of gold, silver, or diamonds in some places—some of it reflecting historical changes in regions where land had once been, and had been inundated by seawater. He wondered if he might set up a mining operation to exploit those resources. That could be years in the future, he surmised, because first he needed to fit into the Sea Warriors, and then see what money-making opportunities arose for him.

I prefer living on land
, he thought. And he visualized the lavish lifestyle he might lead one day, instead of being an oceanographer and a modestly well-known author. He longed for more fame than that, more riches and respect than a man who traveled in scientific circles could ever attain.

I am an animal
, he thought,
and I want to change my niche
….

In the deepest canyons of the ocean, in the darkness where few humans had ever gone, large creatures were stirring, and swimming nearer to the surface. Many of them were animals that had, despite their great size, been able to elude men over the centuries, except for occasional unconfirmed sightings. Some of these denizens of the deep were the nightmares of mythology, but they actually existed—even creatures that resembled dragons with long tails, rows of fins on their backs, and fearsome teeth. Others were not ferocious at all; they were just immense herbivores. Some of the animals were assumed to have gone extinct millennia ago, but still swam in the seas and in lakes and rivers that were linked to the seas.

A number of these monsters of the deep could move very fast through the water, and from around the world they sped toward the Hawaiian islands. Others—the slower ones—set off as well, with the same destination in mind.