Leviathan (14)

Garland’s team sat up on a mountainside. It was on a state park just south of O’Shaw Bay. I could see the little bay from a clearing where research assistants and graduate students were setting up cameras and computers. Several coastal parks were closed with the megatutestudines surfaced 80 kilometers offshore. As a researcher, Garland was allowed in.

I followed Ada down the mountain. It carried over 200 kilograms of equipment with no apparent effort. It wasn’t hot, but I sweated a little walking down the winding trail.

I was out of breath when Ada stopped at a cliff. We were about 90 meters above sea level and about half way down from the main camp. We were about 1.5 kilometers from the bay.

It was clear and a strong wind blew in off the ocean. I looked to the west and could see the curvature of the earth. We were above the trees between us and the bay and could see it neatly lay before us. It looked even more wild and remote than the mountain we were on. I pictured the O’Shaw Foundation campus there, surrounded by a wildlife preserve.

Ada pointed out a cabin and a platform near the bay. Through the binoculars, I could see a few people: O’Shaw, Gemuen, Nate, a couple of others. They were doing something with equipment on the platform. I wondered if this was the vacation home O’Shaw had been at before I visited him. I didn’t see his boat—only a kayak leaning against the cabin.

After a couple of hours there seemed to be an argument. Everyone was packing up except O’Shaw. He looked like he was staying. Nate threw up his hands and stomped away to a waiting SUV. Gemuen kissed O’Shaw and they held each other for a minute. She got into another SUV and a small caravan drove off into the trees.

“Something will happen soon,” I said.

Ada didn’t answer. It was communicating with the others up the mountain to make sure they we getting signals from all the equipment. It made adjustments and moved a couple of cameras as directed.

I made myself comfortable with my back against a tree. Ada stood motionless. The wind blew its hair and inflated its jacket.

I must have slept. I woke up when Ada started to move. I woke up fast when I heard excited voices over the radio.

It was twilight and darkening fast. It was too dark to see the monster against the water, but the infrared equipment could see it clearly. I had no display at my site, but Ada pointed out its location. I saw only gray waves on gray waves.

I could make out things on land a little better by the light of the quarter-moon. The moon and sun had shared the sky for about an hour. The shy, white crescent was flaunting now that its big brother had gone to bed. I saw two lights come on. I picked up my binoculars and found O’Shaw on the platform. He was wrapped in his pea coat. Monitors glowed around him, but he stared at the sea. I think he was smiling.

The first sign of the turtle was bulging water. It looked like an odd wave until the spikes emerged. Water rushed into the bay passed the high tide line.

The monster took its time coming out of the water. Its enormous shell was a flattened dome covered with knife-like spikes. There was room on its back for a football stadium. When its head finally came above the water, it blew spray out of its nostrils. It looked around with yellow eyes. They seemed to glow; I could see them without the binoculars.

Its front flippers surged forward and pushed up another flood. They spread as wide as the mouth of the bay. It folded its flippers in half and took a few steps forward on padded elbows. It lifted its head and opened its mouth wide.

After nearly half an hour, I asked Ada, “What is it doing?”

“I don’t know. I’ll ask Dr. Honey?”

Garland’s voice on the radio seemed loud after such stillness. “I don’t know, Ada. Maybe it’s just breathing. Maybe it’s smelling or tasting something. Sometimes lions take a similar pose when they trying to pick up a scent.”

Leviathan (13)

I got back to my office just before midnight. I emptied my pockets onto my desk and sat down. Something rolled off and hit my shoes. It was my pills. I picked up the bottle, rolled it in my hands and let the rattling distract me from all the questions I had.

At 028 hours, the doorbell chimed. I hushed the signal and pretended I wasn’t there.

The computer warned be it was subject to attempted hacking. Some unfortunate technician in India was about to have his lunch interrupted.

My computer said, “Mr. Czujinko, she knows you’re here and she’s reasonably certain you’re awake.”

I decided to answer the door. It was Ada.

**

I was surprised at how lifelike it was up close. Normally I’d be pleased to see a pretty, young woman at my door. I was creeped out.

“Please pardon my rudeness, Mr. Czujinko,” it said. “Why were you there tonight?”

“I was hoping to learn something about where you were. Now I’ve found you.”

“Why were you looking for me?”

I answered in a few words. It said, “I will confirm this.”

It prowled around the office as if looking for something. It spiraled in toward me, it manner softening by degrees.

“Thank you for assisting the Watanabe estate, Hero,” it said, bowing. “I am concerned that you appear not to have taken your medication for many days.”

“Don’t call me that and mind your own business.”

It bowed again. “Please excuse my forwardness. I was programmed to assist Dr. Kevin with things related to his health.”

I figured it was my turn to ask some questions. “Why were you there tonight?”

“I was recovering what was really stolen.” Ada held up the tablet she had snatched from Nate. “Let me show you. Over the last few years, Dr. Kevin was studying echolocation. He developed sonar equipment and software for his studies.”

“I saw something like that on O’Shaw’s boat.”

Ada nodded. “The ocean is a noisy place for creatures not designed to listen in it. Dr. Kevin became curious about echolocation and listening underwater. As he researched the literature, he found speculation that some megafauna may use echolocation. Also, some researchers noted that megafauna sightings were often associated with earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and great storms. They conjectured that the sounds or vibrations produced by these events might attract the creatures.

“Dr. Kevin worked out a way to reproduce some of these vibrations. He hoped that megafauna could be attracted to locations where they could be studied with relative safety.”

“So he built a monster call.”

Ada shook her head. “He designed one. While cataloguing his projects after his death, I discovered that an unauthorized copy of his notes and plans had been made two months ago. My search for the responsible person eventually led me to O’Shaw.

“Mr. O’Shaw has built the call. Recent sightings in the eastern Pacific indicate that he has attracted the attention of the megatutestudines. The information on this computer indicates he may be near acquiring his aim.”

“So what?”

“Sir, you help people recover stolen property. Help me recover Dr. Kevin’s stolen legacy.”

“If O’Shaw has this turtle on the line, where does he plan to reel it in?”

“O’Shaw Bay.”

**

Ada bowed and said, “Hello, Dr. Honey.” I cast a questioning look at Dr. Garland.

“That is what my ‘H’ stands for. I started using my middle name as a teen to sound more mature. A mature name doesn’t hurt when you’re up for tenure, either. When Kevin learned my first name, he insisted on using it. Ada picked it up from him. I’m glad you recovered it.”

Keaton had said the same thing. The Nippon Pacific Insurance legal team was busily parsing what Ada had discovered about the information theft.

“What are you doing here?” asked Garland.

“We know where the big turtle is headed,” I said.

Ada explained. Garland looked shocked at first, but soon she was smiling and bright-eyed in spite of herself. The poured over maps and spoke in jargon-filled shorthand. They looked like gossiping sisters. They gossiped about satellite images, trajectories and acoustics.

I braved the basilisk stare of the receptionist to get some coffee. When I got back to Garland’s office, she and Ada had a teleconference going.

“What’s up?” I asked.

The professors smiled on me like sunshine. “We’re going fishing.”

**

Leviathan (10)

“Do you know anyone who fits the bill?”

“I know some of the most ruthless business leaders in the world. They’re my kind of people. I suspect some of them would wink at information theft. I can’t think of anyone who would go for this.”

I got up and thanked him. After a couple of steps toward the door, I stopped for one more question. “What is this music?”

O’Shaw’s smile warmed a couple of degrees. “This is whale song. Real, live, only about 80 kilometers off shore. Let me show you.”

He pulled up a display on a large, flat monitor. The upper portion showed a changing waveform like an oscilloscope. The lower part was a list of dates, times, whale species and numbers.

“We import and distribute sonar equipment made by Watanabe. This listens for whales. The software can identify whale song, even the species. It can estimate the number of whales in the pod. It also gives bearing and distance. Given the size of the microphone array, it is amazingly accurate.

“Marine biology is my first love. When I was a kid, I went into business thinking having lots of money was important. I was good at making money. Now that I have it, I spend it all on marine sciences wishing I was a biologist.”

That reminded be of my computer search. “Thus the O’Shaw Bay Foundation.”

O’Shaw flashed gleaming teeth. “Exactly. The foundation is attempting to catalogue all marine species. We collect samples from all over the world. We’re also mapping the DNA of all marine animals. I take part in an expedition every year. I get to play at being a graduate student.

“Next year we plan to break ground on a campus for the foundation. Not just offices, but also labs, an aquarium, docks, the works.” He paused when his phone rang. “I’ve gotten completely off the subject. I hope you’ll excuse me. I’ll need to return this call quickly. If I can help you, Ms. Gemuen can get a message to me at any time.” He showed me out and helped me back off the boat.

Leviathan (1)

LEVIATHAN

by

Edward Bradford

I entered my office at 0820 hours and headed straight up the stairs to the studio apartment above it. I was ready for sleep.

My computer greeted me in a flat, feminine voice. “Good morning, Mr. Czujinko. You have six messages.” I only half listened until it said, “Ronald Keaton, Nippon Pacific Insurance.” I told the computer to call Keaton and started the coffee maker.

“Hello, Czu. No video today?”

“You know us freelance types, Keaton, always working in our pajamas.”

“Let me play show and tell. I feel more dramatic that way.”

I filled my biggest mug with coffee and walked back down to the office. The main screen showed a young redhead. She was pretty and had a nice figure squeezed into a wet suit. She stood on the deck of a boat. The background bobbed and swayed, but she was as still as a statue. I felt dizzy. “Okay, Keaton, shoot.”

“Those aren’t pajamas, but they do look slept in. Gee, Czu, are you alright?”

“Tell me about the girl.”

“This is R. Ada Watanabe.”

“What’s the ‘R’ for?”

“Robot.”

R. Ada Watanabe had been missing for a week. Her owner and builder, Dr. Kevin Watanabe, had been killed a week early in a factory robbery. The robbers were after high grade materials that had not yet been made into traceable products. Tokyo police and other Japanese officials did not believe the incidents were related. The first was a robbery gone badly. The second was probably case of industrial espionage.

A RFID chip in the robot was detected by customs agents at the port of San Francisco. It disappeared again before they could find it.

I asked, “Why don’t you just let the officials handle this?”

“We would like to see it retrieved as quickly as possible. It represents a great deal of intellectual property. We’d hate to see it fall into the wrong hands and damage the value of the Watanabe estate. If you agree I’ll, send a contract with your usual terms.”