He | Ultimate Cryptid Story | Podcast - Nightshade Diary

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do you feel a shiver up your spine from fear. Yes,
it's another story from the Night's Shade Diary. You know
what that means. Check under the bed and make sure
no one or nothing is there, is the closet door
securely shut. Then leave your disbelief behind, amp up your
imagination and hang on tight for another ride into terror

(00:22):
and mystery. And like all good horror stories, just imagine
it's a dark and stormy night, and remember screaming like
a little girl is permitted. He by Allan Dene Foster.
He came out of the Abyss and out of the eons,
and he didn't belong. His kind had passed from the

(00:45):
world long ago, and it was better thus for the world,
for they were, of all nature's creations, the most terrible.
But still he survived, last of his kind, a relic
of the time when they had ruled most of the world.
He was old, now terribly old. But with his kindis

(01:05):
showed little. He'd stayed to himself, haunting, the hidden king
of darkness and pressure. But now again something impelled them upwards,
something inside the superb engine of himself, drove him towards
the light. Something neither he nor anyone could understand two
men died. The reason was basic.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
The rain had worked itself out and the sun was shining.
By the time Poplar reached the station, the building was
as unspectacular as a simple sign set into the white
stucco United States Oceanographic Research Station, Department of the Interior
American Samoa. He pushed through a series of doors and checkpoints,

(01:50):
occasionally pausing to chat with friends and co workers. As
station director, it was his obligation as well as a pleasure.
The door to his own en offices was half a jar.
Long ago, he'd lost the habit of stopping to admire
the gold letters set into the cloudy glass. Doctor Woodruth Fell,
Poplar director. He paused in front of e Lane's desk.

(02:14):
She'd arrived some six months before the first crimp, and
a routine otherwise unbroken for the past five years. His
first reaction had been confused. He still was. She swiveled
around from her pile of books to face him. In
her mid twenty's, a Laine shy had tiny, delicate features

(02:35):
that would keep her looking childlike into her forties and fifties.
Long auburn hair fell loosely and back framing, small blue eyes,
a tiny gash of a mouth, and a dimpled chin.
In contrast, her unnervingly spectacular figure was enveloped in print
jeans and a badly outflanked white blouse. She had a

(02:56):
fresh yellow frend japanny behind one ear shed great. The
elfin illusion was blurred only when she opened her mouth.
Her accent was pure Brooklyn. It had disconcerted Poplar only once,
when he greeted her on revival at the airport. From
that point, for all it mattered, she could have chatted

(03:16):
away and twee, but she bothered him. Well, what are
you staring at tree? You must be using a new shampoo,
he said, easily. Your follicles are in bloom. She grinned,
touched the flower. Lightly pretty, isn't it. He's in your office.
I got tired of him staring at the door. Strange

(03:37):
old bird never took his hands off that package. But
you know these small islands, Mattai better than I do.
Doctor Stuffy proud you mean she popped her bubblegum at him.
That was her one disgusting habit. He pushed open the
door to his office. As always, his first glance was

(03:58):
reserved for the magnificent view of the harbor out his
back window. He was always afraid he'd come in one
day and find a view of downtown New York the
one from his old office at Columbia. Reassured, he turned
to greet the man seated in front of his desk.
Standing in front of his chair, he managed to take
a fast inventory of the papers and envelopes patting his

(04:21):
desk while at the same time extending a greeting hand
telofa He said, hello, doctor Poplar, My name is Hayapu.
The ulster's grip was firm and tight. He sat down
when Poplar did. The director stared at the man across
from him on second and third glance. Maybe he wasn't

(04:43):
so old. That Gauguyenish face was weather beaten and sunburnt.
Could have been forty summers as seventy. The few lines
running in it were like sculpture in a well decorated home,
placed here in their strategic for character to please the eye.
The hair was cut short and freckled with white. The

(05:06):
Mattai retained a tout, blocky build. Ropes of stringy muscle
flexed when his arms shifted. He matched Poplar one hundred
and seventy five centimeters in height. I've come a distance
to see you, doctor, Poplar. You sure have all by yourself.
What they tell me is true. I'm flattered. He changed

(05:28):
to his best fatherly executive style, which was pretty sad.
How are things on tafahi? The old chief shook his
head slowly. Not good since he came. I'm sorry to
hear that, replied Poplar. What he hoped was a convincing
display of sincerity. Privately, he didn't give much of a
damn about daily life on Tafahi. Who is he? I've

(05:53):
heard over the television that you are a doctor of
the sea. Is this true? Poplar small on the suddenly,
I can't cure storms or improve fishing, if that's what
you mean. Educational television had performed miracles in reaching and
teaching a widely scattered Polynesian and Melanesian people throughout the Pacific.

(06:16):
It was ha Apu's turn to smile. I still think
we may be better at that than you. He turned
somber again. I see, doctor, I mean that it is
your business, your life, to study what the ocean is,
what lives in it, and why Tangoroa does the things
he does. That's a very astute summation, replied the director.

(06:41):
He felt the sea god himself would have approved, and
his estimation of this man's intelligence went up a notch.
Apu seemed satisfied. So I believe I want to make
certain I understood. My mind takes longer to think things
than it once did when I have brought to show you.
He indicated, the small package in his lap could be

(07:02):
understood and believed only by such a person. Of course,
said Poplar, sneaking a fast glance at his watch. He
wished the Chief would come to the point. Then Poplar
could haggle, politely, refuse, kindly, suggest the chief try the
usual tourist markets downtown and wharfside, and he could get
to his work. He'd found one new shell this morning.

(07:24):
That but he didn't want to be rude by hurrying
the conversation. Some Mattai were easily insulted, and he wasn't
famous for his diplomatic manner. Ha Apu was working at
the small package. It was tightly bound to clean linen
and secure it with twine. But first you must promise
me you will be careful of whom you speak to

(07:44):
about this we have no wish to endure an assault
of the curious Poplar thought back to the moaning jetliner
that had passed overhead this morning, crammed to the gills
with bloated statesiders eager for a glimpse of the quaint
locals betwixt brunch and supper, and applauded the Mattai's attitude.

(08:07):
He wasn't all that naive. I promise it will be so,
Matai Appu continued to work deliberately with the knots you
are familiar with. Nuhah, Yes, certainly. He peered at the
shrinking pili of cloth and twined with renewed interest. A
good carving of a new high would be something of
a novelty. At least it wasn't yet another dugout or tiki.

(08:30):
Then you will know this, said Hapoo solemnly. He removed
an irregular shaped object and placed it carefully on the
desk in front of the director. Poppler stirred at it
for a long moment before he recognized it for what
it was. The realization took another moment to fully penetrate. Slowly,
he reached out and picked it up. A rapid examination

(08:54):
a few knuckle taps convinced him it was reel and
not a clever fake. It wasn't the sort of thing
one could easily fake, and besides, even the simplest islander
would know he couldn't get away with it. He bought
it up to eye level to gods and little fishies.
He murmured in astonishment. It wasn't a carving. It was

(09:15):
a tooth, and it was quite impossible. The tooth was
almost a perfect triangle. He reached into his desk and
brought out a ruler, laid it alongside the hard bone,
slightly under eighteen centimeters long, about fourteen centimeters wide at
the bottom and over five thick. The base was slightly

(09:36):
curved where it fit into the jaw. Both cutting edges
were wickedly serrated like a saw. He stared at it
for a long long time, running his fingers along the
razor sharp cutting edges, testing the perfect point. A magnifying
glass all but confirmed its reality. That failed to temper

(09:58):
his uncertainty. Where did you get this, ha Apu, and
are there anymore? He asked softly. This was taken from
the wood of Abaopao. The Matai smiles slightly there is another.
It took Poplar about thirty seconds to connect this with
what the chief had told him earlier. I'm standing calculations aside.

(10:22):
He could still out out of the implications. He leaned
back in his chair. Now, ha Apu, you're not going
to try and convince me that this tooth came out
of the mouth of a living great white. The chief
began slowly picking his words. The doctor is very sure
of himself. About three weeks ago, two young men from

(10:44):
my village were out fishing, an area we rarely visit,
rather far from Tafahi. There's better fishing in other directions
and closer to home, but they wish also a little adventure.
They did not return to us even hours nightfall. Although
the men of the village, including myself, set out to

(11:05):
search for them, we were not yet worried. We knew
where they had gone. Perhaps their boat had been damaged,
or both had been injured. There was no moon that night.
One cannot see far onto the ocean at night by
only torch and flashlight. We did not find them. What
we did find, floating by a small reef and still

(11:27):
anchored to the coral, was the rear half of their
paupas had been snapped into Doctor Poplar. That tooth you
hold now in your hand was buried in the side
of the wreckage. Television and great jet airplanes, admitted Doctor.
Old beliefs still linger on most of the islands. I

(11:49):
am the most educated man in my village, and proud
of my learning, but this frightened me. We have lived
with the sea too long to doubt what might have
come from it. We put on an exhibition, a rowing
that could not be matched, Doctor Poplar, in any of
the Olympic Games. It was very quiet on Tafahi the

(12:11):
next day. Fishing, a daily task for us, had grown
suddenly unpopular. I pointed out that there was still a
chance to recover the body's or he wins parts of them,
but no one would return to that reef.

Speaker 1 (12:27):
I went alone.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
It is a small atoll, very tiny, not on any
but the most detailed of your maps. I should guess
that was where our two men had gone to fish,
to the northeast of it. I believe the ocean bottom
disappears very fast. Poplar nodded. The northern tip of the
Kermadic Tonga Trench runs across there and spots the seafloor

(12:54):
drops almost straight down four oh thirty five hundred thirty
six hundred fathoms and more. As you say, doctor, the
sun does not go far there. It is where he dwells.
I anchored my pow Powell behind the protection of the
little reef, saved from the breakers on the other side.

(13:15):
It was where the men had anchored. Swimming was not difficult,
despite a slight current. If you thought you might encounter
a big, great white prowling around down there, why do
you go in, asked Poplar shrewdly. The chief shrugged. My
family had been chiefs and divers for enough generations for

(13:36):
my genealogy to bore you. Doctor. I respect you high
and know him. I was careful anyhow someone had to
do it. I did not swim too long or too deep.
I had only masks and fins, and did not use
the weights. I also have respect for age, including my own.
The small lunch I had brought with me did not

(13:59):
take long to eat. The afternoon was long, the sun pleasant.
I dove again. I'd given up and was swinging back
to the boat when I noticed a dark spot in
the water to my left. It was keeping pace with me.
The water was clear, and so it must have been
far away to be so blurred. It paced me all

(14:20):
the way back to the boat. Despite the distance. I
knew it was him. Might not have been. Poplar didn't
finish the question. Apu was shaking his head. My eyes
at least are still young. It was him, I could
not be absolutely certain he was watching me. I doubted
faster or slower. I did not swim. A sudden change

(14:43):
of stroke might have caught his attention. But I was
glad when I was in the bottom of my boat,
breathing free of the sea. I waited and watched for
a long time, not daring to leave the small shelter
of the reef. Once far away, I think I saw
a fin break the surface. If it was a Finn,

(15:05):
it was taller than a tall man doctor. But it
might not have been. It was far away and the
sun was dropping. I've only been truly afraid, and I
say this honestly a few times in my life. To
be alone on the sea with him was terrible enough.
To have been caught there in the dark would have
frozen the blood of a god. Then I knew the

(15:27):
legend was true. What legend as Poplar whoever sees him
is forever changed. Doctor. His soul is different, and a
little bit of it is stolen away by him. The
rest is altered forever in what way? Poplar inquired better

(15:48):
to humor the old man. He was interested in the
damned tooth, not local superstition. It depends so much on
the man, the MATAI amused for myself. The sea will
never again be the open friend of my youth. I
ride upon it now and look into its steps with hesitation.
For any day, any hour, he may come for me.

(16:12):
My people were surprised to see me, that they had
not expected me to return. Poplar considered silently. That's quite
a story you want me to swallow. In fact, it's
pretty unbelievable. A strange thing for you to say. See
Doctor smiled ha Apu, But I do not blame you.

(16:32):
Come back with me, Bring a good boat and your
diving tools. I will show you what remains of our
young men's paw paw, and then I will take you
to the spot where I saw him. If you dare,
he may have returned to the deeps. Surely this is
a rare thing, or he would have been seen before.
There must be a purpose for it bs ms pH D.

(16:55):
He thought hard for a moment. The legend stuff was
all bushwash, of course, But the tooth, he tried to
visualize its owner, and a little shiver went down his spind.
This business about soul changing ridiculous, He frightened of another fish.
This tooth could be very very old. You know they've

(17:18):
been found before like new although he swallowed and cursed
himself for it, not quite of this size. According to
the best estimates, these creatures became extinct only very recently. Creatures.
There's only one of him, said ha Apu firmly. You
could fake the ruined outrigger, persisted Poplar. To what end?

(17:42):
I don't know? He was irritated at his irrational terror.
God damn it, man, it probably doesn't exist, and in fit,
by some incredible chance did it was only another fish.
Maybe you want to attract those tourists you professed to dislike,
or want to try and wangle some free diving equipment,

(18:03):
or simply want to draw some attention to yourself.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
Who knows.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
But I can't take that chance. He took another look
at the tooth. You know I can't, damn you, Where
are you staying? While you're on the Tuila with friends. Okay,
we have a couple of cruisers here at the station.
They're not in used. Just now down at the very
end of peer three. The one will use this called

(18:28):
the Vatya. You can't mistake it. The other, the Akua Coup,
is longer and has a flying bridge. Meet me at
oh ten tomorrow on the pier. If you get there
ahead of me, tie your boat to the stern. He stopped,
turning the tooth over and over, feint unconcerned. Inside he
was quivering with attention. May I keep this? He knew

(18:50):
what he was asking, did the chief. There is another
still set in the pow pow. Yes, you may have
this one for your children to remind them of when
you were young. I have no children. I am not married,
ha Apu. That is sad. The other tooth must remain
with us, it will not, he said in replied to
the unpost question, ever be for sale? Poplar was seeing

(19:16):
his name blazoned across the cover and title page of
every scientific journal in the world. Below the name, a
picture of himself holding the largest tooth of Carcadon. Michaeleddon
ever found he might even manage to include ha Apu
in the picture. He leaned over the desk began shuffling papers.
Goodbye till tomorrow, then Matai ha Apu tafa see doctor Poplar.

(19:41):
The chief gathered up his wrappings and left quietly. He
began going over the supplies they need in addition to
what was standard stock on board. The Yavatai plan on
being gone at least a week, maybe two. Get him
out of the office at least. Elaine walked in, strolled
over to the desk and leaned across it. That finished

(20:03):
any attempt at paperwork. When she noticed the tooth in
front of him, she almost swallowed her gum My god,
what's that your master candidate in marine bio, you tell me?
He handed it to her. She examined it closely, and
those pixie eyes got wider and wider. Some gag. It

(20:24):
looks like a great white's tooth. But that's absurd, So
was the coal camp when it was turned up in
nineteen thirty eight. He replied evenly. But it can't be carkadon,
she protested. It's three times too big for Carkadon cacarias, yes,
not for Carcodon magladon he turned and dug into those

(20:47):
loosely stacked books that inhabited the space between desk chair
and wall in a te chair student situation. He was
perfectly comfortable with her. You mean the Great White's ancestor, Well,
maybe she took another look at the unreal weapon in
her hand. I recall one found in George about half
the size, and there was a six inchured turned up

(21:10):
just a few years ago. Extrapolating from what we know
about the modern Great white kakaraias, that would mean this
tooth came out of a shark ninety feet Ah huh,
he warned, Oh, all right, about uh thirty meters long.

(21:31):
She didn't smile. Kind of hard to imagine saw as
sharks attacking boats, but there are dozens of verified incidents
of sharks, often Great Whites, hitting small craft. Happens off
Stateside waters as well as in the tropics. The White
death the basis for a real moby dick, only ten

(21:52):
times worse. Not to mention a few thousand years of
sea serpent's stories. You think one of these have survived
into recent times. Poplar was thumbing through a thick tome.
That's what that chief thinks. Only to him, it's a
god and not a shark. The great White preferred ocean

(22:14):
going mammals to fish. Probably this oversized ancestor of his
fed on the earlier, slower moving whales. First, the whales
grew more streamlined, and then man began picking off the
slower ones. The sea couldn't have supported too many of
these monsters anyway. A megalodon would have a killer whale

(22:35):
for breakfast, a man eater as big as a blue whale.
She shook her lovely hit a diver's nightmare. The Mataia
also brought this one in. Says he knows where there's
another and maybe more far out. You think I might
get my thesis out of this? Well, he smiled. The

(22:58):
chief did say that, according to Luncheon, any anyone who
sees him is forever changed. All you've got to do
is spot him. Very funny. We leave first thing tomorrow
morning under a tie tennish. Now go unpack. But she
was already out the door. She was not so happy
for the reasons. Poplar thought tourists way from the hotel balcony.

(23:21):
It had been built at the point where the open
sea met Pago Pago's magnificent harbor. Elaine slid her lava
lava down a little lower on one's shoulder, and waved
back coquettishly. Poplar looked up from the wheel disapprovingly. Just
because naked Native Madams went out of fashion forty years ago,

(23:41):
is no reason for you to feel any obligation to
revive the tradition for the benefit of overweight used car
salesman from Des Moines, oh Foo. For what they charged
the port slabs to stay in that concrete doghouse, they're
entitled to a little wish fulfillment courtesy of downtown Brooklyn.
He grinned in spite of himself. He swung the wheel

(24:05):
hard over, and they headed south southwest. The powerful twin
diesels purred evenly below deck, wreathed in gold gray clouds.
Mount Rainmaker, all five hundred and thirty meters of it,
watched them from astern along. Totuila itself had vanished into
the sea. The trip was uneventful, except that Elaine insisted

(24:27):
on sleeping stark naked. She also had what Poplar felt
was a childish habit of keep ging her shakes down
to her feet. He considered going over and replacing them,
but hesitated, he might waken. That would be awkward. How
Apu was clearly pleased at the situation, and there wasn't
anything popular could do about it. Well, if she wanted

(24:49):
to expose herself, he'd simply ignore her. Clearly she was
looking for attention, and he didn't intend to give it
to her. So until he fell asleep, he spent a
lot of time staring at the sterile cabin walllet separated
him from the sea, and the other wall remained equally unbroken.
Like most small, low lying Pacific islands, Tafahi was non

(25:10):
existent one moment, and a destination the next. Popping out
of the blue ocean like a cork, the white sand
beach sparkled in evening sun, the void of all the
usual ornaments of civilizations, beer cans, dog eared sandals, plastic wrappers,
empty candy, paper, beer cans. There was a broad, clear

(25:33):
entrance to the small lagoon. Poplar had no trouble bringing
the yet tie inside. Ha Apu climbed into his pow pow,
its little sail tightly furled and paddled a shore popularly
lane followed in the Footi's powerful little run about. We're
not here just to look for teeth a lane, he
said abruptly. She stared at him expectantly. How Apu really thinks,

(25:56):
I know, it sounds absurd that this monster still swimming
over around somewhere to the east of here. Supposedly it's
taken two fishermen along with the front half of their boat.
Probably a cleverly faked fraud the villagers have made up
for what purpose, I don't know. Commercial, Probably, I see,
she replied, easily. Be careful you don't run over any

(26:19):
of the local craft when we hit the beach. For
all the surprise she'd shown, you might have thought they
were here for an evening feast and a casual swim
in the little lagoon. They were on the best of
terms with the islanders. Right from the start. Poplar had
rammed the runabout into a beech pow pow, spilling them
both into the shallow water. Being men of the sea,

(26:42):
the villagers thus felt the same sort of sympathy for
Poplar that they'd have given any idiot. Huanah Apu had
finally managed to separate himself from his immediate family, and
poplarly Lane had dried out a little. The Matai beckoned
them inlandanes of the dugout are in front of my folly.
Doctor Tafahi was far from being a major island, but

(27:06):
it was large enough to support a fair population. A
television f A mantena poked its scarecrow shape above the
tallest coconut palm. It jutted from an extra large folly
that served as combination school, church and town hall. If
the damage to the outrigger had been faked, it was
the product of experts. Poplar knelt ran his hands over

(27:29):
the torn edges of the open hull. Great triangular gashes,
each larger than his fist, showed clearly around the shredded
edges apparently had been hit, or the hit had been
faked to indicate an attack from an angle slightly to port.
The first tooth was in here, haw Appu knelt beside
Poplar to indicate a narrowing hole in the bottom of

(27:51):
the craft, and the other here He pointed, and popular
saw the other tooth, as large as the one back
in his office, still embedded in the side of the
outrigor he lost them, as new High and his cousins
often do when they attack hard objects, commented Apu in
a helpful tone. Yeah, agreed Poplar, absorbed in his examination.

(28:16):
Always carries plenty of reserve, though I wouldn't think his
ancestor would be any exception. He squinted up at the
sinking sun. It had begun the spectacular light show sunset
that was in every evening occurrence in the South Seas.
It's getting late. No point in hurrying to reach that
reef tonight. About two hours to get there, you said,

(28:39):
ha Apu nodded in your boat, yes, Poplar was a
bit surprised. Now is the time that Matthai should have
begun his excuses, his hedging. He stood, brushed stand from
his pants. Then if you can put us up, I'd
just as soon spend the night here. We've been doing
enough shipboard sleeping, and we'll be doing more. I agree,

(28:59):
so Lane, rather more loudly than was necessary. The Matai nodded.
Of course, there will be a father for you. Wait
two matts, Poplar added, why should it be otherwise the
doctor Poplar agreed, appuye the old chief was being sarcastic.
He covered it well, but as he walked away, muttering
in some owan, he was shaking his head slowly. It

(29:23):
wasn't the strange surroundings, nor the hard floor beneath the
mat of woven topa cloth that made Poplar sleep uneasy.
He'd enjoyed some of the deepest sleeps of his life
in similar situations, and when he was awakened about midnight
by a sudden bumping, he drew a startled breath. His
dreams had been full of dark arrow shapes with mouths

(29:43):
like black pits, but it was only a lane. She
rolled over in her sleep and was resting against his shoulder,
breathing softly, courteously. He didn't push her way, but it
made it harder for him to get back to sleep,
which displeased him. When he awoke the next morning, he
was covered with sweat. This may not be the exact spot,

(30:04):
but it is very close to breathe ha apu. I
know by the trees. Since the single minuscule island harbored
barely six or seven small palms, with but two of
them decent size, Poplar felt confident the old chief had
found the spot he wanted. They anchored in the lee
of the atoll. It was small enough so that you
could see the surf booming against the coral on the

(30:25):
far side. Poplar kept an eye on ha Apu while
he helped Elane into her scuba gear. Still no sign
of an attempt to keep him from diving. He thought
the hoax was beginning to go a little far. The
tanks they'd brought were the latest models. They'd have an
hour on the bottom with plenty of safe time. Elaine

(30:47):
checked his regulator, she checked his. They each took up
a shark stick, but Poplar gave his twee Lane. He
wanted both hands for his camera and she could handle
anything likely to bother them. There was a diver's platforms
set just below the water line at the stern of
the Vatai. Elaine jumped in with a playful splash. He
followed more slowly, Handling the expense of came with care.

(31:10):
Both wore only the upper half of a heat retaining
wet suit. The ocean flowing around his bare legs told
him it was a good thing he had. It wasn't cold,
but cooler water flowing from the depths of the oceanic
trench obviously found its way up here. The thermal cline
would rise nearer the surface that would permit deep sea
dwellers to rise closer to the top. Still, it was

(31:33):
comfortable and refreshing after the trip on the boat. How
Apa watched them descend and thought the water inside the
lagoon would be clear as quartz. Even out here, visibility
was excellent in all directions. The underwater world had as
much fascination for him now as it had on his
first five years ago. Much of the mystery was gone,

(31:53):
but the beauty of his refuge was ever present. For
the first few minutes, as they swam parallel to the reef,
he couldn't stop himself from turning to look anxiously in
all directions. He gave up that nonsense after five minutes.
Nothing more impressive than a fair sized grouper had trundled
clumsily across their path. His shark proad now dangled lazily

(32:14):
from his belt. They stopped often for pictures. Even if
this was only a pleasure, John, it would be nice
to bring back something to justify the expenditure and time.
They returned to the vatide ten minutes early. Poplar was
feeling hungry and a little discouraged. The tiny reef had
been exceptional in its mediocrity. He'd seen hundreds of identical

(32:35):
spots during his trips throughout the Pacific and the Caribbean,
and he didn't feel like staying another five or six
days in sum He was being took if a Appu's
plan was to use the two tee to get a
free estimate of the fishing grounds. Probably been in the
village for years. He thought it was working admirably. Poplar
was definitely being took. Did you see anything, asked to

(32:59):
Apple politely as he upped Elane Thaffer. Tax i got
a couple of shots of a pretty good sized moray. Otherwise, Opa,
there is more sea life to be found outside the
harbor at Pago Pago or Apia. He has frightened them
all away, commented the chief knowingly. Perhaps you'll have better
luck on your next dive. Sure, replied Poplar, drily, helping

(33:22):
himself to a glass of tea. By the third day,
the attractions of the un unusual reef had long since
paled for Poplar. Even the attraction of swimming through the
brilliantly lit water was beginning to sing like work again.
Elaine seemed to thrive on it. But then there's still
something in every crevice to delight her. But he'd seen
enough angelfish, brain coral, giant mollusks, trumpetfish, et cetera, et cetera,

(33:47):
add infinitum to last him another year and nothing he
couldn't seem with much less trouble right in the station's
back yard. In fact, except for a peaceful encounter with
a poisonous stonefish, the last three days had been about
as exciting as a dive in one of Pago Pago's
hotel polls. Possibly he will come this afternoon, saying, APU,

(34:09):
I know, I know, Poplar replied irritably. It was just
about time to tell the old chief off, find out
what he wanted, and return home. In the many times
three dives, they'd cited exactly three sharks, two small blues,
and one pelagic white tip, a seven footer that had
turned and run for the open sea even before Poplar
could set his camera for a decent shot. To him,

(34:32):
there were just three more fish. They'd go home tomorrow. True,
he sort of promised them at Tai a week, but
the longer he stayed away from the office, the more
work would be piled up for his return. Although he'd
left the pressures of extreme paperwork back in the States
and settled into the more agreeable Samoan mode. Old habits
died hard. As director, he still had certain responsibilities. He

(34:55):
was drifting along just above the sea bottom, about a
half mile from the boat that lined on a gorgeous
black and yellow seaworm flowerlike body fully extended. It was
the first really unusual thing he'd seen since they arrived.
A perfect picture. His light meter shrank by half. Damn
in hell, that was the last straw popular world. Angrily

(35:17):
expecting to see a playful Elaine floating just above and
behind him, He'd warned her at least half a dozen
times to stay out of the light when he was
taking pictures. She seemed to think it was fun, but
something else had swallowed the sun for a second. Poplar
training degrees and experience notwithstanding, stopped thinking. He went back

(35:40):
to his childhood when he lay in bed at night,
the covers up around his chin, staring atwards, clothes lay
draped over the back of his chair. You wouldn't know
the kind of terrifying shapes clothes and chair and night
can combine to make in a child's mind. Fear squeezed
his spine and his heart pumped madly above him. Carcadoon

(36:01):
magleddon lighted majestically through the clear water, its seemingly unending
tail beating hypnotically from side to side, the great pectoral
fins cutting the current like hydrofoils. He turned silent, drifting alongside.
He tugged at her arm. She ignored it. He tugged harder,
as though in a dream. She turned to face him.

(36:21):
He pointed in the direction of the boat. She nodded, sluggishly,
following him, half swimming, half towed. A line from Custo
ran through his mind, and he tried desperately to swim faster.
Sharks can instinctively sense when a fish or animal is
in trouble. She shook free from him, not at his
concerned gaze, and began swimming steadily on her own. For

(36:43):
while the monster seemed not to notice them. It swam
slightly ahead, moving effortlessly, a single gigantic stretch of cartilage, tooth,
sinew and muscle. Poplar stared at it and knew that
what Hapoo had said was true. This was more than
a fish, more than a shark. You could feel it

(37:04):
in yourself and in the water. Lazily it banked like
a great bird and came at them. He turned frantically
gestured to Elaine. The shark was between them and the boat.
Trying to outswim it would be like trying to outrun lightning.
He'd spotted a long crack in the battlements of the reef.
Usually such breaks harbored more rays, powerful clams, and poisoners

(37:26):
like the stonefish. Right now, they seemed like the best
of friends, harmless as puppies. There was no subtlety, no
attempt to deceive. In the retreat, they swam like hell.
Maybe he was disinterested in such small prey. Whatever the reason,
his pursuit remained leisurely. They attained the safety of the rift.
Wedged back in the deep white crevice, they still had

(37:47):
room to swim freely. He came straight at them. Poplar
had to fight down the urge to scrape frantically at
the coral behind him. For the moment, he was afraid
the monster would try to bite them out, coral and all.
It looked big enough to take half the atoll in
one gulp. At the last moment he swove to his right.
It was a brief glimpse of a half open mouth,

(38:10):
a cavern big enough to swallow a truck. It was
lined with multiple rows of eighteen centimeter long teeth. A
wide black eye passed pure malignancy, floating in a pool
of red hot venom. Then there was a long, endless
wall of iron, gray flesh, rough as sandpaper, darker than
the skin of a great white. Some part of him noted,

(38:31):
and it was past he floated. Elaine prodded him, and
he could see the terror behind her mask. He wondered
if he looked as bad. The great bulk had circled
and was beginning a slow patrol of the reef, not
that it was smart enough to consider bottling them up.
Clearly it liked the area. Anyhow, they were stuck. If
the rift had been a chimney opened all the way

(38:53):
to the surface, they could have swum upward, despite the
battering of the light surf that had been safer on
the reef jagged tar than in the water with him,
But it was closed overhead. To reach the surface, they
would have to leave their small fortress. Minutes past. They
looked at each other, without seeing each was fully observed
in personal thoughts. They had encountered a terror whose psychological

(39:15):
effect was even more overwhelming than each reality. It did
not belong to the world of men, this perfect, unmatched
killing machine. How puny man seemed, how feeble his invented
efforts at destruction, How frightened he was. He looked down
at his watch, at the rate they were using air.
In a few minutes, they'd be down to their emergency supply.

(39:38):
Elaine prodded, moved her hands in divers argo. He remained frozen.
She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him, but
there was no way he could tell her in sign
language of this new problem. Woodworth Woody Poplar was a coward,
a physical and moral coward. He knew it, buried it
beneath work and joking. Elaine started tugging at her own tanks.

(40:00):
It unfrozen. He grabbed her arms, held them at her Santa.
She finally nodded, slowly, calmed. She took every ounce of
courage he possessed to look outside that cranny. He blinked,
drifted out further. He had disappeared. Poplar glanced in all
directions nothing. He beckoned to Elane carefully. He made his
intentions clear Megladam, being as stupid as any modern shark

(40:23):
had doubtlessly drifted off in search of prey that behaved
like such and didn't melt into hard, unappetizing quarrel. Poplar
armed his shark stick, a terribly futile seeming gesture. He
lain did likewise, he had to try twice with his
shaking hands before he got the shell armed. The monster

(40:44):
was a good thirty meters long and must weigh more
tons than popular cared to think about. The sharkstick might
tickle him, but it was comforting to hold in the
crook of one's arm. He pushed away first, and they
headed for the fatie. Moving fast. They hugged the reeds
as tightly as they could. He let her get a
little ahead, as arranged. That way, they'd make less of

(41:05):
a blur against the reef. The smaller shapes would be
harder for the shark's poor eyesight to detect against the
dark coral. As they rose gradually toward the surface, leaving
the protection of the reef wall, he tried to watch
five directions at once. Inside he was obviately calm. What
an animal nearly one hundred feet of sheer grace and power.

(41:27):
He missed a stroke hell He'd forgotten to take a
single picture, not one lousy shot. All he had by
way of proof was the corroborative statement of Elaine worth
nothing in such august publications as the Journal of Marine Biology,
and a couple of teeth that they'd treat as the
first had. He would have cried, but it would have
ruined his vision. The curved bottom of the vatie became

(41:50):
visible just ahead and above its anchor cable. Hardly moving
in the calm sea, the platform occasionally broke the surface.
He looked regretfully down at his camera. An unmistakable shape,
a slate great torpedo was coming up fast behind them.
This time it wasn't a lazy chase. The attack was
as sharply defined as death. Sunlight flashed on teeth that

(42:13):
could snap through steel plate. They swam for their lives.
Panic filled him. Terror made jelly of his muscles. Only
adrenaline pushed them through the clean glass water. They weren't
going to make it. He wasn't a fish. He was
the devil himself, beezel Bob, all the things that go
bump in the night, the terrors of childhood and of

(42:34):
little boy darkness. Elaine was falling behind. He slowed. Goddamn,
it was only a fish. He turned and waited. Elaine
paused only to give him a stricken look and passing,
and then was gone. Perfectly calm, he was relaxed and
peaceful in the cool water inside. His one major concern
was that no one would be able to record this

(42:55):
for the journal. Pity then there was no sea bottom,
no reef, no sunlight. Only he and me, thought poplar.
He kicked with every bit of energy in his legs.
Exploding to his right. He had a brief glimpse of
an obscene eye as big as a saucer, a black
gullet as deep as a well. It touched them. Consciousness
departed as he jabbed with the sharkstick. He doubted, along

(43:19):
with the best biblical reference, that the sky in heaven
was blue, but he wasn't going to argue. There was
a constriction of tightness in his throat that wasn't caused
by fear. Elaine was hugging him in crying. It felt
like he'd swallowed a cork. For Christ's sake, Let me
get some air, he finally managed to croak.

Speaker 1 (43:36):
She backed off.

Speaker 2 (43:38):
Damn you, damn you, you scared the hell out of me,
even sensitive you. She sniffed. Her hair was wet and stringing,
and she was totally beautiful. I ran away and left you.
The crime broke out again in full force, and she
fell onto his chest, sobbing. I'm sorry. I apologize for
my inconsiderateness. Tell you what, I'll marry you.

Speaker 1 (43:59):
Well, that make up for it.

Speaker 2 (44:01):
He rolled over, felt the softness of the map they'd
slipped under him. Someone had removed his tanks and mask.
She pulled away, stared at him in stunned silence. For
some reason, this started her crying all over again. They'd
removed his fins too. He wiggled his toes, only one
set moved. He sat up slowly and looked out at himself.

(44:22):
His right foot ended at the ankle in a swathe
of bandages and dried blood. His voice was so even
he shocked em What happened? He asked the old MATAI.
I had been watching him carefully. He was aware the
question lacked brilliance, but at the moment he didn't feel
very witty. He did not take you see, doctor Poplar.
Perhaps so close to the surface, the sun blinded it

(44:45):
at the last moment. Perhaps he lost you against the
bottom of the boat. You don't believe any of that,
said Poplar accusingly. He searched for pain, but there wasn't
any Someone had made use of the vertized medical kit.
No doctor, Poplar, not really. Tangoroa knows why Poplar thought

(45:05):
of something started laughing. Elaine looked at him in alarm,
but he quickly reassured her. No, I'm still saying. I
think Elaine has just occurred to me that I can't
go stalking around the office like Ahab himself with only
a lousy foot taken. What a cruddy break. Don't joke
about it, she blubbered, then managed a week smile. It'll
ruin your rhythm at the wedding. He laughed too, then

(45:29):
slammed the fist against the deck. We're going back to Tutuila.
I'm going to get a ship from the Navy base somehow,
and harpoons will come back here, and Poplar began appu quietly.
No one will believe you. Your navy people will laugh
at you and make jokes. Well, then I'll get the
funds to hire a bigger ships some way. Wen't big

(45:51):
enough to haul that thing back on my God. One
day I'll see it stuffed and mounted in the Smithsonian.
Don't have to build a special wing, Elaine tightly. Yeah,
and don't you go putting out any fishing lines on
the way back, you hear, I don't want to lose
you on the trip in. How about after we get back,
she replied, staring at him. He looked at her evenly,

(46:12):
not than I either. Not ever, Hey, you know something.
I'm famished. You've been unconscious for five hours.

Speaker 1 (46:19):
She told them.

Speaker 2 (46:20):
I'll fix you something. She rose, move below decks. And
now you are as I doctor, For you have gazed
upon him. He has changed you, and you are no
longer yourself as before, and he has taken a piece
of your soul. Listen, ha Apu. I don't want to
offend you by attacking your religion. But that was just
a fish, that's all, a monstrous big fish. But no more.

(46:42):
I'm the same sea doctor, and you're the same Mathai,
and we're just looking. All I lost was a few
toes and such, understand, of course, doctor Poplar. How Apu
turned went up to the bridge changed, indeed, he crawled
over to the low railing near the stern, looked down
into the waters. Small fish swam down there, magnified and

(47:04):
distorted by the sea. He shivered just a little. He
would have married Lane anyway, of course, and if she'd
been threatened by anything, he'd have stepped in the defender,
wouldn't he. Apu fired the injuns and the Vattie started
to move, Well, wouldn't he? Maybe he knew

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