We first saw the monster two weeks after the
storm. If we had known such things existed, we would have prayed the storm to
destroy us. Even without our prayers, it had nearly succeeded.
When at last the thunder stopped and the wind faded,
it was night. The clouds did not break until morning, so I could not take our
position by the stars. I did not know how far off course we might have been
thrown by the violence of the night. In the morning, I came on deck to see what
damage we had sustained. The air was wonderful and fresh, the decks still
glistened from the rain and a good breeze sang in the rigging, smelling, it
seemed, even saltier and cleaner than usual.
After looking over the ship and giving orders for fixing
the spar that had been struck by lightning, I commenced to take our position by
the sun. I measured the sun’s angle twice. It didn’t make sense.
“What is it?” midshipman Drummond asked, seeing
the perturbed look on my face.
I shook my head and went below to go over the
charts. That night I went up to fix our position properly on the stars. The
stars were all wrong, too.
We sailed for a week and never made landfall. I
tried again and again to get a fix, but no matter how many times I reworked my
calculations, the stars insisted we were thousands of miles away from our last
fixed position. How could the storm carry us from the Indian Ocean to beyond
Australia in a night?
I could make no sense of it. I reworked my
calculations to hit Australia as soon as possible, and we set a new course. The
weather was perfect, the wind strong. Supplies were running low and I needed to
keep the men busy. We drilled with the guns. And we drilled with them again.
Drummond came to me, his young face creased with
worry.
“Captain, I’ve been watching the stars. We’re near
Australia, aren’t we?” he bit his lip, afraid he’d said too much. I just
nodded. “How? I mean we were nearing India…weren’t we?”
I nodded sharply and Drummond flinched. He took a
deep breath and continued. “Whatever the case is, have you noticed they’re
not…quite right?”
“What aren’t quite right?” I said stiffly.
“The stars,
Captain.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Scorpio,” Drummond said. “And Lupus…it’s like
they’re closer together, smaller, and the sky is bigger than before, with more
stars…”
I had noticed that something was off in the night
sky, but had attributed it to the sudden change in position. That night, I saw
that the observant Drummond was right. And the next day, we saw the monster.
The day was fresh and enlivening, as all days had
been since the storm. Despite the shortened rations, the men seemed rather
cheerful. Suddenly Drummond, up in the foretop, shouted down, “There’s a whale
to port! No…an…an octopus…”
I strode over to the rail and looked out over the
shimmering blue waves. About a half mile away, something very large was
breaking the waves into agitated whorls. I called for a glass.
“I see tentacles,” Drummond reported from the
rigging. “And…a hard, ridged back! I think maybe it’s a whale eating an
octopus.”
The other midshipman, Ryder, brought me a glass
and I peered out at the creature. I could barely make it out through the foam
it worked up. Pale red and orange, slightly speckled. I didn’t know any whale
that looked like that. A tentacle snapped up out of the water and then
disappeared, followed by the odd, ridged back of whatever beast it was. Perhaps
this whale-thing was eating an octopus…we must be near land. The whale must
have been closer than it had looked, though. Or the octopus was very large.
Drummond came swinging down from the rigging, his
eyes shining, mirroring my own hope. But mine was tempered by fear of reefs,
especially in this strange clime and the inconsistency of the stars…or my own
incompetence. Drummond had no such fears. He beamed at me with complete trust.
We soon forgot about the creature, looking forward
to finding land. I had as many lookouts posted as possible. I didn’t want land
to slip by us. Nor did I want to come upon a reef without warning. We sailed on
and sunset overcame us with still no land in sight. I paced the deck as the sky
painted itself golden and purple.
“Captain,” Drummond said, appearing at my side.
“Yes?”
“The whale thing,” he said. “It’s behind us. I
think it’s following us.”
“Nonsense,” I said, relieved. “It’s probably
heading towards land again, looking for more food.” It meant we were going in
the right direction. Except we might run aground in the dark. I ordered sail to
be taken in and glanced back at the whale. It was gone.
Night fell. I couldn’t sleep, so I paced the deck,
watching the dark water ahead. Drummond stayed on deck with me, even though he
was off duty. I told him to go below and rest. He went down reluctantly and I
placed myself in the prow. At last, a little before morning watch, I went below
and slept fitfully for a few hours.
The next day was beautiful and refreshing, but
devoid of whales, reefs and land. I checked my charts again and again. We
should have hit Australia in the night, but we didn’t. There was only one
possibility. I had done something wrong. I went over everything again, and
again it all seemed correct. But it couldn’t be. It tortured me all day as we
sailed on and on into what my reckoning, the charts, and astronomy all told me
were the penal colonies.
Night came at last, bringing a sweet cool breeze
and a strange aroma like Indian spices. The stars came out, seeming more
numerous than ever before and Drummond joined me on deck with his sextant. We
both took our positions and compared them. We were both landlocked. Our eyes
met in the dark.
I called Ryder and had him take our position. It
was the same.
“I must have done something wrong,” Ryder said,
coughing in embarrassment.
“No,” I said, showing him Drummond’s and my own
results. “Either we have all forgotten how to read the stars or the stars have
rearranged.
“Look!” Drummond exclaimed, pointing to starboard.
Foam sprayed from the water in the distance, bright white in the moonlight.
“Whale?” Ryder asked.
“Hardly important,” I snapped, slapping the map
I’d brought up with me. “Have we all gone mad? Is the sky playing with us?”
“It’s coming toward us,” Drummond said, his voice
betraying his nervousness.
“Whales never attack ships,” I said, glancing at
the ripple in the sea.
“With respect, Captain,” Ryder pointed out, “nor
has an entire continent sunk beneath the ocean.”
“It’s coming straight for us!” Drummond yelped.
I looked. It had its angle perfectly calculated to
intercept us. My mind was still filled with doubts about calculations in general,
but I didn’t want to take any chances.
“Full sail!” I barked. “Alter our course South
South East!”
The helmsman complied and the men of the second
dog watch leapt into the shrouds, joined by young Drummond, who overcame them
all, reaching the sails first and loosening them in a frenzy. I looked out at
the approaching creature. It was bearing down on us swiftly.
The canvas blazed open in the moonlight and filled
immediately with the stiff breeze. We leapt ahead and the creature plowed
through our wake, throwing up plumes of froth. I got a little better look at
the beast. I clutched Ryder’s arm. Immediately I came to myself and let him go,
straightening and turning to shout encouragement at the crew.
I shivered internally. What I had seen was no
whale. No whale had segmented armor and steaming portals. Was it some horrible
machine? A giant lobster?
“It’s following us again!” Drummond called from
the mainmast. I turned and my blood congealed around my heart. The thing was on our tail, pushing a foamy
wave before it, its eyes blazing red in its broad head. It was almost in firing
range of the stern chasers.
“Bring up shot and powder!” I ordered. I could
hardly believe anything from below would actually chase a vessel, but glancing
back at it, the malevolent eyes sent quivers through my soul.
The men appeared with the powder and shot. “Load
the gun!” I shouted. The men hurried to obey. The monster was closing in and I
found myself at the stern, clutching the rail with white knuckles.
“Ready sir,” said Ryder.
“Aim at that thing’s head,” I ordered.
“Ready.”
“Fire!”
The shot echoed across the sea and the smoke
rolled out behind us, obscuring the thing from sight. I heard a clamorous clang
and when the smoke had cleared, there was no sign of the beast.
“Did we hit it?” Ryder wondered aloud.
I scanned the sea. “Drummond? Any sign of it?” I
yelled to the topmast cap. I knew the boy always had his glass on him. After a
moment I heard his voice call down that there was nothing he could see. I
sighed.
The first mate, Roth, and many of the men
previously sleeping below came charging up to see what was afoot. Roth tried to
mask his disbelief when I told him. He was about to go back below when the ship
lurched violently. I clung to the nearest mast, praying for forgiveness for
sailing my ship onto a reef. I saw Drummond slip from the yard arm and go
tumbling toward the deck and closed my eyes, waiting to hear him splatter on
the deck, knowing it was my fault. The splatter never came. I opened my eyes.
Drummond had miraculously caught the brace and slid down it to the next
yardarm. He was scanning the sea with his glass, unruffled. I stood up straight
and marched to the prow.
“There’s nothing out there,” Drummond said.
We were sailing steadily again, but a little
slower now, despite the wind being stronger than ever. I sent someone below to
check for leaks and ordered for sail to be taken in. I didn’t know what we’d
hit, but I wasn’t going to run into anything else at full speed.
Ten minutes later, the report came that there were
no breaches in the hull. Roth kept glancing at me. He was worried about me. Not
in a mutinous way, I didn’t believe, but I hated it just the same. I returned
to the quarterdeck and was ordering more sail taken in when Ryder gasped behind
me. I turned to see his eyes bulging out of his head as he struggled to scream,
clawing at a long slimy tentacle wrapped around his neck. I tried to yell, but
my voice clogged in my throat. I could only utter a strangled squeak as the
tentacle wordlessly whisked Ryder over the side of the ship. I didn’t even hear
a splash.
I blinked at the empty space where my midshipman
had just stood, unable to grasp what had just happened. “M-man overboard!” I
finally managed to holler, rushing to the rail and peering down into the swirl
of choppy waves.
Roth hurried to my side. I pointed uselessly into
the water. There was no sign of Ryder or the tentacle. I turned to my men and
found them gazing at me blankly. They hadn’t seen it. I pointed over the rail
and gasped, “Ryder!” Alarm showed clearly in Roth’s eyes. Did he think I had
pushed him?
“The monster!” I exclaimed. “It pulled him over
the side!”
“I saw it too,” Drummond said, sliding down to the
deck, his voice shaky.
“Where is it?” I said, spinning around, scanning
the sea on all sides.
“I think it’s below—” Drummond began. The ship
shook violently and knocked me off my feet. The sound of splintering wood
ripped through the air.
“What in Hell?” Roth exclaimed as we staggered
back to our feet.
“There’s a breach in the hull!” someone cried from
the darkness below decks.
I was on my way to the hatchway when Drummond yelled
behind me. I turned to see a tentacle wrapped around Roth’s neck, dragging him
away despite Drummond’s attempts to hold him. I ran forward, drawing my knife.
Roth flipped over the rail, choking silently. Drummond wedged himself against
the rail, holding onto Roth’s arm with all his might.
I skidded up to the edge and leaned over. Drummond
grunted, straining, his neck bulging. I slashed at the tentacle. A spray of
black blood burned my eyes but I heard Roth noisily inhaling and Drummond
panting as he heaved the first mate back onto the deck.
I wiped the blood out of my eyes and yelled for
the marines.
“Roth, are you all right?” I asked as the red
coats streamed onto the deck. Roth nodded, but there were angry red sucker
welts all over his skin. I turned to address the marines.
“There’s something under the—” I didn’t get to
finish. Three tentacles lashed over the railing and swept the marines off their
feet. I ducked as a tentacle flashed by over my head. The slimy things
disappeared as fast as they had appeared, taking three marines with them. No
one had had time to shoot.
“Clear the ship for action!” I yelled. “Roth, find
out what’s happening below.”
Roth disappeared below as the ship rocked wildly
and more splintering came from below. Screams echoed from the hold, mixing with
the usual sounds of the cannons being run out and bulkheads taken down.
I glanced at Drummond. Was the thing punching
holes in the hull from below? What good would our cannons be against it?
Another tentacle slid silently onto the deck and carried away another marine.
Several of the others fired at it, but too late. Their shots rang eerily in the
sudden quite as the noises from below ceased. The ship was ready for action.
Roth came staggering up from below.
“There’s water coming in fast,” he gasped,
“whatever it is, it’s drilled holes in the bottom!”
“Get men on the pumps!” I ordered. “And try and
plug off the holes if you can.” I turned to Drummond. “Have the men ready on
deck with axes and if the thing’s tentacle come up again, hit them with
whatever you can,” I told him. “Blast it with a cannon if any part of it comes
across the guns.” Drummond nodded and rushed down to the gun deck.
The sea exploded, geysers of spray dashing across
the deck as something—not a tentacle—lashed out of the water and ripped through
the side of the ship. We all fell and tumbled across the deck, some flying over
the rail into the sea. Splinters filled the air like a deadly rain. It was like
we’d been struck with ten broadsides simultaneously. The masts trembled and the
topgallant cracked. Ropes snapped and I heard men screaming.
The thing that had struck—not a limb, but
something like it—disappeared as fast as it had materialized leaving the ship
tottering on the rippling sea, gashed open and bleeding. Roth rolled over, not
ten feet from me, clutching his face. A massive splinter was stuck through his
cheek and nose.
I dragged myself to my feet once more, scanning
the sea around us. All was still, filled only with the cries of agony from the
gun deck. Drummond had jumped to his feet and ran down into the dark to assess
the damage. I turned to see the ocean release its horrors once more. A great
head was raising itself up beside the ship, over the disabled row of guns.
Its eyes blazed red and tentacles swarmed angrily
around its mouth. I could not cry out. A marine gave a wordless shriek and
brought his rifle to bear on the monster. There was a crack and a puff of white
smoke. The creature roared, its tentacles swirling. The head swooped down and
the marine disappeared, screaming, into the creature’s maw.
“Fire!” I heard Drummond yell below. He must have
found an undisturbed gun and salvaged enough gun crew to work it. The creature
narrowed its eyes and sank back into the water as the cannon boom shook the
deck. Smoke billowed across the water but the monster was already gone. The
ship quivered again. I hurried below.
Drummond met me in the gloom.
“Captain, we need the marines down here, there’s
something out there, below the guns,” he said, pointing at the huge gash where
the gun ports had been. I looked out and saw a huge bristly paw pressing
against the hull, barely above waterline. I could hear the timbers groaning
under it.
“Captain!” came a cry from the port gun deck.
“There’s a-a-a thing attached to the hull below the guns!” The beast was
squeezing the ship.
“Shoot it!” I ordered. The marines fired at the
paws. The ship lurched and the paws disappeared under the water. I sighed. Then
I grabbed Drummond’s arm. The paws hadn’t let go, they were dragging us down. The
quartermaster crawled up the ladder from below.
“The hull is crumpling! Water’s spurting through
the cracks!”
“We’ve got to get this thing off!” I said, pulling
out my ceremonial sword. “Get the spears and boarding hooks!”
I led the charge down the ladders into the
darkness. I crashed into the knee deep water and made for the nearest hole. Six
or seven puncture wounds shot streams of water across the hold, white and
foamy. Reddish light flickered and bounced wildly from a few smoking oil lamps.
Men struggled at the pumps, trying to keep up. Others were trying to jam canvas
wads in the holes. The water just blew them back out.
A tentacle lashed through a hole, smashing a lamp
and throwing men against the far wall. It vanished just as fast. I splashed
clumsily through the water. Its roar was loud in my ears.
I jammed my sword into the gushing stream that
surged from the hole. I waved at the men. They rammed spears through the holes.
The ship trembled. I heard something crack. The ship heaved. The last lamp fell
from its hook. The fat spread the flame through the water.
Water cascaded down the ladders from above. The
flames flickering on the water sputtered out and all was dark.
“Get a light!” I yelled, clambering up the
waterfall to see what was happening. Our gun decks were level with the sea and
water lapped in with each wave. We were sinking. “Everyone up! Launch the
boats!”
The ship heeled, crackling and groaning as the
beast struck us again. I staggered, falling against an overturned cannon.
Drummond bounded up from below and helped me up. I heard rifles crack above and
shots patter on the sea. We came up on the deck and saw the water boiling off
our port side. The port guns fired, white smoke billowing out over the foam.
I stared in horror as a sun bloomed under the
waves. Golden light flickered from the depths. Everyone gazed at it in a
trance. The light flew up from the deep, breaking out into the air in a cascade
of glittering water droplets. It flew up into the sky and I saw the armored
limb that bore it up. A long, muscular tail swung down on us, the light at its
end blinding us. I caught Drummond’s shoulder and pulled him against the
gunwale.
The tail crashed across our deck, plowing up
splinters, smashing men to pulp, snapping ropes and spars, shredding through
sail, and slamming us into the sea. Water splashed over the rails. The tail
slid off the deck, back into the dark water, taking its brilliant light with
it. The foremast toppled over. The ship rose a little, but we were still
sinking fast. The few remaining marines were struggling with the ropes to
launch the longboat.
The ship trembled as something struck us from
below. The water around us lit up with a ghostly golden glow. I felt the deck
shift underneath us. The longboat splashed into the water. The other, smaller
boat, crashed in beside it. Drummond hauled me to my feet and we staggered
across the heeling deck as the boats filled up with men. The deck split open
before us; the ship shuddered and the mainmast cracked. Men screamed. Drummond
and I tumbled back against the stern. The mainmast fell, smashing the smaller
boat to pieces.
Tentacles
sprang from the foam as the ship broke to pieces, lashing out and seizing the
floundering men, dragging them under as they clung to ropes and bits of
flotsam. Bubbles rose to the surface all around us. Drummond slipped and
tumbled over the rail into the water.
I stretched my hand after him in vain and the water
lapped at my toes. I let go of the rail and splashed into the water. The stern
went down behind me. I struggled in the cold grip of the water clutching at
loose boards. I’d never been a good swimmer. I couldn’t see Drummond. I
imagined his lifeless corpse drifting in the cold blue and my heart ached.
The longboat was cutting through the waves on the
other side of the sinking wreckage, swimming away…I yelled at them. The monster
was between them and me and they dared not turn back, even for their captain. I
hollered louder, hoping the beast would come for me and they might somehow
escape. Something bumped into my back. I shuddered, thinking the beast had come
for me. It was a barrel. I clung to it.
There were still men clutching the broken mast
that floated among the sails. The beast raised a terrible limb from the waves
and smashed it apart. Men went sailing through the air, screaming in the
frenzied froth. Tentacles caught them.
I spotted Drummond, struggling to stay afloat on a
few measly boards. I paddled towards him fiercely. If I could do nothing for my
ship and its crew, I could at least save my brave midshipman who couldn’t swim.
The waves from the crashing monster ruined my progress. I could not get closer.
Drummond saw me coming and hope lit up his eyes even as the water closed over
his head.
I roared in helplessness, trying to urge my barrel
through the agitated waters. I dove from it and stroked towards Drummond. There
was a bit of floating deck bobbing just beyond him. If I could only get him on
it.
Drummond was still when I reached him. I grabbed
him and thrashed violently for the fragment of deck. My arms and legs burned.
At last I reached the deck and shoved the limp midshipman up onto it. I glanced
back at the wreck. We had drifted some ways away. The longboat still rowed in
the opposite direction, getting smaller and smaller. But even as I watched, a
tentacle lashed out of the water and slapped the boat to pieces. I cried out in
wordless anguish. The monster’s head emerged from the deep, plowing through the
waves, sucking in the wailing men.
I heaved myself up onto the piece of deck. Drummond
was still, his pulse gone, his skin cold. I wailed like a child, heart-broken.
No human cry echoed me. The sea rumbled all around, impassive. The creature’s
head emerged close to my little piece of flotsam. Its red eyes blazed in the
dark.
I closed my eyes, my chest heaving. It was over.
I waited for the beast to devour me. The creature
left me to a fate more horrible. I opened my eyes to see the beast turn its
hellfire eyes away from me and swim off, leaving me alive. Alone…
I saw the creature’s tail arc through the air in
the distance, like a miniature sun rising and setting. It vanished into the
night and soon the moon set, leaving me in darkness and despair.
I floated for days, wishing for death. I had
nothing to sink poor Drummond with, so I had to let him float away from me
while I recited the service. I knew I should have kept him, eaten him. But I
couldn’t. Days later, I dreamed feverishly of his flesh, hallucinating that he
was bobbing along beside me again, covered in gravy, sprinkled with saffron,
garnished with roasted pineapple.
The strange pirate ship found me.
The monster had let me go to tell of its terrors.
I was the sole survivor, doomed to spread the legacy of the beast that had
taken my ship…taken Drummond…
He’s real. I have seen Davy Jones.
