Chapter 22
Smell Suit
The team regroups on the USS Jupiter at three o’clock. By three-thirty, Luke and Will were just finishing putting on their smell suits. Using sonar, Hawkins was able to find the Liopleurodon. It had come back to the blue whale carcass that it stole from the orcas. It is still feeding, which means that it will not be focusing on Luke and Will. The water is so dark that Hawkins had one of his men set up a light tower that will shine on the Liopleurodon. This will allow Luke and Will to see. The Liopleurodon does not need to see, since it can use its sense of smell to map out its surroundings.
Will yawns before he puts on his dive mask. Luke, who is all ready, walks over to his friend. “Don’t worry; the water will wake you up.”
Will nods as he puts his mask on. Hawkins asks, “Are you guys almost ready?”
“Yeah,” Luke says. He checks his air before giving thumbs up.
“Good,” Hawkins says, before drinking some of his coffee.
Luke picks up the tracking device, which is now connected to the end of a pole. Shawn, who is standing next to Kelsey, thinks, poor Luke, he has to go into open water with the Liopleurodon at three o’clock in the morning… and the tracking device is going to deactivate tomorrow!
Luke stands on top of the diving platform. “Good luck, guys,” Hawkins says.
Luke nods as he dives head first into the water. His long fins propel him as he descends. Luke can hear a splash as Will enters the water behind him. Luke turns around and gives him the okay sign. Will waves and gestures to descend further.
Hawkins’s voice enters through the radio in their masks, “Are you guys doing okay?”
Surprised, Luke feels around his mask until he feels the button on top of the radio. Whoa, I didn’t know that we could talk to each other. Luke presses the button and says, “Yeah, I’m going to head deeper to see if I can find the Liopleurodon.”
After a couple minutes, Luke finally finds what he is looking for. Before him, is the enormous, partially eaten whale carcass. He can see some of the whale’s bones through spots where flesh has been eaten away. Will’s voice comes through Luke’s radio, “That thing is disgusting! I think I’m going to hurl in my mask!”
Luke presses down on his radio switch and says, “Please don’t, this is gross enough as it is.” Luke continues to look at the carcass thinking, Where is the Liopleurodon?
Suddenly, from the dark depths below the whale, the Liopleurodon elegantly rises and bites down on the whale’s flipper. The lights from the ship make the pliosaur’s teeth begin to shine. The Liopleurodon uses its powerful neck to rip the flipper right off of the carcass, and swallows it whole.
As a child, it was Luke’s dream to go diving with a Liopleurodon. Now, as he watches the Liopleurodon eating its meal, he realizes how foolish he was. The Liopleurodon’s crocodile-like jaws open wide, and the reptile’s knife-like teeth sink into the whale’s carcass, ripping off a chunk of flesh, and swallowing it whole. Those teeth are so sharp, and those jaws are so powerful…
Luke’s thought is interrupted when Will says, “I swear to God, if I die I am never talking to you again.”
Luke cannot take his eyes off the monster as she rips off huge chunks of flesh. The Liopleurodon then bites into the whale’s rib cage and pulls out a huge bone. Using its powerful jaws, the Liopleurodon crushes the bone and swallows it along with the flesh hanging off of it. As blood continues to poor out of the whale’s body, Luke has second thoughts about his plan. The reptile’s red stripes are shining in the light before the Liopleurodon dives deep again.
Where did it go? Luke asks himself as the Liopleurodon comes into view again, this time biting down on the whale’s tail. The monster rips off the lower half, and then uses its enormously powerful jaws to crush the fluke and swallow it all bones, flesh, and muscle tissue.
Now, Luke is beginning to panic. He loses his grip on the pole. It begins to sink and he swims after it. The pole is falling fast but Luke is faster. He reaches for it… and grabs it! Now, he is much closer to the Liopleurodon then he was before. Luke can see the red stripes and the monster’s green eye, which appears to be glowing – and staring at him.
Luke presses down on his radio and says, “That’s it Will, this is crazy. I’m getting the hell out of here!”
As he begins to swim towards the surface, Will swims towards him and grabs a hold of his friend. “Calm down, Luke! I know that you’re scared… but you have to do this! Besides, you already dragged me into here so you may as well just attach the tracking device so we can go. I am not letting you leave until you do!”
Luke nods and says, “Okay, I’m sorry. I got scared. I need to pull myself together… I can do this.”
“Yeah, I know that you can… but I’m going to stay back here.”
Luke gives his friend a thumbs up and turns back to face the Liopleurodon. It is still feeding, and Luke continues to swim towards it… slowly. This is insane; I should just turn around and head back now. But if I want any chance of defeating the Liopleurodon, I have to attach this tracking device.
Luckily, the Liopleurodon is occupied with the whale and is not even paying attention to Luke. With every inch that Luke swims closer, his fear continues to increase. I am just fifteen feet away… from a really ferocious marine reptile. The Liopleurodon continues to rip through the whale’s flesh, tearing off huge chunks of meat with every bite. If it wasn’t for the red stripes going down the monster’s back, it would be nearly invisible thanks to its black scaly skin.
Only five feet away, Luke thinks, I am so close! He reaches forward with the pole… and slams the tracking device onto the back of the pliosaur’s neck. Pressing a button, the pole releases the circular tracking device… which unfolds. The tracking device uses small needle-like drills to dig into the Liopleurodon, sealing it in place.
I did it! Luke thinks as he throws the pole away.
“Good job, Luke!” Will exclaims as Luke begins to swim away from the pliosaur.
Annoyed with the human’s presence, the Liopleurodon turns around and lunges at Luke. Holy crap! Luke thinks as he looks down the Liopleurodon’s throat, its foot-long teeth appearing as railroad spikes…coming towards him. Luke knows that he won’t even be a light snack for the Liopleurodon if it swallows him whole. It is simply going to kill him for invading its territory.
Almost instinctively, Luke grabs the small valve on his belt and tears it loose. Red chemical dye surrounds Luke as it explodes from the pipes on his smell suit, signaling that the putrescene has been released into the water. The Liopleurodon pulls back at the last possible moment…sparing Luke’s life only because of the pain that it now feels in its sensitive nostrils.
Thank God that this smell suit works! Luke thinks as he swims as fast as he can out of the water, even passing Will who was one hundred and fifty feet above him. Luke grabs the dive board, pulls himself up, and climbs aboard. He rips off his mask and tosses it aside. Exhausted, Luke collapses to his knees, but a smile breaks onto his face. He is greeted by cheers.
“You did it!” Kelsey exclaims as she helps him up.
Luke nods as Will climbs aboard the ship and slaps his friend on the back, “Way to go, buddy!”
Luke’s lungs burn with exhaustion while Ben says, “You just made this a lot easier!”
Shawn, who is smiling to himself in the corner, thinks, That’s what you think.
…
At one p.m. the next afternoon, Luke is sitting in the bridge with Captain Hawkins. The green radar screen shows the ocean in every direction for one hundred miles. The USS Jupiter is the blue dot in the center while the red dot sixty five miles northeast of them is the tracking device on the back of the Liopleurodon’s neck. Luke drinks some coffee, still exhausted from the night before.
“Now, we’ll always be able to keep track of the Liopleurodon,” Hawkins finishes. Luke nods slightly, fighting to remain awake. “Are you okay?”
Luke nods and says, “Sorry, I’m j
ust tired.”
Hawkins smiles, “You did a good job last night kid. You’re not trained to do that sort of thing… and I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks,” Luke says seconds before the red dot on the radar screen vanishes. “Whoa, what happened?”
“I’m not sure,” Hawkins says as he begins pressing buttons, trying to find out where the tracking device’s signal went. But it is already too late.
Frustrated, Luke stands up and asks, “What happened, did it run out of power?”
Hawkins nods, “I think so, but how? It had enough power to last two weeks.”
“It didn’t even last a day! I did all of that crap last night and the thing dies!” Luke shouts, furious.
“I’m sorry, kid,” Hawkins says, “something must have knocked it off.”
Frustrated, Luke declares, “How did something knock it off, it was no bigger than my fist. Face it, your men did a lousy job of putting it together.”
“Now wait just a second, I can understand if you’re mad, but don’t get started telling me that my men can’t do their jobs, they’re the best in the country!” Hawkins exclaims.
“Then how else can you explain this?” Luke asks. Suddenly, he has an idea, and he takes a seat. “Unless… unless someone sabotaged it.”
“What do you mean?” Hawkins asks.
“Think about it!” Luke says. “There couldn’t have been many men who knew about the Liopleurodon in the first place, and even less who knew about the plan to put on the tracking device! It had to have been one of the Sea Monster Hunters, but who?”
“Well,” Hawkins says thoughtfully, “Who do you not trust?”
Luke thinks about it. “I definitely trust Will, the guy’s my best friend and he risked his life, too. Kelsey probably wouldn’t have even known how to sabotage it. That leaves Shawn and Ben.”
“Do you trust either of them?” Hawkins asks.
“Not really, but I couldn’t see Shawn purposely sabotaging our plans. Ben and I had a huge rivalry before the Liopleurodon was found. I never did like him. It may be Ben.”
Hawkins nods as he says, “Okay, so we have our main suspect. Until we have more evidence, though, I don’t want to accuse him. Just wait, but let’s keep an eye on Ben. Oh, and don’t tell anyone.”
Luke nods and says, “I won’t.”
SECTION 3
KING OF THE SEAS
It is revealed that the greatest threat to man is nature, and vice-versa.” -- BEN ROSS
Chapter 23
Thrill Seeker
Peter Clarks has always been an adrenaline junkie who has traveled the world looking for the ultimate thrills. A native of Montana, he grew up riding bulls and lassoing horses. At the age of eighteen, he left his family and began doing even more exciting stunts: such us sky diving, parasailing, and, of course, cage diving. Now thirty-four, Peter thought that he had experienced all of the thrills possible, but that was before the Liopleurodon had been released.
Peter’s best friend, Hal Bruce, is wealthy because he inherited money from his parents. He has always helped pay for his friend’s activities, but this time he is worried. One month ago, Peter had come up to Hal and asked if he could help pay for a boat and equipment that he would need to dive in open water with the Liopleurodon. Hal had reluctantly agreed.
…
Hal rented a boat called the SS Equator for the day. He has hired three men to be his crew, and they were setting up at the pier. Hal waits impatiently when Peter finally arrives. “What took you so long?” Hal demands.
“I had to get my scuba gear,” Peter says as he tosses his equipment onto the boat.
“Are you sure that you want to go through with this? It’s not too late to turn back,” Hal reminds him.
“I told you,” Peter says as he steps aboard the USS Equator’s deck, “Diving with the Liopleurodon in open water will be the ultimate thrill.”
Hal jumps aboard before saying, “Knowing you, I can understand wanting to dive with the Liopleurodon, but why do you want to do it with no protection? I mean, the Navy has been trying to kill it for the past two months with no success, and
that documentary guy had a huge cage protecting him and he still died. I know you want a thrill, but I think that you are pushing it.”
Peter rolls his eyes while he begins changing. Hal turns around to give him some privacy, and the crew simply ignores him. “I told you, protection is for wimps. There’s no thrill if I’m in a cage!”
“You were in a cage when you went diving with sharks!” Hal exclaims.
“That was different, I am older now. I have more experience handling these situations. You can turn back now.”
Hal turns around. Peter has his wet suit on and is putting on his BCD vest. Hal sighs and says, “Look, if you want to dive without protection, fine, it’s your funeral.” He picks up a steel cable and shows it to Peter. “Just please wear this.”
“What is it?” Peter asks, confused.
Hal explains, “It’s a cable that you’ll attach to your belt. That way, if the Liopleurodon decides to attack you, all you have to do is signal us, and we’ll pull you up.” Peter looks annoyed. “If you don’t at least wear this, then you can forget going diving at all.”
“Fine,” Peter grumbles as he attaches the cable to his belt.
…
Two hours later, The SS Equator is in open ocean and the water has been chummed. For the next forty-five minutes, Peter waits in the water, the cable connected to his belt. Getting bored, he radios to Hal, “I don’t think that it’s coming.”
“Have you seen anything?”
“Just a couple of sand tiger sharks, but not the Liopleurodon. I’m coming up.” When the steel cable begins to pull Peter back towards the boat, Peter sees an enormous creature swimming two hundred feet below him from the port side. The sharks vacate the area. The creature has a triangular skull, with cone shaped teeth jutting out from the side. Each tooth has enormous, razor-sharp serrations, designed to clamp down on the creature’s victims.
“Holy crap…” is all that Peter can say as he witnesses the largest and most powerful carnivore in the Earth’s history for the first time.
“What was that?” Hal asks, pulling Peter out of his daze.
Peter, coming to his senses, says, “Stop pulling me up… it’s here!”
The cable stops pulling Peter upward, and Hal asks, “It’s here? How big is it?”
Peter, still looking at the red and black monster, says, “It’s enormous, far bigger than I expected.”
Still close to the ocean floor, the Liopleurodon’s nose is on full alert, on the lookout for prey. It can smell chum in the area, but can’t locate it. Suddenly, it looks up, and sees Peter floating helplessly. With a few powerful down strokes, the Liopleurodon is moving at steep angle of ascent towards its next victim.
Peter is now shivering with fear. The Liopleurodon continues to come closer. Peter presses down the radio button and says, “Hal, I think that it’s attacking… pull me up.”
“What, are you sure?” Hal asks.
The Liopleurodon propels forward at a faster rate, and it opens its jaws wide. “Damn it Hal, pull me up now!” Peter demands. A split second later, the cable begins to pull Peter higher again. Peter is only fifty feet below the boat when he exclaims, “come on, come on!” It is too late. When Peter is only thirty feet away from the boat, the Liopleurodon bites down on his knees.
Peter screams in agony. The cable is pulling him upward while the Liopleurodon is pulling him downward. Crack! Peter’s legs are torn from his body. The Liopleurodon swallows what little it has left from Peter’s body whole.
…
The cable explodes from the water, and Peter’s upper body is dangling with it. Hal vomits when he sees the expression on his lifeless friend’s face. Now hanging upside down, blood drips from Peter’s mouth. Tears come to Hal’s eyes as he sits down on the deck. Suddenly, the entire boat shakes and Hal is thrown from his chair. He lands on
his face and says, “I knew that this was a bad idea.”
“Sir!” one of the crew exclaims as he runs to Hal and helps him up. “The monster is attacking the boat! What should we do?”
Trying to regain his confidence Hal orders, “Turn this boat around!”
“Yes, sir!” the crewman exclaims as he leaps towards the steering wheel. Grabbing a hold, he begins to turn the wheel, but the Liopleurodon strikes the ship again. This time the mast breaks loose…and begins to fall.
“Oh crap!” Hal exclaims as the twenty foot long metal poll that is supporting Peter’s dead upper body falls causing an explosion of rubble with scrap metal and glass flying in every direction. The ship splits in half. When the halves tilt downwards towards the sea, chairs, equipment, and other objects fall towards the ocean, which devours them all. One of the crewmen falls, but he grabs hold of a metal pole. He can barely keep his grip. For a brief moment, he thinks that God has spared his life. Then, the Liopleurodon’s enormous crocodilian jaws come out of the water… and bite down.
The Liopleurodon’s foot-long teeth puncture the crewman’s chest, and he screams while blood pours from his mouth. The Liopleurodon swings its head upward, causing the crewman to lose his grip on the pole. The Liopleurodon opens her jaws allowing the crewman’s bloody remains to roll down her throat.
Liopleurodon King of the Carnivores Page 9