Jurassic Waters

by E. Coulombe

  Chapter Thirty Six

  Emma didn’t have to know the Hawaiian word for shark, the panic in Lono’s voice was enough. Instead of swimming back to shore like the others, she turned and swam towards the deeper waters – to the place she’d last seen Michael.

  He’d been next to her, but he was one of the divers, trying to pull the net down to the ocean floor, to prevent the fish from escaping underneath, and he hadn’t heard Lono’s warning. She stopped and dog-paddled, not sure which way to go, until finally she saw him surface again – even further out now. Her heart was in her throat and she screamed.

  “Michael! Shark!” But he was too far away to hear and she panicked as she saw his body flip and his fins kick up in the air. She beat the waves with useless arms trying to get to her son. As soon as she saw his head come up she yelled as loudly as she could. This time he heard her, started to swim back, but suddenly stopped and looked out to sea.

  Emma saw the fin first.

  Lono had been trying to gather the net when he heard her scream. He steered the canoe straight at Michael and spurred the men to paddle. He didn’t need to; they saw the fin slicing the water like a deadly, deliberate saw blade - only moments away from the boy.

  Moving as one, six muscled paddles dug into the water, and shot forward like a bow slung from an arrow. In seconds they placed the canoe between the boy and the oncoming fin. The fin went under. The two center men threw down their paddles and grabbed Michael like an over-sized ahi, and heaved his body inside the boat, just as the twelve foot tiger shark passed beneath. Kimo stood in the bow and launched his spear into the back of the tiger’s heard. “You fucking shit tiger, get the fuck out of here!”

  “Emma get out of the water, we’ve got him,” Lono shouted. She turned to swim towards shore but Moki was already on her in a single man outrigger. He leaped into the water and pushed her up into his boat. Several of the men from shore caught up with him. Moki retrieved his paddle, jumped up on the outrigger and dug in, while three others kicked and pushed from behind. Within just a few seconds they had her safely on shore.

  A group had formed around Ku`ulei, and one of the men grabbed the hard shelled black thing while Kalani used his fingers to pry open the pincers. Ku`ulei whimpered as aunty tried to stop the bleeding. Kalani threw the thing on the sand.

  “What the hell is that?” he said, “I never see that before.”

  They made way for Emma to tend to the little girl’s hand. “Wow, that’s deep, it even cut the tendons. You’re going to get a special bandage for that cut you most brave little girl.”

  “And a good fisherman too” Ku`ulei said, bolstered by the praise. “See what I caught? Nobody caught anything like mine.”

  “What happened out there?” Kalani asked Lono when he joined the group.

  “Shit, that was close.” Lono out his arm around Michael’s shoulders. “Almost lost you buddy.”

  Michael’s eyes went wide, and he shook his head. “I thought we were just going fishing, I didn’t know you were gonna use me to bait a damn tiger shark.”

  “Never saw them here before.” Kalani answered. “And what was down there eating our legs?” For the first time, several of the guys examined the gashes around their ankles and up their calves. Red stains littered the beach.

  “Sand sharks did this?” Emma asked, as she examined one of the nearby feet.

  “I don’t think so,” said Kalani. “These cuts are like slices. Sand sharks have many small teeth, they make round bites.”

  “This one looks like the cut on Ku’ulei’s hand,” Emma said.

  “Made a lot of blood,” Kalani told them. “Could be what drew in Mano.”

  Out in the bay the seine net was still floating on the surface of the water. Most of the fish had escaped but a for a few tangled in the fine line.

  “Damn,” Kalani moaned, “that net was so full! Was going to be a record catch. And what in the world this thing bit on Ku`ulei?” he asked Lono.

  Kumu Apana, one of village elders, had been out combing the shores on the far side of Lehua rock. He caught up with the group and squatted next to the creature laying stunned on the sand. “Ku`ulei, where’d you find this?” He held her shoulders and turned her to face him. “Where did you get this thing?” His rough hands scared her and she started to cry. Kumu let go and walked towards the boats. “Let’s go home,” he said firmly. “Something wrong, changing on this reef. The waters here gone bad.”

  Chapter Thirty Seven

  “Dr. Kaneshiro, we’ve got to get over to Nakoa,” Sam said when the doctor, who had finished stitching his hand, left them alone in the cubicle. Without waiting for a reply he went on, “can you get a message to your friend, Dr. Carver? Trilobite fossils are normally found in large numbers, where there’s one there’ll be others - and if they are all as aggressive as this one….he should be warned.”

  “I know. I already called his cell. It’s damn hard to get in touch with anyone over there, but, fortunately George’s cell works, but apparently only occasionally. I’ve been trying to reach him since I first got this thing, and finally got through. At least I talked with the owner, Grant Collier. I told him what happened, and I was able to send the photo of the fossil from your web site.”

  “He can receive photos?”

  “I assume so, he sent me one the other day.”

  “He did? What of?”

  “A fossil, or rather a sand cast he found.”

  “You didn’t mention that before,” Sam looked quizzically at Dr. Kaneshiro.

  “No. I was going to show it to you, but then this happened,” Dr. Kaneshiro indicated Sam’s cuts. “When you’re done we can go back to the lab to see it. It’s a picture of a sand casting he found at Ko`olau kai, on the leeward side of the island. He wanted me to help him identify it.”

  “Did you?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “Best guess?”

  “I don’t want to say, you need to come see it.”

  “Listen. I was just bit by a trilobite! Having said that I think I can believe anything you tell me now.”

  Dr. Kaneshiro looked into Sam’s eyes, “Yea, I suspect maybe you will. Well George suspects, and I am inclined to agree, that it is a sand casting of an Ediacarian, the Dickensonian.”

  Sam flinched. His mind was reeling with fantastical impossibilities. “Damn! We’ve got to get out of here.” He stood to go. “Are we done?” He impatiently asked the nurse who had entered the room.

  “No, sit still, you need to rest. You’ve lost a lot of blood, and we’re still running tests.”

  “We can go to the lab later, don’t worry,” Dr. Kaneshiro said.

  “Okay, okay,” Sam spoke rapidly, “I’ve got to go make some calls anyway. So we can leave for Nakoa in the morning.”

  “What are you talking about? How are we going to get there?”

  “We’ll hire a helicopter.”

  “There’s not a helicopter company out here that’s going to land on Nakoa. It’s private land, and they’d get their license revoked.”

  “Okay, we’ll take Nakoa Helicopters.”

  “I’ve already tried that. They’ve shut down. Maintenance or something.”

  “Then we’ll have to go by boat, it’s longer but if we have no choice…..I’ll call some friends, and if they can’t help, I’ll call my family. My dad knows every fishing charter on Oahu. I want to leave first thing in the morning. I’ve got to get on that island!”

  “You know, that won’t be easy. The Nakoans patrol their coasts to ensure no one goes above the shoreline. I’ve even heard they’ll shoot at you on the beach, in spite of the fact that all beaches in Hawaii are public.”

  “Listen Dr. K. I don’t give a damn how many of those damn cowboys are standing on that beach when I get there. I’m getting off that boat and I’m walking, or swimming, if need be, to that island, and I’m going to go and see that god damn sand casting. So they can just shoot me – or they can let me pass. Either way - I’m
going.”

  Dr. Kaneshiro drove, this time more slowly, back to his lab. Squatting in front of the tank, he peered into the murky, blood filled water, but none of the creatures were no where to be seen. Must be hidden under one of these little coral chunks, he thought, certainly not going to stick my hand in there to find out. Deftly handling the tongs he gently moved a piece of the coral. Nothing under it. He moved the other piece, still he didn’t see the black organisms anywhere. What the hell? He focused more closely, and his eyes adjusted to the particle filled water. On the bottom of the tank he could just barely make out a small, gray shape, half concealed under the larger piece of coral. The tongs scraped the coral, and the shape moved, but it didn’t scurry like before, instead it darted across the tank and hid under the smaller rock. He removed both pieces from the tank. He rubbed his eyes, unable to believe what he was seeing.

  No longer was it the black larval trilobite that had bitten Sam’s hand. Now a different creature lay on the bottom of the tank, and if he didn’t know any better he’d swear he was looking at a 500 million year old conical shelled nautilus.

  Chapter Thirty Eight

  Yes, Dr. Gavinda had heard of the new find, the bicoid gene, he explained to Andrew when he finally reached him using George’s recharged cell phone. They had it set to speaker phone so they both could listen. “Several labs have been trying to identify the first signal,” he told them, “some thought this might be it. It wasn’t just ‘bicoid’ though. Recently they found another maternal gene, ‘nanos’ which cooperates with ‘bicoid’ and together they initiate the genetic process, which in only three hours changes an eight-celled egg into a segmented larva.”

  Kerri interrupted, “I read somewhere that the developing oocyte, the unfertilized egg inside the female, is connected to maternal nurse cells by microtubules. Could this be a similar? Could the bicoid message come from the mother through some kind of microtubules in the uterus?”

  “Perhaps,” Gavinda answered. “I just received an e-mail from a lab in Carlisle that’s found another maternal gene expressed in mice. The ‘skn-1’ gene, and it’s protein crosses into the fertilized egg and regulates the genes which make intestinal and muscle cells. These are fated as early as the two celled egg.”

  "But Doctor, why do you think the maternal genes control these processes?” Kerri asked. “Isn’t it more efficient for the genes in the embryo to regulate their own development? Why even have the maternal genes involved at all?”

  "I have no idea, this is all very unexpected. That is why it has taken so long to find the initial genes of the sequence. Everyone was doing PCR’s on the zygote's DNA, no one even thought to look to the mother's genes, until they found that this bicoid protein was coming across the placenta. That was quite a shock, I’ll tell you." Kerri agreed. Andrew stood silent, staring at the floor, and lost in deep thought.

  “And yet you Andrew, you’re not saying anything? I take it you are not so surprised?” Gavinda asked.

  "No. I am not."

  "And do you know why the maternal genes are involved in the regulation of the developing embryo?"

  "No, not yet, but I have a theory.”

  “Care to share it?”

  “Soon, Dr. Gavinda. Very soon. And thank you for your help,” Andrew said before hanging up.

  Chapter Thirty Nine

  Upon entering the drawing room, Andrew poured himself a large, neat, whiskey—a gift from George. Seeing George approach along the lanai, he poured a second glass.

  “Where have you been all day?” he barked, handing George the drink.

  “I walked the shore over at Waimea. Wanted to see the area where Old Man Kane disappeared.”

  Andrew’s eyebrows knitted inward and his mouth turned down. George recognized the half-angry expression, a sign that the familiar tension was growing between them again. His first impulse was to just leave the room, but he knew that would anger Andrew more than anything else.

  He just couldn’t figure out what was up with Andrew. Andrew seemed on edge, and yet, he seemed to take the string of recent bizarre occurrences on the island for granted, and George couldn’t understand why. Why wasn’t Andrew alarmed, or at least, aware, of how strange things had become on Nakoa?

  “I’ve been thinking, Andrew,” he said. “Doesn’t it concern you that so many unusual things have happened here in the past seven days? Don’t you think that it may be beyond coincidental?” He said nothing more, but inwardly counted the peculiar phenomena they had encountered: possibly an Ediacaran, never before seen cave creatures with six-inch long pinchers, the thing they’d sent to UH, and something had probably killed the old man, dragged his body off and eaten it!

  “So?” Andrew finally spoke.

  “So what?” George answered, exasperated. He couldn’t believe Andrew’s nonchalance--Andrew knew of the strange fossil finds, the sudden proliferation of aggressive, prehistoric creatures, the maulings and Kane’s death. George found Andrew’s thick-headedness exasperating, infuriating, and impossible to comprehend. How could Andrew not be alarmed? Do you think this is all COINCIDENCE?? He wanted to shout. Instead though, he took another sip of his scotch.

  “Did you find anything out there?” Andrew said.

  “No, I didn’t. Nothing all day. Oh, except for those snail shells I originally had come over to get.” He laughed. “Ironically, after everything else that’s happened, those snails did nothing for me.”

  “Well then, you should have come to the huikilau,” Emma said, entering the room. She sounded upset.

  “Hello, Emma. And I am sorry that I didn’t join you today.” George responded.

  “As am I, honey,” Andrew butted in. “I know how much you wanted me there--”

  “What, you didn’t go either?” George asked.

  “I had to make a call. Oh, borrowed your phone. Hope that’s alright?”

  “Yes, of course, but where’d you put it? I’d left it to charge in the dining room and it’s not there now.”

  “That’s where I left it. Check with Nani.” Andrew turned to Emma. “So, how was the huikilau? Did you enjoy it?”

  Emma’s face was tangled with emotions. “Everyone’s alright, but just barely,” she managed. “There were sharks in the water and I was so afraid for Michael….” Tears formed on her cheeks as Andrew drew her into his arms and held her.

  “I was so scared, and then there was this black thing that bit Ku`ulei.”

  “What’d it look like?” George asked.

  “I don’t know--it was like a crab with centipede legs.”

  “That sounds like the same thing that I sent to Dr. Kaneshiro. It was black?”

  “Yes…”

  “I never thought it would attack anyone. Are you sure it bit Ku’ulei?”

  “Yes, I’m quite sure. It practically severed her tendon.”

  George turned thoughtful, and then a look of alarm slowly covered his face. “I should warn Dr. Kaneshiro. If what I sent him is the same type of organism that bit Ku’ulei--he has to know he might be dealing with an aggressive specimen. George rose. “Damn, where is my phone?”

  “I put it back on the sideboard,” Andrew said.

  “Well it’s not there now.”

  “Maybe Nani put it somewhere when she cleaned house today. I’ll go ask her,” Andrew said. “With that, he left George and Emma alone.

  “I’m pretty screwed without that phone,” George said. “I’ve gotta call the lab, Emma. My grad students can’t seem to tie their shoes without detailed instructions. If I don’t check in at some point, they’ll start to wonder.” George stopped and shrugged his shoulders. “Which might not be such a bad thing.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, if they get anxious enough, they might decide to call the Coast Guard and organize a search party, and then we may finally get rescued, and get some answers in the bargain.”

  “Rescued from what, George?”

  “From the menace in the waters.”

 
; “Aren’t you overreacting a bit? But, I guess if you’re worried, you could write a letter and send it over with the tour helicopter.”

  “Which comes when?”

  “It’s not exactly on a regular schedule. It comes whenever they have a paying customer on Kauai, which is not often, and they only land on the far side of the island. Grant says he doesn’t want to make a freak show out of the Nakoans so he hasn’t granted access on this side. Anyway, I heard the helicopter is down for maintenance.”

  “They must have a phone or radio or a way to make contact with the pilot.” “They use Grant’s satellite phone. That’s how I contacted you, remember?”

  “Do you think he’d let me use it?”

  “I don’t know,” she answered doubtfully. “He doesn’t seem to be too fond of you. But I’m sure he would let you use it if you were making arrangements to leave.”

  “The truth is Emma, I’m not leaving without you.”

  “Me?”

  “Yeah you. Something is going wrong here, Emma, very wrong, and frankly, I’m not sure you’re safe here.”

  Emma looked away. “You don’t need to take care of me George. I can take care of myself, and besides I have Andrew.”

  “Yeah, right.” George stood, frustrated. He turned. “Andrew’s a fool Emma.”

  “What?”

  “He’s a fool. I love the man to death--you know I do. But he doesn’t see the true value of what’s right here in front of him. He never has. Instead he chases some dream experiment that goes on and on.”

  Emma blushed, “George, that’s not true.”