Frank Schatzing - The Swarm

'That's right – zebra mussels by the look of them.'

'How the hell did that happen?'

'Good question.' Anawak got out his collection jar, opened it and carefully emptied the blobs of jelly into a larger container filled with seawater. He was anxious about the tissue: it looked as though decomposition had already set in. 'There's no way of knowing, of course, but I'd picture it like this. First, the helmsman tries to apply five degrees rudder. The rudder doesn't move. As it turns out, it's blocked by countless mussels that have settled all over the shaft. Now, you guys know more about boats than I do, but a rudder is pretty easy to disable – although in practice it rarely happens. Consequently it never occurs to the helmsman that the rudder might be blocked. He still thinks he hasn't shifted it far enough, so he tries to shift it further. Again, nothing seems to happen. Then the helmsman goes all out, and the rudder breaks free. As it swings across the shaft, it crushes the mussels in its path, but they don't fall off. A paste of ground molluscs clogs the rudder. The blade is wedged tight and can't move back across the shaft.' Anawak pushed strands of wet hair out of his eyes. 'But that's not what really bothers me.'

'What then?'

'The sea-chests are clear of mussels, but the propeller is covered with them. It's completely infested. I don't know how they managed to latch on to the boat, but one thing is certain: a rotating propeller would be too big a challenge for even the most determined mussels. Either the molluscs climbed aboard in Japan – which seems unlikely, since the rudder was in fine working order right up to the two-hundred-mile zone, or they clung to the propeller when the engine cut out.'

'The ship was invaded by mussels in the middle of the ocean?'

'Right, although "appropriated" might he a better term. I'm trying to picture how it happened. A gigantic swarm of mussels settles on the rudder. When the rudder jams, the ship heels. Within minutes the engines are turned off. The propeller stops rotating. More and more mussels descend on the rudder, reinforcing the blockade. In no time they extend across the propeller and along the hull.'

'But the ship was out to sea,' said Roberts, confused. 'Where would tonnes of adult mussels come from?'

'Why would whales scare off tugs and jump on a tow line? You're the one who started telling stories, not me.'

'I know, but. . .' Roberts bit his lip. 'It all happened simultaneously. It almost makes you think there's a link. But it doesn't make sense. I mean, whales and mussels?'

Anawak hesitated. 'When was the last time you inspected the Barrier Queen's keel?'

'There are constant inspections. Besides, she's coated with a special paint. Before you ask it's environmentally friendly. But there aren't many things that can latch on to it. At most, a few barnacles.'

'You've got more than a few barnacles down there.' Anawak stared at Roberts. 'But that's just it. . . By all rights, they shouldn't be there. The Barrier Queen looks as though she's been exposed for weeks to hordes of mussel larvae. And in any case… there was something else down there…' Anawak described how something had shot out towards him from inside the crust of mussels. While he was talking, it all came back to him. First the shock, then hitting his head on the boat – he had seen stars.

No, not stars – flashes of light.

A single flash of light.

Then it struck him: the creature had flashed.

For a moment he was speechless. The flow of words dried up as it dawned on him that the creature had luminesced. But if it had luminesced, it must have come from the depths. It could scarcely have found its way on to the Barrier Queen while the ship was in dock. It must have latched on at the same time as the mussels. Maybe it had been drawn there by them. Perhaps they were a food source. Or a shield. The creature could have been a squid…

'Dr Anawak?'

He stopped staring into space and turned to Roberts. Yes, he thought.

It must have been a squid. It had been too quick for a jellyfish and too strong. Like a single elastic muscle, it had burst through the shells. Then he remembered something else: the creature had appeared as soon as he reached into the chink. He must have cut it with his knife. Had he hurt it? Either way the thrust of the knife had triggered a reflex.

No need to get carried away, he told himself. It was too murky to see down there.

'I recommend you have the dock checked over,' he said to Roberts, 'but first you need to send these samples' – he pointed to the sealed containers – 'to the laboratory in Nanaimo. Have them taken by helicopter. I'll come too – I know exactly who should look at them.'

Roberts drew Anawak aside.

'Leon, what do you really make of all this?' he asked quietly. 'There's no way that tonnes of mussels could have accumulated in such a short time. It's not as though the ship had been neglected for weeks.'

'Those mussels are a pest, Mr. Roberts.'

'Call me Clive.'

'Well… Clive… zebra mussels don't show up in small groups. When they find somewhere new to settle, they march in like an army. That much is known.'

'But not as fast as that, surely?'

'Every single one of those damned things can produce a thousand young every year. The larvae drift with the currents or stow away on the fins of fish or feathers of birds. In some lakes in America there are nine hundred thousand of them in a single square metre. And they appeared there overnight. They colonise waterworks and irrigation plants, and get into the cooling systems of factories built near rivers. Entire pipes are blocked and ruined by them. And from what we see here, salt water suits them just as well as fresh.'

'I get the picture – but you're talking about larvae.'

'Millions of larvae.'

'There could be billions of them, all over Osaka harbour and across the ocean seabed, but you can't seriously be suggesting that in just a few days they all turned into adult mussels, complete with shells? Can you even be sure that they're zebra mussels?'

Anawak glanced back at the truck. The divers were packing their equipment. The containers, sealed as well as he could manage it, were on the ground in front of them in a plastic crate.

'We're looking at an equation with several unknowns,' he said. 'Suppose the whales were trying to ward off the tugboats. Why? Because something was happening to the freighter and they didn't want it interrupted? Because it was supposed to sink once the mussels had immobilised it? Then there's the matter of the mysterious thing that took flight when I intruded on its den. How does that sound?'

'Like the sequel to Independence Day but without the aliens. Do you seriously think-'

'Hang on. Let's look at it again. A herd of jumpy grey whales or humpbacks feels threatened by the Barrier Queen . To make matters worse, two tugs turn up and ram them by accident. They retaliate. Coincidentally, the freighter is simultaneously afflicted by a biological plague it picked up abroad. Then, while it was at sea, a squid strayed into the mussels.'

Roberts stared at him.

'I don't believe in science fiction,' Anawak continued. 'It's all a question of interpretation. Send a few of your people down there. Have them scrape off the mussels and keep an eye open for other surprise guests. If they see any, they should catch them.'

'How soon will we hear from the lab in Nanaimo?'

'Within a few days, I guess. It would help if I could have a copy of Inglewood's report.'

'A confidential copy,' Roberts reminded him.

'Naturally. And I'd like to have a word with the crew -confidentially, of course.'

Roberts nodded. 'It's not up to me, but I'll see what I can do.'

They walked over to the truck and Anawak pulled on his jacket. 'Do you normally call in scientists in cases like this?' he asked.