Frank Schatzing - The Swarm

He pulled up close to the boats and shouted, 'Quit drumming, Jack. Let's talk.'

Greywolf ignored him.

A male voice came over the radio: 'Hello, Leon. Good to see you.'

It was the Lady Wexham's skipper. The boat was about a hundred metres away. The people on the top deck were leaning over the rails, staring at the beleaguered Zodiac. Some were taking photos.

'Everything OK at your end?' asked Anawak.

'Fine. What are we going to do about the bastards?'

'I'll try the peaceful approach.'

'If you want me to run them down for you, just say the word.'

The Blue Shark was being jostled by the Seaguards' motorboats. Greywolf swayed as his boat hit the inflatable, but he carried on drumming. The feathers on his hat quivered in the wind. Behind the boats a fluke rose into the air and disappeared again, but no one had eyes for the whales.

'Hey, Leon! Leon!' One of the Blue Shark's passengers was waving at him – Alicia Delaware. She was bouncing up and down. 'Who are those guys? What are they doing here?'

Anawak did a double-take. The other day she had told him she was about to leave the island. But right now it didn't matter.

He manoeuvred his Zodiac towards Greywolf's boat and drew up at right angles to it. He clapped his hands loudly. 'All right, Jack, you can stop now. Tell us what you want.'

Greywolf increased the volume. His monotonous chant rose and fell like an aggressive dirge.

'For God's sake, Jack!'

The noise stopped. Greywolf faced Anawak. 'Do you want something?'

'Tell your people to back off. Then we can talk about whatever you like, so long as you tell them to stop.'

Greywolf's face contorted with rage. 'We're not backing off.'

'What's your point, Greywolf? Why all the fuss?'

'I tried to tell you at the aquarium but you wouldn't listen.'

'I didn't have time.'

'And I don't have time to talk to you now.' His supporters laughed and jeered.

Anawak nearly lost his temper. 'I'm going to make you an offer, Jack,' he said, as calmly as he could. 'You call this off, and we'll meet tonight at Davie's. Then you can tell us what you'd like us to do.'

'Just keep away from here.'

'But why? What harm are we doing?'

Two dark islands surfaced next to the boat, textured and mottled like weathered stone. Grey whales. It would have made an amazing photo, but Greywolf had ruined the day.

'Turn back,' shouted Greywolf. He stared at the Blue Shark's passengers and lifted his arms imploringly. 'Turn back and leave the whales in peace. Live in harmony with nature. Your boats are polluting the air and the ocean. Whales are being hounded so you can take photos. This place belongs to them. Go home. You don't belong here!'

What a load of garbage, thought Anawak. Surely even Greywolf didn't believe it. But his supporters cheered.

'Come on, Jack! We're here to protect the whales, remember? Whale-watching helps us to understand them. It lets people see them in new light. It's not in their interest for you to disrupt our work.'

'Their interest? You'd know all about that, wouldn't you?' Greywolf jeered. 'Can you read their minds, Mr. Scientist?'

'Jack, drop all the Indian crap. What do you want ?

'Publicity,' Greywolf said.

'And how are you going to get that here?' Anawak waved his hand at the ocean. 'There's just a couple of boats and a few people. Let's talk about this properly and get some real publicity. Both sides can put forward their arguments, and may the best side win.'

'Pathetic,' said Greywolf. 'Listen to the voice of the white man.'

Anawak lost his patience. 'That's crap and you know it. You're more of a white man than I am, O'Bannon. Get real.'

For a moment Greywolf stared at him. Then a grin spread across his face. He pointed to the Lady Wexham . 'Why do you think the people on your boat are so interested in filming us?'

'Because of you and your mumbo-jumbo.'

'Exactly,' laughed Greywolf 'You got it in one.'

Then it dawned on Anawak. The people on the Lady Wexham weren't tourists: they were reporters whom Greywolf had invited for the show.

The son-of-a-bitch.

He was about to make a suitably cutting response, when he noticed that Greywolf was still staring at the Lady Wexham . Anawak followed his gaze, and gasped.

A humpback had catapulted itself out of the water just in front of the boat. For a moment it looked as though it was balancing on its flukes. Only the tip of its tail was still submerged as it towered above the Lady Wexham's bridge. The throat grooves on its lower jaw and underbelly were clearly visible. Its long pectoral fins stuck out like wings, two shiny white appendages with dark markings and knobbly edges. A loud ooh ! went up as the gigantic body tipped slowly to one side and hit the water in an explosion of spray.

The people on the top deck shrank back. Part of the Lady Wexham disappeared behind a wall of foam. But the jet of water had cloaked another dark shape. In a mantle of mist and water a second whale surged up from the waves. This time it was even closer to the vessel. Even before the cry of horror went up, Anawak knew that the leap had gone wrong.

The whale hit the Lady Wexham with such force that the vessel rocked violently. There was a cracking, splintering sound. The whale dived down, and people on the top deck were thrown to the floor. The sea around the craft foamed and boiled, then several humpbacks rose to the surface. Two dark bodies launched themselves into the air and hurled themselves at the hull.

'Vengeance!' shrieked Greywolf. There was a hysterical edge to his voice.

The Lady Wexham was twenty-two metres long, far longer than any humpback whale. She had a permit from the Ministry of Transport and conformed to the Canadian Coast Guard's safety standards, which required passenger vessels to be able to withstand rough seas, metre-high breakers and the occasional collision with a lethargic whale. The Lady Wexham had been designed to cope with all such misfortunes. But she hadn't been designed to contend with an attack.

From across the water Anawak heard her engines start. Pandemonium broke out on the two viewing decks, and screams of terror echoed over the waves. People were pushing past each other in blind panic. The Lady Wexham started to move, but a whale rose out of the water, catapulting itself against the bridge. Even this assault wasn't enough to capsize her, but now she was pitching dangerously, as debris rained into the water.

Anawak knew he had to do something. Maybe he could distract the whales. His hand reached for the throttle.

At that moment another scream pierced the air, but this time it was coming from behind him. Anawak spun round.

He was just in time to see the body of an enormous humpback surge vertically out of the water, looking almost weightless. It rose, ten, twelve metres into the air and, for a heartbeat it hung above the little red motorboat with the three protestors.

Anawak had never seen anything so terrifying, and yet so beautiful at such close range.

'Oh dear God no,' he whispered.

As if in slow motion the body gently tipped and started falling. A shadow descended on the little red motorboat, then swallowed the Blue Shark's bow . It grew longer and longer as the enormous body plummeted downwards, travelling faster by the second…

Anawak jammed down the throttle. Greywolf's boat was also quick off the mark – heading straight for Anawak. The two boats collided and Greywolf's driver disappeared overboard but Anawak didn't stop. Before his eyes, thirty tonnes of humpback crashed on to the motorboat, burying it and its crew in the water, and hitting the front of the Blue Shark . The Zodiac's stern flipped up at right-angles to the water, sending its load of orange-clad passengers spinning through the spray.