S. Welles - To Ocean's End

I wrestled with the harpoon until it clicked back in place, then mounted the Harpy again. Sam angled the Pertinacious so the fish was at the bow’s eleven o’clock. I aimed but waited to get closer. Seagulls circled it like they do when whales feed. I had just one shot before it’d flee.

Sam drew us within a hundred yards of the fish, and as I took careful aim, O’Toole came up to the railing and climbed onto it right in my line of sight. “O’Toole! No!” I dive-tackled him like a lizard jumping onto a tree trunk. He lost his balance and folded, half his body hanging over each side of the railing. I pulled him onto the deck. His whimpering reached a fever pitch as he thrashed around until he broke free, then he lunged for the railing again. I grabbed him before he could jump. He gripped the railing in both hands and used that as leverage. “Sam!” I locked my arms around O’Toole’s waist and snuck a glance out at the water. We were eighty yards from the thing and slowly approaching. At the same time, my window of opportunity was rapidly shrinking. Whale flounder didn’t like the sound of props and engines.

O’Toole planted his feet on the lower railing and dead-lifted us both. “ Sam !” I lost my balance and couldn’t secure a foothold on the railing.

“Captain!” Mido’s voice carried through the air.

“Hurry!” O’Toole and I teetered over the railing and everything seemed to fall into slow motion as the ocean appeared below me. I had a choice between letting the Irishman go and taking my one shot, or going down with him and lengthening my failure streak. If I let him go, he ran the risk of getting sucked up into the props. On top of that, he couldn’t swim very well. Sure, someone could jump in after him, like Jacobi had last time, but what kind of selfish fool would that make me?

My hips and therefor my center of gravity were pulled past the top railing. I glanced at the floating flounder and the gulls circling and even resting on it. That was so much money and food right there, and really good eating to boot. I didn’t have to be the one who—

A hand pawed at my pant leg but O’Toole and I went for an unscheduled swim head first. Just great. My gun was in my coat, as usual. I’d have to carefully clean it later so it wouldn’t rust. Just plain great.

We plunged under the surface in a haze of bubbles. With a chunk of his pants in my fist, I kicked for the surface but my steel toe boots were less than useless when it came to swimming with a trench coat on. We started to sink. O’Toole began to flail. I called the water to me and brought us back to the surface, but the Irishman was intent on drowning us both. His flailing blocked me from concentrating on controlling the very water I was trying not to inhale. I gave up and focused on keeping our heads above the surface.

“Heads up, Captain!”

Scully threw a life ring attached to a rope. I closed my eyes right before it splashed within arm’s reach, then jammed it over O’Toole’s head. He threaded his arms through the ring then began doggy paddling towards the whale flounder. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?” I grabbed the ring and he just paddled in place. When we rose to the crest of a swell, I caught a glimpse of the fish. Holy hell. It was still there!

Everyone but Jacobi and Sam lined the railing. I waved for them to move aside. “Move if you don’t want to get wet!” Without waiting to see if they listened, I closed my eyes and concentrated, then directed a large column of water to send me and the Irishman back aboard. We slingshotted over the railing, onto the deck, and I landed on my feet and let O’Toole drop to his paddling hands and knees as a thin wave of water spread over the deck. I took in my relieved crew. “Hold him.” Mido and Scully rushed to O’Toole as I hopped into the Harpy. I swung and dipped her a little and took aim at… nothing but water. “No.” I broadened my search but there was no sign of the coveted, lopsided pancake. “No!” I took random aim but thought better of shooting. I rammed the safety latch back into place and swore as I kicked a part of the Harpy I knew wouldn’t break, then I bowed my forehead in one hand and sulked.

“Lo siento, Captain,” Sauna said.

“Where did you all go?” I said angrily.

“Lunch,” Rammus said.

I heaved a sigh and gave the Harpy a feeble kick, then shook my head.

Jessie exclaimed, “Whoa!”

I lowered my hand. Jessie was staring down the side of the boat, her mouth agape. O’Toole was gibbering away, and trying to wrestle free. My crew lined up along the railing, even Mido and Scully with the Irishman, and all of them exclaimed similar awe. I hopped onto the deck and pulled up next to Cancer. I joined them in their concerted gaping.

The whale flounder was brushing up against my boat.

I glanced at the Harpy, then at the fish. I could get it from this awkward angle but… for some reason it felt wrong to kill it while it was investigating my ship and crew. Wait. I looked at Jessie, who was completely mystified. Could she?

I wandered up to her side and glanced over her shoulder. The whale flounder had leathery skin like a shark, a specking of darker grey spots patterned like a giraffe’s markings, and one black eye the size of a tire, complete with thick eyelids. The eye sat right in front of Jessie. That was a interesting coincidence. “Jessie.”

“What?” she said in a subdued voice.

“Do me a favor and walk along the railing and see if it follows you.”

One hand on the railing, she slowly walked along the deck while keeping her gaze on the fish. It’s massive eye rotated to follow her, and then it paddled its sting ray-like fins and began keeping pace with her, its flapping gently rippling along its sides. I watched the spectacle for a moment, then let out a thoughtful “huh.” She stopped walking.

I stuck my hands in my coat, then removed them. Forgot I was sopping wet for a moment there. “This is an interesting development.” My crew was staring open-mouthed. Between me and the quasis, that was hard to accomplish. “So Jessie, how long have you shared this affinity with sea creatures?”

“My whole life. I’ve never really known what to make of it, until you told me about my avatar status. Fish have always acted like this to everyone if I was around. My friends used to drag me to the beach so we could play with the fish. They wouldn’t show up unless I was there.”

“So why did you tell me you didn’t have any magical powers?”

Jessie looked at the deck. “Probably for similar reasons you don’t readily tell people about your curse. I tried telling Tethys about it in hopes he’d stop… stop raping me. Instead, he used me to make more money at fish markets as well.”

“Ah.”

“Are they clues as to how to lift your curse?”

“I wish. It’s just her mark on you.” I glanced at the whale flounder. So much money swimming right there, but… “So, uh, not to be insensitive, but would you have any reservations about us making a paycheck and a lot of meals out of this one?” I pointed to the fish with a thumb.

Her face screwed up in horror. “Don’t! She’s pregnant.”

I blinked. “Well then. Never mind.”

“So,” Ted said casually to Jessie, “fish converge every time you go in or near water?”

“Yeah.”

The two techies grinned. Ed said, “Let’s throw you in the water and hope you attract a non-pregnant one.”

She gave him a flat glare. “Not a chance.”

Jessie practiced as much as she could over the next two days, pushing herself to become faster and deadlier. She easily developed the habit of pressing with multiple attacks. Not broadcasting them? Not so much; it was harder. Sam tried teaching her to just keep her eyes on her opponent’s eyes the whole time. It worked great for defensive moves, but offensively all her attacks started drifting to the face. She inadvertently split Sam’s lip when he took a turn being her sparring partner. No one got angry; not even him, but he suggested not keeping her eyes locked in place when going on the offensive. He told her to try pulling her vision back enough so she could take in her opponent’s entire body. It started working but she needed a lot of practice.