Michael Bray - Feed

‘Look, I’ll be straight with you, I’m not sold on your shark story. I don’t doubt you were attacked, the evidence of that is plain to see. My doubt is your account of the size of the shark. You know, from so low in the water when you were cold and scared, it would be easy for the brain to scale this creature up to something monstrous. I didn’t read up on the Megalodon because I don’t believe it’s down there. Sharks roam, I know that much. It’s unlikely they would stick around in one place for years to protect some gold that they won’t have any awareness of. Now if we can get down there, get the gold you say is on the sea floor and get back to shore without any more shark talk, I’d appreciate it.’

Nash stared at him with his one good eye as if seeing Tyler for the first time. ‘Alright, if that’s the way you want it, that’s how it will be. I won’t mention it again. You’re the one who will be down there, not me.’

‘Exactly. Your son will be, too. I don’t think he’d appreciate hearing this either.’

‘You say it like I hope that thing is down there.’

‘That’s how it sounds,’ Tyler said, curious to see where the conversation went. ‘Seems to me it’s important for you to prove us wrong. Even more than the finding the gold.’

‘That’s not the case. I know what I saw. You think you’re the first to say it was because I was scared or because how close I was to it?’ Nash grimaced. ‘No, I know what I saw. And I’m no fool. I know about these creatures. I’ve read about them, obsessed over them for the last thirty years. I’m not so stupid to think they are guarding their gold. What I do think this Megalodon is guarding is its territory. These creatures were very territorial animals. The area we’re going to is shallow, but it sits on the edge of a deep water chasm frequented by whale pods. I suspect those whales form the basis of the diet for the Megalodon. Why should it leave the area? Its food regularly comes directly to it. It’s a perfect setup.’

‘Wait, I know a bit about whales. They are buoyant. Wouldn’t the remains float to the surface and wash up somewhere? Surely, if someone found a whale carcass that one of these mega sharks have taken a bite out of, then someone would have found one by now.’

Nash chuckled and altered the boat’s course slightly.

‘What’s so funny?’ Tyler asked.

‘How little you know about these things. You ask why the remains wouldn’t show up. Let me answer that for you. When these things have finished feeding, there are no remains left to surface. Nothing goes to waste.’ Nash walked across the wheelhouse to a cupboard. He opened it and took out some books, handing them to Tyler. ‘We’ve got a ways to go yet. It might be worth doing a little reading just so you at least know what to do if this isn’t a figment of my imagination.’

Tyler leafed through the books. They were well-thumbed volumes about prehistoric predators, shark behaviour, and the Megalodon. Tyler considered another sarcastic remark then decided to keep it to himself. He didn’t want to be thrown overboard. Instead, he tucked the books under his arm. ‘Fine, I’ll take a look. If nothing else, I might learn a few things.’

‘You do that.’

Tyler went to leave, then stopped and turned back to Nash. ‘Just one thing. When we get there, to this Devil’s Triangle, what if someone disturbs us there. A passing vessel or the Coast Guard or something. What do we say?’

‘No danger of that. No shipping lanes go where we’re going. It’s essentially out in the middle of nowhere.’ Nash took a dog-eared map and rolled it out on the console. On the map was a crudely drawn triangle in an area of open ocean. ‘This is where we’re heading,’ Nash said. ‘The shipping lanes as you can see are nowhere even close. They used to run through here up until the seventies. All the shipping lanes now run further north. We’ll be undisturbed.’

‘What about those?’ Tyler said, pointing to the two small islands to within the triangle.

‘Uninhabited. Mostly rock outcrops with a little vegetation. Waters there are shallow. Thousands of years ago, those two little islands were part of one large landmass. Now those two little islands are all that remains of it. The rest is underwater.’

‘If it’s shallow, maybe that’s why all these boats are sinking.’

Nash shook his head. ‘No. It’s only shallow in that small area around the islands. The rest of the surrounding ocean is as you expect. It’s deep. This isn’t a case of ships running aground. This is something else.’

‘Alright, you clearly know more about this than me. I just wanted to make sure we didn’t get into any trouble.’

‘Unless you think seagulls will call the Coast Guard, we’re safe,’ Nash replied.

Tyler stared at the map, frown etched on his brow. He could feel Nash staring at him.

‘What are you thinking?’ Nash asked.

‘Just that with this being so remote, if anything goes wrong, we’ll be far from help.’

Nash nodded. ‘Which is why I’ve taken all the necessary precautions. Here, let me show you.’

Nash rolled up the map and put it beside the console then turned back to the monitors that had been installed. ‘Alright, here’s how this will work. You see the monitors here?’ Nash pointed to the blue standby screens.

‘Yeah.’

‘Well, each screen is linked to one of the manta drones we brought on board.’

‘You just told me that. They are going down first, right?’

Nash nodded. ‘That’s not all. Once we’ve located what we are looking for, the manta drones will be positioned in a circular formation around you and Liam. As you load up the gold, I’ll monitor the live feeds from the drone cameras. The feed is super high resolution and also has night vision and thermal imaging. I’ll be monitoring those from the surface and keeping in constant contact with you from the surface. I know you don’t believe it, but I do, and I want to be sure the both of you are safe.’

‘You can pilot all those drones by yourself?’

‘They are designed to have adjustable buoyancy, so essentially, once they are in position, I can adjust the levels and the mantas will just sit there until I move them. They will need small tweaks to account for currents, but I can handle it. Think of it like spinning plates. As long as I keep moving from one to the other to adjust them, it will be fine.’

‘Let’s hope the units work as they should.’

Nash snorted. ‘Don’t let the fact that my hand is the way it is fool you. I was a good engineer before this happened to me and I still do alright now. I’ve personally set up each manta ahead of the dive. They will work.’

‘And what about the gold? How will we find that? Looking at the map you just showed me, this Devil’s Triangle is huge.’

‘We’re heading back to the location where we found the flotation balloons and the gold bar. Seems like a good place to me. There was still a fair bit of surface debris, too, so it stands to reason that the gold was found in the general vicinity.’

‘And how will we get the gold to the surface if we find any?’

‘Seems to me the flotation balloon idea is a good one. We’ve brought some with us. Any more questions?’

Tyler could see he was getting on Nash’s nerves, and decided it would be best to leave him alone. ‘No, that’s all, thanks. I’m going to head below and look at these books.’

‘Study them, Tyler. They could save your life.’

Tyler left the wheelhouse, books in hand. The closer they got to their destination, the more he wanted to know about Nash’s shark theory. Just to be safe.

The Devil’s Triangle. 100 miles off the coast of Australia.