The crew ate a quiet dinner together, but the tension was palpable. Jim was still in a dark mood and Tony wasn’t his usual joking self. Tony’s foul mood rubbed off on Jess, who was trying to quietly monitor Jim’s behavior after seeing his blood levels showing the increase in nitrogen. Mike and Theresa sat together and made quiet small talk while Ted read a science journal as he ate. Ian’s empty chair sat at the table, only adding to the tension in the room.
Tony finished first and excused himself, clearing his plate and leaving. That was apparently the signal to leave, and everyone else started finishing up and clearing as well. Only Ted stayed, continuing to read his journal on cell mutation. He sat and read alone in the galley for two hours and then took a quiet walk through the ship. The rest of the crew had returned to their sleeping quarters to read, write, and relax—or, in the case of Jess and Tony, to have a late-night rendezvous.
Satisfied that his shipmates were settled in for the night, Ted returned to the power plant room amidships. He walked quietly to the back of the room, past the now empty fish tank. He cursed himself for being so careless the night before, but the truth was, it had been exhausting and somewhat dangerous work.
Ted thought about what had transpired the previous night.
Fishing Ian out of the tube worms on the smoker was difficult enough, and it took over an hour to hook the tarp and sheets that were wrapped around his legs. Once he had managed to pull Ian’s body into the ACD, he transferred him to a specimen tank, using the same methods they had done for the other sea creatures. Ian barely fit into the tank, and Ted was actually thankful it was too cramped for Ian to move. If Ian had started waving his arms at him or something, Ted might not have been able to control his nerves.
Ted released the decompression valve and watched as Ian’s body jerked and shimmied in the tank as air hissed out. Whatever airspaces had been in his body were already full of seawater or bacteria, so the decompression wouldn’t affect Ian like a normal scuba diver. Working quickly, Ted opened the top of the tank and, wearing heavy rubber gloves, he cut away the black plastic tarps and scraps of sheets until Ian’s gray body was naked in the tank. In fact, with the exception of his grotesquely swollen purple tongue, his entire body had changed to a slightly purplish gray. Ian’s eyes were open, but his eyeballs now appeared black. They seemed to move and try to focus on Ted, but Ted couldn’t bear to look and rolled Ian’s body in the tank to avoid his gaze.
Once Ian’s body was free from debris, Ted closed the tank and quickly pushed the heavy cart to the lift. He closed the lift and sent it up by itself, running the stairs as quickly and quietly as he could since he couldn’t fit in the small elevator with such a large tank. The tank sat waiting for him on Deck Three, with Ian bobbing in the warm seawater. Ted pulled and pushed the tank down to the power plant and worked his way to the heavy doors marked “Technician Access Only.” Unlike the rest of the crew, Ted was very familiar with the workings of the algae fuel systems. Fifty large glass tubes, each standing almost nine feet tall and seven feet around, were filled with green seawater. Strong overhead LED lights controlled by a computer synthesized daylight and promoted the growth of the algae in the tanks. When the algae concentrations were high enough, half of the tank would empty into the main algae “cooker” while the tank would refill with fresh seawater, preseeded with the remaining algae to start the next batch.
Ted pushed the cart inside the room and closed and locked the door behind him. Once secured inside, he disconnected the top of one of the large glass tubes and opened it. It was now basically a large, vertical, water-filled observation tank for his new specimen—the hard part would be getting Ian inside. Ted looked around the room and tried to think fast. He settled on some heavy-duty hoses, which he slung over some metal pipes. He tied the hoses around Ian’s body, under his arms, and then used his own body weight to hoist Ian up out of the tank. For a brief moment, Ian’s naked body hung from the pipe, slowly spinning as water cascaded down to the deck. Ian’s head fell back and his enormous purple tongue swelled out even further. A gurgling noise came out his mouth but quickly stopped as his throat closed. Ted could feel the urge to vomit but fought it off.
Using every ounce of his strength, Ted maneuvered Ian’s body to the top of the tall cylinder and then pushed and stuffed his slippery gray legs into the warm green seawater. He lowered Ian slowly into the tube and then untied the hoses and pulled them out. As he stepped back, Ian’s body displaced the green seawater, which cascaded down the sides of the tube. Ian pressed his hands against the inside of the glass and appeared to stare right through Ted. He floated in the center of the glass tube, an eerie green glow around his grayish purple body and bright purplish-red tongue. His feet hung a few feet above the bottom of the tank, weightless, his hair floating out above his head like a brown halo.
“My God” was all Ted could manage to say. He looked in horror as Ian’s silent lips repeated what he had said the first time they saw him: “Help me . . .”
Ted stumbled back and crashed into the specimen tank, crying out in revulsion. He took a few deep breaths and gathered himself, then decided he should put some food into the tank in case Ian needed to eat something. Ted rushed outside to the specimen tank, threw the lid open, and found one hagfish eating the other. As he tried to pull them out, they coiled and squirmed and ended up on the floor as Ted splashed water everywhere. By then he was almost hysterical, and he ran out of the main room back to the algae biofuel room. He looked at Ian, then quickly looked away. Ted scrambled around the side of the tank and maneuvered the top back over the cylinder. He kept the valve turned off to prevent water from going in or out, but at least Ian was tightly secured in the tank.
Once Ian was locked safely in the algae cylinder, Ted pushed the tank back out and down the hall to be returned to the lab. It was a long night trying to cover his tracks. The only screwup had been the hagfish, but Theresa and Mike had been blamed for that so he was still in the clear. He had almost gotten busted by Tony after he showered off, but luckily Tony hadn’t asked any questions.
It had been dangerous, but it had been a success. Ian MacMullen, or at least, what had been Ian MacMullen, was now safely floating in a warm tank of seawater. Ted was anxious to see what he looked like up close, now that he was more prepared for what he would be examining. It had been unnerving last night, and he had almost panicked like some college research student. Tonight, he would be the brilliant veteran scientist again.
Tonight would begin his journey of discovery.