Ted entered the lab and froze. Jim was lying naked on the floor, facedown, moving ever so slightly. Jim’s tongue lapped at the floor, making slurping noises. There was a trail of slime that led back to the cot in the rear corner of the room. Ted’s face showed his repulsion.
“Jim?” he asked quietly.
Another long, gurgly slurp noise.
“Jim?”
Jim moved again, ever so slightly, licking the lab floor.
“Jesus Christ. Like a fucking sea slug.” Ted worked his way into the room, giving Jim a wide berth. He put on a hazmat suit, mask with full plastic face guard, and heavy-duty gloves. He wasn’t taking any chances. He started walking to Jim, then stopped and ran back to the supply closet in the lab, where he pulled out the metal leaders used for fishing. He made noose ends on two heavy lines and quietly crept up behind Jim. The commander was too busy licking the floor to notice Ted’s approach.
Ted dropped his knee into the center of Jim’s back and grabbed his right wrist, pulling the wire leader over it and yanking his arm up behind his back. He grabbed Jim’s left hand, stopping only for a split second when he saw the pinky partially regrown. He noosed Jim’s other wrist and pulled it behind his back as well, then wrapped the wires around tightly to bind his hands behind his back.
Jim made a low groaning noise like Ian and retracted his tongue. He turned his head toward Ted and spat a huge wad of slime at him. Most of it missed, and Ted wiped off his glove on Jim’s back. He leaned over and wrapped Jim’s ankles with the excess wire from his wrists and stood up. He looked down at the hog-tied creature that used to be his commander. It was surreal. Ted ran back, almost slipping and falling on the slick slime, and grabbed the gurney. He dropped it to its lowest setting, then wrestled Jim’s heavy body onto it. He strapped him, facedown, to avoid his slimy mess.
Ted threw a sheet over Jim’s naked body and thought hard about his next course of action. There was no way he could leave Jim in the lab anymore. Not with the sentimental crew members protesting his every move. He decided to move Jim to one of the biofuel tanks next to Ian.
Ted walked the ship quietly to make sure no one was awake, then returned to the lab, wheeled Jim to the elevator, and sent him up. He ran the steps and moved Jim down the hall to the power plant. When he opened the door to the biofuel room, Ian perked up and stared from inside the tube. Jim moved slightly against his wire snare.
Ted moved the stepladder and spent a few minutes cutting off the inflow pipe to the next cylinder, allowing the water to drain from the algae growing tank. When it was down about a third of the way, he cut the valve for the exit line. The cylinder was now off-line, like Ian’s. He removed the top of the cylinder and went through the same process he had done with Ian, looping cables and hoses over some pipes to hoist Jim’s body high enough to drop him into the huge glass pipe.
Jim’s evolution was further along than Ian’s had been when Ted put him in the tank, and Jim was “awake.” His arms moved around slowly, like he was searching for something to grab ahold of. His soulless black eyes seemed to scan the room as he hung from the pipe, slowly spinning above the floor.
Ted worked him over the tank until his feet were inside the cylinder. He removed the wires and dropped him slowly into the water. As soon as he was in, Ted freed him from the hoses and sealed the top of the cylinder. Within a few seconds, Jim began going through wild spasms underwater. He was banging around uncontrollably inside the cylinder, and his eyes were wide with panic. He was drowning.
Ted watched in shock. It never occurred to him that Jim wouldn’t be able to breathe under water like Ian. Jim’s mouth opened and a huge volume of air bubbled out. His body went still, and he began floating midwater. Ted realized that Ian was pressed against the glass of his own tank, watching Jim. Ian began making those god-awful moaning sounds again, similar to the whales.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Ian! Shut up!”
Ian bellowed nonstop, his long calls reverberating throughout the ship. Ted could feel himself beginning to sweat from nerves. Jim’s body twitched a few times and his tongue extended far outside his face. His black eyes seemed to refocus. Slowly, ever so slowly, Jim began to move in his tank.
Ian bellowed louder.
Jim bellowed back.
Ted was horrified.
**********
Tony and Jess had fallen back to sleep in a warm curled-up pile. He sat up in bed and woke Jess.
“Jeez, it sounds like they’re in the damn ship,” he said, still very groggy.
“Yeah. It’s so loud. I can almost feel the vibration.”
“Want to go up to the bridge and see?”
“No!” she said, smacking his shoulder. “I want to sleep! Now be quiet and come over here.”
Tony lay back down and Jess pulled him close. She was sleeping again in minutes. Tony lay there in the dark, listening to the loud whale songs, wondering why they sounded so strange.
**********
“Mike, wake up,” said Theresa as she nudged his shoulder.
He opened his eyes and had to remember where he was for a second. “Oh. Hey. I fell asleep. Sorry.”
“I asked you to stay, remember?”
“Oh. Yeah. Damn—what time is it? What the hell was that?”
“I don’t know. That’s why I woke you up. I have no idea. I can’t believe you slept through that.”
“Sorry.” Mike sat up and wiped his eyes, then flicked on the bedside lamp, squinting as he listened. “I think the whales are making coffee in the galley.”
“Yeah, it sounds so close.”
“It’s not even five.”
“Are you gonna sleep now?”
“Probably not. You wanna grab coffee and go to the bridge to watch the whales?”
“Might as well,” she said, wiping her own tired eyes. “We aren’t gonna get any more sleep now, that’s for sure.”
“All right. I’ll hit the head and wash up, get changed, and meet you in the galley in ten . . .”