Stealth Journeys with the Steam Mapper

Chapter 68: Somethings A' Miss Under the Sea

Stef was curious about MYKA's invitation to a closed-door meeting, and wondering what to share about the confrontation with the Koreans.

Just then, MYKA came in with a grin.  "Well the meeting was initiated by Dr. MAHA who was concerned about the lack of sea life in the area during the submersible dives.  When she opened the zippered case with her notebooks, she discovered a couple of old Samsung smartphones packed inside.   Guess who owns those?"

"I know the answer to this one!  Those two crazy Koreans were threatening me.  They were sure I took them.   Did you find out why they were so worked up over a couple of old smartphones? The moment I saw those old Galaxy S7s I recalled the North Korean Olympic Rio 2016 incident and it confirmed my thoughts about those two.   I suspected they were from North Korea.  They have been so secretive this whole voyage.    I wonder what was so important about their devices. Any clue?   What did they say when you confronted them?   I am so angry that they would accuse me of me of taking their stupid antiquated devices.   I thought they were going to physically attack me.   I wish I knew who had the gumption to spy on them and sneak those devices away. Did they get them back?"

MYKA stared.   "I'm sorry to hear that they attacked you.    Even verbally.   Are you alright?   You look pretty shaken up.    Let's go tell the Chief Scientist and captain about what happened.   And no, they did not get them back and they are very angry about it."

Stef's eyes welled up.    "Thank you for taking my side.   I wonder who planted those on Dr. MAHA.   Was she embarrassed to find them in her bag?"

"No.   No one doubted her amazement on finding them.   And, she has offered to help the Chief Scientist.   The written Japanese languages are so like Korean that she can translate the text messages.  I only got a glance at the devices but I overheard concerns that they are much more sophisticated than they appear."

"Thank you for offering to go with me to discuss the rude threats from those North Koreans, but I think I'll wait.   I'm still so worked up over this.    Oh, and by the way, how was your dive with Dr. MAHA?

"Well in answer to your questions about the North Koreans.   Apparently, the scientist's code name is "DRNO" for Democratic Republic of North Korea's Oceanographer.   That suggests he has a sense of humor.    But it doesn't strike me as part of his personality.   He is very tense about something.    They are still saying that someone else was responsible for them ending up in Dr. Hayashi's bag.   They also wanted to know if anyone had handled them before turning them in to the Chief Scientist.   Dr. Hayashi made it clear that the discovery of them in her bag had just happened, in front of everyone present for the meeting, and only because she had seen the two using them while on deck the previous day, did she know immediately who the owners were. They backed down about pressing charges, when the chief scientist announced that their devices would be locked up during an investigation."

"Now, about Dr. MAHA.   She was acting strange during the dive yesterday.   She kept mumbling about the lack of species near the vents, but didn't elaborate.   At the meeting just now, she brought up a theory about the missing fish, especially sharks.    She believes a really large predator is either chasing them away or gobbling them up."

"While on yesterday's dive, she insisted on hogging the porthole", grumbled MYKA.    "She's the expert and proved it by finding the vents before noon.   She was nervous the whole time she watched, as though she might see something scary.   I asked her why she was so jumpy, given that we had a titanium sphere to protect us.    She just gave a nervous, high-pitched laugh.   She said to me, 'I've had some very interesting dives in recent years. . . I have experienced a close call.'   I saw the fear in her eyes and decided not to press her for information while we were having our dive."    It was StLF's turn to share.

"VLAD was also uneasy about something.    No sense of humor and when I made some remarks about his beloved research center, he took offense.   He also asked me a very weird question, when I tried to make a joke about sea monsters.   He asked me what I knew about Kraken 3rd Millennium.   I told him I had only heard crazy tabloid stories based on the strange Google Earth photos from years back.    I really don't know what he was talking about.    MYKA, have you heard of scientific reports about anything called Kraken 3rd Millennium?"

"I thought that was just as  ridiculous as the Mire Squid in the movie Kong:  Skull Island.  Some wild creature ninety to one hundred ten feet in length that's a hybrid between squid and octopus, supposedly created through geothermal forces causing some type of gigantism."