Tabloids picked up conspiracy theories, including eyewitness accounts of a second North Korean hover craft catamaran approaching from the other side of the ship. While all eyes were on the spectacle of Kraken warfare, this vessel supposedly swept through and picked up a man who resembled the Supreme Leader. What became of the man and his rescuers remained a mystery. Perhaps he would rise to power again. Perhaps he was most content to live an anonymous life and grateful to be alive to enjoy it.
The research vessel did sustain damage to the hull and to some of the sensors on board. The crews' anxiety at being on the open ocean and facing the unknown possibilities of another Kraken lurking in the waters was too much. They were grateful to be accompanied by a U.S. destroyer as they turned back for Sydney Harbor.
The research vessel might not be completing the intended voyage to Easter Island and Samoa or to the French Polynesian science island prototypes, but no one was complaining. Well, MYKA and StLF were hoping to journey on . . . however, it is good to survive to journey again, another day.
MYKA had been wondering if vacationers to Easter Island surprised the natives with their elaborate colorful tattoos and stretched earlobes. StLF had really looked forward to visiting Robert Louis Stevenson's home in Samoa, wearing the traditional native dress and playing R.L.'s flageolet while marching up the mountain to his grave, and having MYKA follow, shouting "YO HO HO AND A BOTTLE OF RUM!"
The two told everyone they met that more adventures would be coming, but nothing could meet the terror of coming face-to-face with "The Kraken", or three "Krakens", or maybe more, and maybe they would have other mutations and powers unheard of ever before. . .
On the journey to Sydney, a scientist mentioned that perhaps the Kraken's growth had begun long before. "Whistle blowers are saying that ocean floor fissures in the Aleutians may have leaked radioactive material from the U. S. government's nuclear testing many decades ago. That could have happened many years back. The tremendous growth of those giant squid would have involved many generations and taken decades of gradual change of DNA."
"The Pacific Ring has had many quakes and not all have been reported. It is likely that Alaska had many long before that last calamitously destructive one occurred along the San Andreas fault line. You know the one predicted by seismologists and included in the book written by Simon Winchester in his book, 'A Crack at the Edge of the World', written way back in 2005. It was bound to happen sooner or later. The big quakes in Southern California on the smaller fault line should have reminded everyone of what lay ahead. It was no surprise, but you've got to wonder why housing in the San Francisco and Oakland areas was the most expensive in the country just before the quake. I wonder who was really 'at fault' for creating this menace and how many more menaces are waiting out there to be discovered."
YOU ARE READING
Stealth Journeys with the Steam Mapper
AdventureA 2019 Wattys entry deeply into climate change, global warming, and environmental destruction, especially the nuclear kind! A lot of true facts are embedded in this story which has both true and fictional characters. Who is to be believed is for y...
