Megalodon by Rookie Burwick (best ereader for pc TXT) 📕

"Well, yes. That's what it boils down to."

"This isn't science or even mechanics. This is just nut-talk, Ian. Don't listen to those people that say there's energy in all these places. Don't."

Ian took a deep breath, and let it out in a sigh. "Marlin, perhaps you need to see something."

"See something? Now what?"

"You won't believe me if I told you. You have to see it first."

The door that was sealed to the handle with security was where Ian lead Marlin next. The old man, now assumed crazy in Marlin's mind, slid his ID card through the slot, and the door opened.

"This is the only way to get in. This card," he said as he lead Marlin into a dark room.

"What's going on? Where's the lights?"

"Wait a moment."

Seconds later, he heard a click, and lights began switching on. He looked around and saw nothing. But not all the lights appeared to be on.

"Keep your eye on that dark area over there," Ian said.

He followed Ian's directions, and waited. Finally, lights lit up the darkened area, and he saw a gigantic tank. He took a few steps closer to it, and tried to see what was inside besides water. But all he saw was the water. Nothing else.

"An over-sized, empty fish tank?" he asked.

"Just wait."

He waited a few more seconds before his eyes caught sight of it. The tail attached to the end of its body propelled it through the water at a quick speed, and the massive jaws on the other end of its body held rows of razor shark-and oddly large-teeth. It was a shark. But, just like it's tail and jaws, it's body was bigger than any great white he'd ever seen.

"What is this?" he asked, half stuttering.

"This, Marlin, is a real, living Megalodon shark."

"Really? This is a Megalodon?"

"Yep. It sure is, my friend. Isn't she amazing? A few researchers and I captured her off the coast of Africa three months ago. I couldn't believe it when we reeled her in! She's fifty feet long, Marlin. That's almost thirty feet larger than the record for a great white."

"Wow," is all he could say.

The massive shark circled around numerous times in the tank, each time peering over at them as it passed. It's tail left a ray of bubbles behind it as it swayed from side to side, allowing the gigantic sea monster to move through the water. He couldn't help but gulp as it came around again, eyeing him with a look that, even though he couldn't read it, he didn't like.

"What do you feed this thing? A deer?"

"Nope. We've been feeding it special probiotics and other gut-friendly bacteria in hopes of getting her to an even bigger size."

"Does the captain know about this?"

"Of course he does. You don't think I’d sneak a killer shark aboard a Naval ship without permission do you?"

"Well, you never know. Say, that tooth that you've got in there, it doesn't belong to this creature, does it?"

"No, it doesn't. I got that off an abandoned fishing trawler that had been bitten into just about two and half miles from here."

"So, there's more than one Megalodon?"

"Well, this was a few years back."

"But that's a big tooth, Ian. That could belong to one heck of a monster."

"Don't get excited now. You look worried."

"I am worried. This thing is a shark, Ian. And a fifty foot long one taboot."

He looked back up at the fearsome creature, and watched it some more. It was just so frightening to think, but this thing could almost swallow him whole. One bite from that thing's mouth was all it would take to die. He shivered at the thought.

"Why did you bring this thing on board?"

"To extract it's cartilage."

"Don't tell me. . ."

"Yes, we're using it's cartilage to try and add to the weapons' power. It's a risky take, but we're trying it anyway."

"But, how is that possible? Doesn't cartilage decompose rapidly once drained of life and blood cells?"

"We've also found a way to preserve it in its natural state."

"How, a freezer?"

"Nope. Surprisingly, we have brought DNA into the picture. If we can preserve the shark's DNA inside it's cartilage, it'll stay firm and fresh."

"How do you preserve the DNA?"

"Since we can't really see it, we use special computers to extract it, then we develop it into a liquid, and store both the liquid and the cartilage inside small jars."

"Hmm, sounds simple enough. but, what if this stops working?"

"We'll find a way to get around that."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, of course we will. We're scientists."

"Oh please."

They both paused.

"Look, I've got a dinner with the captain, and I need to get going. Thanks for the tour, see you tomorrow."

"All right, my friend. Tomorrow it is."

"And, if you don't mind, I need your card to get out of here."

Ian quickly handed over the card without a word, and watched his friend rush out the door.

                                          *  *  *

Marlin hurried down the corridor, taking turn after turn until he finally reached his room. Stepping inside, he locked the door behind him, and then went right to changing. The captain hadn't invited him to dinner, but he needed some way to think over Ian's actions, and make sure they were even sane. And, he had planned to join the captain anyways.

As soon as he was done, he scampered back over the door, and opened it. He looked around before stepping back out into the hall, then shut the door and rounded the corner in hopes of finding the map he'd seen hours earlier. He rounded another corner and began walking down yet another long hallway, searching his mind for the vision of the ship's map. At last, after rounding another corner, he found the large map. He scanned through the map, and soon found the dining hall, just a couple turns away.

He hurried around the corner and started towards the hall. He didn't know what Ian was up to, but he did know that he had just seen an awfully big shark.

 The dinner hall was packed full. Trainees, commanding officers, and people from the control room filled the entire area, seated on the long benches, and chowing down on the day's dinner. 

Marlin pushed through the door a few minutes after having found the map, and immediately started looking for captain Dob. He imagined the captain would be having dinner around now, but he didn't know. The guy must have had a busy schedule. The room was a nice one. It wasn't like a restaurant, but it still provided a nice place to take a break. On the farthest wall, there was a doorway that lead outside and onto a small station, and along the same wall was the buffet where you got food. He scurried up to the front and signaled for the waiter standing behind it to begin.

The man was standing with his back turned to Marlin, and turned to him seconds later after the whistle. The man was blonde-haired, stern-face, and beef-built. He looked like a cross between John Wayne and Lou Ferrigo, just with blond hair that covered his thick head.

"Ah, Dr. Jacobs," the man said.

"Yes, how did you know?" Marlin asked.

"Oh come on, doc. Everyone on this entire ship knows you’re on board," the man shifted uncomfortably around the dirty, tiled floor.

"The captain must have spread the word quite a bit."

"Yeah, he did. All I know is that you're working on some pretty secret stuff."

"I sure am. Enough chit-chat. Get me some food."

The man served him up with the same food he had everyone else in the room before sending him off to a near-by table. It sat in the far back of the room and was empty. He sat down and set his plate on the table in front of him, whispered a quick prayer of thanks, then started eating. The dish served was a type of chicken dish, and came with a side of mash potatoes, macaroni salad and green beans. He started by digging into the chicken first. It had a very moist texture, and he had never enjoyed that. He didn't mean to complain, but that's the way it was. As he took another bite, he glanced around the room, still looking for the captain. He wondered if the guy even ate dinner. It was already after six and the captain certainly hadn't eaten for hours now. But, at last, he caught sight of the captain, entering the room. Most everyone around him stopped talking, and nodded a friendly "hello" to the man as he passed.

He stood up and waved the captain down, but it wasn't easy getting his attention. But, nevertheless, he got the captain's attention and, after watching him get his own plate of food, gestured for him to sit down across the table form him.

"Evening, captain," he said.

"Same to you, Dr. Jacobs," Dob replied.

"Man, you sure don't eat very much," they both smiled.

"Well, running this ship keeps me on my toes."

"Oh come on Capt., you've got to eat more often."

"How goes the project?"

"Oh okay, I guess. We haven't really started yet. We're going to do that tomorrow. Ian just showed me around a little, and explained the deeper parts of the whole deal."

"Well, good. I hope you can get a lot done tomorrow."

"Same here. My schedule is now broken thanks to this."

The smile vanished from Dob's face.

"Oh, sorry about that. How serious of work did you have scheduled?"

"Nothing very important. Just some budget meetings, you know. Stuff that tech people do."

"Ah, I see. Enjoying the food?"

"Yeah, it's pretty good. Could be worse."

"Exactly. I hear the military just feeds ya beans and sometimes maybe some eggs."

"Wow, that is bad."

"No kidding."

"So, how long have you been in the Navy?"

"Well, I joined almost thirty-six years ago now, and all of those years have been great ones."

"What do you do around here that keeps you so busy?"

"Oh, today it was mainly the computer trouble. Our main computer suddenly went black, and we’ve been trying to get it back online pretty much all day."

"Did you fix it?"

"Yeah, we did finally."

"Oh, by the way. . ." He paused for a moment and chewed. "Changing the subject, captain, I would like to know what the deal is with the weapons. Ian says they're gonna be made from shark teeth. You say they'll be made from steel. What the heck is going on?"

The whole time, Dob had his finger up to his lips, shushing Marlin. "Look, Dr. Jacobs. .