CHAPTER FOUR
The civic technician waded away from the stone jetty on Alcatraz and began to dive. Wearing a flat oxygen pack and infra-red goggles he could stomach the cold waters of the Bay quite well. Pushing deep beneath the waters he turned back towards Alcatraz and a glowing light. The strong current pushed and pulled at him but he was able to keep going. Technicians who dealt with equipment in the Bay had to be highly proficient divers. This technician had come from Mars, where had grown up diving in the caves there. Attracted by Earth’s history he came and found himself another victim of the city here. Getting closer to the glowing light he attached a cable from his belt to the wall next to the light. This was a sensor that monitored shipping and environmental changes around Alcatraz. Alcatraz had been famed before the prison as a barren, rocky island and dubbed Pelican Isle by the Spanish.
The diver hummed to himself, feeling the currents nudge him and sweep over his legs. The light switched off as he opened the casing and began applying his pencil-shaped tools to the fixture. Next up would be sensors up by the Bay Bridge and that would be fun. Shipping, even in 2259, was still popular through that waterway into Oakland and Alameda.
As he turned the light back on and covered the casing he felt a particularly hard tug at his back. He glanced over his shoulder seeing only blackness. Turning back to his sensor he felt the water move around hard again and this time when he turned he swore he saw a large shadow. He began to push away with firm kicks of his flippers. He reached for his wrist light, turning it up to full. Algae swept past, a very small fish and beyond that darkness. Cursing he began to head for the surface when he was hit from below. The diver panicked as he felt something drag him down into the depths. Bubbles lit around him as he did so and he fought to retain his composure. He was abruptly released and surged upwards on a cloud of oxygen. The diver reached yet felt nothing through his gloves. He seemed to be okay. If he glanced he might have seen trailing behind him a thin line of blood. Either way it would not last long. As he passed fifty metres he saw a shadow slip ahead of him into his line of light. It descended towards him with a flick of its tail. The diver recognised it.
Goddamn, that’s a Great…
…he thought no more as the shark swept its large mouth over him and bit down.
Hard.
**
Gary Mitchell was at the Aquatic Park with Lenore when she got a message on her communicator.
“They want me at Alcatraz, god knows why.”
“Something to do with that fine you never paid?” he grinned.
“Maybe, let’s go.”
“Why me? Oh right, beefy security?”
“I wouldn’t know about beefy.”
They went down to the jetty tucked in behind a nineteenth century schooner and jumped into a Rigid Inflatable Boat. With Lenore at the rear they took off into the Bay. Zipping across the grey waters they chatted to each other. Since first meeting the two had become closer. In part this led to Mitchell ending it with Tonia Barrows but then he did not think that it would work with his current mindset. In the past year his depression had returned. He also felt that a Starfleet career woman like Tonia needed someone better. Lenore with her flaming red hair and passion for all things nautical seemed just what he needed in his life.
Alcatraz appeared dead and centre. There was a small boat moored just away from the stone jetty with SAN FRANCISCO HARBOR PATROL on the side.
“I don’t like the look of that,” shouted Mitchell.
“Me neither.”
She slowed the RIB down and coasted past the harbour boat to the stone jetty. There they were met by a man in the uniform of the California Park Agency. “Lenore, thank God and…you’re that lifeguard, Mitchell right?”
“Gary,” said Mitchell, holding a hand out. The hand was firmly shaken.
“Peter Hardcastle. Sorry Lenore, but you seemed the right person to call. We…we, er…”
He led them up onto the ‘land’ behind the jetty where hundreds of years ago new prisoners would stand shivering in rain or fog. Today was bright but cold. On the ground lay a shape under green tarpaulin. “We found him in the water, about an hour ago, or rather the harbour guys did. He was drifting out to sea.”
Hardcastle lifted the tarpaulin back, revealing what was left of a tall man. Much below the ribs was gone. What was left was gory to say the least. Shreds of bone and flesh. Lenore went white and put a hand to her face. Mitchell’s stomach lurched whilst his features hardened.
“Who…who was he?” Lenore asked in a whisper.
“Civic Engineer,” Hardcastle said, tipping his cap back. He looked nervous. For a man who seemed as hard as nails as he did, this struck Mitchell as weird. Hardcastle struck Mitchell as an ex-footballer or United Earth military. “He was fixing the west sensor down below. I registered him onto the island about two hours ago. When he didn’t come by I assumed someone else signed him out.”
Lenore looked up at Mitchell. “Gary, this is a shark.”
“Sheesh, keep it down.” Mitchell jumped. God, he was shaky. He remembered Barnard Clift’s words and groaned as he squatted next to her. “If this is our shark, this is the sixth victim at best now.”
“Sixth?” she echoed but shouted then louder still: “OUR. SHARK?”
He told the pair about the recent attacks, finishing with: “We’ve been lucky not to have so many…but this coming in now…”
He stood, grabbing at his communicator. Automatically he got the San Francisco Civil Communications Centre. “I need to be patched through to the Cetacean Institute at Sausalito.”
“One moment,” the almost mechanical voice of the operator said. Then he heard Carol’s voice.
“Cetacean Institute?”
“Gary here…Carol, listen up.” When he was done he waited for Carol to speak.
“Get over as soon as you can. I’ve been looking into this. Bring Lenore too and the body.”
“Seriously?”
“I need to see the teeth marks.” The line closed. Mitchell looked at Lenore.
“She needs to see the teeth marks.”
“Right, she needs to see the teeth marks.” Lenore stood. “Let’s go then.”
**
By virtue of luck, no one outside of Alcatraz and Carol Marcus knew about the latest death. Already this had become a worse incident than the one a year or so ago. Arriving at Sausalito with the remains of the diver, Gary and Lenore watched as it was placed on a stretcher and taken into the bowels of the Institute. Carol and two other women were standing waiting. The women were Doctors Mindy Rogers and Vax, of Andoria. The latter was young with short antenna that swivelled in curious directions towards the newcomers. Without preamble the two doctors began to analyse the body.
“They’re experts in this, we’re not just the preservation of life, we know our salt too,” Carol was saying. She saw the faded look on Mitchell’s face. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just getting a little tired of it all.”
“We’ll have to left Clift know soon,” Carol said with a sigh. “We close the beaches; we trawl the Bay for this thing.”
“Doctor Marcus,” Vax said loudly. She beckoned them all over. Gesturing with a pale blue hand she continued. “Wounds are consistent with a shark attack. A Great White. The bite mark is incomplete.”
“Incomplete?” asked Lenore. “How so?”
“The shark’s mouth would appear to be too big for a human to be effectively bitten.” Vax stood away from the table, lifting up her visor. “I would theorise the shark we are looking at is more than thirty feet long.”
God, thought Gary, the one last time was big and that was twenty foot.
“What happens to our diving friend?” he asked the Andorian.
“We’ll alert the morgue at City Hall.”
“Right.” Mitchell went to leave. Lenore caught up to him in the hall underneath the large Perspex Humpback whale. He looked down at her. “What?”
“Hey, mister, you okay?”
She had known Gary a year and felt by now she knew him better than most people. She was one of the few people he had talked to, really talked to, about his upbringing in Eldman. The death of his sister, then his mother. The coming out west on a ‘poor man’s’ scholarship. But also of the shark attacks last time round and the nightmares he still had. Lenore Milton stepped closer, her eyes piercing into him. “Come on now, I’m here.”
“I can’t do this again, Lenore. Six people have died now and we could’ve done something…”
“We weren’t to know this would happen as often as it has…look, it could’ve happened in the time since you know. You told me a month ago a swimmer went missing off the point.”
True. But everyone figured the body had been swept on strong currents out to sea.
“We’re going to stop the shark and I think we shouldn’t wait for Clift. Bureaucracy’s like an old steam train “ it takes a while to get going and is unstoppable when it does.”
He smiled at her. “You have a way with words.”
“And other things.” She winked and walked off. “Come on, Mitch, we have work to do.”