Squidzillas and Hunters
The squids recognized the Whale Defender I with its weaponized drones and avoided it much to the frustration of its crew. They also kept away from “hard whales” after the electrocution of No. 12 when it attacked Cameron Joyce’s submarine, the Deep Diver. The squids learned not allow fishing boats and other small water craft like whale watching boats to sail above them ever since Rick Mendoza and his nephew Tommy attacked them by dropping IEDs. But that had been some time ago and since there had been no new incidents, the squids had become lax and now just generally ignored smaller ships.
Rick heard the talk around the harbor that the Whale Defender had not encountered any squids for several months as it escorted migrating whales. “It’s as if they are avoiding us,” complained the first mate to Rick over Tecates. With that information, Rick decided to take his boat with three paying passengers north, in the opposite direction from where the BlueSeas ship was sailing. On board was one drone with an explosive warhead and a Good2Go camera strapped on facing forward so that his passengers could view the action up very close up. “If we don’t run into any squids, you get half of your money back,” he told his clients before sailing.
Squid No. 206 was apprentice whale hunting with No. 10 when their paths crossed Rick’s Mary II.
small hard shell between me-you and whale, flashed 206.
get whale—small hard-shell no danger.
A big mistake.
“Okay!” Rick said to his passengers. “We found ourselves some action. They’re going after the whale. You can help me and the crew slide the drone out the stern. I’ll arm the warhead and then you can watch the view from the drone camera on the monitor as it closes in on the squid. Let’s try to get closer before launching.”
small hard shell come close. me go away fast? flashed No. 206
no let hard shell get over you. no see funny fish. get whale. replied No. 10 who was trailing behind and below.
small hard shell behind me—not over—me get whale, flashed No. 206.
“All right, the drone is armed. Be careful not to touch the nose detonator as we slide it out,” Rick said. “You can watch it close in on the squid on this monitor,” he said to the passengers.
No. 206—funny fish come from hard shell — behind you—go deep fast, said No. 10.
Too late. Before No. 206 could fill its mantle with water to jet away, the drone had homed in on it. Those watching the monitor on board the Mary II saw the squid’s image rapidly fill the screen before the screen went black. At the same time they could feel and hear the underwater explosion. “Got em!” said Rick.
“And the second one is going away deep,” said Rick’s mate. “The whales are safe.”
“Think you got your money’s worth?” Rick asked his passengers with a grin.
“Oh yes! Definitely.”
It took a while to get the message out to the area squids, but No. 10 finally was able to relay the information about No. 206’s death to the assembled others.
funny explosion fish come from small hard shell? asked No. 5. No line?
Yes. from small hard shell. no line.
before only big hard shell have funny fish. small hard shell only drop explosion, said No. 5. easy go away from. now small hard shell have funny fish too. many small shells. many danger.
what do? asked No. 10.
There was a great flashing and movement of arms. Some advocated avoidance, but others argued that that was impossible given the number of smaller hard shells along the North American coast where the whales migrated. Others thought that seeking sperm whales instead of Grey and Humpback whales might be safer. But that would mean hunting prey that had teeth and would fight back hard. There was talk of going on the offensive and sinking smaller hard shells. But No. 5 pointed out that AWL’s (Above Water Livers) had shown that they have ways to hurt squids that squids did not understand and attacks might bring on more fatal surprises. In the end, the majority agreed to hunt in trios and while one attacked a whale, two would stand watch and that they would all flee should funny fish be released by the hard shell.
me-you swim more fast than funny fish—if see, all swim fast deep, said No. 5.
The Long and The Short of It 