Sea Bears
Standing at the bridge of the ship, Afee looks out from under his orange beanie and could see the seas getting rough. His face seems to have a wild look about it at this moment, yet a sense of tiredness is there too, as the many years out at sea has made his black beard begin to streak grey and his skin become abrasive. He stares impatiently at the bow where an Albatross sits motionlessly, despite the tossing of the ship through the waves, and upon the bird’s head sits a metal helmet-like structure which covers most of its skull. He can see circuitry throughout the metal and the right eye appears to be covered by a red lens. Afee looks due east at the horizon as the ship steams towards the coast of California. After years of island hopping throughout the Pacific this was the second closest he had come to the continent since he, the crew, and everybody else had fled the mainland.
His first mate Andre McDoo then enters the bridge. “Sir, are you sure you want to do this?” Says the young crewman addressing the captain.
Afee replies, “Do you want to remain wandering these seas forever?”
“No Sir, But… do you think we are ready? Do you think that we will be able to make this plan work?” McDoo asks nervously. His large eyes weighing with concern upon his round face.
“We will be no better prepared in the future than we are now. Is the crew ready?”
“Yes Sir, they are…very afraid, but ready. Not many remember the last encounter at the Farallon’s.”
Afee’s gaze holds steady upon Andre and he asks, “What about the helicopter? Is it ready?”
“Yes, it is ready too.”
The last encounter at the Farallon Islands was the closest the crew had been to the continents since the exodus all those many years ago. Afee and the crew did not know as much then, where the boundaries were, and how the rules now worked. They wanted to see how close they could get to the coast. To see if maybe they could come back home one day. The weather was the very opposite of this day with calm sees and bright skies. The plan that day was to put a beacon on the islands, and track whatever activity may be occurring there for a few months, before hopefully pressing on into the bay. Then just as today an Albatross with a metal head also sat on the bow, but as soon as the ship neared the Farallon’s the Albatross suddenly bolted into the sky, and began to make broad sweeping circles above the ship while hundreds of feet in the air. Although the crew found this odd, they pressed onto shore and were able to plant the beacon without any incident.
It was when the ship pulled back out into the open ocean they were attacked for the first time. It started with crows coming and landing everywhere on the ship. Just as the Albatross they had the metal head cappings and they did not attack the crew. They just seemed to be observing and communicating amongst themselves. At the time Andre Mcdoo was asleep in his bunk down below deck when a huge metal blade suddenly came slicing through the wall near him. It measured at lest four feet tall and cut a huge gouge through the hull of the ship. A few men were cut in half by this giant blade as it tore through, and immediately following it rushed in the ice-cold seawater, which began to fill the lower holds of the ship. Andre was able to swim up through the drowning crew that flailed in the water, to the ceiling hatch above, and hoist himself up to the next deck where there was still air. Stumbling up through the flooding ship decks he found Afee at the bridge struggling to control the wheel and keep the ship on course. Looking out the cabin’s windows Mcdoo could see the crew having their faces pecked off by a flock of attacking sea birds.
He screamed at Afee, “What hit us just now! It tore open the hull! We are taking water!”
“Orca!” Afee replied.
“What!?”
“A pod of Orca! All of them with metal from nose to tail and all down their backs! We must have taken a dorsal blade to the hull.” He replied with a strange calmness about him.
While every person thought for sure they were doomed at that moment, the pod for some reason did not strike again, and once the ship had fled a few miles west the birds backed off as well. Though it had taken water the ship was able to limp on with it’s half drowned, bird maimed crew, and find repairs in the Hawaiian Archipelago. After the encounter, the ship stayed far out at sea only calling port in island harbors and floating way-stations. Other people had also made it out from the mainland alive after the Takeover, and they too set out among the Pacific Islands in their boats like Afee did. Over time, trade and a community of seafarers developed among the waves. Afee was eventually able to repair his ship as well as acquire more men, harpoons, and some helpful technology. He felt prepared to go back now. He now knew how far he could get to the coast, and the Farallon Island beacon has never stopped transmitting.
The plan this time is to stop the Albatross before it flies into the air. A cannon loaded with a net is carefully hidden on the deck and aimed directly at the bird. Also, harpoons are at the ready just in case the Orca pod returns. And of course all men are either below deck or have armor on to protect them from sea birds. The ship’s hull has been reinforced and at top speed they hope to reach land before their presence is known. If attacked however, they feel confident they can adequately defend themselves.
Just as predicted when the ship approaches the Farallon Islands the Albatross begins to leap into the air, but an ultra-precise motion detector that is monitoring the bird picks up this movement and instantly launches the net out of the cannon. The Albatross is ensnared and falls to the ship’s deck, frantically trying to escape the net as the crew rushes up to it. Andre is among them and yells to the crew, “Do not kill it! We want the Albatross alive!” As soon as the crew surrounds the bird and its escape is impossible, a deafening high-pitch noise chirps out into the air, causing the crew to drop to the ground with their ears throbbing in pain. Immediately after this noise the metal structure on the birds head explodes, killing the Albatross, and completely destroying the mechanism.
As his hearing begins to return, McDoo faintly hears the captain’s voice over the loudspeaker. “To the harpoon stations! The pod is in visual sight! To your stations!” As the crew scramble to their positions, McDoo runs up to the bridge. He finds Captain Afee transfixed upon the ship’s sonar screen. “They’re not coming near us Andre.”
“What to you mean Sir?”
Without looking up from the sonar Afee replies, “They know we are here, but are not approaching. Just surrounding us it would seem.”
“They must know wee are armed. Why else would they not attack like last time.?” Says Andre. Afee does not answer him. Though scared and unsure, Andre tries to act confident as he says, “Perhaps the Albatross could not transmit so far away? Or maybe it needs to be in the air to transmit? Like last time. Maybe they knew… but too late. Maybe they are unprepared this time.”
“Let us hope that is the case.” Afee replies as his eyes slip to the horizon. Upon the choppy waves he spots a noticeable rough patch of water where the whitecaps are particularly intense. As he watches as it seems to be getting larger, but the turbulent water is not growing larger at all - it is getting closer. Afee looks to his sonar. No objects below water are being pinged. He checks his radar. No air objects in that location. Soon both Captain Afee and Andre Mcdoo are staring at this approaching patch of torn water, and they can start to see what appear to be large animals riding atop this water. They actually appear to be running on it. Afee reaches for a pair of binoculars and upon viewing the maelstrom can see clearly that they are bears. From this distance the bears appear to be made of metal, as if they were robots, and they are running on the water at a very high rate of speed. As they approach the crew tries in vain to shoot the harpoons at them, but are unable to strike the fast approaching sea bears. Within minutes they are at the ship and begin to leap out of the water up onto the deck, quickly running down and mauling any crew in sight. With robotic exoskeletons they are easily able to rip off the reinforced doors and proceed to tear their way down through the lower decks.
Andre’s face is stricken with panic and body frozen in fear, as he stares unmoving out the window at the terrifying sight unfolding before him. He is awakened from his trance only by the increasing pings emanating from the sonar. The Orca pod is approaching. “Captain we got to get out of here!” Andre screams as he spins around towards the captain, “we got to get to the…”
As a bear approaches the bridge door McDoo sees that the captain is gone. Inches from him a steel claw punctures through the door into the bridge’s cabin. As the bear begins to pry the door off its hinges, Andre can hear the vicious snarling of the animal, he can hear the agonizing screams of the dying crew being ripped apart, and he can he the slow “chop-chop-chop” of helicopter blades.
*****
Peering through the small square window in the lab’s door Claudia looks upon a completely white room with a white table in its center. Upon the table is a black box. Behind her Alexander sets up a video camera aimed at the door and says, “its recording.”
Claudia turns around in a lab coat, with lab goggles on, her dark hair pulled back behind her head, and addresses the camera: “This will be our third up close encounter with a crow. After a period of remote observation, we will again attempt to study the neural linked cranial computational device, and if possible remove it from the crow. We are hoping in this approach that heavy sedation of the animal will allow closer observation.”
She then places a set of ear muffs on, turns around, and enters the lab. Once Claudia is inside the small room the camera switches to a ceiling mounted view looking down at the table. She approaches the box and opens it. A sedated crow lies inside. She reaches for a small telescopic video camera on the table and turns in on. At first the camera is out of focus, but as it gets closer to the box, the screen starts to reveal, in detail, the crow’s cybernetic head.
“CHIRP! POP!” A high frequency noise followed by the crow’s head exploding.
“Shit! Not again!” Claudia yells.
Alexander turns off the cameras and opens the lab room door. “We are getting better at catching them. We will catch more.”
“It seems more likely that they will catch us first.”
“We will catch so many we could actually start eating them.”
“You would eat crow?” She asks.
“I guess, they are the only animals we can catch up here anyway.”
Claudia steps out of the lab, which is a small cube that resides inside a large city flat. Beside the lab constructed in the center of the room, the concrete space of the flat is sparsely furnished and has vast stores of rations lining the walls. It sits on the 23rd floor of an abandoned skyscraper in deserted downtown San Francisco. The building’s first five floors have collapsed which made entry from the ground all but impossible for the larger predators.
Sitting on the edge of a mattress lying on the ground Claudia asks, “You know, I think I know the answer to this question, but for some reason I still ask myself it anyway. How did we let this happen? How did we let it get so out of control?”
Leaning back in a chair Alexander moves his blonde hair away from his eyes, “People created an intelligence based on human morals. Of course it would be awful to everyone!” He laughs.
“Be serious. How did we let it get so out of our control?”
Sitting up he replies, “Humans crated something they didn’t understand. Artificial Intelligence understood us more than we did. Would you want to be controlled by someone dumber than you?”
“No, and that is why I do not listen to you!” Alexander laughs. They get up to begin preparing dinner when they hear: “chop-chop-chop.”
“Is that a helicopter? How does a person get a helicopter?” Alexander confusedly asks.
“Its landing on the roof.” Claudia exclaims, “Come on!” They quickly grab their weapons and run to the roof of the building. Carefully they open the roof door and see a helicopter landed next to the solar array. A man is slumped back in the pilot seat and the passenger seat appears empty. “Put your hands up!” Claudia shouts, but the man does not move. Slowly, they approach the helicopter. Coming closer to the man they see he is unconscious and wounded . After securing the area and shutting down the helicopter’s engines, they take the man inside their flat to treat him for what looks like a head injury.
The man, now with a large bandage around his shaggy black hair, lies on the floor asleep while Claudia and Alexander eat their dinner. “Who do you think he is?” Claudia asks.
“I don’t know. First person we see since the Takeover and he comes to us in a helicopter. What are the chances of that!” Alexander excitedly replies.
“I wonder where he came from? Do you think he came from inland? Could that be possible?”
“I doubt it. Probably came out from the sea looking at his condition. But why come back to land? He must have a death wish or something.”
“Did you search him?”
“Well people don’t really carry driver’s licenses these days any more. And the bots shut down the internet, so what good would touching him all over do?”
“So, you didn’t search him”
“Yes.” Alexander smirks. A frustrated Claudia gets up and walks over to search the unconscious man. She kneels down and as she reaches inside the man’s pocket his eyes open. With a slight smile on his face the man says, “Well, you don’t need to touch me all over, I’ll tell you who I am.”
With a startled shout Claudia stands up and proclaims, “I am sorry! We thought you were asleep and you are the first person we have ever… seen in a long time.”
The man props himself up slightly on his elbows, “I am sure glad to see you and happy to find that there are still people on land.”
“We may be the only ones.” Alexander replies walking up next to Claudia. “Why did you come here? Can you take us to a ship?”
The man looks wearily at Alexander and says, “Those are big questions with long answers and I am afraid I am too tired to explain all that right now.”
“But you said you would tell me your who you are. Didn‘t you?” Claudia asks him curtly.
The man’s smile fades and his eyes cast downward before meeting hers, “I am Philstrom Afee.”
“The eco-terrorist!?” Claudia says with surprise..
“Wait, that Earth Liberation guy who said all humans should die so animals could live? Or something like that!” Shouts Alexander.
“Yes” replies Afee, “I was that person and I said those things. But, I hope you are happy to see me, there are so few of us now, and you must believe that I am really happy to see you.” Alexander and Claudia stand silently looking at him, with a mix of skepticism and fear, unsure what to say to this known man. Afee’s smile returns to his bearded face and he continues, “Besides you want me here.“
“Why is that?” She asks.
“Because, I just may be the guy who knows how things got so horribly out of control. Would you be interested in knowing that?”
