223 Friendly Giants (1/2)
Bursts of salty water sprays drizzled over Dr. Sharon as she soaked in the sun on the forward decks as the PT boat engines roared over the sounds of crashing waves. She carefully shuffled her way next to a green faced Magister Thorn who looked like he was gonna collapse anytime.
”How are you doing?” Dr. Sharon grinned at the sickly looking Magister.
Thorn gagged as he tried to keep himself from vomiting from the seasickness. ”Th- this is not wh- what I call enjoyable...”
Dr. Sharon laughed and whooped as the craft bounced higher while the crewmen secretly sniggered behind their stations. Despite being only a 15 minutes ride, the rough journey made Thorn seriously sick as he had never experienced something like this before.
”Look, we are reaching already!” Dr. Sharon grabbed Thorn and shook him excitedly, making him groan and leaned over the side to puke.
”Hold on to ya hats!” A cry came out from the pilot house and suddenly the PT boat swung madly to starboard, turning a sharp 180 degrees and throwing a large sheet of water into the air.
Magister Thorn yelled in fright as he felt himself flying off the buckled seating while Dr. Sharon laughed madly.
The PT boat finally settled down next to a curious Island Whale which the pod of Island Whales had stationed themselves several kilometers away from land.
The huge beakhead of the Island Whale peered out from the water surface and blinked its beady eyes. There was a pale scar that ran from under its left eye all the way down to its long neck. It bayed out a cry of greeting before sinking its head down underwater to feed on the numerous plankton and jellyfish like organisms.
The pilot smoothly reversed the PT boat so that the stern of the boat faced the creature and the crew dropped two inflatable dingies over the side.
”Thorn?” Dr. Sharon dug into her medical pouch and handed him a space sickness pill and a bottle of water. ”Take this, it will help you with motion sickness.”
Thorn gratefully accepted the pill and swallowed it with the water. After a while, he felt better, the giddiness had subsided and he here no longer felt like vomiting.
The crew called out for the Science Team to gather at the stern to board the dingies. On the other sides of the PT boat, similar scenes played out on two other PT boats as Marines boarded the dingies in ones and twos.
Seaman Lero ensured his shotgun was strapped securely behind his back as he took the spot on the electric motor of the dingy. The Science Team slowly made their way down to the dingies, five on each with two naval crewmen with them.
Once everyone had settled down, Lero powered the motor up and pointed the dingy towards 'land'. The inflatable dingies were taken from the life craft of their spaceship scrapped gently up the beach of the Island Whale.
”Alright out!” Lero yelled out to the team on his dingy. ”Everyone help pull the boat up! We don't want it to be washed away by the waves or tide!”
Dr. Sharon's boot hit the sandy beach and she looked around in wonder. ”How this creature is able to carry an island on its back?”
She returned to help the rest tug the boat up the beach and quickly turned her attention to her surroundings. If she did not see the head of the Island Whale, she would have thought that this was a real island!
The only difference from a tropical Earth type foliage was the colors of the leaves and species of trees and plants. Driftwood and other sea debris littered what appeared to be a tide line. Sharon could even see several small crustaceans species running about on the sand.
Cries of wyvern nesting in the trees echoed out together with sounds of other creatures and insects that vied with each other for attention.
”This is amazing!” Dr. Sharon cried out as she activated her shoulder mounted video camera while the Marines that landed spread out in a protective formation.
Lero and the other naval crewmembers lugged out crates of equipment from the dingies and a few Science Team members quickly set up instruments and other unknown equipment that Lero could only guess their purpose.
”Hey, Doc!” Sergeant James Bone walked over and greeted Dr. Sharon. ”How's it going?”
”Hey there Sarge!” Dr. Sharon smiled as he recognized the Marine. ”You look a lot better since the last time I said you laying on the hospital bed bleeding all over my floor!”
”Ha!” James grinned. ”Marines are meant to be mended and patched!”
”Don't make it a habit,” Dr. Sharon advised. ”There only so few of us left...”
”Yeah,” James nodded as he promised. ”Anyway, what do we have here?”
He looked at the topical setting of the island which greatly clashed against the drifting snow and cold winds.
”Well, my guess is these creatures migrate from one place to another during the cold seasons, most likely to seas with warmer currents, hence tropic floral,” Dr. Sharon said.
”Than why are they still doing here?” James watched Magister Thorn leading a couple of Science Team members poking at some stuff here and there excitedly.
”Your guess is good as mine,” Dr. Sharon frowned and gestured out to the sea. ”But if I would guess, I say they find it safer here? Another guess will be that they are recovering from the attack of the Krarga and once recovered they will move on.”
”Hmmm,” James thought that it made some sense. ”Well, I got my boys to keep your team safe. Make sure none of your team moves without any security escort. We don't know is inside the jungle.”
Dr. Sharon nodded and James gave a quick salute before he left to yell at his men. Even with the rumbling voice in her head, it didn't dampen her spirits as she looked at the new things that could be found here!
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UNS Singapore, Command Bridge
”Captain, the Science Team has landed safely on the Island Whale,” An operator reported from his station.