The Lord of the Plains (47 page)

‘Probably best.’ the Commander nodded his
agreement. ‘We wouldn’t want to blow the thing in half and have it
turn into two giant monsters instead. Judging from the size we’ll
have to alter the delay bombs. Very well. Anything else?’

‘No, sir.’

‘Dismissed then. Keep me posted.’

‘Yes, sir.’

Once he was given the task of talking to the
fish people Vann realized he didn’t know how to find them.

He stopped and leant against the sidewalk
railing. He looked out across the bay and towards the side beach.
The bay was gemeng free. Peaceful or not, the citizens of Coastside
weren’t about to go swimming in fish people infested waters.
Gemengs occasionally attacked him around the side beach. Vann
thought perhaps the fish people might be there too.

With that in mind, he headed towards the
side beach.

When he reached the beach Vann sat down a
safe distance from the water’s edge.

He hadn’t been there more than ten minutes
when a seaweed covered head broke through the surface of the
waves.

Though he had been waiting for Zap Zap, Vann
was still surprised.

Zap Zap swam close to the shore, riding the
waves in. He kept his body submerged, only his head poking above
the water, and occasionally, his tail.

‘You are safe!’ Zap Zap cried happily. ‘You
kill Molk?’

Vann approached the water, though not so
close that he was in reach of Zap Zap, in case he did turn out to
be dangerous.

‘Do you come to this beach often?’ Vann
asked.

The fish person nodded. ‘Yes. I watch. Go to
other place too. Lots of friends. Learn language. Vann comes here
lots.’

Vann was more than a little unsettled to
learn Zap Zap had been watching him unnoticed all this time.

‘Are you the only one that talks?’

‘Zap Zap only one talk Vanns talk. Others
think Zap Zap strange.’

‘I see. What do you call yourselves?’

‘Vann calls us fish people. We call us,’ Zap
Zap stopped speaking then and puffed up his face. It was a strange
sight. Zap Zap fluttered his eyelids and opened and closed his
mouth like a fish three times.

Vann stared. Was that how the fish people
talked? No wonder they had never noticed before. ‘Is it alright
with you if we call you fish people?’

Zap Zap nodded.

‘Zap Zap,’ it felt strange to Vann, using
that as a name. But that was what he wanted to be called. ‘Do you
know where Molk is?’

‘Molk easy to find. Big. Zap Zap find for
you?’

‘Not right now. Does it have a lair?’

‘Molk always moving.’ Zap Zap said. ‘No
lair. Move move move. Staying away from friend’s lair, but come
later. Very bad.’

‘I know. We’re going to try and fight it.
Whatever you know about it would help.’

Vann was surprised to see that he could read
fear on Zap Zap’s face.

‘Molk big. Ocean Lord. Old. Older than Zap
Zap.’

‘What’s an Ocean Lord?’

‘This ocean is Molks. Molk Lord of this
Ocean. Goes round and round his ocean. Takes long time.’

‘Do you know what the splitters are?’

Zap Zap shook his or her head.

Vann explained what they were. When Zap Zap
said it understood Vann asked, ‘is Molk like the splitters?’

‘Don’t know.’ Zap Zap shook its head.
‘Haven’t cut off Molks head. But can find for you. So you can
kill.’

Vann nodded. This wasn’t as helpful as he’d
hoped, but on the other hand if the fish people could find Molk for
them it would make things a lot quicker and simpler.

‘Are there any other Ocean Lords?’ Vann
asked suddenly. If there were other things out there as big as Molk
then they needed to know.

Zap Zap nodded. ‘Other oceans have Lords.
Molk only Lord this ocean.’

Vann wondered how far this ocean extended.
‘Would they come here?’

Zap Zap hesitated. ‘If Molk dead, new
position. Someone take it. New Ocean Lord. Also, Molk’s Lord, Lady
Wal. Might come. Don’t know.’

‘I see. Thank you, Zap Zap. I need to go
tell the Commander.’

‘Vann going?’

Vann was surprised to hear regret in Zap
Zap’s voice.

‘Yes, why?’ he asked.

Zap Zap’s silvery tail splashed against the
water. ‘Vann talk to Zap Zap. Others not talk. Zap Zap afraid to
talk. But Vann talks. Zap Zap wants to know.’

‘Know what?’

Zap Zap pointed then at Coastside. ‘What’s
it like? Strange place. Different from Zap Zap’s home. Zap Zap
curious.’

Vann felt a pang of empathy for Zap Zap. He
had so many questions that he knew could never be answered. But
what if they could?

Then caution spoke up. He examined it.
I
can tell it about Coastside without revealing any military
secrets
. He would reveal nothing that would endanger his home
should Zap Zap prove to be duplicitous. But he didn’t think it
was.

‘I’ll come back. You’ve watched me, I come
here often. I need to tell my Commander about this so we can fight
Molk.’

Zap Zap nodded. Its tail splashed. ‘Molk
bad. We talk again. Zap Zap help!’ it said brightly, its mood
improving.

It waved at Vann as he walked away.

Chapter 35

It was decided the fish people would lead
the submariners to Molk.

The fish people led the
Leili
to get
a look at Molk and confirm what they had learned on Arling Island.
No one else had seen Molk except Vann after all.

Vann had wanted to go but the Commander
vetoed that decision to Vann’s dismay and indignation. He was a
submariner. He was supposed to be on a sub. The Commander reminded
him he hadn’t had his one week off yet and he was the only one who
had talked to the fish people. Right now, he was more important as
a go-between than a submariner.

Vann sat gracelessly on the side beach,
glowering darkly at anything and everything.

Zap Zap, uncertainly, asked if this was a
challenge.

‘What?’ Vann asked, snapping out of his
gloom.

‘Vann look scary. Is that how humans give
challenge? When we look scary, we give challenge.’ Its tail was
making little splashes in the water.

‘N-no! Of course not!’

A relieved smile spread across Zap Zap’s
green, slimy face. ‘Good! Zap Zap not want to fight Vann. Vann
friend.’ it said this last a little uncertainly.

‘Friend.’ Vann agreed.

Zap Zap beamed.

‘Do you often fight each other?’ Vann asked
curiously.

‘Mm… sometimes. Want same female. Challenge
each other so she can choose best. Mostly not. Sometimes.’

‘Have you been challenged before?’ Vann
asked.

‘N-no. Zap Zap too small. Not best hunter.
Only average. Females don’t like him. Spends too much time talking.
But no challenges. Zap Zap doesn’t want a challenge.’

Vann wasn’t entirely sure how to respond. He
had great success with human females, though he wasn’t sure if that
would carry over to fish people females. ‘Well at least there’s
that.’ he said. He was interested to note, however, that Zap Zap
was male. He wondered what the difference between male and female
fish people was. Aside from some having seaweed hair and others
not, they all looked the same to him.

Zap Zap nodded. ‘But Zap Zap and Zap Zap
friends help Vann fight Molk.’

‘You are. You’re leading us to it.’

‘No, we
fight
. Friends do all
fighting for fish people. Fish people help. Not good friends
otherwise. Zap Zap told them, he convinced them.’

Vann’s eyes widened in surprise. ‘Well, I’ll
tell the Commander.’

Zap Zap nodded, pleased.

‘Zap Zap, you might get hurt.’

‘We help. Friends. We help.’ He replied, a
determined set to his face that told Vann he wasn’t going to be
talked out of this. ‘Tell Commander. Then tell Zap Zap what we need
to do. We help. We can put exploders in Molk for friends, distract
him, we do it.’

‘Exploders?’ Vann asked slowly.

‘Vann asked about splitters. Zap Zap finds
out. Vann puts exploders in splitters mouths and then they explode
and they’re dead. No splitting. We do for Molk.’

To be most effective, the delay bombs had to
be swallowed by the splitters. In reality, that was
very
difficult to accomplish. Mostly the submariners attached them to a
harpoon and inserted them near the head of the beast. The string of
bombs would then travel down the length of the beast. At intervals
one bomb would detach from the string, staying where it was inside
the beast. Then after enough time had passed for the bombs to be
strung out along the length of the creature they exploded, blowing
it into little tiny pieces. They couldn’t split when you did that
to them. If you only managed to halve or quarter them (or anything
bigger than a pinky finger) they managed to form into new monsters
very,
very
quickly. Before the delay bombs were invented the
submariners had dealt with the splitters by just blowing them into
smaller and smaller monsters. Or a whole flotilla of submarines
would drop bombs on the fast moving splitters and hoped they turned
into fish food.

The delay bombs were far more effective.

‘That would be… Zap Zap whoever did that
would likely get eaten.’

Zap Zap nodded. ‘Molk eats us anyway. Need
to kill. Council talked about what we could do. Decided.’

Vann did not have enough authority to say
anything to that, so instead he said. ‘I’ll tell the
Commander.’

‘No, I don’t think so.’ The Commander said
sternly.

Vann hid his relief and said, ‘Yes,
sir.’

‘Do you agree?’

‘I do. I think it’s best to keep their
involvement to a minimum.’

‘Agreed. They seem nice enough but there’s
no way I’m going to hand them a delay bomb. However… I think we can
take them up on their offer of being a distraction.’

‘Yes, sir. I’ll tell them.’