The Farpool (12 page)

Angie didn’t have an answer for that. “Give
me a day to think.”

“One day,” Chase decided. “Kloosee and Pakma
need help. They need out. We have to do the right thing.”

Angie half chuckled at that. “Yeah, if only I
knew what the right thing was.”

After they finished their beers, he took her
home on his turbo, kissed her as meaningfully as he could and went
back to the shop.

Dad’ll have another hissy
fit if I’m late again
. He ran several red lights on
the way back.

Chase made the final decision on timing.
Three days. They would have to communicate that to Kloosee and
Pakma, which meant another break-in at the aquarium. In the
meantime, Chase arranged to meet Angie after school—she had
wrangled a day off from the Clinic, much to her Mom’s displeasure.
They met in the parking lot. Chase’s turbo had bags full of scuba
gear.

They headed for the public pool at The
Landings, entering the development off U.S. 19 at the Fanning
Springs turnoff. The pool was a 50-meter, Olympic size facility,
but poorly maintained by the complex. A dozen kids and several
adults were cavorting in the shallow end when they pulled up.

Angie wasn’t new to scuba gear or diving and
got her fins, mask, tank and regulator on in good order. The two of
them went straight to the bottom of the pool.

For the next hour, Chase had Angie
demonstrate basic scuba diving procedures. She swapped tanks with
Chase, did a little buddy breathing, demonstrated that she knew all
the gear: mask, fins, regulator, buoyancy control device, weight
belt, dive watch and knife, using all her gauges. She demonstrated
controlled ascent and descent, some basic water skills and rescue
techniques. When Chase was satisfied, they surfaced.

Angie pulled her mask up, snorted some water.
“How’d I do?”

“Good. You know what you need to know. Now,
let’s get changed. I want to head over to the aquarium.”

“Don’t you have to be at the shop…you know—
your job?”

Chase shook his head. “Dad went to Orlando
today, picking up some T-shirts or something. Jorge’s taking care
of the store this afternoon. I’m supposed to be back by eight, to
help close up, do the books, clean up and so on.”

They changed in the pool locker rooms at the
clubhouse, stuffed their gear in bags and took off on Chase’s turbo
for Gulfside, a ten-minute drive.

Chase paid their admissions and right away,
they learned some good news.

Kloosee and Pakma, aka Ralph and Alice, had
been moved. No longer in the rehab pool, the two Seomish ‘dolphins’
were now a star attraction at Gulfside, cruising around the larger
pool of the Dolphin Gallery. Some of the original residents had
been moved out—Chase presumed to the rehab pool- so that their
friends mostly had Tank B—the Dolphin Gallery—to themselves. Two
Atlantic bottle-nose animals stayed behind, sniffing and swimming
curiously behind their Seomish visitors.

Then came the bad news. Mr. Weems came over
with his broom and pan when he saw Chase and Angie standing in the
small crowd around the windows.

“Got ‘em moved just last night,” Weems
offered. “They’ll be stars for a few days, then it’s bye-bye for
them.”

Chase looked up abruptly. “Bye-bye…what do
you mean bye-bye?”

Weems shrugged. “They’re taking a trip.
London. Piccadilly Circus and all that. Dr. Meier worked out an
exchange with the World Aquarium there. Ralph and Alice will be
gone for six months, then they come back here.”

Chase looked at Angie. “When do they leave,
Mr. Weems?”

“Day after tomorrow.” Weems picked up his
broom and pail and went on about his business.

Chase felt a chill. “We have to talk with
them.” Even as he was thinking what to say, he noticed
Kloosee—Ralph—pull up next at the surface of the pool by the
railing and poke his beak out. Pakma came up alongside. In a
smooth, barely noticeable gesture, partly hidden by Pakma’s tail
flukes, Kloosee placed an echopod on the side of the pool. Chase
looked around. Nobody else had seen what happened. He reached down
and scooped the device up. He turned and motioned for Angie to
stand closer, so he could hide what he was doing. There were a few
kids at the Dolphin Gallery, but it was getting on toward dinner
time and crowds were thinning out. The aquarium would be closing in
two hours.

Chase placed the pod next to his ear. A
blue-white glow emanated from inside.

…you help us…(shkreeeh)…help leave this
place…return to Farpool…

Apparently, they didn’t know of the planned
exchange. Chase told Kloosee what he knew and what they had
learned. He whispered into the pod, ducking behind Angie, whenever
kids or other patrons came near. To all intents and purposes, he
seemed to be talking on a small phone.

“It’s happening day after tomorrow. But don’t
worry…we did a little snooping…Angie did. We know how to spring the
gates. There’s a water channel all the way down to the Gulf.”

Kloosee tossed some water and plunged back
into the pool, clearly agitated. He swam several circles with Pakma
, clicking and chattering, before coming back to the railing.

…we have tchee’lum…a pod for transfer…with
kip’t…you and friend ride pod…

Chase knew Angie couldn’t hear the words. He
leaned over and whispered in her ear. “He’s saying they have some
kind of pod we can travel in…but we still need our scuba gear.”

Angie stared straight ahead. “Swell. Chase,
we really should talk about—“

…make time now…make time now…Pakma and I
ready….

Chase could sense their impatience even
without the echopod’s rough translation. “He wants us to set a
time…but how do we tell them the time?” Chase snapped his fingers.
An idea. “Midnight. We know how to get inside…just the bots we have
to watch out for.”

“Chase, I’m not breaking into this place
again…ever. I don’t want to go to jail…you heard what the cops
said.”

But Chase was thinking. How to tell Kloosee
the time? “Wait…don’t they change the lighting in here over
night?”

“How should I know?”

Chase gave Angie the echopod--she stashed it
in her cutoff jeans for a few minutes, while Chase hunted down Mr.
Weems. He had made his way to the other side of the Admissions
Pavilion and was spearing and sweeping trash and dusting along the
railings of the Seal Stage.

Chase asked him what happened to the lights
when the place was closed.

Weems didn’t think the question odd at all
and was happy to oblige. He described the lighting cycle. “Then,
just before the sun comes up, I dunno…maybe two hours before we
open—see those orange lights up there? They come on. Sodium vapor,
those are. Lot of lights, all around the edge. They help to—“

“Thanks, Mr. Weems…thanks a lot—“ Chase
hustled off before Weems could even finish his sentence.

Chase took back the echopod, waited until a
small family had browsed their way past, and told Kloosee what to
look for.

“Right when those orange lights come
on…should be about seven in the morning…one of us will be at the
gate controls. There’s a utility closet back in Recovery. We’ll
open all the gates, if we can, and out you go. Just follow the
water channels…all the way down to the ocean.”

Kloosee seemed to understand.
…
you have equip…for Notwater…breathe in
the tchee-lum…

Chase was getting better at picking out words
from all the scratches, chirps and whistles. “We have breathing
gear, if that’s what you’re asking. Once you’re out of the
aquarium, wait for us. One of us will be down on the beach. The
other will have to get out of the aquarium, without getting
caught.”

Kloosee nodded his beak vigorously up and
down, spraying them with water. Some kids nearby saw the gesture
and started laughing, coming over.

…you keep echobulb…(shkreeeh)…two
light…cycle…we are…we ready….

With that, Kloosee clicked and sprayed the
approaching kids. Pakma came over and let them touch her dorsal
fins, then joined Kloosee in cruising the large pool that was Tank
B. The kids laughed and clapped with enjoyment. Kloosee and Pakma
had watched the dolphins in the tank perform stunts for the
Tailless People…backflips, leaping out of the water, tail-balancing
and fluke flips. They tried a few of them and the kids went wild
with glee.

Chase said,” Come on. Let’s get out
here.”

Angie reluctantly let her fingers fold into
his. “Mister, you and I have one hell of a lot to talk about.
You’re nuts if you think I’m breaking into this place again.”

They gathered outside at Chase’s turbo and
had it out, sitting down together on the curb at the far end of the
parking lot. Angie hooked her arm in his.

“Chase, I know you want more out of life than
working in a surf shop forever. I know you want get away, see the
world, be an explorer…but this isn’t the way to do it.”

Chase stared down at the asphalt.
“Angie, do you believe what Kloosee and Pakma—Ralph and Alice—are
saying? Do you believe
any
of
this?”

Angie unhooked her arm. “I don’t know what to
believe anymore. It’s crazy. We saw a spout a month ago. We saw
some…I don’t know—fish, dolphins, whatever, something we’d never
seen before. They fired something at us. We blacked out. Woke up
with the Coast Guard. They all said we dreamed it up. Maybe we did.
Maybe this is all a dream. Now, we’re breaking into the aquarium,
we’ve both got a police record and we’re talking about letting
these creatures out of the aquarium…and following them out to sea.
Doesn’t that sound slightly nuts to you?”

Chase nodded. “When you put it that way, it
does. But, Angie…this is real. It’s as real as you and me sitting
here.”

“So what are you going to do? What
are
we
going to
do?”

Chase shrugged. “I guess I don’t think about
things too much, do I? Just sort of react, do things. Mom said once
I was like Baxter, like the dog we had for so many years. Bark and
chase and poop and eat…that’s what he did. But Angie—“he turned,
took her hands in his, “—this is real. I can’t explain it. I just
feel it. Remember when we first met…my Dad in the hospital, all
shot in the legs and stomach, he was dying, you know. The doctors
wouldn’t say it in so many words, but I knew…you could see it in
their faces. And you were there—“

Angie said, “I remember. You looked like a
scared little puppy…I felt so sorry for you. I just wanted to
comfort you, make it all better—“

“I wanted to go back, move the clock
back, so the holdup hadn’t happened. But I couldn’t…I felt so
helpless. Without you—“ Chase picked up a loose piece of pavement,
chucked it into the bushes, scattering a few squirrels. “—without
you, I might have done something…no, I
would
have done something. Probably something
stupid.”

“Chase, I don’t want you…or me…to do
something stupid. I don’t think letting those creatures out and
following them to wherever—out to sea somewhere—is a good idea. It
might even be stupid. Chase—“ she squeezed his hands back, “we’ve
got something good now, don’t we? We love each other…we’ve got each
other. If we do this, all that may be gone.”

Chase stood up abruptly, tinkered with some
gear and straps on the back of the turbo. “Dad wants to me to come
in and be a partner in the shop, learn the business.”

“Is that what you want?”

Chase shook his head. “My head says
yes. My heart says no. I don’t know which to follow. But I do know
one thing: Kloosee and Pakma are real. That echopod in your bag is
real—“ He watched as Angie pulled the device out of her bag and
turned it over and over in her hand. “We’re not dreaming
that
. You don’t know what’s going to
happen tomorrow…you never know. We’ve got our whole lives…yeah, we
don’t want to make mistakes and ruin our lives, but you know what
Dad told me: he said don’t be afraid of tomorrow. Life is full of
mistakes. The biggest mistake is not making mistakes…that means
you’re not living. He said he thought a lot about that in the
hospital…
maybe I should give up the shop,
join a shrimper crew, go back to construction and
carpentry
…but he wanted to own his own business and
you had to take risks to make dreams come true. I think about that
a lot.”

Angie could see where this was going. “It’s a
big risk, we’re taking here. I’m not sure I can do this. I’m
scared…I don’t want to leave all this behind…the good and the bad.
There’s Mom and the track team—“

“And homework and Mr. Winans’ Algebra
class—“

“—
and Dr. Wright…God, he’s given me so
much at the clinic…all the opportunities-- “

“Then there’s getting home at nine dead
tired, and more homework—“

Angie pulled him back down to sit beside her
and put fingers to his lips. “Shut up, already, will you? I do the
thinking around here, remember? What about sweeping out the shop
and straightening up the shelves and balancing the books at
midnight every night? Is that you’re future? Chase, you can be so
much more. I can too, but I have to be here to do that…I want to be
a doctor…or at least a nurse assistant. But I have to go to school
and that means money and good grades…and a lot of work. If I’m off
with you on some hare-brained adventure like a Nat Geo film, I
can’t do that.”

“So you’re not coming tomorrow?”

“I didn’t say that…oh, Chase—“ She gave him a
kiss on the cheek. “I want us to work. But I want to have a life
too.” She pointed out beyond the bushes and parked cars to the
faint white line of the incoming surf. “And it’s not out
there.”

She could see by the streetlamp that the scar
above his eye wasn’t red at all. Whatever thinking had been going
on was over. His lips told the truth. A decision had been made.