The Farpool (8 page)

The intern ran off to an office. Holland
motioned Chase and Angie to follow her. She led them outside the
pool deck, and shut the door behind, locking it. “I want to talk
more with you two, but I can’t right now. I’ve got a meeting with
the Directors in ten minutes…look, can you both come back tomorrow,
say in the afternoon?”

Angie told her, “Well, I’ve got school. And I
work at Dr. Wright’s clinic most afternoons…I might could get off
if I ask nice.”

Chase kicked at some imaginary dirt on the
floor. He jammed his hands in his jeans. “I got a job too….Turtle
Key Surf and Board. But my Dad owns the place…I can get off.”

“Good. Come by any time after four p.m. Just
call me up on my cell—“ she fished for a card and gave the number
to Angie. “We need to have a talk.” With that, she escorted them
both back down the hall and out into the Swamptown exhibit area.
Mr. Weems was still sweeping and dusting. “Tomorrow—“ she told
them.

They both promised and hurriedly left the
aquarium.

Back inside, Josey Holland deposited
her own lab coat in her office and went to the Directors’ room at
the end of a cross hall. Dr. Joe Meier was already droning on about
the year’s financials and shot her an accusing
you’re late
look. Holland avoided his stare and
took a seat.

“—
as I was saying, the notoriety
surrounding Ralph and Alice has had the effect of bumping up our
turnstile count and gate proceeds the last few days. We’ve put out
press releases in a number of outlets and the
St. Pete Times
is sending a whole crew over
tomorrow morning. Plus we’ve got something else up our sleeves that
only a few people know about. Josey, tell them about the
suits—“

Holland described the suit-like coverings she
had cut off Ralph and Alice, earning more than a few raised
eyebrows around the table. Holland thought she could see actual
dollar signs in some of their eyeballs.

“There could be a film…a documentary, even—“
one Director said. It was Ed Givens, who owned the Reedy Top
Drugstore, down on the south side of town.

“Or a special exhibit…with a higher admission
fee,” someone else said.

Holland could see they were off and
running, smitten with the financial potential, and little care for
scientific protocol. She tried reminding them about the need to go
slowly, to document everything, to involve peers and other marine
biologists but it was like telling dogs not to dive into a pile of
treats. After a while, Holland zoned out from most of the
conversation, catching only swatches of words:
we’ll need a new wing…couldn’t we start an exchange with
other aquariums…we could have a show, like Sea World, animal
actors, that sort of thing
….

Holland was intrigued with the reaction of
Ralph and Alice to the teenagers…what were their names again? Chase
and Angie. Nobody had had that kind of effect on them; mostly the
two had just circled endlessly, restlessly around the recovery
pool. It seemed increasingly likely that the teen-agers had
encountered their guests before, off Half Moon Cove as they had
said. Maybe there was more to the story than Chase and Angie were
letting on.

Holland gathered up her things after the
Directors meeting and was heading out the door when Meier
intercepted her.

“This is a great day for Gulfside, Josey,” he
told her.

Holland looked sour. “The Board’s more
interested in exhibits and finances than anything else.” She headed
out of the Board room and went down the hall, toward the recovery
pool and medical suite. Meier hustled to keep up with her.

“You should be too, you know. We’re not doing
so great. If we plan this right and do our homework, Ralph and
Alice could be the greatest thing ever to happen to Gulfside.”

“I think so, too, Joe, but probably not in
the same way.”

“You heard about the World Aquarium. London’s
sending a few people to take a look at our new guests. They’re
proposing an exchange.”

“Really.” Holland pushed into the lab and
snatched her lab coat off, flinging onto her desk chair. “So we’re
going to show off Ralph and Alice before anyone’s had a chance to
figure out what they are? Science gets kicked off the bus before it
even leaves the station…why am I not surprised?”

“Hey,” Joe said, “I’m a scientist too, you
know. They’ll be plenty of time and place for research…in fact,
that’s what London’s proposing…a joint research program.”

Holland said nothing. Instead, she went to
the door that led to the pool, staring through the window at the
circling animals. “They’re both recovering fast, thank God. Pretty
much a miracle, since I had no idea what I was doing.”

Meier put a hand on her shoulder, then
withdrew it when Holland looked sharply at him. “You did a great
job…we’re lucky to have you. Hey, I want to do what’s right for
them too.”

“What’s right is for us to study them for a
few months, then release them…that’s what’s right.”

Meier looked like he had swallowed a beach
ball. “Don’t talk like that…you scare me. In fact, I wanted to ask
you: when can they be released to the exhibit hall?”

Holland had known that was coming. “In a few
weeks, I suppose…we really don’t know how they’ll react to the
others…it’ll have to be Tank B, I’m afraid. I’m hoping they
socialize with the other cetaceans okay.”

“Well, they did come from the ocean, didn’t
they? I mean, it’s not like they’ve never seen another
dolphin.”

But Holland wasn’t paying Meier any
attention. A thought had just come…something about those suits
Ralph and Alice had been wearing. She headed for the lab, an idea
forming in the back of her mind.

Chase Meyer liked to meet Angie right when
she got off shift from the Wright Clinic. He managed to finagle his
own hours at the surf shop so he could ride his bike up Citrus
Boulevard to the highway, stop for a candy or a soda at the gas
station there and hang out in the Clinic parking lot until Angie
got off.

It was usually about nine when she came
skipping down the stairs to the parking lot.

They kissed a long time. Chase wanted to fool
around, but Angie pushed him away.

“Don’t,
okay
…it’s been a long day. Take me
home.”

Chase pouted. “Hey, what gives? That’s not
like you.”

“I’m tired…you would be too, if you worked
like a dog…school all day, homework when I can find the time, the
Clinic and everybody crying and whining…I just need some peace and
quiet…actually I need a beer and a hot shower.”

Chase revved up the turbo and Angie climbed
on. “Just so you know—“ he called back to her, as they sped out of
the parking lot, “I work too. On my feet all day at the shop,
handling those boards.”

“Yeah, right, a hard-working beach bum. I
know the type.”

Chase didn’t take her straight home, but took
a roundabout route down Grove Street. Gulfside Aquarium was at the
southeastern end of the big circle that was Grove Street. He slowed
the bike and pulled into the aquarium parking lot. The place was
closed and staff were drifting out to their cars.

“Why’d you come this way? I told you to take
me home.”

Chase stared up at the complex, which had
been designed by some architect to resemble a series of rolling
waves, cast in concrete and steel, not entirely successfully, Chase
thought.

“We need to get inside somehow, when we can
be alone. Go see Ralph and Alice. Ang, they’re not dolphins.
They’re something else. You know they recognized us yesterday.”

Angie got off the bike and did some
stretching, working the kinks out of her neck and shoulders. God,
she missed being on the track squad.
What
I wouldn’t do for a couple of sets about now… a few laps would
really feel good.
But there was no time—

“I know. But it’s just a coincidence.”

“Is it? I wonder…I think we should find a way
in…go visit ‘em. It’d be so cool—“

“What, now? Are you just slightly insane? The
place’s closed.”

“Not now…tomorrow night…I think I know a way
in.”

“You mean, like break in…Chase, I
swear, you’re just like your Dad…juvenile delinquents, both of
you….I mean,
really
, breaking
into an aquarium...?” Angie sat down on the asphalt, hitched her
knees up to her chest. “I could see breaking into a liquor store,
or even a drugstore, but the aquarium?”

But Chase was like a dog with a bone, when he
got an idea. Already, he was working his way closer to the side of
the building, nodding agreeably to staff who were leaving, checking
garbage cans like he was the custodian. Soon enough, he was lost to
view, having already buried himself behind some holly bushes lining
the beach side of the place.

Angie sighed, imagining herself under
the stinging hot needles of the shower, curling up in bed with her
wristpad for some show, maybe an episode of
The Buckinghams
—she loved to study the costumes
and period dresses—then sighed again. Chase could be so—what was
the word? She couldn’t even think of the right word.

Annoyed and increasingly irritated with
herself and with pretty much everything else, she got to her feet
and went after him.
Honestly,
Chase
—

She caught up with him at a small
landing directly behind the aquarium. There was a service drive
leading around from the parking lot and some loading docks. There
were also large-diameter ventilation ducts. Angie eyed those and
silently willed Chase to forget
that
idea. No way was she climbing through a
ventilation duct.

But her boyfriend had already found a way to
jimmy open one of the loading bay doors, managing to force it up
enough for the two of them to crawl under.

Chase looked back. “Well, what are you
waiting for? Come on, girl.”

Angie hesitated. “This is wrong. It’s
breaking and entering…I can’t—“

But Chase had already disappeared. She could
hear him bumping into cans and things in the darkened loading bay.
She was pretty sure he’d never had a second thought about anything
in his life. Just do it.

Angie sucked in a breath. She was
already practicing excuses and alibis in her mind.
Mother, forgive me…I used to be a good girl but I
just got in with the wrong crowd.
Then she dropped to
her knees and crab-walked underneath the loading bay doors and was
in.

It wasn’t long before the whirring of a
security bot nearly scared the bejeezus out of her. She tripped and
fell heavily on her side. It was Chase who had tripped her. He
yanked her behind some crates, holding a finger to his lips.
Shhhh! Infrared detection,
he
mouthed.

They were both as still as they could
be, while the bot puttered along the floor, scanning left and
right, a trio of big red lights winking on and off on top of its
domed head. When it had rolled into another storage room, Chase
motioned for them to get up…
quiet!
…and pad toward a large set of double doors as fast as they
could. The doors opened and they found themselves in a utility
hall. They both let out a big breath, gulping in air.

“Look, we’re on video and that can’t be
helped,” he told her, pointing up to the red eye of a video camera
in a pod in the corner. “But I think I can explain this…we saw
someone breaking in and we were just following them—“

“Chase,” Angie whispered, “nobody’s going to
believe that. What if there’s another bot?”

“That’s the least of our worries.
That’s a Ranger Mark Five, if I’m right…we’ve got two of them at
the shop. They’ve got infrared and motion detection, but you can
fool ‘em if you’re quiet and move slowly. They’re pretty
stupid…now,
hmmm
, which way
to the creatures—“

Angie knew that Chase had an uncanny sense of
direction so she trusted him, after she had gotten over the fact
they were now two burglars clearly on video breaking into Gulfside
Aquarium. Soon enough, his homing instincts took over and he was
sliding along the hall, until they came at last to a heavier gauge
door. It was locked.

“Now, what—“

Chase spied a drainage channel at the bottom
of the wall next to the door. He stooped down, jimmied the duct and
found it loose. “Here, help me with this—“but he didn’t really need
her help, for after a few minutes’ tugging and shoving and pushing
and pulling, he had managed to work the duct far enough to one side
to just fit his head through the opening. He got down on his knees
and with a lot of straining and pushing—she thought he was stuck in
the wall for a moment and wouldn’t that have been fun to explain to
the police?—he managed to work his entire body through and was
gone.

“Come on…” she heard the voice issuing out of
the opening. A hand stuck though. “I’ll pull you—“

Yeah,
right
.

But she managed to slide through the opening,
being narrower and smaller than Chase, and found herself in another
hall, this one reeking of antiseptic and alcohol. She nearly gagged
on the smell.

It was the clinic.

Chase was already at the end of the
hall. “They’re here…
look
!
Right in there--!”

Angie stood on her tiptoes and looked through
a window in the door. A pool was visible on the other side. The
same pool Dr. Holland had taken them to…and there they were.

Ralph and Alice. Both creatures were circling
slowly in endless orbits around the pool, stirring waves gently
across the water.