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Authors: Rick Chesler
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shore. “But it’s hard to say for sure.” Ethan turned around to look, comparing the distance to shore in the opposite direction, where the vapors were thicker. “I think your way is closest.”
“Let’s get on with it, then, before more crap falls on us from above, or more magma pushes up from below.” Richard clipped his light back on to his pack but left it on as a beacon for the others, so that they could find one another if separated. Ethan did the same with his light, and the three of them swam toward shore.
Ethan felt the weight of his wet pack on his shoulders as he kicked along, noting that Richard must feel the same. Only George lacked a pack, and for that reason, he was the fastest among them. It was strange to need the lights to see the shoreline, yet the center of the lake was bathed in daylight. Sunlight at this time of day penetrated straight down, leaving a cone of light in the middle of the lake and the surrounding shore in darkness. As they passed through the cone of sunshine, Ethan saw George stop swimming up ahead. At first, he thought it might be because he was afraid of getting too far ahead of Ethan and Richard, for to lose them would mean he was on his own with no equipment in the dark volcano.
But then George spoke. “Something touched me.”
“Keep swimming, George, don’t freak yourself out.” Richard heeded his own advice, transporting his heavy pack via his lumbering crawl stroke.
“Probably just some floating debris, maybe a cooled magma pillow drifting around the lake,” Ethan offered.
“I’m a geologist, Ethan, so while I appreciate you trying to make me feel better, I —”
Suddenly, George was pulled underwater in a swift and violent motion. The water roiled and then an object of some kind was seen breaking the water’s surface.
“What is that?” Richard gasped, halting his forward progress to tread water.
Ethan, being an experienced nature photographer, had an idea, but not one that made him feel any better. “Some type of creature, mate. I don’t know what kind, but that looked like a flipper or fin.”
“Great, we have a shark in here?”
Before Ethan could answer, an enormous dark mass arced up out of the water—an animal in a breaching dive. To Ethan, it looked sort of like a whale, except it had four flippers instead of two, and it had a neck , a long, thin neck…at the end of which was a head with sharp teeth that had George Meyer, the geologist, clenched between the jaws. The man screamed wordlessly as he was taken into the air for the final time. Then the animal dove underwater with its prey and disappeared.
Richard shifted his light from the position where the creature had dived to the shoreline, sweeping it across the rockscape, seeking the closest point of escape.
“Let’s go!” Forgoing stealth in favor of top speed, Richard launched into a flurry of windmilling arms and kicking legs, propelling himself toward the rocks. Ethan kept his light trained on the spot where he last saw the creature, his mind’s eye picturing it launching itself out of the crater lake…and he was a kid again, looking at those dinosaur books… I know this one…plesiosaur ! But attaching a name to the beast didn’t provide additional comfort. In fact, the opposite proved to be true, since he knew that plesiosaurs were formidable marine predators.
Ethan stopped looking for George and his plesiosaur and struck out after Richard and the shoreline. It seemed impossibly far away when being chased by a primordial monster, but he told himself that if the dinosaur wanted to take him, it was going to take him regardless of his actions in the water. The only thing he could do was to get out as fast as possible so that he wasn’t around when the creature finished swallowing George. What if it decided that wasn’t half bad and went looking for more?
Ethan stopped swimming when Richard aimed his light back at him, waving the beam back and forth. “I see a ledge I think
“Let’s get on with it, then, before more crap falls on us from above, or more magma pushes up from below.” Richard clipped his light back on to his pack but left it on as a beacon for the others, so that they could find one another if separated. Ethan did the same with his light, and the three of them swam toward shore.
Ethan felt the weight of his wet pack on his shoulders as he kicked along, noting that Richard must feel the same. Only George lacked a pack, and for that reason, he was the fastest among them. It was strange to need the lights to see the shoreline, yet the center of the lake was bathed in daylight. Sunlight at this time of day penetrated straight down, leaving a cone of light in the middle of the lake and the surrounding shore in darkness. As they passed through the cone of sunshine, Ethan saw George stop swimming up ahead. At first, he thought it might be because he was afraid of getting too far ahead of Ethan and Richard, for to lose them would mean he was on his own with no equipment in the dark volcano.
But then George spoke. “Something touched me.”
“Keep swimming, George, don’t freak yourself out.” Richard heeded his own advice, transporting his heavy pack via his lumbering crawl stroke.
“Probably just some floating debris, maybe a cooled magma pillow drifting around the lake,” Ethan offered.
“I’m a geologist, Ethan, so while I appreciate you trying to make me feel better, I —”
Suddenly, George was pulled underwater in a swift and violent motion. The water roiled and then an object of some kind was seen breaking the water’s surface.
“What is that?” Richard gasped, halting his forward progress to tread water.
Ethan, being an experienced nature photographer, had an idea, but not one that made him feel any better. “Some type of creature, mate. I don’t know what kind, but that looked like a flipper or fin.”
“Great, we have a shark in here?”
Before Ethan could answer, an enormous dark mass arced up out of the water—an animal in a breaching dive. To Ethan, it looked sort of like a whale, except it had four flippers instead of two, and it had a neck , a long, thin neck…at the end of which was a head with sharp teeth that had George Meyer, the geologist, clenched between the jaws. The man screamed wordlessly as he was taken into the air for the final time. Then the animal dove underwater with its prey and disappeared.
Richard shifted his light from the position where the creature had dived to the shoreline, sweeping it across the rockscape, seeking the closest point of escape.
“Let’s go!” Forgoing stealth in favor of top speed, Richard launched into a flurry of windmilling arms and kicking legs, propelling himself toward the rocks. Ethan kept his light trained on the spot where he last saw the creature, his mind’s eye picturing it launching itself out of the crater lake…and he was a kid again, looking at those dinosaur books… I know this one…plesiosaur ! But attaching a name to the beast didn’t provide additional comfort. In fact, the opposite proved to be true, since he knew that plesiosaurs were formidable marine predators.
Ethan stopped looking for George and his plesiosaur and struck out after Richard and the shoreline. It seemed impossibly far away when being chased by a primordial monster, but he told himself that if the dinosaur wanted to take him, it was going to take him regardless of his actions in the water. The only thing he could do was to get out as fast as possible so that he wasn’t around when the creature finished swallowing George. What if it decided that wasn’t half bad and went looking for more?
Ethan stopped swimming when Richard aimed his light back at him, waving the beam back and forth. “I see a ledge I think
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