Bleeding Sea by K.A. Kirtland

Author:K.A. Kirtland [Kirtland, K.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Published: 2024-09-19T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 32

Ten hours later, Diane boarded the 230-foot-long Atlantic Splendor, with its bright red sides and white decks, anchored at the Nova Scotia port. It was equipped with icebreakers, laboratories, computer rooms, and a large recreational space, including a half-court basketball floor with a hoop at one end. Smaller ships with hoses sprayed the vessel with a fungicide to protect its machinery from the red algae.

Stored in the below-deck compartment were bright yellow hazmat suits with hoods and portable breathing machines, referred to as ‘breathers.’ Though everyone wore a full-face respirator, it was required for anyone on deck to wear the suit and breathers after the ship left the port. Rooms inside the ship were outfitted with an air filtration system to eliminate pollutants. Large crates holding OSCF’s bots were on each side of the ship.

Diane couldn’t find Brandon, Nicole, or Todd, who had flown on different airlines.

After a crew member provided directions to her cabin, she texted Uncle Bo. Wearing mask? Feeling okay?

This is your tenth text! I’m fine was his immediate response.

“Diane!”

She turned to find Nicole, mask half-off and waving at her.

“How did you recognize me?” asked Diane, lowering her respirator.

“I yelled your name to see who’d turn around.” Nicole grinned.

Diane noticed Nicole’s swollen eyes. “Guess I’m not the only one who hasn’t slept.”

“I can’t stop thinking about the dead river dinos.” Nicole put down her suitcase and lowered her voice. “I keep wondering who was in the lab. Nothing makes sense.”

Diane closed her fatigued eyes, wanting to trust Nicole and needing someone besides Uncle Bo to help her. “I have a guess as to why.”

Nicole’s puffy eyes widened. “Brandon said you didn’t find anything in the mud.”

“His mom arranged a tour of OSCF’s pilot plant while I was there. The operator said the treatment process was disrupted by someone breaking into the main building.” Diane paused, waiting for a few of the crew to pass. “I met residents who live downstream from the pilot plant. They described what could only be sewage released from a wastewater facility. I think the floods forced a sleeping dino into the Gulf. Raw sewage and salty waters woke it up, giving us the red plague.”

Nicole gaped and whispered, “OSCF’s grand plan to reduce global warming started this?”

She nodded. “And that’s not the worst of it.” Nicole shook her head, waiting. “Under normal conditions, the red dino we grew in the shed would have died when met with changes in temperature or water quality.”

Nicole froze, her mouth hanging open.

Diane glanced at crew members moving equipment and moved closer to Nicole. “The dino underwent a mutation, giving it an abnormally thick exterior. Something changed its DNA, its very blueprint so it could grow that protective shell and not be vulnerable to its old weaknesses anymore. But what could’ve triggered it? How did it get the thing it needed to go so completely out of control and do so much damage?”

Nicole rubbed her cheek, mulling over what, at least to Diane, was the million-dollar question.

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