Lost Worlds & Mythological Kingdoms by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grim Oak Press
Published: 2022-03-08T00:00:00+00:00

ENDOSYMBIOSIS

Darcie Little Badger

There were fossils, minerals, and plaster dinosaur bones displayed in the grand entry of Smilodon Hall, remnants of a larger collection that had been scattered among museums after the university cut storage to install more offices in the Department of Earth Sciences. The building, with its vaulted ceilings, white limestone walls, and relics encased in glass, reminded Jul of a cathedral. She stood in front of the fossilized remains of two fifty-million-year-old fish. They were labeled with yellowing index cards:

(a) Diplomystus, Eocene Green River Formation. Cause of death: choking.

(b) Diplomystus, Eocene Green River Formation. Cause of death: being eaten.

That’s a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty situation, ain’t it? Jul thought. Either the fossil was a permanent reminder of the worst decision Diplomystus (a) ever made, or it was a tribute to the strength of Diplomystus (b), an Eocene David that used its own dying body to take down Goliath.

There was a hint of movement in Jul’s peripheral vision, and then the display-case glass reflected not one but two faces: Jul’s round, plump, and brown face, and the long, gaunt, white face of Boris, another grad student in Professor Milligan’s lab.

“Another late night for you?” Boris asked.

“I need to discuss something with Milligan,” Jul explained. “What about you?”

“Going to the bar with the others. See you on the boat Tuesday.”

Once, Boris might have invited Jul for drinks with him and the other grad students, but he no longer bothered. Logically, Jul knew why the invitations had stopped. Too many no, thank yous.

She did slightly miss the gesture though.

With that thought, Jul exited the mini museum in Smilodon Hall. First as an undergrad and then as a grad student, she’d known Milligan for seven years, yet Jul always felt nervous before she knocked on his office door. Like she was a saleswoman pushing a magazine subscription nobody wanted. Jul couldn’t shake the feeling that, every time she had a meeting with Professor Milligan, she had to sell the idea that she belonged in a scientific lab.

“Come in,” the professor shouted. Jul entered the office and, after closing the door behind her, sat in a plush faux leather chair in front of a heavy oak desk. The boxy room was windowless, but several paintings and photos of the sea hung on the walls, giving the illusion of space. As always, Jul found her attention drawn to a giclée print above Milligan’s computer. The print depicted a lonely beach at sunset. In the impressionist style, an indistinct suggestion of a person was wading into the shallows. Something about the image simultaneously enthralled and troubled Jul. Perhaps it was the blankness of the bather’s face; it resembled a mirage. Or maybe it was the wayward paint stroke at the edge of the horizon. A darkness that hinted at something approaching from the open ocean.

Something big.

“What’s up, Julie?” Milligan asked, staring at a table of numbers on his computer screen. “Hmm. This model output is wonky.” He was the kind of middle-aged professor who wore T-shirts,

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