Page 24 - Three Adventures

Voyage of the Pomeranian

when I was arrested by a shout from starboard. “Something’s coming
up!”

Instantly galvanized I tore my arm from Tristan’s loose grip and
waded as fast as I could to the edge of the tank, pulled myself out
and ran to the side of the ship. Every man on deck had his gaze fixed
on a roiling bubbling patch of the sea less than fifty yards from the
ship. Suddenly the head of a monstrous squid broke the surface. Its
eyes, staring blankly in our direction, were the size of dinner plates.
“Man the nets!” I yelled. But no one moved, for the head kept going
up and up, until it was entirely out of the water. Beneath it emerged
ten long tentacles stretched taut like rope. And still it rose, higher and
higher—until we could see what was weighing down the decapod’s
tentacles: a huge hemispherical bowl at least three yards in diameter,
apparently stitched together from pieces of another kraken’s fins and
mantle and filled with seawater. I could make out the heads and arms
of at least three octopi as the container swung to and fro in the
ascent. The balloon—for no other description could fit—skimmed
the wave tops as it moved away from us, its occupants splashing out
water rapidly to lower ballast. Then it rose majestically into the sky
and floated away on the breeze.

Yes, Tristan had not lied. It was probably to be at his command that
the lifeboat to the moon would be launched, a vessel fashioned from
the corpse of a kraken, its membrane filled with gases carefully
accumulated from the rotting remains of marine flora and fauna. But
he and his companion had failed to make the rendezvous. The others
would have waited as long as possible, then launched on their own
initiative. Poor creatures! Their reward would be not a soft landing
on the lunar seas but a devastating crash into the same terrestrial
ocean they had sought to escape. I would have to get the details from
Tristan. But as I turned back to the tank, the hysterical voice of Oleg
Lamb cut through the awed silence.

“This is the work of that devilfish! It has summoned forth the
demons of hell! Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live! Kill the beast!”

“No, stop, I can explain!” I shouted as a crush of men charged the
tank. They splashed into the tank, cornered Tristan and grabbed him.
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