Session 18: Black/Deep

The agents arrive on the island of Koror, Palau on Dr Vess' research ship. He informs them that he will be on the island for two days, then he's off to Papua New Guinea and then back to New Zealand. HECTOR has his SCUBA certification, and they look for a local dive shop that might be able to take them to somewhere they may find rock similar to that from which Barcinas' statuette is carved.

They find a dive shack on a short dock. Some young men are sitting around in the heat of the afternoon sun and drinking. When the agents approach one of them sits up and tries to look presentable.

"Want to go diving today?" he asks.

"We would like to go the Palauan Trench," says HAROLD.

"That's a three, maybe four tank dive. It's for serious divers only, and it's $400US per person. Takes all day to get out there and back. We have some local reef dives that might be more to your liking."

"Has anyone done that lately?"

"Some Swiss divers were out a few weeks ago. Three guys and a girl. My dad took them out for the day."

"Where is he?" they ask.

"He's out on a dive right now. Should be back by dinner."

HECTOR produces the statuette. "Can you tell me where I might find something like this?" he asks.

"Try the souvenir shops in town," laughs the young man. "That kind of stuff is everywhere."

Vess had told them that he couldn't determine where exactly in the particular stone for the statue might be found, but suggested a geologist might be able to.

"Do you know of any geologists, or shamans who might know where this came from?" says HECTOR.

"I don't know any geologist shamans," he laughs, "but you could talk to Lazarus. He lives at the edge of town, in the house with the yellow curtain."

"How much for this bang-stick?" asks MASON.

"Sixty, and a box of shells is $40."

"We'll take two," say the agents. HECTOR and MASON take these.

The agents head through the small town. It looks like most of the buildings are made with found material. They are brightly painted, and there are street vendors shilling all kinds of crafts to the handful of tourists around. Soon they arrive at the hut with the yellow curtain. The curtain actually functions as the door. A strong smell emanates from the place, like some kind of pungent incense. HECTOR and HAROLD enter and MASON stays outside by the door.

Inside, the place is filthy. An old man squats in the dark by a low table. A dead chicken is nearby and its entrails are in a shallow wooden bowl before him.

"Lazarus?" they ask.

"Ah, come for your fortunes, have you?" he cackles. The agents look at each other and shrug.

"Sure," says HAROLD.

The man manipulates the entrails in the bowl. "Spit in here," he tells him. HAROLD does, and Lazarus follows suit. He gazes at the mess for a few moments and says: "Yes... You have a dangerous life, no? And it will not be a long one."

"None of us have long lives, relatively speaking," says HECTOR.

"Ah! So true!" he says.

HECTOR glances at the man's makeshift shelf. It is cluttered with strange fetish items and other pieces of refuse. He happens to notice among these items a strange skull, like the one they had recently discovered in the Green Box, and left back in Amilynn's car.

"Where did you get that?" he asks.

Lazarus looks at it. "I found it! In my grandfather's house after he died, on Kayangal Island. It has great power."

"How much you want for it?"

Lazarus looks about greedily. "One.... THOUSAND dollars!"

HECTOR checks his wallet. Not that much cash. "What are it's powers?" he asks.

"I can tell you, but it will be more... Two hundred."

The agents tell him they will be back. HECTOR goes to teh First Bank of Palau to get a cash advance on his credit card. The others check out the tourist stalls for clues, but find only trinkets: pieces of coral carved to look like animals, painted wood products, bead necklaces.

They return to see Lazarus. They give him the money and he produces a piece of filthy goat hide with writing on it. "Great power," he says. He tries to guide HECTOR through the pronunciation but HECTOR is incapable of forming the sounds. HAROLD, however, has a natural aptitude for it. He reads the words almost to the end.

"Stop!" cries Lazarus. "Not now. You must be near the shore. Now go."

The agents return to the dive shack. The boat is back, and an older version of the young man they spoke with is unloading a newlywed couple.

"Hi folks," he says. "The name's Herbie. You interested in a dive?"

"We're interested in some customers you had a few weeks ago. Swiss. They wanted to go to the trench."

"Yep, I remember them. What about them? You police?"

HAROLD tucks a hundred dollar bill in Herbie's shirt pocket. "Tell us everything you remember."

Herbie recounts that they were German Swiss, and from the log book he can recall their surnames were Lang and Brackertz. They paid with traveller's checks. They spoke to each other in German on the way out and back, and he doesn't speak the language so he couldn't understand them. He took them out to a marine reserve at the base of the trench, which is the usual spot he takes when people buy that package. He shows them the spot on the map inside the shack.

"Where's Kayangal?" the agents ask.

"It's a state of Palau, pretty remote. About two hours north by boat. Nice reef diving there." He says he can take them there for $150US/person, rum punch and lunch included.

"I can take you now, or in the morning. Night dives are quite nice."

The agents decide that their time is limited so opt to go immediately. They board the glass-bottom boat and depart within the hour.

About an hour into their trip the young man, Herbie Jr, spots a boat approaching quickly. He tells his father who revs the engine and begins to drive faster. The boat is larger than theirs and has no markings, no flag. MASON takes the rifle scope from his bag and takes a look. There are four men on the deck and what appears to be a gun turret on the roof. He assembles his rifle.

"Pirates," says Herbie. "If we're lucky they'll just take our gear and our motor and leave us adrift."

The boat is gaining. MASON takes careful aim, and when the boat is about two hundred yards away he takes a shot. The man on the gun turret is struck and flies off the back of the boat. HAROLD readies his 9mm and HECTOR dons his SCUBA equipment. The machine gun fires a burst and bullets pierce their hull, above the water line, and bullets spray in the sea beside them. Herbie lowers the speed, resigned that they can't outrun the pirates. The pirate vessel comes alongside the dive boat. The agents open fire on the pirates and a gun battle ensues. Three of the pirates on deck are killed and the fourth goes below deck, but not before MASON is wounded badly in the hip and HAROLD in the leg. Herbie Jr is shot and killed, and his father soon afterward as he goes to tend to his fallen son. HECTOR silently enters the water and swims to the opposite side of the pirate ship.

The pirate returns with two more men and one of them takes to the turret, blowing a large hole in the dive ship below the water line. It begins to take on water. MASON dispatches these men with extreme prejudice.

HAROLD manages to climb to the deck of the pirate vessel and lowers a line to haul the gear from the sinking boat. The other agents soon follow, and MASON throws the dead pirates into the ocean. "Just chumming the water," he says. He fires his rifle at the dive boat's gas tank until it explodes.

They search the ship, and decide to continue on to Kayangal rather than turn around. HECTOR pilots the boat with the aid of the GPS and they soon see the lights of the island. Kanangal is an atoll and the entrance to the lagoon is on the west side. Inside the placid lagoon are several docks, and lights twinkle in little huts and buildings along the inside coast. They pull the pirate vessel into the largest of the docks. There is a little marina at its base that appears to still be open. A diesel generator in the back hums quietly.

HECTOR jumps out and goes inside. There is a man at the counter.

"We need a doctor!" he exclaims.

"Doctor comes out on Tuesday," the man tells him.

"I have two friends who were hurt in a pirate attack. Surely you must have someone who can help!"

The man thinks for a moment. "My wife, she delivers babies. I'll call her." He calls into the back room in Palauan and an older woman comes out. She has an unusual look to her: an odd complexion, with a disturbingly wide mouth and distended eyes. She follows HECTOR back to the boat and attempts to apply first aid to the other two with no success.

"Can nobody else here help?" demands HECTOR.

"My sister is an apprentice midwife..." she says.

"Never mind," says MASON. "We need a hospital. Let's go back to the main island. We can come back tomorrow."

The agents depart Kayangal and arrive at almost midnight at the harbor in Koror. There are police waiting for them.

"Maybe we should have taken down the gun turret," offers MASON.

The agents explain their situation to the police, who escort them to the hospital to take their statements. The pirate ship they seize as a crime scene.

HECTOR gets a motel room and the others spend the night at the hospital. In the morning they go to Dr Vess' research ship. They try to convince him to take them to Kayangal. He is hesitant until they show him the skull they bought from Lazarus; after that he is extremely eager to go.

They arrive at Kayangal again, this time without incident. The agents step back onto the dock and go back into the Marina. The same man is at the counter.

"Take us to your Chief, ooga-booga," says HAROLD.

"Um... You mean our Governor? He's in the government building, down the beach." The agents look in that direction and see it, the largest and most sturdy of the buildings they have seen so far.

Inside the government building a woman sits at a desk.

"We've come to speak to the Governor," they tell her.

"Do you have an appointment?" she asks.

"Do we need one?" says HAROLD. She says something over the intercom and a voice responds.

"I suppose not," she says, and escorts them through the door behind her.

A balding old man sits at a desk. He has the same unusual look as the midwife from the previous night.

HAROLD produces the statuette. "Hello, sir, we're looking for items like this. Have you ever seen it before?"

HAROLD notices him pause for a moment before he answers. "No, I should think not," says the Governor. HAROLD believes he is lying.

"Well, what about this, then?" asks HECTOR, pulling out the skull from his pack.

"Nope, don't know what that is. If you'll excuse me, I have another appointment."

The agents are ushered out of the building. As they walk through town they notice more odd-looking villagers, and also that the villagers for the most part are avoiding them. They return to the marina.

"Where can we find one of these?" they ask the shopkeeper. He considers for a moment, then calls to a young boy through the back door. He says something to him in Palauan.

"This boy will take you. Follow him," he says.

The boy takes them into the jungle via a little-used path. He carries a machete and uses it to carve his way through the creeper vines. The path is circuitous, and after a while the agents feel like they're being led in circles.

Suddenly a small dart pierces HAROLD's neck with a thwip. It doesn't hurt that much, but he immediately feels groggy and nauseas. Without hesitation, MASON draws his 9mm automatic and executes their guide. There is a crashing sound in the underbrush as they spot the culprit with the blowgun and MASON drops him as well.

"That's it," says HAROLD. "Take me to the shore."

They head east and soon arrive at an unspoiled beach. They appear to have not been pursued. HAROLD strides down the the water's edge and unrolls his goat-hide scroll. He recites:

"Sha iqbu-u amat limutti-ia kima DAGON!
Lu litta-tuk qi-ishrusha pu-uttu-ru ipshetusha
Kal amatusha malla-a sseri
Ina qibit iqbu-u ilani mushitum..."

Nothing happens.

They sit on the beach for two hours and then notice three creatures emerging from the water. They are greyish-green, vaguely humanoid with slimy skin and scaly ridges upon their backs. They have the heads of fish, or perhaps frogs. They stand before HAROLD and regard him for a moment. The other agents wait some distance up the beach.

"Uh... I want you to kill the villagers on this island," suggests HAROLD. The creatures look to one another, and HAROLD can discern an angry croaking noise emanating from their throats. He quickly draws his weapon and fires.

The bullet strikes one of the creatures. Its scaly hide seems to absorb some of the impact, like shooting a bullet into tar, but it reels backwards. It swings at him and misses. He fires again point-blank twice and it falls into the surf.

His gun blazes at the other two, and they clumsily swipe at him with their massive, powerful arms. He avoids their blows (they seem to be somewhat awkward on dry land) and he drops a second one. HECTOR and MASON look on.

Finally, the remaining creature hits HAROLD, sending great gouts of flesh and bone spraying across the whitewater. He crumbles to the ground and the creature rends him in two. It then stands and regards the other two agents, who have still made no show of aggression, and then, deciding that they are not a threat, returns into the water. MASON begins assembling his rifle. When the creature is almost submerged he takes careful aim and fires. A plume of greenish black blood erupts from its head and it vanishes; it is impossible to tell whether it is alive or dead.

HECTOR and MASON return to the jungle and head back to the village. There are no buildings higher than one storey, and so MASON climbs a tall tree to get a good vantage point. Villagers are fanning out into the jungle, he can see. He decides to take a rest in his position of relative safety.

HECTOR decides that tree-climbing is ludicrous and hides on the ground. Suddenly he sees a villager spot him and he shoots the man. MASON wakes up in time to see the villager launch a dart at HECTOR with his blowgun, and then HECTOR wavering on his feet and falling. The villager and another man come and grab HECTOR under the arms and drag him into the village. MASON decides it is not prudent to reveal his location at this time.

Eventually the villagers come back from the forest. MASON climbs down the tree and sneaks into town. The sun is going down again. He looks to Dr Vess' research ship. There are Palauans on board but no sign of Vess. Then he spots some men climbing into an outboard motor-boat at the dock, and among them is a prone figure that might be HECTOR. He shoots one of them with his sniper rifle. The victim drops off the dock and the others hastily start the engine and pull into the lagoon.

MASON takes a shot at the motor to try to disable it but misses. He can't risk another as his position has already been compromised.