The Beast of Cretacea (49 page)

Ishmael’s heart drums, and despite the cool cave air, sweat breaks out on his forehead. He points deeper into the cave, still in the dark. “What’s back there?”

“Old things,” Fayaway says.

“Of the survivors?”

When she nods, he starts toward the back of the cave. Fayaway follows, the glimmering torch illuminating old crudely made pottery, broken bows, shreds of old fishnets, a shoe, some rope, and —

Ishmael drops to his knees. With tears welling in his eyes, he picks up a rusted leg brace with torn, decaying Syncro straps.

“This”— he chokes, tears running down his cheeks — “belonged to my foster brother. To Archie.”

Fayaway kneels beside him. “Then ’tis Archie in the paintings. ’Twas here hundreds of years ago. ’Twas one of the survivors of the wreck.”

“The
Jeroboam,
” Ishmael croaks.

“He has not left,” Fayaway whispers. “’Tis still here in all of us. In the air and the ground. In the wood of our walkways and the thatch on our huts. And in our hearts and minds. Ye have found him, Ishmael, and so long as ye art here, ye shall always be with him.”

Fayaway leans forward so that her forehead presses against Ishmael’s. He smiles through his tears.
I feel you, Archie,
he thinks.
In these gentle people. In their strength and kindness. In this beautiful place. You and me together. Always.

He rises to his feet and takes Fayaway’s hand. They leave the dark cave and step out into the orblight beneath a sky of shimmering stars and galaxies. He pauses to take a deep breath of the night air. He’s reached the final harbor, whence he will unmoor no more.

He’s back home, with Archie. Finally.

END NOTE

The Cretaceous period lasted from the end of the Jurassic (roughly 145 million years ago) until the beginning of the Paleogene (roughly 66 million years ago). During that time, the climate on Earth was considerably warmer than it is today. Tropical sea surface temperatures may have gotten as warm as 107°F (think: really hot shower). This is roughly 30°F warmer than the warmest oceans are at the present.

Scientists believe the increased temperatures were caused by widespread volcanic activity, which produced heightened levels of carbon dioxide. The production of large amounts of magma, or molten rock, possibly caused by the movement of the Earth’s crust (also called plate tectonics), also pushed ocean levels up, so that vast areas of the continental crust were covered with shallow seas.

As a result, more than 80 percent of the Earth was covered with water, compared with roughly 70 percent today.

In addition, the position of Earth’s landmasses changed considerably during the Cretaceous period. At the beginning of the period there existed two supercontinents, Gondwana in the south, and Laurasia in the north. By the end of the Cretaceous, the positions of the various continents were nearly the same as those shown on maps today.

GLOSSARY

Aft
  situated toward or at the stern

Amidships
  of, pertaining to, or located in the middle part of a ship

Anthropecene
  a geologic chronological term for the epoch that began when human activities had a significant global impact on the Earth’s ecosystems

AWOL
  absent without leave. Away from duties without permission

Baclum
  bacterial luminescence. Luminescent bacteria emit light as the result of a chemical reaction during which chemical energy is converted to light energy

Bait
  special reward

Berth
  sleeping accommodation on boats and ships

Bow
  the forward end of a vessel

Breasthook
  a V-shaped timber or plate connecting ship timbers or stringers of opposite sides where they run into the bow

Bridge
  the forward part of a ship’s superstructure from which the ship is navigated

Bulwark
  the side of a ship above the upper deck

Bumper
  a device for absorbing shock or preventing damage (as in collision)

Capstan
  a vertical-axled rotating machine developed for use on ships to apply force to ropes, cables, and hawsers

Chock
  a heavy metal casting with two short horn-shaped arms curving inward between which ropes or hawsers may pass for mooring or towing

Cleat
  a fitting on ships to which ropes are tied

Cleaving deck
  a deck on which large creatures are flensed and cleaved

Cutting in
  
See
Flense

Davit
  a system that is used to lower or raise a smaller craft from or onto a larger one

Davit hooks
  hooks used to hold a smaller boat

Derma-jet infuser
  a type of medical injecting syringe that uses a high-pressure narrow jet of the injection liquid instead of a hypodermic needle to penetrate the epidermis

Fathom
  a unit of length equal to six feet (1.8 meters)

Flank speed
  a ship’s true maximum speed

Flense
  (v.) to remove the blubber or skin of large beasts

Fluke
  the part of the anchor that catches in the ground, especially the flat triangular piece at the end of each arm

Forecastle
  the forward upper deck, or part, of a ship

Full ahead
  flank speed

Gunwale
  the top edge of the side of a boat

Grappling hook
  a device with multiple flukes attached to a rope

HMD
  head-mounted display. Worn while in virtual reality

Hawser
  a thick cable or rope used in mooring or towing a ship

Head
  a ship’s toilet

Hold
  the cargo space belowdecks in a ship

Keelhaul
  a form of punishment meted out to sailors at sea. The sailor was tied to a line that looped beneath the vessel, thrown overboard on one side of the ship, and dragged under the ship’s keel

Lee side
  the sheltered side; the side away from the wind

PFD
  personal flotation device, life jacket

Port
  left

Pot
  the accumulated funds from which individual bonuses are paid

RTG
  radioisotope thermoelectric generator. An electrical generator that uses heat released by the decay of radioactive materials to create power

Scupper
  a hole in a ship’s side to carry water overboard from the deck

Sick bay
  a room on a ship set aside for the treatment or accommodation of the sick

Slipway
  a ramp at the stern of a ship to assist in hauling harpooned creatures onto the flensing deck

Sound
  (v.) to dive swiftly downward. Used of a marine mammal or a fish

Starboard
  right

Stern
  the back part of a boat or ship

Stick
  a harpoon

Superstructure
  the parts of a ship built above its hull and main deck

Swabbie
  a member of the crew, typically of low rank

Swell
  a rolling ocean wave; not cresting

Tender
  a boat for communication or transportation between larger ships or shore

Thwart
  a structural crosspiece forming a seat in a boat

Transom
  the planking forming the stern of a square-ended boat

Turnbuckle
  a device for adjusting the tension or length of ropes or cables

Virtual reality (VR)
  a computer-simulated environment that creates physical presence in the real world or imagined worlds. Virtual reality replicates all sensory experiences, including taste, sight, smell, sound, and touch

Wheelhouse
  also called a pilothouse, a glass-enclosed room from which a ship is controlled by the ship’s pilot

Windlass
  a machine used to let out and heave up equipment such as an anchor

Z-pack
  a zettabyte packet. A unit of information used in virtual reality

Zirconia electrolysis
  a process, based on oxygen-ion-conducting zirconia electrolytes, that electrochemically reduces carbon dioxide to oxygen and carbon monoxide

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

With oceans of paternal pride, I gratefully acknowledge my daughter, Lia, who created the cover illustration for this book, and my son, Geoff, who read a nearly five-hundred-page version of the manuscript and made many insightful and useful editorial suggestions. It’s not only more than enough to make the old man proud; it brings a tear to his eye as well. I love you both, and thank you both. I am also indebted to my wonderful and benevolent editor, Kaylan Adair, who devoted many extra hours to this endeavor. With patience and aplomb, she handled the editing with one hand and her newborn son with the other. Thanks also to all the other supportive and dedicated folks at Candlewick who helped make this novel happen. Finally, to Barb — my anchor, my muse, my PFD — with love.