"No," Norman said, "I never did."
"Neither did I," Beth said. "But it's what I imagine it would be, if I had."
"Looks very cozy, Beth."
"You think I'm cracking up?"
"No. I just said it looks cozy."
"You can tell me if you think I'm cracking up."
"I think you're fine, Beth. What about Tina? You've seen her injury?"
"Yes." Beth frowned. "And I've seen these." She gestured to some white eggs in a glass container on the lab bench.
"More eggs?"
"They were clinging to Tina's suit when she came back in. Her injury is consistent with these eggs. Also the smell: you remember the smell when we pulled her back in?"
Norman remembered very well. Tina had smelled strongly of ammonia. It was almost as if she'd been doused in smelling salts.
Beth said, "As far as I know, there's only one animal that smells of ammonia that way. Architeuthis sanctipauli."
"Which is?"
"One of the species of giant squid."
"That's what attacked us?"
"I think so, yes."
She explained that little was known about the giant squid, because the only specimens studied were dead animals that washed ashore, generally in a state of advanced decay, and reeking of ammonia. For most of human history, the giant squid was considered a mythical sea monster, like the kraken. But in 1861 the first reliable scientific reports appeared, after a French warship managed to haul in fragments of one dead animal. And many killed whales which showed scars from giant suckers, testimony of undersea battles. Whales were the only known predator of the giant squid - the only animals large enough to be predators.
"By now," Beth said, "giant squid have been observed in every major ocean of the world. There are at least three distinct species. The animals grow very large and can weigh a thousand pounds or more. The head is about twenty feet long, with a crown of eight arms. Each arm is about ten feet long, with long rows of suckers. In the center of the crown is a mouth with a sharp beak, like a parrot's beak, except the jaws are seven inches long."
"Levy's torn suit?"
"Yes." She nodded. "The beak is mounted in a ring of muscle so it can twist in circles as it bites. And the radula - the tongue of the squid - has a raspy, file-like surface."
"Tina mentioned something about a leaf, a brown leaf." "The giant squid has two tentacles that extend out much further than the arms, as long as forty feet. Each tentacle ends in a flattened 'manus' or 'palm,' which looks very much like a big leaf. The manus is what the squid really uses to catch prey. The suckers on the manus are surrounded by a little hard ring of chitin, which is why you see the circular toothmarks around the injury."
Norman said, "How would you fight one?"
"Well," Beth said, "in theory, although giant squid are very large, they are not particularly strong."
"So much for theory," Norman said.
She nodded. "Of course, nobody knows how strong they are, since a living specimen has never been encountered. We have the dubious distinction of being first."
"But it can be killed?"
"I would think rather easily. The squid's brain is located behind the eye, which is about fifteen inches across, the size of a big dinner plate. If you directed an explosive charge into the animal anywhere in that area, you would almost certainly disrupt the nervous system and it would die."
"Do you think Barnes killed the squid?"
She shrugged. "I don't know."
"Is there more than one in an area?"
"I don't know."
"Will we see one again?"
"I don't know."
THE VISITOR
Norman went downstairs to the communications center to see if he could talk to Jerry, but Jerry was not responding. Norman must have dozed off in the console chair, because he looked up abruptly, startled to see a trim black seaman in uniform standing just behind him, looking over his shoulder at the screens.
"How's it going, sir?" the seaman asked. He was very calm. His uniform was crisply pressed.
Norman felt a burst of tremendous elation. This man's arrival at the habitat could mean only one thing - the surface ships must be back! The ships had returned, and the subs had been sent down to retrieve them! They were all going to be saved!
"Sailor," Norman said, pumping his hand, "I'm very damn glad to see you."
"Thank you, sir."
"When did you get here?" Norman asked.
"Just now, Sir."
"Do the others know yet?"
"The others, sir?"
"Yes. There's, uh, there's six of us left. Have they been told you're here?"
"I don't know the answer to that, sir."
There was a flatness to this man that Norman found odd. The sailor was looking around the habitat, and for a moment Norman saw the environment through his eyes - the damp interior, the wrecked consoles, the foam-spattered walls. It looked like they had fought a war in here.
"We've had a rough time," Norman said.
"I can see that, sir."
"Three of us have died."
"I'm sorry to hear that, sir."
That flatness again. Neutrality. Was he being proper? Was he worried about a pending court-martial? Was it something else entirely?
"Where have you come from?" Norman said.
"Come from, sir?"
"What ship."
"Oh. The Sea Hornet, sir."
"It's topside now?"
"Yes, sir, it is."
"Well, let's get moving," Norman said. "Tell the others you're here."