Symbiosis - Are we alone?

Symbiosis - Chapters 1-3 It started with a swim

Hi! As I'm new to this, if you read it, would you be kind enough to comment (as the feedback will help me in writing the rest of the book) and vote if you like it and would like to see more uploaded.

 I hope you enjoy the story,

Thanks,

Mark.

By the way, the cover is a real photo of a tiny, blind, albino crab that I took myself on holiday!!

 (the photo that is, not the crab.  That would just be stupid, taking a crab on holiday!!!!)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 1

Mike Baker stared out of the window and smiled.  He wondered how he had managed to be on this flight.  The sea below was a smooth expanse of turquoise blue, intersected by thin white stripes-  the wakes of merchant ships and private cabin cruisers slowly traversing between the lands.  He knew he had a desk piled with work, and countless unread e-mails back at the office in Manchester, but he was looking forward to this break.  Steve Elliot, his boss, had told him he deserved it too.  Maybe it was Steve's way of saying he needed it.  Pressures had been mounting in the last few weeks.

"Drinks or snacks sir,” Mikes musing were suddenly broken by the gorgeous and seemingly genuinely warm smile of the stewardess. 

"Just a coffee please."   Seeing the stewardess’s smiling face reminded Mike just how long it has been since he has seen Kirsty . This holiday would be the first time they’d spent together since her assignment in New Zealand, Benchmarking business processes, whatever the hell that was,  he thought.  Mike didn't much care what she had been doing as long as he was going to see her soon. 

He checked his watch and ascertained that Kirsty would have landed in Arricife by now, and he would again be with her in about 2 hours.  He reclined his seat the four inches or so economy class seats allowed and sipped his coffee. The sun’s rays felt war down one Side of his body. He smiled to himself, and looked out of the window again.

I'm going to enjoy this holiday, he thought.

 -----------------

15 thousand feet below the plane, and about one and a half Kilometres off the coast of the island, Grant Kennedy and Michelle Jamison were scuba diving.  One of the many things they loved to do together on holiday and this was their fifth.

 They’d heard that this was the area where the underwater tunnel started.  The tunnel had been formed millions of years earlier by volcanic activity. It had somehow locked in some species, endemic to the island area, in a naturally sealed eco-system time capsule.  Some of the species were rare and normally only found in much deeper waters, but had somehow been raised to higher levels during past Volcanic movement.

Grant tapped Michelle on the arm and gesticulated toward a giant manta ray that was skimming the bottom like some organic hovercraft in its habitual search for food. The accepting indifference of the all the marine life toward the divers was much more apparent than normal, and gave Grant a really rare feeling of awe with God's power of creation (strange as he was a Darwin man at heart).

 Grant looked at his watch and Saw that he had twenty minutes of air left, and knowing Michelle would have about the same he signaled to Michelle five more minutes. Then they would have to start back up to the surface. Michelle felt strangely privileged to be so close to nature, and was happy to just be doing something together with Grant that they both enjoyed So much.  Although, they were quite deep, visibility was really good because the water was crystal clear.  It was perfectly illuminated by the mid afternoon sun.  Then suddenly Michelle thought she caught sight of it out of the corner of her eye.  Its white albino-like form digging frantically into the sand after its vibratory senses had alerted it to the presence of potential predators.  Millions of years of evolution had never deemed necessary to endow this creature with eyes.  Thoughts flashed through her head. Was it really what she thought?  Could it mean a concealed entrance to the tunnel is close by?