The Secret Beneath The Waves

Chapter 4: More mutations

*Picture of Shawn at the top of the page (character not person in the cast)

Wattpad wouldn't let me post the actually chapter title, it's too long. The actual title is below. 

Chapter Four - "Smoking is the only way that society will accept a man staring into oblivion for hours at a time."

"That really shouldn't be possibly." Adri murmured from behind her. All Spencer could do was nod mutely in response. Another group of the genetic mutations had just arrived. About an hour ago, Spencer and Adri had heard a noise, a loud exclamation had been yelled by one of the sailors. Another net had been lugged on board, and what looked like jellyfish were caught in it. They had immediately been placed in the tank, and everyone crowded around, to get a better view. The jellyfish, like the tuna, had the same brown fur, covering parts of their body, but small suction cups lined the outsides of each tentacle. There was an orange fungus growing on some of their heads. "This could be a threat to the environment," another girl said, a few feet away from Spencer. Spencer just kept nodding, not being able to respond. "What's up with you?" Adri said, coming into her line of sight, her blue eyes questioning.

The beach roared, as her mom grinned at her. Her little legs slowly toddled over to the edge of the water, and she sat down in the sand. She looked back at her parents, who were on a blanket, a little back from the ocean. She sat there for what seemed like a few minutes, but were really hours, until her parents plucked her upbringing her back onto the boat. Her mother picked her up, taking her to the lower deck of the small family yacht, for lunch. When they got back to land, they went to the aquarium. Spencer had stood transfixed at a Giant Pacific Octopus, and that was when she had decided, she wanted to do something with the ocean.

"I-I gotta go," she said, kind of stumbling away, and going back up to the genetics department. She trudged up the stairs, and to the glass doors that masked the labs from the odor of the dead octopi downstairs. Scanning her card to go in, she almost did, until turning around and seeing a black silhouette of a guy sitting on the second hull of the boat.

The boat had two tops, weirdly. There was the big one, on top of the highest deck, that was mostly recognized as the top. There was a lower one, however, that was in the middle of both of the wings to the genetics department, near the cockpit. It was more of a shade, for the lifeboats and small pavilion, underneath.

As Spencer climbed the ladder, so get up on top, she caught the silhouette, Tony-staring moodily at a stain on the floor boards, a cigarette dangling looseley from his lips. Snatching it away and throwing it in a clay ashtray (a stupid thing to have on a boat with one fire extinguisher, but that was Andrew for you). He looked up at her, an annoyed expression evident on his face. "Smoking's bad for you" she explained, plopping down beside him on the hull. "Smoking is the only way that society will accept a man staring into oblivion for hours at a time." Spencer gave a wry smile, "It's all good, I won't judge."He shrugged, smiling, and they resumed a peaceful silence, ignoring the clamor that resided below them.

And they just sat like that, watching the sparkling ocean. Envying it- for its ability to hide almost everything ugly underneath it. Until now.

Their quietude was soon upset by a familiar pudgy face climbing the ladder. "Stephanie, Tyler" Andrew regarded them, as he caught his breath. "I thought it was Shelbey" Spencer said wryly. Andrew sneered at her, before fixing his gaze on Tony. "I require your assistance in the genetics lab Tony, I need you to help me run a test on the blood of the jellyfish." He turned back to Spencer, the changed tone of his voice evident. "You, you'll be going with a team on the boats to conduct an experiment from water samples." He handed her a laptop, which looked more like a brick. "Expedition starts in an hour. You will meet up with a team from the French wing when you get there" He sighed, before proceeding to climb back down the ladder. Spencer and Tony silently watched his flaming noggin disappear, before getting up and climbing down the ladder themselves. Tony disappeared first, merging into the crowd, while she shuffled through her bag. Fishing out her cell phone, she called Adri, walking towards the boats.

"Do we really need all of this?" Adri called, walking towards the boat with Shawn and Oliver. "Yes" spencer called back, before disappearing in the docks. "Wait there!" her voice was heard, hidden from view by sterns and masts. After about ten minutes, the front of a Sea Ray 55 Sundancer was seen cruising towards where Adri and the boys were waiting on the docks.

Spencer's chestnut brown hair was seen clearly from behind the large visor. Tying it to a pole, she climbed out, helping them pull everything on board. They had everything on, including ten oxygen tanks, each of them lasting about 3 hours, at a max.Oliver dragged the bags on board, each of them holding diving equipment for each member of the expedition. "Ok" Spencer started.

Opening up the laptop Andrew had given her, she punched in a few numbers, and a map popped up. "Since we are located in the southern part of the Atlantic ocean, a bit below the Caribbean, Andrew decided that we will be going to New Providence Island." she explained. "It's an island near the Bahamas" Adri added. Spencer nodded, "And, Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, resides on that island. According to the papers Andrew gave me" she opened a small drawer in the bottom of the laptop, pulling out papers, "The Government of the Bahamas has agreed to let us sample water from there, but, just in case-" she turned to Shawn, "You have the papers for passage?" Nodding, he held up an enormous stack of papers, clipped together by an miniscule purple paperclip that looked like it would give out any second. After checking once more that all materials were on board, they set out on a direct trip to Nassau.