Ouroboros

Just Getting Start(l)ed

     In his rare lapse of free time, Coda-9994 was almost content. Almost. He took a breath from the surface and plunged straight down toward the floor of his pool, dozens of feet below. His pool was the center point around which the whole facility was built, and despite it being several stories high, he constantly found himself wishing it was larger. The mere existence of walls frustrated him beyond comprehension. Jim had complained to Coda about his tiny office, but at least he didn't have to live in said tiny office.

     His inner earpiece buzzed. Jim's voice. "Come up, Coda. There are new interns who would like to meet you."

     The whale ascended. When he spotted them outside the second-floor window, he greeted them with a thunderous bellow. The two new arrivals jumped and nearly fell over in surprise. Amused, Coda-9994 sent a message to Jim.

     - Are they my breakfast today? –

     "He's huge!" the unfamiliar woman exclaimed.

     "Scaring the rookies is not funny, Coda," Jim scolded, though the whale could see that he was suppressing laughter himself.

     - Is there something stuck in my teeth? –

     Coda opened his mouth wide to show them his enormous teeth.

     "I thought large whales didn't have teeth," said the unfamiliar man, now unafraid of Coda's taunting.

     "Sperm whales have teeth," Jim explained. "But Coda-9994 isn't an ordinary sperm whale, if such a thing exists. He's the result of many years of research and innovation. Genetically, he's most similar to a Livyatan, which is an extinct species of sperm whale that behaved more like a modern-day killer whale. Fed on smaller whales, seals, large sharks, et cetera. But he does have some selected characteristics of modern sperm whales, like deep diving ability."

     Coda-9994 had heard this speech many times, but it never felt any less strange to be spoken about like the latest and greatest human invention.

     "How intelligent is he, would you say?" asked the male intern.

     "I'm not sure, Chris," said Jim. "But he beats me almost every time we play Go."

     Coda beamed.

    Chris cleared his throat. "I just realized I left my phone in the restroom."

.........

     They walked out, presumably to go find his phone, but Coda-9994 suspected something else.

    "Dr. Morris?" called Chris from the bathroom. "I think you need to see this."

     Jim rolled his eyes. Probably a clogged toilet. Nevertheless, he walked in to see what the problem was. Chris leaped at him and pinned him between two urinals. Startled, he swung his mechanical fist in the general direction of Chris's head, but missed entirely. "What's the meaning of this?" Jim demanded.

     "My apologies," said Chris. "This is the only place I could think of without security cameras."

     "What the fuck are you doing?" Jim nearly screamed, but contained himself.

      "Dr. Morris, Chris, let's discuss this cordially." Sofia stood at the threshold of the men's restroom, careful not to step too far in. "Dr. Morris, it seems we didn't introduce ourselves properly. Chris and I are members of the World Ocean and Humanity Liberators Frontline, or WOHLF. The messages you received this morning were warnings. One of our other members happened to know Tc1's password, so we used her address."