Stingray City. Ellen Prager

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ It proceeded to explain in agonizing detail why it didn’t like being touched by humans: germs. The bat ray was a serious germophobe. Tristan had tried to convince it that human hands didn’t carry any germs that would harm the ray (as far as he knew). But no matter what he said, the bat ray was convinced human hands were laced with germs that would make it deathly ill. Tristan eventually concluded that the ray was totally neurotic, bordering on having OCD, and would never make a good touch-tank occupant. He convinced the aquarist in charge to move the bat ray into the big non-touching Open Sea exhibit.

      As Tristan watched the bat ray swim alongside one of the big stingrays, a hammerhead shark swam across the tank right next to the viewing window. Then it did a U-turn and swam back.

      “What’s it doing?” Sam asked.

      “That’s the shark with the weak left eye that kept swimming in circles. Remember, the other night when you guys were with Hugh at the giant octopus tank, I was here helping the hammerhead learn how to swim straight. It’s just showing off now.”

      “Speaking of the giant octopus,” Hugh said. “I better go by the tank and check things out.”

      The teens took a short detour to the giant Pacific octopus exhibit.

      “Looks okay to me, dude,” Ryder noted.

      Hugh pointed to a large pink sea star at the base of the rocks in the display. “Yeah, except I think that’s one of the sea stars from the touch tank.”

      The teens looked closer at the five-armed crawler. Suddenly, a large red arm with giant white suckers slithered to the sea star and lovingly caressed it.

      “Oh boy, that guy’s a real monster, all right,” Rosina snickered.

      “What can I say, he’s a friendly giant octopus,” Hugh said.

      “Yeah, and still a kleptomaniac,” Tristan laughed. The octopus was infamous for its after-hours thieving. At night, when all the visitors and staff had gone home, the huge red octopus liked to slither out of its tank and take things. In the morning, the staff often found play toys from the otters’ tank stuffed into and under the rocks in the octopus’s tank. Several signs had been jimmied off the walls and had also ended up in the exhibit. The octopus seemed particularly fond of signs that read Stop Here and No Flash Please. One morning, the staff even found a Barbie doll in the giant octopus exhibit. A young visitor must have left it behind in the aquarium. It gave everyone a real start when they found the doll, upside down, legs sticking up with its head stuffed into the mouth of a giant anemone, in the exhibit. Sometimes the octopus would kidnap other creatures, like the sea star, and place them in its tank as well.

      “C’mon, he’s trying to break the habit,” Hugh said. “It took me three nights of convincing and, of course, the video footage from the security cameras, to get him to confess. After that, the guy in charge agreed to put some toys in his tank at night and add a few new tank mates.”

      Tristan had been with Hugh for moral support on one of the nights he was trying to get the octopus to confess. Hugh was used to working with Old “six arm” Jack, the elderly octopus back at the Rehab Center at camp. But Monterey’s bright-red octopus was about ten times larger—hence the name giant Pacific octopus. Its four-foot-long arms were lined with huge white suction cups, and its bulbous head was nearly two feet across. Hugh had become pretty good about swimming with sea creatures and talking to them, but the giant octopus kind of freaked him out.

      As they walked out the aquarium exit, Hugh said, “Remind me to tell someone about the kidnapped sea star.”

      The group was staying with Pete, the aquarium’s director of communications, at his house nearby. As Tristan got ready for bed, he wondered what new tasks they’d be assigned next at the aquarium. For the most part, he liked their nights there. He felt like they were accomplishing something useful and helping out in ways other people couldn’t. Plus, at night it was quiet with only a few people around. The daytime crowds made Tristan nervous. He was constantly looking over his shoulder, wondering if people were staring at him or the others weirdly or if Rickerton had discovered where they were and had sent a goon or two to spy on them. Back at camp, Tristan had hoped they’d be able to help search for Rickerton. But once Director Davis sent the teens to the aquarium to hide, suggesting that they may not be safe at home, Tristan lost a little of his nerve.

       2

       NIGHT DUTY

      THE NEXT NIGHT, THE TEENS WERE ASSIGNED TWO new tasks: one in the sea otter enclosure, the other in the giant kelp exhibit. They decided to go to the kelp exhibit first. It was one of the aquarium’s centerpieces, meant to showcase the lush beds of giant kelp growing along California’s coast.

      In the soft glow that lit the aquarium’s passageways at night, Tristan stood staring at the giant kelp tank. It was eerily dark, and he saw little but his own reflection on the sixteen-foot-tall viewing window.

      Ryder cupped his hands around his face and stuck his nose up against the clear acrylic wall. “Can’t see a thing.”

      Pete was with them. “Ready for your next job?” he asked.

      The teens nodded uncertainly.

      “How about a little swim in the kelp?” asked the approaching senior kelp curator. She was carrying a bucket.

      Tristan didn’t think the others looked ready to dive into the inky blackness of the massive giant kelp exhibit. He wasn’t so sure either. During the day, with sunlight illuminating the tank from above, the giant kelp exhibit was bright and lively. The towering, yellowy-brown seaweed resembled tall, rubbery trees with skinny stalks and long, floppy fronds for branches. And all sorts of wondrous creatures swam about, like small schools of silver sardines and silky smooth leopard sharks. But at night, the giant kelp tank reminded Tristan of a pitch-black underwater forest full of hidden creatures. It was downright creepy.

      “What’s the problem here?” Hugh asked nervously.

      “No problem,” the curator responded. “Windows just need cleaning.” She handed each of the teens a soft brush from her bucket.

      “I thought you had divers to do that,” Rosina said grumpily.

      “Oh, we do, but it will be nice to give them a break. It’s a big job to keep all that acrylic clean and free of algae.”

      The curator led the teens behind the scenes to the top of the tank. Along with the brush, each was given a wetsuit, a small headlamp, and weights to make them neutrally buoyant. In addition, they each got a suction cup with a handle on it.

      Tristan looked down into the dark water. The kelp swayed gently due to the motion of a nearby wave machine. A small fin sliced through the water at the surface. The others turned anxiously to him.

      “Leopard shark,” he told them.

      “It’s very safe,” the curator said. “Our divers go in there all the time. Nothing to worry about.”

      The teens each popped a rubbery, red pill into their mouths. It was the latest and most concentrated version of Sea Camp’s amazing algae water. A compound from the СКАЧАТЬ