The passenger cabin around Lee Carter rattled and creaked, and the seat under her bucked and lurched as the commercial shuttlebus passed through atmospheric reentry, dislodging her train of thought. Sighing, she looked out the side window, saw the curved horizon of Serenity slowly flattening out, and the black of space fading first to deep purple then blue as the shuttle descended towards its landing.
Last night, after returning to the apartment after their meeting with the mysterious Mr. West down in the docks district, the arguments had begun about whether or not to trust the man, whether or not they should go with him, and if they went, should they all go? Each member of the team wanted to go and help save Sam, of course, but West had made it clear that the less people were involved the better. In the end, it was grudgingly agreed upon by all that Carter would be the best choice to go -- Alex wasn't experienced enough, Jo was a scientist, and Max would probably just wind up killing the man.
So here she was, surrounded by unwashed farmers, smelly fishermen, and live poultry, holding on for dear life as the shuttlebus plummeted like a stone towards Blue Lake. It had seemed a good idea at the time -- taking a non-Starfleet transport across the continent -- but as yet another nervous and squawking bundle of feathers fluttered and flurried past her face, she was starting to have her doubts.
She brushed some stray feathers out of her hair and looked at her watch. Twenty minutes to touchdown. She started counting the seconds.
Glancing across the aisle, she noticed that the man sitting opposite her was staring at her. He was middle-aged, and by his garb he looked to be a local rancher, and a battered hat was pulled low over his eyes. When he realized she'd noticed him, he quickly turned away, ears reddening. After a few seconds though, he slowly turned his head around again, trying to peek out of the corner of his eye if Carter was still watching him. When he saw that she was, he squirmed around as far as his seat would let him to face her.
"Beg pardon, ma'am," he said apologetically in a rich baritone voice, pushing the hat back on his head. "Weren't intendin' no harm to ya."
"Don't worry about it," replied Carter, not really in the mood to get into a conversation with this local.
"It's jes' I was noticin' how perty you was. You mus' be a tourist -- we ain't got women as perty as you in Blue Lake."
"Uh, thanks, mister," replied Carter, not feeling particularly flattered, and hoping this bumpkin wasn't trying to make a pass at her. "No, I'm not a tourist. I'm looking for a friend of mine."
"Name's Big Ned." He stuck out a large paw and shook Carter's hand roughly. "Friend's gone missin', has he?"
"She," corrected Carter automatically.
"Hmmph," snorted Big Ned. "He or she -- don't make no nevermind to ol' N'aahitka."
From a seat a few rows behind Carter and Ned, an grizzled old man interrupted at this point, interjecting his own opinion with a wheezing, unkind voice. "Not agin with the damn-fool boogieman stories, Ned! Don't you ever git tired o' makin' a damn fool o' yerself? Why don't you leave that poor girl alone?"
"Yeah!" grumbled yet another passenger, who was apparently also well acquainted with Ned.
"Shut yer pie-hole, Zeke!" shot back Ned, craning around to face his detractors. "You o' all people've got reason to believe, havin' lost yer own son to the beast!"
"Why you lyin' sack o'--" began Zeke. His face was red with anger, and he started rising from his seat and rolling up his sleeves in preparation for giving Ned a good thrashing, but the other passenger, the one who had agreed with him, pulled him back down, saying, "Take it easy Zeke. Ned's just a crazy ol' coot. Don't pay 'im no mind."
"What are you all talking about?" said Carter. "Who's this N'aahitka?"
"Heh! N'aahitka ain't a 'who', it's a 'what'," replied Ned, turning back to Carter, already having forgotten about Zeke. "The natives call it N'aahitka, but most folk roun' here jes' call it Ogopogo."
Now Carter knew what she'd gotten herself into here. Ogopogo was the local lake monster, named in honor of the mythical creature in Lake Okanagan on Earth -- sort of a Canadian version of the Loch Ness Monster. No one had ever managed to produce hard evidence that Canada's Ogopogo existed, and she was pretty sure the same was true of Serenity's monster. "My friend disappeared while in Serenity City, so I really don't think she was eaten by your monster, Ned," she said, hoping that would end the matter.
But Big Ned was not that easily deterred. "Don't be so quick to dismiss the notion, missy," he said sagely. "Half the people o' Blue Lake know somebody, or else know somebody who knows somebody who's gone a-missin'. Sometimes they wash up on shore a few days later an' git rushed over to the hospital, but the docs can't do nothin' for 'em, y'see, 'cause they've had their brains sucked out!"
That got Carter's full attention. "What did you say?"
Ned put up his hands pleadingly, mistaking Carter's question for criticism. He was probably used to getting pelted with ridicule (and rocks) at this point in his story. "Now don't go gittin' all judgmental," he complained. "It sounds like a crazy story, but I ain't crazy," he continued. "I seen it with my own two eyes."
"You've seen the monster?" asked Carter. Normally she wouldn't have bought into a ridiculous story like this, but the part about the victims having their brains sucked out sounded suspiciously like what West had said had happened to Sam.
"I seen it as plain as you're sittin' right there," said Ned. "I was settin' on the pier one night when it come. Two glowin' eyes, an evil shade o' green, an' a thick, black body jes' beneath the surface o' the lake, and then it was gone. Next mornin' two bodies washed up. They was still alive, but in a coma like all the rest, nuthin' left o' their minds."
Just then, a well-aimed in-flight magazine came sailing through the air from the rear of the cabin, smacking Ned in the back of the head and knocking his hat off, and putting an end to the conversation. Growling, Ned launched himself from his seat and stormed aftwards, aiming to teach Zeke and his friend some manners.
A scuffle started and stewardesses rushed in to separate the combatants, but Carter had ceased paying attention. Ned's story about a brain-sucking lake monster was far-fetched to say the least, and Sam had been nowhere near Blue Lake when she'd been abducted, but still, there must be a connection. To be told two brain-sucking stories, first by the mysterious Mr. West, then by a local resident -- two people who presumably had no connection to each other -- was just too much of a coincidence. There had to be at least a kernel of truth in there somewhere. But where? She hoped West would have some answers.
back to TOC