The Thing Revisited
Shaffer grinned back, and replied "I think your right, and we've got more important things to check out than swordfish this morning." Turning, the two men descended deeper into the bowels of the ship, making their way toward the engine rooms for the daily inspection.
On deck, Davison called "Hey Captain, you hear me?" Davison was surprised that Captain Shaffer couldn't hear him; the wind on deck was very low today and nothing had reached his ears this morning except the occasional call of a sea bird or the methodical cracking of polar ice under the weight of the Polar Star.
While nothing unusual had greeted Davison's ears, a highly unusual sight had greeted him off the port side of the ship. A large husky dog was sitting patiently on a large contiguous block of ice jutting from the Antarctic mainland 2 miles distant. How the dog had reached this barren area of the Antarctic coast, without the seeming appearance of any human assistance struck Davison as phenomenally odd, but such a singular dog demanded immediate rescue.
Realizing the importance of not allowing the ship to slip to far away from the dog in case he should lose sight of it, Davison yelled "Hey, there is a dog out here on the ice someone come take a look!" Turning his back toward the dog to go and look for some assistance and perhaps to mount a rescue operation for the dog, Davison heard an bone chilling screeching howl over his shoulder.
Rounding quickly and looking back toward the spot where the dog had been, Davison saw the dog running forward with incredible speed over the artic ice toward the ship. Davison wondered whether the dog could have been the origin of such an awful sound.
The notion that the dog had realized that the ship was pulling away without rescue solidified in Davison mind. Unmindful of the futility of the action, Davison leaned over the railing of the deck and yelled out at the dog saying, "No boy, the ice is too broken up out here, stay back!"
Amazingly, the dog only seemed to pick up more speed as it made it's way over the cracked and dangerous ice. Suddenly, the dog made tremendous leap from the artic ice that carried it 15 feet up the outside surface of the Polar Star's hull, where it collided and fell downward onto the ice cracked and pushed aside by the Polar Star's passage.
Astounded that the dog could leap nearly half of the ship length to the floor of the main deck, Davison looked downward and in search of what he feared would be the dog's lifeless body. The violence of the dog's impact against the hull of ship left little doubt in Davison's mind that the dog would have received broken bones at best and instantaneous death at worst.
When Davison was able to again see the dog over the bow of the Polar Star's hull, the sight that greeted him chilled his bones more so than any artic wind.
The dog clung to a chunk of polar ice at a precarious position that threatened to capitulate and send the dog backward into the artic waters. The dog erupted in a wail that was much like the uncanny sound that Davison had heard earlier, but the sound was increased in pitch and made Davison's skin crawl because of it's alien nature. What appeared to be blood began to pour from the dog's ears, nose, and mouth. The dog's eyes appeared to burst inside of their sockets, and a moment later the dog's skull seem to split open in an nightmarish shape of blood covered, bone encrusted lotus flower. What appeared to be a tongue whipped out of the dog/creature's mouth, searching for purchase against the surface of the icy block.
Slowly and horribly, the dog/creature began to slip under the surface of the water, tongue whipping violently back and forth in a seemingly involuntary fashion that sickened Davison's stomach. Another horrid scream erupted from the creatures orifice where it's face had been, and suddenly it was gone below the surface of the water.
Davison staggered against the railing of the deck and vomited what felt to be the entire contents of his stomach over the side of the ship. A green, brown and reddish hued vomit stream fanned out and below where he stood, solidifying against the cold and smooth surface of the Polar Star's outer hull.
That night, Davison tried to relate his horrifying story over the Mess Hall table to the crew of the Polar Star. Davison's mentor Dr. Ramos smiled over her dinner plate, trying to sound reassuring while relating that no dog could act in such a manner, as Davison responded again and again in kind that he realizes that it obviously was no dog, but it had been out there on the ice.
Regardless, it had been some sort of thing, and Davison hoped to never see its like again.
On deck, Davison called "Hey Captain, you hear me?" Davison was surprised that Captain Shaffer couldn't hear him; the wind on deck was very low today and nothing had reached his ears this morning except the occasional call of a sea bird or the methodical cracking of polar ice under the weight of the Polar Star.
While nothing unusual had greeted Davison's ears, a highly unusual sight had greeted him off the port side of the ship. A large husky dog was sitting patiently on a large contiguous block of ice jutting from the Antarctic mainland 2 miles distant. How the dog had reached this barren area of the Antarctic coast, without the seeming appearance of any human assistance struck Davison as phenomenally odd, but such a singular dog demanded immediate rescue.
Realizing the importance of not allowing the ship to slip to far away from the dog in case he should lose sight of it, Davison yelled "Hey, there is a dog out here on the ice someone come take a look!" Turning his back toward the dog to go and look for some assistance and perhaps to mount a rescue operation for the dog, Davison heard an bone chilling screeching howl over his shoulder.
Rounding quickly and looking back toward the spot where the dog had been, Davison saw the dog running forward with incredible speed over the artic ice toward the ship. Davison wondered whether the dog could have been the origin of such an awful sound.
The notion that the dog had realized that the ship was pulling away without rescue solidified in Davison mind. Unmindful of the futility of the action, Davison leaned over the railing of the deck and yelled out at the dog saying, "No boy, the ice is too broken up out here, stay back!"
Amazingly, the dog only seemed to pick up more speed as it made it's way over the cracked and dangerous ice. Suddenly, the dog made tremendous leap from the artic ice that carried it 15 feet up the outside surface of the Polar Star's hull, where it collided and fell downward onto the ice cracked and pushed aside by the Polar Star's passage.
Astounded that the dog could leap nearly half of the ship length to the floor of the main deck, Davison looked downward and in search of what he feared would be the dog's lifeless body. The violence of the dog's impact against the hull of ship left little doubt in Davison's mind that the dog would have received broken bones at best and instantaneous death at worst.
When Davison was able to again see the dog over the bow of the Polar Star's hull, the sight that greeted him chilled his bones more so than any artic wind.
The dog clung to a chunk of polar ice at a precarious position that threatened to capitulate and send the dog backward into the artic waters. The dog erupted in a wail that was much like the uncanny sound that Davison had heard earlier, but the sound was increased in pitch and made Davison's skin crawl because of it's alien nature. What appeared to be blood began to pour from the dog's ears, nose, and mouth. The dog's eyes appeared to burst inside of their sockets, and a moment later the dog's skull seem to split open in an nightmarish shape of blood covered, bone encrusted lotus flower. What appeared to be a tongue whipped out of the dog/creature's mouth, searching for purchase against the surface of the icy block.
Slowly and horribly, the dog/creature began to slip under the surface of the water, tongue whipping violently back and forth in a seemingly involuntary fashion that sickened Davison's stomach. Another horrid scream erupted from the creatures orifice where it's face had been, and suddenly it was gone below the surface of the water.
Davison staggered against the railing of the deck and vomited what felt to be the entire contents of his stomach over the side of the ship. A green, brown and reddish hued vomit stream fanned out and below where he stood, solidifying against the cold and smooth surface of the Polar Star's outer hull.
That night, Davison tried to relate his horrifying story over the Mess Hall table to the crew of the Polar Star. Davison's mentor Dr. Ramos smiled over her dinner plate, trying to sound reassuring while relating that no dog could act in such a manner, as Davison responded again and again in kind that he realizes that it obviously was no dog, but it had been out there on the ice.
Regardless, it had been some sort of thing, and Davison hoped to never see its like again.
