A Plan of Action

The conversation quickly ended with Dr. Volk agreeing to return to Avua'tutu. I waited until Laughlin and I had left the building where the transmitter was located before noting, "That can't be a coincidence."

"I completely agree. I am planning on getting onto that island and finding out what is going on. Are you game?"

I raised an eyebrow. Usually I was the impulsive one. "And if we find a ring of armed smugglers who take exception to our poking around, what do you propose we do then?"

"Run."

"Succinct. How do you propose we get there?"

"Actually, that should be pretty easy. We rent an excursion boat and buy some snorkeling gear and just go out. Around dusk, after a good rest, we just swim. I figure that things like dive knives and spear guns should arouse absolutely no attention, so we should be able to go at least somewhat armed. Should be fun."

"You have an interesting idea of fun, Dr. Laughlin. I take it you've done this sort of thing before?" I could only hope.

"If I had done it before, then it wouldn't be nearly as much fun," he laughingly responded. "Didn't you ever want to be like Bond when you were a kid? Maybe we should watch Dr. No before we go to get some ideas?"

Oh great. That's just what I needed, a civilian with an adventure complex. I briefly considered parting ways with 'Mr. Bond,' before he managed to get himself, or me, killed, but I knew he'd head out to the island anyway, with or without me. I sighed. "Or we could do a little planning," I suggested. "Did you ever talk to Theresa after her first collapse about what she remembered right before it happened? I'm wondering if it was something she saw, or felt."

"She didn't understand what had happened at all. She just collapsed. What is to plan? We have no idea what is out there, so I say we grab a bag lunch and head out into the great unknown. And no, I am not on any medication."

I gave him a dubious look. "Are you always this...impulsive?"

"Actually, no. I don't really know what has come over me, but for some reason I want to get onto that island as quickly as possible."

"That's interesting, since for some reason the idea of going to that island is making me a bit uneasy," I admitted. "Although I suppose that could just be an effect of those...hmm, that reminds me, do you know much about possible occult statues? I saw a couple the other day, and I found them very disturbing. Nightmarish, even. If I showed you a sketch, do you think you could identify them?"

"I probably could make as good of an attempt at identifying them as anyone else, but it would certainly be much easier if I could actually SEE the statues. Where are they located, and do you have any idea which culture and period they seem to be from?"

I shook my head, not wanting to get into how I'd come across them. "Hey, you're the expert, I'm just a fan." I reached into my bag and handed him the sketches I'd drawn the previous night. "That's the best I could do at reproducing them. Strangely enough, it wasn't that hard. Talk about images that just won't get out of your head." I indicated the second drawing, the one of the monster rising out of the sea. "That one was on a tablet. The other one was a rather large statue, about four feet in height."

Laughlin studied them for a minute. "If I had to guess, I would go Babylonian, but in all honesty they look like something straight out of Lovecraft."

I nodded. "Yeah, the nightmare I had was straight out of Lovecraft, too. That's probably what's making me so edgy about the idea of going out on the water again."

"Where did you see these? I would really like to get a better look at them. I can understand not wanting to go near the water when you have Lovecraft on the brain, but I really don't think we need to worry about Cthulu coming after us. If he was already hanging around here, then there wouldn't be a whole lot we could do anyway."

"Oh, that makes me feel a whole lot better," I responded sarcastically. I wasn't afraid of some horror movie monster, anyway. I didn't know what I was afraid of, really. That's what was so disturbing about it.

Since Laughlin obviously wasn't going to stop asking me where I'd seen the statues, I settled on giving him a variation of the truth. "As for getting a better look at them, that'll be kind of hard, since I was peeking in someone's window at the time, and he was packing them away in crates."

"Who is this guy, and where are the crates? Maybe there are some still out. And what were you doing peeking in someone's window?"

I shrugged in what I hoped looked like a nonchalant manner, having expected that question. "He's this creep who tried to pick me up at the bar yesterday. I brushed him off, and the bartender warned me that he tended to treat women pretty violently. So when I saw a light on at his bungalow, I decided to peek in...just in case he had some other woman in there." I managed to look a little embarrassed. "I have a bit of an overactive imagination. Anyway, he wasn't in there with a woman, but he did have a lot of crates in there...the room was full of them. The two I showed you were the ones he was in the process of packing away. I guess he's going to ship them somewhere."

"I think I might have met the particular creep that you are talking about. Does he have a Louisiana accent?" Laughlin looked kind of thoughtful. "I wouldn't mind finding out that that particular bastard was doing something illegal, like smuggling artwork. It would be a wonderful excuse to get him in a place where his attitudes towards women could be properly dealt with. Maybe he might even come out of the closet."

"Actually, he does have a southern accent," I admitted, surprised that the two had met. "Blond hair, a bit on the big side, with blue eyes. Sound familiar?"

"Sounds like our guy." Laughlin grinned. "I guess we have a couple of different ways to have fun today. We can screw with a big hick and try to get him sent to jail, or we can try to wake up Cthulu. Of course, we could also sit in the conference and listen to crazy people, or lay on the beach and drink fruity drinks. I think one of the first two would be more interesting, at least personally."

The man had an unusual definition of interesting. Not to mention fun. "While I wouldn't mind screwing up the 'big hick,' as you put it, I think he's rather dangerous. I wouldn't treat him lightly, if I were you." Think hell, I knew he was dangerous. The last thing I wanted was Laughlin getting mixed up with him. Which meant turning the good professor's attention back to the island. "If he is smuggling artwork, perhaps the island is where the statues are being delivered to?" I suggested.

"I find it highly unlikely that the island is the point where the statues are getting delivered. There isn't anyone there, and it is within sight of the shore. I am still very curious as to what is going on out there, though. Shall we organize an outing? I think the hotel would be more than happy to put together a picnic lunch for us."

"Oh hell, why not? The lectures have been boring, anyway." And I was curious to know what was going on on that island too, even if I still couldn't be sure Stroeker was connected to it.

"Delightful, I'll start getting things in motion. Are you scuba certified?"

I nodded. "It's been a while since I've indulged in it, though."

"As long as you have the certification, then we shouldn't have any problems getting the equipment that we need. I figure I'll set up a boat rental for a small fishing boat tomorrow, we'll get some snorkeling gear or scuba gear, some dive knives, spear guns and a really nice picnic lunch arranged, and then head out for some 'fishing.'"

I was surprised that he was willing to wait until tomorrow, given how anxious he'd been to get out to the island. On the other hand, given all of the equipment we needed, and the fact that it was already around noon, it didn't seem likely that we'd be able to get everything ready in time to do any real diving today.

"So I'll see you in the morning?" Laughlin asked.

I nodded and headed off to get my scuba gear, still not quite believing what I'd agreed to. A secret expedition to an undersea cave on a mysterious island... This trip was not turning out like I'd expected.

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Last modified on September 6, 2000 by Kris Fazzari.