During the week that followed more and more time was spent in the labs, Clay and Bill sat talking about what they'd found during this summer's explorations. Figuring out what it meant was harder work than collecting the data.

They'd be examining their notes and processing the information they would take home with them for the next year. Clay would be able to compare the things he found in the Pacific with what he found in the Gulf. He'd need to write reports on it and send Bill copies.

Bill's first station in marine biology was the Gulf of Mexico. He'd branched out over the years before Mr. John Sinclair selected him as the man to champion the world's waterways using the Horizon.

Clay hadn't worked this closely with any one before. Discussing what they'd just found after a dive was far more enlightening than writing notes after a dive. Having only his own brain to explain the significance of what he was fining wasn't nearly as informative as sitting and talking to a fellow marine biologist.

Bill and him did a lot of talking when Clay was learning to be a marine biologist. This talking was far more involved than when Bill was teaching him the trade. His college professor had a way of making Clay feel more important than he actually was.

Clay would love nothing more than going with Bill every summer but he knew that wasn't happening. He enjoyed every minute of the research trip. Harry wasn't about to give him another summer off to sail the seven seas.

For the first time Clay had thoughts about his relationship with the Sanibel Island Conservancy holding him back. There were opportunities waiting for him, like the one Bill wanted him to take.

Harry was responsible for what Clay had become. Harry paved the way for Clay to become his man in the Gulf of Mexico before he was Harry's man in front of the Environmental Committee in the Senate. It was Harry's man meeting other senators, scientists, and men who held the levers of power in their grasp.

Harry saw to it Clay was educated, informed, and heard. Senator Harry McCallister went to congress to become the environmental congressman before he became the environmental senator. Harry went to congress with an ace in the hole, Clayton Olson.

Harry was a wealthy man with planes, cars, and boats, not to mention an eighteen-room mansion with a theater, offices, and a swimming pool. Harry could have played his life away, except he was left the responsibility for the Sanibel Island Conservancy, and that responsibility superseded everything else.

Clay would do anything Harry asked him to do. He didn't always need to like it. Clay was happy living and working near the cove. It was the place where he felt like he belonged. It's where Ivan Aleksa lived, which was the most important thing, and the thought made him smile. He missed the cove and it would be good to get home.

Clay liked his life and when Bill asked him to go next year, Clay would say he'd talk to Harry, but he already knew the answer. They could say maybe and leave it at that. It left hope alive but as much respect as Harry had for Bill, the Gulf was Harry's baby and Clay was Harry's man in the Gulf.

Clay took Harry's offer when it was made. There was no almost or maybe in any part of what Harry offered and asked for. Harry told Clay he needed him. Because Clay took Harry's offer, Harry had gone to Washington to try to save the planet from the destruction man was orchestrating for the earth.

Dylan and Logan weren't doing photography in the final days they'd be together this summer. Logan wanted Dylan's help with arranging the scenes to tell a cohesive story about the summer's research voyage.

There was plenty of footage that Dylan took to put together a second documentary. The second documentary would belong to Dylan. It was taken on the film he'd brought from home and it was all taken on Dylan's underwater camera.

Dylan was not employed as a member of the research team. Logan was employed by Bill and the university to create a documentary on Bill's work in the Pacific Ocean. The contract Logan signed said, "The university owns all rights to the film you take. The university will approve of what is presented as the documentary on board the Horizon on her 1983 research trip."

There were no stipulations about any photography Dylan did and with a clear conscience, Logan helped Dylan create a documentary about the same trip.

No one needed to approve a single frame and Dylan was free to show it to anyone he pleased.

Logan turned over all his footage on what they found behind the reef to Bill. He signed a contract and as far as anyone knew, he honored it as it was written. When he handed over the footage taken behind the reef, he held nothing back. He'd actually developed it and had it ready to present if someone asked to see it.

What Logan knew, Dylan shot close to the same footage Logan shot. Dylan shot it with his camera and on his film. When Bill came in to see what was taken, Dylan's film was in the undeveloped film container next to the reels that had been developed.

Logan wasn't as thoughtful or as careful as Dylan's father, but he wasn't a fool either. There was something mysterious about that place. If something came up about it later on, he knew Dylan would keep that film safe and Clay would know why he did it that way.

He put the film together with Dylan's assistance and approval but by that time he knew Dylan well enough to know what footage he'd want in his documentary and by putting it in Dylan's hands, it would remain safe from fire, theft, and careless accidents. He could honestly say, 'Not one frame was copied.'

Once they were both happy with the production, Logan told Dylan, "Take this to your cabin. Pack it away for the trip home."

Logan didn't need a copy. He didn't want to risk pissing off his employer. Dylan would let him copy the film if he asked.

Logan found Dylan to be the kind of student who taught the teacher. As a student, he learned quickly and he became an important part of the documentary Logan was making. Dylan made this summer's research trip a better experience for the film maker.

Logan was smart enough to listen to things Dylan said. Dylan saw things with a clarity Logan feared he didn't have. He didn't need any help putting together a documentary film but he wanted to hear what Dylan had to say as they spliced the scenes together.

The Tangle rescue played shortly after they'd established where they were and what they were doing. They both added narration that would be replaced later in Logan's studio.

From time to time Bill would come to the door of the film lab to listen. Logan had seen him more than once. He never came in while Dylan and him were editing the documentary. After a few minutes he'd walk away. It was the reason why the smart move was to edit Dylan's documentary first and get it safely tucked away.

When Bill asked to see what they'd done so far, he was happy to haul it and show him. It was a thrilling documentary when many documentary films were devoid of excitement. The underwater world came complete with excitement built in.

There was enough excitement that Logan hadn't gone back in the water since his brush with ending the documentary on the floor of the Pacific Ocean. He was ready to go back in the water, but everyone was so involved in the labs that only Bill and Clay went diving on the new site. No one suggested he go along to film the action.

With Clay and Dylan scheduled to leave soon, the time in the labs offered the final opportunity for them to contribute. Logan would be sorry to see Dylan go and he was sure Bill felt the same way about Clay leaving. There were a million things to say and only a few days left to get them said.

The atmosphere on the Horizon was casual. Everyone went about his business until the final night before the trip back to Guam. Logan mentioned showing the documentary before Clay and Dylan left.

No one said they wanted to take him up on the offer, but after dinner that night, there was line outside the film lab. Everyone was present in the film and they all enjoyed that. There were long segments when nothing was said, but nothing needed to be said. The beauty, the serene quality of the underwater world said it all.

The Tangle rescue was a huge hit and everyone applauded. When Logan said, 'We owe that footage to my apprentice, Dylan. Don't expect me to compete with that.'

"This is subject to change once I get into my studio, Dylan, but I'll try to keep it as close to what we've agreed on here," Logan said, once the film finished rolling.

"Kewl," Dylan said. "You're the filmmaker. You do it your way. If anything, I have to say is helpful, great," Dylan said. "I feel like I know how to shoot film and edit it. You've been a big help."

"I like the way your voice sounds on the narrations you've done. I want to keep as much of your narration as I'm able. Especially when you describe the Tangle rescue," Logan said. "You're the one who filmed it and you describe it better than I can."

"Kewl," Dylan said, liking the sound of it.

Dylan got to work with a professional filmmaker from when the establishing shots were taken to a scene with Bill and his father coming back from a dive and getting out of the water toward the end of the documentary. Logan thought that would be the final scene but there were a few weeks of the research trip left.

It was editing Dylan needed the most help with. He'd watched Logan as he did the editing on the documentary. They'd spent hours talking about his technique and hours more were spent with Dylan editing film he'd taken.

Dylan learned to duplicate Logan's moves. Now, all that was left for him to do was practice, practice, practice.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

By the time they were ready to say goodbye, Dylan thought of Logan as a friend and teacher. When he left the cove, he couldn't have dreamed the summer would be any better than it had been. He'd left home for the first time. He'd spent his summer with people he didn't know and it couldn't have gone better.

No one on the Horizon thought of him as a kid.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

It was common knowledge that a portion of this year's research trip was about to end. Clay and Dylan would fly back to Florida in another week. There was a fondness the men on board the Horizon developed for the research team by the time Clay and Dylan were scheduled to fly back home.

Bill, Clay, Dylan, and Logan could be found in the galley often between dawn and midnight. They mostly talked business, but Logan had questions about the young marine biologist and his son. Logan was most impacted by their departure. He might never cross paths with either Dylan or his father again. They did not travel in the same circles. Clay rarely left the Gulf of Mexico for long.

As Bill gave his opinion to Logan about something on the documentary, Clay and Dylan listened.

"Some of the opening sequences I've decided to use and the five minutes of the Tangle rescue I put in were shot by Dylan. His name will go right under mine in the credits. It's only fair I give him credit. He has been a big help to me and not simply his movie making savvy. His opinions have helped to guide me. I will miss you, Dylan."

Dylan blushed and didn't say anything. It wasn't his decision and if he'd helped the filmmaker, that was enough recognition for him.

"That's quite an honor," Bill said. "Dylan has his first credit on a major documentary film."

Clay patted Logan's hand and smiled. He didn't have anything to say either. Logan had to make his own rules and decide what credit he wanted to give to those who contributed to his film making.

"Anyone make a Tangle sighting lately," Logan asked a question he'd asked before.

"No," Bill said. "I don't think he followed us after we left the first site. He seemed to have found a mate and I image they're off making little Tangles."

Dylan and Logan chucked over Tangle having a family of its own.

"He wouldn't be doing anything if you hadn't seen him, Logan," Clay said.

"Do you really think he followed us so he could return the favor?" Logan asked, preferring not to think of the day Tangle saved him from the shark.

"He followed us," Bill said. "He saw you were in danger and he eliminated the threat to you. In the meantime, he met his mate. I'd say it worked out well for both of you."

It was a question Logan found no satisfactory answer for.

It was on the bridge over coffee with Captain Hertzog the subject of the Scorpion came up.

"I think some of my best footage was taken from the bridge," Logan said. "You have a spectacular view. The shots from the Scorpion are the only shots that equal the shots from the bridge.

"Why is the Scorpion the Scorpion?" Dylan asked.

"I can tell you the answer to that," Captain Hertzog said. "John Sinclair designed the Horizon and the Scorpion. He died before either were completed but he picked both names before his death."

"John Sinclair picked that name to honor the nuclear submarine and its crew of 99 sailors. On June 30, 1968, the Scorpion went down with all hands on board in the Atlantic Ocean," Captain Hertzog said. "There was no one who could tell the story of the final hours of the USS Scorpion."

"What happened?" Dylan asked.

"They found her two miles deep on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. A geological team made the discovery, although they weren't searching for her. They were going about their business and there she was. If the navy was searching, no one said. I think they were. With radar and sonar technology improving, the odds were in favor of it being found one day."

"No attempt was made to recover the Scorpion from her watery grave," Captain Hertzog said. "They belonged to the sea."

The Scorpion had been employed to get a view of the second site Bill wanted samples from. Bill, Clay, and Dylan took the ride and there were no unusual characteristics of the much smaller reef.

It was at the second site that Dylan was allowed to dive with two tanks, twice a day. With Logan still being a bit shaken over his brush with the shark, he only went diving twice on the second reef but he didn't need a lot of footage of the less spectacular reef. He forced himself to take those two dives, even if he left earlier than the rest of that summer's research team.

There was no excitement or new discoveries on the second site. It was mostly routine. They took water samples and samples of the life they found there. They paid particular attention the numbers and health of the youngest members that swam around the coral reef.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Fresh fruits and vegetables Greek bargained for on Guam furnished new dishes that continued to tantalize the taste buds. The galley remained the most popular place to gather before and after meals and the Greek was sure to deliver memorable desserts.

There wasn't anyone who wouldn't miss Clay and Dylan. Men didn't speak of their feelings, but no one liked parting with friends. One by one, after the feast Greek prepared was devoured and the desserts all eaten, one by one each person said good night and retired to his cabin.

It was the last night and Dylan fought his feelings of loss. It was another new thing to add to his experiences that summer. He really liked the people on the Horizon and saying goodbye wasn't easy.

Dylan stayed to wash the dishes and to help Greek get things ready for breakfast.

Clay went to his cabin to write in his journal. It had been an amazing day after an equally amazing summer. He was immediately writing about the events of the day, when he hesitated. He thought of Ivan and smiled. They'd be together after two more days.

"Have I ever told you how much I love you?" Clay asked no one.

After breakfast Dylan went to the coiled rope on the bow. The seas were rough from a storm passing hundreds of miles away. This was how Dylan's journey began and it was how he wanted it to end.

There was a beauty here that no picture could capture. There was the feel of it, the smells and sounds. It was like nothing else he'd experienced before.

Dylan felt like he became a man on the Horizon.

Certainly Dylan missed home but he'd miss these strangers he'd come to know. It took a while to accept the new group of people into his life but he had and he would miss each and everyone of them. He might be homesick because he was a kid but he'd had the experience of a lifetime. He was sorry it was coming to an end.

Clay met with Bill over coffee and Greek brought a piping hot coffee cake to the table for them to nibble on. Even Greek was sad to see Clay and especially Dylan go.

After Dylan ate his breakfast, one that would have made any longshoreman proud, he washed his dishes as he usually did. He turned before leaving the galley and he hugged Greek.

Dylan left the feisty cook crying. Not a word needed to be said.

Dolf brought the bags onto the deck, putting them near where the two passengers would leave the ship once it docked.

There were hugs all around and a few tears passed the yardarm in passing. The crew watched as Clay and Dylan disappeared down the pier to get into the waiting cab and head for the airport.

Clay and Dylan had a two hour wait before they'd board the flight that would take them to Honolulu where they'd get a flight to Miami after another wait of several hours. Being about as fresh as they expected to be over the next two days, they dashed in and out of shops to pass the time. There was little you couldn't buy but Clay and Dylan stuck to food.

Dylan was the loudest dressed person no matter where they went. His audaciously loud Hawaiian shirt got lots of laughs. As audacious Hawaiian shirts went.

They went in and out of the shops that were in front of the terminal after checking their bags. They made sure they got a hot meal and a few candy bars to take along.

Once the plane loaded Dylan wanted the window seat so he could look for the Horizon, which would have left the harbor by that time.

While it was still the middle of the afternoon once the plane was moving toward the runway where they'd take off, a sudden wind made the plane shutter. The sky began to darken and within five minutes it was raining so hard they couldn't see beyond the wing's tip on their side of the plane.

They sat at the end of the runway for over an hour before the pilot came on the intercom.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we've been asked to return to the terminal. This sudden storm will need to blow itself out before we can take off. We're told it isn't expected to let up for the next few hours. You'll have a chance to stretch your legs but don't stray too far from the terminal. Once it improves, we'll take off immediately. Thank you."

It was two more hours before the plane loaded again. It was still raining but not nearly as hard and the sky showed signs of clearing just before dark was setting in. Their flight was the first to charge down the runway and climb into the sky heading eastward.

Once they reached Honolulu, Clay got a hotel room so they could get a few hours sleep. The following morning they called Ivan after calling the airport to make sure the plane would leave on time.

Ivan picked up the phone on the second ring.

"Cove Campground," Ivan said.

"You sound quite spiffy this morning," Clay said.

"Yeah, I am. My lover's coming home. I can't wait. I'm expecting him to call. I don't want to tie up this line," Ivan replied.

"Ivan, you hang up on me and I'm going to give you what for," Clay said.

"Hey, hey, what for is exactly what I want to give you, babe," Ivan said.

"Cut it out. We got delayed on Guam. We missed our connecting flight. We got into Honolulu in the middle of the night. I got a hotel room and we'll go back to the airport after I get off the phone. We should get a flight out this morning. I don't know if it will be a direct flight into Miami but I'll let you know what time we'll get there if nothing else slows us down."

"I'll be waiting for you no matter how long it takes, babe. How's the kid?"

"He's holding up better than I am. He loved the voyage. I loved the voyage. He's looking forward to getting back home. I'm looking forward to being home. It was an amazing trip, Ivan." Clay said.

"And you'll tell me all about it when you get here. These phone calls are costing a fortune. I can wait to hear about it. You know I love you and I'd talk to you all day, but then you'd miss your plane and we'd need to wait longer to get face to face," Ivan said.

"I'll call when I have the time we'll get into Miami," Clay said.

"Kewl," Ivan said. "Enjoy your flight, babe. You know I'm going to lock you in my bedroom for a week once you get home. We have some catching up to do and I'm just the guy to do it."

"Promises, promises," Clay said. "I can't wait. I miss you, Ivan."

"Well hurry up and get here and we'll stop missing each other," Ivan said. "By, babe."

Clay held the phone long after Ivan hung up. He couldn't wait to get home. As great as the summer had been, the man he loved was waiting for him.

That thought gave him goosebumps all over.


Send Rick an email at quillswritersrealm@yahoo.com

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