Slither - Edward Lee [79]
"Someone I don't know about. So maybe the army is using the island for something ... and I don't know about that, either."
Trent snapped open his cell phone, hit a dial key, then waited.
"Damn," he said.
"Busy?"
"No, just static. I'd say we were in a bad cell out here, but my cell phone worked fine yesterday and the day before." He dialed another number and got the same effect.
Nora called the college, just to see if she'd get through. "I'm getting static, too. Sort of a throbbing buzz."
"Have you made any other calls?"
"A couple times since we got here. The reception was fine. Maybe a tower went down, or a solar flare broke up some satellite waves."
Trent kept his phone to his ear, listening. Then he shook his head and closed the phone. "The way the static rises and falls ..."
"Yeah?"
"It almost sounds like a military signal jammer."
Nora frowned. "That doesn't make sense."
Trent thought about it and shrugged. Then he agreed, "You're right, that's ridiculous. I'm sure it's just a good old case of technical difficulties. Why would anybody jam us?"
(III)
"Loren? Do you mind if I snorkel without my top on?" Annabelle asked. The large, tan-line-delineated breasts stared back at him as if they themselves awaited the answer.
Loren amused himself by imagining an array of responses. Of course I mind! What kind of an immoral cad do you think 1 am? Or, I would find that unduly offensive, Annabelle. Better yet: That's sexual harassment! Expect to hear from my attorney!
"I-I-I ... don't mind at all," he said.
"Oh, that's good." The breasts rose in a perfect pose when she adjusted her diving mask. "It feels so wonderfully natural underwater, you know?"
"Yeah," he droned.
The dark pink nipples-larger than poker chipsinfiltrated him like a hypnotist's totems. She was a centerfold come to life, standing before him in utter nonchalance. Nude now, save for the white thong's tiny triangle, she was all glimmering skin and voluptuous lines. I'll bet the suntan oil on her body weighs more than the thong, he thought.
When she leaned over to step into her flippers, Loren could've collapsed.
This is going to be a realy V wt day ...
Mask propped up on his forehead, Trent appeared from the trees. He almost dropped the flippers he was carrying when he noticed Annabelle. He paused to gulp. This is going to be a really great day ... the weather, I mean."
'Yeah, not a cloud in the, uh, sky," Loren added.
Annabelle giggled. "'That's great. A threesome.'
"I figured you might need some army expertise finding these bristleworms," Trent added.
'Me more, the merrier." Annabelle leaned over one more time to pick up her camera.
The beach really is the best place to appreciate natural beauty,' Loren remarked.
"I hear ya," Trent said.
"First time in my life I ever seen a woman wearing a Dorito."
"Come on, boys!" Annabelle strode off, attributes bobbing. Loren and Trent followed her like two puppies.
They waded in behind her. Mild surf lapped at their thighs.
You two know where the bristleworms are?" Trent asked. "Or is it just potluck?"
'Loren knows,' Annabelle called back. 'We'll follow him.'
Damn it! Loren thought. He wanted to be the one following her, considering what he'd be looking at. 'You remember, Annabelle," he urged. "We'll just swim out till we feel the cool-flow, then look down for the trench. The end with the yellow coral banks is where the nest is."
'Okay," she agreed. "'T'hen you guys can follow me."
"Smart move,' Trent said aside to Loren. There was no need to hide their obvious sexism. "She'll be snap ping pictures for a long time once we get to the nest. Which means plenty of eye time for us."
"Precisely."
Once they'd waded to chest-level, they all mouthed their snorkels and dove ...
Loren thought of floating within a liquid prism. The warm water seemed extra buoyant. He marveled at the sea's schools of silver fish flowing en masse like splinters of metal, clumps of