This Shoal of Space:

Preface   Chapter 1   Intralog  Part I-Chapter 2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   Part II-Chapter 66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   Outlog

Chapter 60.

A tuna boat set out from the north coast on a slightly choppy sea.

The sixty-foot gray boat strained under full power toward the open waters.

The morning sun glinted on its port holes and deck hatches. Her bow rose and fell.

Without warning, the sea around the ship began to roil. Puppets of foam reared up. The foam seemed to replicate itself, growing larger, bobbing to the surface. The crew scrambled to their posts, pointing, yelling, wondering if they had run aground or fouled a sub.

Like an iceberg, a giant fist of White Stuff rose out of the sea, closed around the boat, and pulled her down.

Within moments, nothing was left but the empty sea, choppy in places from the desert wind, with odd flecks of white, like melting foamed plastic, floating...