A Fishing Tale

Ichthius Enormadae

From 'Further Writings' of Yrret Zlohhcub

There was a time in the 27th century when Captain Aleator Randall of Mutos of Rhatsibahn Explorer Command, led a relatively lonely life of exploration and discovery. Not that it was always lonely or uneventful in those early years but many of the places he explored were on distant worlds which often had little in the way of 'creature comforts'.

Luckily for Randall, he acquired skills as a naturalist, hunter, and fisherman. This served him well in dealing with more primitive cultures in first contact situations. Explorer Command was not just about a Ship Scanning Systems and Planets from great distances...but as Randall often said...'It is about getting a little dirty with the locals'.

Captain Randall early on in his life developed as part of his Naturalist Studies much skill and interest in fishing. Both as a sport and as a means of sustenance, fishing became a great passion. On his travels to many unknown worlds, he had a rod in one hand, a net in the other, and a blaster on his hip. 

High water planets were, of course, a preferred place for him to 'set up camp'. These worlds in some ways reminded him of his homeworld, Rhatsibahn Prime, was a class 8 world with an 80% hydrographic level. Plenty of Fishing Holes' he would say.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Captain Randall became quite famous during his long career with Explorer Command, not only as an expert explorer, but also as a naturalist, fisherman, and discoverer of many species. Most notably he identified, classified, and popularized many species of game fish. Some otherwise unknown worlds with small populations became quite wealthy as tourist game fishing locations due, at least in part, to his discoveries. Haenous-2 became one of these.

This planet is part of the Sovereign Worlds Empire, and though barely 5000 km in diameter, it is full of wildlife. This 90% hydrographic world is nearly completely covered in water. The water coverage is not as one might think. It is not a world covered with oceans, at least not in the conventional sense. The world is hollow. Not an empty shell, but a Limestone Labyrinth partially dissolved by water. There are no polar caps and a nearly constant temperature of 299.817 Kelvin (80 Fahrenheit) throughout. Those occasional parts of the Limestone that project from the sea are covered in pristine deciduous forest, jungle, or swampland. But mostly there is water, around islands and shores, underfoot and filling every crevice, cave, and depth with life; Aquatic Life for the most part, and this is what attracted Randall more than anything to this place...a fishing paradise. And rumors of the BIG FISH. 

I will spare you the story of Randall’s search for the Big Fish. Suffice it to say that he found what he was looking for and that, luckily, he was an inhabitant of a high gravity class 8 planet wrestling with a creature from a low gravity class 1 world, which served him well and increased his fame in the Sovereign Worlds.

Randall discovered not just the Big Fish, but an entire classification of fish now collectively known as the Ichthius Enormadae. Rumors of the fish had abounded among the locals, yet none had ever been caught. There were stories of attacks on fishermen. The population of this world was small and there were no vast tracts of farmland or many sources of food other than marine life. 

What Captain Randall Discovered

Ichthius Enormadae

Bubble Lure (Bubleous Lurius)

Randall fished for Bubble Lure fish frequently. It was a staple of the locals so one may say that he did not specifically discover it. It was usually roundish with a lure-like appendage near its mouth. It inhabited muddy waters near the river banks and mud marshes. It had the appearance of a Walking Catfish, or perhaps a Frog Fish or Mud Skipper. Not great swimmers, these fish would anchor themselves in the mud and engage in a 'tug of war' on a fishing line. After fishing for these for some time, Randall noticed that there were subtle differences in the shape of the legs and the appendages; the lures if you will. The Marshes and Shallows were the nurseries of a variety of Bubble Fish.

Dark Eye (Occulus Occulti)

The younger fish had a larger darker eye; an adaptation for night hunting, or for deeper water perhaps. These seemed to always have a lure before their face that appeared to resemble an amphibian that the local fishermen loved to eat. In the smaller of these fish the lure was not as developed, but in larger specimens, the lure approximated the 'keeping size' of the amphibian the locals loved to eat. How large the lure and the fish itself grew were not known. But in 2 foot and larger examples, impressive rows of jagged teeth were hidden behind lips that resembled the walls of burrows at the edge of the water. They were indeed a most remarkable fighter and fed in the evening and early morning.

Dark Maiden (Femnae Occulti)

There was at least one reason that the locals rarely fished at night. The Dark Maiden. Aeleator rubbed his eyes in disbelief the first time he saw it. Another time there appeared to be a woman dancing on a beach in the growing darkness. She stopped and seemed to beckon to him. When he cast his line with live bait, a battle ensued. This was no lovely on the beach but a monster in the water! The beach was the closed mouth and back of the beast and the dancing maiden was the lure. Only because of his relatively great strength on a lower gravity world was he able to pull it from the water. He managed to film it briefly before it broke the line and slipped back into the water. It easily could have swallowed Randall whole. Apparently, the fish decided that 'catch and release' was the better option that night.

Dark Island (Islandia Occulti)

So, the Dark Maiden was real. He had doubted the stories, but they were right. Still, the tales of a yet bigger man-eating fish the size of an island was still preposterous, but less so after the encounter with the Dark Maiden. But in the swamp, in the dark of the night, when trees turn to shadows and things move along the bank unseen, one can believe almost any rumor about the Big Fish. And when the course of a stream was interrupted by a not before seen island which seems to go against the current, then rumor becomes reality. Only once did Captain Randall glimpse an Island moving against the flow of the stream. On the shore of the island, there was a pair of Maidens Dancing dimly lit by the glow from a building on a dock. Something moved swiftly by him in the water and the island twitched and sank out of sight. 

Never again did Captain Randall fish at night.

Next…The Grissan Nast

Story By Terry Buchholz

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