It didn’t take me long to take stock of the situation. We were at the bottom of the sea next to the torn and half-crushed remains of our ship. Kind of bleak, but there was a little bit of light… specifically, one off in the distance.
“If the stories have it right,” I said, “that’s gotta be the Pearl… but there’s a lot of dark water between here and there.” I took an unconscious step forward, wanting to get a better look.
“Beware, brave Captain!” Glottis suddenly said in a strange, Delphic voice. “Here in the darkest depths of the Sea of Lament dwell the most horrible monsters of all! The fearsome, murky demons of the deep will swallow you whole the instant you leave this pool of light! Heed my warning, or take one step forward and learn for yourself!”
“All right, all right,” I snapped impatiently, “I believe you! Just quit it with the creepy spirit-of-the-land voice, huh?” I looked back at the ship. “You know,” I said, “if we’re gonna get to the Pearl, we’ll need some light. Monsters or no, it’s pretty dark down here. I wonder if we can salvage anything? Even an underwater welding kit would help.”
“Maybe so,” Glottis said in his normal voice, “but I don’t see any light coming from the portholes… just the running lights outside.”
“Yeah, it’s so dark we ought to be able to see the emergency lights from here, if they were on.”
“So how do we find any flashlights or welding kits or whatever?”
“It’s kinda funny, you know… needing light to find light.”
“Heh. I’ll tell you an even funnier one…. Eventually that generator is gonna die and there’ll be nothing keeping the sea monsters away.”
Something made me turn around as he was speaking and I saw a little light swaying around, apparently attached to some scuttling form underneath.
Glottis saw it, too. “Here comes one now!” he exclaimed.
The figure came closer. As it did, it’s outline became clearer, and it looked more like a soul than a monster. A very strange-looking soul, but still a soul.
“OK,” Glottis admitted as the creature came nearer, “that may not be a sea monster, but it’s still pretty spooky.”
“¡Híjole!” I exclaimed. “He looks like he’s been down here a long time. Amigo!” I called out when the soul got near enough.
“Huh?” he said, straightening up some. Even more or less erect, he was still one weird customer. His bones were a blue-gray color, and strangely velvety-looking. He wore a tattered backpack and the remains of a wet suit. There were strange knobs over his eye sockets and his light was attached to a flexible pole that seemed to be growing out of his spine. “Aw, geez,” the man exclaimed, “another shipwreck! You see? That’s why I never travel by boat!” He turned and started to trudge away.
“Hey!” I called out. “We’ve had a little, um, accident. Think you could help us out?”
He turned to face us again. “Depends on what kind of help you’re lookin’ fer.”
“Maybe we could tag along with you?”
“Well, it’s a long walk you’re talkin’ about.”
“We don’t have any other choice,” I said with a shrug.
“Oh, all right then,” he said. “Lift those knees, stick close to my light, and try to sing in key!”
“I’m Manny Calavera,” I said as we moved away from the Lola’s light, “and the big guy’s Glottis. Who’re you?”
“The name’s Chepito,” he answered.
“That’s it? Just ‘Chepito’?”
“Not much use for even one name down here, much less two.”
“I see your point,” I said. I looked over at what I thought must be the Pearl. We didn’t seem to be getting any closer. “Do you think you could take us to the Pearl?”
Chepito stopped and looked at me suspiciously. “The Pearl?” he exclaimed with an artificial-sounding laugh. “You don’t believe them old stories, do ya?” He shook his head. “You think somewhere in this ocean there’s a gigantic pearl that shines so brightly it can be seen from passing ships? And that sometimes sailors, so allured by its luster, actually fling themselves overboard to dive for it… and are never heard from again?”
“Yeah,” I said, “and I think it’s right over—”
“Bah!” Chepito exclaimed. “I’ve been walking this ocean for years an’ I ain’t never seen it!”
“No, really,” Glottis said, “the Pearl is right over there.” He pointed.
“You poor sucker,” Chepito said with another sad shake of his head, “that’s the moon! Tell me you didn’t come all this way to pearl dive the moon?” He laughed and started walking again.
“So what are you doing down here?” I asked after a few moments.
“Tryin’ to get out of the Land of the Dead, same as everybody else,” Chepito answered.
“But why are you walking?”
He shrugged. “Got sick of waitin’ around Rubacava for a boat. Figured I’d make better time on foot.”
I looked around at the dark water. I couldn’t see more than a few yards, and not very clearly at that. “How do you know where you’re going?” I asked.
“See the moon over there?” he asked. Glottis and I exchanged looks. “I just keep it on my right. That way I know I’m headin’ in a straight line.”
“Uh…” I said. Not only was it not the moon, it wasn’t on our right.
“Oldest trick in the book,” Chepito said smugly.
“How long have you been down here?” I asked, not sure I wanted to know.
“Well, let me put it to you this way,” he said after a moment’s thought, “I wasn’t always this color.”
I jumped when little red feathery things suddenly flicked out of the knobs over Chepito’s eye sockets, and just as suddenly disappeared.
“Is everything OK with your… eyebrows?” I asked worriedly.
Chepito chuckled. “Them’s barnacles, genius. I don’t move fast enough to shake ’em, so they tend to pile up. I don’t mind, though. They’re the only company I got.” He tickled the barnacles. “Ain’t’cha, boys?”
Glottis shot me a sidelong look, twirling a forefinger next to his head.
“Shouldn’t you have hit dry land by now?” I asked.
“I’m tryin’ to cross a big ocean here, sonny,” Chepito snapped irritably. “What do you know about it?”
“I’ve already done it,” I said. “In a boat.”
“We had such a nice boat!” Glottis added.
“Don’t talk to me about boats!!” Chepito snarled angrily.
“Let me guess,” I said. “You died in a shipwreck.”
“A shipwreck would’ve been better than what happened to us!” he declared, his stride turning into a stomp. “Led off-course by bad equipment, lost for weeks, no food, no shelter from the sun. We started throwing the dead overboard… but then the sharks began following the boat.”
“What happened then?” Glottis asked.
“What happened was I learned three valuable lessons.” He ticked them off on his fingers. “Stay away from boats. When it comes to navigation, trust only the moon and the stars. And when there’s only two of you left, never ever go to sleep.”
No one said anything after that for a couple of minutes. Just to break the silence, I asked, “How have you kept that light going?”
“Well,” Chepito answered, “I found this coral… this weird, glow-in-the-dark coral. Damnedest thing! Shines like a lightening bug and never seems to wear out.”