Ocean Research - 18. IOR Chapter 18

“Well that fits in with what Joshua found when he went back to investigate what happened, along with James and Nathan,” Julia said “Was it a shark?” I asked nervously, and I saw Julia nodding her head yes. “When they found you, there was a herd of large sharks circling you and they were occasionally slamming their noses into your body, as if they were using you as a play toy, according to Joshua.

He said it took some work for them to get the sharks to move away, so they could retrieve you, and they had no idea if you were alive or not. James said that he had never seen sharks behave in that way before and that you are very lucky to be alive,” Julia replied.

“Ah, Mr Ashburton, we hear that you have had a bit of a run-in with a group of sharks,” a man said as he entered the room, “It is a herd not a group of sharks, doctor,” Julia said correcting him. “Ok, if you say so, now let’s see how you are going,” the doctor replied.

After doing a series of checks and making some notes he stared at the information in front of him. “Well, I think we will just keep you here for few days, for observation purposes, then you can head home, but I see here that it says your home is the Abrolhos Islands, I thought all of the buildings were destroyed in the cyclone?” the doctor said.

“They were, but as of four days ago, there is a new complex that is open to accommodate all of the seasonal fishermen, and some other staff, maybe you should check the latest news reports, and you will know what I am talking about,” Julia replied.

“Four days?” I exclaimed in shock, “Yes that is right, you have been here for nearly four days,” the doctor responded before he left the room. “Oh wow, does Joshua know that I am alright?” I asked Julia. “Yes dear, he has been flying over every day to come and see you for a few hours, then flying back, he left here about two hours ago,” Julia replied, as she retrieved her mobile and sent a text message.

Moments later her mobile rang, and Julia smiled as she handed it over to me, and the screen said that it was Joshua calling. “Hello”, I croaked and I cleared my throat and said hello again, as I answered the call.

“Hey buddy, how are you feeling?” I heard Joshua ask with concern in his voice, “Well I feel like I have had a boxing match with a herd of sharks,” I replied, and Joshua laughed loudly at this comment, ‘That is a good one, I will have to remember that!” Joshua said.

We chatted for a few minutes, about the arrival of the senior doctor and the other senior staff to the city, until I started getting tired, and Julia suggested that I get some rest now, and so we ended the call, and I was soon fast asleep. The next morning at 9 am, Joshua walked into the room and he was holding a stuffed Quokka toy in his arms, which he handed over to me.

“Hey buddy, just a little get well present for you,” Joshua said as he blushed a little. “Thanks, buddy, they are one of my favourite animals on the planet, far better than sharks,” I replied, and Joshua laughed at my comment. “Yeah, that was so weird seeing them doing that, I was freaked out, and frustrated that I couldn’t get you out of the water quick enough,” Joshua replied.

“So, they say I have been here for four days, how are things going in the city?” I asked, “Yeah fairly good, running smoothly actually. All of the senior complex staff have arrived, so we have a population of twenty-two at the moment, and they are settling in well,” Joshua replied.

After enduring three more days in the hospital, I was finally released, with Julia and Joshua there to take me home. But instead of heading out to sea, the plane headed North. “Are you taking me home to the station?” I asked when I realised the direction we are heading.

“That’s right, Warambie Station, your parents and younger brother are anxious to see you, and the doctor ordered for you to have two weeks of complete rest, to allow your broken bones to heal,” Joshua replied. “I could have easily done that at Abrolhos City,” I replied. “Yes, maybe so, but I can’t keep an eye on you all the time there, but at the station, you will have your family keeping a close eye on you,” Joshua said to me.

“Joshua and I will stay for two days, then I have to fly back to Wake Island, from Karratha via Broome, Darwin and Brisbane, while Joshua has to return to his ocean city, via Karratha and Geraldton” Julia responded. “Wow, that is quite a trip you have ahead of you there Julia,” I said in response. “I do, but I will be spending a few days in Darwin, and in Brisbane too, where Daniel is patiently waiting for me,” Julia replied.

After a nearly two-hour flight, we landed at the runway that is alongside the main highway, and the family vehicle was parked at one end waiting for our arrival. As I carefully stepped out of the 8-seater plane, once we had landed, my mum came rushing towards me. “Careful mum, I have broken ribs and bruises all over,” I said before she could afflict pain on me, and she immediately came to a stop just a foot away from me.

“I am sorry dear, I totally forgot, I am just so glad to see that you are alive and recovering,” Mum said to me, as Julia and Joshua stepped down off the plane. “Mrs Ashburton, it is good to see you again, this is my mother Julia,” Joshua said to my mum, “Hello Joshua and please call me Eliza, and nice to meet you, Julia,” my Mum replied.

After what seemed like ages that mum fussed over me, making sure that I was comfortable sitting up on the lounge, I was able to start to relax a little, and Joshua was watching me over the top of a book he grabbed from the bookshelf. “It does help if you read it the book the right way up,” I commented which made Joshua blush brightly and I laughed a little but stopped as soon as I was in severe pain.

Over the next two days, Joshua spent some time with my father and brother, exploring more of the station, and he was always asking me lots of questions about different things that he saw. I had been experiencing nightmares during the night since arriving home on the station, and Joshua was soon at my bedside, gently waking me up and telling me that everything is alright.

When I tried to recall what the nightmares were about, my mind was blank, and this worried me a little. When the morning came for Joshua and Julia to leave, I was feeling a little sad, but I hoped to be well enough soon to return to the Abrolhos Ocean City.

“I will miss you heaps while you are still recovering, but I will email or call you every day to check on your progress,” Joshua announced to me, “Thanks mate, and I will miss you too, have a safe trip back to the City,” I replied.

“By the way, my grandfather has some sort of surprise organised for you when you are well again. I have no idea what it is, he just said to let you know that he had something waiting for you, so you better get better soon, so I can find out what the hell it is,” Joshua said, and I smiled at seeing my friend frustrated at not knowing what it is, while I was just curious.

Two days later by order of my parents, Flynn drove me to Karratha to attend a counselling session, as my parents were concerned about the nightmares that I have been getting during the night. My counsellor was a psychologist, aged in his early 50’s and he was very abrupt with me when I would not talk, so I had no choice but to tell him about my experience while snorkelling at the Abrolhos Islands.

After an hour, I was pleased that the session was over, but I was informed that I had to attend weekly sessions so as to try and resolve these nightmares, which I was not too happy about. Flynn was waiting for me when I stepped out of the room, and he was busy reading a front-page article. “Abrolhos Ocean City” was the headlines, and I kept walking out of the building, with Flynn trying to catch up.

“What’s the rush bro?” Flynn said when he did finally catch up to me, “I have discovered that I have a pet hate for counselling sessions, and unfortunately I have to attend weekly sessions,” I replied, and Flynn just laughed. “Have a look at this, your best friend has hit the front page of the state’s newspaper,” Flynn said as he handed it over to me, and I stuffed it under my arm and kept walking, crossing the road and we headed for the main shopping centre, as I needed a cup of tea to calm down.

“Mum and Dad have booked us into the Victoria Hotel in Roebourne for tonight, and I thought we could take a quick look out at Cossack, as it has been a while since I was last there,” Flynn said to me casually. “Oh, ok, I guess,” I replied, as we walked into the café and sat down. Placing the newspaper on the table, I ignored it for a few minutes before sighing and turned to page three.

“Well known Ocean research and conservation family, the Lloyd family, who are based on Wake Island in the Northern Pacific, and have a fleet of research submarines that patrol the world’s oceans, has just announced the official opening of its latest project. Having worked with two state government departments, the Lloyd family have completed cleaning up the huge wreckage caused by the recent cyclone, that went straight over the top of the Abrolhos Islands.

Now the Lloyd Family Corporation has officially opened a seven-level eco-friendly floating city, which is located just off Morley Island in the East group of Islands, which is just 4 kilometres south-east of Rat Island, where an extended and sealed airfield is located. The floating city will have a full-time staff of 50, to keep the place operational, while the city will also provide 36 fishing boat bays, and accommodation for 32 fishing boat skippers and 32 fishing deckhands, during the five month long cray fishing season, from November to March.

Mr Lloyd stated in a media release, that in a short while, the city will be available for tourists to stay, to visit the Abrolhos Islands, for a maximum of four nights, in the 40 suites that are available for tourists, with a website and booking details to be announced soon.” The article included two photos of the city from a short distance, facing either the West or East side, as it clearly showed the boat pens.

After a late lunch, we headed east to the nearby town of Roebourne, which is just half-hour drive away, and after visiting Cossack tomorrow it is just another 45-minutes’ drive to home. When we arrived in the town, I had Flynn call into the chemist to get some more Ibuprophen as I was still feeling very sore from my injuries, before we headed over to the historic hotel, which has just gone through 8 months of restoration and renovations.

“What do we do about clothes,” I asked when I suddenly remembered that we were staying the night here. “It’s cool bro, mum packed an overnight bag for both of us, they are in the back of the ute,” Flynn replied smiling.

If we are going to Cossack, I wouldn’t mind checking out the 8-mile track, located just 1 ½ kilometre inside our Western boundary, and 4 kilometres from the coast, on the banks of the East Harding River mudflats. I have an idea that I want to run by Dad, but I want to check out the site first,” I commented to my brother.

“Yeah, I know the place, great fishing spot that, shame we get too many crocs and sh… Damn! … Sorry, I didn’t mean to remind you of that,” Flynn said when he nearly said the word sharks, knowing that was partly the cause of my recent nightmares.

“Actually, I think we will skip that trip up the 8-Mile and just head home after visiting Cossack,” I responded, and Flynn nodded his head in understanding. As we had checked into the hotel, with adjoining single rooms, the receptionist spoke up, “Mr Flynn Ashburton?” “Yes, that is me,” my brother responded, “I have an envelope for you, sir,” the receptionist said, and she retrieved the item and handed it over to Flynn.

I watched as Flynn added the envelope to his luggage, obvious that he knew what it contained, and we headed upstairs to settle into our rooms, agreeing to meet up in two hours to go and have dinner in the hotel restaurant, which is the only restaurant in town.

“Are you going to tell me what is in that envelope that you were given earlier,” I asked my brother as we sat down to dinner later that evening. “Nope,” Flynn replied grinning, and I knew that there was no point trying to pry the information out of him, as he can get quite stubborn when he wants to, so I dropped the subject.

After an enjoyable dinner, we decided to head to bed early and get the trip to Cossack done as early as possible tomorrow, so we can get home by lunchtime. With Flynn doing all the driving, it was easy for me to just relax and enjoy the ride, as we headed north to Cossack, which is just a fifteen-minute journey, and as he slowed down, I opened my eyes having dozed for the whole short trip.

At first, I was looking towards the small townsite, on the left-hand side of the road, but soon, my attention was drawn to something on the wharf on the right, as Flynn slowed some more and turned into the wharf carpark. I stepped out of the vehicle and stared at what was in front of me in shock.

Moored to the wharf, was a huge floating barge, but instead of seeing machinery, cranes or even shipping containers on it, I saw a building that stands two levels high, with open decks at each end, and it was a building as it has walls and windows everywhere, and after the quick glance at it, I turned to my brother, who was grinning broadly, and holding up the envelope that he was given yesterday.

“All of this is yours, courtesy of Mr Hamysh Lloyd, “Flynn said to me, and I slowly accepted the envelope and looked inside. In the envelope, there was a number of access cards, identical to the ones at Abrolhos Ocean City, with a coloured stripe at the bottom, but there were only three colours with this lot, with two Red cards, four Blue cards and six Green cards. There was also a set of keys that looked suspiciously familiar.

As we approached one of the two doors to the building, I noticed a waist height a sign – “Ashburton Marine Research Facility – Restricted access, Quarantine Protocols apply.” I pulled out a red card and placed it against the electronic reader pad, which showed a small red light, which changed to green and beeped, and a small panel opened, revealing a keypad, and another red light.

Thinking that Mr Lloyd has set the same code, as are the codes for the executive on Abrolhos Ocean City, I pressed the six digits and the light went green and there was a loud click, with the door opening just slightly. Pushing the door open, I stepped on board my new research facility, which was cool inside, with air-conditioning operational.

“Wow, impressive,” Flynn commented as he came in behind me and closed the door. We were in a passageway that ran the full width of the barge, which I estimated to be the same size as the other barge at the islands, so it would be 32 metres wide.

Halfway down the passage is a cross junction, to the left the flooring changed to tiles, while on the right it was wooden flooring and we turned right, to find a smaller cross junction passageway, and taking one we soon found a door on each side, and I opened the one on the right and stepped inside to what is a huge lounge room, while Fynn explored the one on the left.

Seeing another door, I opened it and stepped into a large bedroom, which has a walk-in wardrobe on one side and a private ensuite on the other side. Exiting the suite just before Flynn, I went down the other passageway and found the same layout with two more suites.

Returning to the main passageway, we stepped into the central area of the barge, which has a bit of a foyer with two sets of stairs going up, and either side of the stairs on one side is a dining room, kitchen and storerooms, while on the other side there is a meeting room and more storerooms.