Inkling

Clockwork Nessie, Part 7

“Oh, great balls of evolution! Please don’t eat me!” I scrambled in reverse to the rock face of the ledge where it angled back and opened into a recess not visible from below.

The creature continued to eye me, but shut its jaws with a low groan.

Inside the small space, I found a slip of paper tucked into an eye-level crevasse in the wall.

“To Do:

1. Remind Robert: Nessie needs to have her points oiled and a good cleaning to remove seaweed and brine buildup.

2. Bring new schematic to the Dog Island lab.”

It looked like Papa’s handwriting, but who was Robert?

The creature named Nessie withdrew from the ledge, bit off and swallowed a large piece of rock, then slipped silently into the water. Did it wait for high tide to take it out to sea or did it reside in the watery depths of the cave?

Descending the ladder, I noticed the tide had encroached to within a few yards; time to go.

(To Be Continued)