Ship In A Bottle

Corporate Caper

As you leave Skull's room with Cody at your heels, you can't help but feel you've won. You're not sure why he ate that fish in front of you (while maintaining the most intense eye contact you've encountered in years), but you hope it's a good thing.

"Good job today," Cody says. "He really seems to like you. Usually, he just dives after the food and completely ignores us."

"Yeah?"

"Mhm," he laughs. "It's almost like he was thanking you or something."

You shrug. "I'm just glad he didn't maul me."

"Aren't we all."

A shiver runs down your spine. If you had looked back, you would have noticed the burning eyelight following your every move.

***

Skull hates to see you go.

He knows you'll be back.

If not, he has a plan.

And it won't be pretty.

***

The next day, you're back for more.

Cody doesn't meet you at the entrance, but you know where to go. Yesterday, he showed you your staff locker, wetsuit room, and his office (and, by default, yours) and asked you to get dressed and meet him there. He also said something about today being "cleaning day," which you're sure is some sort of building-wide, germ-eradicating campaign. Fortunately, you're already dressed in your under-suit attire and the wetsuit you select is mostly dry.

It takes an absurdly long amount of time to fit the suit on, and you rush down the hall with your things once you're done.

It doesn't take you long to find Cody's office. The door is ajar and he's already inside, sitting at his desk. There's another, slightly smaller desk in the opposite corner. A paper name tag sits atop it, your name scrawled on in lime sharpie.

You knock on the door frame and Cody looks up. "Oh, you're here! You ready for today?"

"I hope so," you say. "What's up for today?"

"I'm glad you asked. We're going to be cleaning Skull's enclosure. Yesterday went well, so I thought you'd be okay with helping us move him. If not, I'll set you up with the sea lions and you can clean up Buddy's explosive diarrhea extravaganza."

Um.

As much as you love sea lions, you aren't enthused to be anywhere near "Buddy's explosive diarrhea extravaganza."

"I'd rather not, thanks."

"That's what I thought," he nods sagely. "Since you're already dressed, we can go right over. How are you with other people?"

"Pretty good. It was practically my job before."

"Awesome. We'll be working with the guards for tranquilizing—"

"Tranquilizing?! What for?" You interrupt, mildly alarmed. Does he mean Skull?

Cody shrugs, expression apologetic. "It may not be the best practice, but we can't get him out of the enclosure otherwise. All he does is thrash around and try to maul people and I can't let that continue."

Your brows furrow. This isn't good. You've read about the effects of tranquilizers on monsters and it isn't pretty. "How often do you... you know?"

"We only do it when he acts up or we have to clean his tank, so I would say about five times a month. It used to be more, when the enclosure was open to the public. That was because he would ram himself on things or threaten the staff," Cody says. Like it's the most normal thing in the world.