Fluke

9: Caffeine and Cocaine

"Reagan, unfortunately, I have to ask you for a favor to help with my project, so if you would be so kind—" Darrell began, but Jia interrupted.

"Our project. It's mostly mine at this point."

With the sleep that I had fortunately gotten overnight, I felt significantly nicer and more willing to help others than the day before.

"I'll do whatever y'all need," I said.

Darrell smiled. "If only the world was as kindhearted as you are, we would be in a much better place. So Jia and I have several recordings of various gull noises, and I was wondering if you would be willing to listen to them and see if you can figure out what they mean."

"I'll give it my best shot," I said, and when Darrell handed me a set of headphones connected to a device, I put them on.

"Just tell us what this sounds like to you. Jia, play recording number one," Darrell said.

"Oh, I thought it'd be fun to start with number fifteen," she replied.

Fifteen? How many different things could birds have to say?

"Would you just listen to me for once?" Darrell shook his head.

Jia pressed a button, and the sound of squawking filled my ears. It sounded pretty aggressive, but I certainly wasn't an expert.

"That sounds like a warning. Stay away from me, if you will," I said.

"Wrong. It's a mating call," Darrell said.

"Well, that'd scare me away." I laughed.

"This isn't a joke, Reagan. Get you shit together," Jia said. "I'm rooting for you. We're all rooting for you, except for one asshole."

"Okay, next recording. Play it," Darrell said, his hands folded behind his back.

"Reagan, we have to go. Robbie's waiting for us outside, so grab your camera, crossbow, and computer," Toby said, and I just couldn't ignore his request.

It was time for day two of my data collection, and I was on the island to work on my project, so helping others was only a side project, especially only helping them settle a dispute. I had already picked a side in their argument, and it was the wrong one in the mind of Jia. Of course, their project had merit, and it all depended on how much work they were willing to put into it.

I took off the headphones and gave them back to Jia. "I have my whale trip right now, but maybe I'll be able to continue later."

"Just forget it. We'll ask Logan instead, because we need answers now," Darrell said.

I smiled. "Well, if you insist."

"Me? Fuck you and your whales, Rea," Logan said as he looked up from whatever he was reading.

"Have fun with that," I said.

Jia laughed and looked over to Logan. "Whoa, what did you do to get Reagan to show a little bit of personality?"

"Absolutely nothing. I'm just a random victim," he replied, and as I picked up my camera from the coffee table, he watched me.

"What?" I asked.

"Absolutely nothing. Try not to kill any whales today," he said.

"I don't kill them," I mumbled, and Toby and I headed out the door.

Toby was to go shopping for all of our grocery and entertainment needs, and when we sat on board of the Millennium Osprey, he read the list of items out loud to Nastasya and Robbie.