Ouroboros

you LOSE

      When the day of his transfer arrived, Coda-9994 finally found it in himself to be excited. More space to swim, new things to do, and farewell to the fishbowl he loved to hate...that was all fine and jolly, except for the part about being packed up in a giant box without any water and ground-shipped like Jim's new clothes. As they lowered the sling into the water, he took one last look around those damned walls. Without even a speck of sorrow, he swam into the sling and let them lift him out of the water.

      Immediately, he regretted it. Not because he would never see his old prison again, but because without the weightlessness of being submerged, his sixty tons all weighed down on him at once. There was an outburst of metallic cacophony as the ceiling opened up, revealing a darkening evening sky. Coda had never seen the sky before, so he tried to focus on how pretty it was, instead of the fact that he was being lifted by a crane.

     His earpieces buzzed. "You good there, buddy?"

     - Jolly. The sky is fabulous! –

     Talking to Jim still felt a little awkward, but he supposed it would pass with time. Either that, or they had to think of some way to make it up to each other. As they lowered him into the massive shipping container, his flukes hit the back wall. Pain lanced up his spine. They moved him forward a little. That's better, he thought.

     They detached him from the crane. The loose mesh of the sling fell over his back, and the top of the container slid shut, blocking out all light. He tried to send another message to Jim.

     - It's dark as hell in here. –

      [MESSAGE SEND FAILURE. TRY AGAIN?]

     His headset started beeping obnoxiously. Message send failure? How was that even possible? Coda shut the device off and closed his eyes, deeply aggravated with the situation. Soon, he told himself, he would be able to swim again, and with more space than before.

     He tried pretending that he was stranded on a beach, and that the tide would come in and rescue him. Not that he really knew what tide was. He remembered Jim explaining it to him as the moon and sun pulling on Earth's ocean. How did that make any sense? The moon and sun didn't have...

     Gravity, he reminded himself. It's all gravity. Makes the world go 'round, keeps everything on the ground...Coda tried to make a little song out of it, but was unsuccessful at best. The vehicle's engine roared to life, startling him. What a maddening sound it was. There was an odd sensation of rolling forward, which Coda decided was somewhat pleasant.

     Between the grumbling engine and the fact that he was out of water, it was a miracle beyond fathom that Coda dozed off. He dreamed that Amy stood at the edge of his pool, honking like an automobile while the Ancient Mariner from the poem did handstands on his head, wearing nothing but his undergarment, the Albatross, and a single sock.

     He woke up feeling mildly terrified.

.........

      As the sun dipped below the horizon, the massive transport truck rumbled by, led and followed by security vehicles. That whale would be free one day, but first, they had to free the boy. Ice Five sat beside Gregor Faustus in his car, silently dreading what was to come. They knew it would likely be the end of them if they weren't careful.

     "You're awfully quiet," said Greg. "What's on your mind?"

     "Same thing that's on yours," Fiver told him. "I'm running through the plan. Most of the bluejackets should be gone when we get there, because they're guarding Coda's transport truck. You're going to divert the ones that are still there."