Into the Dark, part 11 (after battle)

There are tasks that must be completed if we are to reach the heart.

Two ships, two routes. They must go their separate ways to reach the heart.

The Pequod will make its way through the pancreas.

Question.

Shoot.

Why are you the ones going through the pancreas?

The Whale's pancreas is vast and filled with treacherous acid. To go in there without knowing when and where the acid will spew from is to dance with death.

So I'm electing to bring those that have toiled here for years, not inexperienced landsmen such as you.

Starbuck shrugged next to the Captain.

I must also mention that the pancreas is heavily populated by the Mermaids. It is better that we sailors, who have spent our entire lives hunting Mermaids and Whales, take that route instead.

While there aren't any particularly powerful or troublesome Mermaids there, our numerical advantage will still be useful in that path.

At the end of its pancreas, we will hew open its largest vein.

Then its left heart atrium will open to supply blood to the area.

Okay, so what about us...?

You will take this path. The right heart atrium connected to the lungs. This is a narrow path, so a smaller vessel will serve you well.

Some... other things have made their way into the path I send you on. They are neither Whale nor Mermaid. Their numbers are small, but each of them may pose a difficult fight.

…….

What you lack in numbers, I assumed, will be made up by your individual prowess. You and your men will shine in targeted strikes, not all-out battles that the Pequod will face through the pancreas.

Were you not here, I would have had to send Starbuck, Queequeg, and at least eight other good men that way. A boat divided will have a higher chance of failing. In fact, it had been a rather significant concern of mine.

But you have arrived, fitting perfectly into this conundrum of a puzzle as though fate itself has ordained it. Destiny is one fickle thing, is it not?

Ms. Ahab... must be referring to the Abnormalities that were swallowed alongside the Lobotomy Corp. Branch.

So you know something about those odd creatures. Indeed, our encounter was ordained by fate! The very destiny that leads me to the heart of the Whale!

Kill the monsters there, hew open the arteries, and the right atrium shall open.

And we will meet again at the heart where the atriums meet.

Then I shall enter and destroy its core... The heart of the heart, if you will.

Verily, you proclaim that there is a heart within a heart?!

I see that you have little experience contending a foe so great as the Whale.

It is obvious that such a colossal creature would have a heart that fuels its heart.

<Is that supposed to be obvious...?>

The sun shall shine on us again only when we destroy the heart beating with the very essence of evil! Through the Whale's sundered flesh shall the gentle light rain over us!

And you will impale me with the final harpoon, to end my breath once and for all!

... Heh.

While I am yet to analyze the geography of this entity... The general structure of the plan appears sound to me, Executive Manager.

<Yeah... I agree.>

Looks like Ahab wasn't kidding about checking every nook and cranny of the belly of the Whale.

She did all that with a singular desire to hunt, to kill this great Whale once and for all. And for such a long time...

I still don't like this. Are we supposed to just, what, listen to some dodgy Captain orderin' us around? I thought the clockhead here was our boss.

Why don't we just finish this with our own hands instead of relying on her? Let's just do this ourselves. Let one or two of us go mad and turn into a Mermaid. At least it would've been our work at the end of the day.

A most irresponsible suggestion.

I would have been the first to suggest that, had I not estimated our losses to be higher than 'one or two' of us.

So why didn't you?

We are at a significant disadvantage when it comes to information on this battlefield. The Executive Manager's life may be at risk at any moment.

Not even witless rookies risk or gamble with the lives of their superiors. And all that for your pride? What foolishness.

... Tsk.

As long as we destroy the heart... I can end her.

As long as we destroy the heart...

She grits her teeth as she repeats it to herself like a mantra.

So that she may never forget, not even for a moment.

Right, then. We will meet again at our rendezvous point.

Let this be a good voyage to us all.

…….

The sunlight is within our grasp, my dearest crew.

We will soon breathe deep the metallic, traitorous stench of the City's air.

Ahab provided us with a boat that could bring us all the way to the heart.

Only Pequod crew steers Pequod boat.

So, I steer.

Queequeg joined us as our helmswoman.

Queequeg wasn't lying - this boat wasn't like any other boat we'd ever seen. Its body was made of flesh and bones. I also noted that a few pieces of metal plates were visible between the organic materials.

... Only a crew of the Pequod could possibly know how to steer this bizarre ship.