Inner Circle

The killer whales had arrived without a noise and surprised the activist who had fallen from the electric boat circling the off shore oil rig. Typically Orca’s do not attack humans, there are very few attacks in the wild reported. This was one of the reasons that Jeff did act in fear upon seeing these magnificent animals appear around him, the boat, and the rig. Captain Ron, Commander Steve, and biologist Sarah all felt the same but what transpired baffled each of them and changed potentially the inter-mammal relationship.

The Sherman oil rig had been operating some 230 miles off the shore of Corpus Christi, Texas for the past decade without incident. This in addition to the large amount of sea life that passed by weekly created a strong sense of pride in Commander Steve, leader of the rig for the last 5 years. The sea life brought new attention to the rig and his company’s ability to not affect the natural habitat living and thriving next to the rig and the exploration of oil. Either way the activists always returned, always created havoc on his site, and always brought bad attention to him, his company, and the oil industry overall.

Commander Steve was one of the first to see the activist fall into the water and the orcas approaching from the south on their weekly review. To him the orcas seemed enthralled by the activity and while Steve had divers and submersibles they had never found the food source or attraction that delighted the group. The commander had seen discovery and animal channel enough to know that orcas rarely attacked humans so he was not overly worried about the slow exit or attempt by the activist in the water.

What happened next defied the senses of Steve, two orcas attacked the activist one from each side ripping the man in half in front of the rig, its crew, the boat and crew, and as Steve knew the live stream of Captain Ron. What worried him most was the look of sheer horror on his staff biologist Sarah who had joined his team over the last year with the increased presence of the orcas, whales, dolphins, and other sea life. Steve could not believe what he saw, not the violence but that it had happened here on his rig. He knew the lawyers, environmentalist, governments, media, and now the public with social media would be involved. He know the man was dead, now his mind returned to his business and when this would pass and if he could ever work in peace again.

Sarah was hesitant to work on an oil rig, what could a biologist do to help animals on an oil rig over 200 hundred miles off shore. What could a biologist do to enhance their career on an oil rig she asked herself? This changed with the viral videos of sea life that were attracted to the area of the oil rig, orcas, doplhins, whales, seals, birds, and many other animals passed each year. That was not the viral part, there seemed to be something in the water that attracted the diverse amount of life, Sarah was determined to find the reason why so many different types of animals traveled to this location.

Against the advice of her mother, colleagues, friends, and her sister Sarah took the job signing a 2 year contract that required 3 months on and 1 month off of the rig. Since starting the orcas had been visiting the rig on a weekly basis, always coming from the south and returning after an hour or two of diving around the rig. Censors on the legs and supports of the rig showed the orcas diving to over 500 feet and hovering which allowed Sarah to install cameras in this range to view them. This work was completed over 2 months ago and she was starting to understand the behavior of the orcas but not the reason for all the other animals.

While there had been no issues of animal aggression she had noticed that the orcas had increased their observations of the boat transfers, watching the process, people, and movements of the people but this all seemed normal orca behavior. In her years as a biologist she had never witnessed any inter species violence, videos of Sea World but no direct violence. Today her world changed, she was on the front lines of a new behavior, an aggression towards a human that had never been seen before. Like Commander Steve, Sarah was more concerned on the outcome of her career than the death of the fallen activists. Because of this chance happening Sarah would be able to choose her choice of grants to find the why of this new behavior.

Captain Ron had toiled for years moving from boat to boat because of a lack of skills, a drinking problem, and no desire to update his knowledge or location. Because his past always caught up with him he was not able to get the best jobs but was able to find steady work. Environmental activist trips had become his bread and butter. There was never a shortage of people who wanted to fight against the ravaging oil industry and how they were destroying the world. In truth, Captain Ron wanted to find a job in the Caribbean, bringing tourist from island to island or a rich man’s yacht. This was not to be the case, Captain Ron was destined to deal with people he had nothing in common in order to make his living.

One fun part Captain Ron had found was live streaming his trips, he had a canny knack of knowing the correct moment to stream his trips. He had streamed hundreds of falls, trips, spills, and other people hurting themselves over the years which allowed him a strong following. He had a feeling with this guy, he was more out of his element than normal and much more conceded than most. While he had no experience on the water he treated Captain Ron like a scab and this made his initial fall even more enjoyable for the captain.

Ron’s timing could not have been better as usual, if he kept this up he would surely get a job with one of those internet companies. He had captured the fool falling in the water and without helping had positioned himself to capture the attempt at exiting the water. To Captain Ron’s and his streaming audiences surprise his repositioning captured perfectly the tearing apart of Jeff and the circling of the family to clean the remains. Ron knew his followers would love this clip, he had no thoughts of the victim like the others but was dreaming of money that would flow from this unskilled ability and coincidence.

This was Jeff’s third trip to Shermans rig and hopefully the last. While Jeff was an avid environmentalist he knew this activity would not change the actions of the oil industry, what he really wanted was change, a new way of business. He was a true believer, that humans were the cause of the wrongs happening to the planet and he was not alone. If he could survive the cold waters today he was sure this would help stop the operations on this rig and allow him to move to his next target.

For some reason Jeff was more excited than normal today, more amped and this would help in his attempt to disrupt the world. He entered the deck of the boat in his usual fervor with his mega phone that allowed him to be heard by his party and those that joined and the rig. What he did not expect was the arrival of the orcas, he did know that attacks were unusual but also that his work was worth the risk. He had chose Captain Ron to help build his audience, he was a follower and actually liked the Captain and his comments and continued work with him and groups like his. The live stream would help spread the word, what Jeff did not know was the word would be the change in the behavior of orcas.

Jeff first was chilled by the water upon “falling”, the next chill came when his foot was hit by the dorsal fin of the orca, almost a tap. He noticed also that Captain Ron saw this and improved his view for his streaming audience. The next event changed, or stopped, Jeff forever. What the camaras and live audience did not notice was that his left foot was bitten off which caused him to shift to his side in an attempt to get out of the water. This change in position allowed the orcas to attack and ripe Jeff in half. He wondered before the splitting if his actions would have any effect on the world or change behaviors at the least.

Jeff could rest easily he was correct, his life and stunt would change the world of those involved. Commander Steve and his Rig were shut down for a month, Sarah received a huge grant to study the shifting behaviors of orcas, Captain Ron now is part of a writing team that focuses on Jackass type events for the public and charters. While all mentioned eventually reached a place of sorrow for Jeff, like him none were aware of his death till they left their own inner circle.