“Yes — but we have no oceans. And where size is concerned, the land can never compete with the sea.”
That was perfectly true, thought Sullivan. And as far as he knew, this was a hitherto unrevealed fact about the world of the Overlords. Jan, confound him, would be very interested.
At the moment that young man was sitting in a hut a kilometre away, anxiously watching the inspection through field glasses. He kept telling himself that there was nothing to fear.
No inspection of the whale, however close, could reveal its secret. But there was always the chance that Karellen suspected something — and was playing with them.
It was a suspicion that was growing in Sullivan’s mind as the Supervisor peered into the cavernous throat.
“In your Bible,” said Karellen, “there is a remarkable story of a Hebrew prophet, one Jonah, who was swallowed by a whale and thus carried safely to land after he had been cast from a ship. Do you think there could be any basis of fact in such a legend?”
“I believe,” Sullivan replied cautiously, “that there is one fairly well-authenticated case of a whaleman being swallowed and then regurgitated with no ill-effects. Of course, if he had been inside the whale for more than a few seconds he would have suffocated. And he must have been very lucky to miss the teeth. It’s an almost incredible story, but not quite impossible.”
“Very interesting,” said Karellen. He stood for another moment staring at the great jaw, then moved on to examine the squid. Sullivan hoped he did not hear his sigh of relief.
“If I’d known what I was going to go through,” said Professor Sullivan, “I’d have thrown you out of the office as soon as you tried to infect me with your insanity.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Jan replied. “But we’ve got away with it.”