Hennessey, Part Ten (finale)

Monarchy

Each stroke of her crescent tail drove Hennessey towards the cove she had selected for the birth of her insistent pups. As the water shallowed, ocean waves calmed, and the water grew greener and warmer. The water held a marshy aroma of sulfur alongside the musty taste of minnows too small for prey—her prey, at least. They would meet her pups soon. The sun above was hot, heating the water in a thick upper layer. Yet the sea bed was sandy and clean, and the depth was enough for Hennessey’s bulk.

She patrolled the small bay, marching along the shoreline back and forth, feeling the pups’ increasing movements. Hennessey twisted in sharp turns as she swam, always keeping in the shallows, always keeping warm.

After one twist, a new tail appeared, back near her rear pelvic fins. The new tail seemed tiny in comparison to her own bulk, but was already bigger than the tails of most of the fish in the sea. Hennessey did not stop. Within a few seconds, the new tail beat back and forth on its own, twisted, and within a few seconds the pup had propelled itself free of her birthing canal. Released into the ocean at last, the new shark rolled and straightened and settled onto the bottom as if to catch its breath and figure out where it was.

Six more times a new tail appeared and dragged a pup into the warm and waiting sea. All seven newborns rolled into the waiting embrace of the cove. Then one-by-one, all seven small white sharks, pups no more, headed out into the green water, leaving their mother and her labors behind.

Hennessey remained on patrol even after the pups were gone, stalking back and forth along the shore, until she could feel no more of the frantic squirmings inside her. Once they subsided, she turned and sought out the mouth of the cove, leaving her young to find their own futures. They had no need for parenting. She had managed to gift each of the seven a predator’s chance. No organism in the ocean’s history faced odds much better. Hennessey motored out toward the deep, to the open sea they would one day inherit: kings and queens of their world.