Two sailors sat on the mess decks, chatting over midnight rations.

"Did you see it again?"

"Uh-huh."

"Was it big?"

"It was everywhere."

The sailors nodded, swallowing their smiles while the fucking new guy with the Dramamine patch eavesdropped from the next table.

That night, the FNG lurched onto the fantail and spewed a prayer into the blackness.

A tentacle climbed up the side, coiled around his leg.

"Oh," he thought as he went under, "that was fast."