The Sapient

The Sapient

by Cleve Taylor

He lived in the deep, in the dark, at the bottom of foggy Little Crater Lake. Thousands of years before, he had lived in space, and it was totally by chance that he had attached himself to a small meteor that got caught in the gravitational pull of earth and crashed near what is now called Lintburg, Virginia, and created what locals called Little Crater Lake.

Little Crater Lake was unique in that it was taboo to the indigenous people who lived in the area long before migrants from Europe built homes there and claimed the lands as their own. Strangely enough, and for reasons of their own, locals continued through the centuries to avoid the lake, the original reason having been lost in time.

Today the lake had a fence around it, and multiple "No Trespassing, No Fishing, No Swimming, and Danger" signs. They weren't needed for the locals, they accepted that the lake was evil, but the warnings were for strangers, hikers, and rule breakers.

Brandon was a rule breaker. He was also a bully and a braggart who had recently moved to Lintburg and was busily and loudly claiming his place in the teen pecking order. He was no athlete, so he did not have that going for him, but he was rich from tech stocks that his father lucked into which made his dad an overnight millionaire. Brandon had a brand new Ford Mustang, lots of money in his pocket, a devil may care attitude, and an audacity commensurate with his ego.

That combination, plus a slim muscled physique, dark brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, and ocean blue eyes, attracted many of the girls in his class. It also created enmity with many of the boys whose girlfriends seemed less interested in them with Brandon on the scene.

Outside Rollies Burger Palace where many of the students congregated after school, Brandon started bragging about swimming in Acapulco, Mexico, and surfing in Maui. "But you've never swam across Little Crater Lake," Larry countered. "No one has swam across that lake," Carrie, Brandon's current squeeze, said. That started a conversation about what, where, and why not. The end shot was Brandon saying, " I can swim across it."

Brandon and Carrie in his Mustang and two more sedans full of Lintburg High's finest drove out to the lake, Brandon to swim it, the others to watch.

They parked outside the fence, climbed over the gate and went down to the lake bank. Larry, looking around, said "Humph, it doesn't look like such a big deal to me." Brandon squeezed into the tight confines of his car, put on his swimming trunks and joined the others by the lake. "Are you sure you want to do this?" one of the boys asked. "There must be a reason this place is off limits."

Brandon looked around. "Looks fine to me.". He pointed to a pine tree about a quarter mile across the lake. "I'll see you guys over there, and you, pointing at Larry, are gonna owe me a Dos Equis.".

"You got it, man," Larry responded.

Brandon dove into the water and started swimming.

The Sapient had no name and no body. It was a cloud of sentient bits that made up the whole. From its lair at the bottom of the lake, it sensed movement in the water, which was unusual. Even animals and flying beasts had long ago avoided intruding on his home. Instinctively he moved to intersect with whatever was creating the disturbance.

Brandon was enjoying himself. The water was cool and had no tree trunks or other obstacles. Near the middle of the lake he paused his Australian crawl to wave at his friends on the shore. As he did so, the water around him turned milkish looking as the Sapient enveloped its prey.

Brandon told his body to start swimming, but his arms and legs refused to respond and became numb. He looked at his arm and gasped, "I'm melting!" his mind screamed. His voice screamed just once before his body melted and became one with the Sapient.

From the shore, his friends could only see that he had stopped swimming and seemed panicked. Realizing he was in trouble, Carrie yelled, "He's in trouble. Somebody help him!" The boys just stood there, frozen in place.

"Dammit, I'll help him then." Kicking off her sneakers, Carrie, who was a certified lifeguard, dove into the water and swam toward where Brandon had been. The Sapient moved to meet her and moments later she too was at one with the Sapient.

At the ten year reunion of their high school class, no one spoke of Brandon, or Carrie, or of that fateful day at the Little Crater Lake.

The Sapient is still there in the lake. It awaits its next visitor. He gets one every century or so.

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