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.Lieutenant Blighman was frowning fiercely at me, and even the Commandant was looking at me withnar-rowed eyes."Sorry, sir," I said."But no, sir, it's impossible.Cadet Craken couldn't have killed himself."31The Commandant took a moment to think itover.Then he said:"All right, Cadet Eden.If it is of any interest toyou, I may say that your estimate agrees withLieutenant Blighman's.In his opinion CadetCraken like yourself, I might mention is, or was,one of the most promising cadets in the Academy.Dismissed!"I saluted, turned and left but not before I caughta glimpse of Lieutenant Blighman, lookingembarrassed.The old shark! I thought to myself,wonderingly.Evident-ly behind those fierce and hungryeyes there was a human being, after all.Because it was Academy Day, there was only one classthat afternoon, and Eladio Angel was in it with me.SinceBob didn't return from the Commandant's officebefore it was over, Laddy so David Craken hadcalled him and I left together.We walked toward his quarters, comparing noteson what the Commandant had said to us.It had beenabout the same for both of us Laddy was as furiousas I at Fairfane's suggestion that David hadcommitted suicide."That squid Fairfane, Jeem," hesaid, "he hates greatly.David is beyond question abetter diver, no? So when he is lost, the squid must destroy his name." He looked at me searchingly for amoment."And also," he added, "I do not think Davidees dead."I stopped and stared at him."But ----- "Eladio Angel held up his hand to interrupt me."No, no," he begged, "do not tell me he is lost.For Iknow this, Jeem, and also I know David.I cannotsay why I think it, but think it I do." He shruggedwith a small smile."But he ees declared missing andpresumed to be drowned, that is true.And so nomatter what Eladio thinks, Eladio must abide bywhat the Academy says.So I am packing his thingsnow, Jeem, to send them back to his father nearKermadec Dome." He hesitated, then asked: "Wouldyou would you care to see something, Jeem?"I said, "Well, thanks.But it doesn't seem right to pry.""No, no! No prying, Jeem.It is only somethingthat32you might like to see, Jeem.Nothing personal.A a thing that David made.It is not only not private, itis hang-ing on the wall for all to see.Perhaps youshould see it before I take it down."Well, why not? Although I hadn't known DavidCrak-en well, I thought of him as a friend, and I wascurious to see what Laddy Angel was talking about.Wewent to the room he had shared with David, and Isaw it at once.The spot over the head of a cadet's bed is hisown, to do with as he will.Half the cadets in the Academy have photos of their girl friends hangingthere, most of the other half have their mothers'pictures, or photos of sub-sea vessels, or once in a whilea signed portrait of some famous submariner or athlete.Over David Craken's bed hung a small, unframedwater color.He had painted it himself; it was signed "DC" in thelower right-hand corner.And it showed ----It was a sub-sea scene.A great armored sub-sea crea-ture was bursting out of a tangled forest of underseaplants.There was very little about the scene that wasfamiliar,or even believable.The vegetation was straftge to mevast thick leaves, somehow looking luminous against thedark water.The armored thing itself was just as strange,with a very long neck, wicked fanged flippers ----But with the same head I had seen over the side of thegym ship if I had seen anything eleven hundred feetdown.And there was something that was odder still:When I looked more closely at the picture, I saw thatthe monster was not alone.Seated on its back, jabbing atit with a long goad like a mahout on an elephant, was ahuman figure.For a moment I had been shocked into believingfan-tastic things.Sea serpents!But the human figure put a stop to it.I mighthave believed in the existence of sea serpents.I might have thought that his picture was some sort ofcorroboration of what I had thought I had seen and whatthe sonarmen thought they had picked up and whatDavid had talked about.33But the man on the monster's back that made it purefantasy, the whole thing, just something that a youthfrom Marinia had painted to idle away some time.I thanked Eladio for letting me see the picture andleft.Bob still had not returned from theCommandant's office.I went to chow and returned; still no Bob.I began toworry.I had thought it was only to ask him for his reporton David's loss that he had been called in; but surely itcouldn't have taken that long.I began to fear that it wassomething worse.Lieutenant Blighman was there withthe Commandant; could it be that the sea coach hadcalled Bob in in order to disqualify him? Certainly hewas now a borderline case.All of us were required toqualify in one sub-sea sport a year to retain our status inthe Academy, and Bob had now washed out in three ofthe four pos-sibles
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