A World Age

The continuation of The Myth and Legend of D'PTah, an original novel by Dan Sewell Ward.

Segment 31

A World Age

Self... aka Anderson-Webb-Ernst... did not know the name foisted upon it by the infamous Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. Neither did Self know about the three human beings who had made a near simultaneous discovery of A.W.E.'s eminent arrival (the three of whom had thereby achieved a small but enduring place in history). Self had no hint of its 'Awe Bringer' nickname – nor would it have understood the implied meaning. The consciousness of the recently discovered AWE had been limited only to a sense of Self, existing in a dark void surrounded by points of light and bits of non-Self that could be selectively assimilated in Self's ever expanding consciousness. In the early portions of its existence, it had been able to distinguish Self from non-self only by the occasional impact of larger icy chards onto its surface. But most of that had been long, long ago and for a very long time, Self had been alone among the points of light. There were faint movements of a few lights, but the pace had been so slow as to be within measurement error. For all extents and purposes, Self had been roaming in the deepest portions of absolute space for a very long time and very, very alone.

Inexplicably a rare thought had entered into its consciousness. Perhaps there was indeed a non-self body which would be a change agent – a transforming entity that would alter Self irrevocably, a catalyst that would speed up the data gathering and intelligence seeking nature of Self, an evolution of the most basic form of thought in the galaxy. Perhaps the focused electromagnetic emanations received but a few revolutions earlier were worth investigating, as well as their fluctuations and potentially non-random sweeps across Self's surface. It was a fascinating thought, but it was still ill-defined in Self's thinking.

Meanwhile, the contrary notion that Self might instead be the catalyst for far lesser intelligent beings had not arisen. When there is so much comparatively leisurely activity spanning millions of years, the activities of beings operated in time periods so brief as to escape Self's notice, were unlikely to motivate AWE to wonder about such beings. From a relative perspective, these beings would likely show as little interest in the sex life of a quark or other elementary particle, even a strange one with charm. Any intelligence gathering life form must set threshold standards, if only to avoid consciousness freeze of its processes due to overindulgence in data reaping.

In the same context, Self was blissfully unaware of it being the stuff of legends in such long lived beings as the Anunnaki and other star roaming species – however limited in their known universes. It was in a similar fashion beneath even the subconscious of Self to consider that lesser life would be aware of Self, its trajectory and/or its destiny... or more importantly the intermingling of Self's destiny with the greater destiny of various collectives of shorter lived life. Self would never sense that as a catalyst it would accelerate the evolution of a species, and in a curious way, accomplish the mission with far less pain and anguish than previously assumed. Such was Self's future legend, of which Self would also very likely never become aware.

Self had been sensitive at its lowermost sub level of consciousness that one of the lights in the void had begun to steadily increase in brightness. This increase had engendered a host of activity, as routine preparations were made to prepare for an influx of new data. One routine consideration was whether or not this non-self would change Self. Was this a transforming agent of Self, the next spur to the evolutionary process? The Doppler shift, the slight change in bearing from Self's line of flight suggested that it was not the appointed non-self. There must be another – perhaps the equivalent of lab rats in a very deep maze operating a homing beacon in order to gain the attention of... some other consciousness.

Still the bright light increased until it had reached the point of being more than a pin point and instead had slowly become a sphere. Shortly thereafter, another non-self, non-luminous except in reflection sphere, appeared dead ahead. ("Dead ahead" is not a term Self might have used, but it would suffice for others.) This new non-self was far smaller than the bright sphere, but Self sensed that an encounter with it was all part of Self's destiny. It was Self's time in the sun (so to speak), when its place in the greater scheme of things would become readily apparent. There was now recalled the reasons for Self's existence, reasons apart from Self, and thus far more likely to have significant impact. Cue music: Earthrise [1].

For yet another time, there was increasingly the sense of something other than the cold, something more than the nothingness through which Self was passing. Strange, invisible fluctuations not unlike light were being encountered, while shudders from uneven physical forces began to penetrate Self. Variations in temperature contributed to a sense of unease, a lack of equilibrium. With the transformation beginning, bits and pieces of Self, baggage better shed than carried, were being cleaved and broken away. With some of the partings, some occurring with explosive force, these pieces, formerly of Self, were now departing from Self's narrow path, bound for stops unplanned but likely to encounter the approaching, ever larger non-self in a significant, dare we emphasize, catalytic way.

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In a celebratory moment at the arrival of Self (AWE) as a recognized dignitary from deep space, the bright sphere of light yielded a series of Coronal Mass Discharges, the kind which would have had astronomers and the like in a feeding frenzy... the likes of which could be compared with the gusto of the near starved at the sight of food, food, and more food. But alas, other more pressing activities had the attention of the comparatively small data collecting vehicles normally engaged in such matters.

That was until the arrival of the Sun's coronal emissaries began turning a worldwide communication system into chaotic static. Coincidentally, the God of communications and the Sun had aligned rather precisely even as Mercury appeared to transit in the opposite direction. Clearly, this was a curiously disguised opportunity for all manner of mischief by the Fates. Also prevalent everywhere was the uncertainty of worldwide events and the lack of knowing what exactly was happening, when, where, and to whom. Such confusion was tolerated by virtue of there being just enough local action to keep the mind otherwise engaged. The latest news from the world of science, even ball scores from New York, always seemed far less important when a hurricane in full force was ripping the roof off one's residence.

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A long range aircraft was on a one way mission from its southern airfield in New Zealand to the ice shelves of Antarctica and then to a location at sea where its crew would rendezvous with surface ships. At the latter point, the crew would board the ships by the simple expedient of bailing out and then hoping for a quick pick up. The planning had been pretty precise, but with the communications now on the fritz, prior planning preventing problems was going to have to be relied upon in the strongest possible sense.

The aircraft had arrived at the mid way point on a Thursday. Below it was a vast whiteness of ice, blowing snow, and bone chilling/killing temperatures. The instruments and their masters directed their attention to finding data points of significance and recording them on discs for later retrieval and analysis. The discs had proven to be an excellent contingency plan in that reporting to the at sea home base was becoming seriously impeded with the rapidly decreasing quality of radio communications.

Into his head set mike, Will asked, “Am I wrong, or is there some movement down there?”

The pilot's question prompted two of the techies at their console monitors to turn to one another and smile the knowing smile of the techie knowing more than the jock. It was a moment to relish. But then one of their brethren, Nick, unthinkingly let the cat out of the bag. “It's moving alright. But it's so massive there are no landmarks in sight which are not part of it. There's no way to compare relative movements.”

“Which explains my instincts,” the pilot agreed. “Coverage over ground has suddenly changed even when there is no apparent difference in the wind speed and direction.”

“This is so big, Captain,” Cosmo, as the head techie replied, “that everything...”

There was an audible gasp, and then a sudden, “Holy shit!”

“What? What?” the pilot demanded.

But no answer was needed. The movement of ice to the sea had suddenly become a rout, not totally dissimilar to an Oklahoma land rush... just millions of times as impactful. Bits of ice the size of large buildings were being ejected by the action of massive and uneven forces. Even the roar could be sensed over the background noise of the aircraft. The stage had been set, fueled and ready, and was now prepping for massive, worldwide tsunamis. Global Warming was entering into its most dramatic phase with a wide assortment of Noahs, Ziusudras, and Utnapishtims watching in awestruck amazement.

After a moment of stunned amazement, Testor, the primary radio operator began desperately to tell the world the news. After failing to establish reliable two-way communications, he turned to his fall back position and began broadcasting indiscriminately, repeating himself over and over and hoping some one would pick up the message, relay it in any way they could, and one way or another warn the world that all icy hell had indeed broken loose, was flowing down to the sea, to the open arms of the sea, and its unchained fury was about to make... well... waves. Very big waves.

The atmosphere in the aircraft, at the same time, took a decided chill. Several begin zipping up the fronts of their suits. It was not clear that they would be monitoring the events below them until the airplane was reduced to flying on fumes. And then it would be getting wet time! But that was small potatoes to their being able to witness earth changes on the likes of which they had never imagined.

Atlantis (aka Antarctica) was beginning to rise, to shake off the weight of millennia of ice coverage, and thereafter to initiate the days of continental rearrangements, perhaps something on the order of musical chairs to the tune of The First of Autumn [2]. The entire world was happening upon a time of shuddering and shaking off the nasty pests who had done such damage to its excellent coat of many colors. It was, as Gaia preferred to think of it: rock and roll time.

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Edward Roger Madison Grosvenor and Breanne Marie Rocher had unexpectedly become two of the many volunteers making observations on the world shattering events – in their case from the vantage point of the new observatory near Cuzco – and hopefully just prior to they're bailing and escaping to a ship at sea. Such was one of the side effects of Brea's sense of duty – and because Roger was attached to her hip, so to speak, his sense of duty as well. Of course, ambition was often just a crutch for seeing one's path clearly. It's the well known case where one worthwhile attribute so often leads to other positive attributes. C'est la vie, as Brea might have so beautifully phrased it.

Meanwhile, the escape plan did have its potential flaws: hurricane winds and ocean waves taller than the lengths of most of the ships struggling to stay afloat... and incidentally for purpose of convenience and the stomachs of their passengers, staying upright. There had been, perhaps, the naive assumption that there would be windows of opportunity. The only saving grace was that in the event of being unable to make for the sea going hotel, having to remain high on a mountain side did have the advantage of being a good place to wait out the Deluge, the deluge with a capital D.

The fact Roger and Brea had friends in such high places was just frosting on the cake. In this case, Raul Rolando and his sister had just delivered food stocks to the observatory. The observatory was among other things particularly well built, modern, structurally sound, and almost deserted. With the wind and rain now torrential, the steel structure felt notably more secure than many local residences.

The food itself had been provided by a plethora of farmers, food producers, and wholesalers -- the farmers having already planted and harvested with an enthusiasm not seen since Joseph had been in the business of interpreting the dreams of a Pharaoh. Raul had with far more intuitive insight assumed that Roger and Brea would continue as guests of the Highland Incas for considerably longer than planned, and was in fact looking forward to spending time with them again. The fact that he could also provide for a younger sister who had, for no sufficiently valid reason, always idolized him... was just so much gravy on the cake – the latter one of those nifty American expressions Raul loved to use because they were able to convey so much and in such a clear, visual language.

The Incas, as have already been noted, were really good at surviving catastrophes. They had probably already pulled one out of the hat at an earlier and far more orthodox Flood and Deluge, and even now were having the last laugh on the Spanish Conquistadors. Meanwhile the ghettos and dregs of Lima on the coast – the truer and more representative artifacts of the Spanish conquest -- would soon be underwater and hopefully that particular ancient Spanish Scourge would finally be removed from the neighborhood. Everything seemed somehow right... in a long term manner of thinking. The Incas, having long ago taken the 'high road', were finding their choice to have been the better one. And of course, ALL of the local roads had been cut, the airfields severed (but repairable) with just enough fueled aircraft for later. The Incas had learned more than a few tricks in recent times.

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As epiphanies goes, Gaia's was a real barn burner... not to mention the burning of forests, cities, fuel dumps, grasslands, and anything with fuel and oxygen to sustain the flames. Simultaneously, and very fortunately, there was also the water, rain, an evaporation cycle operating with a vengeance, the latter aimed primarily at the overextended species of every shape and stripe. The Deluge kept the fires under moderate control, but occasionally the actual result was an enormous amount of steam.

The nature of the worldwide epiphany might best be described by the music accompanying it: Ode to Joy [3] with the appropriate lyrics [4].

The words of one poet (allegedly a witness of the cataclysm -- or else an earlier one) begins with:

...as if by his going, a star appeared in the sky. At first it was but a faint twinkle in the eye of heaven. But slowly and steadily, it became a flowing beacon of cosmic light -- beautiful and gleaming blue, tainted with the dusk of sunset, ennobled by the crystal clarity of its radiance. Daily the wanderer gained in brilliance, while the people began to admire its awesome beauty. And yet to wonder, even to sense a foreboding. For each day brought forth a greater brilliance, a more intense glowing, a more fearful star.

Soon the bright torch of heaven had joined the approaching globe. Together they spanned the heavens -- rivaling the very sun in brightness and majesty. It was the burning light of the gods, blazing from one end of the cosmos to the other. A bright comet in the daytime sky with the horns of an angry bull and a tail sweeping like a wrathful sword.

Suddenly in earnest, the threatening sword slashes down! Its waters fall like stones to pierce the earth's blue shield. The sky, unable to prevent the wound, cringes. All the land and seas take on the aftermath of alien life. The muddied soil no longer yields food. The moist air can hardly be breathed. The water tastes foul. The skin crawls from the chafing, while boils and sickness attack the body. Fish perish and leave rotting carcasses. Animals die of thirst by the river's edge, by the stench of the very water they crave. Men thirst, yet shrink from tasting. They dig in the ground for water, but in vain.

Slashing about with its bloody sword, the comet delivers an even more terrible wound, deep into the side of the earth. Terrified, men flee from the torrent, from the consuming barrage. He abandons all to the cosmic holocaust, letting fields of grain, the feeders of great cities, perish in their stand. No fruits nor herbs are to be found; that which yesterday was seen, has suddenly perished. The land is left to its weariness like the cutting of flax. In a day, fields are turned to wasteland, while the sky rains water, mixed with fire and red hot stones.

Men run hither and thither as if seized by madness. Great populations are pursued by the strange rains. All seem ultimately to be consumed. Even in the water which quencheth all things, fires wrought yet more mightily.

Suddenly, the violence of the storm seems extinguished, or else made invisible and swallowed up in the density. For it is a darkness so heavy that none dare stir from their place. Nothing can be discerned; none are able to speak or hear, nor venture to take food. Only to lay themselves down -- their outward sense in a trance, their eyes blurred, and their breath choked. There they remain, overwhelmed by the affliction. Sporadically, flames of fire shine forth in the darkness, while thunderings and lightenings are multiplied. Winds and tempests begin roaring as the stars fade from view.

The earth torn, the waters afraid, the depths troubled, the skies screaming with an agonized cry. Suddenly the displaced sea is moved, and tossed with purple waves. White foam bursts forth, all stirred and heaped, rising up like a wall against the flames of the fire so that they should not consume the world. Oceans charge upon the mountains, over topping the great heights, and threatening the very heavens with their floods. Pouring onto continents, they envelope all. Rivers flow upward, while islands sink into the sea. Displaced strata and gigantic mountains clash together. Great rifts and clefts appear in a torn and violent earth's surface. Lands fall away as mountains rise thunderously to the sky. And then fall to engulf cities and fields.

The waters climb the hills to stand above them. Then cascade upon the land, sweeping madly over hills and valleys; carrying in their grip, mighty burdens of rock and earth. The very face of the earth changes as mountains collapse. Even as others grow and rise over the onrushing cataract of water -- water driven from oceanic spaces and numberless rivers who have lost their beds.

A shifting, violent earth generates a global hurricane -- destroying forests, razing mountains and cities, lifting waters and casting them away -- sweeping aside the works of men, while inundating man and beast. The wild air spirits rage. Foaming, dashing, rising sky high, they help to lift the sea wall to crush all things. Jubmel, with one strong upheaval, makes the lands and seas turn over. Oceans fall on the continents. Hurricanes sweep the earth. And in the midst of the tides pouring over mountains, volcanoes explode, bringing impetuous winds; all threatening to annihilate humankind.

Wild tornadoes descend from the sky and move through the debris, while mighty winds, fierce squalls, and dark clouds rise out of the horizon and rush against the earth. Dense, dark, fiery, wildly drifting, wildly bursting, they rush upon creation. And in their midst, Tawhiri-ma-tea, father of winds and storms, sweeps away giant forests and lashes the waters into billows, foaming crests to rise high as mountains.

The land is desolated by the waters, with darkness stretching to each horizon. For six days the hurricane, deluge, and tempest sweep the land. All human back to its clay is returned. It is truly the end of a world age. [5]

A.W.E. was also taking the heat (literally and figuratively).

But alas, the catalyst for a million consciousness transformations, had no sage, no poet, no dedicated staff person to record the ripping and tearing of countless pieces of Self, scattering appendages in all directions, some never to again join the suddenly diminished Self in its journeys. From a great distance, some beings did take a few notes, but visibility and accessibility being what it was, there really was not a lot to write home about. And of course, there were other matters with which to contend. Catastrophes can be a marvelous focusing device.

Gaia, at least, appreciated very much the cleansing that had transpired by a fellow traveler. It's just that there was no where to send a thank you note... at least to what had previously been known as Self.

Fire and Ice

It was then the great rain of fire and ice from the sky began, maiming and destroying the earth and its inhabitants. The human lives upon the land were extinguished and decimated. The animals and the birds and the very trees themselves were driven to the precipice of existence. And yet, life persisted in all of those places. For D'PTah and those who had followed him, they clung to their lives as sailors to a life boat. Then after a very long time they returned from their hiding places, and began to create a new world.

The NinGish were pleased. They took D'PTah undo him, and the world rejoiced.

The countless descriptions of the end of a world age were now being evidenced by history. The fragmentary evidence from the chaotic times described by the Myricon archives give just a hint of the conflagration occurring worldwide.

The courage of those who stayed at their observatories must be recognized. Almost all were eventually [?] and were able to join some portion of the fleet somewhere. But it had been chancy at best. Still, the information they provided must be considered to having been an essential ingredient in our planning to avoid...

 

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...escaped the first wave. Those who had to remain closer to the equator were less fortunate. All that is...

 

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...the quality of the photography. More heroes to add to the ever expanding list. Even after having been dropped in the ocean, recovered, and picked up, the work was both stunning and impressive in its ability to show with such detail the rapid movement of a continental sized block of ice. When the enhancement techniques were applied, the results were even...

 

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...the majority of incoming pieces. With a massive computer effort, the trajectories were calculated for all bodies of sufficient size to reach the surface of the earth. The causalities at sea which we did suffer were due almost totally to the lack of getting the warnings to the respective ships in time (due to unbelievably poor communications and solar imposed static). In addition, several of the smaller bodies managed to avoid both being detected and/or being vaporized by the Earth's atmosphere, whereupon they reached the surface with enough force to cause considerable damage.

The causalities on land were far greater. There was no escaping the showers of ice and fire for those bound to the earth, while the pounding of the ground and the continental movements were causing all manner of earthquakes, some of the latter suspected of being in the 8 to 10 range on the Richter Scale. Those at sea could often ride the waves, even the monster waves from the close impacts. Only those ships without the ability to steer were left to the mercy of constantly increasing hurricane winds and...

 

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...daytime spectacles were impressive enough, but at night the sky was stunning. There were near continuous meteor showers, but with far greater intensity, enormously brighter objects, and the knowledge that not all would burn up in the atmosphere.

 

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...the many times the ships were able to reconnect. Every sighting was cause for a celebration. Only the gradual return of communications and the gathering of information from around the globe tended to lessen the joy of seeing another ship on the horizon if in fact that sighting was now expected. Still, once we knew pretty much who had survived, it was always exciting to unexpectedly find yet another. There had been the dozen or so that had lost their ability to transmit, and when they sailed into view, it was time for another cele...

 

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...rumors did not trouble me as much as many assumed. The secretive way in which their "holy grail" was taked aboard the ships was perhaps the best indicator of the reçeption the so-called conspirators expected.

The fact is that I don't dismiss the value or the merit in faith. It's the multiple errors in where one places their faith that gives it a bad name. And of course secularism already requires faith in science... thus making secularism its own brand of religion (and with a priesthood to boot). The only advantage in true science is its ability to consider new evidence and thereafter to actually change its tenets. In theory at any rate.

So when the great secret was discovered... the lack of drama undoubtedly sur...

 

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...winds limited the number of flights. The only priority after all was to ensure that any ship still afloat, but merely damaged, could be saved or salvaged, and at a minimum it's crew and passengers transferred...

 

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...eagerness for overland flights. Such flights might have generated premature hope for rescue and assistance. We must take full responsibility for...

 

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...attempts were hardly worth the effort, or the placing of aircraft crews in harm's way. Virtually no sightings, five downed craft – with complicated rescue efforts being successful only in three of the cases, and then only partially; what I have to consider as an unnecessary loss of life; and at least one clear instance of intentional...

 

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...perhaps long past time for our return. But the perhaps foolish urge to rush in where even the angels feared to thread was clearly upon everyone. We had escaped with comparatively little loss of life – perhaps less than 6% casualties in the entire fleet. We also had adequate resources, food stocks, and the demonstrated potential for replenishing some of the food stocks from the sea. Worse yet, we were lacking the instinctive challenge of landing upon unknown shores and proving our worth.

Such is the fate of leaders, who must contain the heroes from inspiring the whole of one's army from leaping into battle before its time, from leaping from the frying pan into the fire. Many a battle has been lost because of eager martyrs. We had to first gather far more...

 

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...much of what happened. Inexplicable as it might seem, the reactions had been expected, the cries of protest, the actions of the powerful to resist by all means possible...

 

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...called the red devils (diablo rojo). These squid were as long as 7 feet, weighing as much as 120 pounds. But because they would apparently eat anything they could catch, including injured squid, they were more like goats and perhaps because of this not all that tasty. Of was it a matter of acquiring the taste for such... delicacies?

They had first been sighted only off the Pacific coast of South America, but after the first effects of global warming, they had already migrated as far north as Alaska, and then down along the western Pacific. As non discriminating predators they had already done massive damage to the habitats of other marine life, eating through entire food chains. [6]

The serious problem they engendered was that the potential for an ocean bounty to replenish our food stocks had been unexpectedly degraded. The time for a return to selected land falls where crops might potentially be planted was promising to be...

 

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...a world of deceit, disinformation, moles, betrayers, and spies. The essential element was in the choosing, and in being the chosen. It was in identifying the players, discovering the closet fanatics, and protecting the lifelines to another world. Both the ATSAS and Iapetus projects were, I truly believe, such lifelines. Lifelines in the sense, at least, of allowing life to flow along a constrained path, a line, to where it can contin...

 

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...of the draw. This combined with the ability of people to come together in order to help one another to survive -- produced isolated pockets of something resembling prosperity. The aftershocks were a constant threat, but retreating to a mobile, low tech form of living was often a make or break...

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...very few welcome mats. There had already been a degree of genocide, or just simply tribal warfare over scarce resources. The sudden appearance of ships on the horizon brought forth as much derision as hope.

One primary concern was the rise of local tyrants who saw their technologically advanced brethren threatening their very small empires. One advantage of our timing was that none of the petty empires had managed to forge a diverse group of peoples into a coordinated fighting force. It was therefore a simpler matter to take on one small group at a...

 

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...one curious tale encountered in the process or reclaiming the land was a recent, legendary individual identified only as “de Bear”. This particular leader had the charisma and the gift of gab to convince a fair number of land survivors that it was just a matter of time before the fleet dropped anchor, returned to the land, and who for various spiritual reasons should be welcomed with open arms. The essence of his message had been to share with others, survive as a group, and be flexible – help was on the way. Being the father of a small girl probably helped his credibility.

Several were tempted to identify the 'de Bear” character...

 

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...good question. But the answer was really quite simple: No -- we had no idea about the comet when all of this began. On the other hand... it was just a matter of time before either the world self-destructed or an external event would arrive to trigger the destruction. The universe is not known for stability.

Obviously, we were challenged in some quarters... not so much about having prior knowledge... but in welcoming the coming catastrophe... as if the comet was somehow a godsend to a failed administration... which could now hide the truth in the rubble of a world disaster.

Still, we had to ask: was there a divine plan in all of this – some sort of universal protocol to the great experiment called Earth? Not one we're privy to. A nice fantasy, but no evidence to transform it into anything but the most speculative theory.

The alternative claims that the NinGish were well aware of Anderson-Webb-Ernst from the outset cannot be so easily dismissed. There were even hints of well established legends existing among their histories and archives, describing in detail its existence.

Obviously, this was not the sort of revelation we were likely...

It is entirely one thing to read a history of ancient events so far in the past that surely they can not impact us now. It is another thing to find the records – even the fragmentary evidence given above – which tell of the many stories that reach out and encourage our natural tendency to empathize. All of these millions – if not billions – of people... each had their story, their own astounding experiences, their own lives to dedicate and to relate with something that might arrest our attention.

Change can be staggering in its impact upon us. Change can be dreadful or a cause for hope. It can be horrific or glorious. All depends on the point of view. It is probably best survived when flexibility allows one to go with the flow, to give up the temptation to paddle wildly against the flow in trying to maintain one's place in the greater scheme of things. Acceptance of change is likely the most effective means to prevent pain – even when the outcome of change is unknown.

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References

[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSKpmfvdkUA

[2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXsLhkJxZn0

[3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZJ1Tgf4JL8

[4] http://mx.geocities.com/sergio_bolanos/origin.htm

[5] http://www.halexandria.org/dward609.htm

[6] Due to the effects of global warming – diablo rojo ('the red devil') squid began to grow as long as 7 feet and weigh 110 pounds. They “will eat anything they can catch” including injured squid. They began traveling up the West Coast due to El Nino weather patterns warming the oceans and altering currents. Such predators will ruin habitats for other marine life, eating through entire food chains. “It's likely that this is a common theme over all of the world's oceans”. [The Week, 8/10/07, page 19]

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