"Abigail was our first rescue. We had no idea what we were doing. How could we? Her species had survived for thousands of years without us then humans came along and messed up the planet. 

Somehow we managed and she and the little ones continued to thrive.

"After spending time with her, we knew what to look for. Now we have a half dozen like her on our watch list."

"We moved Barney to the Balkans, where he is raising his own family. But Beatrice," the old man shook his head. "Beatrice was our problem child."

Tommy rubbed his eyes. "You have no idea the trouble we had with that young-un. She was all over the lake raisin' cain. But I better save that for another time. Time to start watchin for our gal."

The lake was quiet with gentle ripples giving the surface a shimmer. The only other person near them was on a boat sitting in the middle of the lake. Rob fiddled with something in his backpack. "Tracker on. What is that guy doing?" He grabbed the binoculars. "I can see a couple of display screens, it looks like he's mapping the bottom." "

"Beatrice is heading right for him." Tommy jumped into the boat untied the aft mooring and was yanking the cover off the motor. "Get the for'ard line."

"Huh?"

"The rope, untie the rope." The big Merc engine roared to life and Tommy nearly pulled Rob off the dock as he backed up. In minutes they were mid-channel and abeam of the smaller boat.

"Hi," Tommy greeted the startled man. "How's the fishin?" At the same time he was motioning with his eyes for Rob to transfer to the other boat. "We're Fish and Wildlife. MInd if my partner comes aboard?"

"Uh, no, I mean yes, come aboard. What's this all about?"

"What's all this?"

The man pointed further up the lake. "It's a drone I am developing. It is mapping the lake bottom for the Army Corp of Engineers. You always think of drones as flying, mine is a floater."

"Well, float it back here and shut it down. We need to make sure the frequencies are not harmful to the wildlife."

While this discussion was ongoing, Rob had clambered over the side of the boat and now sat next to their victim. He studied the complex electronics display. "How do we shut this down?"

"Uh, you can't. It's autonomous. I've been working with MIT on it. I just manage the reports it sends back.

"So you're telling me you can't stop it?" Tommy pushed away from the smaller boat and leaned on the throttle. The 2.6 liter V6 responded.

As he closed in, Tommy could see that the drone was larger than he had imagined. It had some sort of cover and was equipped with solar panels. This was not going to be a simple case of ripping out some wires. He circled the unit, looking for access. As he slowed, he became aware of a beeping sound coming from Rob's backpack. Beatrice's tracker was in range and he had no idea how long the engine noise had masked it. He was running out of time.

Tommy swung the boat away from the drone, then, when he judged he was far enough, he lined it up and pushed the throttle to the stop. The big boat surged ahead.

The crash was spectacular.

When the lake settled, the drone had split into two pieces, the big boat was upside down in the water. The backpack rose to the surface nearby. As the beep tone increased, there was no sign of Tommy.