Standing on the extensive deck of the Callista and feeling the taste of the salty sea air, I couldn’t help admire the sunset where the grey water had touched the orange skies as the fire ball of a sun was going down.

The mission ahead and my quest were the things bearing down on me recently.

“Doctor Timmerman, what a pleasure!”

My reverie was broken by someone who joined me at the railings.

“Nice to meet you too, Mister…” I gave a nod of courtesy.

“Joham Brookley,” he shook my hand. “So are you with the captain, supposedly looking for Atlantis?”

“Not exactly,” I looked away, not needing to elaborate.

“Then you must be an explorer like me!” he shouted like a child. “I strongly believe in keeping other purposes of this expedition, except finding some abandoned city and supposed mermaids. We’re going to go through the South Seas and I bet we will find some treasure buried in a sunken ship. Imagine all those gold, jewels and…”

“Mr. Brookley, I’m not interested in treasures. Now will you excuse me?”  I interrupted, turning back towards the cabins.

“Then what are you here for?” he asked, quite unmindful of my disinterest in him.

“My definition of marine treasures are corals and cone snails. I’m a marine biologist.”

“I know that,” he grimaced. “But what treasure would you find in these corals?”

“Coral reefs are store houses of genetic resources with vast medicinal potential. Marine biotechnology deals with human diseases along with marine ecosystem restoration and remediation.”

I saw the glimmer of interest in his eyes so I continued, “The antiviral drugs Ara-A and AZT and the anticancer agent Ara-C were among the earliest medicines developed from the extracts of the sponges found on the Caribbean reef. Even Dolostatin 10, isolated from a sea hare in the Indian Ocean, is under clinical trial for the use in treatment of breast and liver cancer, even leukemia. The corals are an important and yet largely untapped source of natural products with enormous potential in pharmaceuticals. Though you public or policymakers are yet to understand its worth.”

“I’m sorry for my earlier behavior,” he lowered his eyes. “But then there is a need for bolstering efforts to protect reefs from degradation or over exploitation. The last I heard was that these reefs are vanishing fast due to climatic changes and pollution.”

“Yes and besides we couldn’t access many deep water reefs, and others are still undiscovered and who knows they could hold a complete cure for other deadlier cancers. Their unique properties and phylogenetic diversity makes them a storehouse of medicinal treasure. Besides, invertebrates such as tunicates, molluscs, bryozoans, echinoderms and sponges are the sessile creatures inhabiting these reefs. They engage in chemical warfare, using bioactive compounds to deter predation, fight diseases and even toxins to paralyse prey,” I paused to take a breath.
“These compounds are often synthesized by the endosymbiotic microorganisms that inhabit its tissues, or a sequestered from the food they eat. Because of their unique structure and properties, these undiscovered compounds may yield lifesaving drugs.”

“Okay!” he held up his hands in surrender. “Half of what you said went tangentially above my head, but do you all know diving? I mean how do you explore the reefs?”

“We’re being funded by the US government and the approximate cost of the project is about twenty billion dollars. This project is spanning various aspects and isn’t limited to this vessel. We have our own submarines and our team of divers. Scientists will only sit in the submarine and locate reefs based on ultrasonic radar frequencies and heat guided search. Besides we aren’t focused on corals only. Snails and other organisms are here.”

“You need to have some regulation, right? I mean it’s a treasure so all nations may like to exploit it, even if scientifically and this treasure of biodiversity shouldn’t suffer even due to research and competition,” his eyes twinkled again.

“Look, if there is a treasure, we have hunters too. But for us, it isn’t a savage battle like the Pirates of the Caribbean. We have a treaty, an agreement with other countries and there is this National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration which organizes the conferences at international level as sometimes we need to cross marine borders for this kind of project. Our ship has its own navy for backup, just in case…”

“Whoa! That’s so cool, Doctor.”

I just gave a coy smile and moved away towards the other side of the dock. He trailed along a grin pasted on his face.

“So, what will you get from it beside the obvious? Monetary gains? Patented drugs? After all corals are precious from that angle too. Can people excavate corals for commercial use under the guise of a marine biologist?”

“What are you indicating?” I raised an eyebrow.

He shrugged.

“The con people and mercenaries are in every profession. You can’t degrade one profession because of them. And if a scientist invents a drug or discovers one after years of toiling, he has every right to patent it and make money,” I retorted. “And as for me, I do this for gaining knowledge and helping the society and besides the cure for cancer is…is…”

I faltered as the words caught in my throat, a million thoughts running through my head.

A face floated in front of my eyes. A rush of ginger hair, a touch of comfort, and an embrace filled with warmth and suddenly everything dissolved into a wooden coffin on a cold, stone floor.

“Are you okay?” Joham gave a concerned look.

“It’s nothing,” I tried to force a smile. “It’s just that I lost my mother to lung cancer when I was in the tenth standard and that gave me a jolt. I’m since then searching for a treasure, anything to cure that malice.”

“I’m sorry,” he gave a genuine nod of sympathy.

I looked at the horizon where water and sky had become one.

1000 words completed.

Written for the Collab Contest by talesofthedeep and SecretTreasures

Thanks for reading Pipigrin MaryFahey teamhathaway KashishBelikov lindajonesAuthor

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