B27C20/21 - Weaponize

<How are we supposed to catch this squid? If we even find one?> I said instead. <I mean, squid are fast and the whale can't exactly turn on a dime here. What do we do, just hang around with our mouths open and hope a squid swims in?>

<I'm not sure,> Tobias admitted. <The thing I read said maybe whales can use echolocation to stun prey. I think that's what it said. Wasn't it?>

<I guess we'll find out. See that shape, that bunch of dots all moving together?>

<See? I don't see anything. Oh, you mean on echolocation. Yeah. Like a school of fish.>

<Could be squid. Little ones, not giants. The whale brain wants them. Maybe they're squid.>

<This is no way to hunt,> Tobias complained. <You need to see your prey. I mean, that's basic.>

<For a hawk, anyway,> I said.

<For any sensible predator. This is nuts. Chasing an echolocation picture.>

<I'm going to see if it's true. That we can stun them.>

CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK.

I fired a round of clicks, maximum volume, directing the sound toward the sketchy tornado of squid. Suddenly a part of the swarm stopped moving. <Cool.>

<It doesn't last long,> Tobias commented.

I had noticed that, too. <And these squid are, what, maybe a foot long? We're talking about something that can stretch out and grab both baskets on a basketball court. Let's see how stunned the big boy is. If we ever find him.>

(...)

I fired clicks. The picture came back with startling clarity. The details were unmistakable.

Coming toward me through the water like a dark, deadly torpedo was a hungry, angry, sixty-foot giant squid.

So much for the question of whether squid are aggressive, I thought. Someday the six of us could write a serious update of zoology textbooks. If we lived that long.

<Tobias!> I shouted. I fired off a frenzy of machine-gunned clicks at the squid.

It staggered, stumbled in its charge.

<Tobias!> I yelled again, as the whale's instincts took over. It wanted to kill the squid. It wanted to hunt.