Sealed with a Kiss

[alynwa.livejournal.com]

“Partner Mine, stop your complaining!  Compared to other affairs, this is one of our more successful ones.”  Napoleon was sitting on a beach wearing an anorak, boots and gloves.  Illya, similarly dressed, was standing six feet up on a large boulder approximately twenty feet away searching the horizon using a pair of high powered binoculars.

He looked down at his American partner and replied, “I would have preferred that we were closer to UNCLE Santiago rather than this uninhabited rock.  We were very fortunate that the ship had a motorized dinghy.  This time of year, the water is very cold; we would not have survived an hour if we had been forced into the water before the ship was destroyed.”

Napoleon leaned back on his elbows and surveyed the beach.  “How can you say this beach is uninhabited?  There are elephant seals everywhere and I think those are King Penguins.  They have seen so few humans, they are unafraid of us.  I’ve waited in way worse extraction points than this!  This is amazing.”

Illya couldn’t argue; they were waiting to be picked up from South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic Ocean, twenty – two hundred miles from Santiago, Chile.  They had had no choice but to sink the THRUSH ship they had managed to stowaway on because the captain had ordered a missile strike on the Falkland Islands that he hoped Great Britain would blame on Argentina, thus placing the two nations at war.  He had set the charges at the water line while Napoleon secured the dinghy.  They had managed to get into the little boat undetected and let the current carry them a distance before starting the motor.  They were spotted when they were about one hundred yards away from the ship but, by then, it was too late.  The charges blew and the ship sank so quickly the life boats could not be deployed.

They both had their communicators and after Napoleon alerted Mr. Waverly to their predicament, they had each turned on the homing signal that the British Navy was using to locate them.  Barring unforeseen circumstances, the Queen Elizabeth would be arriving to pick them up in four hours.  Illya was thinking, Napoleon is right, this is the most tranquil extraction point we had ever…A movement on the beach caught his attention.

“Napoleon, you have an admirer,” he warned.  He pulled his Walther though he hoped he would not have to use it.

Napoleon swiveled his head to look where Illya was indicating.  A baby elephant seal, approximately six feet long and two hundred pounds, had noticed the American and had undulated toward him.  Glancing around quickly to see if the baby’s mother objected and seeing no one upset, Napoleon returned his attention to the baby.  “Hi,” he said softly as it sniffed his boots.  In response, the creature moved up to sniff Napoleon’s thighs and chest.  When he leaned down, the baby sniffed his face and touched it with its nose.  “Hey there, Cutie,” he cooed as he allowed the infant to sniff and investigate him.  He even kissed its nose.  “Seriously, how cute are you?”

Illya snorted from atop his perch on the boulder.  “It must be a female; she has fallen in love with you,” he deadpanned.

Napoleon laughed as the baby lifted its flippers and arched its back.  “You’re just jealous that you can’t have an inter – species romance!”

“You had better hope that the mother or the bull do not object to their daughter’s choice of boyfriend.  I think we need to move to the next bay; it seems deserted compared to this one and we should not disturb the wildlife if we can help it. We have time; the ship will be here in three hours. ”

“You’re right, Tovarisch.” He kissed the seal’s nose one last time before getting up and joining his partner by the rocks.  “She and I are just two ships passing in the night.”

The Russian groaned, “I am so glad you said that on land or I would have been seasick.”

This is the video that inspired this story:

http://vimeo.com/18479035