I DON’T BELIEVE, I KNOW PART 2.

I DON’T BELIEVE, I KNOW PART 1.

“What do you want?” Arthur barked as he opened.

“Good morning. I would like to apologize and explain my behavior. May I come in?” Dr. Fritz slipped into the small vestibule.

Arthur snorted.

“I brought breakfast. I’ve heard you like carrot cake.” Dr. Fritz held up a package. “I couldn’t get the one with frosting yesterday night. I hope it’s ok.”

“Great. Tea? Coffee? Water?” Arthur faked good manners.

“Tea would be very nice.”

Dr. Fritz followed Arthur to the kitchen.

“I am sure I have ruined a lot of work of yours. I came to show you something. I do hope you will understand better.”

Arthur swallowed snarky comments as Dr. Fritz took out his notebook and typed something. He repeated his apology several times and claimed to have a good reason for thwarting Arthur’s work and damaging his reputation so much.

The water boiled. Arthur brought two steaming cups to the desk. He intentionally chose store-bought cheap fruit tea instead of Grandma’s blends.

“Please, have a look. I have recorded this a few years ago. Just when that public fascination with our dear poor little thing started.” Dr. Fritz turned the screen to him.

Poor little thing? He means Meg?

There was the greenish darkness of the deep. The feeble light illuminated empty sand.

Arthur played with the teabag in the fragrant liquid. The video went on for minutes. A huge pale object emerged from the darkness.

Arthur shrieked, fell from the chair, and spilled the whole cup on his chest. He jumped up and peeled the hot shirt from him.

“Big teeth, right? Yes, my reaction was exactly the same. Luckily, my hands were empty.” Dr. Fritz nodded. “There, there. Are you alright? I’ll make you a new one.”

“That… That… What the…”

Arthur went on gasping and played the video again. He was prepared, but the giant shark nose and toothy jaw still shook him. He stuffed his mouth with the carrot cake.

“I would like to see you persuading everyone this is just seaweed,” Arthur growled.

“Impossible. That’s why no one knows this recording exists. Except for you. Because of your own recording.” Dr. Fritz refilled Arthur’s cup. “Please, have a better look at that shark.”

Still shaking, Arthur obeyed. He paused the video several times.

“Huge eyes. Maybe because of the darkness? And the overall shape is… Hmm, I guess it resembles a giant dwarf form?”

“Dwarfism in the process.” Dr. Fritz nodded. “And much bigger eyes to see better in the dark. We can thus conclude it hunts in the levels with some light left. But with not enough food source to keep the original size. Still, it is way bigger than our biggest known white sharks. Truth be told, I have doubts whether it is Otodus megalodon. Maybe some different, newer, species. Maybe related, maybe not.”

“Otodus megalodon is the only known giant shark species.” Arthur frowned. He cut another slice of the carrot cake. His stomach rumbled empty.

“Whatever. We simply have a huge toothy cartilaginous fish down there. I would love to study it in detail. But this is another thing I wanted to show you.” Dr. Fritz typed again and showed Arthur the screen. “Surely you know the peculiar thing about the Meg teeth. Usually, the older, or more rare the fossil, the more expensive it is. But the teeth?”

“The fresher the better.” Arthur grimaced. Cold ran down his spine.

“So if people found out they can get Meg teeth so fresh there will still be blood on them?” Dr. Fritz smirked.

“I can imagine a whole megalodon head on some crazy hunter’s wall,” Arthur murmured. He felt even colder. The majestic giant in the deep darkness seemed like a helpless puppy as he thought about human creativity.

Nuclear submarines? Sound and smell baits? Could they stream the hunts online?

Acid washed his throat.

“I understand,” he said. “You wanted to protect them. Whatever they are.”

“I am very sorry I did not manage to stop you before. I arrived too late.”

“Well, the fact the information got on social media is bad enough already. This utter shame will at least put it into the hoax category.” Arthur shrugged. He breathed a bit easier.

“I’ll help you in your further career if you promise not to attempt to reveal them again,” Dr. Fritz proposed. He bit into the cake and whined. He put his hand on his jaw with an expression of suffering. He spat out a piece of a nutshell.

“Broken tooth?” Arthur threw him a napkin.

“Does not feel like that,” Dr. Fritz mumbled. “But my dentist pulled out one of my molars a few days ago. The reason why I did not manage to talk to you before. That stupid thing got right into the wound.”

Arthur grimaced with compassion. His vegetarian mother always sieved the nuts for her special carrot cake. Low sugar, almost no flour. The sweet American versions in the stores were a shock for Arthur when he arrived. But he learned to like them as well.

His empty phone screen filled him with guilt as Mum stopped calling him after he texted her.

“I can use some career help,” he said. “But I don’t need to be bribed.”

He caressed the huge mouth full of teeth in the stopped video. They carefully finished the carrot cake and talked about the possible new shark species or dwarfing Otodus megalodon till early morning. The idea to discover all there was to know about the giant, a bit oddly shaped, shark in the deep was fascinating. And so tempting it made Arthur’s palms burn. But the safest option to avoid the dreaded hunts was to destroy all evidence there was.

I DON’T BELIEVE I KNOW PART 3