Things at the Brown house were fairly quiet as the family sat down in the living room to watch a little TV before retiring for the night. Things had been fairly active with regard to the IAC and Josephine Brown had found herself called to several events that Animalia's "City Council" was required to oversee, while Abby continued to train and keep in shape for when the triathlon came up in the rotation of events that were part of the IAC. Martin had found himself enjoying many of the events and had gone to several of them. He'd reported that many of the relay races were quite exciting to watch. Samson was always a frequent visitor, which Martin and Josephine had seen for over year on just how much he and Abby had fallen for each other since the initial outbreak, but for the moment he was busy cheeking a few things that related to the one year party the Brown's had thrown earlier in the evening, among other things. As they came in, though, it was the IAC that attracted a lot of their attention at the moment.
"The biggest thing right now would the heavy weight wrestling matches," Abby commented as they sat down, "from what Durga says, her mate is in the running to win that bracket, though his biggest rival is a male lion from the zoo... though I can't remember what Durga said the Lion's name was."
"Isn't one of your friends in the wrestling tournament?" Josephine asked.
"Jamie?" Abby said slowly, "I'd suppose she's okay, but she's really closer to Sarah and Malice than to me. Probably with all the related courting issues that went on while Malice was hoping to win Simon's heart... But, yeah, Jamie's in the woman's tournament and I heard she won her first match, but I haven't heard anything more than that..."
"Hopefully everyone keeps good sportsmanship," Martin commented, "no squabbles over stupid stuff."
Josephine and Abby both nodded to that while Martin finished his comment.
"Thankfully there's been no real sign of that so far," Martin finished.
He then turned on the television expecting to get an update on the IAC but was surprised to find a reporter standing inside one of the labs on Mieni. It was a surprise, as Martin didn't think the actual events on Mieni had actually started yet. Though the surprise was soon answered.
"Yes, John," the reporter on the screen spoke, "I was with the diving team that was going own for a look at the US Pennsylvania. The ship looks quite well, all things considered, but is deep enough down that the rest of the crew and the other reporters had to be in full scuba gear and our cameras and lights specially protected to deal with the water pressure down there."
"And this was for exploration?" came a question from the station reporter, John, who they couldn't see on the screen.
"To see on what had changed on and inside the ship since it was scuttled," the field reporter spoke, "and see how well that sort of tourism could be arranged, as visiting the ship as a museum site HAS been something that Animalia has floated an idea but what we saw was not what we expected."
"What happened?" John asked.
The field reporter then stepped away to reveal a massive glass case that was in the lab. In the case was the body of a massive squid, with many of its tentacles folded so that it fit in the case. The body was also semi floating in a liquid to prevent the squid's body from decaying. Abby thought she saw some portions of the squid's tentacles looked like they were damaged... as though something had taken a bite out of them.
"As we reached the bottom, we found ourselves rapidly confronted by this great beast," the field reporter spoke, "a giant squid. Normally they are found in much DEEPER water than where we were at, but unlike the Sperm Whales that hunt them, they don't need oxygen and thus we know very little about them. In this, we can guess that it was probably moving through to territory elsewhere, but we can't say anything more definite than that. What I can say is that it did attack us... or at least moved toward us in seeing us or our Animalian escorts as food."
The screen's image then showed some of the scenes from the battle between Ran, Gaz, Rapier, and Gladys with the Giant Squid, though a lot of it was edited out to prevent sensitive viewers from being exposed to all the blood spilled in the fight.
"Our escorts managed to fight it off, though in doing so, they ended up ultimately killing it," the field reporter narrated, "which leads into why it's been brought back. Horizon's head scientist and his mate, Harold and Kirana have voiced that squid could become part of both greater studies of the deep and as a potential opportunity to help further education and learning, which will include things such as the natural history of the Pacific, how the atolls developed, how people first got to these islands and when."
"So, they wish to set out more ways to learn through tourism," Joe surmised.
"In a way," the field reporter spoke, "though with certain facts related to the build of Animalians and the fact that they will have many coming to Mieni as part of the IAC, the tourism aspects that drives Mieni's local economy will likely thrive in the short term. How long it lasts... that isn't known right now."
"How have Animalians responded to this squid being brought in?" Joe asked.
"With the same curiosity that many scientists elsewhere have had when a Giant Squid has washed up on the beach," the field reporter answered, "which could well help with the ideas to preserve this squid's body for study."
"Interesting," Martin said slowly, ignoring the sound of the back door opening and closing.
"What is?" came Samson's voice as he came in and sat down beside Abby.
"Apparently a Giant Squid attacked a news team at Mieni near where the Pennsylvania is," Martin answered, "the Animalians escorting them killed it and they're now going to put together a sort of display for it for both further study and for a way to educate others on it."
"They certainly keep developing things," Samson commented.
"Just like Animalia has developed in the space of a year," Abby smiled and leaned against Samson.
Samson nodded and glanced to Martin and Josephine, and noted Josephine leaning against Martin in a way similar to how Abby was cuddled against him. Things kept developing, and while there were always difficulties to overcome, for the two pairs of American Quarter Horse Animalians, things seemed just fine. And the rest of the media seemed to respond to announcement in the same way.