Andrea walked up to the whale tank at Oceanic Research Labs in southern California. She trilled three short whistles. A moment later, a huge sperm whale jumped out of the tank and flopped back into the water with a huge splash that drenched Andrea.

Jill walked up behind Andrea, "She got you good, Andrea."

"Yeah! I'm soaked. So what's the diagnosis?"

"I still think she has some kind of parasite. There's traces of fecal matter coming from her blowhole that suggests something we've never encountered before."

"Ewww! Poor Jane!"

"I'm still puzzled at that cut just below her lung under her body. It's too clean and straight! It looks almost like someone had performed surgery on her at one time. I just wish there was an x-ray machine big enough for a whale."

Later that day, Andrea returned from lunch to a commotion in the whale tank. The whale was partly out of the tank on the walkway that surrounded the tank.

"What happened?" Andrea asked.

"Jane tried to jump the tank. She landed with a smack on the walkway."

"Oh dear! Jane! She'll suffocate under her own weight if we don't get her back in the water quickly!"

"Don't worry! We're prepared for this. We're lowering the walkway into the tank. Jane will be fine!"

They lowered the whale into the tank without fuss, and Jill examined her and proclaimed her unhurt from her escape attempt.

The following day, when Andrea arrived for work, she saw blood stains surrounding Jane's blowhole. She immediately ran back to Jill's office yelling, "Jill! Jill! Come quick! Something's wrong with Jane! I think she really got hurt yesterday!"

Jill jumped out of her chair spilling veterinary records all over her desk. She grabbed a whale kit and ran with Andrea out to the whale tanks.

Exiting out to the tanks, Jane was swimming blissfully around the edge of the tank. Andrea reached out and patted Jane on her dorsal fin while Jill held a stethoscope up to different parts of Jane's body.

"Jane's fine, Andrea. Let me take a sample of that blood and send it off to the lab."

While Andrea continued to calm Jane, Jill used a long cotton swap to take a sample of the blood around her blowhole.

"We won't know for a couple of days, but Jane seems fine. Probably just a bloody nose, er, blowhole," Jill said with a laugh.

The following two days were uneventful until Jill walked into Andrea's office. Andrea was going over some dolphin migration charts when Jill said, "We need to take another blood sample from Jane."

"Why," asked Andrea.

"Oh, the lab screwed up! They say we sent them human blood. From two different people, at that."

"Idiots! Also, I've noticed that Jane has become more sluggish since her accident. I really think there's something wrong with her."

Jill and Andrea returned to the whale tank. Andrea called Jane over while Jill stuck another swab into Jane's blowhole.

"There's still plenty of blood in there," Jill said. Jill took the swab back to her office and Andrea returned to her work.

The following day Jill returned to Andrea's office.

"Andrea!"

"Oh, Hi Jill! Did you get Jane's blood work back yet?"

"Yes, and you're not going to believe it. A different lab reported the exact same results as the first lab. Exact same! Human blood -- a mix of Type O and type A."

"How is that possible? Could Jane have eaten anyone?"

"No, whales don't eat people. Even if she could have, the blood wouldn't be coming from her blowhole!"

The following day, Jill scheduled surgery for Jane. Several marine biologists and veterinarians arrived at the day of the surgery. Andrea asked Jill, "What's going on?"

"We're going to perform exploratory surgery to see what is behind that scar under Jane's lung. My hunch is that we'll find the answer to Jane's health problems in there."

Jane was raised partially out of the water and on her side ad she was given anesthesia. As Andrea watched, one of the doctors made an incision over Jane's scar.

"This is interesting," Jill called out. "There's an identical incision on Jane's ling directly beneath the incision on her skin."

The team of doctors cut into Jane's lung and probed the incision with their medical instruments.

"Oh my God!" the team of doctors shouted in unison.

"What?" Andrea asked back.

"Stand back, Andrea," Jill answered, apparently quite flustered.

The doctors reached in and pulled out -- a human body.

"Urp! I'm going to be sick!" Andrea choked as she ran off to the nearest trash bin.

A few minutes later, a steeled Andrea returned to the scene to see two, relatively undamaged, human remains, and a few of other unidentified mangled masses of tissue, laying on the floor next to Jane.

One was a white man, the other a black woman.

"Oh Lord!" Andrea said to Jill, "So whales don't eat people?"

Two of the doctors looked at Andrea, and one said, "Jane didn't eat these people. They were inside her lung, not her stomach."

"But! How?" Andrea stammered. "How did two people get inside Jane's lung?"

"Don't ask me," Jill answered, "And there was more than just those two adults. We also found a number of premature fetuses. Plus, their legs were smeared with their combined excrement."

"Oh gross! Did you have to tell me that?"

"Sorry. Anyway, I'm calling 9-1-1. This is out of our hands, now."

Andrea walked back to her office and locked up, deciding to take the rest of the day off. Jill walked in just as Andrea was about to leave for the day.

"Hi Jill. What's the police say?"

"I gave them a very preliminary report. Their bodied were preserved quite well considering that they have to have been inside Jane's lung for the two months that we've had her. It doesn't make sense, but my first impression is that they've only been dead for a few days. But that's patently impossible, of course."

"Can you tell the cause of death?"

"That's a job for the coroner, but their bodies had been literally crushed. They obviously had to have been dead long before this, but maybe their bodies were crushed when Jane jumped out of the tank, causing their blood to drain out her blowhole."

"I'm sorry, Andrea. But I've just got to take the rest of the day off. You have my number. See you tomorrow."

"Sure Andrea. See you tomorrow."

The mad scientist was having a bad day. He wasn't really mad, though, just mildly annoyed. It had taken forever to catch that last sperm whale. He'd need a few more to finish his project.

Alex woke with a huge headache. That fraternity rush party last night was outrageous, but where was he now? He had wanted to join a frat house during his first year of college and make all his high school pals envious. His grades were good, and he might just pull off an invitation.

But now, he sat up from his bed. It was actually a cot -- and obviously not at the frat house. Rather, he was in some kind of jail cell. Three walls were concrete block with a window on one far wall. The other far wall was barred and faced into a corridor lined with like cells. The cell opposite him was occupied with a cute red-headed girl. He was about to try to get her attention and speak to her when he heard activity come from the window. Walking over to the window, he looked out. The window looked into a large hangar type room from what seemed to be the third floor above. The scene below was incredulous. On one side was a huge pool, like at Sea World, and it was full of whales. On the other side was a shallow pool. One whale was laying on its side on a platform over the shallow pool with all kinds of tubes hooked to the top of its head. Some guys in medical lab coats were performing surgery on it. He watched as they cut a slit in the whale's side, and then inserted some kind of medical instrument into the cut. This procedure went on for about an hour when two people, a blond guy and a red-headed woman, were brought out of a side door. Not only that, but they were both naked. The man was forced to lay down on some kind of un-cushioned steel stretcher. Then the woman was forced to lay down on top of him. Their legs were shackled at the base of the stretcher. Alex could hardly believe what happened next. A boom arm lifted the stretcher up and inserted it, along with the couple -- feet first, into the incision in the whale's body. Holy shit! Alex thought to himself. The boom then pulled the stretcher out, lacking the couple on it. The doctors, if that's what they were, then worked inside the whale for a bit longer, then they stitched the wound closed on the whale's body. After that, the platform on which the wale rested was lowered slowly into the water as the whale sputtered back to life. A moment later, the whale swam off into the larger tank to join its brethren.