“Do you want me to tell the story?” says the doc. “Or answer all your questions?”

I zip my mouth shut with an okey-doke grin.

“Captain K had never seen anything like this strange egg, yet it seemed oddly familiar, like something from a story, half forgotten. He picked up the egg and gasped at the warmth of it. It seemed to vibrate with creative promise, as if all it was waiting for was something to realize its magical potential. Or someone. In the captain’s wondering mind, a thousand voices seemed to whisper as one: I can make your dreams come true.

“Captain K shook his head. He didn’t have time for magical voices and fairy-tale nonsense. On the other hand, a glowing red crystal the size of an ostrich egg? Why, that would certainly make a fine trophy for his mantelpiece back home. So he tucked the pretty thing in the crook of his arm. He hardly heard the terrible, shrieking roar that sounded again as he slid back down to the boat and ordered his men to row for the ship.

“It was only later, as dawn broke and Leviathan was steaming southwards, away from the strange floating island, that the captain remembered the legend of the malamander. He had grown up in the town of Eerie, you see, and had spent many a sleepless childhood night trying not to think about the terrible monster in the old tales.

“‘Didn’t that lay a glowing red egg too?’ he muttered to himself. ‘In the stories? And wasn’t there something about the egg having the power to grant wishes?’

“And although Captain K didn’t believe in magic and nonsense, he ordered the ship’s speed to be increased, just in case.

“It was that night that the monster attacked. The men weren’t prepared. Many lives were lost defending Leviathan against the creature, which bristled with fins and quivering spines and terrified all who saw it. Bullets sparked off its scales, leaving scarcely a mark, and its claws could rend iron. By dawn, the men had driven it off, but the sun rose over a ship in a terrible state.

“The next night, the men were better prepared, and armed to the teeth. They fought bravely and in good formation, and again the creature was driven off, but again the cost was cripplingly high. As the sun rose on the aftermath, the mighty battleship was listing in the water, and the loss of men was appalling.

“‘It comes for its egg!’ the surviving sailors cried to the captain. ‘For the love of grog, give it back its egg!’