by J G Barber
“Amazing.” Clive smiles ear-to-ear. “What a beauty. A kindred spirit. I’d run away with her in a heartbeat.”
Clive and Paul both think about telling the other that Narmaya may be a siren, but they both decide against it.
“Then let’s end this nightmare, so you can.” Paul opens the hidden entrance to the bunker.
They descend the stairs to find the others gathered in the kitchen, preparing breakfast. Clive crawls into bed without a word and curls up into the fetal position. Paul avoids the inquisition by insisting he must enter a meditative state to understand a vision that came to him on the beach.
What is it about the Y Griega? It’s some kind of super bud, he ponders how he felt when he heard the sirens’ call on the beach. Despite the drug residue, he’s able to enter a meditative state. His mind and emotions fill with a vision.
Lord Etanautine stands before the Atlantis Citizen Council. The council members occupy twelve seats arranged in four quarter-circle segments around the clay center, the speaker’s circle. Four concave seating sections separated by entry halls rise behind each segment. Members of the military council sit in the audience, observing the session with dark, cold stares. No citizens have the courage to attend.
“The mood around the world has changed,” Etanautine declares. “The days of peace have ended. Other nations have lost respect for the greatness of Atlantis. They wish to steal what we have built and claim it as their own. It is time for Atlantis to fortify its military strength.”
Citizen Aztlan stands to argue with him. “The mood is changing because our economic activities grow invasive. Greed erodes the soul of our people and corrupts our peaceful coexistence with our neighbors.”
“Our neighbors are stupid and superstitious! We already dominate them.” Etanautine stands over Aztlan for dramatic effect, his nine-foot stature dwarfing the Citizen Council and reminding the audience that his giant race has taken over their great city-state. “It is the Lemurians who pose the real threat.”
The posturing of giants does not intimidate Aztlan. “Mu is a peaceful nation. The Sirenians inspire their peace, as they inspire ours. Your kind is the source of conflict.”
“You shall address me as Lord Etanautine, Citizen!” He clenches his fists. “The Sirenians concern me even more. Their ability to shape-shift makes them a threat in the sea and in the water. Their warriors are fast and fierce. We would lose in a battle against them.”
Aztlan steps into the speaking circle, his force of presence matching Etanautine’s physical stature. “There is no battle necessary. They do not pose a threat.”
Etanautine restrains himself from grabbing Aztlan and squeezing the life out of him with his giant hands. “You are mistaken, Citizen. Their females lull our people into complacency with their charming songs and delightful appearance, while their males conspire with the Lemurians to build a fighting force capable of mounting an assault against Atlantis.”
Aztlan laughs. “Nonsense! We have the most advanced military in the world. No one can challenge us.” He looks out at the audience. “Furthermore, Lord Etanautine, no one wants to. The rest of the world lives in peace. Our private chambers and military training grounds are the only places where a warlike state exist.”
Lord Memphis, the leading general of the war council, descends from his seat in the audience and enters the speaking circle, making Aztlan look small and ineffectual between the two giants.
Memphis addresses the audience. “Lord Etanautine speaks the truth. The Lemurians prepare in secret for a great war against us. They are patient. They will wait until our complacency is complete. Now is the time for countermeasures. Give us your proposal, Lord.”
Etanautine paces the circle, alternating imposing looks down at the council members with consensus-seeking looks out at the audience. “The military labs have provided the solution. We know how to rewrite the genetic code of Sirenians. We have enhanced their shape-shifting abilities, their aggressiveness and their loyalty. Our growing army is superior to the ordinary Sirenian warriors who conspire with the Lemurians. Our soldiers can fight on land, in the sea, or in the air. Atlantis has become unconquerable!”
“This is an outrage!” Aztlan steps up onto the council tables to match the stature of the two giants. “Genetic experiments on Sirenians? Without authorization? When the people hear of this, you’ll all be cast out of the military council and—” Marching feet disrupt Aztlan’s speech. All four hallways fill with soldiers armed with tridents and crossbows.
A scientist leads a leashed male Sirenian into the clay circle. In human form, Tristan’s size and stature are closer to Aztlan’s than the giants, but his thick, chiseled musculature hints at the superhuman strength he possesses. The scientist hands the leash to Memphis.
“Witness, citizens!” Memphis shouts. “Activate Tristan.” The Sirenian stands in a ready position. Memphis removes the leash. “Fly.” The citizen council and the audience watches in awe as Tristan transforms into a bird-man, his arms morphing into albatross wings, his torso and legs taking the shape of the same bird. Tristan lifts off and flies around the circular ceiling of the chamber, then lands between Memphis and Etanautine.
Memphis continues with a series of commands. “Pounce.” Tristan transforms into a lion-man, roaring and swatting his paws as Aztlan jumps off the table and behind the council to avoid injury. “Climb.” Tristan the goat-man runs up the stairs into the seating area, around the railing at the top, and back down to center. “Run.” As a human-horse, Tristan trots the circle around the Citizen Council. “Slither.” Snake-man Tristan slithers around the circle again, extending his head and torso into the front row of the audience. “Ready.” Tristan transforms back to full human, returns to Memphis’s side, and stands at attention. Memphis secures the leash around Tristan’s neck.
Etanautine drives home the point of the demonstration. “Citizens of Atlantis, you are my witnesses. We enter a new era of global military superiority.” The audience and half the members of the Citizen Counsel applaud. “We have one thousand male soldiers like Tristan, trained to do battle at our command. The next phase of the program focuses on females.”
“Females?” Aztlan fights off a wave of panic. He jumps back into the speaking circle with Tristan and the two giants, searching the eyes of his fellow council members for support. None have the courage to speak. He looks up at Memphis. “What do you plan to do with females?”
“An excellent question, Citizen. The powers of Sirenian women are legendary. Their mesmerizing song. The irresistible seductiveness of their charm. Their insatiable sexual desire. We must use these powers to infiltrate our enemies and weaken them from within.” Memphis signals to the guards. “We have chosen our first subject for the experiments.”
Despite the bindings around her mouth, wrists and ankles, the guards struggle to drag Diana into the clay circle. Her eyes stop Aztlan from rushing to free her. You must protect Leucosia, she says with her mind.
Summoning his will, Aztlan contains his emotions and restrains himself from attacking to start a fight he would lose. His voice shakes. “What do you intend to do?”
Etanautine grins. “First, we will upgrade the females to transform and respond to our commands as the males do today. Second, we will repurpose their insatiable sexual desire to serve human men. Third, we will enhance their intoxicating song and smell and the taste of their bodily fluids, to enable them to addict the men we choose. The ultimate goal is breeding. With a thousand males and a thousand females, Atlantis will grow its army to become the undisputed ruler of the world.”
“This is not our way!” Aztlan’s eyes implore the silent council members once again to take a stand. “Atlantis embodies the moral core of human civilization.”
Etanautine pushes him aside. “This is our new way! Atlantis is the lord and master of human civilization. Our right and just ways shall prevail across all nations.”
Memphis notices the eye connection between Aztlan and Diana. “Take her
away,” he commands. As the guards remove her from the chamber, Etanautine wraps his massive hand around Aztlan, binding his arms. “A new era has already begun, citizens. Remember this day. You are the first to witness the rise of Atlantis!” He signals the soldiers. They turn and exit in tight lines.
Etanautine releases Aztlan and follows Memphis out. The military audience members exit behind them. Aztlan stands alone in the center circle, looking out on the Citizen Council and remaining audience.
“You bore witness to the beginning of our end. And you said nothing.” Aztlan connects with each council member eye to eye. “Our fate is your responsibility.” Outraged by their continued silence, Aztlan marches out of the chamber.
Paul’s awareness returns to the bunker, his body shaking and sweating from the intensity of the vision and the beginnings of his post-party detox. The others, who watched as he moaned and his body contorted during the meditation, wait for him to share. He stands without a word and heads into the bathroom to shower.
The Serpent Goddess statuette watches over Leucosia as she awakens alone in her bed. Another night of ancestral dreams and replays of memories from her early life has left her feeling raw, vulnerable, and off-balance. She slides out of bed and studies the statue, head to toe, stopping to stare into the green eyes that glowed when the statuette served as the container for Lorelei’s spirit back on Whidbey Island. Are you the cause of all this tumult? Leucosia picks up the statuette and considers smashing it into pieces. Feeling its weight reminders her the statuette is solid gold. She feels the intensity of her emotions drain away as she holds it in her hands. Leucosia replaces it on the shelf.
She steals away from the facility to partake in her morning ritual. She breathes in the morning ocean air, hoping her daily communion with Great Mother will restore her inner stability. After taking station on her spot on the rock, Leucosia closes her eyes and clears her mind, focusing her clairvoyance inside the pyramid gallery.
The holograph of the mysterious island where the siren gossip lives replays in her mind. Her memories and feelings tell her she interacted with this gossip after the Great Flood, when the surviving Sirenians scattered across the globe to improve their chances for survival. Leucosia’s knowing withstands the maelstrom of emotions as she focuses to remember the face of their gossip’s alpha female. Her name was… Raina.
She focuses her telepathy to sing an old Sirenian song from the days of Atlantis, a song of unity and sisterhood. Sister Raina, hear my call. It is I, sister Leucosia from the olden times. Call to me, sister Raina.
No response. Leucosia reaches out with her feelings. She’s unable to feel a connection or receive any impression of their location.
Blinking away tears, Leucosia stands up on her spot, looking out on the Pacific Ocean, her heart aching again with longing and grief. Monica-Lorelei joins her on the rock. Sensing the immensity of her grief, she embraces Leucosia without a word, allowing Leucosia to collapse in her arms and sob.
El Anciano prepares fresh juice in the kitchen. Laura and Ellen sit with Paul and Clive at the dining table. Clive breaks the long silence after he and Paul finish breakfast. “You were out for a long time, mate. You okay?”
“The Y Griega. It alters my mind,” Paul says.
Ellen observes their silent exchange. “Y Griega. That’s some kind of weed, isn’t it? That’s what happened! You were both down at the beach partying last night!”
“You fucking fools.” Laura glares at Paul. “What the fuck?” She bolts over to Alexei and Sorcerer, interrupting their review of the pyramid assault plan for the umpteenth time. “Did you hear that? Our mates here were down at the beach partying all night.”
Alexei remains focused on the pyramid map. “It is of no consequence.”
Ellen grabs Alexei’s shoulder. “No consequence? We have a pregnant woman here!”
Laura gets in Paul’s face. “Your actions make your priorities crystal clear. You are who you are and you’re gonna do what you’re gonna do. Fuck the rest of us.” She turns on her heel and paces the room to let off some steam. “You’re out. You’re too fucking dangerous.”
“I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.” Ellen retreats to her bunk to work out her anger and disgust with a few games of Sudoku.
“What did your visions reveal?” El Anciano asks Paul as he pours juice into three cups.
Paul turns to face him. “The Atlanteans changed the Sirenian gene to create a warrior race of shapeshifters. Leucosia’s mother was a subject of their experiments.”
El Anciano delivers the cups to Paul and Clive. “As I suspected. Do you understand their rage now? They share the rage all indigenous peoples felt, when outsiders destroyed their way of life.”
“How did your people forgive the Atlanteans?” Paul asks.
El Anciano joins Paul and Clive at the dining table. “It was unnecessary for us. The Atlanteans that came to the Maya brought peace and shared their advanced knowledge with us. They enabled us to build the great pyramids and cities whose ruins we explore today. It was the Spaniards who inflicted Mexico’s wound. Much of the violence you see in our country today is born of this unhealed wound.”
“Are you sure about that, mate?” Clive points at the satellite view of the pyramid. “How do you explain that?”
“I know the heart of the Maya. I am not the master of all of Mexico’s secrets.” El Anciano sips his juice. “We will discover the secrets in the pyramid together.”
Paul connects with El Anciano. “I don’t know how to make sense of all this. Who I was, who I am, who will I become?”
El Anciano responds with one of his signature looks of deep wisdom and kindness. “We all carry the imprint of our ancestors. We continue their good works and transform the evil that touched their lives.”
Alexei heads to the kitchen to pour himself a cup of juice. Clive talks to Sorcerer one-on-one. “The sirens continue to recruit local women. We are witnesses to an international crime.”
Sorcerer continues studying the pyramid map. “This is why we do what we do”.
Clive sits down next to him. “These women’s lives will be destroyed.”
Sorcerer regards him with a shrewd eye. “You fell for another local girl. We cannot rescue individuals from the consequences of their choices. They may not come out of this alive. Nothing we can do about it.”
“This one’s special,” Clive says.
“They all are.” Sorcerer shrugs. “Casualties of war.”
Enough emotion for one day. Clive grabs a bottle of Johnny Walker from the pantry. He sets up everyone except for Laura and El Anciano. The siren hunters circle around as Clive pours two finger glasses.
As the sun reaches its midday peak, a private charter boat turns the corner into the private cove of the sirens’ island. El Jefazo signals the guards to lower their weapons as he traverses the dock to greet the boat. “This is a private island,” he shouts to the boat driver as the engines mutter the driver’s mistrust of the situation. He recognizes the man from the local marina, a crew member on the boats that transported the potentials.
Narmaya and her girlfriends from the beach line up on the dock side of the boat. They take in El Jefazo, the armed guards and the steel stairs up the cliff to the facility.
Unafraid, Narmada jumps onto the dock. She stands at enough of a distance to let El Jefazo take her bikini body in, head to toe. She smiles, recognizing that he approves. “Hi, I’m Narmaya. I know we are intruding, sir. But we are all so distraught that did not receive the invitation. We heard about what’s going on here with the sirens. We want to be a part of it.”
El Jefazo smiles, amused by her boldness and electrified by her presence. He scans the young women on the boat, taking in their mermaid-themed clothing and gear. “What do you girls know of sirens?”
“Well, for starters, I am one,” Narmaya says. “My girlfriends here all have the gene. We want to be transformed.” She raises her arms, opens her legs, and slowly turns in a circle to sho
w El Jefazo she has nothing to hide on her body or underneath her bikini.
El Jefazo inspects the boat and the young women. “How did you find out about this place?”
Narmaya smiles. She takes El Jefazo by the arm. “Paul Douglass.” She reads the thought as it pops in her mind. “El Cazador.”
El Jefazo looks at her sideways. “Why would El Cazador send you here?”
“He did not!” She grins. “Paul only gave me the clue. He refused to tell me this island existed. I fucked his friend, and he gave away the secret. Here we are!”
Leucosia and her sisters observe the interaction at the end of the dock through binoculars. She turns to Monica-Lorelei. “Are we expecting more potentials?”
“No.” Lorelei says, taking the binoculars. “I’m taken by the one talking to El Jefazo. Her spirit calls to me. We must have her tested.”
She hands the binoculars back. Leucosia assesses Narmaya and her girlfriends on the boat. “We have room for a few more. Bring them up.” She retreats into the facility as Jaio and Maraja head toward the steel stairs and down to the beach.
As Jaio and Maraja approach, Narmaya cries. They share a silent moment of mutual recognition, a moment beyond words. Jiao and Maraja take Narmaya into their arms. After a long embrace, Maraja reaches out to the young women on the boat and helps them onto the dock.
“La Jefa wishes to meet the new potentials,” Jiao informs El Jefazo.
“As you wish.” El Jefazo steps aside as Jiao and Maraja lead Narmaya and her friends past him toward the beach. The boat driver seizes the opportunity to fire up the engine and motor away to safety.
Monica-Lorelei greets Narmaya and her friends at the top of the stairs. “Welcome, sisters. I am Monica. Your escorts are Jaio and Maraja. Come, we will take you to the screening room.”
The three sirens lead the way. Narmaya’s girlfriends take in the facility: the young women walking about in various stages of undress, the armed guards stationed by the stairway entrances, and the open air dance floor in the courtyard. They all look to Narmaya for a sign.