by Yossi Soika
“Dan, what happened to you? I almost had a heart attack,” she said, and after she calmed down I told her about the sheep.
“It’s unbelievable,” I exclaimed, “humanoid civilized animals. It is strange, what’s going on here. I simply can’t understand it, but I must tell you that I didn’t feel any fear being next to all these creatures – my fears vanished like smoke. Now I’m sure that there are some very strange things lurking around. Mr. Da Costa didn’t toil in vain to bring us here… did it occur to you that there would possibly be humanoid animals, marching trees, or strange fruits like those ones in the belly of the Earth?”
“What can I say? I’m still very afraid.”
“Melanie, you have nothing to fear, we are invisible.”
“We must go back to where we parted from Mr. Da Costa. We might lose track of him, and how are we to retrace our way back to the Ten Tribes? I can’t take another step in this odd place without his help.”
I yielded to her and consented obediently to go back to where we had parted from Mr. Da Costa and afterwards we would take our next steps, whatever they would be. Gingerly and lightly we made our way back but when we reached the place, we couldn’t find our friend, Mr. Da Costa.
“We might have a problem!” Melanie remarked in a worried voice. “Maybe he returned and went to track our footsteps?”
“There’s no need to portray such a gloomy picture. If that’s the case he’ll soon come to look for us here.”
However I still had the feeling that Mr. Da Costa would not return so soon, but I dared not to share this hidden feelings. Melanie sighed again and said:
“I’m very worried. I must see him. I’m so afraid…”
I grasped her hand and whispered, “Don’t forget! I love you dearly, and nothing will happen to you when I’m around. You must trust me.”
For a long time we sat near the lake, submerged in our deep thoughts, until I shook this mood, and I stood up telling her, “Let’s search for a tasty fruit. Look there are some nice fruit trees growing here. We have time until Mr. Da Costa completes his explorations so let’s help ourselves to the charming fruits of the Third World.
I gently held her waist and together we walked toward a nearby bunch of trees. When we were close enough we could see a tree that bore some apricot-like fruits. The fruit of this leafless tree was a shiny purple color. We could easily pick a few of its fruits and then we returned while enjoying the juicy sweet fruits. My biggest joy was seeing Melanie smile. We returned to our meeting point, but Mr. Da Costa was not yet in sight.
“Dan, I feel something extremely strange,” Melanie said, “I don’t know how to explain it, but I feel heat waves.”
“I also feel strange. It’s like I have a nasty, burning feeling in my stomach,” I responded. I’m not sure how long it was but suddenly I realized that my hands had turned blue. I gazed at Melanie, who was napping on the grass. I noticed that her hands were also turning blue. A new problem… I pondered, what shall I do now? Should I wake Melanie up? Of course not – she would be frightened to death. I don’t need her to panic right now… I mumbled to myself, but it’s the only thing to do… after thinking it over for a moment, I decided to wake her up gently and tell her the latest news.
“Melanie, wake up, please; I have something special to tell you.”
“Dan, please leave me alone, I’m terribly tired.”
“Melanie, please look at my hands. They’ve turned blue.”
“Dan, I’m too tired to joke around right now. I don’t care what color your hands are. Is Mr. Da Costa still not in sight?’ Melanie half-opened her eyes, looked at me and said: “I don’t believe it, Dan! Where did you get the blue paint that you have smeared all over your face and your hands? What have you done to yourself? Have you been playing with blue paint like a little kid? You’re such a clown! Oh, that’s not nice! I see that you also painted my hands blue!”
“Melanie, you don’t get what happened here! I didn’t paint you… I didn’t paint your face,” I kept repeating.
All of a sudden Melanie sat up, alarmed, and gave me a piercing look, “I’m afraid you are right. It’s not paint, it’s something that comes from inside the skin.”
When I heard her words I burst into laughter, and then blurted, “You look marvelous! Just like a mannequin in a display window,” I whispered with a choked laugh, “blue and beautiful.”
“I think that we were given a gift from the wonderful fruit trees. We are paying for the price of hunger. I feel a terrible burn in my stomach. I don’t know what is happening to me!” Before she had finished talking a thin spiral jet of bluish smoke gushed out of her mouth. Before I had time to process the new situation, the burning in my stomach increased rapidly, my hands turned blue and transparent… and a bluish smoke started to billow from my mouth too. At once I fell down on my back, and with great effort I glanced at Melanie who was also lying on her back, as bluish and translucent as a jellyfish, with a thick cloud of smoke billowing from her mouth.
“Dan, what’s hap— pening here? I’m dying— Dan… I—”
In the Prison of the Dolphin People
I lay on my back for what seemed like forever and couldn’t believe my eyes. A cloud of smoke billowed in a spiral from my mouth. My body burned with the heat of fever as if I were a flamethrower.
I must reach the water, the thought crossed in my mind. With great effort I turned over and crawled to the lakeshore and hurried to drink long gulps of water. Shortly afterwards, I felt a release and the intensive burn began to gradually wane. For some time I lay at the edge of the lake, dipping my head in the water, and then, with much effort, I raised it and observed my surroundings. Out of focus, Melanie’s image emerged in front of me, she lay not far away from me, her body immersed in the lake. How is she? I wondered, Is she alright? With great difficulty I kneeled on all fours. As if in a nightmare I approached her and inspected her closely: the color of her body had turned crimson and was crystal clear. I moved her slightly and whispered, “Melanie, wake up, please wake up!” Suddenly I was inflicted with a terrible weakness and fell again on my back.
For a long period, I lay there until I got back on my feet, when I heard a sound that came from a very short distance away. With great difficulty I turned my head to the source of the noise. A few steps from me I saw three creatures, their appearance was like nothing that I had ever seen before, and they approached me slowly. They were about six and a half feet tall, their fish-like bodies sleek and naked, but the strangest thing was their four tiny hands that branched from both sides of their bodies, three webbed fingers on each of them. But most fantastic of all was their dolphin-like faces. Am I in danger? Do I have to flee? I wanted to run away but my legs betrayed me. Perhaps it’s only a dream and it can’t really be happening? No, it can’t really be happening! It’s impossible… Oh, cannibals… bonfire…It’s hopeless.
One of the creatures pointed at me and made weird shriek-like sounds. Then I could see all of them turning toward me, as they examined me, paying great attention; how could that be? I was invisible… I quickly touched my neck, searching for the pendant, but it wasn’t there…. They got closer with heavy and measured steps and grabbed me, and lifted me up as if I were a rag doll. From time to time they examined me closely and meticulously and released strange cries of marvel. They haven’t touched Melanie I thought to myself with a sigh of relief, and why hadn’t they? And it hit me that she was wearing the pendant so she was invisible. One of the creatures took hold of my head in his tiny hands, and marched directly into the water.
“Crazy things, I’m not a fish!” I screamed in horror. “I cannot dive if I don’t have the right equipment; what are you going to do with me?”
They stopped for a while, looked at each other, nodded with their heads, and resumed marching into the lake.
That was it – I’d reached the end of the road – the monsters were g
oing to drown me… there was no escape. Suddenly two more creatures emerged from the lake, a translucent, green article in their hands. They marched straight to me, put the neck of it in my mouth and made me drink it quickly. Although that liquid smelled disgusting, I couldn’t stop them and drank it all. To my great horror I noticed that my belly became inflated like a balloon.
“Evil animals, what have you done to me?” I screamed with the last of my strength, but the five creatures just pulled me further into the middle of the lake.
Before I passed out I saw a huge, glowing ball swaying across the water. A Fish Man stood at the entrance, wearing a strange-looking smile on his face. For a moment I had the feeling that I knew this creature but I immediately rejected the thought. Had I seen him somewhere else? I imagined that those were my last thoughts. It was hopeless… all was lost… with great effort I opened my eyes to realize that they were towing me toward the opening of the ball.
After some time, I woke up with a question flickering in my mind, how long have I been here? I’m alive! The thought sparked in my mind. I gradually opened my eyes, but could see nothing. All around me it was a stark darkness. Where am I? My body wasn’t wet… and I was breathing; that means that there is no water in here. If that was true, then where was I? To where had the creatures that had caught me disappear? Were they intelligent beings? What a striking similarity they had with dolphins. Dolphin People - a strange name occurred to me.
After a few failed attempts I was able to stand up and stepped slowly forward fumbling with my fingers the dark. After about five steps my hand touched a soft material, and I continued to probe the strange wall carefully. Was it the big balloon I had noticed rocking on the edge of the water? I pierced the flexible cover with my fingernails but to no avail. I tried to rub it with my nails but nothing happened. I punched it but again, nothing. Was it a rubber ball or was it made of plastic? What was that strange ball? For long time I continued to fumble around and searched in vain for an opening. I was breathing. Therefore there was oxygen or at least it was being streamed in from some kind of entrance, perhaps there was an opening in the top? In any event, I had no chance of reaching it without a ladder. After a long hour of calculations and futile searches, I felt my stomach rumbling signaling my hunger. For a long moment I touched my belly and finally felt a great relief because my big inflated belly was gone. The hunger that had started to bother me became stronger and now it was beginning to enraging me.
Anger and wrath gradually replaced the biting hunger, until I stood on my feet and yelled determinedly, “Damn beasts, where are you? I’m hun-gry!” The cry was still echoing, and I saw a beam of light approaching where I stood. The light grew stronger until it lit up the whole ball. Then I was able to see that I was standing in a spacious, transparent ball that was sunk deeply in the lake. There they were, the damn human-fish. Two of them were approaching me carrying the same fruits I had seen on the lakeshore. To my great astonishment they penetrated the membrane of the ball as if it were air. How the hell could they do that? Why didn’t water leak into the ball when they entered? And where exactly is the oxygen outlet here? Many questions were buzzing in my head, but I was most bothered by what was going to happen to me next. The two Fish People just left the fruits on the floor of the ball, then touched me lightly and exited.
After they left I chewed on the fruits stuffing it quickly into my mouth. Having finished my fruit meal, I just sat down and stared into the returned darkness. My sense of time slowly faded away and I didn’t know how long I sat there until I once again saw the strong beam of light slowly approaching me. Something large and dark advanced toward the ball and in few seconds I realized that it was a strange-looking machine driven by one of the Dolphin People. Once again I was intrigued by the question of whether they were aquatic, or terrestrial creatures that live underwater. The light glowed stronger and stronger, and shortly afterwards I noticed three Dolphin People attaching the ball to the strange machine and towing it very quickly along with them.
Not far from where I was sitting, I saw a huge shining ball gleaming with light as if it were daylight.
“Unbelievable! That’s incredible!” I called aloud, upon seeing the giant bubble lit up with lights.
Who built it? Such an incredible thing! Where does this light come from at the depth of the lake? My thoughts raced as the scenes passed in front of my eyes. Before I stopped pondering about the source of light, a huge ball was joined to my ball and an opening cracked widely into it. Two Dolphin People appeared at the entrance. They walked straight toward me, grabbed my arms and dragged me toward the huge ball. I was embraced by daylight, and could easily see how spacious the enormous ball was. At its right flank I noticed a large cluster of balls that were all lit up in a flare of lights. This is their underwater dwelling place, the thought crossed my mind. Hundreds of the Dolphin People creatures stood next to where I stood and pierced me with their strange-scary looks. Where are they taking me and what’s going to happen now? I felt the stress floating in the space. It was an unforgettable moment. After a short but exhausting walk we reached the central-ball of the ball-cluster. Its opening was covered by a vast, reddish-colored curtain. As soon as I arrived the curtain was drawn on both sides, and I stepped through it.
“Oh, my God!” I exclaimed in surprise, “This is amazing!”
For a long moment I stood as if I were in a dream, “It’s impossible… that such a world can exist…” I repeatedly mumbled to myself, “an enormous stadium in the middle of a lake?! It seems so insane, so illogical.” I closed my eyes and opened them again, but no – it wasn’t a dream! I stood in a middle of the stadium and observed by thousands of pairs of prying eyes. A Dolphin Man approached me, and put a tiny object on my head. Then suddenly I felt an intensive flow of heat waves penetrating my body. I was dazed for a moment, but soon I got over it.
“I’m the leader of the tribe,” I suddenly heard a sharp scream and a huge Dolphin Man loomed from a hidden corner and advanced straight ahead toward a throne that stood on a large stage set about twenty steps from where I was. Surprisingly, I could easily understand his words although it sounded like a shrill shriek.
“Who are you and how did you find your way to this gloomy world?”
For a moment I stood dumbstruck in face of the weird change but I recovered quickly and responded with loud shrieks that I had never heard before. What has happened to my voice? How am I emitting such terrible shrieks from my mouth?”
After I gathered my wits again, I used my newly acquired voice to tell them about myself and what I was doing there. I spared only one detail – I didn’t tell them about Melanie who was lying on the shore of the lake.
After finishing my speech, I gathered my courage and asked, “Who are you, please? Why are you calling your own world a ‘gloomy’ one?”
“Ours is a long story,” retorted the leader, “but I shall tell you only a small part of our dramatic narrative in order to elucidate why our world is gloomy.”
He paused shortly and started, “Hundreds of years ago scientists from the Land of the Ten Tribes conducted many experiments on bodies of humans, animals, and plants. The results were terrible. If you look at me and at the big crowd that stands here you can see that we are all results of the terrible cross-species hybridization of dolphin and human. It might sound like a terrible story but I know of even worse ones, and, after many trials, the Ten Tribes scientists created plant-animal and animal-plant hybridizations. In this way lab-monsters were created, which never before have been seen by a human eye. Genetic engineering became the scientists’ buzz word. Here comes the great change became their slogan. The beginning of their trials was characterized by genuine excitement. The Ten Tribes’ scientists believed that they had found the path to overcome diseases and prevent defect neonates. But very soon heinous-looking creatures started to emerge from the labs. When the scientists saw the predicaments of their trials, they decided to cea
se experimenting with these animals, plants, and malignant hybrid products that they had created, seized them and locked them in big cages. One day there was an intensive earthquake, their cells cracked into pieces, and all these terrible aftermaths scattered in all directions.”
“Oh my, that is awful,” I exclaimed, “I’m terribly shocked to hear about these disastrous results.”
“Yes, indeed, they resulted from a genuine effort that was aimed at enhancing human lives. We, as many other beings in this underground world, were subjected to the harm of these miserable trials. That earthquake damaged most of the enclosures with the locked animals inside them. The remaining survivors just dispersed to all four points of the compass. A petrifying anxiety prevailed in the Sons of the Ten Tribes and a big cry was emitted from their mouths when they saw the misery they had inflicted on the lives of the creatures they made. Quickly the Sons of the Ten Tribes convened and vowed to do everything they could in order to make amends for their enormous injustice. After an extensive investigation they concluded that it was impossible to catch all the escapees who hid in the vast surrounding forests around their city, so they erected a towering wall with an impassable barrier made of fire and poisonous gases. In time an Elion-made ceiling was built. From that day on we have been living in an isolated world. The barrier just accelerated and developed our independent existence in this isolated world.
“Our first years were remarkably unbearable. We asked for the help of the Ten Tribes’ scientists that every now and then conducted research expeditions. Although we never saw them, we sometimes heard their voices. And a primary relationship was created. It was not long until the supplies arrived. They sent us building materials, food, machines and all the equipment we needed. So at a snail’s pace we stepped toward an independent life. Today we have teachers and scientists that improve and ease our lives here. During recent years we have had rare visits, but we are aware that scientists keep visiting our world and they observe and monitor our way of life. We, the Fish People, have developed a unique life separate from the other living things here. We live underwater and seldom emerge and step on the land. We lead amphibious lives. Recently we have highly increased our number. We have several large settlements, in which we live a comfortable life. But still there are a lot of things that bother us. One of them is our isolation from the Outer World. Lately we have developed transmitters, which resemble your radio sets, that allow us to receive the latest news coming from Earth. And now, please tell us briefly, who you are and what are you doing in this place?”