The Phantom

by Wayne Mansfield

  Toby hurried over to Pete and felt the force being generated by the spinning orb. Just for fun he pushed against it, but the energy was stronger than he was and would not allow him to get any closer to the base of the plinth than a few centimetres. Even after completing a circuit around the base he could not find a single weakness with which to breach the force field.

  “I think that’s where the light comes from, too,” Pete suggested. “From the energy it produces. Bloody brilliant.”

  Time meant nothing when there was so much to explore, but soon Pete suggested they get back to the others.

  “It’s only been an hour or so,” complained Toby.

  “Yeah, but they’ll be gettin’ worried now since we’ve only got about 45 minutes of air in our tanks.”

  Toby couldn’t argue with that. He took Pete’s hand in his.

  “What are ya doin’?” asked Pete.

  Toby smiled. “It’s the one chance I’ve had to hold your hand.”

  Pete laughed and shook his head. “Don’t go gettin’ all romantic on me.”

  They headed for the arched entrance, but as they climbed the steps, the hairs on the back of Toby’s neck stood on end and he had the distinct feeling that they were being observed.

  “Do you feel that?” he asked looking back at the ruins of Atlantis. “Someone’s watching us.”

  Pete glanced over his shoulder. “You’re imaginin’ it, Tobe. There’s no one else down here. We would’ve noticed them.”

  Toby scanned the ruins once more and was certain he saw movement by one of the mounds of rock.

  He shuddered.

  “Well I think there’s someone here and if I wasn’t ready to leave before, I sure am now.”

  They descended the few steps on the other side of the landing and strapped their air tanks on, put their mouthpieces in and slipped their masks on. They turned on the oxygen and stepped through the wall of water into the sea-filled cavern.

  As Toby pushed off into the water, he couldn’t help but take one last look behind him and when he did, he was convinced he saw the figure of a man standing by the water wall. His eyes widened as he reached to tap Pete on the leg, but when he checked again, the figure was gone. He shuddered and thought that perhaps his mind was playing tricks on him. Yet it was strange, he thought, how shortly after they had swum out through the narrow opening and into the open sea, one of the dolphins reappeared, too. Where were the other four? And where had they been hiding?

  Chapter 9

  That evening the crew of The Phantom sat around the dining table speaking of nothing else but Pete and Toby’s discovery.

  “Weren’t you worried about what might have been in the cave?” asked Bird.

  Toby shook his head. “Nope. I figured if it was safe for the dolphins, then Pete and I had nothing to worry about.”

  “And what exactly did you see there?” asked the Captain. “What are we going to need to take with us tomorrow?”

  Pete shook his head. “I didn’t see anythin’ ya’d want. There was nothin’ but ruins and rubble. There were huge metal balls spinnin’ around generatin’ some sort of power. Ya could hear it hummin’. Toby and I reckon that’s what’s keepin’ everythin’ where it is. But good luck tryin’ to get close to one of them. There’s some kind of force field protectin’ them.”

  “But did you see anything we can sell? Statues, gold, trinkets even.”

  The Captain was frowning. Toby could almost see the panic in his eyes. All this way for nothing. He caught himself snickering.

  “No, I told ya,” said Pete. “Nothin’ like that. There are a few unbroken pots and urns and shit like that, but nothin’ ya’d call treasure.”

  The Captain clicked his teeth. “Better than nothing, I suppose.”

  Pete shook his head. “Look, we weren’t really payin’ that much attention. We did what we set out to do—find Atlantis. At least I reckon that’s what this place is. We only managed to do a bit of explorin’ before it was time to get back. We didn’t want you guys to think we’d been taken by a shark or somethin’.”

  The Captain cleaned his plate with a scrap of bread and pushed the morsel into his mouth. He started nodding. “Okay,” he began after swallowing, “tomorrow we go down again. This time I want Zeke to bring out the other dinghy. We’ll use one for the divers and equipment and the other for the bags, floats and tags. We’ll grab what we can, whack a float on it and send it up to you Zeke. You tag it and stash it.”

  Zeke nodded.

  “Lennie and Chad I want you to stay on board and get the hoists and crates ready for us when we get back. Anything any of you break will come out of your share of the money. Understood?”

  Everyone nodded.

  “If we’re lucky we can get maybe three or four boat-loads of stuff tomorrow. I reckon we’ve got at least a couple of days before someone comes sniffing around and I want to be out of here before then.”

  Toby looked at each of the men in turn as they listened with dollar signs in their eyes and ears pricked towards the Captain and his plans. None of them appeared to be feeling the same sense of trepidation and anxiousness he was. Suddenly diving for buried treasure didn’t seem so exhilarating. Not when there was a chance they could all end up behind bars. The worst of it was that it was already too late to pull out. He was as much a part of the Captain’s illegal money making scheme as anyone else seated around the small vinyl-topped table.

  That evening Pete and Toby sat wrapped in a blanket near the bow of the ship gazing up at the night sky.

  “What are you going to do when this is all over?” asked Toby.

  “Haven’t really thought about it,” said Pete. “Probably wait and see what the Captain’s got up his sleeve. What about you?”

  Toby snuggled in closer to Pete.

  “I don’t know either, but I’m not sticking around here. When we get back to Fremantle I’m leaving The Phantom. I’m too young to be thrown into some foreign jail and that’s what I reckon will happen to us if we go nicking things from some buried city.”

  Pete twisted his neck so that he was looking directly at Toby.

  “You’ve given this a lot of thought, haven’t ya?”

  “Of course I have. And if the Captain had been up front with me from the very beginning, I wouldn’t have even come.”

  “But I remember the first time we met ya, outside the Rose and Anchor, and I don’t reckon anythin’ we said would have stopped ya from comin’ with us. Am I right?”

  “No, you’re not. If I’d been told we were sailing halfway across the world to steal stuff then I wouldn’t have come. Plenty of other ships around.”

  Pete kissed Toby firmly on the lips.

  “But then ya wouldn’t have met me.”

  Toby faced Pete and when he saw the smile on his lover’s face, all the fears and anxieties he had about tomorrow’s dive evaporated.

  “Hey I’ve got an idea,” said Pete. “How about ya come and sit here.”

  Toby looked down and saw Pete’s cock jutting out of the fly of his jeans.

  “What if someone comes?” asked Toby.

  “And what if it’s me?” replied Pete with a sparkle in his eye.

  Toby stood up and undid the button and zipper on his jeans. He pulled them down to his knees then eased himself onto Pete’s cock. When he was settled, Pete drew the blanket around them.

  “See? Now no-one’ll know, even if they’re standin’ right in front of us.”

  Toby began to rock his hips against Pete’s cock ever so slightly as Pete kissed the back of his neck.

  “We’ll have to talk about this some more,” Toby said finally, his hips grinding harder against Pete’s body beneath the cover of the blanket.

  “About what, babe?” asked Pete in between planting a row of tiny kisses across the nape of Toby’s neck.

  “About what we’re going to do after we get back home.”

  Pete reached around and took hold of Toby’s cock. Slowly, he began to stroke it
, running his palm over the head and smearing Toby’s bountiful pre-cum over the shaft.

  “And why’s that?” he asked.

  Toby shuddered as Pete’s palm lightly brushed his swollen cock head.

  “Because I don’t want to miss out on any of this,” he said, pushing down further onto Pete’s thick cock.

  Pete attacked the back of Toby’s neck with a sudden passion, kissing him like a man possessed.

  “You’re going to make me blow,” moaned Toby.

  He let his head fall back against Pete’s shoulder and felt Pete’s lips on his neck. The sensation of Pete’s soft lips, his warm breath and firm tongue on the sensitive skin made him moan and when Pete began sucking on it, his whole body quivered.

  “You’re really gonna do it,” he said as Pete reached under Toby’s shirt with his free hand and began to brush the tiny nub of his nipple with his fingertip.

  Toby braced himself and began grinding his arse even harder against Pete, his abdominal muscles clamping down around Pete’s cock, milking it as his own cock swelled.

  “I’m cumming,” he managed to grunt before the wooden floor of the deck and parts of the blanket were sprayed with his warm seed.

  “Keep it going,” said Pete, his hands now on Toby’s hips. “Don’t stop. For…God’s…sake…don’t…”

  He finished the sentence with a loud groan that announced the fact that Toby’s arse had been filled with Pete’s thick creamy load.

  They kissed some more, neither wanting to disconnect from the other, but as the moon climbed higher into the sky and the balmy night started to turn cold, Pete helped Toby to his feet and they went below deck to their quarters.

  “Night, babe,” said Pete kissing Toby one last time.

  “Night.”

  * * * *

  For the second day in a row, the crew woke up earlier than usual to begin a day that promised to be long and tiring. By the time the sun had spread a sheath of glitter across the rippling surface of the Mediterranean, Bird had taken them across to the island and the men were in the water.

  All four divers were carrying net bags made from strong nylon. They were light and easy to carry but had the capacity to hold an incredible amount of plunder. The Captain and Sandy followed Pete and Toby to the coral encrusted entrance to the cave and through the tunnel until they arrived at the wall of water. After stepping from the water onto the powdery sand at the foot of the steps, the men removed their diving equipment and wetsuits then climbed to the arched entrance of Atlantis.

  “Wow,” was all Sandy had to say, while the Captain burst out laughing.

  “Come on guys, spread out,” said Captain Bartlett rubbing his hands together. “Keep your eyes peeled for anything valuable. You know what to look for.”

  Toby waited until the other three men had walked into Atlantis before he chose a path that took him off to the right. He explored the rubble and investigated every nook he could find in those walls that were still standing, but he couldn’t find anything worth putting in his bag. He came across an old pot, blackened from the flames of a fire but still in one piece, and dropped it into his bag. Not far from the pot was an ornate piece of metal that looked like a clasp which he put in the pot. Further along he found the head of a bust or a statue and three small clay figurines, which he added to his bounty. Yet as his nylon bag grew heavier, so did his heart.

  When he had collected all he could carry he returned to the entrance to find Pete and Sandy waiting for him.

  “What did ya find?” asked Sandy.

  Toby shrugged and placed the bag at Sandy’s feet.

  “Where’s Captain Bartlett?”

  Pete nodded towards Atlantis. “Still out there. He won’t find anything. This place has been looted clean.”

  The Captain returned with a bag full of objects that looked much the same as everyone else’s. His expression spoke volumes.

  “Let’s get this stuff up to the surface and then we can come back. I think this is going to be harder than I thought so I’ve come up with a plan. We’ll get Zeke to take this stuff back to The Phantom and Bird can follow then we’ll get them to come back later this afternoon. That way we’ve got more time to go further afield and two very conspicuous dinghies won’t be sitting out where everyone can see them.”

  The Captain walked down the steps and began putting his wetsuit on.

  The others followed, carefully carrying their bounty before putting it down while they suited up.

  “Just be careful when you’re swimming. We don’t want the pots knocking together and breaking. They might not be worth the same as a stash of coins or jewellery, but they still have value.”

  They stepped through the wall of water one at a time, following the Captain back to the entrance. Toby was bringing up the rear, directly behind Sandy, and that’s the only reason he was able to see the smoky black trail each of the men ahead of him were leaving in their wake. He frowned as he tried to locate the source of the mysterious black discharge. Initially he thought it was something to do with their black wetsuits. Perhaps they were disintegrating because of something picked up from Atlantis, but once they got out into open water, it was clear that the trail was being left by what remained of the artefacts in the nylon bags.

  By the time they surfaced there was nothing left of the collected ancient artefacts.

  “What the hell happened?” the Captain growled, slapping the empty bag against the side of the dinghy. “Where’s yours?” He snatched at Sandy’s bag and then at Pete’s. “What the hell’s going on here?”

  Toby held his bag up to show the Captain that his bounty had dissolved too.

  “Unbelievable!” snapped the Captain. “Fucking unbelievable! You know what this means, don’t you?” He looked at each person in turn, his expression that of a rabid dog. “We’re going right back down again.”

  “Are you sure that’s a good id…”

  The Captain glared at Pete, silencing him in an instant.

  “Put your gear on. We’ve got enough air to go straight down and straight back up again. Bird. Zeke. I want you to head back to the ship then come back in about two hours. I want to have a decent look this time.”

  Toby looked at the others. Their expressions mirrored his own, and if none of the others were going to say anything then he sure as hell wasn’t going to. He slipped his mask over his face, put the mouthpiece back in, and dived beneath the surface of the water. The whole way back to Atlantis he couldn’t help but wonder if the Captain wasn’t going just a little mad.

  At the foot of the steps that lead to Atlantis the men removed their tanks and wetsuits in silence. Toby caught the Captain glancing in their direction and in those few seconds he thought he recognised something of embarrassment or perhaps remorse in the expression he wore.

  “Okay guys,” he began, his tone having returned to normal, “we’ll spread out again and this time I don’t want anything water soluble. No ceramics. Look for metal and stone.”

  Toby looked at Pete. He’d had metal and stone the first time, but nothing had survived the journey to the surface. This is nothing but a waste of time. Pete shrugged and they moved off in similar directions.

  “He’s crazy,” said Toby after working his way back to Pete.

  Pete looked in the direction the Captain had gone and shook his head. “Just desperate, that’s all,” he said. “He’s come all this way and he’s afraid it’s all been in vain.”

  “But surely he knows that whatever happened to all the stuff the first time is probably going to happen again. I had metal and stone objects the first time.”

  “Me too. And probably so did he. Stubborn bastard is just graspin’ at straws.”

  “Greetings.”

  The voice came from behind them. It was a strange voice. It sounded as though whoever it was speaking was doing so through a mouthful of water.

  Toby and Pete turned simultaneously.

  “What the fuck!” Toby heard Pete say.

  The man
standing before them was naked. That didn’t surprise Toby in the least. Over the past few months he had grown accustomed to nudity, both his own and that of the other men. What did strike him was not only that the man was hairless but his whole body glistened in the light as though it were made of plastic.

  “I apologise if I startled you,” said the man holding the palm of his hand out.

  Toby watched as Pete stepped forward and placed his palm against the man’s palm.

  “We have been watching you,” said the man, his smile serene and his expression exuding love and grace.

  Then it was Toby’s turn to press palms.

  “We knew what you were doing.”

  At that moment a dozen or so men and women of all ages appeared from the crumbling buildings and rubble. All of them were naked and hairless, though their sudden appearance wasn’t in the least bit threatening.

  “Who are you?” asked Toby.

  “We are Atlanteans. The guardians of Atlantis.”

  “What’s your name?” asked Toby.

  “Makos.” He stepped aside and a beautiful woman with long black ringlets cascading over her full breasts stepped forward. “And this is Sentra. What may we call you?”

  “This is Pete,” said Toby gesturing to his lover. “And I’m Toby.”

  Makos and Sentra bowed their heads.

  The other Atlanteans began moving towards them.

  “We should get out of here,” murmured Pete.

  Toby shook his head. “No, Pete. They don’t mean us any harm. Can’t you feel it? The love and peace?”

  Pete stared at him blankly, but to Toby the emotion emanating from the Atlanteans was palpable.

  “We welcome you to our home although it’s not quite the spectacle it once was. Enjoy what you will, though please leave what is ours behind. Your second visit came as a complete surprise.”

  Toby hung his head and tried to hide the nylon bag behind his back.

  Makos smiled.

  “We appreciate your interest in our craftsmanship, but we cannot allow any of it to leave. After the great submersion we lost a lot of what we owned. We lost many of our citizens. Any you see here are descendents of the survivors and so I am certain you can appreciate why anything we have left is of great importance to us.”