Neither the Ponkti nor the Chinese had any idea how the Coethi would react to the approach of the tiny warriors.
Sea Council Pavilion
UN Plaza
New York City
August 11, 2115
1500 hours
Day after day of meetings at the conference pavilion had been fruitless and Chase was discouraged beyond words. His idea to take a small select group of scientists on a kip’t journey to the Ponkti settlement and let them see the problems up close had gone nowhere.
“They prefer talking and arguing to actually doing something,” Chase told Dr. Josey Holland, who had come down from Woods Hole for the last few days of speeches and presentations. “I don’t get it.”
Holland was sympathetic. “That’s the way politicians and diplomats are, Chase. All talk and no action. Lawyers are like that too.”
The two of them were alone inside the pavilion, the afternoon session having wrapped up shortly before. All of the Sea Council delegates had left in their launches for the mainland piers, in the shadow of the UN Secretariat Building. Only Chase and Holland remained. Beneath the waves, just outside the pavilion, Likteek waited impatiently aboard their kip’t, several dozen meters down and hovering just above the riverbed. He’d informed Chase that the Metah had already signaled then to return to Keenomsh’pont immediately but for some reason, Chase was delaying, spending time with the Tailless female. Likteek fidgeted, amusing himself with some new scentbulbs he had just filled from the East River waters…scents that brought faint nausea to his senses.
How can anything intelligent live in the midst of such garbage? he wondered. And what’s taking eekoti Chase so long anyway?
Chase found Josey Holland fascinating, in a difficult-to-explain way. She had long blond hair, with highlights. Sparkling, almost effervescent blue eyes. A dimple in her chin. High forehead. Completely different from Angie Gilliam but there was just something about her…maybe it was because they could talk so easily, seemingly about anything.
“I just wish I could picture what you looked like before the…whatever-it’s-called procedure,” she was saying. Holland was sitting on the edge of a bench, her shoeless feet dangling in rather chilly East River water.
Chase floated on his back alongside the benches, arms tucked behind his head. “You mean what I looked like before I turned into a frog on steroids?”
“Well, not exactly…you know what I mean. What did it feel like, going through this procedure?”
Chase closed his eyes, letting faint currents sweep him around the interior pool of the pavilion. Eventually, with a few kicks, he returned to her dangling legs, intentionally nudging them with his huge spade-shaped head.
“Ah, yes, the em’took. It was wild, Dr. Holland.”
“Hey, just call me Josey. I really do want to know. Can you describe it?”
Chase thought for a moment. “I remember it quite well. I never went through anything like it before. For a long time, nothing happened. I kinda dozed off, then awoke hearing this faint whistle. Everything smelled like oranges. Then I noticed a faint mist issuing into the pod.”
“You were in an enclosed space of some type? Were you scared?”
“A little. I kept thinking…this is like being in a coffin. I’d been cave diving in tight spots like this, so I told himself I could get through it. But I wondered about Angie; how was she doing? The mist thickened. I didn’t know it at the time but the mist contained the first wave of all those programmed bacteria. The bacteria would begin the em’took process, penetrating into my nose, my mouth and eyes, burrowing into my skin, breaking down tissues and bone and cartilage, rebuilding structures to make me more compatible with Seome.”
“Do you have any details on this…I’m really interested,” Holland told him. “I recently co-authored a paper on reversible endosymbiotic transformations. It’s something I’ve seen with certain marine species, certain mollusks.”
“The Seomish gave me an echopod that explained everything. I still have it but it’s back at Keenomsh’pont. I remember parts of it though…let’s see--” Chase paddled over to her bench and draped his arms over the edge. “--The em’took begins with a genetic sequencing and neural scan. After the sequencing and scan, the bacteria are altered and somehow ‘tuned’ to match the recipient….in this case, me. The sequencing and scanning process is known as vish’tu, which in the Seomish language means a journey or a roam about the sea. The name of the modification process is also used in the Seomish language to mean birth or living space, meaning a place of new birth.”
Holland was reaching for her purse. She extracted a small vial. “Go on, Chase…I’m listening.”
“Sure…of course, I didn’t know any of this. My echopod had described the process in detail, but the voice was so soft and staticky and I wasn’t really listening. Instead, I grew sleepy. Angie was already asleep inside her own pod. That’s when the dreams came.”
“You had dreams. Do you remember any of them?”
“Not really, but when I came to, I woke up looking like this…like that old vid The Creature From the Black Lagoon.”
Holland laughed at that. “I think you’re…I mean, it’s fascinating. Chase, didn’t you once tell me you thought this process, this em’took, could be reversed?”
Chase looked up at the biologist. “I know it can. My girlfriend Angie had the same procedure but she wanted to go home, go back to what she was before. The Seomish were reluctant. They said it hadn’t been done before. But they did it…at least in another timestream, it was done.”
“What about you?”
Chase shrugged. “I don’t know. I think about it once in awhile, going back to the old Chase. Angie wants me to do that…the Angie I know here and now, I mean. But I haven’t made up my mind. See, the Seomish…they count on me now. They made me a kind of leader—”
“The Kel’metah…isn’t that what it’s called?”
“Exactly…Dr. Holland…I mean, Josey, you’re catching on fast.”
“There’s so much I want to learn. What would you say if I told you there may be a way to reverse this procedure here?”
Chase closed his eyes, still hanging off the end of the bench. “I know Angie would like that. Me…well, the Seomish kind of look up to me. I’m somebody important to them. I’ve never been important before…I mean, sure, I can play my go-tone with the Croc Boys and all, and there are always groupies around. But to be important…that’s when they ask what you think. That’s when your opinions and ideas are important.” Now Chase became thoughtful, burying his face in his arms. “Nobody ever did that for me before. It’s always been ‘clean up that shirt rack.’ Or ‘sweep out that storage room.’ Or ‘count those T-shirts.’ Somehow, I’ve become mixed up in all the Seomish concerns, all their conflicts, all their ways of living. I like it but I’m not really one of them. I guess I have mixed feelings about going back to what I was before.”
Holland was sympathetic. “That makes sense, Chase. But you can still help me, with my research. Let me take a sample of your DNA—” here, she held up the vial and removed a small cotton swab. “From inside your mouth—if I could analyze the genetic structure of this modification, I might be able to offer you some options. There are known to be some marine species, pelagic and benthic species, who are endosymbiotic but who have demonstrated the ability to reverse the process, become less symbiotic. I’m thinking your process could shed some light on the genetic details.”
Chase opened his mouth and Holland dabbed the swab inside, noting the massive molars and incisors ringing his lower jaw. Wouldn’t want to get caught in those, she told herself. She pulled the swab out and stuck it in a sterile capsule, which she then put back in her purse.
“You could actually change me back, to the old Chase?”
Holland shrugged. “I’m not promising anything.” Jeez, if I could only change Stephen back to the man I married, instead of the monster he is now…wouldn’t that be great? “The Institute has a vig
orous research program in this area, both gene swapping and editing and even some nanobotic interventions. I’d like to look into this, see what’s possible.” Holland cupped her hand under Chase’s scaly, armored chin, peering into eyes that were clearly human. “And I’d like to know more about the Seomish, too. Chase, I’ll be honest with you. I am married but my husband Stephen and I are getting a divorce. It’s pretty nasty. I have two kids that I’m trying like hell to keep with me, but it’s a battle. My work at the Institute and now, with you and the Seomish…it’s all that keeps me sane these days. It’s the only way I can keep my head from blowing up…I just get so mad at the lawyers, at Stephen, at the judges, the whole system. You know what they say? They accuse me of being a part-time mom. The lawyers have the nerve to say things like “she’s more interested in her fish than her children.” Things like that. I don’t know—” Holland released Chase’s chin and sat up on the bench, her feet tucked under her. The words came out like knife blades. “—maybe there’s even some truth to that. There is a part of me that would like to chuck all of this and just dive in with you and become Seomish. I’d have to have my kids with me, of course, especially my daughter Hannah…she’s special needs but I really love her to death. I want to learn all about you, about your people, the Seomish. What they eat. How they make love. About their beliefs and traditions. A lot of people are frightened of the Sea People. Not me. I know one…I know you. I just think there’s a lot we could learn from each other. Humans and Seomish. But it looks like the hotheads and the monsters are in charge right now…here and in the courtroom too.”
Chase wasn’t sure what all that meant or that he even wanted to know all that Holland had poured out.
“I need to discuss this with Angie. She and I have some decisions to make about this.”
Holland seemed distressed that he was leaving. “Where are you going now? What will you do?”
“The Ponkti have encountered something in the Pacific, in the South China Sea, that they can’t handle. They think they can but trust me, they can’t. The Seomish all came through the Farpool to Earth, including me, a few months ago. I think we brought along an unwelcome visitor when we came through. And now, this visitor is about to wreak havoc on everything…even back on Seome, the Umans couldn’t fight them off. I doubt humans from this time stream can either. So we’ve got to deal with that…humans and Seomish, working together. That’s the only way we can beat the Coethi, if we can beat them.”
“You’re talking about all the weird weather in the Pacific, all the storms, the toxic clouds--?”
“Exactly. But before I go back to Keenomsh’pont, I want to go see Angie. Dr. Holland, I’m not sure I want to be changed back. Part of me does and part of me doesn’t. Angie and I have to talk about this.”
Holland got to her feet. “I understand. I hope you’ll take it like this, Chase: you could be part of an extraordinary experiment if I can push this research further. Call it a crazy vision if you want but I see a time, not so far off, actually, when we can modify people to become almost amphibious, like you, able to go from land to sea and back. A reversible transformation. If I can figure out how Seomish scientists did this, maybe I can make it work here. Maybe that’s how Seomish and Humans learn to get along together.”
They said good-bye and Chase submerged and was gone, seeking the kip’t with an impatient Likteek hovering near the river bottom. He climbed in and they headed south, out of the East River, then east toward the Muir seamount and Keenomsh’pont.
Chase was already fleshing out the details of his plan. First, he would take Likteek back to the Lab at the settlement. Then he would borrow the kip’t for a more important trip.
This trip would take him back to Florida. Back to Angie.
Josey Holland watched the creature she had come to know as Chase disappear and stared at the waters for a moment. She had a vial of his DNA. With some intense study and some experiments, she thought there was a chance, maybe a sliver of a chance, but a possibility she could figure out what the Seomish scientists had done to make a Florida beach bum into a walking, talking alligator. And if she could figure that out, maybe she could reverse-engineer the process and devise a way to make the transformation both repeatable and predictable. From that, papers and awards and accolades, even Nobel prizes would surely come flooding her way.
If the fish doctor can’t save her marriage, maybe she could still save the world. She put all her stuff into the small launch tied up just outside the pavilion and started up the engine. Puttering across the choppy waters of the East River toward the dock and UN Plaza, she started to cry softly and almost ran into the side of a Circle Line tourist ferry chugging down the river toward Battery Park.
She just could not get the image of Hannah and Timmy out of her mind.
Gainesville, Florida
September 18, 2115
0545 hours
Angie Gilliam had laid awake practically all night, going over and over in her mind the words Chase had sent her on the low-frequency signaler thing he used to communicate.
I’m coming…the creek behind the apartments…six o’clock…before the sun comes up….
She couldn’t sleep and so she had gotten up quietly, careful not to disturb the neighbors, and thrown on an old robe and some slippers. She padded out of the third-floor apartment at Coconut Cabana, headed downstairs and through the breezeway out into the wet grass and through hibiscus and azalea bushes to the creek that ran alongside B Building. She sat on her butt, knees drawn up and waited, watching and listening carefully, alive and twitching nervously at every sound, fully aware that more than once adult gators had been sighted sunning themselves on these very banks.
A slight fetch stirred the creek waters, and it wasn’t the wind. There was no wind. Angie stiffened, ready to spring away fast in case something showed up she wasn’t expecting.
But it turned out to be Chase after all.
He scrambled up onto the bank and came plodding over to her, then grabbed her by the shoulders and mimed a little kiss. Angie found it best to close her eyes and pretend her boyfriend didn’t look like something from a bad dream.
“You scared you me, you slimebag. I thought you were a gator, or maybe a croc.”
“I am.”
“Very funny.” She spread out a few towels on the wet grass and they sat down, or in Chase’s case, reclined as well as he could. It was still dark but a faint orange glow stained the horizon through the trees. Frogs croaked and crickets buzzed all around. Otherwise the air was still and heavy. “I brought these. Wouldn’t want you to get your slimy butt dirty, you know.”
Chase lay back and stared up at the stars. Somewhere up there, beyond sight, was the expanding supernova shell of Sigma Albeth B…and the remnants of Seome.
“Don’t you have to go to work, Ang?”
She sniffed, lay back with her arms crossed. “I’m on swing shift this week. Sheila’s left already…she’s coming later to give me a lift. You know, Chase, I only have two more weeks at the hospital. School starts in two weeks…God, I can’t believe it…me a senior.”
“Yeah, that’s wicked. But I don’t miss it.”
Angie turned to face him. “Your message said you wanted to talk about something. Is this about the prom next year?”
Chase chuckled. “Not exactly but it could be involved.” Now, he sat up straight, listening. “Angie, I just spent some time with this Dr. Holland…Dr. Josey Holland…you know…the biologist.”
That brought a little frown to her face, which she quickly hid. “You’ve mentioned her…the fish doctor, right?”
“Yep, that’s her. She took a sample a few days ago.”
Angie was suspicious. “What kind of sample?”
“Some kind of DNA sample. I already told her about how you were modified like me, by em’took, and how you wanted to go back but the Seomish kept putting you off and then how they finally did it. So we know it is possible to reverse the em’took procedure.”
&nb
sp; Angie blinked. “You’ve said this kind of stuff before. I’ve never done anything such thing…Chase, you sure this isn’t some kind of dream or something?”
“It’s no dream, Angie. Trust me. The real explanation is that what I’m talking about hasn’t actually happened yet. We came through the Farpool, me and the rest of them, to an earlier time.”
Angie sighed. Sometimes Chase just didn’t make any sense, like most boys. “If you say so. So…what did the fish doctor say?”
“That it might be possible to reverse the em’took here, on Earth. Change me back to my handsome old self.”
This made Angie bite her lip. “Chase, tell me something: you like this fish doctor, don’t you? You do talk about her a lot.”
Chase looked over at Angie. “She’s interested in the Seomish…the Sea People. She just thinks I’m a good way to learn more about them.”
Angie rolled her eyes. “Mm-hmm.”
“No, really, she’s a scientist. She seems pretty understanding about the whole situation too, even sympathetic. She wants to help…there’s a lot of conflict between humans and the Sea People now.”
“I’m sure. Anything else I should know? You going to take the fish doctor to the prom too?”
Her tone of voice made Chase wince. “Are you jealous, Angie? Tell me that’s not so.”
Now Angie sat up and wrapped her shoulders in her arms. There was a freshening breeze coming off the creek and it stirred the waters in spreading ripples.
“Chase, listen to me. I want you to do whatever you think you have to do. You’re a big boy now. You’re out of school. You’ve got a job…had a job, that is. If Dr. Holland thinks she can change you back, I want you to do it. Don’t do it for me. Do it for yourself.”
“I am doing it for you, damn it! Why do you think I came here?”
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