by Dan Glover
Bursting into daylight Lauren pulled up on the reins slowing the horses to a trot and then a complete stop. They were lathered and panting so heavily Natalia feared they might be ruined even though the trip was hardly begun.
"Let's allow the horses a brief rest, sweet Natalia, and then we'll move on away from this spot. I fear we will be followed come night."
"I would rather we move on immediately, my darling Lauren. I think we are being followed even now."
She nodded back toward the tunnel from which they just escaped. Hulking figures seemed to glower at them from the gloom swaying back and forth upon their feet as if deciding whether the wagon and its cargo were worth the effort of resuming the chase.
Clucking at the horses, Lauren coaxed the exhausted beasts into a slow canter as Natalia kept watch to see if they were pursued. Whatever they were, the creatures appeared to be nocturnal, keeping to the darkness yet watching as if planning a renewed attack come nightfall.
"I am so sorry, my beautiful Lauren... I should never have suggested this trip. We should have waited. Please forgive my impatience."
"You were only doing what you thought was best, my lovely Natalia. I've been away from the Lake for far too long a time. My mind has become befuddled as it is apt to do when I cannot renew myself. We should have gone three years ago when Nate offered to bring us there. Instead, I was stubborn. I missed our Lily. I kept thinking she'd come home and all of us could go together like we used to do.
"Now, I realize my mistake. Lily has made a life of her own apart from us. I'm sure it's my fault. I treated her harshly when I discovered she was seeing my son again. Instead of embracing the love she felt, I became angry. I still do not understand why I acted in such a fashion."
"It wasn’t just you, sweet Lauren... I felt abandoned by our Lily too. She seemed to have a desire to distance herself from all who loved her. I kept telling myself that one day she would see the error in her ways but I pushed her away too. I took her for granted."
The sun dancing in between clotted clouds overhead was threatening to set soon. A night breeze chilly and laden with rain wafted over them as the horses continued to pant and wheeze from their overzealous exertions inside the Chunnel. Up ahead, an old village loomed in the gathering dusk: a place to rest, perhaps, and allow the horses to catch their breaths and to eat.
The old wooden houses were rotting on their cracked foundations but in the old downtown section brick buildings stood firm and strong against the encroaching forests and scavenging creatures bent on taking back what was once theirs.
"Do you think the Chunnel creatures will follow us, darling Natalia?"
"Yes, my lovely Lauren... I see them not far behind us. I didn’t want to alarm you. Fire may keep them at bay. All wild creatures fear fire. Let us discover a sanctuary with a fireplace. We still have time to gather enough firewood to last the night. We must bring the horses inside as well; otherwise, they will be taken from us."
An old stone barn seemed to offer the best shelter. An apartment was at one end, apparently the abode of a stable boy charged with overseeing the livestock. A fireplace dominated one wall and a large window the opposite.
Just as they finished gathering wood from dead trees dotting the old town square and kindling a fire, Natalia happened to glance up at the window. A face stared back at her, feral yet the eyes seemed unmistakably human. She gasped and pointed but too late... the face had vanished. Had she really seen it or was it merely a reflection?
"What is it, sweet Natalia? You're trembling... what did you see?"
"I'm not sure, darling Natalia... but I think it was a boy."
Chapter 43—Alone Again
She didn’t understand how she ended up all alone all over again.
Ever since she was a girl, she feared that more than anything. Her entire life had been spent attempting to please others, to entice them into staying. The other children had parents. Her own mother and father had vanished when she was but a small girl, leaving without a word of goodbye... never to return.
Lily told herself they loved her. Their departure was due to circumstances beyond their control. If they could have taken her with them, they would have done so. Yet despite searching the rudiments of her hazy memory she failed to recall even one feeling of endearment issuing forth from either her mother or her father.
They never wanted her.
Her earliest recollections centered around the anger and angst her parents pelted one another with over her birth. She was a mistake. They'd wanted a boy. Boys meant power and prestige. Instead, they had her, just another girl among a bevy of them.
She told herself they'd come back for her even after the opposite became clear. Finding solace in the warm currents under the Lake taught her many things: she had no need of anyone, no one needed her, the waters would provide all she required, and she would always be alone.
When she met a girl named Lauren and everything changed.
Lily was searching for her lost parents when she spotted a child somewhat younger than her twirling in the warm waters issuing from a vent in the bottom of the Lake. She had gone into the shallow end knowing her mother and father often frequented those waters.
Though she was instantly enamored with the girl, Lily stayed back watching the way her long dark hair swirled around her body. Up until that point, she had always been a garrulous child talking to anyone who would listen, though of course there under the Lake she did not speak as she learned to do above the surface.
She emitted a series of pulses from her midsection which resonated not only off the surrounding rocks and lush greenery growing in profusion beneath the Lake but others of her kind as well. She couldn’t remember being taught to communicate in that fashion so she imagined she had always done so.
She wanted to know this girl's name yet at the same time Lily was afraid of startling her out of her play. She might flee. If she did so, Lily would not follow since that type of behavior was strictly forbidden among her people.
She stayed still quietly watching while all the while longing to join this incredible creature in her play. She had never had a friend before. Her parents left her alone from the time she was old enough to fend for herself. She learned to cultivate solitude the way others might learn to socialize.
The lack of siblings never occurred to Lily. From the time of her dawning awareness she knew her parents could never conceive another child. They took great pains to explain that fact to her, how disappointing it was for them to have given birth to a girl child rather a boy.
Boys brought a special status among her people. By having the misfortune of being a female rather than a male she brought shame not only upon herself but her parents as well. Her mother was an adept at explaining that fact to her. Father simply ignored her.
The guilt she felt was overwhelming at times. It was all her fault that she had been born a girl and not a boy though for the life of her she couldn’t quite understand what choice she had in the matter.
In fact, she had never asked to be born at all. One day, she simply sprang into existence... a set of eyes peering out at a watery world. She could make sense of nothing around her though as she drifted with the currents she learned to enjoy the warmth and shun the cold.
"Oh... hello... I didn’t know anyone was watching."
The girl spoke while Lily was day dreaming of joining her... in fact, the illusion was so enchanting that she had momentarily lost herself within it. Now that the girl of her visions was actually communicating with her, Lily was too stunned to answer. She simply floated as her gills gaped in unison.
"What's the matter? Can't you converse? What's your name?"
Lily was so embarrassed by the continued silence that invaded her psyche she nearly swam away in shame. Instead, however, and timidly at first, she approached the girl.
"My name is Lily. What's yours?"
They didn’t speak with words... those would come later, after they walked out of the Lake and onto the dry land surro
unding it. Instead, they made themselves understood by subtle body motions as well as impulses directed out from their bodies laden with meaning.
She thought the girl would turn and flee at feeling the tremor of want emanating from her midsection. It wasn’t a sexual sort of wanting, rather, it was the intense desire to be close to another living being.
"Hello, sweet Lily... my name is Lauren."
Lily had never before in her life been addressed in a loving manner. Her mother reviled her presence as her father did anything and everything to isolate himself from her. Lauren did not flee. Instead, the girl took her by the hand to teach her the movements of the dance she had been practicing.
"Does this twirling that we are doing have a name, sweet Lauren?"
The terms of endearment came quite naturally to Lily even though she had never before practiced them. It was all part of the enchantment flowing from this angel that danced before her.
"This is called the dance of renewal, my darling Lily. My mother taught it to me. Didn’t your mother teach you too?"
"No... my mother left me alone most of the time."
"No, that cannot be. You are so precocious, precious, and pretty, my fair Lily. Who in their right mind wouldn’t want to be around you all the time?"
"My mother and father were ashamed of me. They wanted a boy."
"Your parents are fools. My mother told me that boys are forever searching after that which is hanging right over their heads. They are the worst sort of creatures. She warned me never to have anything to do with one."
"What about girls, sweet Lauren? Did she warn you about girls too?"
"No, my darling Lily... should she have cautioned me about them?"
Lauren had giggled impetuously as if she knew she was tempting Lily into a cavern from which she might never emerge or if she did she would be changed forever. None of that mattered, however.
Lily had never before been so close to another of her kind. Her parents never hugged or showed any overt signs of affection toward their only daughter. During her entire life Lily hadn’t seen her parents show any tenderness whatsoever toward each other. She grew up believing it was commonplace for adults to be cold and unfeeling.
Now, she was being confronted with a warm and caring person and she had no idea how to respond. Lauren swirled around her so closely that she could feel the warmth flowing from her body; Lily couldn’t bring herself to move a muscle other than to paddle her feet to stabilize her position in the balmy whirlpool currents tenderly caressing her body.
"Yes, sweet Lauren... I do believe your mother should have advised you against being around girls, especially those like me. You should swim away quickly before I am overwhelmed by your presence."
"It's too late for that, my beautiful Lily. You are going to be mine forever now. Nothing will ever part us again, even if the Lake dries up. We will learn to survive the world together. Just you wait and see."
Lily didn’t understand what happened to that love. Now she was standing alone at the one naked window in the building looking out over gray sands that were threatening to blot out the sun. Micah was gone. Ena and Kāne were with him, perhaps, or fled in terror at what she had become. Though the nanobots had rejuvenated her body, her mind had become increasingly befuddled over the smallest of details.
Why were Ena and Kāne suddenly here?
They appeared in the hallway one morning. She knew they must have been brought here in a sailing ship like the Nautilus yet that didn’t explain how they were able to infiltrate the building with such ease.
"After Karen left the last time, I moved the nest out of doors, Lady Lily. The nanobots were evolving into a stage where they needed room to grow. Unless I set them free they would begin to suffocate due to their continued proliferation."
"Is that why the whole landscape is covered in gray sand, my sweet Micah?"
"I was warned to keep them sequestered, Lady Lily. I thought I knew better. But I was wrong. Once I removed the nest from my oversight the nanobots began to duplicate incessantly. Now they are forming complex patterns."
"That's what brought me here."
"Yes, Lady Lily, my dragons carried you to me. I dreamed of them sweeping across the ocean to seek you out. I'm sorry. I didn’t consciously mean to harm you."
"I know that, my sweet Micah. I brought this on myself. If anything, I called your dragons to old Scotland. I kept dreaming of them night after night. When they appeared I knew they'd come for me. I left willingly."
"We have to destroy the nest, Lady Lily. It's our only hope. Otherwise they'll keep us here until we starve to death."
"Where is it located? Is it close enough to reach?"
"We'll never make it, Lady Lily. We'd be overcome by the nanobots."
"I have a question, sweet Micah: When we traveled here by boat our short wave radio stopped working as we reached the coast. I understand your power supply emits an electrical pulse which prevents communication. Can you disable it?"
"We'll be without electricity but yes, I can shut down the generator. It's my own design based on Nicola Tesla's theories. I had no need for communicating with others so that side effect never concerned me. What do you have in mind?"
"I discovered an old short wave radio in the basement. I would like to try contacting someone back home to see if anyone else besides Ena and Kāne has set out in hopes of rescuing me. I feel guilty. I've been so standoffish of late and now my lovely family is suddenly here for me."
"I'll shut down immediately, Lady Lily. I have to leave the building but I know of a secret tunnel by which to travel."
Now, Micah had been gone way too long. Not only was he missing, but Ena and Kāne must have gone with him for they too were nowhere to be found. The building was quiet except for the hissing sounds from outside, the incessant chatter of the nanobots.
Chapter 44—Missing
It had been a busy morning.
First, Ladies Lauren and Natalia called on the phone with news that they had become trapped in the north of old France by wild animals. Just moments after she roused Karen from sleep to tell her the news the short wave radio burst to life.
"When I arrived at the Isle of Skye, sweet Karen, one of my jets was missing."
Pete had taken the initiative of flying home in order to pick up the blue prints that he'd been working on... the newest rendition of Nate's anti gravity device. Though Ginger listened as Karen had attempted to dissuade him from going, the man was adamant.
"What if you start to get sick, my darling Pete? There are no Lake people at the Isle of Skye. You'll be on your own."
"I'll only be gone a couple hours, my sweet Karen. This is important work we're doing... now that we know how to solve the most onerous problems the rest will come easy. But I need my blue prints to accomplish that."
"Please call me the moment you arrive, my precious Pete. If you have any problems, Lady Lauren is only a couple hours away."
Ginger knew that Pete felt guilty over not going to old America with Nate and though Karen tried to alleviate his concerns she could tell his wife's words provided no comfort. He was a man, after all, and men were burdened with egos the size of elephants, it seemed.
"Why do you think Alpin took your jet, darling Pete?"
"There is no one else here, my precious Karen. I'm grabbing my blueprints and I'll be back in Toulon in no time. I'm off."
The short wave went silent though Karen hung onto the microphone as if willing Pete to be teleported through it rather than having to risk flying home.
"Do you think Alpin flew to old American, darling Karen?"
"That's undoubtedly what happened, sweet Ginger... I've got to look in on Elsie... she's expecting her baby any day now and I promised I'd visit her. If Pete calls again, please let me know."
Karen seemed as down-hearted as Ginger had ever known her to be. Normally the woman was up for anything, always studying new ideas, and not afraid of anything. Lately though, it seemed to Ginger that she had let th
e fear of losing Pete overcome her sense of rationality.
Ginger hated it when Nate came to her and Amanda to tell them he was leaving Toulon. She knew he had to go... he was a man and men were prone to rash actions, at least the few men she had known. What bothered her most was how Nate seemed so excited about the treacherous trip to old America, especially in a new invention that had not been properly tested.
Amanda had related her adventures aboard the Liberty... how they had run into a hurricane which swamped the ship. Ginger envisioned the same occurrences waiting for Nate at the end of his journey. On the other hand, perhaps Kirk would finally meet his fate.
Everything seemed to be falling apart... Nate was gone, and now the Ladies were trapped. Lady Lily and her disappearance were as worrying as anything else. Something in Pete's voice bothered Ginger. It wasn’t anything she could put a finger on but he seemed reticent... as if he had plans that he was loath to divulge.
Just after Karen left the room Ginger was ecstatic to hear the short wave radio crackle to life once more thinking she might have an opportunity to talk to Pete alone. Maybe he didn’t want Karen to know what was really going on at the Isle of Skye for fear she would demand that he return immediately.
"I'm so happy to hear your voice, Lady Lily! Where are you?"
It wasn’t Pete on the radio, however. She was even more amazed that Lily contacted her. She had lost hope of ever seeing the Lady again at Orchardton Hall. Most of the People shunned the Ladies but Ginger had always adored them even though they didn’t return the gesture.
"I'm in old America, precious Ginger. I only have a few seconds before the batteries go dead on this radio. Ena and Kāne are here too. Please tell me if anyone else has come in order to rescue me."
"Alpin is missing. We're assuming he flew one of Pete's planes to old America though we cannot be certain. Nate and Kirk are also on their way to you."
"Please attempt to make contact with Alpin. I fear the rest of our party has become separated and trapped here. If you can raise him, have Alpin call me on this channel. We need help, darling Ginger."