by Ann Durand
He braced himself for the transition. If something went wrong and the LandCar did not seal properly, the ocean would seep into the car as they sped out on the San Pedro shelf along the ocean floor. As the track carried them deeper into the ocean, the Micro would implode from the pressure of the heavy sea. Mike trained his eye on the front window, searching for the beams of red light that streaked across the Landway, signaling the approach of the Plunge, as it was affectionately called. There would be thirty seconds on the Transition Belt between the Landway and the Waterway to secure the LandCar for the dive.
He considered how much time he'd give Katera before he intervened, if necessary. Ten seconds, he decided. Ten seconds was plenty of time. At 112 miles per hour, the thin streaks of red light fell across the thoroughfare a minute and a half later. Mike stiffened, but kept his voice even.
"Now, Katera."
Katera pressed the icons, Transition, Air, Transition, Seal in the correct sequence to adjust the Micro for the ride under the waves. Mike tuned his ears to listen for the telltale clicks, signaling that a layer of transparent Planck material had enveloped and sealed the Micro. Nothing happened. The secure environment icon did not light up. A glitch in a brand new Micro? What were the odds?
It wouldn't matter what they were if he didn't do something fast. Swallowing his panic, Mike stretched his arm over Katera's and pushed the emergency icon, which had the capacity to assess the situation in half a second. That would leave precious seconds to make the decision to abort and follow a track off the Landway…or to continue straight ahead into the Plunge.
"The starboard ridge seal over the door is broken," a calm, feminine voice from the console announced. "Repairs by the InCar Engineer will require ten seconds."
Good God. They didn't have ten seconds. He opened his mouth to order Katera to hit the Abort icon positioned off the main console near her left elbow and out of his reach...but she was already pressing it. Abruptly, the Micro split from the main route and barreled down a smaller, parallel route.
As they approached the divide where drivers could choose to reenter the Landway or head back to Ocean Park, Katera asked, "How many seconds before we hit the ocean if we go back on the Landway?"
"Seven, but we're turning around and going back to Ocean Par…"
With a sudden veer, Katera guided the Micro back onto the Landway with six seconds remaining to complete the repairs. Mike held his breath. There was nothing left to do but wait. His eyes grew wide as he watched the timer on the console. With the blood pounding in his head and a fraction of a second remaining, the Micro dipped over the edge of the Transition Belt and into the Plunge.
Down, down at two hundred miles an hour onto the new track. Mike felt his stomach drop, slipping away like dead weight. Katera gasped as the sea raced toward them. With a jolt, the world turned a liquid milky green. The Micro slowed to 125 miles per hour. Mike glanced at the driver's console. The Environment Secure icon was lit. The InCar Engineer had done its job. He let out a deep sigh.
"Do you think you might have timed that just a little closer? I was hoping for some excitement."
Katera laughed. "I'll try to do better next time." She sounded pleased. He decided to explain the dangers and precautionary measures to her later. He had no desire to spoil the moment. Pleasure eluded her too often these days, Mike thought with a twinge.
"Ooh, look!" she exclaimed, pointing ahead.
"Yes, that's the giant kelp forest. It's grown to form a tunnel around the tracks."
"How did it do that?"
"The kelp was cleared to lay the Waterway tracks, and then grew together over the top forming this tunnel."
"The…kelp? It's so beautiful. The light seems to be coming from inside the leaves. Oh, they're…translucent," she said, practicing one of her vocabulary words. "Is it really a forest?"
"Yes. It is a forest. It has a canopy and different layers just like the terrestrial one."
Katera glanced down at the simulation pad, and a look of alarm registered on her face. "There aren't any pictures on the screen."
"It's alright," he assured her. "There are only two tracks on the Waterway, and they lead to and from Suela del Mar. Since there's nowhere else to go down here. Driving isn't necessary, so the pad shuts off and the Micro propels itself along the magnetized track." Katera blinked, exhaled and leaned back. "That's right," Mike said, softly. "Enjoy the ride."
For several minutes, a comfortable silence fell between them as Katera gazed out over the gently waving fronds in the kelp field, her lips slightly parted. He imagined how it must appear to her, and was reminded of his first trip under the waves. His father had driven him out after the city had first been built. He'd just turned thirteen. They'd spotted a pod of dolphins weaving in and out of the tall fronds, as if it were a playground designed for their amusement.
And now, a school of brilliant orange fish drifted above them like a single organism, abruptly switching and turning like so many leaves whipped by the wind. Katera gasped.
"Oh, they're lovely," she whispered. "There's so many."
"Those are girabaldi," he told her. "You see a lot them down here."
Mike caught a flash of something large bobbing in and out of the kelp on the left side of the track next to Katera. Dozens of huge fish were poking their enormous heads in and out of the shadowy kelp with fixed stares. Katera saw them, too, and craned her neck to see better. Several swam out from their shelter revealing their fat, six-foot long bodies. She let out a small shriek.
"Don't worry-they're harmless," Mike said, quickly. "Those are giant sea bass, and they know better than to swim in front of the Micro. Even if they did, it wouldn't derail us."
"Merciful Lupana!" she cried. "They look as big as my aunt Tasha."
"Aunt Tasha weighed more than three hundred pounds?" Mike asked, incredulous. He didn't think anybody in Parallon weighed more than 180, given all the effort it took to survive.
"We didn't have…what do you call them?"
"Weight scales?"
"Yes. Scales. We didn't have them, but she became as big as one of those fish. She did little else but eat after her mind started going. She sure could have used one of those VisiOrbs before she died. Not the way it was used in Parallon, but like it's used here-as a device to help people with dementia. You know, with someone watching from a control center, guiding her through her day. It's wonderful the way it's used in your world."
Mike paused. "It's your world, too, Katera."
He did not miss the expression of sadness that flickered across her face, and again felt a stab of regret that he'd stolen her from her true home and brought her to Ocean Park, even though he'd had little in the way of choice. In a sense, she was adjusting well and learning much, if you assessed her accomplishments alone.
And he wasn't the only one who thought her strides and achievements were phenomenal. The entire world was enchanted with Katera from Parallon, as she'd been warmly dubbed. At media conferences, she was soft-spoken, yet charming and communicative while answering everyone's questions, sharing the exciting things she was learning about the new world she lived in. The whole of the World Union never seemed to get enough of the beautiful woman from the past, and the demand for her presence at global events was incessant.
Only Mike knew how she truly felt, for only he witnessed the long hours spent late every night staring up at the night sky. He knew she was imagining her home-he could feelit. She'd stare relentlessly at the stars, the only part of the modern world unchanged since the days of Parallon. She'd crane her neck upward for hours. At times, she lowered her head in prayer before the moon. Otherwise, she searched the constellations hungrily for the stars that her mother and father had taught her to recognize and use to find her way home, if ever she was lost. He knew she felt lost, but no amount of searching the heavens was going to bring her any closer to Parallon.
As the Micro sped along the tracks over the hard, shale ocean bottom, the scene around them grew darker as they d
escended, deeper and deeper, until shadows merged with shadows. Soon, all was black, densely so. Every now and then, a glowing thing, like a set of disembodied shining stripes or long tentacles, would appear and glide away. Whether Katera knew that these were fish, she did not let on and they rode in silence, which seemed fitting for the hushed world surrounding them.
Soon, a faint light appeared on the ocean bottom in the distance, smeared and blurry through the water. As they drew closer, the light grew larger until a shape emerged, something with rounded top…a dome.
"Suela del Mar?" Katera breathed, breaking the silence.
"Yes, it's a rather squat dome. One-quarter mile high with a diameter of three miles."
"That's…that's huge."
"Not by terrestrial standards, but for an underwater city it is big, one of the biggest. Most of them are only one or two miles in diameter. They're still a big experiment."
"How many are there?"
Mike had to think. They were building new ones every year.
"Maybe…fifty or so. They dot the continental shelves and Mesopelagic zones around the world."
"I know about the zone and the continental shelf," she said. "The shelf is a shallow part of the ocean surrounding continents. It drops off into the deep ocean. The Mesopelagic zone is between them."
She sounded pleased with herself, and Mike smiled. She sucked up knowledge so quickly, it was dizzying. If she'd been born and bred in this era, there'd have been no stopping her. Surely, she would have taken her place among the great scholars of his time.
"Right, but there are no cities in the deep ocean…yet. There are plans for one, though."
They were approaching the translucent and artificially radiant dome. The vague shape of buildings merged gleaming into the light. The Micro slowed as it neared the entrance and stopped in front, behind a line of LandCars. A large entryway, thirty feet across, opened slowly. The Micro moved inside with a couple other cars and the entry door closed behind them. They were inside a chamber. Another door sat in front, but it did not open. Katera pressed the icons for Transition, Unseal, Release Planck Shield. Mike heard the series of clicks as the shield withdrew. A loud noise filled their space and the water level decreased inside the chamber. Finally, it reached bottom and the doors in front opened up into the sparkling city of Suela del Mar.
Except for the fact that it lay 1,000 meters under the sea, the roads and buildings looked a lot like Ocean Park, with the marvelous exception the landscape of Suela Del Mar featured the flora and fauna of a tropical rainforest. Orchids, bromeliads, and other flora erupted in vivid color, contrasting with the moss and lichen-covered trees. Ferns dotted the landscape everywhere. Unlike the natural rainforest, however, these trees were clipped short to a modest ten to thirty feet, allowing the taller buildings to reach over them and form the canopy.
"Oh, lovely," Katera said, planting her palm on her chest. On the console, the simulation pad blinked on. She looked down and dutifully moved her finger onto the pad. "Where to?"
"I thought we could visit Poseidon's Palace. They have a nice restaurant there and great seafood. We could try a slice of their giant sea bass."
"As long as they don't serve me a piece with those creepy eyeballs, I'll try it. Hey, I'll even buy."
"This is my treat, Katera."
"No, I insist. You do so much for me. And what am I supposed to do with all this money they're giving me? I can't spend it fast enough."
"Save it. Invest it. That's what people do with money. And they're not giving it to you. You earn it from your appearances."
Katera shook her head. "Talking and more talking. Such a strange way to make a living. I don't do anything but answer questions. We used to do that for the Kastaks for free."
They both laughed, and Mike pointed down a side street that led to the restaurant.
"Okay," he said. "You're on, moneybags."
Katera pointed the Micro in the direction of Poseidon's Palace, a three-story building with towers and attending spires. Large trees flanked the exterior with tall birds of paradise blooming among them. Smaller ferns, hibiscus and orchids, ringed the larger birds. She directed the Micro into one of the many LandCar parking tracks that snaked through the gardens.
"Not bad for a first ride," Katera said, smiling as she pressed the console icon to unseal and open the doors.
"Even better for a last one."
Mike laughed and pulled himself up from the low seat. The eternally warm and humid air of Suela del Mar wrapped around him like a moist blanket. Katera hopped out and joined him from the other side.
"You'll want to be nice to the driver," she said, taking his arm. "You're a long way from home."
And so am I, came her unspoken words. She smiled, but he noticed that once again, her eyes took up that hollow look…and he knew her thoughts had turned to Parallon.
"Yeah, you're right. And I didn't bring my swimsuit. Guess I'll have to kiss up…damn."
Katera squeezed his arm. He enclosed her fingers with his and squeezed back, but he could feel a sadness settling over her like a cloak-a sadness that visited with a growing frequency. Mike sighed. She had quit talking about going home, finally convinced that he didn't have a solution. She understood that there'd be no returning to Parallon, that she was going to grow old in this world.
Yet her silence pained him even more than when she had probed him with endless questions. The dark moods that accompanied her withdrawal…it didn't feel good. He recognized that for her to stay strong, she would need to talk about how she felt. He'd try to draw her out. If she was going to heal, if they were going to have any chance at a life together, he had to keep her connected to the things that were important to her, which meant, in her case, her former life and her family. At least until she adjusted, if she ever did.
The doors to Poseidon's Palace retracted into the surrounding walls, and Mike stepped inside with Katera, her arm looped through his as if she needed holding up.
Chapter Thirty
Katera struggled to keep smiling as Mikolen guided her through the front courtyard toward Poseidon's Palace. It wasn't Mikolen's fault that most of the time she felt like shedding a river of tears. If anything, her desire to please him kept her going. If she were to admit the truth, nothing else motivated her to get up in the morning. Watching the pleasure in his eyes when her tutor, Jay, bragged about her progress made her want to study all day long, to absorb as much as possible. If only it were enough.
She hadn't felt like this in the beginning. She'd been absorbed in the miracles around her, enchanted as she marveled at every technical wonder, large and small: from the communication system, like the wrist screens that allowed you to talk with and view anyone, anywhere, to the incredible Earth satellite stations containing small cities where people worked and lived. For her, new discoveries lay around every corner, although they no longer captivated her with the same intensity as in those first few weeks.
Something else had surfaced…a feeling, sharp-edged and persistent. Steadily, it had carved a path through the center of her joy leaving a dead hole, a place of emptiness. Yes, the people in this world treated her well, but buckets of adulation from World Council members didn't feel as good as the simple approval from Mama for a job well done. She received incredible gifts from dignitaries all over the world, but it didn't warm her heart as much as the crudely crafted wooden moon that never left her neck. Certainly the rides in the AeroCars were thrilling, but it didn't match the exhilaration she'd felt when Papa had hoisted her onto the back of her first hoshdel.
And these feelings had increased as the weeks passed. The images of home grew more vivid, especially at night when Lupana showed her face. Oh, if only there was a way…
She knew Mikolen would build her another stargate if he could, but he could not and she must accept it. He deserved better than someone who always wished to be somewhere else. With great effort, she smiled up at him as they walked across the wide lobby of the restaurant, hoping she could ac
t her way through another afternoon.
Poseidon's Palace from the outside resembled something out of one of those digital history books that Jay had given her. What was it? Oh, yes-a late gothic cathedral-tall and airy with lots of windows and decorative flying buttresses pressed into the external walls. The doors to the lobby opened as they approached, and they stepped inside.
Katera sighed. It was one thing to look at a picture and quite another to see it in person, even if it was a replica. The interior walls soared upward into delicate ogival arches and ribbed vaults. Above, rose windows sparkled like the inside of a kaleidoscope. She followed the colored beams of light to the marble floor below, where an elaborate arrangement of inlaid tiles depicted Posiedon on his throne.
Katera was marveling at the details when the maitre d' appeared in the lobby. He pattered towards them like a swift penguin, stopping in front of Katera. In the middle of a little bow, he froze.
"Oh, oh!" His hand fluttered to his chest as he straightened. Here it comes , Katera thought . "Is it really you?" His thin lips curled up like a potato chip. "Katera from Parallon? Oh…my!"
He slapped his hand to his cheek. Katera nodded weakly, but before she had a chance to say anything Mikolen came to her rescue.
"It is Katera, and she's very hungry. Perhaps you could find us a table?"
The maitre d' wagged his head and clapped his hands together. "Of course. And what an honor for our humble establishment to be graced with the presence of someone such as…"