by Dan Glover
"Who else do you plan on asking to come with us?"
"Ena knows how to sail so I think we should include her. That will give us a crew of four."
"Is that enough?"
"Yes, I think so... if we do discover they really are stranded in America that will mean ten of us aboard on the journey home."
"What if we can't find a suitable ship in Aberdeen? Didn’t your Grandfather Nate scour all the old warehouses years ago?"
"We'll keep looking as long as it takes, my darling Sileas. We might be forced to go to another port but we'll find a sea-worthy ship. Did I ever tell you about the time we were locked in a cell and I crawled through an air duct to save everyone?"
"Only a hundred and fifty thousand times, my heroic husband... I love listening to the tale, however. Will you tell it once again?"
"It was my fault we got locked in there in the first place. I was just a kid toddling around snooping into everything. I heard something in one of the adjoining rooms. While the adults were busy gathering items to bring back to Orchardton Hall I followed the sound into a room with a kind of intercom system. That's where the sound was coming from. I remember it was like a whisper calling my name.
"Then next thing I knew, my mother and my father were inside the room with me. I thought they saw me walk away but I guess no one did. I frightened them when they couldn’t find me. About the time Dr. Karen joined us the door slammed shut. It was so loud! I didn’t understand what was going on. I remember how Marilyn stared at us through the glass with a weird smirk on her face."
"I've heard of that woman my whole life, darling Maon. Was she really as evil as she's made out to be?"
"I don’t remember being around her much. Later, my father told me how she used to go around saying how he was an abomination... that helping in his creation was the worst thing she ever did. She believed she was doing Satan's work."
"Satan is another name for the fallen angel Lucifer, right?"
"That's right... I guess Marilyn believed in all the old tales. The one thing I do remember is how she always had a bible with her every time I saw her. At first, I thought she was just reading a book. Later, I found out she carried it as a talisman to protect her from the Ladies of the Lake. For some reason, she got it in her head that my mother and Lady Lauren were behind the Great Dying. She thought it was their wish that all human beings become extinct."
"So she locked you all into a room? Why would she do that?"
"I thought Marilyn was playing games with us, sweet Sileas. But then the lights went out and the air got very still. She had shut off the generator that provided ventilation. She wanted us all to die in there.
"The only way out was through an air vent in the floor. My mother didn’t want me to go. I remember she begged my father not to let me crawl into that hole. I didn’t want to either. But I knew if I didn’t we would all die.
"I remember going down into a kind of tunnel. At first there was plenty of room for me to crawl. But then it started to get narrower. Pretty soon I could barely make it through; I was afraid I would get stuck. But I couldn’t turn around so I kept going forward. Finally I pulled myself far enough through that tunnel that I saw light coming down from above.
"I wormed my way up the shaft. I couldn’t get out, sweet Sileas. Even though I pushed on the grate it wouldn’t open. I pushed harder. I began to panic. I knew I couldn’t go back. Failure meant everyone would die.
"I remembered my father telling me to get angry. He told me if I couldn’t get out, I had to pound on the grate with my flashlight. He said: get mad, Maon... if you can't get out, get angry at it.
"I was afraid I might break my flashlight. I'd be alone in the dark. I'd always been terrified of shadows. I always thought I could see things moving in the dim light just out of the corner of my eyes but when I looked nothing was there. Yet I could feel some sort of presence.
"Suddenly none of that mattered. I had to get out! I hit the metal over and over until my flashlight began breaking apart. Parts of it hit me in the face. I didn’t care. Finally, I felt one corner of the grate give way. Pushing against that edge and rocking it back and forth I finally broke the other corners free as well.
"I climbed out. I was never so happy to be free! My clothes were ripped and I was cut and bleeding in a dozen places from sharp metal edges in the air duct and from where pieces of the flashlight were hitting me. None of that mattered; I had to find the key to let my parents and Dr. Karen out of that room.
"I remember how I pulled open a drawer in a desk. I turned it over to look where my mother said the key would be taped under it. It wasn’t there. I thought, oh no... Marilyn's taken it with her and I won't be able to let everyone out. Then my father told me to look under the other drawer.
"He was right... I was mixed up. I found the key, opened the door, and we all escaped the trap set for us. Everyone called me a hero but I knew better... it was my fault we were locked in that cell in the first place. If I hadn’t gone in there we never would have been trapped.
"When we finally got back to Orchardton Hall, Marilyn was dead. I'd seen other dead people but they were just bones; Marilyn was still sitting in the limousine she was driving when Amanda shot her. They say she was coming back to let us out because all the People were getting sick with the Ladies gone. I still think she was coming back just to make sure we were dead."
"But where was Lady Lauren? Wouldn’t her presence protect the People?"
"Marilyn talked Kirk into locking her in the dungeon: Natalia too. He pushed Ginger down the stairs and when the Ladies went down to help her Kirk locked the door behind. Ginger knew a way out, however. Under the dungeon are the catacombs... those tunnels run for kilometers in all directions."
"I see... so when Lady Lauren disappeared the People started getting sick. So Marilyn decided to go back to try and rescue you and your family, just to save herself. She really was a monster."
"If not for Marilyn, my father never would have been born. She wasn’t a totally horrible person, really. I think she got herself ensnared in some of the old beliefs and couldn’t let go. I feel sorry for her. Imagine knowing you were going to live forever and then suddenly having your life snatched away in an instant. Whatever hardships she caused, I imagine she paid for them in the end."
"Look at that building over there, darling Maon... it's near the shoreline and it has enormous doors. Could it be the home of a shipbuilder?"
"There's only one way to find out, sweet Sileas."
Chapter 40—Distractions
He never knew a woman who could be so distracting.
Kāne could not keep his mind on the work in front of him. Ginger didn’t impede his progress so much as she accentuated it yet at the same time it was clear she enjoyed subtly teasing him.
He normally worked from sunrise until midday before taking an afternoon break. Often times he would return to his art in the evening sometimes working the night away. His studio was comprised of a spare room in the back of the cabin where they lived. He considered using one of the other outbuildings that dotted the estate but he could not bear to be so far from Ginger.
The driftwood dragon refused to take shape as did the seashell Pietà he was attempting to copy from the Michelangelo sculpture gracing a corner of the enormous living room at Orchardton Hall. It did not strike Kāne as odd that Mary grieving over her dead son was so much younger-looking than Jesus.
"Besides you, my lovely Ginger, this statue is the most remarkable work of art I can imagine. I never knew human beings were capable of such beauty. It is as if the artist has sculpted my mother weeping for me."
They were rarely apart.
Kāne and Ginger often visited the Pietà so he could sketch its lines, measure its height and breadth, and stand in awe of it.
"Nate and Maon brought that statue over from St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. They are on a mission to save as much as the old artwork as possible. They travel to France at least once a month, Italy too."
&nb
sp; "I have disrupted their work. I feel ashamed."
"Oh no... it isn’t your fault and I am sure they know that. Besides, I disrupt your work all the time. Should I be ashamed too?"
"Ah... but you never disturb my work, darling Ginger. I could do no work without you here by my side."
"Am I really a work of art?"
Ginger giggled as she dropped the towel she had wrapped around her after taking a shower. Kāne could not help but notice how her baby bump was growing larger each day. As he turned to gather her in his arms, she dashed out the door with laughter trailing behind her. Kāne rushed to follow nearly running headlong into her when she stopped abruptly.
"Oh... I'm sorry, Lady Lauren... we weren’t expecting you."
Stepping up beside her Kāne admired how Ginger made no attempt to cover her nudity. She leaned into him as he put an arm around her shoulders.
"Yes I can see that, lovely Ginger. I have come to invite you both to dinner tonight but I see you are both so busy today."
Lauren winked at her son as she stepped closer to place a kiss upon Ginger's cheek.
"We'd love to dine with you, Mother Lauren. Right, my sweet Kāne?"
"We'll be there at dusk, my lovely mother. Would you care to come inside for coffee and breakfast?"
"I would love some coffee, if I am not troubling you too much. And yes, I could eat something as well."
Ginger surprised him by not bothering to put on her clothes before serving coffee. He could not keep his eyes from her body and though he was sure his mother noticed too he didn’t care.
Once their cups were filled Ginger pulled on an apron and stepped up to the stove, cracking fresh eggs into an enormous skillet and adding diced vegetables she stirred the contents briskly while casting glances at him with the light of love in her eyes.
"When are you due, my precious Ginger?"
"Oh... I didn’t realize my darling Kāne told you about our pregnancy, Mother Lauren."
He noticed Ginger had a hurt look on her face but before he could respond his mother set things right.
"Oh... our sweet Kāne hasn’t told me anything, lovely Ginger. It is obvious that you are expecting. You have that glow about you."
"I do? Thank you, Mother Lauren. The best I can reckon is around old Christmas Day. But the baby seems to be growing faster than usual so that could change."
"This is a unique situation, darling Ginger. To the best of my knowledge, no human being has ever conceived with one of our kind. Yes, our babies tend to gestate in only six months compared to nine months for your species, so I wouldn’t be concerned if you give birth at an earlier date than you expect."
"I wish Karen was here. She knows so much more than I do. I mean, I've helped deliver babies so I know what to do, but I would feel so much more secure with her around."
"I've helped to deliver many babies too, dear Ginger. I've been thinking of going to America with Maon and Sileas but perhaps I will stay behind. I want to be here for you."
"Why are Maon and Sileas going to America, dear mother?"
"They are concerned that something may have happened to the Nautilus. Frankly, so am I. We cannot raise them on the radio. Plus I keep dreaming that one or more of them are trapped and cannot escape. Maon is on the eastern coast with Sileas looking for a new ship. He hopes to sail in a few weeks if there is no sign of the Nautilus."
"It's my fault that they had to leave."
"No, my darling Kāne... it is simply the way things turned out. I could say it was my fault that six billion human beings passed away during the Great Dying but I know better. We cannot help being what we are. If your influence has negative effects upon Nate, then we must seek a resolution. I advised Lily and Karen to take him to Lake Baikal where we know things are safe. Instead, they chose to sail to America. Dr. Karen felt a complete break was best for Nate. It has nothing to do with you, my son."
"If you feel you should go with Maon and Sileas, I'll understand. You should be back by the time I give birth, Mother Lauren."
"No... the moment I saw you this morning I knew I would be staying here. You may need help as the pregnancy advances. Don't worry... I will not meddle in your affairs. But I want to be close by just in case you happen to need me. It is not every day that I have a grandchild.
"Besides, this is my home. I belong here, not traipsing over the oceans in search of that which I have right at hand. Maon and Sileas will find plenty of willing hands to man their boat. I was rather dreading the journey."
Stepping up the table, Ginger set three plates down before dishing out scrambled eggs and adding butter to the toast she made by throwing slices of bread into the still hot skillet before sitting down to eat.
"Tell us how you ended up here in old Scotland, Mother Lauren. It is so far from your precious Lake Baikal."
"I left the Lake centuries ago when life there became unpalatable. The monkeys—forgive me, sweet Ginger... I should not talk like that about your people but I cannot help it—had been dumping filth into the waters for so long it was hard to remember a time when they didn’t.
"Finally, we were forced to leave in order to survive. My precious son had vanished and though I waited for him to return I eventually realized that wouldn’t be happening again. When our darling Lily offered to bring me with her to a nearby village where she had made a life for herself, I accepted her generous offer and went.
"I detested it. The monkeys were terrifying. We had to keep our identities a secret lest they attack us. I rarely left the hovel where we lived, if you could call what we were doing living.
"The air hurt my lungs... it was polluted with wood smoke and the rank odor of meat cooking over open fires. The villagers smelled as bad as they acted... they were forever killing one another over some trivial slight. I knew I had to get away... either that, or perish all together.
"Our darling Lily felt the same as I did so we left the village behind to make our way in the world. Though we traveled many miles, everywhere we settled was the same. And of course every seven years we began to feel the pull of the Lake. The last time at the Lake, I dived deep into the water and succumbed to the poisons the monkeys were pumping into it.
"When I woke, I was alone. I thought I had lost my darling Lily. Though I waited countless weeks, she never reappeared. I was forced by the coming of winter to make my way east. As luck would have it, in a large city I happened to be passing through I met a human male who took a liking to me. He asked me to marry him. Though I had no knowledge of such a ceremony, I agreed in order to survive.
"He is the one who brought me here to Orchardton Hall. He taught me so many things about fitting in with the monkeys yet I still preferred solitude to a life of plenty. My human did not feel as I did. He loved to mingle with his people. That was his downfall... he stayed away too long from my side and he died."
"Were you sad when he perished, Mother Lauren?"
"I was neither sad nor happy, my precious Ginger. It was something that I knew would happen sooner or later. Because we were married, however, all his property came to me as his wife. I became master of Orchardton Hall. There was nowhere else in the world I would rather live.
"Now, I'm wondering if I've been here too long."
"Why would you say that, Mother Lauren?"
"I suppose I am having one of those down days, my beautiful Ginger. Pay no attention to me."
As Kāne quietly listened to the two women he loved he realized his presence was affecting others besides Nate.
Chapter 41—Alive
Karen wasn’t sure what it was that she was seeing.
The floor seemed to have split open as if a volcano vent was erupting in the middle of the room. The hissing sound she was hearing apparently issued from the vent, which appeared to be about a meter in length and thirty centimeters across. Her mind searched for logical reasons how something like this could be happening.
"An earthquake probably cracked the floor and ruptured a pipe."
She wasn�
��t sure why but she whispered the words to Kirk rather than speaking them aloud. An ache was developing in the area just below her belly button, as if someone was poking at her insides with a hot iron.
"There's something alive in there. I think it's some kind of nest, Dr, Karen. Do you see the light dancing on the wires?"
She looked at Kirk but his eyes were not on her... they were glued to the crater vent in the floor. When he mentioned it, she realized that she'd been seeing some sort of illumination hovering over the hole in the floor all along which she dismissed as an optical illusion.
Now she saw the light was a kind of living mist glowing alternately silver and blue. Particles of dust hovered over the crack in the floor like tiny balloons tethered to something she could not see. A blackish cone seemed to have formed around the crater vent as if something was being spewed up from inside and coagulating on the surface.
"It isn’t alive, Kirk. It's radiation. A containment module must have breached. Some medical imaging machines used caesium-137 as a power source."
"Is it dangerous?"
"Highly dangerous... yes... we may have already been exposed to a fatal dose what with being this close. We have to get out of here right away."
Karen wondered what the effects would be on someone like Nate... if close proximity to the people of the Lake might alleviate the consequences of a large dose of radiation. As they began their retreat, something in the hole moved. She saw a shadow rather than an object itself.
"Wait a minute... maybe I'm wrong, Kirk. There's something moving in there. If it's radiation, nothing could survive."
"It knows we're here."
There was a note of fear in Kirk's voice that she didn’t like. She wanted to turn and run away as fast as she could yet the mystery in front of her held her in place. She was a scientist, after all.