by Dan Glover
She felt sick.
For a moment she wondered if it was the baby causing her stomach to turn flip flops but she knew better. It was Alpin and the thought of him making a life with someone else. He belonged to her, not to Amanda. They were made for one another... didn’t he realize that too?
Though she gave herself to him willingly on that beach in old France she did so under a pretense that he allowed her to believe. He should have told her then how he felt. Instead, he used her before discarding her like a piece of trash he had no more use for.
Amanda was a pretty girl, a nice girl—a friend—and she wondered if Alpin was using her in the same fashion. Suddenly she wanted to leave Orchardton Hall tomorrow, to go to America and never return. She'd make a new life far from here and raise her baby with love and tenderness.
The Liberty—the new schooner—was sitting just off the coast in eighty meters of water. She saw her rocking back and forth with the tides as the waters sauntered out to sea. The Liberty was bigger than the Nautilus with three main sails and two powerful diesel engines. Ena could tell the way she floated low in the water that she was fully loaded with fuel.
Shedding her clothing and leaving it lay upon the beach Ena ran into the surf to dive beneath the surface. The water was cold and invigorating this morning. The electricity in the riptide current charged her body with a kind of high voltage energy that made it seem as if she was capable of anything. At that moment she felt she could swim all the way to old America and back again before anyone was the wiser.
The surface of the ocean was riled by a steady westerly wind blowing in from deep water but beneath the frothy white-capped waves a familiar stillness came over her. There were times when Ena thought she belonged under the water, not upon the land, and that one day she might forsake the surface all together.
As she swam with great strokes of her entire body she sensed gigantic oceanic rivers moving around her, propelling her along as she had but to steer a course for her destination. As always, the salt water rushing through her gills brought an intense sense of knowing with it, as if she could taste the life pulsating all about her.
Surfacing beside the Liberty she climbed the rope ladder hanging from the gunwale. No one was aboard. She stood on the deck in the early morning rain allowing it to wash the salt water from her body before bending over and shaking out her hair. Inside the closet in the lower cabin she found a fleece robe to cover herself.
Going back up to the wheelhouse she stood poring over the charts studying the Firth of Clyde. Satisfied she was familiar with the shoals and hidden reefs she unrolled charts of the lower trade routes from Scotland to the Azores and up the eastern seaboard of North America. She envisioned a fresh and green land unspoiled by humanity, reclaimed by nature, and just waiting for new settlers to guide her into a new era.
"Oh... hello Ena... I didn’t know anyone else was aboard. Did you swim out here?"
Her father's voice startled her out of a reverie. She didn’t hear him climb aboard or walk into the wheelhouse.
"Yes I did. You know how much I enjoy my morning swims. Now I'm going over the charts. I want to be ready."
"I'm going to be counting on you to guide us. I'll have my hands full with the ship so it'll be a huge help with you as the navigator. Did you talk to Alpin?"
"He's not going."
"I thought he'd jump at the chance. What's up with him?"
"He's in love with Amanda."
"Oh... well that explains a lot. He's been acting strange lately. I'm sorry, sweetie."
"Can we please not talk about Alpin, father? I'm sure we can find someone else to fill in for Lady Lauren."
"Well... I know no one is asking me, but if they did, I'd say he is making a poor choice."
"Thank you, father... it's his choice to make though. Now... when are we leaving?"
"We'll be ready to set sail by tomorrow morning, darling Ena. But we really should locate a fourth crew member. Do you have any suggestions?"
Chapter 44—Metallic Stranger
The servers were in operation.
Nate wasn’t cognizant of it until he felt warmth emanating from one as he disconnected it. Putting a hand on the stack he realized they were all powered up. Suddenly he felt like a thief come in the night to plunder property that did not belong to him.
He wondered if after a century the power could still be on, and if it was, why there were no lights on in the city during the previous night while they were moored in the harbor. It made more sense to believe there was a generator powering the servers but that would mean...
Kirk burst into the room as Nate was in the midst of his reverie. His face was flushed and he was out of breath both from running and with excitement. In his excitement Kirk knocked over the jar containing the fetus Karen planned to bring back to Scotland. It rolled toward the edge of the table upon which it sat and before either of them could make a grab at it, the jar fell to the floor bursting into a million pieces and sending a cascade of reddish coppery liquid skittering over the tile.
"Be careful, Kirk... don't step on the glass. What's up, buddy? You look frazzled."
"Something weird is happening here, Mr. Nate... I've never seen anything like it. And that noise... I can still hear that awful hissing sound... can you hear it too?"
"I don’t hear anything, Kirk. Show me what you've found; maybe we can figure it out together."
"Karen is still up there. I didn’t want to leave her but she told me to come get you. We were up on the top floor looking for equipment she wanted to salvage. There's something up there, Mr. Nate."
Nate took the stairs two at a time skipping up five flights as if they were nothing while looking back he saw Kirk laboring after the first two sets of steps. Waiting for him at the top of the last staircase, he held up his hand signaling for quiet.
"Do you hear that? Someone is talking with Karen. Is that what you saw, Kirk... another person?"
"No... it was something I can't describe... something down inside the floor."
"Let's work our way around closer so we can listen... Karen might be in trouble."
There was a blazing white hallway running down to a set of double doors. In between where they stood and the doors at the far end were half a dozen other portals spaced equidistantly apart. They were all shut save the last one on the left.
"That's where Dr. Karen is at, Mr. Nate."
Kirk pointed to the open door. A sort of strobe light seemed to be flickering inside the room reflecting off the intensely white paint on the door. The walls and doors were so bright they hurt Nate's eyes.
He shook his head as he noted a piercing whistle that he hadn’t heretofore been aware of became distinctly louder as they quietly advanced down the hall. The noise all but drowned out Karen's voice. Nate stopped at the middle door testing the knob. It was unlocked.
Waving Kirk to follow, he entered the room moving stealthily to the adjoining wall beyond which Karen was speaking. Kirk closed the door behind him. The relative darkness soothed his eyes as Nate suddenly realized he had a pounding headache either from the brightness of the hallway or from the whistling noise or perhaps both were combining to serve as a sledge hammer boring into his brain.
A second door connected to the next room; the door was shut but a glass window above seemed to offer a clear view of what was going on next door. Taking a stool sitting beside a counter Nate put it under the window before stepping up to peer down upon Karen.
She was talking to someone he didn’t recognize. They stood roughly a meter apart. There was something vaguely unsettling about the man: perhaps it was the light... his skin was a sort of bright silver with a sheen to it that was hard to look at for long, like the hallway. The voice was metallic, flat, without emotion. The man spoke with an effort that suggested long unfamiliarity with talking to anyone.
He was short of stature. His body was that of a child while his head was gigantic: the forehead and the back of the skull protruded in great lumps as if o
ver-inflated while a furrow ran across the middle of the head from ear to ear giving it a caved-in appearance. With a neck impossibly long and skinny, Nate wondered how the man held aloft such an enormous head. His eyes were the size of saucers, deep pits of black. His pupils had displaced the white of his eyeballs making it seem as if those were the eyes of a snake, or perhaps a demon. Nate listened as the creature spoke.
"You don't recognize me, do you Karen."
"Should I?"
"We knew each other. I showed you my work."
"The only time I've been here before was when I was a student. That was a century ago. I knew lots of people then but they're all dead now."
"You are alive."
"Yes but only through luck... I met someone who has the ability to extend the life of human beings."
"Well, all the others may be dead but I'm still alive, strange as it may seem since I only had a few years to live."
"Are you Micah?"
"Ah... so you do remember me! That's satisfying in an odd sort of way. Have I changed so much?"
"You were just a boy, Micah."
"I'm still not much older. You've changed though, Karen. Whatever you've been doing for the past hundred years agrees with you. You really are extraordinarily beautiful."
"You set them loose."
"My Try-Rights? Yes I did let them out... as a last ditch effort to save myself... and later, to save humanity. Everyone was dying, Karen. I thought I could help contain the epidemic. I was too late though. I could only save myself."
"Are others here with you?"
"We'll have time to talk about that later, Karen."
"Am I infected now too, Micah?"
"No, Karen... my Try-Rights are programmed to only inhabit willing hosts. They recognize your fear, your aversion to them. They will not harm you. Tell me... what are you doing here?"
"We came to gather medical equipment and archival knowledge."
"You've come to steal from me. I see. So there are more of you."
At this last comment Nate felt a sense of uncertainty entering his thoughts. The way the words were spoken almost sounded like a death sentence. He had a sudden desire to leave this place right away and never return.
"My friends are downstairs, yes. Would you like to meet them?"
"Not right now, Karen... I'd rather we first talk in private a bit more. Where are you from?"
Nate willed Karen not to divulge the location of their home. Something sinister was happening here. Until they could ascertain whether or not this creature was as magnanimous as he sounded, it might be better not to divulge the whereabouts of their home in old Scotland. Karen must have felt the same danger.
"South America... we have an estate there, Micah. Perhaps you'll come visit us."
"I should come on down to the banana republic, huh? And in just what country is this estate of yours, Karen?"
"We don’t think of countries as such any longer, Micah. We live on the coast in a marvelous castle."
"Why do I get the feeling you're lying to me?"
A shimmering light passed over the man's face as an uneasiness crept into Nate's mind, like he was feeling an unknown power attempting to probe it, a malevolent intelligence like a schoolboy scorned. He blocked it with ease.
"I think it's best if I go now, Micah. Perhaps I can come back to visit before we leave."
Karen turned around to open the door. When she pulled on the knob, nothing happened. She tried again. It was obvious she was locked in.
"Let me go, Micah."
"First, let's catch up on old times... care to see my latest work?"
Nate has seen enough. Climbing down from his stool he noticed a distinctly odd smell in the air. There was a bitter taste in his mouth. When he turned to speak to Kirk he discovered he was alone.
A mist was gathering around the periphery of his vision. He took one step toward the door before darkness overcame him.
Chapter 45—Fourth
"I'll go with you."
Amanda felt as if she was coming between Alpin and his family. He'd been moping about all afternoon. After she asked at least ten times about the reason for his foul mood he finally confessed that this morning Ena had asked him to sail to America with their mother and father.
"You don’t know anything about sailing a ship, Amanda."
"I can learn."
"You know that Ena is pregnant with my child, right? We might even decide to get back together. Will that bother you, Amanda? Maybe we can make it a threesome."
"Why are you trying to hurt me, Alpin?"
"I don’t need this crap."
He stalked out of their apartment slamming the door as he went. A tear escaped her eye as she entered the bedroom to pack her clothes into a suitcase. Her friends were right. This was a toxic relationship and the sooner she ended it the better.
She had been flattered by Alpin's attention, at least at first. But now, he had changed. Rather than making her feel as if she was his priority in life, he began pushing her away in subtle ways. When she looked into his eyes, she no longer saw the fire of love burning there... there was only a distinct distain and a loathing that hurt her to witness.
She didn’t understand him any better than if he had been a stranger. To think of the loving times they had shared only brought a sickness to her heart knowing those days were over forever. She had to get away.
Instead of going back to her room on the fifth floor Amanda carried the suitcase down to the sea shore. The Liberty was bobbing up and down on the ocean swells. She saw Maon on the deck. Though she waved and called out he didn’t seem to notice her.
"What are you doing here?"
The sharp voice startled her. Turning around she saw Ena standing behind her. Amanda felt embarrassed, as if she'd been caught doing something she'd rather no one knew about.
"I want to go with you to America, darling Ena."
"You don’t know how to sail."
"I can learn. I've learned a lot about medicine from Karen too. I can be of assistance if anyone gets injured along the way."
"Where is Alpin? Did he put you up to this, Amanda? I know all about the two of you."
"Listen, my lovely Ena... I didn’t know about the two of you when I got together with Alpin. I thought he was your brother. He lied to me. I only recently found out about you and him. I'm sorry for coming between you."
"It isn’t your fault, Amanda. You didn’t come between us. I guess he has some growing up to do. Listen... I'm going to swim out to the Liberty. I'll come back with the skiff. I'm sure my mother and father will welcome you aboard. We need another crew member and I can show you everything you need to know. We're leaving within an hour. Is there anything else you want to bring?"
"I have everything I need right here."
Amanda held up her suitcase. As Ena undressed she knew she ought to avert her eyes but Amanda could not help but admire Ena's beauty as she slowly revealed her body before running into the water and diving into the surf. Amanda gathered up the clothes Ena dropped, folded them, and put them into her suitcase along with her own.
She watched the ocean for Ena to surface but there was no sign of her until her head appeared beside the bow of the Liberty. Amanda saw her reach out of the water to climb a rope ladder, speak a moment to Maon, and then descend to the skiff. The outboard motor started and within a few minutes Ena was back on shore still naked and dripping wet.
"Where are my clothes, Amanda?"
"Oh... I put them in my suitcase for you, Ena. I didn’t want to just leave them lying on the ground. Do you want to put them on now?"
"No, that's okay. I mean, as long as you don’t mind a little show. Thank you for thinking of me, sweetie."
"I don’t mind at all."
Amanda felt a blush crimson her face and though she told herself Ena didn’t notice, the tiny smile forming in the corners of her mouth said otherwise. She was sure she had never seen a girl as stunningly beautiful as Ena. She was tanned from head to toe.
Her long arms and legs rippled with muscles and yet she seemed incredibly dainty sitting just a meter away from her while guiding the skiff back to the Liberty.
Her black hair spilled over her chest reaching all the way down to her waist. Each movement revealed more of her naked body to Amanda but Ena did nothing to cover up. She seemed to enjoy showing off. Amanda realized her eyes were not entirely green... they were bespeckled with golden highlights that reflected the blue of the water below and the sparkle of the sun overhead.
High cheek bones lent a regal air to Ena's face yet she wasn’t pretentious. Amanda found her easy to talk with even though she felt shame at knowing Alpin in the intimate way she did. Ena seemed to read her mind.
"Did Alpin tell you I asked him to go along with us?"
"Finally... after I asked him over and over again why he was brooding all morning... he got angry with me... again. That seems to be happening a lot lately. I guess he thought I'd be jealous of you, my precious Ena."
"Are you?"
"I felt more hurt than anything. The way he treated me makes me think he never loved me at all. I mean, he told me he did. It's like he thought that was what I wanted to hear, though. He didn’t seem to mean it. When I told him I'd like to go with him to America he started cutting me down saying how I didn’t know anything about sailing and how useless I would be."
"I can teach you all about sailing, my darling Amanda. I've been going out with my grandfather and my father ever since I was little. We've sailed lots of places and they always had me help them with the sails and with steering."
"I'd like that. Thank you, lovely Ena. Can I ask you something?"
"You can ask me anything you'd like."
"When are you due?"
"I'm three months along. Lady Lauren says gestation among the Lake people only takes six months. But I'm partly human too so I imagine the baby could come along anywhere from three to six months from now."