Conclave

by Murray, Lee

  “It has taken me some time and much patrolling, but I’ve come to the conclusion that there is little evidence we will endure another foray by Spratonites into our territory any time soon.”

  Well, duh. What an idiot he is. It doesn’t take a marine biologist to work that one out.

  “I have no idea why, but they seem to have lost interest in our family and in this part of the world.” Probably because we’re no longer a threat. I swallow hard to keep from blurting it out.

  “It seems that at last they are staying away. However, with this concern out of the way, other worries have come to the forefront of my mind. We need to build a future, one that our family can be proud of. I have spent much energy tracking and plotting against the Spratonites and, although we must be on our guard, I am ready to hand this side of our life on to Jaes as he grows older. My hope is that at the very least we may protect the little that we still have.” He sighs. “But we must also start to think practically about the future. Especially as you are almost at an age when we will find out if you are gifted with the ability to bear children.”

  I draw in a rasping breath, then lick my lips. Here it comes.

  “Anna says you have been educated as to the errr... fundamentals. It shouldn’t be much more than three months before we’ll know if you are a breeder or not.”

  I cross my arms. “Please take a seat,” he says, pointing to a stool, as if suddenly noticing my discomfort. I perch on the edge.

  He rises from his padded desk chair and starts to pace. “To that end, I have started teaching Jaes patrol duties and setting him on a swimming regime. He needs to learn to take Merform more often. He is far too fond of his human form. I will train him to take on the responsibilities of the family as well as deal with any potential threats.” Uncle runs a hand through his hair.

  “I’m not breeding with Jaes,” I blurt.

  Uncle stops mid step, his leg actually hanging in mid-air.

  “My girl, that is…”

  “He’s a little boy and I know we still don’t know if I can and all that, and I know we’d have to wait ‘til he is bigger, but he’s my cousin and I’ve grown up with him like a brother and it’s not right…”

  “Thala…”

  “I simply will not do it. I’ll leave or I’ll find another pod or I’ll…”

  “Stop!” my uncle rumbles.

  He approaches and brushes a hand on my shoulder. I can’t help it, I flinch.

  “Thala, we would never ask you to do that. Is that what you have been worried about?”

  “Only since forever,” I murmur.

  “Speak up, girl!”

  I leap to my feet. “You never tell me what’s going on! No one ever explains. I have to hear things by eavesdropping or trying to fill in the gaps myself. For reef’s sake, I don’t even know what happened to my parents! I’m old enough to be an active part of this family and to know our secrets, our stories, our losses…”

  “Thala, please. I wanted to protect you, to keep you from having to suffer…”

  “Well, I do suffer, Uncle. I need to know. I need to be involved.”

  “But I’ve tried to give you everything you need. You’ve never been interested in being involved in the family responsibilities before. You never come on patrols,” he says, looking away.

  “That’s different, the patrols are a waste of time.” He mustn’t know my weakness. I see him bristle and hold back a retort. He takes his seat again and straightens his back. I fall back onto mine.

  Uncle takes a deep, steadying breath and continues. “I’m actually glad to hear you feel you are ready to be an active part of this family because we’ve had news from another pod,” he says. “It’s premature, perhaps, but all good contacts bring us possibilities, and it’s been many years since we’ve had communication with anyone outside our family.”

  I lean forward, watching him closely. The message in the bottle.

  “Another pod?”

  He consults a notepad. “The Cherienne family, out of the Northern Pacific. They have come far in search of others like us.”

  “Didn’t we used to feud with them?”

  “So you have learned something,” he replies, raising his bushy eyebrows.

  “What do they want? Why are they here?”

  My uncle’s eyes narrow and his mouth forms a straight, firm line.

  “They come seeking a potential breeding partner,” he says.

  6

  Surges of a warmth rippled through the ocean. Warm waters meant the circular eddies of what humans called the Kuroshio Current were in action, increasing phytoplankton density and intensifying the nutrient-rich depths. There would be whales here soon.

  Shiv hurried to the feeding area, close to the surface. With the increased phytoplankton content, krill were in abundance and it made a nice change from plain fish.

  His friend Alben was feeding there. He floated on his back, light green tail extended and mouth open, imbibing the delicacy.

  “Alben.”

  “Shiv.”

  They hovered in compatible silence, sunlight sprinkling the nutrient-rich water with beams of dusky light.

  Shiv watched the nannies guide a small class of young charges around an obstacle course of poisonous threats below. Here a venomous sea snake, there a poisonous sea anemone, sharp merciless coral or an angry puffer fish. Paddlers learned the dangers of this foreign environment as soon as their tails grew past hatchling weakness.

  One of the babies pointed at a colourful species of fish, delighted by the rainbow of movement as a school flitted by, but her nanny tapped her head, grabbed her chin and pulled her attention back to the lesson. No time for beautiful distractions. Focus was today’s key word. The little one’s face fell at the reprimand. Her bottom lip quivered but she managed to hold it together. Shiv watched her control the rebellious emotion with a grim smile. Just as well, or she’d be punished.

  He remembered his own schooling with hatred. Every teacher a tyrant, always watching and monitoring. And at home, observers amongst his own family and friends kept watch and reported back. Now that he worked, nothing had improved. The Originals kept the traditions of the Homeworld alive by requiring everyone to keep to the old ways. That meant no room for weakness, emotion or delight. Obeying orders without question: that’s the way it had always been.

  But why did every day have to be the same? Feeding areas chosen by the Originals. Schooling and vocation choices dictated by the Originals. He felt like he couldn’t shit without an Original making a record of it. He kept his face a blank mask, but emotion zinged rebelliously within him and he struggled to hide his feelings.

  To calm himself, he sang to the krill with his mind, luring them toward his open mouth, rather than having to move back and forth. It was a relaxing way to eat, and the little creatures died happily.

  Alben was the first to break the quiet. “You’re damned good at the singing, Shiv. Bet you get more food than the rest of us combined.”

  “Just a few more krill. I don’t use it on the big species. Please don’t talk about it, Alben, I’m not keen on attracting attention to myself.”

  “Do they sing back to you, the creatures? Like they do to the Originals? I’ve never thought to ask before!”

  “No, they don’t,” lied Shiv. He turned away to hide his expression.

  “Well, as far as the big fish go, theory is the same, I’d say, only sing louder!” Alben chuckled.

  Shiv curled his tail in agreement. Moments of relaxation were few and Alben always made them entertaining. They’d known each other since school and had spent many a week in the punishment cells in return for their subordination at inappropriate times. Shiv wanted to believe he’d matured since those days, but he wasn’t so sure about Alben. Alben was a free floater and he liked to talk big. They’d passed their scholar entrance exams together, but Alben remained unsettled.

  His friend rolled to face him. “Shiv, can you keep a secret? I need to tell you something.”
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  Shiv raised smooth brow bones high and bared two sets of teeth.

  “Ah, come on, Shiv. Take a risk. New information can be refreshing. Whatever happened to the Shiv I knew who used to sneak up on Originals to pull their tails?” Alben bubbled with laughter.

  “That was a very long time ago,” replied Shiv, colouring violet.

  “Hey, I’m a rebel from way back, Shiv. You used to be too. What happened?” Alben put two hands to his forehead in mock solemnity, bowed his body forward, then spun in a circle seemingly out of control. “Oh, the shame! Oh, the lack of a key word to describe my irreverence…”

  Shiv couldn’t help a small smile or a nervous glance over his shoulder. “So what’s the big secret?”

  Alben stopped in mid twirl. “Can I truly trust you with this? I’ve been bursting to tell someone.”

  Shiv flicked his tail.

  “Well, you know I’ve been put on a new rotation at work, so now I’m busting my guts for Food Resources?”

  “Yes, you’ve moaned about it once or twice.” Alben had complained of sore muscles, long hours hauling in samples for professors, and the lack of actual food available. Perhaps he imagined Food Resources meant he’d get a bigger helping? The reality was, it was about finding more and varied food supplies for the population in the hope of augmenting fertility rates. Shiv found the experimental nature of the department’s work fascinating, especially the scientific collection of rare Earth species.

  Alben stretched. “Well, yesterday they put me in an area I’ve never been to before. It’s a large ship at the eastern edge of the city, near the reef. I did my best impression of a model citizen and agreed to non-disclosure. And guess what’s there, in the ship? Honestly, I will give you first choice of my sisters if you can guess.”

  Shiv grimaced. Alben’s sisters had nothing more than barnacles for brains. He shrugged and opened his mouth wider.

  Alben drew near. “Prisoners.”

  “What happened to non-disclosure, Alben? And what are you talking about? That’s what the punishment cells are for.”

  Alben grinned. “Not us. Merfolk.”

  Shiv laughed. “They aren’t prisoners, Alb, they’re snacks.”

  “Not this time. These ones are special. They’re being held there for observation and experimentation. These ones aren’t being eaten, they’re being examined.”

  Shiv shook his head. “But why? What would be the point?”

  Alben curled his tail. “That’s what I thought. But get this, I managed to take a peek through a window and one of them spoke to me.”

  “Merfolk spoke to you? Shark shit! Through the walls of a ship?”

  “I swear on my tail, it spoke! Like we do.”

  “But Merfolk aren’t even sentient. A rare and tasty addition to the diet, I’ll agree, but...”

  Alben raised his palm in the negative. “You’re wrong. We’ve been deceived. That’s what’s so incredible about this. They’re as aware as you and me. I’m going back tonight to see if he’ll talk to me again.”

  Shiv backed away. “You can’t be serious, Alben.”

  “I’m totally serious. This is the first time I’ve had the chance to speak to another species. I’m going to take it. You should come.”

  “Back to work,” shrieked an Original’s voice. The words were accompanied by painful pressure that began at the temples and spread across Shiv’s scalp. A mind shove. He struggled unsuccessfully to evade it.

  Alben shivered and shook his head. “Man, I hate that,” he hissed.

  Shiv glanced over his shoulder. “Alben, be careful. Don’t share this...information with anyone else. Promise me.”

  Alben’s sparkling eyes narrowed, but he curled his tail in agreement and dived away.

  7

  Shiv made his way to the Virtual Experience ship. The term was a leftover from the Homeworld. Back home they’d been able to survive above water as well as below, the atmosphere rich in oxygen. The home planet had been humid and full of life-enriching lagoons and swamps. There hadn’t been much sunlight, but lots of rain, the perfect environment for his ancestors to use both their small lungs and skin to breathe, saving their gills for when they ventured below the surface. But within a century, all that changed when a strange race invaded; one with far greater numbers, more technological know-how, and creatures who didn’t want to share. Shiv’s people had always been a slow-breeding, long-living species. These invaders produced offspring daily. They needed more homes for their children and they weren’t afraid to take what wasn’t theirs. Shiv’s ancestors were forced into slavery, their world polluted and drained of its watery environment, the weather systems altered, cloud cover dispersed, and by the time anyone realised they were truly in danger, a third of their population had been decimated and many more enslaved.

  Their only hope for survival had been to escape off-world. But only a fraction could make the journey. With typical precision, the leaders divided the population into professions useful to the survival of a species. Within these ‘useful’ groups, they chose families with impeccable records of behaviour and conformity, and from those five hundred thousand souls, a ballot was prepared. They sent the lucky ones off to explore the great unknown in the hope of finding a better home. Those left behind were ordered to sabotage their enemies in the form of suicide bombs and death wish missions and to never back down. Everyone, man, woman and child ordered to fight the good fight. Why leave their people to suffer for further decades? It was better to go out fighting. Shiv wondered if the rulers sent this order from their comfortable shipside cabins as they whisked off into space. Would those left behind have followed those rules, or simply ignored them and gone on living their lives as best they could? He wondered what he would have done in their place.

  These days, the long eel-shaped ships rested deep on Earth’s sandy ocean floor. They provided the infrastructure for their city. The ships’ hard, rust-resistant exteriors had barely deteriorated in a thousand years, yet undersea growth had helped to disguise them in several layers of barnacles, kelp and coral. They provided an ideal ecosystem, serving the people’s constant need for food.

  Shiv glanced toward the surface, his line of vision temporarily blocked by a large school of giant trevally pursuing a mass of flickering anchovy. If only his people had been able to find a planet capable of sustaining them both in and out of the water. But Earth’s atmosphere was too harsh.

  While there were hundreds of ships, few were available to the general population. As a scholar, Shiv could use only two, both Virtual Experience ships, or VE’s, and he still wasn’t allowed to transform to dry form and enter the ships proper. That honour was reserved for Professors and Originals. The general population were born, lived and died beneath the sea.

  Shiv placed a hand on the hull of the closest VE, wishing he could simply swim through its solid exterior. If only he could experience dry living on board a ship. He wanted what his ancestors had taken for granted. Once he becomes a Professor, he’ll get a one month internship aboard a ship in the dry, learning how to use his lungs again and to walk on two limbs. After that, he’ll be given full access to the ships relevant to the discipline the Originals choose for him. The Originals, of course, have access to all ships.

  He connected to the Virtual Experience ship’s long black pipes and hovered in position. Around him floated about thirty others, some deep in a VE trance. There was no better way to learn and, if he was honest with himself, to escape the monotony. It kept history alive and allowed his people—at least those chosen to be trusted with the information—a glimpse of the world they’d left behind. If only Alben would join him, he’d feel less of a need to constantly distract himself. But Alben’s antics had led him to be allocated a less scholarly vocation. He must talk some sense into him.

  Shiv wondered what the VE would show him today. Occasionally, they were allowed a peek at the world that existed above. Shiv had connected only seven times since becoming a scholar and longed to know more. He
knew the VE collected human data too, but that knowledge was rarely shared. So far, he’d learned the history of his people’s last days. It had been fascinating and horrifying, an experience he would never forget. It had felt like he was truly there, walking beside his people on their home planet. Although he knew it was all an illusion, it was like a shiny jewel in the dark sea of his clamped down mind. In this world of green shadows and locked down rules, the Virtual Experience shimmered like the bright forbidden sun above.

  He counted down from eleven and tensed, waiting for the rush. Information poured over his body and mind like a white light. He was there again, on his home planet, but this time he was at the exit port. Hundreds of ships prepared to leave. Ships like the VE that Shiv is hooked up to, and others that were much larger. His ancestors rushed to and fro on two limbs, carrying cargo or bundling their families aboard. It was strange to see them walking. Shiv changed his viewpoint, looking at the scene from above and was rewarded with a view of the entire area. The planet’s receding sea was a cloudy grey-brown, and the land, once dotted with swamps and pools of water, was bathed in bright sunshine. Far in the distance, the yellow sands of the desert-loving invaders sported a city of half-built towers with chimneys that poured smoke into a bright blue sky.

  Shiv felt a shift in the image and knew he was about to be moved to another scene. Night had fallen and, as he watched, the ships took off, rising noisily into a starry sky. None of the remaining population gathered to wave goodbye. Soon the long, black shapes disappeared.

  8

  Three light cycles later, Shiv still hadn’t caught up with Alben. He’d tried the designated feeding areas and checked Alben’s dwelling. The ugliest of his churlish sisters said he hadn’t come home from work and that the house smelled the better for it.

  Shiv decided to check on his friend in his new workplace. He could designate it ‘exercise’. Everyone adhered to strict daily schedules, and Shiv was on his mid light cycle break. That’s what made Alben’s disappearance so strange. He wasn’t where he was supposed to be, and hadn’t been for days.