Man from Atlantis

by Patrick Duffy

  He then felt his mother’s hand squeeze his arm slightly as she whispered, “Yes, she is indeed beautiful.”

  They had passed the house now and he didn’t turn his head, but he knew she was following him and felt as he did.

  The number of people increased as they neared the Elder’s hall, and soon Mark could see the building and its open balcony where in a short time he would stand and be presented to the city as its new king. He and the group did slow now as the crowd pressed into the street and left very little room for them to pass.

  Man-Den had reached the steps with the first of the Elders and was going up when Mark glanced to his left and there, about four or five rows back, he saw To-Bay. The old man’s face gave nothing away. From both of their actions, no one could have known that Mark and he had ever met, but Mark knew To-Bay was also reciting the three lines of the poem he had been given by the king. Mark nodded just enough to show that he had seen him, and To-Bay responded with the smallest of smiles. Mark now knew this was how it had been with his father. No matter how alone he might have felt at times, there had always been To-Bay. It all continued on. Now he would always know this friend was there for him and more importantly for the city.

  The two lines of Elders stopped at the door and remained motionless. Mark had studied the book of ancients in his father’s chamber and knew every action he must take for the rest of the ceremony. He stepped to the door and placed his hand on the wall. The seam appeared and the door pulled back to reveal the inner receiving room of the hall. Mark did not enter but stepped back as the Elders filed through. Next, his mother released his arm and followed them into the building. He would wait outside alone with the people until—as it had been done since the second king was anointed—he was invited into the chamber. Every act from now on would symbolize the fact that the king serves the city and holds his position as an honor. The king must exist because of the needs of the people.

  He stood at the top of the stairs and had no idea how much time passed. He could feel the sea of faces looking at his back in silence and he was asking himself, what is it I can do for you? I can only promise to try.

  “Ja-Lil, son of Con-Or, the Elders of the city ask that you enter.” Man-Den stepped just outside the door enough to catch the brighter light from the Dome. With the darkness of the inside surrounding him, he looked twice his normal size.

  “I am a citizen of this city. What is it they want?” Mark recited these lines with both hands extended to the doorway and his palms turned upward.

  “The Elders ask that you enter and respond to the needs of its people.”

  With the formal exchange of entry done, Man-Den backed into the shadows, and as he disappeared into the darkness, Mark then stepped inside the room.

  The brightness from outside was blocked as the door closed behind him and the seam disappeared. The large circular room was on the three levels. The main floor was thirty to forty feet in diameter. At the front of the area where ten o’clock would be on the face of a clock were two eating areas extending out from the living wall. They were not the ordinary ledges as was common in the city, but larger free-standing chairs elevated with two steps leading to them. Both had full armrests. Mark’s mother sat on the left seat, and the one on the right was conspicuously empty. That was where his father would have sat while Mark went through the crowning ceremony.

  Myo-O looked small and alone without him and was not aware that her hand rested on the empty chair as if hoping to find her husband there. In the center of the floor was the emblem of the Trilogy. It was a circle inside of a reverse pyramid. On the outside of the circle at each point of the pyramid was the sign of each of the Three. The emblem for Those of the Air was on the left point at the top of the pyramid. It consisted of a circle inside several dots of various sizes. To the left of the circle were glyphs, which Mark could not decipher. Under the circle was the emblem of Those of the Air, which Mark and everyone in the city recognized. It consisted of two interlocking sine curves encompassed by five dots. On the right side was a similar circle, which held dots of different sizes, but these were in different positions. The glyphs were unique also and on the right side of the circle in the two o’clock position. Those of the Land, whose circle this was, had their sign at the bottom. On a flat line that went up and down, there rested an arc under an inverted V. At the bottom was the emblem of Mark’s own people. A third circle, with the exact diameter of the other two and dots placed seemingly at random. Under this circle was the conch shell pattern of concentric circles, with the three waves underneath which represented Those of the Water. Mark stood at the outside of the circle with his city’s emblem in front of him.

  Man-Den, after backing into the room, made his way past the emblem of the Land People to the set of nine steps extending up along the wall and ending on the second level. On the protruding stage directly in front of Mark sat the six Elders on simple chairs behind a long semi-circular table that faced the open area. In front of each was a basin-like hallow, which held the recording gel. Man-Den went to his chair on the extreme left. On the second level, there was a walkway around the entire circumference of the room. When the door had sealed, the walkway extended across the former opening. Directly behind the seated Elders was a single chair with no desk or table in front of it. It had been placed on a series of platforms until it was completely visible behind the seated men. This was where the king sat for all official functions concerning the city and its citizens. Behind the throne, if you could call it that, as it was the simplest chair in the room with a half back and no armrests, was a much smaller set of stairs that led to yet another walkway. This much narrower walkway was at least thirty-five to forty feet above the floor, and it ran right and left around the room to a nodule that would open a door onto a balcony to the outside. It was to be on this balcony that Mark would be presented to the city for the first time as their king.

  Mark had never actually been in this building. It was solely for the functions of the king and the Elders and was only used for their official acts. As a young man, he had stood outside while the hearings for banishment had taken place, several other times when decisions were made for the expansion of the city. He had looked forward to officially entering the hall as heir to his father’s position after that last tour of the oceans. Had the accident not happened and his memory not vanished, he would have sat on the chair where his mother now sat and observed the activities of the Elders at every function from then on, until he became king. Now here he was, first entering the hall and about to become king. He glanced at his mother and was met with her warm smile and gaze of pride. He knew how she felt and could only hope the spirit of his father she held in her heart was feeling the same.

  He also knew that somewhere in the back of this building were the Kivs, and that after his anointing he would go there and enter the king’s Kiv.

  Mark’s taking in of this new but familiar place was interrupted by Man-Den’s voice. He had placed his right hand, palm down, just touching the surface of the gel in the basin in front of him. A faint glow coming from the liquid reflected off his face, and Mark knew every word and every vision in Man-Den’s eyes was being kept in the memory gel.

  “Who is it that would present this man?” The ceremony was now starting according to the ancient traditions. The queen rose from her seat, came down the steps, walked to Mark, and placed her hand on his left shoulder.

  “I am Myo-O, wife of Con-Or, and mother to this man.” Mark could hear or maybe just feel the odd mixture of pride and sorrow in her voice. “It is I who present him here.”

  “In all times past,” the Elder on the far right spoke, bathed in the glow where his right hand touched the liquid, “it has been the duty of the father to present his son to the council.”

  “And so it should be now. But my husband has left this city before his time and now rests with his fathers in Nari-Tanta.”

  “The royal blood line is more
than tradition; it is the very existence of the city.” The Elder second from the right raised her left hand while speaking as all of them on the dais did.

  “The blood of the king is here. It is in this man.” Mark could feel her hand growing stronger on his arm. “My blood is there also, separate but inseparable. Just as one day I will be one with my husband in life-thought so I am one with him now here.” Her left hand pressed against her chest over her heart.

  The second Elder from the left raised his hand. “We take this man and your word as we would from the king.” He smiled at Myo-O and continued, “There is no difference in the word, blood, or love that you bear this city or its people. Tradition is only of value if it serves the truth. Thank you, Myo-O.”

  Mark’s mother stepped in front and turned to him. With her hands on both his shoulders, she kissed his cheeks and whispered in his ear. “You are every bit the king your father was. You will serve well.” She paused here and looked into his eyes. “We love you.” He felt, beneath her words, there was so much more she was saying. He didn’t know what it was but felt the love she professed and the echo of a sadness he knew came from her being alone.

  “I love you, mother.” When he said those words, he realized it was probably the first time he had told her that since he was a very small boy. They walked back to her seat where Mark bowed to her as she sat, and then he returned to his position at the base of the circle.

  “Ja-Lil, in the time with your father, was your training complete?” He now turned his attention to the Elder who sat next to Man-Den as she spoke. Mark knew none of these men and women were aware of To-Bay and his function.

  “I do not believe anything is ever complete. I can see now that everything my father did with me, every moment of time we had together, was training. I know when I leave the king’s Kiv and receive my father’s life-thought from Nari-Tanta that I will know what the king’s of this city have always known.” He felt confident now that his father would have responded the same way. “Beyond that, any knowledge of mine will be defined by my effort.”

  Silence filled the room. It was not strained or uncomfortable. Each Elder looked to the others and then to Man-Den who rose and stepped to the front of the bench. Behind him, each of the Elders had risen and raised their left palm, keeping their right on their basin’s surface.

  “Ja-Lil, fifth of the sons of the line of kings, step to the center.”

  After a quick glance at his mother, who returned his look with a smile, Mark took the several steps that carried him to the middle of the circle.

  “In the book of the ancients,” Man-Den’s arms were out front with his palms upward, “let it be written that Ja-Lil, son of Con-Or, on this day continued as king of the city and protector of the people.”

  As Mark stood there, the Elders rose and, led by Man-Den, descended the stairs and walked to the circle. They formed a large ring, facing Mark with their hands to their sides and their palms on him. He waited as each one recited their oath to the city and to him as their king, and when they were done, he stepped from the center and walked to the stairs as they followed. All of these moves were traditions that were recorded in the book of the ancients, but Mark felt now that his actions were guided from the inside. He now led them. He had to. This was his function from this time forward.

  He went up the first set of stairs and around the bench to the steps at the back. As he rounded the bench, he could see his mother as she rose from her seat, bowed to the dais, and began backing out of the room. Their feet made no sound when they proceeded up the living stairs to the uppermost walkway. They started down it and, from where Mark could see, the wall opened at the front of the main floor and his mother passed through. It quickly closed behind her as they reached the section directly over it.

  The men behind him stopped as he put his hand on the nodule that emitted the faint greenish light. The seam appeared and the wall opened to a width of two doorways exposing the large porch that overlooked the main part of the city. From the moment the opening began, Mark realized how quiet it had been in the large room. Now he heard the growing water sounds from the various canals and waterfalls rushing up and into his ears. He stepped to the railing and, behind him, the Elders stood with their hands folded in front. Below him were all the people he had passed on his way here. When he saw them a short time ago, they had been friends and strangers and equals. People he felt at one with. He looked at their faces now, and there was a difference. Each one was a person he was responsible for. He would feel their pain, and their happiness was his responsibility.

  His mother stepped into the crowd and looked up to where he stood. Beside her were Tei-La and her family. The center below him and all the small streets and alleys extending out from it were filled with the citizens of the city. There were no appreciative noises and almost no one was moving. The Elders, with Man-Den, stepped to Mark, three on a side. When they were seven across, the Elders turned toward him. Then together they put their right thumbs to their lips, touched them briefly to their foreheads, pressed their palms together, and bowed to him. The crowd erupted. The ceremony by the Elders confirmed the new king. There was no water sound now.

  The force of the cheering pressed against Mark’s eardrums until he heard a slight hissing sound, and the vibrations echoed deep in his chest. From below him, Mark heard his name being chatted in waves through the city. People were yelling, “Ja-Lil”, clapping, and swinging each other around in impromptu little dances. His mother stood uncommonly still with her hands folded in front of her. Her gaze locked on her son, and a loving smile crossed her face. Next to her, Mark saw Tei-La put her fingers to her lips and then extend them to him.

  As this show of approbation washed over him, he felt a strange mixture of emotions. He was proud to be his father’s son because this show of love was a true reflection of what they had known and trusted about the former king. He instantly made a determination at the very depths of his life to live every moment as if his father were always watching him. His other feelings were a composition of excitement, worry, and perhaps even fear. These faces, looking up at him, were not just fellow members of his city; they were individuals who from now on would look to him for guidance, encouragement, and healing. They would line up outside his door now and file through his chamber. His responsibility was to give them answers. He marveled, remembering his father sitting in that room years before, at how calm and assured he had appeared, and how gently he had embraced each person. As he spied Roi-Den in the crowd, jumping up and down and waving his fists over his head, he realized how different they were now. He would no longer have that wonderful freedom his friend still had, the freedom to live his life only for himself and his family.

  With these impulses acting on him, Mark also knew he would not trade his position for any other. Was it the blood that coursed through his system talking silently to him? Was it his genetic mission as all tradition in the city said it was? He didn’t know the answer, but he did know that it felt natural and good and right. He felt he was Ja-Lil, son of Con-Or, the fifth in the line of kings of Those of the Water.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Mark left the balcony with the Elders and proceeded along

  the upper walkway to the rear of the building. The closing of the door silenced the cheering of the citizens that continued after Mark’s brief speech. When they reached the point directly opposite the door to the balcony, he stopped by the two nodules on the wall. He paused. Another moment like so many others over the last few days. Significant life altering moments in time. Some had been painful and others had filled him with joy and wonder. Now he paused because he knew he was about to receive, actually take into his very life, the history of his people. Mark placed his palm on first one nodule and then the other. The only time both were touched was when the king was entering the Kiv. All other times, when the Elders rotated in the Kivs for the maintenance of the city, only the nodule on the right was activated
. By touching both, Mark had sent the signal to the Dome that his Kiv would be occupied. In fact, this time all the Elders would enter their Kivs, which was only done on the occasion of the crowning of a new king or moving of the city.

  The seam appeared and the door opened. A long well-lit corridor ran over one hundred feet directly to the rear of the building and onto a large opening the group walked towards. Mark had never been in this building, let alone the large room that held the seven Kivs of the Dome. Just after passing through the doorway, the group was standing in front of the outermost wall of the Dome itself. It was shaped, at this particular spot, like a double wall and rose before them in two levels. Mark could make out six areas behind the wall of the living tissue. Each cubical would accommodate a single person in a standing position. The wall itself glowed with a bright greenish-blue, and the interior space seemed to be filled with seawater. To the left of these Kivs was a short set of steps that led to a small balcony and another Kiv situated directly above the lower ones.

  Man-Den stepped forward and turned to Mark. “Ja-Lil, every king of this city, since we left the shoreline and entered the sea, has learned the history of our people from the Dome.” As he spoke, the other Elders stepped each to their specific Kiv and stood in front of it facing Mark. “We will all enter before you and make ready the Dome for your introduction to it as the new king.”

  Mark simply nodded, and the six men turned to the solid wall. They touched their thumb to their lips then to their Nahum. Then, palms outstretched, they extended their hands to the wall and, similar to entering or exiting the city, they passed through the wall and into their Kiv. Mark could make out through the opaque nature of the wall that they were immersed in the liquid. Their hair and garments lifted slightly and floated a bit away from their bodies. They slowly rotated until they were facing out and then became motionless, suspended at the centers of the Kivs.