by Tobias Roote
Grady could barely see now so instead held tightly to the alien hand that already had an iron grip of his. He felt Shrilla next to him and grabbed her arm, allowing the mutant to drag them through the centre of the craft to the door, and then, just like that, they were free of the sinking craft. There was light a long way below them, which totally confused him until he re-oriented and with it now above him, he looked down to see the dark shadow of the disappearing shuttle as it moved faster, sinking ominously into the depths of the Archon’s sea.
Up to now he had been breathing through his nose and out through the mouth as instructed. For some obscure reason he tried to breathe in through the mouth and promptly choked as his throat accidentally opened and tried to swallow a large amount of salt water. The reaction caused him to vomit which then started a repeat of the process. Suddenly, Grady was in danger of drowning again and was seeing stars at the edges of his vision as he began blacking out.
Shrilla who now had hold of Grady’s hand saw the vomit expelling from his mouth and must have realised what was going on. She pulled him around and punched him in the stomach just below the diaphragm. As he buckled in pain, it paralysed the abdominal muscles which halted the ingestion of salt water and the expelling of stomach contents. Even though close to passing out Grady in instinctively understood what she had done and fought to regain control of his breathing. It was painfully slow, but within minutes it had returned to a practised rhythm and he was breathing normally again. When he relaxed he found he was able to breathe through nose or mouth, just not swallow in reaction to the flow of water across his throat.
He squeezed her arm, nodding his thanks. When she squeezed back he knew it was all right between them again and was thankful for that.
The mutant had watched with interest as this played out. He was unsure of what was going on, and was concerned at Grady’s apparent inability to cope with the new breathing regime. He looked relieved when Grady and Shrilla both began to look around them. He gestured, holding out his arms for them to take a hand each.
Grady felt the hand as it clasped him. It felt different, harder and he realised that the skin must change when underwater. He remembered the girl’s scales rising like hackles as she entered the sea, and realised that was what he was also feeling here.
Kraell looked up, and Grady followed his line of sight to see what had caught his attention. He saw splashes from the surface, objects were being dropped into the water. Mines ? bombs ? Grady squinted to try and focus his poor water sight. He thought quickly and realised they must be drones. They wanted proof of death. Assassins then, looking for proof of death for payout. He looked at the mutant shaking his head negatively. He seemed to instinctively understand it was important to avoid them, and nodded once. They moved off.
From the flow of the current eddying past him, Grady decided the man must be a very strong swimmer. He tried to help by kicking his legs, but realised his clothes were more of a hindrance and his shoes were positively no help either, but he couldn’t stop the swimmer to remove these things, who despite the drag, was making a good pace. He resigned himself to being pulled along helplessly and in the semi-darkness concentrated on keeping his new and unusual breathing method relaxed and even.
He could just make out Shrilla who was in much the same situation as him. Her hurt arm was dangling by her side, the currents not helping her favour her injury. They continued, dragged relentlessly, the mutant not stopping as they travelled deeper and further. He expected to suffer from the increasing depths, but somehow the seaweed in his lungs adapted and his breathing remained even. He didn’t even have problems with air pressure in his ears as his lungs breathed in the gas mixture at whatever level they swam and seemed to adapt.
When exhaustion was beginning to close in on him, shadows appeared around and below them and he began to make out harsh features. The interest helped to keep him conscious and as he looked over at Shrilla. He saw she was taking an interest and seemed as alert as ever.
They were approaching what seemed in their poor vision, to be a large undersea cliff, looming dark and forbidding. He couldn’t see into the shadows and it worried him that their destination appeared to be somewhere in that inky blackness. His fears were realised as they were swept into the cliff-side and all light and colour departed. He could no longer see anything and strangely it terrified him, but Kraell had a firm grip on his arm and had not slowed his speed. Grady began to realise he was getting cold. It was obviously much colder here than out in the open sea. This area must never get the warmer water that was part of the surrounding seas. For some reason this disturbed him.
Then, somehow Grady felt the angle change. He was sure they were swimming upward now, but he still couldn’t see anything. Then a small light materialised in the far distance. With nothing else to focus on the light held this attention and as the mutant continued to pull them he watched as it grew.
It was evident this was their destination so Grady paid close attention. He could see very little, just darkness on all sides except in front where there was light, lots of bright blinding light. It didn’t seem to have the warmth of sunlight or colour. It could be artificial, he thought.
Without hesitation they broke the surface and Grady’s eyes, blinded by the now unrestricted light source perversely could still see nothing. Nor could he now breathe. He panicked and began to thrash against the hand that still held him firmly. Unexpectedly the mutant dragged them back under the water and he relaxed as the water flowed through his lungs and he could breathe again.
Somehow the fog of cold creeping into his body and the exhaustion that gripped his mind wouldn’t let go of the idea that above the surface he had been drowning, yet under water he was able to breathe. He tried to kick his brain into gear as the mutant forced them back to the surface.
Again he panicked, but Kraell held his arm, then swung him around so that he held Grady against him and squeezed him hard with one hand. Grady’s lungs collapsed under the strength of the mutants arm and water was expelled through his mouth and nose from the pressure. Then he understood. As air began to enter his system, he retched harshly forcing out more water and opening more of his lungs to the ambient air.
When he was certain that he was going to be alright Kraell let go while Grady, now treading water, felt the turbulence as Shrilla was put through the same process. Every time either of them began to sink from exhaustion, Kraell was there, pushing them up and keeping them afloat while they regained the use of their lungs. As the spasms left Grady and he took more notice of his surroundings, Kraell pushed them towards the edge where Grady could see stone steps he could use to exit the water. He needed no further telling and made his way tiredly to them and dragged himself out of the water, collapsing onto the dry sand. The last thing he knew before he lost consciousness, was Shrilla landing next to him, still retching water and trying desperately hard to breathe in air again.
He no longer had the energy to care, and his last thought was that against all the odds, they were still alive.
Revelations
Half an hour later Grady was sitting up groggily attempting to take in his surroundings.
Kraell was sitting watching them, but Grady couldn’t tell from his expression what was going through his mind. He looked disturbed though, Grady thought. Probably trying to work out what to do with them.
He twisted his head around to take in what he could of their situation. They were in an undersea cavern of that there was no doubt. The luminescence emanating from the walls gave them light enough to see each other and the area around them. Grady had seen this type of thing many times before, usually it was a moss or algae growing on the side of the cavern walls feeding off of the minerals seeping through the stone in the water. The cavern itself wasn’t large from what he could see, but off in the corner a darker area showed the promise of something beyond.
Grady looked back at the mutant that had just rescued them and marvelled at the way evolution had given him such tremendous po
wer in the water. He didn’t look much different in build to Grady, the individual’s strength and stamina was well hidden. Grady was convinced now that this was no genetically spliced mutant even though he had no scientific evidence yet to back him up. Yet it was obvious there was no way their science was this advanced. His long-term training with the Dispersalistas was warning him that he had possibly found what they had been searching for and he needed to observe, observe and observe.
In himself he felt good, his energy levels were much higher than he expected. He could still sense rather than feel the alien growth in his lungs, even though he was now breathing air directly. The organism appeared to have diminished inside as his lungs expanded with life-giving air instead of seawater. He wondered if this was a permanent relationship that had just formed between him and the symbiotic seaweed, or would it die. Then what would happen ? It was an incredibly complex and efficient symbiotic algae that if taken off-world might well transform many people’s lives. Imagine being able to live above and below the seas independent of air tanks. However, he considered, there might be side effects. He would wait until he could get medical attention and wondered if his Medicbot was up to the task of analysing the growth.
“Thank you for saving us.” Grady finally found his voice to speak and croaked the words through a throat that was unused to the flow of seawater across it for hours on end. He was actually surprised he still had a voice at all, but thought that might be the effect of the algae in his lungs which seemed to have a calming effect.
Kraell nodded and after first trying to talk through a semblance of whistles and grunts he remembered he was talking to a land-walker and switched to his rough and ready Standard.
“Why they attack their own people ?” he asked Grady, obviously puzzling over Grady being first a prisoner like them, then attacked by another ship..
Grady thought for a moment. If they were clones, they would know something of the Empire, if not a simple answer was probably best.
“We represent different tribes or groups. They want to take your world for themselves. We are trying to stop them.”
“You want it for yourselves ?” He pointed at Grady and Shrilla, who was still sleeping.
“No, this is your world.” He hoped the answer would reassure him that they weren’t the threat.
The mutant grunted and was silent for a few minutes, obviously digesting their short exchange.
“Where are we ?” Grady tried to get some idea.
“We at historic place of my people. Once we lived in these caves,” Kraell responded curtly.
Not one for long speeches, thought Grady. Probably the whistling and grunting was much more significant when underwater and the little opportunity for vocal speech left him taciturn and reserved.
“Wake her. We must go now,” he gestured at Shrilla.
Grady nudged Shrilla who woke quickly. She sat up looking around at where they had been brought. He could see she was as alert as he, but was rubbing absently at her chest. He smiled briefly at the action, wondering idly what it would feel like to be helping her out.
Kraell saw where Shrilla was looking and gestured to them both to rise and follow him. Grady was cold and hungry, but decided to let the mutant lead them for now and save the questions for later. After all, he had no idea where they were, or how to go about extricating themselves from their current predicament. Kraell at least seemed to have a plan.
Their eyes soon adjusted to the dim light as they made their way into the dark corner. Grady's suspicions were confirmed and they passed through a stone-cut exit in single-file. Grady went in last. The tunnel was wide enough for walking single file and high enough that he didn’t need to duck, although the hanging weed did startle him briefly as it brushed his head in passing. His hand trailed the sides and he felt the cold wetness that fed the luminescence guiding them.
After a few minutes, they began to hike up an incline. The ground was cut from the rock, but was not slippery like the walls. Nothing seemed to be growing down where they trudged and the surface felt even, as though man or machine made. What kind of race built walk-ways this far beneath the surface when they could comfortably swim and exist beneath the surface. Grady hadn’t seen any evidence of habitation - anywhere. Was the mutant keeping them away from his people ? Probably for the best, he decided. Who knew what they would do if they got their hands on the two of them believing them to be murderers of their own people.
Grady tried to estimate how far they had swum from the crash site. He decided being dragged through the sea would probably throw off his calculations some, but he still estimated they had travelled five miles. He had no idea in which direction though, so set his mind to recalling his memory of the area.
They had been heading north-west when they were attacked ; the land to their left was probably fifteen miles, and to their right at least twenty. Forward wasn’t an option as that was open sea. They were currently walking on the rise, so it had to be a direction that was taking them towards land. He deduced then that they were probably going west. In which case, they were probably going in the right direction to reach his ship, if it was still there and not discovered by ENCIO. The Citrix would continually scan for his presence, but his Wiband would be useless this far below the surface. Ario would observe the non-contact routines, then proceed to increase surveillance until it was satisfied that Grady and Shrilla were no longer alive, or on planet, then would send out a coded mayday to AW Command. That wouldn’t be for a further seventy-two hours yet.
Their attackers had to be the Angels the guards were referring to. Grady had no idea who had brought them in, but the likelihood was somebody at ENCIO’s head office. That meant Grady and Shrilla represented a big threat to their operation and this wasn’t just a simple mutant world clean-up mission. They had to know there was something, and Grady suspected they knew exactly what was going on here. After all they had their own survey teams.
He had to work on the presumption that somebody at ENCIO knew, or suspected that Archon-5 was a seeded planet. They had their own exploration teams, exobiologists and scientists that could make the intuitive jump and conclude that this world was different. Yet, they were keeping it quiet and attempting to either divert the AWA’s attention or, worse, eradicate the only impediment to their plans for Archon-5.
Was this the reason for the attack on AW Command ?
Grady knew he was stretching available information to meet a motive, but it was all he had. Everything was falling that way. The attack, the involvement of the Core navy in direct confrontation with AWA, Kildark’s insistence they travel to Archon-5 despite the need for them to resolve the plot and uncover the traitor. Even the sudden addition of a partner seemed to take on new significance. Some, or all of this, would have meaning, Grady just needed to connect all the dots.
First though, they had to get to the ship, escape the planet, and return to the AWC. The answer would be there, he was certain.
Chapter Twenty
An Undersea Hike
They finally reached an area that began to level off and as Grady and Shrilla came out of the tunnel, they found themselves in a large cavern, much larger than the first they had rested in. The light was stronger here and it was possible to see further. A different kind of luminescence transformed the walls. Grady looked around him. There was a large still pool in the centre and the mutant indicated for them to sit and rest while he proceeded to it, bending over in its shallows searching for something. The ripples dazzling Grady as they picked up the luminescence from the cavern walls
Kraell’s body language indicated that he had found what he was looking for, but he continued to search, picking up items, discarding others, until he had a bulky handful held to his chest. Then he made his way back to them and dropped them in front of Grady and Shrilla. Taking one of the black and grey pebbles that he had carried to them, the mutant deftly slipped a taloned fingernail into what appeared to be a crevice and twisted. The action prised open the ‘s
tone’ and it came away in two halves revealing a white and orange mollusc. They were shells then, some kind of large clam big enough to fit in the palm of Grady’s hand.
Kraell set out the clams in front of them and indicated they should eat. As if to show them how, he took one and pressed a finger beneath the flesh prising it away from the base and then tipped it into his mouth, chewing vigorously for a second before swallowing.
He watched them take up a clam each and follow his example. He nodded approvingly and walked away as if searching for something else. Grady hoped it wasn’t going to be something that crawled or wriggled. His stomach could handle this, but it wasn’t a familiar aspect of his dietary intake and he knew it would rebel if he ate too many of them. They were sweet and the water was evidently fresh because there was no trace of salt in the clam. He soon felt refreshed.
Shrilla sucked at hers appreciatively. She saw him looking and grinned as he continued to chew reluctantly. Her distrust of him was not in evidence at that moment, or perhaps she had been observing Kraell and recognising that he may, in fact, not be a mutant at all. If she acknowledged that, she would have to accept there was parallel evolution at work and that was a step closer to accepting the Dispersal theory. Grady wasn’t holding his breath.
Kraell came back and squatted in front of them nodding approvingly at the empty shells.
Grady tried again to elicit personal information from him.
“What name do you use for your people ?”
“people ? The mutant asked.
“Me, us. My name is Grady. She is Shrilla. We are two people,” and Grady put up two fingers to help him understand.
“Ah ! Understand – Poi – People. I knew this word, not its meaning,” he nodded.
“Kraell, how long have your people been on this planet ?” Shrilla jumped in ahead of Grady. She looked across at him to indicate she had decided to do her own investigation and not to interrupt. Grady was happy to let her. He was sure she was going to get the answers she sought, but not necessarily the ones she wanted.