Underground_A Merfolk Secret

by M. N. Arzu

  * * *

  The smell of coffee permeated Nathan Forest’s apartment. Julian couldn’t blame him for the rather dangerous amount of coffee he was drinking; the man hadn’t slept since yesterday.

  “The SWIMMERs claim they want to do this right, but they have a preconceived idea of who we are,” Julian said, while Nathan tried to convince him to work with the United Nations and the top players of the SWIMMER community.

  “The UN is more than happy to work only with you, and on your terms, but we can’t deny that the SWIMMERs are far more prominent and prepared than we thought.”

  Paul McKenzie—Gill McKenzie’s father, as luck would have it—was certainly full of surprises. Julian knew that Drake had been looking into him right before leaving, and if Drake had contacted Paul, Julian had to believe he was trustworthy.

  What exactly are you planning, my friend?

  “Look, the SWIMMERs are your biggest cheerleaders out there. I’m not saying that you should sit down and tell them the whole truth about Ray and Christopher, but you could talk with them somehow and set their expectations straight.”

  “And tell them what, exactly? That we were sent here by an alien civilization we lost contact with three thousand years ago, or that we live among you, taking advantage of your limited technology and basically living at your expense?”

  “That would be some start,” Nathan said, chuckling.

  “There are many ways of telling our story, and all of them can be twisted. And we are no saints, Nathan. I get the feeling they expect us to be the kind of pure, naïve creatures that need to be saved and protected.”

  “I think you should give the SWIMMERs the benefit of the doubt, especially with Drake on the line here. He’s the one who brought them to my doorstep to begin with.”

  “He’s also telling them that Ray’s alive. I have no choice but to follow that narrative for whatever he’s planning, but I honestly don’t know what he’s doing. I’m hoping he manages to send another message with something more substantial than Ray’s alive.”

  Nathan rubbed his neck, thinking. “I can push for the UN to back up SWIMMER efforts in promoting a peaceful encounter, but that doesn’t help us with Drake, or with whatever your fans end up doing with the fact that Ray’s alive somewhere.”

  “Then I’m afraid we’ll have to wait and see. You’re right that we need to start talking, at the very least to the UN, but we need to tell the story right. I just have no idea how.”

  “What you need is a storyteller,” Nathan said as an afterthought before he drank his coffee, but his words echoed in Julian’s mind.

  “A storyteller?” he said.

  “Yeah, someone who knows how to tell stories…? I was just joking—”

  “No, you’re right. We need someone who knows how to spin things. And I know exactly who.”

  * * *

  “Is he going to be all right?” Lieutenant Lewis asked as Higgs turned the available equipment on. He was no expert on subaquatic ultrasound machines, but he wasn’t dealing with dolphins, so it couldn’t be that hard.

  They both looked at the pool, where Drake was still sleeping somewhere on the floor. It was still early, but Higgs was starting to get concerned as well.

  “Well, he did have a busy day yesterday. Let’s give him a couple of hours,” Higgs said, while Lewis finished waterproofing a laptop with a plastic bag and a lot of duct tape.

  “How long have you known him?” Lewis asked, curious.

  “Not long,” Higgs said, purposefully vague. He had no idea how much Lewis knew, or how much the Navy knew for that matter.

  “Must be something to know merfolk,” Lewis said with a sheepish smile that made him look younger.

  “Hmm… A lot of intrigue, a lot of dealing with the Pentagon. Drake is a smart guy, so it’s always interesting to see what he’s bringing to the negotiating table.”

  “So they’re going to come out? Something like that?”

  “I have no idea, son. Could you pass me that cable?”

  “I mean, Drake spent four days with us, talking about his trips and his diving techniques. This guy has clearly been around the world.”

  “I would certainly take diving tips from a merman. Would you mind going into the water so we can test the equipment?”

  “I had my doubts, you know? About merfolk being real? But when he moved in the water, before we knew? I honest to God thought that’s how a merman would move. I guess I wasn’t as shocked when he suddenly had a tail.”

  Lewis got into the water, looking into the pool to see if Drake would come out and play. He didn’t.

  “Horton thought the whole thing was an exercise to see how the Navy would work with merfolk.”

  “He’s another of the marines, right?” Higgs asked, while Lewis moved closer to the edge. The ultrasound of his lungs came through nice and clear on the laptop. “I can’t imagine what it must have felt like when you realized you were under attack. Take a really deep breath, please.”

  After seeing so many test results from merfolk autopsies, it was rather unimpressive to see a set of human lungs.

  “Training took over,” Lewis said once he exhaled. “I didn’t really have time to think about the implications, but once we were safe—it hit me. I’d been swimming with a merman for the entire week. It changed everything.”

  “Seeing Ray that first day,” Higgs said as he turned the ultrasound off, “can’t say it hasn’t changed things in my life. A word of advice? They’re just people, Lieutenant. Good and bad.”

  “Is he one of the good ones?”

  They both turned once more to look at the pool. “I like to think he is.”

  * * *

  Lieutenant Lewis woke Drake up for the second day in a row. This time, Lewis wasn’t wearing diver’s gear, just a wetsuit. Still half asleep, Drake followed the man up, feeling his body protest all the way there.

  “I didn’t think you were a late sleeper,” Higgs teased him as both men broke the surface.

  I’m not, Drake said, except no words came out, reminding him once again why he was sleeping so much: His body needed time to recover, and he was not helping it achieve that. Plus, the hard floor of the pool wasn’t exactly the best bedding, and he was starting to remember why he’d avoided sleeping underwater for so long. Peaceful, sure. Comfortable? Not so much.

  Higgs’s smile dwindled. “How are you feeling?”

  Tired, Drake mouthed, while Lewis went out of the pool for the wrist keyboard. They had installed a new monitor by the edge of the tank, so Drake could finally communicate without the whiteboard and the marker.

  “Hmm,” Higgs said, wearing the most peculiar and colorful shorts Drake had seen in a long while. The fact that he hadn’t noticed until now wasn’t good. He should go back down and sleep some more.

  “The Navy has started bringing some of the special equipment we requested, but I think we can start with the basics.”

  What? Drake mouthed, securing the keyboard to his wrist, while Lewis disappeared somewhere, hopefully to bring him breakfast.

  “Just a basic cognitive test.”

  Frowning, Drake typed, I just spent twenty hours putting this system together. My synapses are working fine.

  “Right. ’Cause once we finish the basics, we can move to the ultrasound to see what’s going on with your lungs. And, you know…if there’s anything left behind from your stay on the Honos. Maybe I didn’t get all the glass out.”

  Glass won’t show up on an ultrasound, Drake thought, and then he finally understood: Higgs was looking for the tracker, but they had to be discreet about it.

  Show me the hoops and I’ll jump right through them, Drake wrote, smiling. He had no idea how to get the tracker out, but first things first: he had to find it.

  * * *

  Julian waited in his car, absently thinking that the gray skies of New York City were a mirror of the gray thoughts chasing each other in his mind. No matter how he ended up telling their story to the UN, it w
as going to be another step in letting humans know a little bit more about merfolk society.

  The Council had taken it better than he’d expected, but mainly because they were resigned by this point that something had to be done. Hiding in plain sight was still their plan, but hiding their existence was not. That ship had sailed the moment Neil Thompson had found his son on the beach last September.

  No one mentioned The City. Not even Lavine. She was far more worried about the repercussions on the surface, just like the rest of them. The truth was, even if The City were to come and silence them, their existence could no longer be denied. The best they could do was control how and when they shared their secrets with humanity.

  Theoretically speaking, surface merfolk were still beholden to The City’s laws. They might be a few hundred individuals living above ground, but they all shared the same DNA, and understood that protecting The City—especially its location—was in everybody’s best interest.

  In reality, they worked as two separate factions. The surface respected The City’s wish to remain concealed, to the point that they gave up any reference to their home once they left it. It was the reason why they called it The City to begin with, why they referred to themselves as merfolk and relinquished their own language, and why they adopted human names. If they would live in the human world, they would use human concepts and human words, even when talking amongst themselves.

  That was as far as the surface was willing to protect their roots. Hiding their true identities was a matter of surviving on land. The Council itself had been created to protect those living in the human world, and help the newcomers get on their feet. Brooks Inc. financed many merfolk endeavors, and along with Aurel’s Japanese companies, they made sure life ran smoothly.

  Chris’s discovery had tangled both worlds, because declaring to humanity that they did exist and that their DNA was not of this planet affected both The City and the surface alike. At the time, it had made sense to contact The City and ask for guidance. Ninety-five percent of all merfolk lived there, and the idea of five Council members shouldering the responsibility alone had seemed absurd. Fast-forward eight months, and no one had anticipated an avalanche of merfolk suddenly wanting to leave The City all at once.

  “And that’s the heart of the problem, isn’t it?” Julian muttered as he contemplated a private jet landing on the outskirts of JFK. “If half The City leaves, then The City is as good as dead.”

  What he was about to do would either speed that process or slow it down. Either it worked, or it didn’t, in which case merfolk would wait a few years, maybe a few decades, before opting for a new approach.

  The surface was not a friendly place for their kind, no matter what Nathan, the SWIMMERs, or anyone else thought. Up here, captivity would always be a possibility. Dark times could very well be ahead of them, but walking into the future was inevitable.

  Another private jet landed, this one bringing the mind he was waiting for.

  Welcome back, Diana.

  My mother sends threats to murder you if this doesn’t work, Julian, his niece said by way of greeting with a smile, making him wince. But I wouldn’t be anywhere else in the world right now. What exactly are you thinking?

  That I need a storyteller to deal with another one, actually. With a little luck, Julian said as he got out of the car to wait for Diana’s plane to taxi, we’ll get Drake out of prison by the front door.

  30

  Weavers

  Kate Banes sat straight up under the disapproving gaze of Julian Brooks’s senior assistant. She was twenty minutes early, with coffee in hand and laptop by her side, scribbling notes on a notepad about their current story, and how Julian might change it.

  Last Monday, she’d walked into that office and told Julian they were going to bring Ray back to life. Veritas had scheduled the story for next week, and she wouldn’t put it past Julian to already know. It was the only thing that could explain why he’d called her office two hours ago to arrange a Monday-morning meeting between them. She’d been out of her apartment before Jeff had completed the sentence.

  Funny how she’d woken up today thinking that her biggest story was that Patrick was a SWIMMER. Of course, that hardly meant anything. As the clock moved at a snail’s pace, she imagined that Julian actually wanted to be part of the story. The thought alone had her heart racing, to the point that drinking coffee was overkill.

  “Mr. Brooks is ready to see you,” the older woman said, walking to the double doors to let her in. She didn’t need to be told twice.

  Julian stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at New York City. She could tell he wasn’t happy with the situation, but whatever had pushed him into this interview, she was more than thankful for it.

  “Mr. Brooks,” she said, as the assistant closed the door behind her. “I’m honored you reconsidered our offer to tell your side of the story.”

  “Ms. Banes,” he said, turning around, a grave expression on his face. “Thank you for coming on such short notice. Please, sit down.”

  “What can Vertitas do to help you, Mr. Brooks?”

  “What I’m about to tell you won’t leave this office.”

  “Off the record,” she said, nodding.

  “Five days ago, the man you know as David Brooks went missing. We know now that the Navy has him, but his position with them is…uncertain.”

  “The Navy kidnapped David?”

  “His real name is Drake, but for the purposes of your story, he’s going to be Ray.”

  She blinked, not following entirely. “I’m sorry, what?”

  “You’re bringing Ray back to life, that’s what you said last week. But you don’t know how the story ends; you can’t even tell your readers where Ray is.”

  “So if the government has one of you, that one can be any of you, including Ray,” Kate said, her mind spinning two dozen wheels in her head. They could go anywhere with this.

  “I can point you in the right direction.”

  Kate looked at Julian, but in her mind she was seeing her Wall of Truth, and the dozen different threads that crisscrossed it. “Did—did you know that Patrick O’Connor is a SWIMMER?” she asked a moment later, a hundred ideas flashing in her mind.

  “A SWIMMER member?” Julian asked, frowning.

  “Oh yeah, a golden one. He’s part of the highest order or something like that. As I told you on Monday, Patrick has been trying to outscoop us with your story, and is more than ready to drag you and your company into the mud.”

  “I fail to see how his status is of any relevance to what we’re doing.”

  “As I see it, Mr. Brooks, if we want the public to really believe Ray’s alive, we’ll need Patrick’s help, which will in turn secure us the SWIMMERs’ help.”

  “And the UN’s help as well,” Julian added, starting to see the threads she was seeing and then some.

  She raised her eyebrows. “This isn’t just about Ray being alive, is it?”

  “No. It’s much bigger than that.”

  The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. “What exactly do you want us to print, Mr. Brooks? What story are we telling here?”

  “The exclusive we always promised to Veritas Co., Ms. Banes. How our first encounter with humanity should have happened. With a little luck, it’s exactly how history will remember it.”

  * * *

  “I didn’t think I would see this conference room ever again,” Patrick said as he sat down. Kate didn’t look particularly happy about sitting down in front of him, but then again, he wasn’t in this business to make friends.

  “You were right,” she said, with all the seriousness in the world.

  “That’s always nice to hear,” he answered, unsure where she was going here. Beneath Kate’s hands, a closed laptop waited to reveal its secrets.

  She sighed, in a way that looked both self-defeating and self-affirming. She didn’t like doing this, but she was going to do it, anyway.

  “Since the moment you left this
conference room two weeks ago, we’ve been talking with my editor about what we know, what you’re uncovering, and how best to tell this story.”

  Against everything he’d thought, Veritas Co. was going to yield, and that on itself was worthy of a victory lap. “So you’re saying I was right about you working with Brooks Inc. to cover up what really happened with Ray?”

  “Yes.”

  The word echoed in the conference room, and it somehow kept echoing in Patrick’s mind. This was a turning point in the story. This was how he got one step closer to finding merfolk.

  “This is monumental,” he said, leaning on the table, now more eager than ever for Kate to open the laptop.

  “It’s also not what you think.”

  He frowned, slashing his rapidly growing hope. “What part? That Ray’s alive? That Brooks Inc. has known about this for months, if not years? That the government and the United Nations have been covering up the biggest story in human history?”

  She smiled in a way he didn’t like. “Amazingly, you’re right and wrong about the whole thing. That’s why we couldn’t corroborate anything when you came, and that’s why it’s taken us this long to tell the public what we know. Yes, I followed the crumbs all the way to Julian Brooks’s penthouse stay in Maine. Yes, I did talk to him, and yes, we did make a deal.”

  She paused for a moment, leaning closer to him as she lowered her voice. “And yes, Ray’s alive.”

  They locked eyes, two reporters at the doorstep of the story of a lifetime.

  “I’m listening,” he said breathlessly.

  Kate leaned back in her chair, and Patrick understood he’d fallen right into her hands. “The only way you’re listening to this is if you agree to publish the story with Veritas Co. Not with the highest bidder or the most prestigious news agency in the world. You do it with us. This is still my story, but you’ll get the by line alongside mine by the time we’re done writing it.”