by Marcus Sloss
“Any station on this net, this is the Havana. Please help,” a husky voice said in a Kiwi accent.
The radio was set to 156.8 on the VHF. Jarod was shocked, since it had stayed silent until now. You would think the emergency frequency would be jammed with communications, but it had been eerily silent. The voyage home required him to sail below Australia and past New Zealand. He checked the Gpad on the captain’s station. It had them in the middle of the Tasman Sea.
Jarod knew a bit of radio etiquette. “This is the Pearly Dream, over.”
He released the detent and blew into the mic to ensure he was not broadcasting.
“Bubbles, change of plans. Keep the fish guts. Toss the body parts,” Jarod said over his shoulder while he waited for a reply.
Coral sauntered up to the deck. Her weight had recovered quickly. The once timid merlady filled out nicely. Jarod also knew now they were not merladies. More like sirens of legend with their seductive songs. When they wanted sexual pleasures they would sing to him, inducing immediate reactions. The radio crackled before either siren could reply.
“Oh, thank god. Pearly Dream, this is… The Spinner. We are three ships stranded in desperate need of water. Our engines are out of fuel and our food reserves are low. Please, can you help us?”
“Well, the Tasman Sea has a lot of space. Where are you?”
“I cannot verify with satellite or Gnet. Our emergency Gpad estimate is tracking— 43.748759, 168.112737. We have been drifting off of Jackson Bay hoping the alien gates will go away. We have been watching this one for the last week. Nothing comes or goes out. The news from the island via radio was so bad we pushed further out to sea until we saw this structure.”
Bubbles shrieked for joy. Her nude body was so different from Jane’s. Jarod shook his head. Bubbles had that effect on him. Jill’s body. Her body was different from Jill’s square form. He smiled at his new lover, waiting for her to calm.
“Give me a moment, Spinner. I have water and am on an electric running motor. I captain one of those fancy yacht sailboat combos,” Jarod said while punching in the coordinates for Jackson Bay, New Zealand. “Okay, I am showing that I could get there early in the morning, an hour or so after sunup. Let me talk with the crew.”
“Pearly Dream, I think you don’t understand. We die if you do not rescue us. This is a mayday.”
“It is also the end of the world. I already had to rescue two merfolk. Gentle souls fleeing persecution. How do I know you will not harm them?” Jarod said, laying it on thick.
Bubbles and Coral were breathing over his back. They had finished their grisly task and were now huddled around the radio. Jarod started the motor, adjusted the sails, and activated the auto-navigate. They would arrive just after dark. He smirked at his deception.
“Pearly Dream, we have women and children on board. We are three families who escaped the tide of lizard men capturing, devouring, and raping humans. We have no weapons. Well, besides a single-shot spear gun, but we promise to lay it down before you help. I am being honest. We are desperate and not aggressive.”
I paused. Bubbles cackled in an evil laugh.
“Tell them they have to sign a contract vowing to not hurt us; the feeble maidens you rescued,” Coral said with a rolling song.
Jarod keyed up the mic. “My seafolk said a simple agreement to not harm us can be done through their devices. Would you be willing to swear to not harm them? If you do that, I can save you.”
“Yes, we will have to trust you. This is day two without water. My baby girl passed out from the heat earlier.”
“I am sorry to hear that. I, too, have a little girl I am trying to get home to. Our air conditioner is still operating and we have plenty of water. We are on the way to Jackson Bay. Repeat your coordinates again, nice and slow this time.”
The conversation ended when the actual spot for the three drifted vessels was input. After a few minutes ticked by, Bubbles felt confident she could talk.
“Remember how I told you the gods favor the bold? This is our chance. The next golden cycle is coming soon, and—”
Jarod interrupted her with a hand up and said, “That is where we can trade items like that spear for armor right?” Her black beady eyes flared for a moment, then calmed. She tended to hate repeating herself.
“Yes, my champion. Coral had the right idea. They are following a god-gate to see if it vanishes. Idiotic but extremely helpful. So helpful it gives me shivers of ecstasy. You are truly blessed by the divine with your luck.”
“How so?”
“Well, we convert those people on that squawking box into servants. Then sell them and their vehicles into the grand market!” She sang a delightful laugh that Coral joined. “You may not even need to murder anyone. We see very well at night; the virum will help you see better at night also. If they have no power, as they say, we can capture all three vessels with ease.”
“I don’t know… Selling children? I’m not sure I could live with that,” Jarod said with a huff. “Jill and Maggie… Mary, would never forgive me.”
Bubbles and Coral teamed up to nestle into his exposed chest. They started their song of enticement again. He rarely fought it, but this time he did.
“No, you two knock that shit off before I become angry,” Jarod demanded.
Bubbles frowned with a twist of her face. “Jarod, we try to soothe you on what is best. Let me ask you something. Why are you going to those ships?”
“To help them.”
“And then what?” Coral asked. “You going to tow them to the island I see on this screen? Take them with you?”
“At first, I wanted to give offerings to the gods, as you call it. Then he mentioned he had a daughter. I don’t know now. You have a point. We can bottle some water but the batteries are already low. We need them to charge or else I have no water. If I have no water, then—”
“You die. We can process saltwater with our gills. Mind you, it's messy to do so in the cabin.” The sirens giggled at their joke.
Jarod rolled his eyes at this line—they used it often and it was equally funny to them each time. He frowned when he started to realize their line of thought. “I can’t save them. Not all of them and their boats. There is not enough power on this motor to haul that much. What life would they have if we trade them in the god-gate?”
“Depends on the buyer. When you accepted our contract you did so to become my champion, Jarod,” Bubbles said with Carol bobbing her head. “The gods have provided a tool unlike any other us mere mortals can use. The god-gate and the mortal-market are those tools. We must survive. Do you want armor? Better weapons? More dangerous soldiers sworn to your cause? Then be the champion we need. Those three ships are dead without you. Rescue them and send them to be crop pickers where they will live long lives. Save them while saving yourself, Jarod. I needed saving. Be my hero.”
Her song was so sweet Jarod lost control. He let his animal take over. She was bent over the ice freezer and dominated by his will. Her legs were spread wide while he thrust into her with lust. He pulled her hair so hard it was a miracle it did not rip out. When he finished inside, he forced Coral to lick the blue little pussy clean.
“There is my champion I need. Now, what are we going to do with those desperate people?”
Jarod smirked while watching Coral clean Bubbles. “The gods’ will. We will liberate them into a contract of servitude.”
“Perfect, my sea king,” Bubbles said from over her shoulder. She went to her knees to clean her king’s cock.
∞∞∞
The Pearly Dream snuck up on the three pleasure boats silently. They approached slowly to ensure no lighting was being cast. The anchor boats bobbed silently with the waves. If he did not know they had passengers, he would have thought them abandoned. They waited and watched for activity only to see the odd solo figure pacing the sterns. Jarod was a bit upset they were pulling a guard. He told them he would be here in the early morning. Not much to do besides proceed anyway
. The slightest splash of Bubbles entering the water sounded.
Jarod waited for her patiently. He was not certain why he had hesitated earlier about properly saving these humans. The gods were just. The gods were right. For once, he had something to believe in that was not fear but growth. Even Mary would benefit from his actions taken in the name of the gods. Bubbles's bountiful body bounced when it returned to the yacht’s landing pad. She was so much more than Jill could ever be. He smiled at the sight, and the fact he remembered his family's names correctly. Jarod was not sure what was making them fade from his memories but he fought hard to keep them there.
“There are three men awake. They keep looking up and out. They have orange weapons, with one holding a shiny spear weapon. I think I can convince them to contract to me. They do appear weak.”
“What if they study the contract? I was able to,” Jarod said with concern.
“Oh, right. Your kind does not know to surrender or die yet. How deadly are their weapons?”
“The orange gun is called a flare gun, you shoot it into the air to have others find you. The discharge will burn, but if you jump in the water it will come off your skin. The only real threat is that spear gun.”
“Will the females fight?” Coral asked.
“Probably, unless they want to avoid exposing their children. We can try to trick them or try submission. Will we have enough for all our upgrades if the men die?” Jarod asked with a grimace.
“Oh, most certainly—we only have three of us. The vessels will be enough for armor, land machines for us, and weapons. The rest is a bonus,” Bubbles said with a toothy grin.
“The gods would want the young and weak protected. This will be their salvation from death. Their sacrifice will be their husbands,” Jarod said. He felt this was a test of his devotion to his new faith. He would not fail.
Coral gave an odd purring sound that matched her pleasant smirk. “We did not even sing for you that time, my champion. You will be a mighty king of both sea and land. Something that Bubbles tends to miss.”
Jarod shrugged. He cared not for titles. He cared for saving those children. That was what Jill would want. If the gods would save them from their certain doom, then she would want this too. He slipped past Bubbles, removed his shorts, and silently lowered himself into the water. Swimming with the dart gun was tricky but manageable. He ensured the weapon was secured to his wrist after a few strokes and found the band snug.
Jarod swam for what felt like ages. His new muscles handled the task with an endurance he did not realize he had. The first boat he arrived at gave Jarod pause. He slithered onto the back deck silently. He waited, crouched behind the deck wall, hidden from view. Coral arrived with a filet knife in her teeth. Bubbles joined him on the deck. The splash of her leaving the water stirred the man.
“I bet those pesky sharks are back.”
Footsteps slapped closer to the back deck wall. When Jarod knew they were close, he popped up. The man caught sight of Jarod too late. A single snap sounded before the man’s head even turned. The bolt crashed into a spot forward of the temple. The angle was perfect for a deflection—the round caused the man to stumble in confusion.
Jarod hopped the main deck wall to catch the man before he could crash. Bubbles reached up and shocked him with the rod. Jarod hastily placed the man down to end the residual shock.
The man’s chest rose and fell. A sprinkling of black goo left his hand to join the man. Jarod was fascinated watching the tiny gods do their work. His admiration was disturbed when the next boat overheard the minor commotion.
“Larry, did you drop something?”
Jarod reacted with instincts he did not know he had. His weapon rotated instantly. He fired. Snap, snap, snap. The second man died with a perforated chest. There was a screeching, sliding sound as the body was dragged down the boat's hull by gravity. A thud reverberated through the night when the dead man hit the deck.
“What ruckus is Larry causing now?” a third voice hollered from almost a hundred feet away on boat three.
This was a much further shot. The darts Jarod sent soaring his way splashed low into the boat’s side. Jarod walked his darts to his target. The final four darts all went center mass of the man. The man fired his flare gun into the air on accident.
Two things happened simultaneously. The night sky lit up with a flare, and screams of terror rang out when the interior families could see injured or dead men. Lots of screams. Coral handed Jarod a reload.
“Listen up!” Jarod shouted with a commanding tone. The screams abated as they converted into frightened shrieks. “You all die unless you swear to not harm my friends. They have a box over their chest. Touch it and accept what they send. Do this or we kill Larry to start with!” Jarod picked up a mumbling Larry to have Coral hold him upright.
“Hurry up, or he dies,” Coral said with a sweet melody.
She started her persuasion song to convince the families to come to the back deck quickly. Bubbles joined Coral in song luring the others to come out. One woman was broken. She screamed endlessly. Bubbles grabbed the knife I had dropped while fighting Larry. She dove into the water for boat three. The trident weapon was leveled at the woman standing over her dead lover, screaming in torment. Bubbles shot her with the stun charge and followed the distraught woman down as she collapsed beyond from where Jarod could see.
When Bubbles returned from the woman's side she held a tongue in her hand.
“We will kill you. Defy us and we will dice your children. Touch my chest and accept my contract or die!” Bubbles hissed loudly.
The ultimatum was heard. Bubbles went forward to collect her contracts. It was over so quickly. Bubbles and Coral went from ship to ship until even Larry accepted his contract when he came to. He demanded his daughter be saved. I agreed that she would; when I said it was the will of the gate-gods he grew confused. Jarod ignored Larry to save the girl by bringing her water and feeding her his blood. Bubbles later told him he did not need to feed her blood; the virum was cognizant of when new hosts were vacant.
When it was over, Jarod asked why they had not planned to sing from the beginning. He learned sirens could not sway defiant victims. They had to be compliant to some extent. A man protecting his family with a weapon might have no compliance. Kill a few, weaken their resolve, and it normally worked. The irrational grieving woman who was now missing a tongue was an exception. Bubbles pointed this out while she ate the tongue. She rationalized that a desperate woman wanted to ensure her children survived. There was no song sung during the contract signing to allow the deal to be valid. Only one to keep them calm after so we could tuck them away until the gate day arrived.
That morning, Jarod watched the sky’s colorful rays bring a new day. The dead men were discarded. The families were bound in their cabins, and Jarod was able to save so many children he smiled proudly. A few deaths for fourteen alive. That was amazing. The best part was learning how rich he now was.
Bubbles said come golden trade day he could get add-ons to his sailboat, double armor, an array of weapons to handle any situation, and even trade for new servants. Young children fetched the most at the market. Bubbles said this was because they were still impressionable. The gods, Mary, and Jill would be so proud when he arrived at Marble Heights. They would see what an amazing man he now was.
He heard the crying of a little girl. He laughed, knowing her tears were that of joy. She had been redeemed and would be given salvation.
CHAPTER 12
The sound of rain pelting the RV exterior was obnoxiously loud. I frowned watching the dirt road turning to muck from the heavy traffic of the convoy. I leaned forward to glance up out of the windshield at the rain clouds. The Gpad said they would be gone by now. Weather was always so hard to predict. I had contemplated delaying our morning mission to Denver to avoid destroying the dirt road but decided to have the dozer follow behind us when this dried out.
I tapped the Gpad to insert a note in the to-complete ta
sk folder. The downpour abated before coming to a complete stop. Dedric turned us left onto the smooth county road for Denver. Paving our half-hour-long dirt road was a dream to me. Maybe the golden portals would have something we could buy.
I did a final review of the convoy before leaving Gtower range. RV1 was in the lead with Mclain’s team behind them. Eddy was in the rear with RV2. We were in the middle with the drone operators. Every trailer, truck, and storage device we had was coming with us.
The goal was simple: loot everything we could while killing anything in our way. I set the convoy to the Village of Five Parks, a suburb of Denver southwest of Standley Lake. I chose there to start because it was a mix of residential and small businesses with plenty of self-storage lots. There might have also been a certain Torrez who insisted the local bouncy house needed good pillaging. I was all for jumping in a bouncy house myself. My inner greed for loot was overridden when I had to realize that not everything was survival—some of life’s necessities required living.
We knew there would be XLroaches. There was a chance of running into the divine-apes. Our drones would pick up a sixty-foot-tall divine-ape no problem, though; kind of hard to hide when you are that big. There was a secret desire that we might run into some pigri, but I doubted we would encounter any. When we discussed the mission, we contemplated finding human survivors and how to deal with them. I was a bit shocked when we rationalized we would not find a huddled family in an attic. Other scavengers like us, sure, because Five Parks had no real way to defend itself and we predicted it would be packed with good loot. There were a few schools I found on my Gpad, but they were small private schools for the children of the elites; they used far too much glass in their construction to defend. We concluded that there might be some survivors, as there was always hope. I put their chances up there with Jarod: not likely. With that in mind, we prepared the best we could… with heavy weapons, lots of ammo, and food for a few days.