"The Last Days of Submergia"

[dochermes]

"The Last Days of Submergia"

3/25-3/26/2018

I.

"The irony is so strong that I even understand it," said Demrak Jin. "Me, inside a submarine. Heh." The small Gelydran woman stood by the front viewport with her arms folded, staring out into the dark waters lit by brilliant beams from the SELKIE. Huge fish loomed up in that illumination, only to dart away again instantly. They were one hundred yards below the surface of the Pacific, out past the furthermost islands of the Hawaiian chain. Jin seemed amused at her own reaction. She was not pretty by conventional standards, having a flat sullen face with its pug nose and cloudy blue eyes. Her shock of stiff white hair bristled as if touched by static electricity. But the Gelydra had a charisma that made her the center of attention wherever she went. Her strange outfit of some rough-textured grey material, long-sleeved high-collared tunic and pants tied with thongs, added to the visual impact she made.

Coming up behind her with a paper cup of coffee, Galvan loomed a full foot taller over her five feet three. In his more mundane clothing, jeans and sneakers and tight khaki T-shirt, he was an imposing V-shaped mass of hard well-defined muscle with wide shoulders and a narrow waist. The giant Melgar gently placed a hand on Jin's shoulder, and the hand and her head were nearly the same size. "Hah, little shark! You must aching to be out there, swimming on your own, circling around this slow clunky shuttle?"

"Oh, do I EVER!" she scoffed. "But these years working with the team have finally taught me a little patience. I'm surprised at myself but I think I can wait for the right moment to plunge out there where I belong."

The interior of the SELKIE 's every available inch was taken up with dials and gauges, as well as access panels that held cryptic numbers or jumbles of letters. The arched ceiling was not high enough for Galvan to stand fully upright, he had gotten used to crouching or holding his head bent forward. Under their feet, the throb of powerful engines could be felt as the rear jets shot water behind them for propulsion. Turning away from the viewport, Demrak Jin glanced up at her lover of the past two years. "How close is this domed city now?"

"The pilot said it'll be in sight within a few minutes," came a husky female voice from behind them. Both turned to see Jocelyn Garmara approach. Their team leader was a slim young woman with the smooth dark brown skin and thick glossy hair of her Aboriginal tribe. Wearing the black field suit with its high boots, snug pants and waist-length jacket, she looked confident and professional. "I'm anxious to get there myself. This trip has made me a touch claustrophobic."

Galvan shrugged his massive shoulders. With his full head of dark brown hair and well-tended short beard, he had a rugged, reassuring look to him. More than once, people had compared him to a lumberjack. The deep, self-assured voice added to the effect. "Ah, even when we are inside Submergia, we'll still be at the bottom of the sea with tons of water overhead, captain."

As Jocelyn made a non-commital grunt in reply, one of the scientists approached from the rear of the craft. Behind the bulkhead at their rear was the engine room and cargo holds, where he had been making sure everything was fastened securely. This was Dr Raul Rivera of the University at Mexico City, a surprisingly young man with thick-lensed glasses perched on a sharply-beaked nose. "Hey there," he sang out. "The pilot wants us sitting down when we dock. It's usually pretty smooth but there might be some bumps and thumps, one never knows." He reached out to take Demrak Jin by one arm and immediately snatched his hand away. "Ow!"

The small white-haired woman glanced up at him. "My clothing is made of sharkhide. It is abrasive."

"I'll say!" Dr Rivera stuck a bleeding finger in his mouth. "Sorry. Can you three strap yourself down on that bench over there, please?"

Galvan and Jocelyn complied, lowering themselves to a shallow metal bench and pulling on the restraint straps across their torsos. But Jin hesitated. "Look! There it is!" She pointed through the thick plexiglass window down to where the famous Submergia sat on a rocky ledge. Three hundred yards across, the facility was enclosed by a clear dome that was not a single unbroken surface but which was made of reinforced segments which included several access ports and a thick upward tube evidently for venting gases. Under the dome, a number of small one-story structures stood interconnected in a symmetrical layout. Coming out to watch the SELKIE's approach were twenty people wearing loose jumpsuits of pastel beige, baby blue or light green. From where they sat on the bench, both Jocelyn and Galvan could survey the advanced research facility. "Amazing," the big Melgar muttered. "The audacity of Humans always impresses me. You have climbed every mountain, walked on the Moon, crossed the worst deserts and reached both Poles. And now you dare to live in the ocean depths."

"Oh, this isn't the deepest part of the ocean by any means," Dr Rivera laughed. "We won't even try to build in the Marianas Trench for another generation. Submergia is located deep enough for research but not so deep that we can't evacuate in our emergency shuttles if necessary."

Still standing, not making any move toward joining her teammates on the bench, Jin gave a derisive snort. "Ulgor stands many miles deep and does not hide behind such protection as that glass bubble. My realm is deep below the surface, where the War Squid thrive and light comes only from the green powder."

"Ummm... okay. I'm not sure what you mean by all that, miss." Rivera pointed at a wide rectangular port projecting from the side of the dome, its outer end open to the water. "That's the airlock where we'll be entering."

Gazing out at the research facility, Jocelyn shook her head. "There is more of the unexplained here than you had expected."

"I'm afraid so," answered the scientist in a low tone. "Those sightings of naked blue men outside the dome... with no diving suit or equipment, angrily staring in.... Everyone is distraught over that."

II.

Entering Submergia was an interminable process. The SELKIE settled down within the brightly-lit port, and once the craft was securely sitting on its designated spot, the hatch behind them closed tightly. They could hear the pilot on the bridge giving and receiving orders, and a warning bell rang three times. With the sound of powerful pumps working, the seawater left the airlock with agonizing slowness. As soon as the chamber contained nothing but dry air, another bell sounded and the inner doors unlocked to swing inward. The walls of the airlock were made of gleaming white plastic, as was nearly all of Submergia.

At this point, Captain Jim Woodburn stepped down the ladder from the bridge above. He was a sturdy man in his late forties, wearing one of the pastel jumpsuits that seemed to be the uniform of this facility, and he watched the three passengers with slight suspicion. "We can disembark now, folks. That was as smooth a trip as any we've taken since Submergia started operations."

"Thank you, captain," Jocelyn replied. She reached under their bench to where three canvas knapsacks had been tied down and brought them out. Demrak Jin and Galvan each took their own, and Jocelyn slung hers with a strap over one shoulder. Through the viewport, she spotted two dozen men and women in the light green jumpsuits hurrying through the open inner door to meet them. The captain disembarked first and made an announcement that all the expected supplies had been brought and could be unloaded. This met with relief and approval from the Submergians. One called out, "Fresh vegetables at last!" As Jocelyn climbed out through the SELKIE's front hatch and dropped lightly down to the still-wet floor, she took in an instant appraisal of these people.

The staff of Submergia was an assortment of all ages and nationalities, with men and women being represented in roughly equal numbers. The youngest seemed to be a tall gawky youth who looked about nineteen, while his opposite counterpart was a portly woman with bluish-white hair in a tight perm. Several of the researchers were East Asian, one pair of men looked to be Africans from the eastern interior and there was a striking redheaded woman who could have been considered for a swimsuit calendar. Most of these scientists were holding clipboards or loose papers, or taking notes on their phones.

Stepping out of the crowd, the heavyset older woman held out a broad hand for a welcoming shake. "Miss Garimara? I'm Lorraine Mercer, Project Director for the United Nations Undersea Research Facility. UNURF (pronounced 'You-Nerf,') but everyone calls it by the nickname Submergia."

"Hello," Jocelyn said pleasantly. "These are my team-mates from the Kenneth Dred Foundation. Demrak Jin and Galvan. Is there somewhere plrivate we can talk? I gathered that our reason for being called here has some urgency."

"Oh, yes indeed." Dr Mercer had alert dark green eyes that moved over the three visitors appraisingly. "So true. The usual tour can wait. Please come with me." Turning to the attentive crowd, she said mildly, "Your projects are not proceeding by themselves, people." Everyone promptly scattered back to their assignments.

Following Submergia's leader, Jocelyn gave her partners a quizzical glance which was returned. They had all felt it. These people hid it as best they could, but the tension was palpable. The Submergians were terrified of something. Many had dark circles under their eyes and were unkempt as if too distracted to remember grooming.

Down wide uncluttered corridors, lit by flourescent ceiling panels and decorated with numerous hanging plants, they were led briskly toward Dr Mercer's office. Jocelyn assumed the plants helped keep the air fresh and also provided a comforting touch of nature in this sterile environment. From what she had learned during her briefing, as much was recycled and reused as possible in Submergia, including air and water. Except for a few times when they walked under reinforcing struts, the dome could be clearly seen overhead with assorted sealife swimming through the spotlights.

Under his breath, Galvan said, "I am not sure using your Red Spectre would be prudent here, Jocelyn."

She had been thinking the same. "Yes. Unleashing my Gammon is like freeing wild lightning. She is difficult to control at best and I don't think that dome would survive if she crashed into it."

They were brought along a walkway to an area where rows of sealed metal drums stood being tended by a young man who was checking the temperature of the contents. "Here are the yeast cultures. Much of our food is actually yeast fortified with protein and vitamins. We try to give it an appealing texture but...." Dr Mercer's voice broke off as she froze in place and stared.

The visiting KDF members were doing the same. Floating in the freezing waters on the other side of the dome was a man. He wore only a dark kilt around his middle and wielded a short trident in one hand. His skin was definitely light blue, discernible even under the less than perfect viewing conditions. As they held their breath in surprise, the strange apparition made a menacing gesture stabbing forward with the tines of that weapon, then swung around and swam away faster than any Human should be able to.

III.

"Jin? Is he one of yours?" asked Galvan.

"Of course not!" she snorted angrily. "Do you think he looks like a Gelydra? I have never seen his kind. Hurry, get me out there, I can still catch him!"

Dr Mercer of course had no idea what the strange little white-haired woman meant by that, and she did not know Jin's capabilities. "Catch him...? I don't understand. Umm, it would take at least twenty minutes to get you SCUBA gear and arrange for you to exit by an airlock. But anyway, the pressure out there would kill you in a short time, miss."

The Gelydran woman took a deep breath and calmed down. She had grudgingly learned some patience since joining the team. "You don't know much about me, do you? Bah. It's too late now at any rate. Jocelyn, do you know what that blue man was?"

"No," their leader admitted. "I'm drawing a blank. Galvan, you've had a long career in the Midnight War, what do you think?"

"There's always something new," the Melgar champion replied. "Let's go in your office if we may, doctor. We need to tell you a few things about ourselves."

Once they were settled in Dr Mercer's cramped and cluttered office, with its stacks of folders and loose papers piled on every available surface, the three KDF members took chairs facing the steel desk and began to explain. They told the doctor how Demrak Jin was not Human but a Gelydra from the adjacent realm of Ulgor; how she was a true amphibian and more at home breathing water than air; how she would be perfectly fine swimming around outside the dome without any equipment at all.

As she listened, the Director of Submergia showed surprisingly little skepticism. She was staring at Jin's bristly white hair and smooth-textured skin, her odd facial bone structure and her unusually long feet in the oversized boots. When the young Gelydra leaned very close and allowed Mercer to examine the gill slits on either side of her throat, even pulling one slightly open with a fingernail, the doctor let out a sigh she had been holding in without realizing it.

"I believe it all," she told her visitors. "I do. Maybe I should try to deny something so impossible but I did some research when I learned the Kenneth Dred Foundation was asked by our superiors to come here to investigate. There are so many wild reports about your organization... but they are also well-documented wild reports. What about you two? Are you, well, unusual too?"

"Oh yes," laughed Galvan. "Maybe we should say I'm a bit stronger than I look. Given an aqualung, I could join Jin outside without any problems."

Dr Mercer smiled in return. "That would still be impressive. You're built like like an Olympic weightlifter but even so.... And you, Miss Garimara?"

"Please call me Joycelyn. I have my own special abilities but hopefully I will not find it necessary to call on them. Anyway, doctor, I hope you can give Jin quick exit from the dome if she gets another chance to go after the blue man."

"I think she could leave the fastest by one of the jettison tubes. We use them to dispose of some errr waste. But it would be better if no one saw her do that, not everyone is as open-minded to the Unknown as I am." Dr Mercer reached into a drawer and pulled up a sheaf of papers. "I have a timetable of sightings of the blue man. Who saw him and when, what he was doing, how long he was in sight. Here."

Studying the sheets, Jocelyn did not speak for a few minutes and her teammates waited in silence also. Eventually, the Australian-born team leader tapped her index finger on the folder and glanced up. "A couple of things. None of the staff carries a smartphone? I realize you don't have service down here but you'd expect a few of your people to keep a phone for taking notes or pictures. No one caught a shot of this intruder?"

"Hmm. I think most of our people eventually stop hauling their phones around because they always have so much equipment and notebooks and such with them. There are some exterior cameras outside the dome but they're only turned on when something unusual is spotted, like a weird new fish for example. It's just bad luck that we don't have any video of this man."

"I see," Jocelyn commented unhappily. "Looking at the descriptions, I conclude there is enough variation in the hair and bodytypes to suggest more than one of these blue-skinned people."

"Yes, I was thinking the same thing," Dr Mercer said. "What worries me is why they don't stay in sight long enough to try to communicate. What's the point of all this? Why do they only show themselves for a few seconds? That's what is driving my people to distraction."

Galvan softly clapped his massive palms together in front of him. "Judging by that hostile gesture with the trident... I hate to say it, but I think they are threatening you. They want you gone from here, and soon."

IV.

A lengthy debate followed in Dr Mercer's office about the next step to take. At times, the conversation grew heated as Demrak Jin's usual impatience flared up at delays but Jocelyn had long ago learned how to defuse the Gelydra's temper. Eventually, the Director of Submergia came around to see her visitors' point of view and reluctantly agreed to allow two of the KDF members to leave the dome at 1600 hours, when the main meal was served and there was only a remote chance any of the staff would be near the jettison area.

"Even in a field suit, I couldn't survive out there," Jocelyn Garimara had to admit as they got to their feet. "But Jin's Race was adapted ages ago to thrive in pressure like that. And Galvan is, well... Galvan. He's tougher than a rhino. Give him a double-tank aqualung and he'll be fine."

"We can communicate through our Links, of course," said the Melgar gladiator. "The earpieces have functioned well underwater before."

"But I will need a weapon!" Jin broke in. "I was not allowed to bring my hand-crafted blade with me. I must have something. Are there any swords here? Spears? A short stabbing spear would be good."

Taken a bit aback, Dr Mercer tapped her chin with a finger before answering. "Hmm. Hmm. On our way, we can stop at a storage shed near the jettison area. I know we have axes and hammers and other tools."

As it developed, Jin found a short-handled axe that appealed to her, and its leather loop could be fastened around her wrist so as not be lost. She needed nothing else. Galvan was strapped into a massive pair of air tanks that most people would have difficulty even standing up while wearing. He seemed unaware of its weight and examined the regulator before putting the mask on. The mask covered his face from forehead to chin and had a clear front pane. No wetsuit was available that would even come close to fitting the giant Melgar, so he wore only flippers and a pair of black silk trunks. Stripping down, Galvan was an awe-inspiring specimen of hard-toned muscle under tanned skin to the extent that the older woman had to make an effort to stop staring.

"I have to sign for that equipment and Heaven knows how I will explain all this," Mercer said with a resigned sigh. "The Administration watches every toothpick we lose."

Placing an individually shaped earpiece into place, Jocelyn tapped a button on her Link. "Guys, chime in please."

"I hear you fine, captain," Jin answered and Galvan also signified he was receiving. They marched over to an area of the dome dominated by two circular hatches eight feet across, each with its own hydraulic controls. "I hesitate to ask what exactly it is that you dump out of these, doctor," said the big Melgar. "Maybe we're better off not knowing before we climb in."

"Oh, the interiors are constantly scrubbed by sea water running through them," the older woman replied absently. "Suddenly, I'm not at all sure about this. You're both going to be killed if you go out there! The water is below freezing. The pressure will collapse your lungs and snap your ribs. I'll be held responsible for your deaths... I'll spend my final years in prison..."

"We'll be fine," Galvan laughed. "Your security contractors at the Mandate called us in on this. They know our nature. Ready, my little shark?"

"More than ready," Demrak Jin said as she stepped up to the circular jettison tube. She had unbuckled and removed the oversized boots to expose feet which looked deformed, more than half again their expected length. "I'm eager."

III.

Compressed air shot Galvan and Jin out into the ocean in a geyser of foaming bubbles. They could see clearly as the late afternoon sunlight slanted down in wide shafts through the gorgeous clear water. At once, before the Melgar champion could get his bearings, he saw his lover flash away quicker than a torpedo. Demrak Jin swam with both arms down at her sides, her powerful legs kicking. The unusually long feet which puzzled people were now spread open to reveal webbing between the narrow bony toes.

Through the communications Link, he heard Jocelyn's stern voice, "Jin! Get back here! That's an order from your captain."

"Yes, yes of course," answered the Gelydra. In another moment, the tiny form in the grey sharkhide outside swooped down from above to swing around where Galvan stood on the ocean floor. Jin whirled in loops around her partner, performing a series of lightning-quick somersaults and cartwheels before finally coming to a reluctant halt near his head. Waving her arms to remain in place, Jin said, "I am sorry, both of you, but you have no idea how wonderful it is to finally be free again! To be in water that extends further than one can see."

"Like telling a young colt not to frolic," Galvan laughed. "Still, my love, we should stick together."

From inside the dome, Jocelyn could be seen rubbing Dr Mercer's shoulder in reassurance. "You see how comfortable they are? I assure you my friends are quite safe." Speaking to Galvan and Jin again, the team captain said, "Remember, in an extreme emergency I can send my Gammon out to help you. Water does not harm the Red Spectre but I'm afraid it does make my Gammon harder to control.. and she is wild lightning at the best of times."

"Hopefully that won't be necessary," the big Melgar said as Jin tugged forcefully on his arm to get moving. "Keep in touch, Captain!" He started kicking powerfully himself and managed to barely keep up with the tiny Gelydra as she almost swam circles around him.

"Oh by Grelok, this is so different!" she cried out, whirling in a tight loop and swinging back to take her lover's arm again. "The currents. The flow. The very feel of the water itself. It tastes so spicy. I have never been in this Pacific before."

Swimming behind her with tireless kicks, Galvan watched the colorful schools of fish wheel away from their approach. "Ulgor was in the north Atlantic back in the Darthan Age, as I recall?"

"Yes. And it still interfaces with this real world near your Greenland. When we travel here through gralic gates, that is where we emerge. So the Atlantic is all I have ever known. Galvan my darling, this is intoxicating me. We must travel. We must explore the Pacific, all of it."

"Ha, that's a lifetime task," said the Melgar kindly. "Most of this planet is covered with water. So, tell me, Jin, your people haven't settled here at all> There were no Gelydra colonies in the Pacific?"

She turned her head back to give him a quizzical look. "Not that I ever heard tales about. Strange. I suppose there may be another Race of water-breathers we have never known, but it seems so unlikely..." Jin wrinkled her nose and slowed her pace. "What a funny taste is in the water. Like ammonia. It reminds me of the War Squid we used to see in tournaments."

Catching up to her, Galvan swung around to stare warily in all directions. Fifty yards ahead of them was a rock formation largely covered by rainbow corals and moss. They both froze as a man lunged up from behind that mass and hovered in the water, staring at them coldly. He was tall and lean, wearing only a kilt of gold mail which was barely enough for decency and which was bound at the waist by a green silk sash. His bare torso and legs showed long well-defined muscles which were functional rather than developed for show. This water-breather did not have blue skin, though, he was a typical Northern European in appearance with curly blond hair and a strong jawline. In one hand, he brandished a gold trident seven feet long that gleamed as light hit it.

Mostly alarming, a pair of squid with cylindrical bodies big as a human's torso floated close by either of his shoulders like watchdogs protecting their master. The unreadable opaque eyes fixed on Galvan and Jin and never wavered.

"Strangers, take care!" he called over to them. "Your lives hang by a thread which I may snap at any time."

"Says you," retorted Galvan. He knotted big fists that could crack open granite with a blow. "How about a name, to get things started?"

"Fair enough," said the blond man. "I am Prince Algon, of the Empire of Viralome. These are my words. The surface people under that bubble will all be dead before tomorrow. Come with me and I will explain why, but it is already too late to save them. It is your own lives you must worry about now."


III.

Although he was not nearly as well suited for deep sea swimming as Jin and Algon, Galvan kept up by sheer strength and adequate technique. The squid trailed behind them as if keeping watch. He had expected a long journey but was surprised when the strange water-breathing man led them to a shallow valley not even a full mile from Submergia. Arranged along the sea bed were a dozen structures of rock slabs held together by some sort of mortar made from a green paste. Pieces of coral and shells made colorful decorations on the outer walls, and pennants of oiled silk waved in the currents. As the three of them approached, a blue-skinned sentry leaped up from his perch on an outcropping of rock and struck a bronze gong whose vibrations were spread through the water better than they would have been through air.

"At ease, Enosh. I will speak privately with our guests before we appear before the assembly," snapped Algon in that tone which showed that immediate obedience was expected. The sentry bowed deeply from the waist and stepped back. Hovering in the water, moving his arms back and forth with the trident still in one hand the Prince of Viralome glanced at the squids and both of them swam away.

"I didn't think those creatures could be so well trained," Galvan said. "Remarkable."

"They only obey me," Algon responded. "This is my gift. The creatures of the sea obey my thoughts if I frame those thoughts as orders. Come, into that council building before us." The Prince seized a round iron handle and pulled open the massive door that swung on inner hinges, but only a niche barely large enough to accomodate the three of them was revealed. They squeezed in and, as Algon pulled the outer door shut, it seemed to Galvan that Demrak Jin was giving the Viralomen a more interested gaze than seemed appropriate. But that must be his imagination, he scoffed.

With the outer door tightly closed, Prince Algon pressed with both hands on the wall before them and it levered inward. The water in the niche with them poured into a large dome-shaped chamber that was somehow filled with air. Light entered through a round panel of glass set overhead. Four stone benches padded with moss sat in a ring, with a higher thronelike chair facing them. At once, the Prince crossed over to the throne and placed himself on it with self-assured dignity. The trident he leaned up against the wall near to one side.

"Be seated," he commanded the two KDF members. "For the moment, we will dispense with formalities and honorifics. There is too much to say. Know, then, that you are guests of the Empire of Viralome. [Pronounced 'Vee-rah-LOH-may'] This is a mere outpost erected centuries ago and long abandoned by my people. The Emperor has dispatched a squad of his most elite warriors here to keep an eye on that village you surface men have built under that dome. And I have come here to take charge of the outpost because all who live under that dome are in imminent danger of madness and death."

Cautiously, turning down the regulator on his tank, Galvan removed his face mask and took a tentative sniff. "The air seems good enough. It's even a bit sharp with a tang like mountain air. How is this possible?"

"Viralomen science!" answered the Prince with an impatient wave of his hand. "Very well Let us get some background out of the way. After the fall of the Darthim, the wisest philosophers and thinkers of the Humans lived in a realm called Zhune. They made discoveries that have never been duplicated to this day. Among other things, the Zhune philosophers could change matter into energy and energy into matter. It was the lost science of the ancients that made us dwellers in the depths."

Remembering Karl Eldritch with a frisson of uneasiness, Galvan said, "Some Zhunian relics still survive, still potent, still incredibly dangerous."

"Much knowledge has been lost," Algon admitted. "We are heirs to a tiny fragment of what the Zhunians discovered. Still, it is enough to power our tools and weapons and to seperate sea water into hydrogen and oxygen. What you are breathing has a higher oxygen content than surface air. In time, it will damage Human lungs. But I thought if I could bring some of the surface men here to parlay, they would need such a chamber where they could breathe and be at ease."

Staring at the Prince, Demrak Jin took a less abrasive tone than usual. "Surely you must be curious about who I am? How I can also breathe underwater or in the air, what my origins are?"

"Very much so," replied Algon. For the first time, his expression softened in a near smile. "I hope that when today's crisis has passed, that you might stay as my guest and we get to know each other."

"I'd like that," she said.

"HERE now!" yelled Galvan. "I think you mean to invite both of us and not just her, right?"

"I suppose," the Prince of Viralome said. His attention immediately went back to Jin. "So there are others like you?"

"Yes. I am a Gelydra from the adjacent Realm of Ulgor. Thirty thousand years ago, after the island of Ulgor sank beneath the waves, Darthim sorcerers transformed the Ulgorans into the water-breathers we remain today. Yet... we never suspected there was another aquatic Race like ourselves. It opens many thoughts about possible relations between our two peoples."

"We dwell in separate oceans, separated by thousands of miles," Algon said thoughtfully. "Yet, who knows what the future might bring? Perhaps a few marriages between some of our royalty would create friendly ties."

Galvan stood up, fists clenched down by his sides, trying to keep his voice even. "Look, let's get back to the situation that made you bring us here. What exactly is going to happen to Submergia? What is this terrible danger you keep mentioning?"

"Yes, of course." Prince Algon straightened up and cleared his throat in near discomfiture. "The threat does not come from we Viralomens. Your domed city is no threat to us, we have even been observing it with some admiration at the courage and labor that went into it. But somehow, possibly drawn by a subconscious pull, your scientists have constructed their underwater city in the one spot in the Pacific they should have avoided."

"Stop beating around the bush!" Galvan snapped. "An active volcano? Vents in the seabed releasing poisonous gases? What is the problem?!"

"Under the rock ledge where your Submergia sits, something incredibly ancient and malevolent slumbers. It was old when the first Humans stood upright, and it was filled even then with cold bitter hatred. I worry that the activity and construction has roused it from a sleep meant by the Higher Ones to last forever."

"Oh." Demrak Jin's voice was tiny. "You can't mean...? Under Submergia is a Sulla Chun?"

Those two words seemed to bring a damp chill to the chamber that made everyone pause. In the secret world of the Midnight War, nothing was more feared and hated than the Sulla Chun. Little was known for certain of them. According to Tel Shai lore, the Sulla Chun had been created before any life on Earth, offspring of the Higher Ones, powerful beyond measure but also unpredictably destructive. The legends said it was a Sulla Chun who materialized on the island of Ulgor to impart forbidden knowledge of mortal mystics. This was the start of the Midnight War, when Ulgor was cast down into the sea and the sorcerers who fled the cataclysm had scattered far to begin everything from the Darthan Kjes to the Alchemists and the Black Lion, the talismans Sagehelm and Hellspawn.

As far as was known, the Sulla Chun had been punished by being imprisoned in slumber deep beneath the earth or in the Antarctic wastes. Or at the bottom of the oceans... where apparently one of them was now stirring.

"This is unwelcome news indeed," Galvan said. He gave a hard glance at Algon. "Why haven't you contacted the people in Submergia? Why the useless skulking outside and making gestures which accomplish nothing? Why not DO something?"

"Have a care, surface man," answered the Prince in an ominously low tone. "Because I have dispensed with court protocol, do not forget your place."

"My place?! Really." Galvan shot to his feet, a towering mass of highly defined muscles that stood out like bundles of wire under his skin. "I am a Melgar. A peer of the realm of Androval, on a ranking with the great Sulak and with Princess Valera. Don't address me like one of your cringing slaves."

Reaching beside his throne, Algon grasped the shaft of the golden trident and stood up also. "I will speak to you as I see fit!"

Abruptly, Demrak Jin leaped in between them, holding out her arms as if to physically keep them back. "Stop it!" she yelled. "Stop it! What is the matter with you two? Hundreds of lives are about to be lost and you are about to start a vulgar brawl!"

"I... have to admit she's right," Galvan grumbled. He visible lowered his shoulders and opened his fists. "There is much at stake. We must work together."

"So be it." Prince Algon stamped the butt of the trident on the stone floor. "Perhaps later we might have words, you and I. Yet now, our thoughts must be of rescue."

"About time," said the Gelydran woman. "Hurry. Let's go to Submergia and warn them they must flee at once. The mere presence of a Sulla Chun stirring causes madness and despair. That was what marked Atron Ke."

Galvan placed the full face mask on again, adjusted the regulator and took a few breaths to make sure the air supply was steady. He was watching with mounting outrage the glances being exchanged between Demrak Jin and Prince Algon. Why was she smiling at this stranger? Was it his imagination? Was he reading too much into casual courtesy? A fear he had seldom felt before made itself known in a cold sinking sensation in his chest. The big Melgar stepped quickly toward the inner door and seized its iron ring. Where Algon had exerted effort to push that door inward, Galvan easily swung it open with one hand as if only turning the page of a book. Algon's face dropped with surprise at the strength revealed by this gesture and Galvan reveled in the petty triumph.

The Melgar champion opened the outer door with equal ease and stood unmoved as the sea water poured into the tiny cubbyhole where they waited. As soon as she could, Jin flashed upward with one quick stroke, but she stopped short as Algon called to her. "Wait. Swift as you and I are in the water, I can provide steeds which are swifter still."

"What is that odd sound?" the Gelydra asked, hovering at head level. "A hum? But it pulses?"

"Ah, you can sense my mental summons to my true subjects," the Prince of Viralome said. "Your kind and mine are more closely related than I had thought."

Galvan bit his tongue and held back a caustic remark. In another instant, three huge dark forms swooped down from overhead. The Melgar tensed and readied to fight for his life, for these were twenty-foot-long Great Whites. The immense sharks circled the three people who stood on the ocean floor, and Algon nimbly leaped up to bestride the nearest one. He placed his knees in front of the shark's side fins and leaned back against the high dorsal fin with one hand. "Hurry! My friends will bring us to your dome village in seconds."

"Ride a shark? Even the boldest Gelydra would never think such a feat worth trying," Jin said. She regarded the nearest Great White with open suspicion and gripped the haft of her hatchet.

"They obey my thoughts," replied Algon. "Trust me. So long as I command them, they will not harm either of you."

"I suppose," Jin muttered as she gingerly hopped up and seated herself on the nearer of the big fish. Following suit, Galvan climbed up and made himself secure on the back of the final shark. There was no signal given, but all three of the monsters of the deep swung their powerful tails from side to side and raced off into the darker depths.


IV.

In her office, Dr Mercer leaned forward in her swivel chair and regarded Jocelyn Garimara thoughtfully. "Maybe I should reveal a little more of the situation now. I didn't want to alarm your partners, but you seem discreet and level-headed."

"I do my best."

"All right. We do have a counselor on staff for helped with emotional problems. He was highly recommended, giving up a private practice that made him a wealthy man. Our people were carefully chosen for this project, they all tested as more stable and suited for conditions here than most. But even if Dr Westerfield hadn't confided in me out of worry, I was already noticing strange changes in our people."

"Yes? Please go on."

"Everyone is having recurring nightmares," said Mercer. She stared down at her wrinkled hands as she clasped them. "Myself included. Not the normal bad dreams everyone has after a stressful day, no, these are full-out nightmares where you sit up out of breath and covered with sweat. All I remember is an impression of something trying to grab me. From below. Up from under my feet, something horrible as big as a mountain."

Jocelyn frowned and sat up straighter. "I don't like the sound of this. How many of your staff are having nightmares?"

"Most of them. Perhaps all of them," the old woman admitted. "You can tell by looking at them that they are not sleeping well. Dark bags under their eyes, work not completed to normal standards, a dull silence instead of joking and banter. It's no wonder I was relieved when the security department requested you KDF members come here."

"Yes. Yes, I think our presence is for the best." Jocelyn stood and tugged down her field suit jacket. She was normally serious by nature, but now the huge dark eyes were distant and somber. "Perhaps it's only my imagination after what you said..."

"What? What do you mean?"

The KDF team leader turned toward the office door. "I can feel something ominous. Under my feet, there's a sensation like a powerful machine running or some great beast turning over in its sleep. It can't be what I'm afraid it is. It mustn't be."

"Young lady, you are scaring the starch out of me!" Dr Mercer rose and came around to join her visitor. "Give me something to work with."

Holding the door open, the Australian adventurer was scowling as she felt her Red Spectre whirling inside her. The gralic entity she played host to was sensitive to any Midnight War activity and now her Spectre churned and boiled within her body angrily. It wanted to burst out like the living lightning bolt it was, to challenge some deadly enemy and explode into violence. With an effort, Jocelyn calm her spirit and firmly pushed the being back down beneath the surface of her body.

"I don't know how you feel about the supernatural?" she asked as they started walking around the inner perimeter of the dome. "Have you ever given it any thought?"

"Not really," Mercer replied. "I'm hard-headed by nature. I was an agnostic early in life before turning to genuine atheism. Any claims of err paranormal activity would need overwhelming evidence for me to accept."

"So I thought. Doctor, I'm terrified that we will see so much evidence of the forces beyond what science knows... well, it won't be belief that will be impossible, it will be doubt." Jocelyn stopped and tightened her arms across her middle, hunching over as if in pain. "Ugh. I feel it. My Gammon struggles to break free."

"Oh, stop it for a second! Stop talking." The older woman plopped down unceremoniously on a weight-high ledge that ran the inner wall of the dome. She was clutching her head in both hands and panting in short rapid gasps. "I can't...it's too much..."

"Don't hyperventilate on me," said Jocelyn. "I know it's frightening." Glancing frantically around, she spotted a waxed paper bag some worker had left under the shelf. Part of an oatmeal cookie was still inside. Jocelyn turned the bag inside out, tugged Mercer's hands away and held the bag up over the woman's lower face. "Come on, let's get your carbon dioxide level up. I realize it's hard to make yourself calm down but please try."

After a few minutes, Dr Mercer's breathing did slow and deepen. She took Jocelyn's wrists and gently pulled them away. "Thank you. I think I'm going to be all right. Whew. My Heavens, I haven't had a panic attack like that in years."

The KDF team leader met the woman's eyes and held them with a steady stare. "Listen to me. A facility like this must have an emergency evacuation procedure. You mentioned jettisoning life pods. The SELKIE is still docked. You have to give the order right this minute to abandon Submergia."

"What?!" asked Dr Mercer. "That's not like conducting a fire drill out of an office building. Getting the staff organized and in life pods would take a day or two. Maybe thirty-six hours if we rush."

Reaching down, Jocelyn placed her fingertips against the gleaming white plastic floor. It was painfully hot to the touch. "We don't HAVE thirty-six hours, doctor."

V.

As they sat furiously discussing logistics, the number of staff present and how many could fit in the escape pods and how many the SELKIE would accomodate, Dr Mercer yelped and fell off the ledge to land sitting up. "Oh God. Look."

Jocelyn hopped to her feet and swung around. In a career packed with unbelievable sights, this had to be near the top. Outside in the ocean, three enormous sharks had circled around and were staying still long enough for three people to dismount. Jin. Galvan. And a stranger, a blond man wearing only a gold mail kilt, hefting an ornate seven foot trident. The thought had entered Jocelyn's mind that those Great Whites were about to eat her friends when the stranger pointed and the beasts flashed off back in the direction they had come from.

For an instant, the Red Spectre nearly tore loose from Jocelyn's body but she managed to repress it. Her Gammon was aching to manifest itself for some reason. Getting a grip, she whipped her Link up to her face and said, "Galvan! Jin! Thank God you're okay. Never mind explaining right now, you get straightway to the entrance port. And bring your new friend with you." With the last word, she spun on her heel and raced off along the inner wall.

Even in her youth, Dr Mercer had never been athletic. She couldn't even keep Jocelyn in sight as the KDF leader sprinted away. Grumbling under her breath, the older woman hurried along as best she could. When she reached the inner door to the entrance port, she found Jocelyn Garimara impatiently watching the gauges that showed what progress the pumps were making emptying the port of seawater. When the light over the hatch turned green and a bell rang, she found she could spin the wheel and swing the door inward.

Awaiting on the gleaming white plastic floor, still dripping wet, Galvan was unstrapping his air tanks and lowering them to one side. As he tugged off his full-face mask, he saw Demrak Jin had taken Algon by one arm and was pulling the Prince forward. That did it. The big Melgar took one step forward, slapped Jin's hand away from the Viralomen's arm and shoved the man so hard that he reeled across the chamber and slammed up against the far wall with a thump.

"Galvan? What are you doing?" demanded Jin. "Did you hurt him?"

"I have taken enough of this!" Galvan roared in a voice a bull might envy. "Why are you acting this way? Are you TRYING to rile me up?"

Jocelyn stepped inbetween them. "Stop it, right now. As your captain, I'm giving a direct order. We're in a life and death crisis and whatever conflict is going on between you two can wait. Do... you... understand?"

"All right. Fine." Galvan folded his arms across his massive chest and glowered. Looking up at him, Demrak Jin seemed hopelessly confused but finally mumbled acquiescence to her captain's command.

"And you, blondie," continued Jocelyn as she swung to face the newcomer. "How about a name and a little explanation?"

The Viralomen had risen from the undignified seated position he had fallen into. He straightened to his full height and stared down his nose at the three KDF members. "Know that I am Prince Algon of Viralome! Son of the Emperor Ylmar and heir to the throne. I will not tolerate a second assault upon my royal person."

"So you're related to those blue men we've seen outside?" demanded Jocelyn, still irritated. "Why didn't any of them try to communicate with the people in here?"

"For the obvious reason that they cannot breathe air. Nor do they know your language. I alone am a true amphibian because my mother was a surface woman... and she taught me English as a child." Prince Algon raised a finger. "Address me with more care, young lady. I believe you need my help and the help of my people if any of you are to survive the next few hours."

"S'truth told," she said. "You've got a point. Let's all calm down and work together. Prince Algon, please forgive my tone as being caused by this emergency. My name is Jocelyn Garimara, I am captain of the team of Tel Shai knights my friends here belong to. We believe that a Sulla Chun is waking directly below us. There can't be much time before we all go hopelessly insane and then die from its presence. And the Director of this facility tells me there is no way to evacuate everyone in less than thirty-six hours."

The sea prince smiled for the first time. "I have a plan..."

VI.

The rest of the day was lost in a feverish blur of activity. Dr Mercer contacted the authorities and was told the US Navy was on the way. The Cyclone-class patrol ship USS TYPHOON would be in the area within twelve hours to pick up anyone on the surface. She made announcements over the PA system, rounded up the staff and assisted the four outsiders in loading everyone into the jettison pods. These were round structures of hard plastic which would float on the surface. Each pod was meant to hold five people but under the circumstances, nine were jammed in. The pods had a radio transmitter which activated automatically, as well as a limited supply of fresh water. Under Jocelyn's supervision, the Submergia staff were hustled into the pods and shot surfaceward in a gush of bubbles.

Complicating the evacuation was the way everyone was starting to hallucinate and become agitated. Threatening shadows seen from the corner of the eye and menacing flickers of movement gave way to full sightings of imaginary snakes and bats and centipedes scuttling around. No one was immune to this. Even the KDF members found their mental discipline failing as the unseen presence beneath their feet manifested itself more and more strongly. Most alarming was that everyone was finding language increasingly unfamiliar and conversations were dwindling into shouting matches or nonsense mumbling.

Galvan busied himself by ripping loose anything that would float and tossing it into the chamber where the SELKIE was moored. His superhuman strength was evident as he tore loose two by fours, ripped up chairs and desks and couches, flinging them into the chamber. When he was satisfied he had found everything that might help support a person on the surface, he ordered the outer doors opened. The debris floated out and upward. His hope was some would prove useful if anyone ended up needing to cling. The Melgar saw that the portal chamber was being emptied again and turned to see the crew of the SELKIE and twenty more staff members waiting.

"You're leaving now?" he asked.

"We have to," said Captain Woodburn. His face was shiny with cold sweat and his hands noticeably trembled. "I'm afraid if we wait much longer, my crew and myself won't be competent enough to manage the SELKIE. Whatever is affecting us, it's getting worse. When people talk, it sounds like gibberish to me. My heart is pounding."

Coming up beside the commander, Dr Mercer was shaky herself. "I've told everyone that it's possibly some noxious gas released from the seabed. That at least gives them a plausible explanation. We're boarding the ship now. But there are still ten men who just cannot fit aboard."

"They're the most physically fit? The ones who can best survive harmful conditions?" asked Galvan.

"Yes. We have to go. Good luck to you and your friends... and to the men who have to be left behind." As Captain Woodburn turned the wheel that opened the hatch, the crew pressed up on top of each other in their eagerness to get out of there. Galvan wished them well and sealed the chamber behind them.

The Melgar champion rubbed his face wearily. His hair and beard were damp, he suddenly realized. In the past hour, he himself had started to feel jumpy and agitated. The Legacy of Malberon which gave him great strength and resilience was no defense against the Sulla Chun. His feet burned from the pulsing radiation coming up underneath him. 'I need to get out of here myself,' he thought, admitting a terror he had never felt in his long life.

Jocelyn Garimara ran up. "The floor is beginning to crack! it looks to me as if the support beams are sagging. We don't have a moment to lose, Galvan, open that hatch again. Here come the final ten people."

Even as he swung the inner door to the portal chamber open, the Melgar glared at the sight of Demrak Jin and Prince Algon side by side with the remaining Sumergia staff right behind them. Ten young men in wetsuits, air tanks on their backs and visored masks already down. One of them yelled and slapped at his left shoulder.

"Get it off me!" he said. "What are those bugs? How did they even get in here?" He was breathing heavily. Jocelyn hurried over and tugged him toward the open door of the exit chamber.

"It's gonna be okay," she said. "You're going to the surface. Trust me. Come on, all of you in here. Adjust your regulators." She got everyone into the chamber and closed the inner door behind them. The SELKIE was gone. Overheat, the fluorescent lights flickered and went out for a few seconds before coming back on much more dimly.

"Emergency generators cutting in," she said. "Jin, Galvan... make sure everyone is ready. Check their air flow. Prince Algon, are your... friends outside?"

"Yes," answered the blond man. "You take command well, I must say. You are a natural leader, even if not of royal blood."

"Thanks. I guess." Jocelyn fastened the field helmet on securely and lowered its clear visor. The built-in Trom membrane would draw enough oxygen from the seawater to allow her to survive, although she might find it difficult to be too active. Her voice sounded from the speaker in the helmet louder than normal, "Stand by everyone. I'm flooding the chamber. We're all getting out of here."

Jocelyn pressed a red button on the wall and the wide segmented outer door starting sliding upward. Freezing seawater rushed in around their ankles and rose quickly to waist level, then to their chests. Jocelyn saw that Galvan had fastened on his oxygen membrane for the trip to the surface, having given the SCUBA apparatus he had used to one of the Submergia staff. He saw Jocelyn's worried expression and nodded reassuringly.

When the outer door was fully opened, a dozen huge dark forms swarmed into the chamber. In the cold light from overheat, twelve Great Whites seemed incredibly menacing. The gaping mouths filled with triangular teeth seemed to be smiling. Oddly, the Submergia staff did not panic or even recoil but waited where they stood. Perhaps the maddening influence of the waking Sulla Chun had reached a point where they were simply too numb and distracted to react. The Prince gestured and the gigantic fish obediently swam down close to the floor. As they had hurriedly discussed only moments earlier, the KDF members hoisted the Submergia men up onto the sharks and tied them tight to the gigantic bodies with lengths of cord that Jocelyn had prepared. The men watched passively, twitching and shifting their weight but asking no questions and hardly staring at the sharks they rode.

Outside, staying well away from the facility, twenty of the blue-skinned water-breathing soldiers floated in the water and watched the proceedings. When Algon spotted them, the Viralomians saluted with a rigid hand held up to the right ear.

"My beasts will now bring your people slowly to the surface," Algon announced. "The soldiers of Viralome will escort these sharks and make sure all goes well. It must be done over the course of an hour or more to prevent the bends, which would cripple or kill their fragile air-breathing bodies." One by one, propelling themselves with powerful sideways strokes of their tails, the sharks left the now-flooded chamber with the dazed men tied to their backs.

"Am I speaking sense?" asked Jocelyn. She was moving her arms back and forth in the water to keep from being swept out in the backdraft of the Great Whites. "It's hard to think straight. I feel so foggy."

"You sound normal to me," Algon said. "Listen. This building is starting to break up. Time for us to head for the surface as well." He reached over to take Demrak Jin by the arm and without warning, a crashing right roundhouse from Galvan spun him wildly away. That punch would have killed any normal Human. Stunned, the Prince of Viralome thumped up against the far wall.

"What? Galvan, are you insane?" yelled Jin. "You struck him."

"We are not leaving until I settle matters with this lowlife," the Melgar roared. He began to swim toward Prince Algon, shaking off an attempt by Jocelyn to restrain him.

Rising stiffly, the undersea ruler rubbed the side of his jaw and scowled. He clenched his own fists. "Fool! You would challenge me in the water which is my natural element. Have a care! I need only rip that silly film from your face and you will drown while I toy with you."

"There's no time for this nonsense!" Jocelyn shouted through the speaker in her helmet. "The ceiling is breaking up. Everyone outside this second!" With her final word, she seized the big Melgar around the waist and kicked strongly to move them toward the opening. A second later, jagged chunks of plastic and steel crashed down they had been standing. Galvan seemed to come to his senses. He swam out and away, with the other three closely behind him.

"Follow the sharks," ordered Jocelyn. "Up. We have to keep an eye on those men. Some may panic and try to get loose."

The journey to the surface seemed endless. Even though she knew how crucial it was to ascend slowly so that her body could adjust and prevent dangerous bubbles forming, Jocelyn Garimara had to struggle not to swim upward as fast as she could. Because they were aquatic creatures, both Jin and Algon had no such worries. As for Galvan, his immense strength and durability made him as close to be invulnerable as living flesh and blood could reach. They stayed near Jocelyn out of concern.

Looking back, they saw the dome over Submergia was breaking up. Once it lost its integrity, the structure fell inward in pieces and the water rushed in. The lights went out. Steaming-hot rubble shifted and tumbled aside, revealing something impossibly huge glistening with an oily sheen beneath the broke floors.

"Don't look, don't look," Jocelyn warned but she could not follow her own order. She gasped, gripped in the worst terror she had ever felt as she saw the tip of a red tentacle eighty feet thick start to emerge from the ruined city.

Waving around as if it could see by itself, the tentacle stiffened and extended straight up toward the people. Seeing its immense shape rush toward them was like standing in front of an oncoming locomotive. Jocelyn could restrain her Gammon no longer. Her slight body doubled up and from its core shot a being made of dark red gralic force. The Red Spectre was the same general size and shape as its host, without features beyond solid pads for hands and an oval top for a top. Wild lightning with a will of its own, the Gammon crackled down and exploded directly into that oncoming tentacle with a blast that sent shock waves through the water and a burst of scalding heat. The tentacle convulsed. It drew back with a long chunk danglng by a thread from its outer surface and the monster's deep resonant roar made the ocean throb.

Jocelyn was floating limply in the turgid cloudy water, arms hanging and head lowered forward. The Red Spectre, which normally returned at once to her body, was nowhere to be seen. Stroking down from overhead, Demrak Jin seized her captain by the arms and began to pull her upward at a moderate pace. "Jocelyn!" she cried, "Are you all right? Say something."

For a reply, the Australian-born leader could only mutter but she managed after a second to add, "Still alive... barely. Where is my Gammon?"

"I don't know, I can't see it," answered the distraught Gelydran woman. She was speaking through her earpiece into the communications system within her captain's helmet. "Horns of Grelok, you sound so weak. Hold on, captain, please do not give up. We need you."

Tiny sparks of luminous red energy came spinning up to pass into Jocelyn's body. More and more quickly they came, each fragment larger than the ones before. Jocelyn Garimara took a deep shuddering breath and livened back to her normal self. As more bits of the Red Spectre rejoined with her, each returned some of the lifeforce taken when the gralic entity manifested.

"That's a fair bit better," she said. "Damn. My poor Gammon was blown to bits like a firecracker and had to reform. I felt like I was in bloody Perdition itself." She glanced up to where Galvan and Prince Algon were escorting the Submergia staff on their sharks to the surface. Jocelyn remembered something and drew the unsuspecting Jin closer to her. "Demrak Jin, get this and get it straight. Whatever silly game you are playing with Galvan's heart, drop it right now. Melgarin are proud. You're within an inch of losing him forever."

"What? I don't..." the Gelydra stammered. "Why is he mad at me? Why are YOU so mad?"

"Stop hanging all over that blond beach bum Algon," Jocelyn said. "I'm givin' you a fair go, my friend. If you push Galvan over the line, he will vanish from your life and you will never ever see him again. I know Melgar pride."

"But.. I... Oh, this is so unfair. I mean no harm to anyone." Jin torpedoed upward leaving a backwash that spun Jocelyn around. When she wanted to, the woman from Ulgor could have swum in tight circles around the sharks and not have them snatch her once. She was at the surface in seconds. Left behind, a grimly smiling Jocelyn paced her ascent carefully.

VIII.

On the surface under a cloudy twilight sky, the SELKIE sat with its engines idling to remain stationary. A half dozen crew members stood holding on to the railing which ran the craft's length. They were casting out weighted silk lines which the Submergia staff members caught and tied to loops on their jettison pods. With their covers swung open, the pods resembled old-fashioned coracles made of hard white plastic. Sitting on benches or huddled on the floors, the staff of the unsea facility shuddered and stayed silent. Most wrapped themselves in blankets they had unpacked, covering even their heads. Nearly all the Submergia people acted as if traumatized by brutal violence.

Treading water, Galvan and the Prince worked together, gathering the larger floating debris and creating rafts onto which they loaded the stunned Submergia men who had not been in the pods. Riding to the surface strapped onthe monstrous forms of man-eating sharks seemed to have been the final impetus to shut their conscious minds down. As the Melgar and the Viralomian took care to place each dazed man securely onto the makeshift rafts, they did not speak to each other.

Finally, the last Great White was dismissed. From the railing of the SELKIE, Captain Woodburn bellowed, "Well done, mates! You are both heroes! I've been told the Navy patrol ship will arrive here within seven to eight hours and take everyone aboard."

Almost brushing up against each other as they clung to a floating desk, Algon turned his strange gold-irised eyes on the Melgar. "And then you wished to settle a grudge with me, I believe?"

"Oh, I haven't forgotten our dispute," Galvan said, spitting out salt water he had inadvertently taken a mouthful of during the rescue. "It must wait. Once the Humans are safe, you and I will trade blows to settle your offense."

Prince Algon snorted in derision. Before he could speak further, a small slender form shot up entirely out of the water like a missile, jackknived in mid-air and tackled the surprised Galvan head-on. Her impact drove him under the surface entirely and he barely gulped a quick breath before being pulled under. In another second, they bobbed up again. Demrak Jin had her arms and legs wrapped around the huge torso of the Melgar with all her strength and she was kissing his face frantically.

"Galvan, Galvan, don't be mad at me!" she begged. "Please! Understand my thoughtlessness. I am a fool."

The Melgar found he could not have pried her off him without the risk of hurting her. Her grip was that intense. "Now what do you say?" he growled. "Are you blowing hot air and cold air with the same mouth?"

"No, no." She was nuzzling her face up against his, clinging to him as if terrified of being torn away. "I love you. I would give up life itself before I lost you. Please understand."

Still dubious, Galvan saw Jin's wide pug face was crinkled up in an unattractive grimace. Tears poured from her eyes and her nose was running. He raised a hand to wipe away at her face. "I never saw you cry before, little shark. I didn't know you COULD cry..."

"I never had reason before," she whispered and kissed him full on the mouth. It start with passion but shifted down to a gentle parting touch of their lips before she broke off to bury her head against his bull neck.

"We will need to talk when this is all over," he said at last, finally patting her on the back to express his acceptance of the situation.

Off to their side, Prince Algon smirked with no effort at diplomacy. "Well. I see we Vilanomians have quite the effect on your water-breathers of Ulgor. Good to know."

Neither Galvin nor Jin took any notice of him.

Thirty yards away, a helmeted head broke the surface. Jocelyn thumbed the ear pod of her helmet and the visor retracted up inside its internal track. "Umm, fresh air at last." She swam toward them with slow weary strokes and hung her arms over a floating wooden beam. "Whew. I'm tuckered out and that's no lie. Having my poor Gammon blown to bits took the starch right out me."

Galvan peered past Demrak Jin's head. Oddly, the Gelydra woman's stiff white hair dried as soon as it was out of the water, another clue that she was not quite Human. "Good to see you safely up here, captain," the big Melgar said.

"I've been talking with Dr Mercer and with Woodburn on my way up," Jocelyn gasped as she caught her breath. "They tell me that all the Submergia personnel are accounted for. The US Navy patrol ship is on its way. Everyone will be brought to the hospital on Oahu for treatment and observation. I guess our story is going to be that some noxious gas was released when the floor of Submergia developed some cracks."

"Hmm. That will certainly help these people rationalize away their experience. They will think the horrors were mere hallucination," Galvan said. By now, Jin had disengaged herself off him to turn around and see how Jocelyn was, but she still stayed next to the Melgar.

"Good work everyone," the KDF captain told them. "And of course, we want to thank you for your assistance, Prince Algon. Without your err friends to carry the staff to the surface, I think most of them would died. You have our gratitude, your highness."

"It is enough to have done what is right," the sea prince replied. "It seems the time has come for Vilamone to reveal itself... if not to the surface world, then at least to our cousin water-breathers of Ulgor."

"I am an exile from our own royal court," Demrak Jin said. "I cannot act as mediator between our two peoples."

Algon scoffed. "Perhaps that is just as well. Still, our stories are far from over. I am sure we will meet again." Without further explanation or farewells, he sank below the surface and was gone.

"Don't hurry back," rumbled Galvan.

"Well then." Jocelyn released the floating debris and swung around in the water toward the bulk of the SELKIE looming nearby. "I must speak with Mercer and Woodburn to decide what we're going to tell the authorities. I'm beginning to think that wasn't even a full Sulla Chun down there but one of its subserviantgods, an Obanchu. With that monster active down there, it's important to keep the UN from sending down divers to examine the wreckage of Submergia. They would be eaten or worse." Exhausted as she was, Jocelyn managed a wry smile for Galvan and Jin. "And I guess you two have some talking to do between your own selves."

11/7/2018