City of gods - Hellenica (26 page)

“It’s closed,” he said.

“We know,” said Saoirse. “We just want to see what it looks like at night.”

The driver smiled and sped off with them. They cut through the canals quickly and noisily; the motor ran on a crude diesel and pumped grey smoke into the night sky. The water beneath had a sharp smell, like sulfur and meat, and was blacker than the night around them.

Their water taxi drove on for twenty minutes and soon they were far from the main docks. They passed by the shipyard where goods were imported and exported; the port was gargantuan, with hundreds of vessels, none of them idle. They were docking, unloading, loading or leaving.
This city is a machine that runs forever,
thought Saoirse.

“You guys are visitors, no?” said the water-taxi driver in a thick Elysian accent.

Saoirse recognized him; he was a driver from her home island. She knew he wouldn’t identify her, for without the makeup, silken clothes and deferential smile of the Hetaerae, she was unrecognizable. But her heart still went out to him.
He must have lost everything when Elysia burned,
she thought.
It’s good that he’s found a home here.

“The fisheries and canneries make money here, to be sure,” said the driver, “but the ports are the
real
moneymakers. They built this city. Anything we buy from foreign lands comes through there. Your shirt, my shoes, and probably this water taxi were boxed in a ship there at one time or another.”

The port is why Dagon
doesn’t need Hellenica,
thought Saoirse.
The port is why the courts will always say yes to him.

Saoirse looked at the water-taxi driver and tried to get a sense of him. She felt that he was indeed trustworthy.
But still
, she thought,
look at the pictures of Dagon on the dashboard. Look at the way he talks of this place; he has the zeal of a convert. The denizens here either love or fear Dagon, but ultimately their allegiance is to him. We have limited time here before someone reports us for some sort of “crime” here.

They made the water taxi come to a stop a kilometer away from the aquarium. Like the rest of the district, the aquarium was massive and brightly lit. Unlike the rest of the docks, it was
clean
. Half of it was inland and the other half was built into the ocean, with nets containing the creatures that lived in the saltwater.

“Fisheries, canneries, ports, they make the money,” said the driver, “but the aquarium is Dagon’s first love. It’s the one place that closes here; he likes his creatures to rest.”

Gunnar paid the water-taxi driver with some money that Bes had sent them, and the driver sped off. Gunnar waited until the driver was far away, and then talked.

“The aquarium will be closed, but there’s a way in. It’s near the ocean side,” he said. “It’s a little dangerous, but if we hurry we’ll be okay.”

Ten minutes later, they were near the ocean and saw what Gunnar was talking about. One of the tanks led out to the sea, and though the giant nets would hold whatever creature was inside, they were easy to climb for humans, even for Kross. They could hop the nets, swim in the tank and then reach the interior.

“Pretty easy to get in,” said Tommy.

“No one would want to go in the tank; there’s a predatory fish in there,” said Gunnar.

“What kind of fish?” asked Saoirse.

“A big, primitive one,” said Gunnar. “I don’t know its name. All I know is that it’s so primitive that your communication is largely useless, Saoirse, and though it lives in the deep its mind is too dull to befriend you, Tommy. If we go one at a time though, we’ll be fine. The creature only recognizes large prey.”

Gunnar was the first to jump in the water, and swam to the other side in less than a minute. He motioned them forward and Kayana reluctantly went on, with Tommy closely behind her. They motioned Saoirse to go forward, but she was having a difficult time getting Kross to go in the water.

Come on
, she said,
we must go forward.

There is whale
, said Kross.

Saoirse looked in the distance and saw that he was right; there was something that looked like a whale in this tank. It was hanging at the far edge, oblivious to them.

It’s far away and sleeping,
said Saoirse.
It won’t wake if we’re quiet
.

They jumped in the water quietly and started to shiver immediately; it was cold. She swam through the water quickly, and heard strange sounds while she was under. They weren’t whale sounds though; just odd snapping noises that cut through the water. Saoirse was then hit by a massive wave and was pressed against the nets. The nets were made of rope and steel, and she was stunned for a moment under the water, not knowing which way was up. She felt a bite in her shoulder, but it didn’t break the skin; she opened her eyes to see it was Kross bringing her to the surface.

Hurry
, he said,
whale is coming.

They swam harder and soon made it to the edge. Gunnar pulled them onto the surface and then directed them away from the water.

“Maintain a space of fifteen meters from this tank’s edge at all times,” said Gunnar.

They went twice that distance, and Saoirse saw the whale-like creature swim near the water’s edge. She couldn’t see what it was, but it was massive and incredibly fast.

“What is it?” asked Saoirse.

Gunnar motioned Tommy to speak.

“It’s a Megalodon,” said Tommy. “An extinct species of shark, several times bigger than the sharks today.”

“That makes no sense,” said Saoirse. “If it’s extinct …”

“Then Dagon’s been experimenting with genetic engineering,” said Gunnar.

Saoirse saw the creature bolt back towards the far end of its tank; its massive back skimmed the surface and she saw the dorsal fin cut through the air, as tall as a man.
Whether he’s been experimenting with genetic engineering or not, he’s succeeding at whatever he’s done,
said Saoirse.
He’s truly a god to rival Hellenica.

/***/

They walked through Dagon’s aquarium in awe. It seemed to hold every type of water creature there was: salmon swimming in freshwater streams, translucent jellyfish glowing behind illuminated glass, and even killer whales swimming in huge, circular tanks.

There was marine life that Saoirse thought to be extinct like the Megalodon; she saw sea scorpions almost three meters long and giant turtles the size of vans. There were tanks dedicated to very small fish; some appeared almost empty. And there were enclosures that held large creatures and extended deep into the ocean. Saoirse saw that one of these long tanks had several monitors attached showing that it housed blue whales, most of them a hundred kilometers out.

“Don’t get too lost in here,” whispered Gunnar. “We have a mission to do.”

They wandered for thirty minutes. Saoirse heard the chatter of Mermaids and followed it; she eventually came to a large, empty tank.

“They’re on top,” said Kayana. “Up there.”

Saoirse looked up and saw the shadow of three Mermaids swimming concentric circles around a reef, twenty meters above. They climbed stairs to the top and saw two more Mermaids lounging on the land Dagon had made for them. It was immaculately constructed, with a rocky jetty and even an abandoned boat moored nearby. When they saw Saoirse’s group, the other three Mermaids came swimming to the top and started to giggle. They were all beautiful, with scaled tails that reflected brilliant colors, even in the moonlight. The Mermaids each had silken hair that came out of the water flowing and dry, and their faces, though not quite human, were stunningly attractive. Their inordinately large eyes were built to see under the water, and their dainty fingers were connected by webbing. The skin on their upper bodies was smooth and shiny, like that of dolphins. One of the Mermaids had shells tied into her hair.

“Your turn, Saoirse,” said Gunnar. “Tell them what we want.”

Saoirse walked forward and bowed. The Mermaids giggled some more.

“Hello,” said Saoirse.

“Why’re ye here?” asked the Mermaid with shells in her hair.

“Excuse me?” asked Saoirse.

“Why’re ye here,” said the Mermaid. “Why’re ye come? Ye come t’save us? Or ye come t’hold us more?”

The Mermaids then clicked, squeaked and laughed amongst themselves some more.
They speak in their own language of clicks, mostly underwater,
thought Saoirse,
but to our kind they make up a language as they go along. 

“We come t’save,” said Saoirse. “We’re the Horsemen.”

“The Horsemen—aye!” squealed one, and then the rest giggled in harmony.

“The tall, he’s the stallion,” said another Mermaid. “And the cute boy in the suit, he’s the plow-pony.”

Gunnar and Tommy blushed, and the Mermaids laughed more at that.

“Ye’re the show horse, and the pale girl is the mare, the
night
-mare,” said another Mermaid. “The Horsemen, come t’save, come t’save us! Four Horsemen of the poco-, the pahkko—”

“The pocky-lips!” squealed one. “Four Horsemen of the
pocky-lips
, come t’save us!”

They laughed at the word
pocky-lips
for awhile, and then Saoirse spoke again.
Speak calmly
, she thought,
or they’ll break into hysterics once more
.

“One of ye has spoken with a basilisk,” said Saoirse, “and the basilisk ’as given us harm. Much harm.”

“Harrrm,” said a Mermaid, “From the
bazer-elk
.”

“Yes,” said Saoirse, “one of ye gave the bazer-elk beauty, and in exchange he attacked our school. Tried t’have us killed.”

The Mermaids chattered amongst themselves once again. They started clacking incessantly, and then one of them made a noise like a dolphin. Soon they all joined in.
They’re not laughing, at least,
thought Saoirse.

“Our sis-tarr talked to this bazer-elk,” said a Mermaid. “Dagon sent our sis-tarr to talk to this bazer-elk.”

“The bazer-elks mayhaps be mean,” said the another Mermaid, “but he not hurt our sis-tarr, she mak’him beautiful.”

“Is she with ye now?” asked Saoirse.

“Nay,” said another Mermaid, “she nay with us now.”

“Where is she?”

The Mermaids spoke quietly amongst themselves, and then one stopped and pointed at the ocean beyond the glass. 

“She ’scaped,” said the Mermaid, “to island far yonder. After our sis-tarr talked to this bazer-elk, Dagon wanted her
kilt
.”

“This island,” said Gunnar, interrupting, “can you show us where it is? Can you take us there?”

“Yes, stallion,” said another Mermaid, “if ye free us. Dagon put us in this prizin.”

Kross nuzzled Saoirse’s arm and then whined a bit to get her full attention.

What is it?
she said.
And make it quick because—

Wolves here
, said Kross.

Wolves?
she asked.

Wolves.

“What’s he saying?” asked Gunnar.

“He says there are wolves around here,” said Saoirse.

“Wolves?” said Gunnar.

“The animal means
guards
,” said Kayana. “I sense them too. They don’t know where we are just yet, but they know there’s been a break-in.”

Gunnar looked around, and then motioned everyone to be quiet. He looked to the floors beneath and Saoirse followed suit. She saw a man swinging his flashlight and then looked through the aquarium to see several more men patrolling outside.

“We’re trapped,” whispered Gunnar. “Kayana, is there any way out that you can see?”

Kayana meditated for a moment and then looked at Gunnar.

“We’re surrounded, and they have more guns than we,” said Kayana. “The only way out is for me to hide in the shadows and take the guards’ lives, one by one. I warn you, that option should not be.”

“Agreed,” said Gunnar. “That’s not our way. That
will never
be our way.”

Gunnar thought for a bit, and then jumped in the tank with the Mermaids. They giggled a bit, but he quieted them with a finger to his lips. He checked out the surroundings, then came back and hid with Saoirse. He spoke to one of them, and she nodded. He soon came back to the group.

“We’re going to free them,” whispered Gunnar. “And they’re going to take us far away from here, to the island where their sister is held. Follow me, and Tommy … take out the glass-cutter that I know you have in your suit.”

They all jumped into the tank, and then snuck into the boat placed on the rocks. It was small and wooden, but its hull was wide and could hold them all comfortably. Though Dagon had built it only for show, with two oars and a shallow hull, it floated. Gunnar unmoored it and then brought it close to the glass. Tommy took out a small knife from his forearm and used it to etch a large hole in the glass. The glass didn’t break, but it started to leak water. The Mermaids giggled one last time and then disappeared underneath the surface. After a few moments there was a
thump
from underneath the boat, and it started to move towards the hole in the glass. Gunnar pushed the hole out until water flooded out into the sea outside. They pushed the boat out smoothly; though the tank was three stories high, the top of the water was at sea level.