Gates of Neptune (7 page)

“Yes, they are much like a tiger shark.” Valar looked at Josh. “Perhaps you'd like to be the first—show the others how it's done?”

Josh could not think of anything he would rather not do than get in the water close to one of those fierce-looking
animals with the cruel teeth. But stubbornly he said, “I'll do it. Just show me how.”

Valar slapped him on the shoulder. “You're a good mariner, Josh. And it isn't as bad as it looks. These sharks have been specially bred. They will never attack, except as you direct them. They certainly would never attack their own riders. As a matter of fact, we grow quite close to our mounts, much as you grow close to your horses, I suppose, or did back in the old world.”

Josh looked again at the shark, wanted to refuse, but there was no way. “Well, we might as well get it over with.”

They left the others to watch, and Valar led Josh down to the tank. There they fastened their helmets and entered the underwater corral.

Valar approached one of the huge animals, more than fifteen feet long and sleek as a torpedo. He swam up to the shark, stroked him under the chin, then led him over to a rack where a kind of saddle was hanging. Valar saddled the shark and then motioned for Josh to get on.

Josh did not hesitate, for he knew he'd be lost if he did. Gingerly, he approached the beast, gave himself a push so that he got over the side, and then slipped into the saddle. He found there were pegs inside that he could lock his knees around so that it held him firmly, and there was a sort of bridle. He sat there fearfully, afraid to do anything, while Valar saddled another shark and then came up beside him.

“We'll ride around a little bit, just like riding a horse. Pull right, left, up, or down. Eventually you can just guide them with your knees, when you're familiar enough with your mount.”

Josh felt the huge beast quiver beneath him and thought of its great muscles. He thought also of those long teeth, but he nodded, saying, “I'm ready.”

“Come along, then.”

* * *

Through the porthole the other Sleepers watched Valar show Josh the basics of sharkmanship.

“Yikes,” Dave said, “I don't care what he says. If one of those animals had a mind to, he could turn around and bite your head off.”

Reb said, “Aw, shoot. That's the same way with a horse. You think about it, now. A horse weighs fifteen hundred pounds, and you weigh a hundred and twenty. All he's got to do is turn around and kick you, and it's all over—but most of them never do.”

Dave grinned weakly. “It's that
most of them
I don't like, Reb. They just take one bite, and the show is over.”

But that did not happen, and for the next three days the Sleepers worked hard at learning to manage their sharks. They found that there was an art to it but soon learned how

On the fourth day, Valar said, “Today we're all going fish hunting. I've assigned a man to take each one of you on a hunting trip.” He reached out and put his hand on Sarah's shoulder. “I'll take Sarah myself, and the rest of you will have expert mariners to guide you.”

Sarah felt Josh's eyes on her but said nothing.

They left almost at once, all heading in different directions, and it was a delightful trip for Sarah. She had been using the spear gun for some time, but the first time a big fish swam by and Valar said, “See if you can hit him, Sarah,” she got excited and did not even aim. Unfortunately, she missed the fish by a good five feet and was humiliated.

“That's all right, you'll be fine. You just have to learn to be a little steadier.”

Sarah did learn, and before an hour had passed she had shot a beautifully shaped red fish.

Valar said, “These are the best fish, I think, in Atlantis. We'll have him for supper tonight.”

Sarah was proud of herself.

For the next hour they hunted but did not take anything more.

It was when they turned to go that it happened. Sarah was slightly behind Valar, who was looking off in another direction. Suddenly, a hideous face appeared in a crevice in a bank of coral, and at once Sarah knew what it was. She had seen this creature in nature films.

A moray eel!
her brain cried out, and even as she thought it, the huge eel came exploding out of his hiding place, headed straight for the unprotected Valar.

Without thinking, Sarah raised her spear gun and pulled the trigger. The spear caught the moray eel in the middle of his body. At once, he began to writhe and sank to the bottom.

Valar whirled, saw what had happened, and came back at once. “Good girl!” he exclaimed. “Those things can be nasty.”

He said nothing else on the way back. But later that evening, when she was walking along a corridor, looking out the portholes, which she loved to do, he came up to her. “You know, in my country, in Atlantis, when someone saves a life, that life belongs to him.”

Sarah felt a thrill run through her, but she said, “I wouldn't know what to do with someone else's life, Valar.” She laughed slightly. “I have trouble with my own.”

Valar shook his head. “We have a ceremony when someone saves our life.” He embarrassed her by kissing her cheek, and then he bowed deeply, saying, “My life is yours.”

Sarah flushed. Such a thing had never happened to her before.

What Sarah did not see was that Josh, coming around the turn in the corridor, had seen the last of this episode. Neither did she see the anger on his face as he turned and walked away in the other direction.

* * *

Later that night Sarah encountered Josh. She was still thrilled about what had happened and very happy.

But suddenly he turned and said, “Sarah, you've been so busy with Valar you haven't seen what's going on.”

She stared at him angrily. “What do you mean, ‘what's going on?”

“I mean the whole country's falling to pieces. They're ready to give up. The people that are left here are hopeless, and the Council doesn't know how to hold them together. And you're so busy romancing that Valar fellow, you can't see it.”

Without another word, Josh stormed off.

That hurt Sarah, for she was fond of Josh, more than any of the other Sleepers. She thought back to the time in the old world when they had become friends, and all the adventures that they had had, and how he'd stood beside her. “I'll have to make it up to him,” she said, “but I don't know how.”

Later, after supper, Sarah walked along the parapet. She loved to roam the corridors and look out at the sea-green water and the strange animals that cruised by, including whales from time to time. Once she even saw a giant squid. She was still troubled by the encounter with Josh and tried to rationalize it to herself.

She rounded a corner but stopped abruptly when she saw a man standing halfway down the hall. He did not
seem to be an Atlantian, and then shock ran through her as she recognized who it really was.

“Goel!” Sarah ran forward and took his hand. He wore his familiar gray cloak. His kind, gray eyes looked down on her, and yet there was a sternness in them.

“Oh, Goel, I'm so glad to see you,” she said. “You don't know what's been happening.” Then she laughed in confusion. “I don't mean that—of course, you know what's going on.”

“Come and walk with me,” Goel said. “I have things to say to you.”

Afterward, Sarah would never tell anyone all that Goel said on that walk, but the part she remembered best was the last few minutes. He had walked slowly and had told her many things, and her heart felt encouragement and warmth. She wanted to ask him many questions, but finally she settled for one. “Goel, will Atlantis be saved?”

Goel stopped unexpectedly and put his hand on her shoulder. “Yes—if you will help.”

Sarah shook her head. “I'm only a girl, not a warrior.”

Goel said with a smile, “Don't you know, Sarah, my child? I choose the feeble to overthrow the powerful.”

But at that moment Sarah thought of her infatuation with Valar. She whispered, “And Goel, I've been very foolish too.”

The smile of Goel was gentle. “All men and all women are foolish at times. The question is, my child, can you receive wisdom?”

“I will try,” she whispered.

And then she stood silent while he told her his plan. Finally, he turned and walked away, and she was alone. One cry came from her lips—”But Goel, I can't do it!”

Still, she knew she had no choice but to obey.

S
arah knew that if she hesitated, thought over what it was that Goel had asked of her, she would never be able to do it. Gritting her teeth, she walked down the hall and knocked on the door where the boys were, then alerted Abbey. When they all came outside, she said, “I've got to talk to you.”

Jake asked at once, “What's wrong, Sarah? You're scared, aren't you?”

Sarah could do no more than nod. She said, “Let's go into our room where we won't be interrupted.”

As she led them down the hall, she tried to think how to start, but when they were all crowded into the room that she and Abbey shared, staring at her, she knew that there would be no easy way.

She said, “Do you remember once before when you were all asleep and Goel came to me in a dream—or maybe it wasn't a dream—but anyway, he came?”

Abbey said, “I remember that.” Cautiously, she watched Sarah, then finally asked, “What is it? Are you trying to tell us that you've seen Goel again?”

“Yes.” Sarah looked at Josh and burst out suddenly, “I wish he hadn't come to me. I wish he'd gone to any one of you besides me!”

Josh, for the moment, seemed to have forgotten his irritation with Sarah and said quickly, “Don't be upset, Sarah. Goel speaks to whoever he wants to.” He cocked his head to one side and said, “He must have had quite a message to cause you to be as upset as you are.”

“I guess you'll all think I'm crazy. It sounds wild even to me, and I don't even know how I can tell you.”

Dave stepped up close and patted her shoulder. “You can tell us. After all, we're the Seven Sleepers, aren't we? We're all in this together.”

Sarah smiled at him faintly. She needed approval, and Dave's words sounded good. “All right,” she said. She hesitated and said plainly, “Goel commands that the seven of us leave Atlantis and that we go to the Citadel of Neptune.”

If she had told them that Goel had commanded them to go to the moon, they could not have looked much more shocked.

For one brief moment, Josh just looked at her. “Well, that's fine! We just learned to swim, I'm not even sure I can stay on that blasted shark, and here we've got to go no telling how far, to a place we've never even seen—”

“Don't be like that, Josh,” Jake said quickly. He was a small pugnacious boy. Sarah knew he was always ready for an argument, or even a fight, though he rarely won the fights. He set his jaw now and said, “After all, I mean, we don't have any choice, do we? Always before, Goel has brought us through. Why should this be any different?”

Suddenly Josh looked ashamed. “I know. I'm supposed to be a leader of some kind,” he said bitterly, “and here I am throwing up arguments. I wish I were a million miles from here. I wish I'd never come to this place. Well, sorry, Sarah. I didn't mean to criticize you—it's just—it seems like a pretty big job.”

“I reckon everything Goel handles is a pretty big job,” Reb said, “and if he's told Sarah what we're to do, then by gum we'll just do it, somehow.”

“Did he say anything else?” Dave demanded.

“Well, he talked a long time, and he said that we'll have to learn through struggle and trial.”

“I don't guess he needed to say that.” Dave grimaced, “Just the idea of it is a struggle to me. And once we get out there on the bottom of the ocean, out of sight of Atlantis, we can get gobbled up by monsters we never even heard of.”

“Yes, and then after we get to the Citadel—if we do—” Josh pondered aloud, “what'll we do? I mean, we just can't go up to the front door and knock politely and say, ‘Howdy Mr. High Lord Admiral! We've come to stop you from invading Atlantis.'” He grinned. “Although that's better than any plan I've got.”

For a long time the Seven Sleepers sat around the room, arguing, thinking of plans. As was inevitable, there were arguments about the method.

Abbey brought up one problem. “In the first place, I'm not even sure that the king and queen would let us go.”

“Oh, that's another thing Goel said.” Sarah spoke up. “I forgot to tell you. We're supposed to go without telling anyone. Not even to leave word where we've gone.”

“Well, ain't that a pretty come-off!” Reb slapped his thigh. “I guess that cuts off any thoughts I had about maybe a rescue party coming in case we get in trouble.”

Sarah felt terrible. “I'm sorry,” she said. “I wish I didn't have to tell you these things—but they're not my idea.”

Later on, more serious arguments developed, and as a result Sarah and Josh found themselves heatedly debating about when to try. Josh was for preparing more, learning more about the way, finding the best route to get to the Citadel of Neptune.