Crashing Tides

by Gwendolyn Marie

  The chimpanzee soon appeared on the television screen, with the transparent box in front of him. The researcher showed him the steps ... but Sulango did not do all of them! He just skipped some, and only turned the knob and lifted the lever, but the treat still popped out for him. She sat there, confused. Did she do something wrong?

  Her mom finally spoke up from between her puffs, though her voice nonchalance and annoyed at being there, “That monkey is smarter than you.”

  The researcher came in, same big smile as she kneeled down to the eye level of Meg. But rather than her excitement of previous, Megaira burst into tears. “I’m dumb! I did it wrong, I’m sorry.”

  “No! No, you didn’t at all,” she said soothingly, patting the top of the pigtail mess that sorted the unkempt blonde hair. “You see, this experiment is to just tell us how Chimpanzees are amazing at problem solving. They can see something and figure out how to solve many basic problems better than any human. And their memory is amazing too. One experiment shows that they can remember patterns shown just in short bursts to them, better than even adult humans.”

  “But I see more than just showing how smart these apes are. I see how special this makes us and how it may have been the reason we evolved the way we did, and have society and culture. You see, you had such strong belief in the ritual, you ignored the fact that some steps were pointless in opening the box. This does not make you dumb! Rather it shows how important this belief is in humans, it is the reason why we were able to form a society and become what we are. So this experiment should not just be about how chimpanzees are great at problem solving, but how the human’s propensity to belief is what helped our evolution to what we are today.”

  Obviously the confused young face that stared up at her caused the researcher to continue in hopes to clarify herself. “Belief helps us build on the thoughts and ideas of others. It allowed us to create space shuttles and be able to have underwater sea exploration. It lets us create art and society. I trust that flicking this switch will turn on the lights. I have no idea how it does, but trusting others allowed me to study other aspects of science and build on them. Belief makes us rely on others, and this is how society is formed.”

  “So you did not do it wrong. You are showing how special humans are,” the researcher continued, and though Meg could hear her mom scoff in the background, it did not matter. Her previous excitement was returning.

  “I want to be just like you when I grow up!”

  The researcher smiled in return and pushed some of the stuffing back into the brains of the poor dolphin. “You know dolphins are chimpanzees of the sea, they are so smart. And you can be anything you set your mind to.”

  “Stop telling her lies,” her mom rebutted, grabbed the hand of the little one and pulled her away. “We have been here long enough, we have other appointments.”

  Her mom hurried her away, of course after getting the pay. But Meg did not care, all she could think of was what the researcher had said. Chimpanzees of the sea! She loved the ocean, she wished she could live forever in the sea, like a mermaid! That would be so much better than where she lived now.

  Several days previous: In the time after the war

  Satin sheets clung to Megaira’s skin. Sweat trickled from her, enveloping each curve. Regardless of the cool deep sea that surrounded the Thalassic, her quarters felt as if a sweltering oven. One hand propped her head, the other teased the sheet, beckoning her partner to return to their haven.

  “Hector, stay,” she murmured, sitting up and pulling the sheets loosely around her as if challenging Hector to come and pull them off.

  He did not answer. He dressed and started to head toward the door.

  It was a vain attempt to find a heart inside the hollow husk of a soldier. Once, she believed he would have more to give, once upon a time as the fairy tales go. She should have known, though perhaps that was why she was attracted to him, that she did know. She knew it would never be more, and part of her wanted it to be that way. She could not help the occasional pull for significance, but if Hector ever responded positively? She would probably leave him, needing to maintain her independence.

  Still, she persuaded him to stay and forgo his duties. Climb the impossible mountain, push the rock too heavy, as Sisyphus in the classical mythos. Sisyphus was a Corinthian king who had betrayed Zeus. In eagle form, Zeus had found love with a nymph and had carried her away. But Sisyphus, who had always been deceitful and murderous if to his own advantage, told the nymph’s father where Zeus had taken her. Therefore Sisyphus was punished to be chained in Hell, but instead used trickery to chain Death himself, which caused disorder in the earthly realm. Finally though, he was sentenced in Hell to attempt to push a rock up a mountain, though when he neared the summit the boulder would roll down. He was bound to eternity to repeat this task. The comparison was not a far stretch considering Hector was like an immobile boulder and Thalassic mimicked Tartarus so closely, and she, as the Greek king had been, was punished for an eternity in the underworld.

  “Come on stay.” She stretched under the sheets, allowing each movement to be visible to the soldier. Each gesture deliberate yet impulsive.

  “No,” he responded. Hard, cold, the stone of Sisyphus. “Not while there may be others above.”

  What he meant was not while there was a war to be fought above. He probably cared little of any survivors, he just wanted to fight. She sighed, oh, how she could read him. However, he completely misunderstood her.

  “I did not mean that. I just meant for a hour, away from your duties toward the Thalassic and Leander.”

  Despite herself, she was hoping again that there was more to him than his steel exterior; the question was: was he worth it to her?

  “I am going to meet with Leander,” he responded. “We leave come dusk. I have to go.”

  The sultry climate stood opposed to the frost growing between them. But he took a step back to her, and suddenly the impermeable mountain seemed to collapse in an avalanche. Care and concern carved his features as he looked to her.

  “You stay aboard Thalassic, promise me. I want you safe,” Hector said, bringing one hand to sweep her blonde locks over her shoulder.

  He would never understand. She wanted to be with him—not protected by him. Hell if she could not protect herself. Slipping her hand down the side of the bed, she searched underneath it. First her hand hit a very familiar object, which once was fluffy and comforting but now made her hand retreat in embarrassment upon feeling its worn fur. Definitely do not want to bring out my old dolphin, she thought as her cheeks blushed, and she continued her search. Finally, she found what she wanted and pulled out the assault rifle stowed securely underneath. Weapons were not allowed in the private cabins, for the discharge of them would only compromise the underwater compound. But she was not one to abide by any rule that separated her from it.

  “I don’t need you concerned for my safety,” Megaira said in a gesture of stubbornness. Not that it was a misguided stubbornness; she was an ace in assault tactics.

  “And that is what I like about you,” Hector said, taking the gesture in play. He smiled as he threw a pillow on her. “Though promise me. Stay here in Thalassic.”

  Promise ignored, Megaira walked the tunnels composing the Thalassic to find Leander. She would not have Hector dictate her prerogatives. And to hell with him if he decided what was best for her. Or perhaps that was what caused her dissension: he did not care for her. Somehow his order for her to stay behind showed her that he did not want her by his side. And this expedition to the surface was truly just a way to throw her off his back.

  Walking through the circular halls, she felt each step weighted as she considered the true reasoning behind Hector’s demand. Finally, she found Leander in the weapons area. Preparing for his unauthorized mission, he looked up suddenly upon her interruption.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked. She knew, but decided to use it to her advantage. “Nothing behind Admiral Telphousian’
s back, right?”

  He shook his head, knowing damn well what she was trying to do. Blackmail, to keep her quiet and the mission secret. “What do you want, Megaira?”

  “To go with you.”

  “Hector doesn’t want you to go,” Leander said. “You know he really does care for you in his own way. And it is too dangerous up there. Plus, we are going against direct orders. If found out, we will lose our rank, maybe worse. I don’t want to place you in that situation.”

  She sighed; Leander was worst than a protective brother. Of course, as an only child, she supposed part of her enjoyed his brotherly demeanor.

  “Why don’t you just leverage how the Admiral feels about you. Give her what she wants—maybe she will then give you what you want. This mission, proper troops,” she said.

  “You know how I feel about Tilphê. I cannot lie and put forward false feelings even for the endorsement of this mission. I won’t play with her heart like that.”

  “Then if you don’t allow me to come, I will tell her. Both of you will be behind bars, and she would probably enjoy putting you there—then she could finally make you hers.”

  Leander frowned, his face embittered at her threat. “You would put yourself before the good of society, Megaira?”

  “Would you put Hector’s wishes above it?”

  She had him, she knew it. He would do anything, from going against orders to dismissing Hector’s wish, if it was for the ‘good of society’. But she knew better, society was damned and all she could afford to care about right now was the good of herself. It may sound selfish, but she learned even before the outbreak that all you really have is yourself. That was the one and only lesson her mother had taught her, albeit indirectly.

  “Fine. You can come.”

  A smile broke her face, as she joined by his side. She wrapped her hand around the largest assault rifle and pulled it from the rack. “You won’t regret your decision.”

  “I will as soon as Hector finds out.”

  And that was sooner than later. Hector walked into the weapons locker. Face emotionless, he looked at Megaira and then Leander, nothing behind the hard expression. He pulled a revolver and rifle from the rack, still wordless.

  “I can handle it, Hector,” Megaira said, answering Hector’s unstated yet clear discontent. “You know I can help you guys up there.”

  “I am not worried about whether you can handle yourself,” Hector said.

  Leander backed away from the beginnings of the quarrel, placing his weapons of choice in his utility belt and pack.“I’m going to get Dio, obtain some medical supplies, and we will meet at the moon pool at nineteen hundred.”

  He left without a goodbye; Megaira did not blame him as the tension rose between herself and Hector.

  “Then what is it?” she asked, hushed, as she touched Hector’s arm. He tensed. “You just want to leave me behind? I don’t understand why you do not want me there.”

  His tension eased as he placed his arms around her. To finally feel his warmth rather than the coldness, but to know he would soon close up again was torture. He was a warrior; he needed war to be himself. Otherwise his spirit was tortured; otherwise, he was as the ghosts of lions that lay idle in the zoo. He needs the hunt, the fight ... not love. And she knew this. Yet still his warmth enticed, his presence lured her to him.

  “Before Thalassic ...” he began. He paused, and she loosened her grip to look at him. He never mentioned the time before he was stationed on Thalassic outside of the formal debriefings, but now he spoke. “I fought the Chaots. But they were not just Chaots to me. They were my squadron who had turned. I fought against those I stood besides, I fought my own comrades. This disease, it takes your soul.”

  He pressed his lips against her cheek as he murmured in her ear: “I worry I will have to stand against you.”

  “I understand,” she said, relieved, realizing he did not doubt her skills or ability to stand strong. “And do what you must Hector. And I will do as I must.”

  He kissed her. Their lips met for mere seconds, but the passion shared would live on in her mind.

  And through hell

  The submersible broke the surface. Testing the air, assuring themselves that the bio-agent was indeed gone from the atmosphere, Leander then pushed the hatch open and the four looked out, the first time in over a year they saw the moonlight.

  Salt air filled the cabin. Fresh air.

  Megaira breathed deep, finally grasping the point for heading upward, becoming aware of the life she had missed. The unprocessed air, the wind that whipped through the sub and around the Thalassicians, the sounds of waves and seagull caws, all of this she did not even realize was lacking in her life, did not realize she even missed it, until now.

  But what waited away from the open sea? What waited on land?

  They would soon find out.

  The moonlight bounced along the rocks scattering the shore. Each shone as if a moon to itself, granting a beautiful vision of land to the sea bound soldiers. Megaira smiled, and for the first time it was not a journey to be besides Hector, or to test her training, but to simply escape the underwater shell that kept her for over a year. She leaned over, putting her hand between the rocks to touch the muddy soil of the earth.

  The King Sisyphus has cheated death once. Now she felt the same, escaping from the underworld to again be alive.

  “We’re here,” she called out, as if now they could stay here. It seemed peaceful, removed from any threat of the doomsday long past. Maybe the Chaots had killed themselves, she thought, and all those months were spent below for nothing.

  A dog bark responded to her proclamation. She laughed, as if the bark corroborated her hope that the end of war had come. Now was only nature, only peace.

  If only it could be so simple.

  The dog bark came again, not in happiness though. Not in welcome of people returning to pet and groom him, nor as a carnivore on the hunt. It made her arms freeze, not the best thing when what they should have been doing was readying her gun. The dog roared; the sound crossing the line to into the fanatical. Over the rocks, the dog ran, and as he came to sight she saw his mouth foaming.

  Gun ... gun ... she thought to herself, but was still caught off guard in her euphoria moments ago.

  Hector stepped in front of her, turning to the charging animal, took aim, and fired.

  The dog fell, its blood splashing unto the moonlit rocks. Megaira said nothing, felt nothing. The joyous homecoming broke away from her exterior, leaving her with nothing left except the mission.

  “Did the disease cross the lines from humans to animals?” she asked, her voice shaky. Her confidence of animals faltered as if the chimpanzee whom she adored from her childhood had escaped from behind the television screen and came to chase her down, taking the identity of the dog to do so.

  Dio looked over the dog. Megaira wondered if he still respected the culture of his ancestors as he looked with reverence upon the animal. Leander came to his side to visually examine the dog.

  “Looks like rabies,” Leander said. “Without humans to try to control the virus, the outbreak is probably escalating in animals around here. Nothing to do with the disease itself.”

  “Let us hope we only run into crazed dogs, and not crazed humans,” Megaira replied. She stepped out from behind Hector’s protection, placing a hand on his arm. “And I can take care of myself from dogs, cats ... even the occasional person.”

  She joked, yet her voice was far off. Cold crept within her soul as she tried to return to the elation of being surface side, but failed.

  “No offense, but it did not seem that way to me,” Dio said. She always believed Dio had it out for her, and his critical glare only proved it to her.

  “No, everything would have been fine. I just did not want to go around killing dogs, and so waited a moment to be sure.”

  “That moment could mean your death next time,” Hector said.

  Great, it felt like everyone was ganging up on
her.

  “Next time, keep your gun in your holster, Hector,” she retorted, “and you will see I won’t hesitate.”

  She said that more to herself than anyone, as she looked at the dog. Perhaps there was still a chance the plague was self-eradicating. But seeing that dead dog, the saliva dripping down the open mouth as if the virus still lived, she knew hope could not be afforded. If it were, she would be ill-equipped to handle what hides, pass the rock shores, behind the line of green.

  My gun will be in my hands, ready to kill, next time. She swore that to herself.

  Chapter Nine

  Victor of the dawn, the sun rose as a flaming chariot. Awakening those under his path, Helios took the reins to bring light to the new day. The god played secondary to the pantheon in ancient times, only on the island of Rhodes did his worship manifest beyond the trivial. Though now as he came to the Acadia island in the western hemisphere, his adoration again became forefront. Scaring away demons that haunted the night, lighting the way for the those who most needed him, Helios found the veneration of a true deity. The soldiers watched the vibrance of dawn fight away the night, and aspired that they too could battle the personified darkness—the Chaots—and win as Helios had.

  Allowing the light to lead them, the five broke camp and began again to hike toward the uncharted destination. This time Leander and Dio took the lead, Hector the rear, and Megaira hiked with Nyx in the middle. The men were out of eyeshot, but she did not mind. They were becoming a restrictive presence, an anchor cast within the roving seas. How one could stand such an accumulation of people was beyond her. Especially Leander…his presence confused her. He was the haze before sunrise, where nothing was clear, where nothing made sense. She waited for the sun to rise to see straight, to follow her wayward path. But with Leander she was trapped in that foggy interval between wake and sleep, night and day. She desired to be away and on her own, but the pull to stay—the pull toward Leander—overwhelmed even that.