Songs of Thalassa

by Brian Tissot

  As the sun dipped below the horizon, Melia and Maka emerged from the surf, strutted up to the beach, and rested near her as the white dwarf rose in the darkness as a super bright moon. As they watched, there were no words, no whistles, just individuals—Nesoi and human—enjoying a beautiful, serene moment.

  Later, as the stars moved across the sky, Melia turned her head and looked as the unknown planet-like object rose brightly on the horizon, now brighter than Venus in Earth’s sky. As she did, she let out a shrill sound Sage had never heard before, “thweeet thwet whet.” Looking at the object, Sage thought it was bigger than ever. It’s getting closer.

  Sage pointed at it. “What is that, Melia?”

  Melia turned her head to look at Sage then back at the bright object and made the shrill sound again. Then Melia whistled Sage’s name and nervously looked to the sea. Melia’s afraid!

  Chapter 19.

  Songs and Cycles

  Over the next few days, as Sage watched the tide drop successively lower in the channel, then rush higher up on the shore half a day later, it dawned on her that the ocean was undergoing major changes on Thalassa. Thinking back, she realized the tides had been increasing in magnitude for some time, which is how she was able to cross the previous channel. Since the tidal cycle did not appear to coincide with the phases of Lona, it must be something else. The only thing that made sense was the brightening planet as the high tides occurred when it was high in the night sky and nine Thalassa hours later. It was getting closer and since it can’t be a planet, she thought, that left the possibility of either a very large asteroid or something else.

  Regardless of what it was, she reached two startling conclusions. First, the ocean bottom being bare down to 300 feet was beginning to make sense, as was the changing color of the landscape. On the mainland, she remembered their flyover with the red and orange landscape at higher elevations, abruptly shifting to yellow near the coast. Turning to look at the island, she noticed everything was yellow. But the next one, which she guessed was about 300 feet high, had a red summit. If the red color change was a high water mark, she reasoned, the tide, or whatever it was, would continue to grow to extreme proportions, and staying on the island would be dangerous.

  Her second conclusion was that if the tidal trend continued, the sea level would eventually drop low enough for her to get to the next island, and perhaps even to the one after that. Hopefully, from there, she could get to even higher ground before the tide peaked. The thought that scared her was timing: would she be able to escape the islands before the ocean’s tides got too extreme?

  As she stared at the dropping tide in the channel, the ground began to shake. Although violent, it was a short-lived event. Was it an earthquake or another collision? After it stopped, she scrambled up to the high plateau of the island to check things out. The going was rough as she climbed over the volcanic spine of the ridge, covered with brittle yellow lichens. Volcanic ridges and boulders alternated with pockets of fine black volcanic sediment mixed with reddish-orange-black sand.

  Breathing heavily, she climbed onto the plateau and looked out at the ocean. There was no obvious tsunami, but the Nesoi were gone. All underwater. Not a good sign. Then she walked over to look at the volcanoes. Although partially hidden by growing dark clouds, lightning flashes near their summits illuminated triangular smoking shadows. They’re belching smoke, shit. Looking out to sea, she saw ominous dark clouds growing on the horizon. Double shit! What is happening here?

  Standing on the summit, Sage had an epiphany: the belching volcanoes, the gathering clouds, the worsening tides, the object growing closer in the sky, all told her that something cataclysmic was building. It’s more than tides. Melia’s fear told her that it wasn’t new but had happened before. The Nesoi must be adapted to what was coming! She remembered Melia motioning her into the water as they watched the bright planet last night. They breathe air, so they must have a protective place underwater, maybe a cave.

  On top of everything, the memories of her dreams and Tutu’s words were popping into her head and pushing her on. You are on the path…and you must fight for it. Although she felt helpless and trapped with a calamity approaching, she was also moving toward something new, something important. But the woman in the light remained elusive. Although thoughts of her massive tube ride, the team’s demise, and the possibility of rescue kept surfacing, it felt like a distant dream, another life that was gone. That night, lying high on the rocks near the north channel, she watched the sky as small earthquakes kept her awake. As the bright object rose, shooting stars filled the sky. I have to keep moving!

  The next afternoon, she ran down to the beach to catch a few pika and was startled by how high the tide was on the shore as it began lapping at the base of the rocks. Knowing she would have to dive through deeper water to catch her meal, she wore her breather. As she plunged through the surf, Melia and Maka appeared and followed her closely. Within minutes she was surrounded by a group of Nesoi as she swam along the bottom trying to grasp some pika. Luckily, she was able to corner a small mantis squid under a rock and surfaced to gulp it down. Yum! she thought. Tastes like calamari!

  Melia surfaced next to her, whistled her name, then motioned her to follow.

  “OK, Melia, why not? Maybe I’ll learn something important.” Sage swam out on the surface with Melia and Maka, surrounded by an entourage of Nesoi, including Two-Spot, who was part of Melia’s family group. As they reached a steep drop-off, Melia motioned for Sage to submerge. She adjusted her breathing device and dove below the surface.

  As she descended, she saw the steep underwater cliff below her several hundred feet down in the clear water. She hesitated. Too deep for me! Then Melia, as if sensing her reluctance, rubbed her back against Sage. Grab on, she communicated. Although Sage had watched some of the smaller Nesoi ride their mother’s backs, she had always restrained herself from touching one, although they often touched her. She respected them as wild, unspoiled creatures on their home planet, and it was inappropriate behavior. But now, a couple of hundred feet down, given the circumstances and with a clear signal from Melia, Sage shrugged then grabbed handfuls of fur as the Nesoi swam to the bottom. Sage let go with one hand to clear her ears a few times, but soon they faced the dark, sheer cliff of the drop-off wall. Though she worried about encountering more large mantis squids, she believed she was safe among the Nesoi.

  Sage could hear Melia and others clicking away and creating creaking sounds as she swam into the dark void. She closed her eyes, waiting for a collision with the rock walls. But nothing happened, and Melia moved deftly through the labyrinth of caves, dimly lit by bioluminescent patches on the walls. The pace was furious as Melia turned one way then another, knowing where to go in the complex network.

  After a few minutes, they ascended a long vertical shaft, eventually emerging into a dimly lit air pocket. Sage pulled off her breather and took a deep breath. Air is good. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she realized they were in a large cavern stretching for a hundred feet in all directions. A dozen Nesoi lay on a small rocky beach whistling with a complex mix of sounds as other animals began popping up around her. It felt like they were greeting each other as individuals returned to the clan’s home. The smell was strong and included the scent of the Nesoi mixed with pika odor. Sage recognized several of the other Nesoi from Two-Spot’s encounter with the ladder.

  She pulled herself out of the water and walked up the rocky beach to tour the cave as the whistling and tweeting faded into an occasional snort or whistle. Fresh water dripped off the cave walls into small pools on the floor. Taking a drink, she felt fresh air emanating from the walls of the cave. How perfect! They have everything they need here. Wow, this is their home.

  Glancing around, she noticed the cave walls were filled with markings, like the cave where she had found Melia. A mix of simple and complex patterns alternated across rows of marks lining the walls like primitive
art in a gallery. Are the bioluminescent creatures creating this or what? Placing her hand on the wall, she felt the hard lava rock through a thin veneer of living creatures that sparkled with light as she ran her fingers across the surface, eliciting a chorus of snorts, whistles, and grunts. Pulling her hand away, she noticed her fingers left a pattern, similar to those on the wall. Pondering the significance of her discovery, she noticed a familiar imprint on the wall—the outline of a Nesoi paw. She pulled back in amazement and spoke to Melia. “I can’t believe it! You’re writing on the wall—with symbols!”

  After staring at the markings for a few minutes, the building cataclysm compelled her to keep moving. Sitting down next to Melia, she pulled on her breathing device and pointed at the water. The Nesoi grasped her meaning and motioned once again to her back. Sage grabbed on, and Melia plunged into the water and swam out through the cave system as Maka followed. This time, however, Melia stopped at each turn and made a series of underwater wails as if showing Sage how to navigate the system.

  At first, it seemed too complex, but then Sage noticed symbols on the walls of the cave at each intersection. A bisected circle on the wall here, a straight line there, a slash mark—all made from Nesoi claw marks embedded in the phosphorescent glow of the walls. Melia—or someone—had maintained signs, directions on how to reach their home cave! How friggin’ amazing. They have some kind of language. And she is teaching me how to find home.

  As the trio swam back to shore, Maka circled Sage, her signal to swim together. Although tired, Sage swam down to the bottom, and they started their now well-practiced dance routine while Melia and the other Nesoi watched with apparent fascination. Maka added new twists and turns to their dance as Sage swam with her. It feels so natural. It’s as if she is anticipating my every move. This time, as Maka began singing her song, the other Nesoi joined in, creating a symphony of sounds that overwhelmed Sage with feelings of love. As Maka sang, others repeated the tune. She’s teaching them her song! In addition to hearing familiar sounds, she recognized distinct verses repeated in the songs. There is structure here, she thought and made a mental note to listen more carefully to their songs in the future.

  Later, as she bounced down the beach, she found a strangely shaped object high on the shore. To her surprise, it was a piece of Milo’s red-and-yellow surfboard. Touching the hard fiberglass surface and soft foam core brought back strong memories of her previous life, forcing her to sit down in its intensity. This feels alien. Yet it’s human-made and a huge part of my past life. With surprising force, her thoughts shifted off her carefree family-like ties with the Nesoi to her high-stakes, online holoscreen persona, and adoring followers. The feelings attached to her surfing personality overwhelmed her, and she felt a hollowness in her chest as she relived the flood of love from her tweets, likes, and holoscreen followers. Despite her brief happiness on Thalassa, she missed her professional life. Like an often-used drug, just the thought of riding giant waves and seeing herself on the holoscreen caused warmth to spread through her body. With determination, she stood up and walked briskly toward the channel. It’s time to get off this island and head back, come hell or high water. I need to return to the surfing world and show everyone my giant tube ride.

  She ran down to the channel to find that the tide had dropped low. She briefly stared at the narrow raging channel filled with jellies. No time like the present. Summoning her courage, and seeing Melia and Maka watching her, she jumped in and vigorously began to swim across. The fast-moving water pushed her out into the ocean, along with a few large jellies that she managed to avoid touching. Once past the surf, the current died, and she swam along the shore, then toward the beach. She felt triumphant as she bounced up the beach on the next island, staring down once again at a long sandy beach with a rocky hill in the middle, this time with a small red top.

  Determined to keep moving, she walked briskly down the beach toward the next island. But hours later, on the verge of exhaustion and with the beach appearing to continue forever, she found a cave high on the shore and collapsed into a deep, dreamless sleep.

  A tremor roused her in the middle of the night, and she emerged from the cave and saw the huge planet, now brighter than the white dwarf. Startled, she thought of the Nesoi and the coming flood, and it made her think of the myth of Hina-hanai-a-ka-malama (Hina nourished on the moon) that her tutu had forced her to memorize. She spoke to the bright object in the dark sky:

  “Hina was an undersea woman who broke the chief’s hooks while fishing. The chief captured her and after four days Hina sends for her coconut beloved gourd. But its contents fly up to heaven in the form of a crescent moon. Her brothers searched for her upon a wave of the sea, which surges to the mountaintops, the flood of Ka hina li‘i, and drowns everyone but the chief and his ‘ohana, who escaped to the highest peak.”

  “OK,” she said while pointing at the planet, “since you seem to be creating a flood, I’ll call you Hina, after the Hawaiian moon legend.” Lona and Hina, what a pair!

  Looking at the ocean in the night, she heard water roaring up the shore and over the base of the hill on a surging high tide. Alarmed at how fast the tides were progressing, she climbed up to the top of the rocky core of the island in the dim light, avoiding the dark holes and caves. As she tediously climbed the craggy mountain, she heard the ocean begin to rush back out as the tide dropped. She reached the top of the island as the eastern horizon brightened with the rising of the sun; the line of volcanoes was buried in dark clouds. Walking to the ocean side, she saw dark clouds on the western horizon while the ocean pulsed toward the island on a moderate swell.

  Then, off to the north, she saw a much larger island close to the mainland, topped by red rocks, glistening in the morning sun. A narrow channel divided the islands, the water rushing from the inland sea to the ocean as the tide dropped. But something unusual was in the water off the next island’s beach. Although she could barely make it out in the dim morning light, there was something in the surf. Nesoi? No. She saw familiar motions, movements she had seen many times before. Somebody’s surfing!

  Chapter 20.

  Reunion

  With sullen eyes, Milo stared down the long sandy beach shaking his head. “I’m getting sick of this! When the hell is Cutten going to get here?”

  Moshe shrugged. “It’s only been six weeks. You have to be patient. With all your secrecy, I’m not surprised at the delay.”

  “Yeah,” Milo shot back. “But that’s plenty of time to rush an antimatter ship out from Cassini. They must be wondering about the lack of communication, but they sure seem to be taking their goddamn sweet time.” He looked up. “And I don’t like the look of those clouds, and maybe it’s my imagination, but we seem to be having more meteorites every night. And god knows what’s happening to the fucking tides.”

  “You know what Georgia thinks, and she’s the expert,” Moshe replied. “Either way there is nothing we can do about it but wait. At least Dina is having fun.”

  “Yeah, surfing.” Milo sneered. “That’s the main thing, right? I don’t give a shit about that kind of surfing. We need to get back up to the Duke and edit the Colossus surfing session. I can’t wait to broadcast that one! Since Sage didn’t make it, we’ll just show my biggest wave. You’re sure it was uploaded before we crashed, right?”

  “Yes, yes,” said Moshe. “For the hundredth time, I uploaded everything in real time, so all the footage is safe on the Duke.”

  Milo kicked the sand. “We’d be back on Earth now if the lander hadn’t crashed and the goddamn remote didn’t get soaked.”

  “And it’s too bad about Byron as well,” Moshe said, raising one eyebrow.

  Milo flinched and gave Moshe a dismissive look. “Yes, of course, but we have to move on. Georgia says it’s just the remote battery, and we’re lucky she was able to grab it. Which is why we should consider plan B.”

  Moshe took a deep breath, then gl
ared at Milo. “Can you remind me of that one again? You have so many: uploading the big-wave video, bioprospecting for pharmaceuticals, eating one of those seals, grabbing a creature for an exhibit, swimming over to the mainland—I get lost in all your brilliant ideas.”

  “Well, there’s nothing else to do. And I definitely want to take something back. But my idea—which is solid by the way—is to look for the ruins of the Proteus mission.” He pointed across the narrow inland sea at the mainland. “It was only 12 years ago, and I bet they didn’t waste their time on these islands but landed over there, on the flat coastal plain. The rest of the continent is too steep and rocky. There can’t be more than a dozen miles of it, and it’s right across from us. Once we locate what’s left of the ship, we can find a power source in the wreckage to use. Then we can call down the Duke and get the hell out of here.”

  “Why don’t we just ask Dina to paddle across on her board and get it?” asked Moshe.

  Milo shook his head. “No, that won’t work. We need Georgia to help cobble something together. Plus, I don’t trust either of them. They could take off and leave us here. And I don’t relish the idea of waiting for them to come back. Things seem to be getting worse.”