Summer's Mermaid (Mermaid series Book 3)

by Dan Glover

  "Those aren’t people."

  "I think you're right, my darling Daughter. They must be a new manifestation of those tiny machines of Micah's that Karen told us about. I wonder why they are taking human form."

  "Micah was lonely, sweet Father. He had no one to be with so his mind must have created those things as a substitute. They're angry that we're here."

  "Perhaps it's Micah who is angry and those creatures are merely acting it out as his representatives."

  They were standing in the dark though within a few seconds his eyes adjusted enough to make out another door on the opposite end of the room. When he opened it and stepped into the hallway, Lady Lily gasped and gathered him into her arms.

  Chapter 36—Shining Kirk

  "But I don’t want you to go, my precious Kirk. You'll never return. I know it. You'll both die over there."

  He was so excited at being asked to accompany Nate that he didn’t take the time to consider the ramifications of leaving Luciana behind. The girl was in tears, her green eyes red, and her great heaving sobs so heavy that her gills fluttered spasmodically as she tried to catch her breath.

  Kirk realized with a start that he had never been loved like that before. Marilyn, his first real relationship with a woman, had been dull and uneventful. If not for the niggardly scheme she had hatched to take over Orchardton Hall, Kirk doubted he would even consider her as a part of his life.

  Delilah had been a wonderful partner for decades but not a solitary tear had been shed with her going. Within days of Delilah's departure from Toulon he couldn’t remember her face. Now, he knew Luciana would be all that he thought about. She was his everything... with each new morning all he could was wonder at the miracle of her sleeping close by his side.

  What would he think if the role were reversed and she was the one leaving on a suicide sojourn to a land of shadows, a place best shunned by the living? He would do exactly what she was attempting and try to talk her out of it all the while knowing the futility of his words.

  He remembered Marilyn reading passages from an old book called the Iliad... out of the fog of time one particular quote came into his mind... how shining Hector's wife beseeched him not to go to war but to stay by her side:

  Andromache the daughter of gallant-hearted Eetion who had lived below Mount Placos rich with timber, in Thebe below the peaks, and ruled Cilicia's people. His daughter had married Hector helmed in bronze. She joined him now, and following in her steps a servant holding the boy against her breast, in the first flush of life, only a baby, Hector's son, the darling of his eyes and radiant as a star. Hector would always call the boy Scamandrius, townsmen called him Astyanax, Lord of the City, since Hector was the lone defense of Troy. The great man of war breaking into a broad smile, his gaze fixed on his son, in silence. Andromache, pressing close beside him and weeping freely now, clung to his hand, urged him, called him: "Reckless one, my Hector-your own fiery courage will destroy you! Have you no pity for him, our helpless son? Or me, and the destiny that weighs me down, your widow, now so soon? Yes, soon they will kill you off, all the Achaean forces massed for assault, and then, bereft of you, better for me to sink beneath the earth. What other warmth, what comfort's left for me, once you have met your doom?

  Kirk knew he was not a mighty warrior like shining Hector, the only defense of Toulon, and yet he had a duty not only to Nate and to Lily but ultimately to himself, his wife, and his child. Hector's answer rang in his head like Marilyn had come back from the dead just for the purpose of fulfilling a vow and as he too wept and held onto Luciana with all his might the words filled his ears as if they were really there:

  And tall Hector nodded, his helmet flashing: "All this weighs on my mind too, dear woman. But I would die of shame to face the men of Troy and the Trojan women trailing their long robes if I would shrink from battle now, a coward. Nor does the spirit urge me on that way. I've learned it all too well. To stand up bravely, always to fight in the front ranks of Trojan soldiers, winning my father great glory, glory for myself. For in my heart and soul I also know this well: the day will come when sacred Troy must die, Priam must die and all his people with him, Priam who hurls the strong ash spear. Even so, it is less the pain of the Trojans still to come that weighs me down, not even of Hecuba herself or King Priam, or the thought that my own brothers in all their numbers, all their gallant courage, may tumble in the dust, crushed by enemies-That is nothing, nothing beside your agony when some brazen Argive hales you off in tears, wrenching away your day of light and freedom! Then far off in the land of Argos you must live, laboring at a loom, at another woman's beck and call,fetching water at some spring, Messeis or Hyperia, resisting it all the way—the rough yoke of necessity at your neck. And a man may say, who sees you streaming tears, 'There is the wife of Hector, the bravest fighter they could field, those stallion-breaking Trojans, long ago when the men fought .for Troy.' So he will say and the fresh grief will swell your heart once more, widowed, robbed of the one man strong enough to fight off your day of slavery. No, no, let the earth come piling over my dead body before I hear your cries, I hear you dragged away!"

  If only Luciana could hear such words she might understand his need for going but Kirk hadn’t the capacity to repeat what had fallen into his ears like molten wax dripping from heavenly candles. Instead, he blathered inanities and nearly took to stammering again.

  "I owe my life to Lady Lily, my darling Luciana. I can't turn my back on her now. I thought sure Pete would be the one to go. But Mr. Nate said he trusts me more. He's my friend and if he needs me, I have to be there for him."

  "You'll die over there. I know it."

  "One thing I've learned, my sweet Luciana, is that death has a difficult time keeping hold on me. I've faced down tigers not once but twice and lived to tell about it. I was nearly exiled from Orchardton Hall for a terrible mistake I made. If not for Lady Lily and Mr. Nate, I'd be dead now. Their votes allowed me to stay.

  "I can't promise you I'll return. I don't want to lie to you and say everything is going to be swell. To tell you the truth, I have a bad feeling about this trip. But I have to go. It's like the first time I met Chester. I was so scared I thought I might crap my pants. I knew if I ran away he would attack the others, however. So I stood there, waiting.

  "I had a bad feeling then too, so my intuition isn’t always right. By standing my ground, I not only gained a great friend in Chester but I also went up a notch in Mr. Nate's estimation. He told me later how impressed he was that I was willing to sacrifice myself for the good of the group.

  "If I have to do the same in old America, I will. I'm not going to let Mr. Nate and Lady Lily down. He knows that about me. That's why he asked me along instead of taking Pete."

  "You're such a fool, Kirk. Karen talked Nate into asking you to go. She is afraid of losing Pete. Ginger and Amanda told me how Karen begged Nate not to let Pete go with him. I love you. Please don’t leave me now."

  "I know I'm a fool, sweet Luciana. I've never been a smart person. I never will be. And I love you too. I can't refuse Mr. Nate, though. I realize Karen doesn’t want Pete to go. I know I'm just an afterthought, a second choice and a poor one at that. I'm used to being taken for an idiot."

  "I'm sorry, my love. I shouldn’t have said that. You're the bravest man I ever met. I've never loved anyone like I love you, my sweet Kirk. Go with Nate and bring Lady Lily home safely. But remember I'm waiting here for you. Don't give up your life for nothing."

  She came to him all warmth and kisses holding out their daughter. Taking Candice in his arms he thought what a tragedy it would be to lose all this love. Cuddling his little girl Kirk silently damned Micah and his nanobots. He wondered why he had lived to see such times, whether he might have been better off dying all those years ago when the rest of the human race passed away.

  He didn’t want to leave his family.

  This love he felt was something he never thought possible. All his years with Delilah were special and wondrous b
ut when she left him, he didn’t mourn her going. He never knew what love really was until the day Luciana came into his life.

  He wondered if they might leave—just the three of them—and make a life for themselves in some obscure part of the world no one ever heard of, an island, maybe, or the heart of old Africa, like Kāne.

  Yet as soon as the thought passed through his mind he knew he couldn't go on living knowing he had let down his friend and mentor. Though he believed Nate wouldn’t blame him for running away, he could almost see the look in his friend's eyes and feel the hurt in his heart.

  He wasn’t a good man. Kirk had lived with that knowledge for three hundred years. He was sure that every single one of the six billion people who passed away during the Great Dying were better people than he would ever be.

  Still, this was his opportunity to prove something not only to himself but to everyone else... that no matter what a loser he was, he still possessed something inside himself that shined like a newly born star in the darkest firmament... like Hector of old, who was slain upon the field of battle and dragged about by his heals by the dreaded enemy.

  "When we went to old America, we were attacked by a mad scientist, my lovely Luciana. His name was Micah. He created tiny machines in hopes they would help heal people. But something went terribly wrong. They developed a mind of their own. Remember when you told me you met Kāne and how he said a monster was coming for us?"

  "Yes, I do remember that, my sweet Kirk. Is that why you have to go back to old America... to fight the monster?"

  "Yes, we have to make sure our families are safe. It would be far easier to stay here with you, believe me. I'm sure Nate would much rather be with Ginger and Amanda than to go away. But we haven’t a choice.

  "If we don’t fight this scourge now, it will only grow stronger with the passage of time. We would all become slaves to those horrid things. I saw what they did to Chester and I heard what they did to Micah and the three men he saved.

  "I'd rather die and be in my grave than to see you and our sweet daughter taken prisoners and made into something unspeakable. Maybe I'm being selfish, my darling Luciana, but if I have to die to prevent that from happening, then I'll die."

  Chapter 37—Lost in America

  Alpin told himself he wasn’t lost but he sure felt bewildered.

  He had the strangest idea that finding old New York City in old America would be easy... after all, the metropolis certainly must be so big one couldn’t miss it. Now, however, he wasn’t sure how to find the old city or if it even existed any longer.

  "They used to call it the Big Apple, my sweet Alpin. I went to school there when I was just a girl. I never saw anything so big in my life... they called the buildings skyscrapers because they literally were so tall they touched the heavens."

  "How long did you stay there, my darling Karen? Did you make any friends?"

  "I was in New York City for six months. And no, I didn’t really make any friends. I was always a bit of a loner. I guess in a way I was friends with Micah but he was just a boy. I am sure that I disappointed him when I left."

  "I've seen pictures of old New York City... it looked intimidating with so many people. Were you scared?"

  "When I first arrived I was so amazed at what I saw that I didn’t have time to be frightened. Plus I spent all my time at the University so I never really got to see the City up close."

  "How did you find Cornell University in such a big city, sweet Karen?"

  "It's a six story red brick building just off the shoreline. I asked directions when I first went there but the people were all so rude they wouldn’t help me find it. When I returned on the Nautilus most of the other structures around it had collapsed. Cornell was still standing. We should have known it was occupied by the pristine condition it was in."

  Flying over the froth of the ocean with only blue water for a horizon had rattled his sense of direction until he thought he might be flying in circles. The fuel gauge began dropping more quickly than he anticipated too causing worry to mount. The compass in the cockpit told him he was heading due west yet now he was wondering if it could be malfunctioning. Perhaps he'd been flying every which way but west.

  Staring down at the water made him dizzy.

  "Whenever you're flying over the ocean, remember to keep your bearings, Alpin. It's too easy to become disoriented by the movement of the water."

  Grandfather Nate taught him to fly after Ena talked about learning in the old Piper Cub. He knew she didn’t mean to humiliate him but she seemed so excited about the lessons that it inspired him to ask his grandfather to teach him too.

  "How do you find a place to land, Grandfather Nate?"

  Being so high in the sky confused Alpin. The roads below looked like vast checkerboards. Even Orchardton Hall looked like the miniature toy house he and Ena used to play with together when they were children.

  "I always plan ahead, Alpin. I'll scout out airports on the ground to make sure the runways are clear and there is fuel available. That's the most difficult part of flying. But it's also the most necessary."

  Now he realized what his grandfather was trying to tell him. Even if he managed to spot a landing strip from the air, finding an airport with a serviceable runway would be a serious challenge. Finding fuel might prove next to impossible.

  The plane dropped appreciably causing him to temporarily lose his stomach. About the time the plane stabilized it dropped again. He recalled flying over the mountains in old Scotland and experiencing the same effect.

  "We're flying through updrafts and downdrafts, Alpin. That's why we always keep our altitude high enough so we aren’t in danger of crashing. You'll experience updrafts over mountainous regions as well as over the ocean. Warm air mixing with cold air creates a sort of vertical whirlpool in the air, much like underneath the water. But since the air is a thinner medium the effect is more pronounced."

  A thin gray cloud appeared on the horizon. It was the first indication that he might be approaching a land mass though he told himself not to get his hopes up. It could well be an approaching storm front. Within minutes, however, he was able to discern indistinct foliage lush and green.

  "Remember, Alpin, always trust your instruments more than your eyes when you're at a high altitude. Your senses will not be used to seeing the earth from such a high vantage point. They'll lead you astray."

  He had only an eighth of a tank of fuel left, plus whatever the reserve tank held. As he watched the land mass ahead materialized into an unbroken forest with what looked to be tiny trails leading through the vegetation.

  "If you are ever in a situation where you have to land due to an emergency, look for long straight highways, Alpin. Be aware, however, that most roads will still be cluttered with the wreckage of old automobiles. If possible, pick out a likely looking highway, make a pass over it at low altitude, and see if it's safe to land. If not, try to find an open field. The landing will be rough but a field free of debris is far better than a cluttered highway."

  He eased forward on the wheel while flipping down the ailerons and throttling back the engines to reduce speed. Though he was tempted to do so, he waited to lower the landing gear just in case he flew too low and accidentally grazed the top of tall trees.

  "Remember, Alpin, you can land without your landing gear but it will tear the plane apart. If you are forced to do so, ditch the plane in a river or a large body of water. You'll have time to get out before it sinks. But only use that as a last resort. Water landings can be tricky."

  He made note of a river not too far in the distance and decided if the highway was too cluttered, he could make for water. As he came in lower over land he began to make out dilapidated houses and old buildings now covered in greenery. The highway was not only full of the wreckage of old vehicles but heaved up in many areas no doubt due to hundreds of years of neglect.

  Disappointed, he gunned the engine while disengaging the ailerons and pulling back the wheel. He knew if he ditched the
plane in water, he wouldn't be able to fly out again yet he hadn’t much choice.

  An indicator light came on about the same time an alarm began to sound telling him his fuel was nearly exhausted. As he gained altitude he took one last look around before aiming for the river.

  About thirty kilometers ahead, he spotted an airport.

  The buzzing sound was so disconcerting that he clicked off the low fuel alarm to keep from being distracted. He couldn't be sure but he believed he had enough fuel left to make it to the runway. Still, if it was cluttered with debris like the highway, he might end up having to put the plane down anyway and take his chances.

  "The one thing to always keep in mind, Alpin, is not to panic in an emergency. Carefully survey the situation and make your decisions accordingly. Don't rush to any rash conclusions. Keep all your options open."

  The engines began to shudder indicating he was running out of fuel. Switching to the reserve tank, he headed for the airport.

  Chapter 38—Shadows in the Dark

  The trip to Lake Baikal had become impossible.

  Though there were a few vehicles in the barn that still operated, fuel became increasingly scarce. Plus, what they did find was contaminated with water and other pollutants making their truck stall and difficult to start. The roads—especially bridges over rivers and creeks—had deteriorated to the point they were impassable. A trip that once took a fortnight now consumed a month or more.

  If they were to continue to reach their homeland Lauren knew they'd have to find an alternative mode of transport. In the years since Lily left them to live with Kāne at Edinburgh Castle Lauren hadn’t been back to Lake Baikal. The absence of healing waters and renewing mountains wore upon her more with each passing year.

  Lounging in her private garden on a rainy spring morning she regretted being scornful with Natalia. Though the lovely girl never seemed to take exception to Lauren's bitter remarks it was too easy to blame her contemptuous comments upon the need she felt to immerse her body into the cold waters of the Lake.