The Mutation

by K. A. Applegate

Captured? Held in another part of the palace?

  Would we suddenly hear the tortured screech of a red-tailed hawk, as we’d heard the screams of Hork-Bajir?

  Queen Soco took a sip from her cup and then fixed us with her wide round eyes.

  ”Now that you have seen the wonders of my palace, I am sure you have many questions to ask. What would you like to know about the Nartec, Surface-Dwellers?”

  «Perhaps you should ask her to explain the

  91 origin of her people, Prince Jake,» Ax said privately. «The story might provide valuable information that will help us understand our present situation. And make possible our escape.»

  It was a good idea. And about the only one we had.

  I asked.

  She folded her arms over her chest. Closed her eyes and kept them shut for a long minute while I sweated and wondered if I’d committed some offense.

  Then she opened her eyes again, but kept her gaze elevated. It was a ritual, I realized, seeing the respectful reactions of the other Nartec.

  ”This is the story our people have told since the Beginning. This is the Sacred Truth, told again and again, down through the ages. The Sacred Truth of the Kings and Queens of the Nartec.”

  I had the feeling Marco was suppressing a desire to make some sarcastic remark. I shot him a hard look. He contented himself with only rolling his eyes ever so slightly.

  ”Many thousands of years ago, the Nartec lived on an island in the middle of the Great Ocean,” Queen Soco intoned. ”Very slowly, subtly, over time, the island began to sink. Each generation built higher and higher walls around the island to keep the Great Ocean from swallowing the people. With each passing year the walls be-

  92 came higher, higher - hundreds of feet tall. Marvels of engineering!”

  The Nartec nodded in agreement. A silent chorus playing its part.

  ”Still, it was inevitable that the pressure of the Great Ocean would cause these protective walls to wear and to bend. Closer and closer they grew until the top of each wall met the top of another and formed a ceiling to our world.

  ”Then the Great Ocean closed over the Nartec. The island continued to sink. Perhaps it is still sinking.”

  Queen Soco paused to eat a small hunk of white fish.

  «A strange and improbable tale of origin, Prince Jake,» Ax commented. «0bviously it has become distorted over the years of telling until now it is more myth or legend than truth.»

  I nodded to Ax, and Queen Soco went on.

  ”What is important is that the Nartec did not die,” she said. ”We adapted to our new underground, underwater world. Over time we discovered alternative sources of light. Like that produced by the narna rocks that blanket our roofs and ceilings.

  ”And, of necessity, our bodies changed, too. At an impressively rapid rate. We became amphibious by an act of supreme will.”

  Ax commented privately. «Even without the

  93 necessary experimentation, I am fairly certain the light produced by the ”narna” rocks Queen Soco mentioned is radioactive. No doubt this radioactivity hastened the rate of the Nartec’s mutations

  I nodded again slightly to show Ax I’d heard.

  ”Thus did we come to build this magnificent city. Thus did we survive and prosper. And thus did we come to be the rightful rulers of the One Ocean and all lands touching her.”

  The crowd nodded and seemed satisfied. They sat back, relaxed and began to eat again.

  Queen Soco took another drink from her cup and continued. Her voice was less formal now. She met my gaze.

  ”Of course the Nartec continue to study the technology of sunken oceangoing vessels constructed by the Surface-Dwellers. We study construction techniques and food storage methods. We learn of navigational equipment and other electronic devices that might be of use to us. From the large oceangoing pleasure boats we learn about the changing styles of Surface clothing and furnishings and recreational activities. And if there are survivors of the wrecks that bring these vessels to us, we study them, too. That is, until we have learned all we need to know from them.”

  ”Here it comes,” Marco mumbled.

  94

  ”And then?” I asked. Though I knew the answer.

  Queen Soco smiled faintly, amused. ”Then they are preserved to become part of our storehouse of knowledge.”

  ”You kill them and stuff them,” Rachel said.

  ”Exactly.”

  95 CHAPTER 16

  ”Yeah, stuff this?” Marco muttered under his breath.

  I shot everyone a look. Stay calm, it said. Like that was possible.

  Ask another question, Jake. Get all the information you can. Maybe it will -

  ”AAAAGGHHH!”

  Cassie flinched. Rachel started to rise from her chair but a look from Marco made her sit back down.

  Ignore the wail of another Hork-Bajir from somewhere in the bowels of the building. Stay focused, Jake.

  Where was Tobias?

  ”Queen Soco, what are your plans for the Sea

  96

  Blade?” I asked congenially. While digging my nails into the old, soft wood of my chair.

  ”In the past,” she said, sitting back in her chair, ”the Nartec have sent Searchers to the Surface of the Great Ocean. They have traveled in vessels built with the technology and materials made available to us by the salvaged vessels of the Surface-Dwellers.

  ”However, none have ever returned. It is assumed none survived the journey to the World of Sun.

  ”You must understand that this is not the fault of the Nartec Searchers. Rather, it is an indication of how the technologies of the SurfaceDwellers are terribly flawed.”

  Queen Soco sipped from her cup and then continued.

  ”But with the Sea Blade! It is clear to us that a more intelligent, advanced people than mere Surface-Dwellers built such a magnificent vessel!”

  «Yeerks! We Andalites could easily build a ship to put the Sea Blade to shame,» Ax said tightly.

  ”Our plans are these,” Queen Soco continued. ”We will send a carefully selected and trained crew of Searchers to the Surface in this powerful new vessel. We will take whatever oceangoing vessels we encounter. We will mount raids on the Cultures of the Sun! We will conquer villages, towns, cities - even larger land masses! We will show all Surface-Dwellers how powerful and advanced are the Nartec!

  ”The long centuries of our exile are over!”

  Several Nartec became so excited they began slapping the table. All nodded and smiled.

  I kicked Marco under the table. He shut his mouth.

  ”That is a noble purpose,” I said politely. Quickly. ”I have one more question, Queen Soco. It’s about the crew of the Sea Blade ...”

  Now Marco kicked me under the table.

  «Prince Jake, I do not think it wise to interfere . . . »

  I faked a small cough. ”Excuse me. I was just wondering what ...”

  ”No more questions, I think,” Queen Soco said abruptly.

  She smiled and gestured with a webbed hand. A female Nartec promptly removed Soco’s empty cup and plate. ”Now I have a question for you, Surface-Dwellers,” she said. ”Where is your ship? I know you did not arrive in the magnificent black vessel. I know the Sea Blade does not belong to you.”

  I had no answer. I shot a glance at Ax. His face was unreadable.

  ”I see.” Queen Soco rose from her chair. The

  98 meal was over. ”Perhaps you need some time to create a plausible lie. Or to come to your senses.”

  Halfway to the door Queen Soco turned to lace us. We were still sitting motionless at the table.

  ”I will discover the truth, Surface-Dwellers. Have no doubt of that. But I am also a magnanimous queen. Feel free to further explore the Nartec world. We will meet again later.” And then she grinned. ”Perhaps.”

  The door closed behind her.

  I smiled awkwardly at the remaining Nartec, then led the way out of the room. We paused in a small chamber adjoining the
main hall.

  ”We are so out of here!” Marco grabbed my arm. ”There is no reason - NO REASON - for us to hang around. Do you hear me Jake!”

  I shook off Marco’s hand. ”I hear you. And if you don’t lower your voice, the entire Nartec people will hear you, too. Ax? Cassie?”

  ”I’m with Marco,” Cassie whispered.

  ”I’m not happy about bailing without having found the visser,” I said grimly. ”Or destroying the Sea Blade. Queen Psycho may have delusions, but she could still do a lot of damage with the Sea Blade.”

  «The Yeerk vessel could sink any human vessel^ Ax agreed. «lt could also carry out Dracon

  99 attacks on Earth’s coastal cities. However, eventually human defenses would be able to crush it by sheer weight of numbers.»

  ”Cool. So we leave it to the navy, and we book out of this nightmare,” Marco said. But then I saw his eyes cloud. He looked disturbed.

  ”What?” I asked him.

  ”I was holding a mug from an old Soviet nuclear sub. They may have more than Dracon beams to play with.”

  ”You don’t think the missiles survived?” Cassie demanded. ”Aren’t they protected with all kinds of computer codes and so on?”

  Marco nodded. ”Yeah. Absolutely. And the Nartec probably can’t beat the security measures.”

  Probability is not certainty,» Ax said grimly.

  ”Great. So Queen Psycho maybe has nukes. Wonderful.”

  ”And what about Tobias?” Rachel demanded. ”We’re going to leave without him?”

  I shook my head. ”No.”

  ”That’s your decision? We stay?” Marco asked.

  ”I could put it to a vote,” I said with a smile for my old friend.

  Marco shook his head. ”I’ll follow you, Big Guy.”

  ”Okay. Look, we have the run of the place. So,

  100

  A) we find Tobias, B) we destroy the Sea Blade. AndC -”

  ”C - we haul our soggy butts out of here and lorget this lunatic asylum even exists?” Marco inlorrupted.

  ”Got that right,” I said.

  101 CHAPTER 17

  “What’s your take, Ax?”

  Ax looked up from the pile of books and ledgers on the scarred wooden table in front of him.

  We’d continued our tour in the palace’s library. If you asked me, the most interesting room in the palace.

  I don’t think of myself as narrow-minded. But I was still waiting to discover one of the ”wonders” of Nartec civilization.

  Human mummies - especially those made from the bodies of prisoners and slaves - are not my idea of high culture.

  Neither are hidden torture chambers or room

  102

  after room of scavenged, mostly decrepit stuff, randomly piled and stacked

  But the library. A place filled floor to ceiling with shelves. Those shelves |jned with documents made of some vegetable material. Pounded. Woven, maybe, into sheets of ”paper.”

  Pages bound together by some tough and stringy substance. Marked Wjth what Marco jokingly guessed to be the ink Of giant squid.

  Who knew? Maybe he Was right.

  In addition though to these mostly indecipherable Nartec scrolls were thousands of waterstained human books in every imaginable human language: ships’ logs, nove|Si |jsts, atlases, maps, and charts. Everything that might have sunk with a ship or been thrown over the side in centuries.

  Naca, our own private watchdog, escorted us to the large room and stood at attention just inside the door.

  We weren’t trusted not to attempt to escape. But we had been trusted with the Nartec’s plan to conquer Earth with the Sea Blade. And now we were trusted with the Nartec’s entjre written history.

  What did information rnatter to prisoners who were going to die before they could tell tales?

  But the flip side of the coin was.- Why waste time? Why not kill us right away? why make nice?

  103 «Prince Jake, assuming the basis of Queen Soco’s story is true and the Nartec originated on the Surface - that is, on planet Earth - and given the Nartec’s apparently accelerated rate of adaptation to this underwater environment - an acceleration confirmed here in these ancient but remarkably well-preserved and annually updated population records . . . »

  ”Like births, deaths, plagues, natural disasters?” Cassie asked.

  «Yes,» Ax confirmed. «As well as a detailed running account of each Nartec generation’s physiological and biological evolution - or devolution - from a land-dwelling mammal to a cornpletely amphibious creature.»

  ”Devolution?” Rachel glanced over her shoulder and gave Naca a falsely bright smile. ”What do you mean by that?” she asked tensely, turning back.

  «lt is my assumption - and you must remember that without proper experimentation and my own documentation . . . »

  ”Ax.”

  «Yes, well.» Ax straightened his shoulders in a way that made it clear dealing with lowly humans was a sacrifice for a lofty Andalite.

  Especially an Andalite who’d been referred to as a pet.

  «l believe the Nartec are self-destructing.

  104 They are profoundly inbred. As I believe humans know, insufficient variety in the gene pool can li’.nl to deterioration over time. The Nartec popul.ilion is dropping. Fertility is dropping. Infant mortality from birth defects is rising. Life spans ,ire shorter.»

  ”You mean they’re on the brink of extinction?” Cassie whispered.

  «Yes. The high levels of radioactivity have allowed them to undergo accelerated rates of mutation. But now the destructive mutations are beginning to pile up. And they have insufficient sources of new genetic materials

  ”Why?” I asked.

  Cassie had the answer. ”Fewer ships sinking. They must have been breeding with limited numbers of surface humans, survivors of sinking ships.”

  Ax nodded. «lt would be at best a short-term and dangerous fix. The new breeding stock would no doubt have resulted in a relatively large number of Nartec born without their unique adaptations: gills and webbed feet.»

  ”So their dreams of conquering Earth are -”

  «The desperate act of a race that knows itself to be doomed.»

  ”How horrible,” Cassie said. ”An entire people - gone.”

  ”Oh, yeah, I’m weeping over here.” Marco

  105 snorted. ”These people are planning to mummify us. After killing us. And if those Hork-Bajir screams are any indication, after torturing us. As far as I’m concerned,” Marco added, ”the Nartec can just devolve to extinction right now.”

  Cassie coughed and looked embarrassed. ”Actually, Marco, they may try to breed with us first. Or at least extract our DNA, if that’s possible with their technology.”

  ”Marco may finally get a girlfriend,” Rachel said with a laugh. ”Of course she’ll have gills . . .”

  I grimaced. ”Look, we’ve got an immediate threat here. The Nartec have captured the Sea Blade. We can’t let them take it to the surface.”

  ”Which means?”

  ”Which means,” I went on, gently closing one of the old books on the table, ”that we have to either destroy the Sea Blade right where it is or steal it from the Nartec. Use it to get out. Then destroy it.”

  ”How are we going to destroy it at the dock?” Marco hissed. ”It’s sitting right out in the open. Right in front of a palace filled with armed soldiers.”

  Rachel said, ”We slip away from this Naca guy - knock him out first if we have to - morph and ... ”

  ”And what?” Cassie shook her head. ”What’s a grizzly going to do to a ship the size of the Sea

  106

  Blade? Even if we sink it the Nartec could probably raise it and repair it. These are people who manage to drag entire supertankers across two oceans.”

  ”Cassie’s right,” I said. ”Our only choice is to steal the visser’s ship. Get it away from the Nartec. Destroy it later using the ship’s own weapons.”

  «Prince Jake, I wonder i
f I might mention a possibility we have not discussed?»

  I nodded.

  ”Why do I know this is something I don’t want to hear?” Marco said.

  «Has it occurred to you that Visser Three, using his many morphs, might still be aboard the Sea Blade?»

  I nodded. ”Oh, yeah, Ax. It’s occurred to me.”

  107 CHAPTER 18

  ”This area surrounding the palace is inhabited by those Nartec of better families,” Naca said solemnly. ”Those of great wealth and prestige.”

  Naca stood erect, carrying what I believed to be a German, World War II vintage submachine gun, and pointed toward the artificially lit ”roof” of the Nartec world. Incongruously, there was a sword in the scabbard at his waist.

  Two other Nartec guards had joined us when we’d left the palace. They flanked our little group. Silent. Keeping a particular watch on Ax. Their odd collection of scavenged weapons at the ready.

  Marco sidled up beside me and drew me back, out of earshot of Naca.

  108 ”We can take these guys, Jake,” he said.

  ”Maybe,” I said.

  ”They’ve got it coming. Is that what’s bothering you? If you’re worried about hurting some, hey, these people are evil squared. They could go one on one with the Yeerks in the Evilpalooza.”

  I shook my head and smiled at Naca. ”We’ve tried dozens of times to take down Visser Three,” I said. ”Always failed. He’s hard to beat. Hard to get to. You think these guys did it? I don’t. I think he’s here.”

  ”We don’t even know for sure he was on the Sea Blade. He may -”

  ”He was on it,” I said. ”He doesn’t delegate glory to his subordinates. If he found the Pemalite ship he’d be the man again. For the Yeerk hierarchy, the Council, all would be forgiven. He’s here.”

  Marco shrugged. ”Okay. He’s here. Let’s leave him here and get out.”

  Naca was moving us along, and looking suspiciously at me and Marco. ”If we can get out of here, so can he, Marco. The Sea Blade is going to be dust, Marco. Vapor. Visser Three isn’t going to have it, and neither is Queen Soco.”

  We were walking along again, tourists in the land of the weird. With a blue tuna-man for a guide.