by Razi Imam
He almost saluted the petty officer before realizing that he outranked him. Wang Li waited for him to salute, but to his surprise, the petty officer instructed him to follow. They went through several floors of the ship, turning and twisting, avoiding people in the corridors. He felt a new level of energy in the crew. Maybe he imagined it, but something had changed. They reached a secure door where the petty officer entered a code and gestured for Wang Li to enter. He’d never seen a room like it. The premier war room had large monitors on the walls, a big conference table in the middle, and several tactical stations were manned by crew wearing headsets. A large radar screen displayed with several live satellite feeds of the Paracel Islands. A larger-than-life portrait of Mao Zedong hung on one wall, and the whole room had a plush carpet that changed shades from deep red to light red depending on where you stood in the room.
Zheng sat at the head of the conference table, and he gestured for Wang Li to approach. Wang Li came up to the right side of him and waited for an invitation to be seated. To his annoyance, Zheng didn’t offer any such privilege.
“We’ve been informed that the ship that attacked you may have gone stealth. This raises our suspicions as to who they are. We’ve tried everything at our disposal, but we’re unable to track them. We can’t find them anywhere near the Paracel Islands. We need you to provide a guess as to where you think they would be.” Zheng didn’t so much as complete his sentence.
Wang Li blurted, “If they’re in the area of the Paracel Islands, my bet is they’re going to be near Bombay Reef.”
“Why Bombay Reef?” Zheng pushed back. “There’s nothing there. Even birds don’t visit that island.”
“That’s where I’ve run into the Vietnamese fisherman. Twice,” Wang Li answered.
“Why do you think the fisherman goes there?” Zheng inquired, sipping a cup of green tea.
“I think he’s searching for su vang fish,” Wang Li offered.
“Su vang fish?” Zheng repeated with surprise. “How do you know that?”
Wang Li hesitated. “I confiscated two from him the first time I encountered him, and like any good officer, I submitted them to the service of the People’s Republic of China.”
Zheng chuckled at Wang Li’s attempt to ingratiate himself. “Why did the fisherman return? Did you not teach him a lesson the first time?”
Wang Li defended himself, sharing the details of his encounters with Pham Kai, including injuring the professor. He explained that the main reason why the fisherman had defied his orders not to return was because he was trying to save his wife. Apparently, she suffered from a disease that would take her life, and su vangs were his way to earn money for treatment.
“So, you took the only hope he had of saving his wife,” Zheng almost shouted at Wang Li. “What kind of a man are you? You know we aren’t at war with Vietnam—they’re our allies. Why did you take the su vang he caught?”
Before Wang Li could respond, Zheng got up and walked to the screen, stroking his chin as he muttered, “Why did you come back, fisherman? And why did the stealth ship save you?”
Zheng turned around and ordered his senior officers to the conference table. Zheng debated for a moment, and then gestured to Wang Li to take a seat. He asked his team for their ideas about the stealth ship, and they started coming up with reasons for its strange location, all related to the mineral resources found near the Paracel Islands.
Zheng cut them off. “You’re missing a big clue. It’s hidden right in front of you—the professor. According to the report, there was a third person on the boat.” He turned to Wang Li. “Do you remember his name?”
Wang Li paused. “Vu Ha,” Wang Li said, almost spitting on the officer next to him. “Doctor Vu Ha.”
“Bring up his information,” Zheng ordered an officer. Within seconds, Dr. Vu Ha’s full profile was displayed on a screen. The officer brought up his research and blog entries—the last of which, from almost six months ago, was about a local fisherman who had caught a fish that may be a new species. As they read the entry, it highlighted that the marine life had special properties.
“You idiot,” Zheng said, disgusted with Wang Li. “The fisherman wasn’t there to find su vang. He was helping this poor doctor catch this new species. And I’d bet my career this stealth boat has come here to find the same marine life. That’s why they took the risk of engaging our patrol boats, scaring them away like rats.” He turned to his officers. “Complete all maintenance in the next six hours and prepare to cast off. We need to find this stealth boat, confiscate their research, and if they’ve found this new species, claim it for the betterment of the People’s Republic of China.” He directed Wang Li’s gaze to a monitor on the far wall. “Is that the ship that attacked you?”
An image of the Skjold warship appeared on the screen. Wang Li nodded, feeling embarrassed.
“Good,” Zheng said. “We’ve ordered several of these ships from the Norwegians. Now we’ll have one more to add to our fleet.” He turned to his team. “Gentlemen, do not take this mission lightly. This is a dangerous stealth ship capable of high-speed attack. It won’t register on any of our electronic surveillance—we’ll need visual confirmation of its presence. We’re dealing with a sophisticated group that’s working in secret on behalf of a hostile government. Anyone care to guess what government that would be?”
“Meiguo!” one of the officers shouted, loosely translated as “the United States of America.”
Zheng nodded, wrapping up the meeting with orders to plot a course for Bombay Reef. He then said something that shocked Wang Li. Speaking to his weapons officer, he said, “I need this to be a precise surgical strike. We can’t damage that boat—if it’s indeed the Skjold as we believe it to be.” Zheng turned to his commander of Special Forces. “We won’t be dealing with prisoners or the drama of negotiating their release with other governments. This group of arrogant mercenaries has attacked our sovereign nation, and we’re well within our rights to terminate them. We need to send a message to whichever government supports them that China is not like other countries, where they can inflict aggression without consequence. And if we do find them near the Paracel Islands, their presence will be considered espionage, which is punishable by death. There will be no prisoners, do you understand?”
The commander nodded. “Aye, aye, sir!”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Event Time
“We’re the night ocean filled with glints of light.
We’re the space between the fish and the moon,
while we sit here together.”
~Rumi
“LOOK!” SHILOH YELLED again, running to the side of the Skjold. “What is that? They look like northern lights, but they’re underwater.”
Sebastian and Maria joined him. The water all around them had become bright maroon, glowing with a unique luminescence. It was still, and they could see every living sea creature, plant, shell, and coral underwater. It was similar to the photos of the lagoon, except more dramatic and otherworldly against the backdrop of a night sky and bright stars.
Shiloh ran in and alerted everyone to join them on the deck. Within seconds, the whole team was outside looking at the glowing, transparent water. In all his years of fishing, Pham Kai had never witnessed such a spectacle, and neither his father nor grandfather had ever mentioned seeing such a sight. Adora and Charles were the first to remove their clothes and jump in the water. Their hands and feet swayed back and forth, surrounded by radiant, maroon light. It appeared they were suspended in space turning and somersaulting like aerial acrobats. The entire team removed their clothes and jumped in. Even Pham Kai and Minh joined in, except they wore their regular clothes—they were much too modest to undress in front of strangers.
Maria swam up to Sebastian. She wrapped her legs around his waist from behind and climbed onto his back, enjoying the moment without having to do any work.
“That’s not fair,” Shiloh shouted, his head bobbing up and down as he splashed
in the water. He was wasting way too much energy treading. He swam up to Sebastian and grabbed hold of his shoulder. Sebastian smiled at Shiloh’s unabashed nature.
Adora and Charles’s joined them. “Good idea,” Adora said, noticing what Maria had done. She got on Charles’ back and wrapped her legs around his waist. Fabienne swam close to Adora, who held her hand out. Now Charles was treading for three. Pham Kai said something to Minh in Vietnamese, and she climbed on his back too. They formed a large circle, with three men treading and the rest holding on. Nidal and Michelangelo had swum away, snorkeling in the clear maroon water.
The team’s swim gave them an entirely new perspective, showing them the true beauty of Bombay Reef. They could see how dangerous it could be for inexperienced sailors. The underwater terrain had no uniformity to it—random small hills of corals, sharp rocks, and mounds of shells and stones made for treacherous sailing. Large, jagged slabs of igneous rocks were also scattered throughout the ocean floor, formed by constant eruptions of lava. Another interesting geological phenomenon caught their interest—at almost five feet tall and three inches wide, vertical pole-like structures, sharply pointed at the end, jutted out of the seabed—obsidian glass spikes. They appeared to be spread all over, but their layout seemed to have some kind of geometrical pattern to them.
There was something beautiful about the seabed—as if every rock, pebble, stone, and coral had been placed in perfect harmony.
The team also realized that the marine life in these maroon transparent waters were behaving oddly, displaying a special ritual. Schools of mandarin and angelfish with green, blue, and orange hues were swimming around and through the gaps between the Paramarines—they weren’t trying to avoid them, showing no signs of fear at all. Even aggressive species like stingrays and barracuda accepted the team as their own, as if they were here by invitation.
A family of manta rays started touching them with their large wings, and minutes later a group of endangered hawksbill sea turtles joined them. They swam in between them, some even exposing their underbellies, the most vulnerable part of their bodies.
Charles was the first to address the miraculous development. “Guys, I’m sure we’re in the presence of the Isikhathi Isilwandle. Look at how the marine life is acting—I know it, we’re witnessing a miracle.”
Sebastian chimed in. “I think, given the maroon, luminescent water and the fact that it’s so still, it appears we’re experiencing the time particle El Sitio.”
Nidal and Michelangelo swam up to the group, removing their masks. “We’ve been scouting the area,” Nidal said, “and the marine life is displaying really odd behavior. They’re swimming toward us, almost trying to touch us.”
“Yes,” Sebastian said, “we experienced that too. How far did you guys check out the reef?”
“We swam about a hundred yards in all directions,” Nidal replied, “and except for the beautiful display of marine life, we couldn’t find any evidence of our specimen or the cavern.” He treaded water easily, continuing, “There are some unique geological structures. Long, obsidian spikes. They must have been here for tens of thousands of years. It takes millennia for these types of crystals to grow just a few inches. These are almost five feet tall. Amazing!”
“Let’s head back to the ship, and form two dive teams to investigate all this,” Sebastian said. “The first team can be Michelangelo, Charles, and me. The second team can be Maria, Fabienne and Nidal. We’ll alternate with an hour’s surface interval each between dives. If we’re here by invitation, let’s meet our host.”
The two teams dove for two hours, with no luck finding the elusive Isikhathi Isilwandle. In that time, they had explored most of the luminescent area. Tired, they gathered in the mess room. Shiloh had patched in the camera feed from the bridge, and they could see the maroon ocean still lit up with all the marine life lazily swimming about.
“What do you think is happening? What are we doing wrong?” Sebastian asked while taking a sip of hot coffee. “The species is here somewhere. Why can’t we find it?”
Shiloh was snacking on Freia biscuits. Maria had made a plate of leftovers from their dinner of sticky rice and baked chicken. All the diving had made her hungry again.
“That’s a good idea,” Fabienne said, seeing Maria’s plate. She ran into the galley and made one for herself.
The team sat, thinking, eating, sipping, wondering what their next move should be, when Sebastian had an idea. “I think it’s time to have some of our big guns brainstorm with us. I know we’re missing something here.”
He punched a button on his phone, and through the speaker, the same new tones were heard, indicating a secure connection was being established.
“Hello, Sebastian.” Hearing Cebrián’s voice silenced the room. The team leaned close as Sebastian shared the details of their earlier investigation of the lagoon and the whirlpool, followed by the current phenomenon of the brightly lit maroon ocean. He concluded with the outcome of the four dives, yielding zero results.
Cebrián listened, then recommended that the team upload all the underwater pictures to Poseidon. Within minutes, he had two of the Honeycomb scientists on a conference bridge—the geoscientist and the Russian seismologist. Hamza and Talia also joined the call.
“Congratulations, Paramarines!” the Russian said. “My name is Dmitri Fedorov, and on behalf of all of us, excellent job.”
“Thank you, Dmitri,” Sebastian said, “but we have to find the specimen first.”
“I know, I know,” Dmitri said. He continued in his gruff, deep voice. “We’ve been working behind the scenes to help you figure out how, and these pictures of the underwater terrain and lagoon are very helpful. These jagged, igneous rocks on the seabed are a very rare seismic phenomenon. In the notes we have from Poseidon, there’s mention of a large cavern near you. Were you able to investigate it?”
“Not yet,” Sebastian answered. “We haven’t been able to find it.”
“Fascinating!” Dmitri bellowed.
“Hi, this is Josephine Tharp. Tell me about these vertical obsidian spikes I see in the pictures.” A soft new voice came out of the phone speaker.
“Josephine Tharp?” Nidal said with a hint of surprise. “Are you in any way connected to Marie Tharp?”
“Yes, she was my aunt,” Josephine responded, her shyness evident.
“Marie Tharp?” Shiloh whispered, looking at Nidal with a confused expression.
“Yeah, Marie Tharp!” Nidal confirmed with fan-like exuberance. “Only the most famous geologist in history. She mapped the ocean floors—the bathymetry analysis we used to find the location of the cavern. She invented the science for it.”
“Yes, she was an amazing person,” Josephine responded warmly. “Now, what can you tell me about the obsidian crystals?”
Nidal took the lead. “Sure, these are vertical spikes, almost pole-like in shape, five to six feet tall, three to four inches wide. They appear to be growing out of the seabed. The soil around their base is soft, undisturbed, and smooth. They’re crystalline in form, black, and shiny. We couldn’t determine if they were growing randomly or in a geometrical formation—but they appear to be equidistant from each other. If I wasn’t a geologist, I would’ve thought they were man-made and placed there intentionally.”
“Are they all obsidian?” Josephine asked. “Or have you found other spikes made of other natural material?”
“The ones we’ve found are all obsidian,” Nidal replied, wondering where she was going with her line of questioning.
There was a moment of silence before she continued. “Can you estimate how many there are?”
“We’ve counted over a dozen,” Nidal responded. “My guess, given the size of the luminescent area, there should be about two dozen such spikes. And one more thing—I saw obsidian boulders in the lagoon. They weren’t spikes like these, but they were definitely obsidian.”
“Cebrián,” Josephine said, “can we get a live satellite picture of the area?
Since the ocean is crystal clear and lit up, we may be able to see how these obsidian poles are placed.”
“Sure,” Cebrián said. “Poseidon, did you hear that?”
“I am on it,” Poseidon responded.
Accessing the satellites on top of their location, Poseidon produced the live images. It was a sight to be seen—a round area approximately a quarter mile in circumference appeared on the monitors, lit up brightly in a maroon hue. The Skjold was near one side of the large circle.
“There’s no sign of the cavern, and look at the obsidian crystals—they appear to be in a hexagonal arrangement,” Sebastian said.
“Such hexagonal obsidian formations have been found in different oceans and seas, even in the Baltic Sea,” Josephine said. “The most recent were found in Sydney Harbor. I’m intrigued to see them here too, where the specimen may be found.” She paused, hesitant. “Wait a minute. Obsidian crystals are known to have a time frequency at which they vibrate. They all resonate together.”
There was a moment of silence—everyone could feel that they were close to figuring out the puzzle. “Paramarines,” Cebrián said, “Based on Josephine’s point, I would venture a guess. You’re searching for the specimen in the right area, but not at the right Event Time. I think your Event Time is off.”
“Event Time?” Shiloh repeated.
“Hmm, good point, Cebrián!” Dmitri bellowed. “Event Time is the precise moment an event occurs. It could be a second or even a microsecond. If you miss the Event Time, you miss witnessing the event. How many times have you stood with others looking at the night sky, when your friend sees a shooting star and you’re left saying, ‘Where, where?’ This is because you either blinked or looked away and missed the precise Event Time. This is how the species has remained undiscovered. Observing it has been an infinitesimally small probability.”
Sebastian got up from the table and walked over to the monitors. “Obsidian crystal poles surrounding this area are forming a time lattice. And if we’re able to tap into the frequency of it, our specimen may appear.” He turned around and faced the team. “Shiloh, do you think we could use your portable time warp device underwater to emit El Sitio particles while we swim close to the obsidian poles?”
