Man from Atlantis

by Patrick Duffy

  The arrival was as before, but this time Mark could welcome it as a friend. Just after he had begun to hear the deep hum of the whale’s song, two young beaked whales darted up over the ridge directly in front of him and paused just over the edge. Their brown skin and white heads, with their mouths in that permanent smile, was the first announcement for the Nari-Tanta. They swam smoothly to the right as the large, dark mass of the great Tanta rose like a giant blue-gray planet from behind the crest of the ridge. It filled his field of vision, and he could feel the water push around him like around a rock in the stream as the whales came over the ridge and eased into the saucer-like open area.

  Mark waited. The Tanta had slowed and stopped. Resting at a three-quarter angle to Mark, he could see all along its side. The markings and scars stood out like a visual history of the animal that seemed almost without beginning. Mark knew the time was right and he eased up from the sandy floor and followed the ancient customs and manners that only the cells of his blood knew. For the second time, he swam to the same welcoming gaze of the great whale.

  The large animal had come to a stop, with its broad U-shaped snout, just above where Mark had sat in the circle. As he rose from the sand and swam along the curve of the whale’s mouth, he could see that its tail was not quite inside the large circle of the open area. Coming to the end of its gentle smile, Mark dropped his feet from the swimming position and came to an upright stance in the water opposite the eye. He paused and slightly bowed his head. He was not sure why, but the feeling of respect seemed natural and he wanted to wait until the Tanta bid him to continue.

  Looking past the surface of the eye and its active mucus covering, he felt himself peering into the soul of the great animal. He felt a kindness that he knew he had been too awed before to be aware of. He was welcomed and, as the feeling grew in his heart, the old whale spoke in his mind, “Son of Con-Or and Myo-O, you have brought the king to reside with his mate. It is right and welcome.” As before, the words were simply inside his mind.

  “The life-thought of my father is here with me. I wish to join him with his wife.” Mark wanted nothing more than to do what his words just said, but he also knew it would be difficult. Since winning the battle with Man-Den and taking his father’s life-thought, he had sensed himself fulfilling a mission. In that action, he was taking care of his father, as he now knew his father had taken care of him. He knew, whether close to him or separated by time and oceans, he had always been in his father’s care. As he did now, his father had held him in his heart and thoughts and had tried to protect him with the action of his very life. It was this closeness he now felt that made it difficult to release his father and thereby end his most cherished job.

  “It is natural. And it has always been so.” With that response, Mark saw that it was not only that he was looking through the large eye and into a life; the Tanta was reading every thought and emotion that was reverberating through him also. “When you release him, you will not be lacking.” It was a simple statement, but instantly Mark trusted it and desired to continue.

  He rose slightly so he could place his hands in the same place as last time. As before, once set in that position, he could feel the growing of his father’s physical being inside him as it was being called to the whale. The increased sensitivity in his hands and arms were recording an intense energy. Much more than when he had released his mother. All through his body, Mark felt the life gather and become one again. And as before it reached almost painful extremes and then began to quickly push along his torso and out into his arms and hands.

  It was leaving him now, and it had become the former king completely. Taking its place, even for only the shortest of moments, was a deep feeling of sadness. Of loss. There was that moment when the life-thoughts passed from his fingertips and away. Mark was about to focus his thoughts and drop back from the whale when a very different feeling glued his hands tightly to where they were.

  Something was coming back to him. What had left him was a life. It was the second time it had happened and even with the remarkable difference between the two times, he knew it was the same action. The same process. But this was entirely different. This was not life or being of some kind. This had no substance or concept that words could define. It merely was. It filled him entirely and yet he could not feel it. Mark actually stopped trying to see or feel or know what it was. He simply let it in. He let whatever the Nari-Tanta was giving him become him.

  Every atom of his being was evenly placed throughout the universe. Each atom a sending and receiving living being. He saw it all, everything. He was, at the same time, everything he saw. The past was now this very instant and he experienced it as the present. It was all there at the same time. Because of that, it was so obvious what would lead where. This progression was not just for him but for all things. Time was no longer this dark place, this expanding sightless void that was illuminated second by second, on and on as he lived. It was clear and bright in all directions and knowable. That was it!

  His heart rate almost doubled and he could not help but smile. He had never felt this complete, this free or happy. It was all so simple. He knew!

  “Ja-Lil.”

  “My son.”

  The voices of his parents did not startle him. Somewhere out there or in there, they were part of the Mark that now, somehow, knew. His hands separated from the skin of the Tanta. Still he gazed into that dark orb. “Father, mother. You are together now.”

  “Yes, son.” His father’s voice carried the comfort of his childhood as he now remembered and heard it at the same time “My queen is here with me, and you have completed the continuance.”

  Mark now settled back a little from the whale and let the conversation flow throughout his mind.

  “Ja-Lil, I am proud that you have come to this time and place by yourself, through your own actions, and by using your own wisdom. Without the guidance of a father, like I had, you have proven the purity of your line.”

  Time was once again fluid, and Mark was sitting on the small stool by his father’s chair. He could almost feel the large warm hand on his shoulder.

  “The great Tanta has released to you the complete life of our line and the knowledge of our people. You are aware that it is you who will complete the task of the city.”

  Mark knew all these things. In that moment of transfer, he saw the Three Peoples. The Land, Sea, and Air. He saw their placement and beyond the city’s history that he had witnessed while in the king’s Kiv. He had seen the history of both Those of the Air and Those of the Land. The royal blood of Those of the Air, he knew as well as his own. Their placement, at first was close to his city. And then as his people traveled farther out into the oceans, he followed their history of interaction with the ordinary People of the Land. He saw completely how they worked with the people at first then slowly drew away from them and, after a while, stopped almost completely taking physical form. He also knew that soon he must find the great king Nordhus’ people for the convergence.

  More troubling to him was the story of Those of the Land. Their history stopped in its purity and was now fragmented throughout the world. There seemed to be none left with a true line of the blood. They had not been able to keep their traditions true. There had been a break in the bloodline a long time ago when the second king died without an heir. As rulers, not of the line, they had tried to duplicate the rites and healings and ceremonies, but the civilization was no longer in possession of its power. He was painfully aware of how close his people had come to the same fate.

  “Father, why did Man-Den behave as he did?” Mark, with everything he had experienced, could not understand. “He was a respected citizen of the city with a pure family history.”

  “All the knowledge you have now received will not answer all questions, my son. His actions came as a result of thoughts and deeds and, at some point, his smaller self gained the advantage.”

  Mark once
again saw the evil look in Man-Den’s eyes as they struggled with the knife.

  “Had you not been able to stay his hand, Father, our city would have followed the history of Those of the Land.”

  “It was not me, Ja-Lil.” There was added warmth in his father’s voice when he heard it now. “No matter how strong the evil side of a life becomes, it can never eliminate, completely, the good. It was Man-Den who hesitated. It was my dear friend from long ago who, for a moment, was strong enough to do the right thing.”

  “I will tell Roi-Den and his mother. They only saw the very worst of his last moments. Though his life-thought was lost in the sea, they will welcome his last act into the line.”

  Mark knew, though a small thing, it would be something they both could hold as a good memory of the husband and father. Even with what he had just learned about Roi-Den and his purpose in the city he knew his friend would need so much more, and now that Mark was in the Dome to stay he would help.

  He was not sure there was anything he, or anyone, could do to ease the pain that Len-Wei felt in those last moments during her husband’s betrayal. She had been shown that the life she had led for so many years had not really existed. The dignity of her husband’s love and care that she had worn as a badge all that time was stripped from her. The sense of her worth had vanished. Mark had felt it in her touch when they were walking to the Kiv, and he had heard it in her words.

  “Father, Roi-Den will recover in body and mind and will find encouragement in what I can tell him, but I fear the damage to his mother will never heal.”

  “What you have learned must only live with you until the time of convergence. Roi-Den must arrive at that moment free from any sense of obligation.”

  The moment his father spoke, Mark knew he was right and the secret would remain one until the time was right.

  “Ja-Lil, my son.” His mother’s voice again. It carried the soft strength that could calm his fears. “However great the pain she feels at this time, it will subside. My sister has the same quality of love as I for your father. The result of their union is her foundation now, and in Roi-Den she will see all the good and kindness that was in her husband. As you were my future, Len-Wei will find her strength in her son.”

  “Tell them,” his father’s voice now, “the life-thought of Man-Den has not dispersed. It is here with me. I took it as he died and held it until you brought me here to the Nari-Tanta.”

  “But, father,” Mark was now completely confused by what he heard and what he knew, “I felt the energy of his life leave him and pass through the Dome.”

  “You and everyone else felt the energy, but not the life-thought. Since I possessed it before you took me, Man-Den willed his remains to the sea.”

  Mark looked again into the large eye opposite him.

  “The great Tanta could have refused to accept him, but instead will hold him until the convergence. Tell them both they will be as they first were. Together, in love and family.”

  The large whale began to turn slowly in the basin and Mark drew back some distance. He saw the two small whales quickly swim to the crest of the ridge, some two hundred yards apart as if on cue. Knowing they were there to ensure the safety of the great Tanta, Mark heard the high pitch of their signal that all was well.

  “I will return and tell you all that happens, father.”

  “The Tanta will not return for some time, son. You must act on your own wisdom. Let your will be the happiness and wellbeing of others. The pride we have in you is of your own making. Trust yourself.” The voices of his parents blended into a chorus that carried to him on the deep rumbled note of the Nari-Tanta. “We must leave now, but I will always be with you.”

  There was no goodbye, nor did he wish for one. The feeling of loss that had briefly been there when he deposited his father was now replaced with fullness. He had never felt so close or so completely one with the lives of his parents.

  As the current of sea water pushed against him from the powerful downward thrust of the whale’s fluke and the giant beast rose to the top of the circled hill, Mark was his father and his father’s father. All the way to the beginning. Backing up, as he watched the last view of the great shadow drop behind the crest, he turned and started back to the city. He was different. He knew it, and he could feel it. It was beyond an image in his mind or a memory or anything from the tangible world. He was… the One Who Knows.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Leaving the entrance chamber and entering the city was, this

  time, as if he were a completely different person. His memory and feelings and experiences were all still there, but a whole new person contained them. Walking down the corridor to the entrance to the city, he passed several people. They nodded with a smile and walked by. In response, Mark slightly raised his hand and smiled back. Was this really the first time he felt like an adult? No, or course not, but somehow the feeling of responsibility for the city and all it contained added some indefinable weight to his life and it was something he had never experienced before.

  All this he was sorting and filing in his mind. He knew, however, this present he was living was only a very small part of what his life was about from here on. The knowledge from the Nari-Tanta would guide his every move and every decision from now on. The present was not his only responsibility now, but the future as well. All of this, as immense as the potential was, was not daunting, nor did it worry him in the least. What was it? Why was it so important for him now? With everything he knew he must do from now on, why did it feel so enjoyable?

  Turning onto the avenue that would lead to his home, he continued toward a small group of people at the center fountain. As he approached, an older couple followed the gaze of others and turned to see him coming. They stepped from the crowd and met him a few feet from the onlookers. The man he could remember seeing several times since he first returned to the city. He was quite old and very dignified in the way he carried himself. Mark now also knew the man’s history. Through the Dome, he had seen the old man’s parents, his birth, and entire line. He saw, even now, in the wrinkled face of his wife, the beautiful dark-haired girl that became his bride so many years ago.

  The man stood quite erect, just behind the old woman as she took Mark’s hands in hers. They both looked into Mark’s face for a long moment with a kind of pride.

  “Ja-Lil.” Her voice was small and very soft. “Son of Con-Or. We welcome our new king to guide and care for us and the city.”

  Whether it was what she said or the way she said it, Mark had no way of knowing, but at that moment it was clear to him exactly what he had been feeling since he entered the city. It was parental. The love he felt for them and the knowledge that he would do anything for their wellbeing and happiness echoed in this heart. It was the echo of his father and mother. How safe and cared for he had felt all his life was how he wanted to care for this city. His pride in their lives was that of a parent. He felt great satisfaction in seeing their confidence and trust in him and his line. With that satisfaction, there was also the determination to serve their trust completely. His life was now to be lived for them.

  “Live well, Na-Leen, and both of you continue in happiness.” Mark rested a hand briefly on her shoulder and, after returning the old man’s smile, continued on to his home.

  He entered the large atrium and knew that Tei-La was somewhere in the house. He stopped in the center of the room between the stairs and the door leading to the healing room. How close he felt to her. He didn’t know where she was. He stood there feeling everywhere around him. “Your mother is the heartbeat of everywhere she is.” His father had told him that several times when he’d been young. He remembered standing very still and trying to hear it and picking up nothing and feeling disappointed. “I cannot hear it either, son. It is the life you can feel. Someday you will know exactly what I mean and be joined with such a life yourself.”

  His h
ouse was now alive, and he could feel that life and he could hear the heartbeat. “Tei-La.” Going up the stairs, he met her on the landing that led to his bedroom.

  “Ja-Lil, Roi-Den has gone.” Her voice was strong and steady.

  “He has left the Kiv already?” Mark knew that the strength-giving powers of the Kiv could not have worked completely in so short a time.

  “Len-Wei and I left the chamber, and I had taken her to her home to rest.” Tei-La took Mark’s arm and continued as she led him to the sitting area of his room. “She started to sleep so I was returning to the Kivs. I met Roi-Den as he was coming down the stairs into the Elder’s chamber.”

  Now Mark could hear fear and worry take the place of the strength that had been there a moment earlier.

  “Oh, Ja-Lil, he was not well yet at all. He could barely make it down the stairs without stumbling. He would not stop so I could only walk with him and support him the best I could.”

  “Where did he go?” Fearing he already knew the answer, Mark let her continue.

  “He left the city. He would not even stop to see his mother. He said that only disgrace and dishonor lived in his line. He said the citizens would forgive his mother as she was pure in her blood and deed. It was he and the line of Man-Den that must end.” Tei-La stepped back to where she could put her arms around Mark.

  He looked in wonder at the beautiful face. Before him was the heart—not just of his house or life—of the city. The house his father referred to was limitless in size and the heart of his queen was pure compassion. This was what he saw in the face of the woman he loved. It was not fear or even the worry that came from weakness. It was care and compassion that sprang freely from the strength of her heart.