“You Ok, Yaya?” Kaisan asked. I could almost feel Papa's protective imaginary shotgun appear. I tried to suppress my giggle.
“Yes, I..the water has always made me a little nervous. And being this far under is a little unsettling.”
“Just try breathing deeply. Close your eyes and think of a place that you love. It will help you to relax.”
“I was just about to recommend that.” Aziz's voice came over the speaker again. I could have reached out across the water and pinched him. He knew that both Papa and Kaisan were in my ship and was jumping at the opportunity to mess with me.
“Me too.” Papa added. I turned back to give him a humored warning look. They were not helping to calm me down at all. Kaisan was looking straight ahead, holding in his chuckle.
“Thanks so much for your concern guys,” I said. “I really appreciate it.”
I could hear several giggles over the speakers that were connected to all of the submarines. Papa, Kaisan and I all had to join in too.
“Ok guys,” Hantaywee said, “We just passed the 2,000 foot mark. Time to make the trails.”
Our vessels came to a stop and we each initiated the release of the Invisicules. I put the rear view camera on the main screen and we could see the 5 iridescent blue tunnels trailing behind us.
We sped along, careful to stay below the 2,000 foot mark.
“Hey, you guys,” Teo called out, “Do you all have your radars on? Don't get nervous. Just thought you might want to know.”
We each flipped on our sonar radars and gasped. Hovering about 100 feet above us floated several Houdakin vessels. They were moving serenely along, and had no idea of our position.
“Steady, steady guys,” Brother Paul said over the speaker. “Just to be safe, let's take it down another 200 feet.”
We each maneuvered our vessels further down, the distance making us feel a little safer. The ships above continued making their rounds, still unaware.
“Seems like a lot of vessels out...more than what we see on the regular ship patrols, doesn't it?” Sister Josephine wanted to know.
“They've increased everything in their efforts to search for you all.” Brother Paul said.
Brother Chord had a question. “Just how far down can we go?”
Brother Paul thought for a moment, “They have been tested down to 7,000 feet,” he said.
The screen lit up with yellow light, letting us know it was picking up something else on the radar.
“Hey, do you guys see that?” Aziz said. The radar was showing a huge mass of something up ahead.
“Yeah. Any guesses on what it could be?” I said. I stared out into the inky blackness. I could sense the ominous mass ahead.
“Whoa!” Joelle yelped, startled. “Whatever this thing is, it's on the move.”
Sure enough, the mass was quickly breaking apart, blocking our path.
“Maybe it is just some friendly sea creature,” Teo offered optimistically.
We waited a couple of more minutes, but the anomaly held its position in the water.
“Let's try a slow advance everyone. Maybe we will be able to pass right through. What do you guys think?” Aziz said cautiously.
“Let's give it a go,” Hantaywee said, mirroring our thoughts. I didn't like playing this waiting game either.
We pulled out, advancing slowly, and the mass remained still. We advanced a few more feet, and it stayed the same. I was about to breathe a small sigh of relief when the radar sensor began to beep furiously. The mass was in motion again. It was breaking apart even more and each individual piece was realigning itself to point straight at our vessel.
I, along with the other captains and co-captains, began to flip switches urgently on the dashboard.
The second row passengers too pulled out their firing dashboards from the side panel.
“Brace yourselves,” said Father Zouadin, “the friendly sea creatures are about to attack.”
Chapter 8
“And thus you shall say to him who lives in prosperity: 'Peace be to you, peace to your house, and peace to all that you have!' “
The Holy Bible KJV, The Old Testament
1 Samuel 25:6
“Impending Attack. Impending Attack.” The submarine's digitized computer repeated.
“Anybody know how to turn that thing off? Aziz said, agitated. I located the button to disengage the navigational voice system.
“The button above your head,” I called out.
The attacking mass was increasing speed, and seemed to be moving independently of one another now.
Before we knew it, we were in the midst of the creatures. We still had no idea what they looked like. The only light was coming from the dim overheads in our cabin.
That didn't last for long, however. Something enormous jetted across the window making us all jump.
“Whoa! What the heck are those things? They're huge!” I yelled. Similar shouts on the intercom let us know that the creatures were doing the same to the other vessels.
“What are these things-” Aziz started, but was cut off when something slammed into the right side of our vessel.
I flipped our computer voice back on. “Damage report?” Kaisan asked it as everyone flicked on their weapons to armed.
“Damage, twenty percent. Weapons, functional. Fuel, functional. Navigation, Functional. Pressure: damaged, repairing.”
“Looks like whatever hit us cracked the exterior. The repair system is internally filling it in. Time to bob and weave, folks. Going armored. Initiating hydraulics.” Kaisan said.
“We'll do the same,” Joelle said, as everyone flipped on the system that would allow us to turn, flip, dive and change direction on a dime.
“Incoming!” Hantaywee said just as we saw another animal zoom in towards us.
“Hold on!” I shouted flipping both the right and left pulls in opposite directions. Our sub made a full roll to the right, as two large suction cupped appendages grazed our ship.
“Everybody Ok?” Kaisan shouted.
“All clear here,” Papa said as the others quoted their status over the speaker.
“That one got us good. We've got 40 percent damage. I'm not sure the repair can get this one!”
“Incoming!” Teo shouted. A creature was poised to smack his ship head on, but he used his hydraulics and made a split second turn to the right. The tentacle missed hitting the front of the vessel and slammed the top instead.
“37 percent damage. Air quality down to 80 percent. These animals are ridiculous!” Teo called out.
“Time to fire the lasers!” Hantaywee shouted as she rolled her craft to the side and then dove to avoid two more sea monsters. Everyone on the vessel began firing the lasers. The animals were lightening quick though, so executing a shot was difficult.
“I wish there was some way to land some of these shots.” I said.
“Oh my gosh!” Joelle exclaimed. “One of my items! Joelle pulled out piece of paper. “One of my items was this page out of an Encyclopedia. It talks about the humpback whale and how it uses this thing called the bubble net technique to capture fish! We can try the same thing here.”
“It's worth a shot! Joelle, what do we need to do?”
“Ok, everyone, try to get on the outskirts of the group. We all need to circle around them really fast to create a 'net' of bubbles. The humpback whale does this to 'trick' the fish into thinking they are trapped, and then they take turns feeding.”
“Ok, let's go!” We all took a different level and began to whip around the creatures, trying to force them to congregate in the middle. A few of the animals tried to escape, but we kept it going, widening the circle when needed to keep them all inside.
“It's working! It's working!” I said excitedly. The animals were slowly moving into the center. Now that they were all concentrated in one place with our lights all shining on them, we were able to get a good look at them. The creatures were huge and looked something like squids, except these had elongat
ed tentacles come out of both sides of it's head. Now that we had them all trapped and their energy wasn't on attacking us, they weren't as frightening. They twisted and turned around each other looking dazed and confused.
“Now, everyone send out an energy blast!” Aziz shouted. We directed all of our weapons at the writhing mass and within minutes they were all stunned and began to sink to the bottom of the ocean.
Shouts and screams of elation broke out across the intercom speakers. We were beyond excited.
“Oh my gosh!!!! We did it! You guys!!!!” I yelled.
“What are the damages?” Teo called out.
“We're good. The air quality is still down, but we can make it as long as we don't have to go any lower,” Hantaywee said.
“We're good.” I said, “Our vessel will be able to make it too. Same deal as Hantaywee.”
“Now, let's get out of here. This place gives me the heebie-geebies,” Father Zouadin said.
Laughs were heard over the sound system. We let out a sigh of relief and allowed the victory strengthen our confidence.
~~~
About a third of the way there, I began to get a little sleepy. “Hey, Kai, do you and Papa mind taking the helm for a while? I'm feeling a little tired.”
“Are you Ok, Daughter?” Papa said, beating Kaisan to the punch. He raised his eyebrows and gave Kaisan a look that said “I've got this one covered.” Kaisan smiled to himself and so did I.
“No, I'm fine. Just feeling a little exhausted.”
“No problem,” Papa said. He was about to take the captain's chair when he thought again. “Maybe I'll relinquish the captain's chair to the Delorian officer.”
Kaisan nodded, smiling. “Absolutely, Father Hamid. And Yaya,” he said, turning to me, “we'll be sure to wake you if we need your mind talents.”
I smiled back as I strapped myself into Papa's chair. My eyes slipped close and I was asleep within minutes.
At first, I didn't dream. Distant sounds drifted in and out. The faint strains of some forgotten tune floated around my consciousness. The eyes from past visions came into focus. There was a mix of emotions again. Anger was still the dominant one. But mixed in too were questions. And fear. And hurt.
The eyes quietly faded to black. I was still asleep, but conscious enough to question. Were the eyes representative of me? Were these all of the emotions I had rolled up deep inside that could jeopardize the mission. I wasn't sure, but I felt an urgency to find out soon.
After miles and miles of traveling, our subs finally arrived at the shores of Viakee. Slowly, we let our vessels rise and guided them to the old return tunnels which lead to the holding hanger.
We all unloaded our vessels and gathered in one corner of the deserted building. Papa was the last to unload. He was listening to his Tele-Stick and had a worried look on his face.
We all waited, anxious to find out what was going on. Once the call ended, he walked over quickly, pensive and a little agitated.
“What's wrong Papa?” I asked, concerned.
“We've got to get moving. I just got word that the Arms of Justice, The Scavengers and The Venoms have all joined forces. They just set sail for Viakee. They are planning their own attack.
Chapter 9
“But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.' “
The Holy Bible KJV, The New Testament
Mark 11:26
“What!” I whispered, my voice threatening to turn into a yell. “Don't they know that the Houdakin have prisoners from all of the Sectors? If they attack, they will put all of their lives in danger! Papa, we have to do something!”
“And we will. The only thing we can do now is try to intercept them when they arrive. It's our last chance to try and get them on our side.”
Brother Paul stepped up, “Do we know where they plan to dock?”
“They left just before all of our secondary teams did . They should be arriving on the southern shore at coordinates 734. Seems they are taking advantage of our shadow tunnels.”
“How convenient.” Hantaywee said.
“Indeed.” Papa agreed. “Let's get moving so that we don't miss them. There's no time to waste.
~~~
Henken sat down in the Security Team's Command Center and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and middle finger. The day was a stressful one and he needed to take a moment to breathe. Borche had called him in to question him about the video feed, but he had been able to convincingly defend his actions.
Thank you God for that flock of birds he said silently. He hadn't even seen them anywhere, and figured that they must have been several feet above the Governess. But Borche had been looking at a topical view through the satellite, and had just taken the picture at face value.
Henken had also been in the Command Center later that day and noticed that the 'operational' light was on for a fleet of old submarines that were being held in storage. The fleet had been an abandoned project of Borche's that had all but been forgotten. It could have been a malfunction, but deep inside, he hoped that it was some part of the Prophecy in action. He had quietly disabled the light before anyone noticed.
Now, all he had to worry about was how to disable the missiles and how to keep the Mechanical Army from killing anyone from the Sectors if a battle took place. He had no idea of how to accomplish that part.
Borche had ordered him to send the Mechanical Wolves out, and seeing no way to avoid doing so, had issued the order. Miraculously, to him at least, each one of the dog's vitals had malfunctioned. The video feed had turned into static as soon as they had attacked, so the Houdakin had no idea as to what had happened to them. Borche had been furious, but Henken had taken the opportunity to celebrate inside.
Because of the faith in his heart, he was going to do everything in his power to help the Sectors in any way that he could.
~~~
Mama sat in the cell, quietly making prayers along with everyone else in the adjoining areas. Hours before, she had been fortunate enough to get a very hazy Seeker to form. Papa's handsome features had appeared in the midst of her fingertips, and she had almost wept aloud at the sight of him.
“As Salaamu Alaikum, my love. How are you? He had asked, his eyes full of worry and concern.
“Walaikum As Salaam, my darling. I am as well as can be expected. And how are you? How are the children?”
“Papa chuckled softly, “Proving that they are definitely moving out of the child phase. Nourana, you should see them in action.
They are amazing, MashaAllah. By the leave of The Creator, they are becoming leaders that are making their entire tribes proud of them and hopeful for the future.”
“MashaAllah,” Nourana said, tears of gratitude welling in the corners of her eyes. “MashaAllah. Oh, love, what is going on now? How are things progressing?” Nourana asked, hoping that there was some good news that she could pass on to the other prisoners. Their spirits were beginning to dampen , and she wanted some kind of good news to help strengthen their faith.
“We will be on the way soon. Don't worry. We are on the way...”
The Seeker's signal had become weak, the image fizzling and disappearing. But it had been more than enough.
“Alhamdulilah,” she whispered. They that wait. She thought. They that wait indeed.
~~~
We arrived at the beach just in time. Brother Paul had taken us through some old Houdakin sewer tunnels, and then through a forest so that we could watch and wait for the arrival of the Arms of Justice, The Venoms and The Scavengers.
Once we spotted them, our entire team hurried across the shore to intercept them.
Janto Eliswear, Justin Skives, and Sua Malternz lead the pack of troops as they marched up the beach, battle ready.
Aziz and Teo muttered under their breath before we got too close, “Here they go. Haters United.”
“Yeah. Or Arms of Hate.” Teo joined in.
Papa shushed them just as we got
into range.
“Brothers, please,” Papa began, “Please think again. If you go in there now, like this...asking for a fight, be sure that the Houdakin will give you one. And then they could possibly kill all of the prisoners in there. My wife is in there. Our family members are in there. I know you're angry, but think of them. Think of all of the people waiting back home that want them to return...safely....in one piece. You know that the Houdakin would not hesitate to kill them, just out of spite.”
The three men looked resolute. 'We're tired of waiting. We're tired of sitting. We're tired of being abused. They take everything, and they've just got us a-shuckin and a-jiving along. Brother, I'm sick of it. I'm not going to take anymore. We've got the manpower. We've got a mission. And we're going to take back what is ours.”
“I hear what you're saying. I hear you. Because you are my Brothers and Sisters. Listen, there is a Mechanical Army in there. And they have missiles aimed and loaded at the Sectors as we speak. All I'm asking is that you not go and destroy our chance to put things aright. You go in there now, and they will launch those missiles. And then, what will you have fought for? Everything you know and love will be gone. Let go of your anger. You'll have made your point, but is that worth losing everything you hold dear? If there is a peaceful way, please, let us try to find it. Stand with us and show then we are united and strong. If they attack, then help us defend ourselves. But you have to give us a chance.”
Papa's words struck a chord with all three men. They hadn't known about the missiles. They looked to each other and then Janto nodded to Papa.
“Alright. Ok. We'll try it your way first. We will stand with you. I promise you that.”
Janto put his hand out, palm down. Justin and Sua followed, and Papa's hand made four.
“God's handhold is surely the most trustworthy handhold. Have faith and believe,” Papa said looking each man in the eye.
I spotted a figure walking down the beach. The sprig of coppery hair and flag waving in the air told us that it was a Houdakin messenger.
“Now it begins,” Papa said under his breath. “They know that we are here.” Papa turned to Janto and spoke quickly.
The Azurean Trilogy (All Three Books: 1, 2 & 3): Essentia, Burgeor & Manifest Page 23
