«Yeah,» Marco said. «You know, I thought I was joking when I said we might find Atlantis.»
«Kind of skanky for Atlantis.»
«Prince Jake? Ahead. On that - corner. Creatures. Beings. Not,» he hastened to add, «any species with which I am familiar.»
«The people who stole the Sea Blade,» I said.
They were approximately human in size and shape. Two adults and one child. Wearing loose, simple garments. Kind of old-fashioned for Earth. Like togas. Like something the ancient Romans wore. And . . .
«Their skin is blue - not that we haven’t seen that before,» Rachel said, glancing at Ax. «Kind of cool, actually,» she added. «But I have to give a ”thumbs-down” to the oily look.»
«Jake?» It was Cassie. «Look at their necks. They’re . . . they’re gilled.»
«And webbed,» I said grimly. «Feet and hands.»
«And the eyes. They’re oversized, like the ones on the seagull,» Tobias noted.
«Not a bad body on that one,» Marco said.
That earned him stares from all of us.
«What? What? I can’t compliment a fish girl?»
«We come here chasing Yeerks and we end up with this?» Cassie wondered. «is this good luck or bad luck?»
«lt’s our luck,» Rachel said dryly.
«Let’s take a closer look,» I said. «l don’t think the Sea Blade is ever leaving here. But let’s be sure. And let’s be careful.»
I opened my wings and flew, silent as only an owl is silent. My owl’s eyes easily pierced the murk and gloom. It was noon on a sunny day to me.
Over the city walls. I had to force myself to focus. This was a find beyond imagining. A city, a species, all right here on earth. Here for a long time, judging by the collection of ships.
It was beyond belief. And yet real.
74 And dangerous, I reminded myself. These people, whoever they were, had stuffed and preserved Viking and Roman warriors, pirates and Royal Navy officers, Japanese carrier pilots and U.S. Marines.
Maybe all those bodies had been dead, drowned before these creatures got hold of them.
And maybe not.
We swept across the city, silent visitors from another world. A squadron of terrestrial predators.
The city was alive and active. There were men and women - if those terms applied - walking along narrow streets. There were workers trundling wheelbarrows or driving forklifts.
There was building going on. I had to look away from the painful blaze of arc welders.
The ”river” flowed by the city, then turned and flowed right beneath the walls, through the city, bisecting the weird jumble into two unequal halves.
And there, in the middle of the town, tied up at a dock, was the latest ship to be brought here.
The Sea Blade.
«Let’s land,» I said.
«There’s a good perch over there, on the tower,» Tobias said. «Looks like a wooden mast. And a crow’s nest.» «Well, look what we have here,» Marco said. «The visser’s new toy, tied up and ready to be stripped for parts.»
Just beside the Sea Blade stood a bulky pyramid-shaped structure, towering over every other structure in view.
Steam belched randomly from hundreds of turbines that somehow had been attached to small shelves of stone. Shelves that formed a sort of natural staircase to the flattened top of the structure.
«Uh, geography isn’t my best subject,» Marco said. «History, either, for that matter. But is anyone thinking what I’m thinking? Aztec? Mayan? Inca? General South or Central American primitive style pyramid?»
«Except for the metal chimneys, yeah,» I replied.
«Because you two guys are experts on pyramids^ Rachel sniped.
I focused on the dock.
«Hork-Bajir,» I said. «Look.»
Emerging from the Sea Blade was a line of seven-foot-tall Hork-Bajir. Twenty-five or so. Being herded along by about ten of the blue, gilled creatures wielding a motley collection of primitive spears and new, automatic weapons.
Hork-Bajir. The visser’s crew. Manacled to
76 each other, ankle to ankle, shuffling along, heads bowed. Hands tied in front. Being led into the base of the stone pyramid structure.
«No Visser Three?» Tobias said.
«Not that I can see,» I answered grimly. «He may not have been aboard.»
«0r maybe he’s already a prisoner,» Cassie suggested.
«Maybe he escaped capture,» Rachel countered. «Morphed to something small and slipped past the B.G.’s. We’ve done it often enough.»
«B.G.’s?» Ax wondered.
«Blue Gills. B.G.’s.»
«Weren’t they a group, like a long time ago?» Tobias asked.
«Prince Jake? There are only twenty of your minutes remaining in this morph.»
It didn’t take long to size up the situation. The Sea Blade had been captured. Its crew taken prisoner. Visser Three. . . . Well, it didn’t look good for him, either.
No doubt the Sea Blade and its crew would become the latest exhibit in the gallery of ships.
And when the visser was captured, he’d become the city’s most popular circus act. Night after night, until his traveling supply of Kandrona ran out, forced to morph, demorph, and remorph to crowds of hooting gilled creatures.
77 Maybe. I could dream, anyway.
Not my problem. The Sea Blade was down. Gone. Maybe Visser Three, too.
This was a victory. A major one, no less because it was handed to us by the B.G.’s.
Time to be thankful and to get out fast.
«0kay. We’ve seen enough. We’re out of here. Let’s find someplace to demorph then remorph. Then we go home.»
78 CHAPTER 13
We flew away from the city toward an open expanse empty of buildings - and, hopefully, of the blue, gilled creatures.
The light grew dimmer away from the heart of the city. I could more clearly see the dome of the vast cavern. Pinpoints of what had to be artificial light dotted the ”sky” but became duller the further we flew. Wide streaks of charcoal-colored cloud obscured many of these ”stars.”
We flew away from the busy streets of the city until we reached miles of fields. Rubbery tangled vines of green, yellow, and aquamarine covered the ground like a thick, dense blanket of writhing snakes.
79 «What is that crap? Rubber snakes?» Marco commented nervously.
«lt does look kind of - alive, doesn’t it?» Cassie said.
We landed several feet apart. All except Tobias, who remained airborne as our lookout.
My talons gripped the slimy stems and my wings remained slightly flared for balance. The stems bobbed with the weight of the owl’s body but held.
«l believe these plants are growing in water,» Ax said.
«Kind of like water lilies? Their pads can hold the weight of big fat frogs,» Cassie said.
«See?» Rachel said. «Nothing to be afraid of. Just plants. Bizarre plants, but . . . »
«Just demorph everyone.»
Within minutes we were four kids and an Andalite. Balanced precariously - especially Ax on the shifting floor of seaweed. About to morph again to owls and join Tobias above. About to fly out of this place, this hidden nightmare.
«Jake! Watch out!»
”What the . . . !”
A heavy weight like a prickly blanket was thrown on my head and shoulders and back. I fell to my knees. My body rocked and bobbed as if I’d been tossed on a waterbed.
”Jake!” Cassie cried. ”What’s happening?”
We’d been captured! Netted! The five of us, a tangled mass of arms, legs, hooves, and tail.
”Not good, Jake, my man,” Marco mumbled. ”Just got a mouthful of seaweed over here.”
”Everyone. Stay calm,” I ordered.
”Calm?” Rachel hissed. ”Battle morphs and we’re outta here!”
”No!”
Then I saw our captors. Three, six - ten of the large-eyed, blue, gilled creatures. They pulled the net tig
ht around us, shoving limbs back through the net’s open weave. Finally looping the ends of the net together. They worked silently and swiftly.
«Jake!» It was Tobias. «They came up out of the seaweed. I didn’t. . . they were so fast . . . I’ll follow them and find a way to break you out.»
Stupid of me. I had Tobias watching the skies. But this was a world of water.
Now they began hauling us across the vines, bouncing, sinking into the water, then back up again. I was shoved into Ax, practically in his belly, my arms tangled with his legs.
”Ax, answer Tobias,” I ordered in a whisper. ”Tell him it’s okay. Tell him to stay out of sight. And to be careful.”
Ax transmitted my message via thought-speak.
WHUUUMMPPF!
Tossed almost upside down!
81 ”Ow,” Cassie muttered. ”Ow, ow, ow.”
”Jake, this is insane!” Marco said. ”Rachel’s right. Let’s bust out of here. Now! No way these guys are going to be able to haul a bag of gorilla and grizzly!”
WHUUUMMPPF! WHUUUMMPPF! WHUUUMMPPF!
”We don’t know where the visser is,” I said. ”Don’t know what Hork-Bajir might still be loose. We don’t even know if these guys might be infested,” I said in between getting mouthfuls of dank water.
My knees were crammed into my chest and my left arm was already going numb. But as uncomfortable as I was - as we all were - I knew we just couldn’t risk morphing. Not out in the open, in full view, with the visser on the loose.
«l would be happy to sever the net with my tail blade and free us, Prince Jake,» Ax said tightly. «You and the others would not have to morph.»
”No. Not yet anyway. We don’t want a fight with these guys. They’re civilians, as far as we know. We don’t know what we’re up against. We wait. Watch.”
”I hope you’re right about this, Big Guy,” Marco muttered.
WHUUUMMPPF! WHUUUMMPPF! WHUUUMMPPF!
So did I.
82 CHAPTER 14
Across the field of bobbing seaweed. Back into the heart of the city. Across the splintery wooden dock. To the large doorway at the base of the pyramid structure.
Dragged like a sack of potatoes. Or garbage.
We were bruised. Battered. Cut.
Afraid.
Yanked across the threshold. Then pulled across a cold, slimy stone floor.
The passageway was dark.
From somewhere in the distance I heard a shrill cry.
The voice was Hork-Bajir. In pain.
” Is that. . . ”
”Yeah,” I whispered.
83
I was now pretty sure I’d made the wrong decision.
They hauled us to the center of a large room.
WHUUUMMPPF!
And unceremoniously dumped us out of the net.
There was no chance to prepare for who or what we might meet. The room was dim. Lit by the same strange, pinpoint light source we’d seen first in the gallery of ships.
But the room wasn’t so dim that I couldn’t see a throne against the far wall.
”Real velvet?” Rachel whispered. ”I’m impressed.”
The cushions were purple. The throne itself was gold, encrusted with pearls and colorful shells. Or pretty good imitations of the real things.
And on the throne sat another of the blue, gilled creatures.
A woman. Dressed in a loose gown woven, I guessed, from some sort of plant. It had a rubbery look not unlike the vegetation we’d just been dragged across. Around her neck were draped ropes and ropes of pearls.
”So do we kneel or bow or scrape our foreheads on the floor?” Marco muttered. ”I mean this is some kind of a queen, right?”
Ax stepped forward, tail blade partially raised. At the ready but respectful.
84 On either side of the woman stood a line of ten guards. Blue, gilled men armed with an assorted collection of spears and handguns. One carried a bow and arrow. Another carried a .50caliber machine gun with an ammo belt draped over his shoulder. Another a mace, at least I think that’s what they were called, a club with an iron head studded with spikes. One had a matched set of beautiful, ornate dueling pistols.
The woman squinted her huge, tennis-ballsized eyes.
Think of an orange cut in quarters. Each eyelid was the size of one of those quarters.
Then she cocked her head and spoke.
”Ni hau.”
”That’s Chinese,” Cassie whispered. ”But I don’t know how to answer.”
The woman spoke again. ”Hvordan har De det?”
”Scandinavian?” Rachel wondered. ”I wish she’d try a Latin-based language. I wouldn’t be able to answer, but I could at least try and fake it.”
The woman shifted impatiently on her cushioned seat.
”Guten tag. Wei geht es Ihnen?” she demanded.
”Okay, that’s German,” Marco said under his breath. ”We’re getting closer. Some similarities to Eng -” ”Bonjour!” she cried.
”Uh, bonjour, madame,” I blurted. ”Parlezvous I’anglais?”
”Of course,” she replied arrogantly. ”Since the latter half of the twentieth century English has been considered the international language of commerce and intellectual discourse on the Surface. As Surface-Dwellers you must know this.”
In a day full of weird, this was one of the weirder moments. She was a blue-skinned, gilled woman with webbed feet and eyes the size of Whoppers, and she was lecturing me in flawless English.
”Attitude?” Marco muttered. ”From a queen? Now there’s a surprise.”
”I am indeed the queen of the Nartec,” the woman declared, rising from the throne. ”My name is Queen Soco. And my hearing is quite acute.”
”My ... my friend means you no disrespect, Queen Soco,” I said quickly. Placatingly. Remembering the shackled Hork-Bajir. The cry of the Hork-Bajir. The mummified crews and passengers. The Japanese flyers sitting there in a mockery of a briefing.
”Good. Because it is usual for visitors to our kingdom - I am assuming you are not trespassers here to do us violence? - to behave with the proper decorum.”
”Yes, Queen Soco. We are visitors from the,
86
uh, Surface. We, uh, we come in peace,” I said. Feeling like I was Captain Picard in some old episode of Trek. Acting all calm and polite and respectful on the outside, while inside I was tense and alert - and afraid.
”You are the leader,” Queen Soco stated. ”You speak for the others. Good.”
SLAAAP! SLAAAP!
With wide, webbed hands, she clapped twice.
”I require that you be my guests this evening at a traditional Nartec feast,” she went on. ”I want to know how you came to the land of the Nartec. And I am extremely curious as to the four-legged blue creature that seems to accompany you as a pet.”
Ax stiffened.
”The creature is quite magnificent.”
Ax relaxed. About an inch.
Queen Soco gestured to the door behind us. An armed male Nartec came forward and stood beside us.
”In the meantime, Naca will be happy to escort you on a tour of my palace. Within these walls you will see many wonders of the Nartec civilization.”
”Thank you, your highness,” I said.
Marco raised his eyebrows at me.
What else was I supposed to say? What was I supposed to do? I was stalling. Waiting.
87 The guard called Naca gestured for us to precede him to the door. I turned to go - and was stopped by Queen Soco’s loud and final words.
”Do not attempt to escape, Surface-Dwellers. That is not a suggestion. It is an order.”
88 CHAPTER 15
We sat around a large round, massively constructed table made of salt-weathered beams. No doubt cut from one of the more badly destroyed wrecks the Nartec Searchers had found and hauled back to their bizarre city. It might be a hundred years old. Or twice that old.
Our chairs were constructed of odd pieces of lumber. Cobbled to
gether timber. A few sported patches of cracked leather on the seats and seatbacks. One was decorated with an inlaid pattern of cracked and dirty mother-of-pearl.
Those sitting nearest the queen, at the head of the table, sat in a bizarre collection of deck chairs and captain’s chairs.
89 Plates heaped with raw fish sat before us on the table. Some of the fish were whole. Eels. Small sharks. Octopus. Others were cut up into chunks, kind of like sushi. A few stainless steel bowls, no doubt some fairly recent salvage, were filled with seaweed. Each of us had a mug of something green.
Marco held up his mug for me to see. His still had a shadow of a logo emblazoned on it. Russian letters and the outline of a nuclear sub.
We were unwilling guests at this traditional Nartec feast. I mean, how comfortable can you feel when you’re making a command appearance and doing it under the watchful eyes of at least fifty armed guards standing at attention all around the room.
Trapped. We couldn’t run and we couldn’t morph. Not while the Nartec watched.
Not while Visser Three was possibly still on the loose.
He could be anywhere. In this very room. Morphed to some tiny watchful creature. Waiting to make his own escape.
Wondering what humans were doing in the world of the Nartec.
Putting two and two together. Remembering the whales that had damaged his precious Sea Blade.
90 Realizing the ”Andalite bandits” were not Andalites after all.
Stupid! I should have thought of it, should have realized that morphing and fighting our way out of the nets was the lesser of two dangers. Had I been drawn here by my own curiosity? Had I fallen prey to my own fascination with this impossible place?
Should have fought our way out. If a few Nartec were hurt . . .
Should, should, should. I hate the word.
I glanced at Rachel. Her lips were set in a thin line.
Cassie’s eyes were wary.
Marco grimaced at the pile of fish in front of him.
And where was Tobias!