Battle for Earth (31 page)

“Sorry, but we have to go back—that's it,” said Johnny.

“Forgive me, Master Johnny, but of every possible point within the search area, what makes you believe Atlantis happens to be there?”

“Because I saw it,” Johnny replied. “When I moved the airbags out of the way to electrify the hull. For a second the sea floor lit up and there was a ruined city down there.”

“Now he tells us,” said Clara, smiling at Louise.

“Sorry,” said Johnny. “I didn't think it was important—I guess we've all had a lot on our minds. Sol, can you fold us down there?”

“Unfolding within the ocean will make me more easily detectable,” the ship replied, “due to the large volume of water I will have to displace. However, extrapolating their courses, it appears the other vessels are converging on Milwaukee Deep.”

“We have to beat them to it,” said Johnny. “Every man, woman, android and dog to the gel pods—let's do it.”

It was frustrating waiting for the gray trunk to vacuum up the orange goo that only minutes before had been inside him, but
Johnny had to set a good example for his sister. He'd have happily accepted the nausea that came through folding to remain in his chair on the bridge, ready to act as soon as they reemerged near the ocean bed, but Clara had to get used to traveling in the gel pods. Still slightly inflated, he pressed the button on the side of the chamber and the door opened. He was first out, stepping onto the bridge to see circles of light from the
Spirit of London
's underbelly sweeping the seabed. As they moved, ghostly shadows rose from the ocean floor, stretching into the dark like hands reaching out to drag passing vessels down, before shrinking and vanishing as the ship passed over. The wave of water displaced by the fold must have blown much of the sediment off the bottom, revealing the broken pillars of myriad ruined palaces. The view reeked of age—Stonehenge was like a fresh-faced toddler compared to what Johnny was looking at.

From out of the gel pods came Clara and Alf, followed moments later by Bentley and Rusty, both still dripping in orange gel, which they proceeded to shake out all across the bridge, splattering the Plican's tank. Last came Louise. As she stepped out of her capsule she put her hand to her mouth and said, “Peter?”

The others turned in the direction she was looking. It wasn't Peter, but pressed against the outside of the hull, looking right into the bridge, was a half-human, half-alien amphibian boy. As they watched, others joined the odd-looking creature, their translucent skin highlighting the gills that lined their elongated necks. Here, at the bottom of the ocean, their eyes had swollen to fill much of their faces, saucers to collect what little light was present. Beneath the eyes, their mouths were huge and wide, in fixed grins that made the creatures look quite mad. Yet more amphibians arrived, pushing their bodies against the bridge so that the view of Atlantis beyond was becoming obscured.

“Sol, can you shake them off?” Johnny asked.

“Following your own example, I believe that passing an electric current through my hull will disable the amphibians and expel them.”

“No,” said Louise, “you can't hurt them.” She looked pleadingly at Johnny.

“Just a little shock,” he said to the ship. Louise mouthed a grudging thank you.

“Very well,” Sol replied, and for a second the windows around the bridge glowed bright blue.

Johnny shielded his eyes and when he looked again the creatures were gone. “Right—we have to act fast,” he said. “Any sign of the Atlantean ships, Sol?”

“Negative. I can find no power signatures.”

“Well, that is a surprise,” said Kovac, who had chosen that moment to fly out of the new elevator cabin and hover nearby. “Thirty thousand years without charge and you're telling me their batteries went flat—who'd have thought?”

Johnny ignored the quantum computer. “OK, can you locate the spaceport?”

“Again, no,” Sol replied. “However, scans have identified significant Orichalcum deposits—”

“The tower,” said Johnny and Clara together.

“Which I do, indeed, believe mark the location of the great tower at the center of Atlantis. I require one further reference point to be able to map the original city fully, but from here the ruins appear too degraded. Given time—”

“We don't have time,” said Johnny. “I'll have to go out there.”

“Er … excuse me,” said Clara. “You mean,
we'll
have to go out there.”

“Clara,” said Johnny, “you've not been well.”

“I'm fine now and if being unable to fold also means I have
to be stuck here forever and can't do anything, then I might as well still be trapped in hyperspace.”

“Happily these discussions are immaterial,” said Alf. “The ship is eight thousand six hundred meters below sea level, which I calculate yields an outside pressure of over eighty-six million pascals. Nobody is leaving the ship.”

“I'm coming too,” said Louise. Johnny looked at her in despair. “What? I'm meant to twiddle my thumbs while you two have all the fun? It's freakin' Atlantis out there—I'm not going to miss that.”

“Alf may be correct,” said Sol. “The shuttles were designed for space flight, not underwater exploration. The pressures are well beyond their official tolerances and I cannot guarantee their, or your own, survival.”

Johnny wasn't used to the
Spirit of London's
design specifications not being up to the job, but he'd hate to be inside the
Bakerloo
when it imploded. Not so long ago its sister shuttle, the
Jubilee
, had done just that, when he'd been plunging out of control toward the center of a gas giant somewhere in the Aldebaran system. He didn't want to repeat the experience—it was only his spacesuit that had saved him. That was it—his spacesuit had saved him! “Spacesuits,” he said. “I've tested them and they can take much more than a shuttle. Come on.” He gestured to Clara and Louise to join him in the elevator.

“Unless I'm mistaken,” said Kovac, “Atlantis was a rather large conurbation. Exactly how do you propose to traverse it without a shuttle?”

“Good point,” said Johnny. “That's why you're coming with us.”

Kovac gave the impression of being a very reluctant submersible, but Johnny knew just how much the computer loved being the
center of attention and wouldn't miss this chance to view the most powerful civilization the planet, then known as Terra, had produced. They needed to find the spaceport but, if there was anywhere in Atlantis that he and Clara might recognize, it would be the Temple of Neith—a great palace in the heart of the city, where they'd been brought upon arrival all those years ago. Sol knew exactly how far the temple had been from the central tower, so they would explore along a circle of that same radius, hoping to locate the right spot. There were several sites along the circumference that scans identified as candidate locations, so the search was beginning at the most promising. Knowing the positions of temple and tower, Sol could then map out the entire city.

Standing at the very foot of the ship, the only giveaway that Johnny, Clara and Louise were wearing spacesuits was their clear bubble helmets. The suits themselves molded perfectly to their body shapes. As ever, Johnny slapped the silver statue that stood like a sentry at the bottom of the elevator shaft before he followed the others toward the doors that led out into the ocean. Kovac was muttering to himself, which pleased Johnny as it meant they'd have more light than would otherwise be the case. He, Clara and Louise each took hold of reins attached to the harness around Kovac, and they all crowded together into one of the compartments of the revolving doors that would serve as an airlock before entering the pitch black, icy cold waters beyond.

Louise took Johnny's hand as the compartment began filling with water. He gave her a quick squeeze before letting go, pretending to check the spotlight fixed to his shoulder. Once the pressure had equalized inside and out Kovac said, “I suppose you'll want to say, ‘Giddy-up,' or some such?”

“Let's just get out there,” Johnny replied.

The quantum computer moved away into the dark and moments later Johnny felt the reins tighten and the three of them swam out into the deep. They'd decided to set their height five meters above the ocean floor, high enough to take in some level of detail, but hopefully low enough not to miss a vital clue. The three spotlights formed separate windows onto the seabed—Johnny kept having to remind himself to concentrate on his own and not look where Clara or Louise were already searching. He soon realized they were too high and asked Kovac to drop down to just above the sea floor, allowing them to sift through the fine sand with gloved hands as they went. It was painfully slow work. Although the temple had been close to the tower, at this rate they'd take days to complete their search.

Louise was the first to shout out. “Stop, stop—I've found something.”

“What is it?” said Johnny into the helmet microphone. He'd expected this, as Louise really didn't know what they were looking for, so held his position, but Clara swam across to join their friend.

“It's beautiful,” Louise explained, rather unhelpfully. “It glitters—huge, giant diamond feathers.”

“Johnny, get over here,” said Clara. “I think it's Bram's barge.”

Although these events had happened more than thirty thousand years ago, for Johnny and Clara it was only a matter of months since they had been in the great city. As he held a great diamond beak in his gloved hands, it seemed like yesterday that Queen Neith of Atlantis was saying, “He is such a show-off,” before the then youthful Senator Bram Khari arrived via the great canals that crisscrossed the city in a glittering barge, shaped like a giant swan and pulled by fifty dolphins. Back then, Johnny had imagined the impressive barge was made of crystal, but now he realized it was truly
built to last, out of diamond—the hardest natural material known.

Kovac, listening in on their excited conversation, reminded the three that a boat was hardly the most reliable placeholder for a building when caught up in a tsunami, and that it could have been carried anywhere. Johnny, though, wasn't so sure. He wished he'd seen what had happened to the barge later that same night. It had been a gift to Queen Neith, and a prized one at that. Surely it would have been taken somewhere within the temple itself and not abandoned in the canal? He knew they were close—he felt it, in the same way he felt a terrible sensation of being watched. “Let's stay here and spread out,” he said. “A fingertip search—shout if anything seems important.”

“It's your own time you're wasting,” said Kovac.

Johnny ignored the computer and began sifting through the sand. Every so often he'd look quickly about him, but all he saw were occasional upright pillars, their long shadows being thrown out by the spotlights. It was impossible to tell if they belonged to the building he'd spent so little time in.

Clara uncovered portions of a frieze and called him over. She thought she recognized it, but Johnny wasn't convinced. Then, a little distance away, Louise said, “Hey, it's Poseidon.”

“What do you have?” Johnny asked.

“It's a statue,” she said. “Poseidon—god of the sea.”

Quickly, keeping hold of their reins, Johnny and Clara swam across. Through her helmet it was impossible for Johnny to be sure his sister wore the same broad grin as his own, but he expected nothing less. Louise had scraped away enough sand to reveal a muscular, bearded figure holding a trident. The bottom of the statue was missing, but Johnny had seen enough.

“It's Neptune, Johnny,” said Clara, using the Roman name where Louise had picked the Greek. “We've found it. This is the temple.”

“Sol,” said Johnny, “we're in the Hall of Ancestors in the Temple of Neith. Get over here and take us to the spaceport.”

“I am under attack, Johnny,” said the ship. “Three Krun vessels have unfolded in the vicinity. Outside of my hull, you are vulnerable—I do not wish to draw attention to your situation and suggest we maintain communications silence unless an emergency.”