There’d been no time to do anything but try to survive and for most of them, those he and his men had managed to divert, that had been retreating to the stasis units.
They were capable of surviving in the sea—far better than humans—but they’d evolved long before they’d conquered space into a species far more suited to land than the sea and the seas of this world were even harder on them than those of their world. If they had not chosen to cut themselves off from mankind as they had they could be more certain that those who’d fled in mindless terror had survived. Unfortunately, they had, and when the humans had begun to sail the seas and seek them out to trade with them, they’d moved their colony even further—on the other the side of the world from the
‘undesirables’ that fought, and killed, and fucked indiscriminately, and stank like pigs because they were too ignorant to understand that the filth they lived in was what fostered the diseases that killed them like flies.
There’d been ships at port, and others—the humans were
not
to be completely discouraged even then—not far from port when the meteor shower had struck. So many had fled to the ships, though, they’d only managed to capsize the smaller vessels. Some would undoubtedly have managed to make it safely aboard some of the ships, though.
Others might have managed to make it to land, though that was stretching it considering how far they were from land in any direction.
He pushed the thoughts aside. They would never know now. There was no point in dwelling on it for, even if they had, they were long gone. As the councilor had pointed out, it was better to allow themselves to believe they’d lived and found some contentment with the lives they’d chosen.
“You have learned what you could from the natives, I presume?”
Raen felt his gut clench reflexively as if someone had feigned a punch at his belly.
“Yes.”
Councilor det Ophelia studied the liquid in his glass thoughtfully. “The council will still want to question them.”
Raen nodded. That had already been established.
“They have no particular value to their people, I assume?”
Raen sent him a startled look.
Councilor det Ophelia returned his look with a keen one of his own. “I was only wondering if they would prove to be of value in the negotiations,” he said almost chidingly.
Raen relaxed fractionally. “Doubtful,” he said almost reluctantly.
“Still ….,” Councilor det Ophelia murmured thoughtfully.
62
Raen tensed again, waiting until the councilor had mulled his thoughts.
“I see no real reason to release them at once. Despite the data the science department has gathered, there is no substitute for actually having subjects to observe and we could learn a good bit more from interaction.”
Raen cleared his throat, realizing the moment the idea ‘popped’ into his mind full blown that he had been toying with it in the back of his mind for some time. “They could be told that it is not possible to breach the field at this time, that they must remain as our guests until repairs are made on the Atlantis and it is stable enough to release.”
Councilor det Ophelia smiled faintly. “An excellent notion! And I know I can count on you to see to it that they are treated as guests. It will give them the time to get to know us, as well, and perhaps dispel the notion that we are some sort of monsters from outer space.
“We have left the world we knew behind—or it has left us. We will not be able to eschew the company of our neighbors altogether as we did before … and that may not be altogether a bad thing.”
Taking that as a dismissal, Raen rose and took his leave. As much as he respected the elder, it was a relief to escape the man’s probing looks.
He didn’t know whether to be relieved or appalled that the humans were to stay, to be welcomed as guests.
The truth was, he supposed, that he was appalled
because
he was relieved.
Worse—glad.
He should not have kissed Cassie. He’d known before he did that it was a very bad idea. In the back of his mind, he supposed, he had convinced himself that it could not hurt to give in to the temptation to see if it affected him the same as it had before because she would be gone soon anyway.
The urge to return to her and finish what he’d started was so strong he felt almost ill. It was enough to make him turn the other way and leave the ship instead. He was a little startled to discover when he had that the Atlantis had risen. He stood on the hull for several moments, staring at the sea surrounding him in the dimness of early morning and looked back into his memories, remembering the times when he had stood in that very spot with the city at his back.
He was loath to turn from his contemplation of the sea, reluctant to look at the ruins of what had been a beautiful city before. He turned after a while anyway and surveyed the ugliness and felt the soul deep sickness of loss. Time and the sea had ravaged even the buildings untouched by the blast of the meteors. Hollowed out hulls and partial walls were all that stood now where once there’d been homes and shops and people. The sea had swept the soil from the surface of the vessel, swept away the gardens and green growing things. Beyond the inner ring where he stood, the channels were flooded with salt water instead of the sparkling, sweet fresh water that had once filled them and no fields lush with healthy crops of food spanned the outer rings. The arched bridges that had once spanned the channels were long gone, or broken and twisted beyond use.
No children played in the parks or dabbled in the waters of the channels. There were no parents chasing or scolding or laughing at their children’s antics. No lovers strolled along the walks.
63
He shook his head, wondering when he’d grown so sentimental or if he’d always been a romantic fool. They were fortunate they had anything left—including their lives.
What had been built once could be built again. Their ancestors had built it all and there’d been far fewer of them to divide the labor. It was disheartening to realize it could be years before it even began to look as it once had, but he was young. In his time, he would see it as it had once been—or better.
He saw as he walked along the edge of the channel that his fellow Atlanteans didn’t seem to share his hollow sense of loss, the feeling that things would never be as they had once been. Architects and engineers and builders moved briskly among the ruins, studying the walls and floors. Labors were moving about the ruins, as well, some busy chipping away at the broken walls to finish the demolition, others gathering stones and stacking them into neat piles.
Obviously, he thought wryly, they had no idea that nothing had been settled.
He stopped when he reached the docks, studying the boat that belonged to their
‘guests’ thoughtfully. It was safe enough to leave it where it was even if they gave their guests the freedom to roam at will, he decided. They could not breach the field. It would have to be disengaged before anyone could move in or out and it might serve to convince them they weren’t being lied to if they gave it a try.
They were not going to be pleased when they were told they would have to stay, for weeks at the least, possibly for more than a month.
He didn’t think they could delay their departure any longer without arousing their suspicions.
Could he resist temptation for weeks, he wondered, when he could not avoid Cassie altogether?
He supposed, he thought with self-derision, that was going to depend on whether or not she decided to test his will to resist.
64
Cassie’s entire being was in an uproar as she watched Raen stride from the room.
Dazed by the sweltering heat and excitement churning through her, she sat staring blankly at the wavering wall of water beyond the room for some time before the sensations abated enough to allow room for thought.
“Wow,” she whispered finally. “What was
that
all about?”
Acknowledging the kiss was enough to send a fresh wave of need through her.
She sucked in a shaky breath and looked around the empty room a little vaguely. A shiver went through her, partly at the memory and partly from the absence of his warmth and she lay back down, wrapping her arms around herself. She didn’t know what disturbed her more—the effect his kiss had had on her or the fact that she had no clue of why he’d done it.
She’d thought before that he’d kissed her as something of a joke or a tease, because she’d been clinging to him as if he was her only lifeline when she’d had no reason to at that point. Or maybe just because he was a man and she’d given him the opportunity. It had knocked her for a loop, but then she’d been a wreck from the ordeal of being captured and the terror of suffocation by drowning. She’d convinced herself it was more relief on her part than anything else that had sent that sensation of exhilaration through her.
That was afterward, though, she reminded herself, when he hadn’t seemed to be all that affected by it himself or particularly interested in her.
Which brought her back to why he’d kissed her just now.
She sure as hell hadn’t seen any indication that he’d been holding himself back any of the times he’d questioned her. Even when the steam had cleared and she’d discovered he was standing outside the shower watching her she hadn’t noticed anything that pointed to a great attraction. Of course, she’d been so startled at the discovery she hadn’t really been in any state of mind to notice much, but she was pretty sure she would still have noticed if he’d had a lascivious expression on his face.
It began to seem inescapable that he’d had some sort of ulterior motive for kissing her. Disappointment filled her when she arrived at that conclusion. She tried to dismiss it, tried to convince herself that he couldn’t have kissed her with so much passion if he hadn’t felt it. The problem was she realized she hadn’t been in any condition to really judge
his
condition.
Maybe he’d just been as curious as she was to know if the kiss before had been a fluke or there really was a special spark between them, and maybe not. That theory, after all, was predicated on the premise that he had been as affected as she was the first time—and he hadn’t actually appeared to be all that bowled over by it.
If he had been, wouldn’t he have behaved warmer toward her?
Of course, this apparent security breach was obviously serious business as far as he was concerned and he was clearly a professional, but could he have been so completely cool about it?
65
The closest he’d come to any warmth had been cool courtesy while he was questioning her and he hadn’t even been that when she’d asked him about the fish, a question he’d obviously taken as an insult.
She dragged in a deep breath, realizing her process of reasoning had not only cooled her blood, but chilled it.
She might as well dismiss any thoughts from her head that he’d kissed her simply because he found her attractive, she decided, as thoroughly depressed now as she had been giddy before. She closed her eyes, trying to seek sleep again but realized she wasn’t the least bit sleepy.
She had no idea what time it was or whether it was day or night, but her body was telling her it had had enough rest. Throwing off the cover, she got up and went into the bathroom to take care a nature call and clean herself up the best she could considering she had nothing but water to do it with. God she missed her toiletries! She didn’t even have a brush or a tooth brush, damn it! She did the best she could with her fingers, detangling her hair as the water rushed through it and scrubbing at her teeth with her index finger.
She had the choice of her swim suit and the wetsuit to put on, or her swimsuit and the robe she’d slept in, or no swimsuit and the robe.
Sighing irritably, she put on her swim suit and the robe. At least she didn’t feel naked.
It occurred to her as she dressed that she hadn’t considered there was no reason at all for Raen to have given her a lascivious look when he’d watched her in the shower. He was completely unconcerned about nudity. As far as she could tell, they all were. None of the guards that had come to take them away had been wearing a stitch of clothes, including the women.
It wasn’t hard to figure out why. She couldn’t imagine, even with the ability to somehow transform their lower body from legs to fish tail and back again, that swimming in clothing would be the least bit desirable, or comfortable, or practical. In their merform they wouldn’t be able to wear anything but maybe a top or something like the robe, which meant the damned things would be alternately clinging to them and floating around them. Since they seemed to switch back and forth fairly regularly, wearing anything at all would mean going around in wet clothes most of the time—or a hell of a laundry.
Of course whatever material they’d used to make everything seemed unaffected by water in the way ordinary fabric or even plastic materials were.
Nevertheless, she was sure that was why they didn’t seem to think anything about being naked.
Which meant, unlike her and her companions, they didn’t get a thrill, or a shock, every time they saw a naked body.
She was inclined to think it was a pity to be so accustomed to nudity that they missed out on the thrill one could get at the glimpse of flesh one didn’t ordinary get the chance to see. She felt downright breathless every time she saw Raen, and it took all she could do to concentrate on what he was saying instead of staring at him. Even when he was wearing the robe, which thankfully he had the last few times, it was clear that that was
all
he was wearing and it was almost as distracting.
66
She discovered when she left the bathroom that there was a door she hadn’t even noticed in the far wall of the bedroom. She wouldn’t have discovered it at all, she didn’t think, if not for the fact that a young woman had just stepped through it carrying a tray.
That explained how they’d brought in the table, chairs, and the dinner the night before.
She hadn’t actually given a thought to how they’d managed it, she realized, because she was so out of kilter about the whole situation she’d found herself in.
The woman didn’t seem the least bit put out that she’d been ‘caught’ slipping through a ‘secret’ doorway. She smiled pleasantly at Cassie. The woman bowed when she’d placed the tray on the table. “I am Natara, Lady Cassia. I have brought food I hope that you will find more appealing to break your fast and a fresh robe for your use,” she added, gesturing toward the bed where she’d lain the robe. “Is there anything else I can do to serve you?”
A list as long as her arm popped into Cassie’s head, starting with showing her the way out, but she dismissed it. “I hope it isn’t fish,” she said somewhat ungraciously. “I don’t think I can face fish this early in the morning.”
Surprise flickered across the young woman’s face, but then she smiled. “Pardon, lady. The food synthesizers are only just being brought online and we must make do for now with what is available—which, unfortunately isn’t much.”
She was so polite and pleasant Cassie not only found it impossible to be surly in return, but felt shamed that she’d been inclined to to begin with.
“I suppose you’ve been instructed not to answer any questions?” she asked tentatively as she settled in the chair and examined the platter the woman uncovered.
Again a look of surprise flickered across the woman’s face. She shrugged. “I am not allowed to answer questions of a secure nature, of course, but I will be happy to answer any other questions you might have.”
“What is it?” Cassie asked suspiciously when she’d studied the food for several moments.
Suppressed laughter was dancing in the young woman’s eyes when she looked up.
“An Atlantean dish,” she responded.
Cassie didn’t know how to take the woman’s obvious amusement until she took a tentative taste of the strange looking dish. The taste of fish was mild, but unmistakable.
She swallowed with an effort.
“Pardon, lady, but we have nothing else just now.”
The comment tamped Cassie’s urge to complain or show her displeasure. “Why is it all you have right now?”
Natara seemed to consider it for a moment. “We have only just risen from stasis, and it was the great disaster that sent us into hibernation to begin with. It will take time and a lot of hard work to repair the damage and begin to produce the things we need again.” She paused, seemed to debate whether to continue or not and finally decided to do so. “It is hard for us, as well. I myself have never eaten anything but synthesized flesh. Even though it tastes much the same, it is the thought that it was swimming around only a little while before that makes it difficult to swallow.”
The comment made Cassie’s stomach execute a sickening somersault. She swallowed with an effort. “You’re saying your people only eat synthesized food?” she managed to ask when she’d chased the taste from her mouth with a few gulps of water.
67
“Synthesized flesh,” Natara corrected, “…primarily.”
“Please!” Cassie said, feeling another wave of nausea wash over her. “Can we just call it meat?”
The young woman looked distressed. “Pardon! I did not mean to spoil your meal. I thought the word meant the same.”
“I suppose it does, but we prefer to refer to what we eat as meat.”
Natara nodded. “I will make a note of this. This language is very confusing.
There are so many words that seem to mean the same thing.”
Cassie honestly hadn’t ever thought about it. “
Close
to the same thing,” she said finally. “You synthesize meat?”
Natara nodded. “As we did on the home world … or rather our ancestors did on the home world. We require protein, but it is not acceptable—to us—to cultivate animals only for eating, so we developed a process to only grow the meat. It is better all the way around since we not only do not need to kill to eat, but we also do not have to tend beasts or provide a place for animals to graze. The colony may seem very large, but it is not large enough to grow everything for so many and still have room for both beasts and so many people.”
“So many?” Cassie prompted since she hadn’t actually seen more than a handful of merfolk.
Natara looked uncomfortable and more than a little distressed.
“I guess that’s something that falls under the category of secure information?”
Natara seemed to wrestle with her thoughts. “Yes, but I could not say anyway.
We do not actually know, yet, how many survived the cataclysm.”
Cassie stared at the young woman. “The legends,” she said finally. “I’m not that familiar with the story of Atlantis—this
is
the lost city of Atlantis?”
Natara looked even more distressed. “It is not … a story to us, or a legend. And it did not happen to us long ago,” she said finally. “Not to our minds, anyway. When the meteors struck and destroyed the anti-gravity drive, it was the most terrifying thing imaginable. We were rushed to the stasis units to protect us until help could come so we have been sleeping ever since, up until just a few days ago. To me, to all of us, one day our entire world was crashing around us and the next we woke. We are all still very shaken by it, still trying to cope with the loss of our city and so many friends and family members.”
Dismay filled Cassie at that, and sympathy. She realized she’d jumped to conclusions about all of them without having any idea of what their lives were like.
Maybe, she thought, Raen wasn’t just naturally standoffish? Everybody dealt with things in their own way, and he obviously had a lot to deal with—they all did. Even if he hadn’t lost love ones in the disaster—and she didn’t know whether he had or not—it must have been horribly traumatic for everyone. She couldn’t begin to imagine what living through such a thing might have been like.
“I
am
so
sorry,” she said sympathetically. “I had no idea.”
Although she was familiar with the term stasis, it was mind boggling to think they’d not only mastered such a thing but had been ‘frozen’ for hundreds of years. She’d heard of people being frozen with cryogenics and stored in the hope that one day the technology would exist that would allow them to be awakened and cured of the disease that had killed them, but she’d always thought that was just crazy. Even if it worked, 68
wouldn’t it be horrible to wake up years and years after everyone you knew was dead and gone? And she’d never believed it actually
would
work.
As curious as she was about it, though, she wasn’t insensitive enough to give in to her curiosity.
She found she had difficulty even assimilating it. How hard must it be for them when they’d actually experienced it?