The Other Big Secret 3: Safely out at sea
THE OTHER BIG SECRET 3: SAFELY OUT TO SEA / CH. 1: CONTACT
WED, JUNE 20TH, 2277,
[Sarah? I'm Karella. You've probably not even heard of me.] Sarah heard as she was almost falling asleep one night.
[Urm, that's right, I haven't.]
[I'm Rose's cousin, so I've been hearing quite a lot about the things you've been up to in the world.]
[Have you just received the gift?]
[No, I've had it oh, about ten years longer than you .... But Rose hasn't even told Enoch I had it, as far as I know.]
[That seems... unusual.]
[I know, but then, we are, Rose and I.]
[This sounds mysterious.]
[What do you feel about learning the another big secret that's been kept for thousands of years?]
[I have a choice?]
[Of course! Just if you do want to have a look at where I'm calling you from, then I'll ask you to take a vow only to talk to Rose and John about it, and to John only after he's made a similar vow. At least for the moment.]
[Can I talk to him about this? I don't want to keep secrets from him.]
[That's fine. I understand you're expecting? How are you sleeping?]
[Not too bad. I can't wait for the end of this phase.]
[And you're having checkups every month or so at this stage?]
[Every three weeks. Why?]
[I'm just trying to work out timings. When was your last one?]
[A couple of weeks ago. My next one's on Monday.]
[Oh, wonderful! Praise God. And May's quite capable of handling things if you were called away for a couple of weeks?]
[You do know all about me, don't you!] Sarah replied [Yes, she is. Am I likely to be called away for a few weeks?]
[Urm, yes. I believe it will be a rather a unique occurrence in history.]
[Oh, not another one.]
[Sorry. You seem to be a magnet for them, don't you? Discuss it with John, and call me with the answer, OK?]
[Any time-line for this?]
[Preferably... within the next half an hour? I'm just going to a boring meeting, but I'll be asked to speak then.]
[About my decision?]
[Well, I can say I've contacted you now, at least.]
[Any particular reason you contacted me?]
[Yes. But you probably don't know the history. Well, maybe you do. Ask me if answer's yes. If the answer's no, then it's better I don't bring it up. Talk to your husband, Sarah.]
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[Karella, John is with me. We're neither of us good at suppressing our curiosity. We vow not to discuss this with anyone but you and Rose.]
[I'm glad, Sarah. Do you know the story of the Emerald?]
Sarah was taken aback. [It was an heirloom. Passed on strangely. Centuries ago, an aunt passed it to her niece, who passed it to her third child, and so on. It was so big, people always took it for glass, and only the holder knew. Eventually it was valued and sold, and it rescued the family from poverty. Invested well, it formed the beginnings of the family company.]
[The aunt was called Rose, her sister-in-law was called Karella. Karella's daughter was called Amanda. Amanda's third child, Japathe, had a hard life, and chose to forget her ancestry. Not to tell anyone about her aunts, uncles, cousins, who lived strangely, a long way away.
She had quite a lot of jewelery with her, and eventually she married a young successful jeweler called Smith. We haven't traced his family tree back far enough, but Karella's grandfather gave half his estate to his cousin who was called Smith. We don't know if there's a relationship, but it'd be a nice circle if it was. So... you and I are very distant cousins, and I'm sorry to say that's probably why you have what you call the Pain. You have a range like we do, from your father's side and filters like your mother. It's not a good mix. Amanda's third child wasn't unique, by the way, in running away like that. So, not everyone with the pain is a cousin of yours, unless you go back much further than that. It was a difficult time for us, when we retreated from the sun. Use the gift now, Sarah. Learn about where some of your genetics come from. It will be more convincing if you see for yourself.]
Linked together with John, Sarah looked for where Karella was. She was there in the meeting room with people, some of whom had strange names, which was there in ... in the fairy-tail tower? Sarah was astounded. [We were told to be surprised, love.] John reminded her. [Press on.]
The fairy-tale tower was in the fairy-tale city, under the dome, under the Atlantic.
Sarah held John tight. [Calm, Sarah. Don't scare Baby.] John reminded her.
[{forced mirth} Karella said it would be unique event. We can't say we weren't warned.]
[Shall we seek peace?] John asked.
[No. I want to talk to Rose.]
[Why?]
[Because... she has been keeping this secret all her life. I want to know how!] Sarah thought, then called, with utmost care, [Rose? I need to talk.]
[What is it, Sarah?]
[I hear you've been talking to a cousin of yours about me. She's just told me to look where she is.]
[Oh! It's begun then.]
[What's begun?]
[What you started five years ago. The ending of secrets.]
[How... How do you keep this a secret? Even from Enoch?]
[I asked him to never look.] Rose said simply. [Does John know?]
[Yes. Karella said we could look together.]
[Then maybe, one day, I'll be able to share it with Enoch too. That'd be nice.]
[Karella said that my ancestry, on my father's side, is where the pain comes from.]
[Yes. Your muscles are part of the receivers, Sarah, you know that. Your muscles are a bit different to John's. You ought to be able to hold your breath longer underwater. Not as long as me, of course, you've too much land-folk in your ancestry. But longer than most.]
[How long can you hold your breath?]
[Last time I tried... about ten or fifteen minutes. Oh, if anyone offers you something called 'the potion', then remind them you're expecting. Probably not a nice thing to do to Baby.]
[What's 'the potion'?]
[Ancient herbal medicine which adjusts your gasp-response. I'm not aware of anyone taking it when pregnant; don't be the first. It'll probably make you sick for up to a day, which won't be a healthy thing, I'm sure. You need to talk to Karella more, though.]
[You come from a fantastic city, Rose.]
[Thank-you. I do like walking in the sun though.]
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[Hello Karella.] Sarah said [Pretty city you've got there, I see.]
[Thank you.]
[What do you call it?]
[Home, of course! But when it needed a name, it was named after a fictional city which sunk — Atlantis. It's actually a submarine, you realise.]
[What?]
[We can move it around, just in case you land-men get too close.]
[So you could just... park it outside the U.N. headquarters and say 'Hi, can we join?']
[We could. It'd be a bit of a problem for other shipping, though, and we don't want to be shot at, either. That'd get really messy.]
[So, you've got good records, you've been keeping track of what we call world events..., Anything else I should know?]
[Yes. You and John are almost certainly going to be invited for a visit, to discuss exactly that sort of thing. Do we just float to the surface and give everyone a heart attack? Do some of us come in a submarine in traditional fish-tales, and say 'take us to your leader', or should we do something a little more subtle, like ask your cousin Eliza's father in law to get us an invitation to the UN? Or anything else you can think of.]
[Why now?]
[It's hard to hide. We had technological superiority over you for a very long time. You mostly caught us up in the twentieth century, and we made some progress towards living more openly among you. Amanda herself went to a school and University in London, and other people in other places too. At that time, they could be themselves — swim beside dolphins part of the year, pretend to just be actors at holiday resorts, and so on. They could visit one-another by high speed submarines, and still get ignored by your detectors. But as time went on, the fear of discovery became too present. You had DNA scanners popping up everywhere, everyone started holding a camera that would let someone take an identifiable photo of a mermaid swimming a mile away. You had no privacy rules, programmers didn't think of what they ought to do, they just did it. So your computers would immediately say 'Oooh, that looks like this person.' So then Amanda's kids' friends would be asked 'Hey, see this mermaid, it really looks like so and so! Is it?' They could laugh it off once or twice, but if every time you go on holiday to be with your relatives some tourist who takes a picture of you wearing a tail and posts it online, your friends get really suspicious. Especially if you've still got the same hairstyle. It just wasn't possible to stay in contact with who we were and walk among you any more. It became either-or, not both. Some of us, like Rose, still make choice to leave home. Which is hard on them, but good in the long run. As long as there's one of us with the gift, and there usually is, praise God. Their being out there let us keep up with what's going on up in your world.]
[And you've decided that since no one's been cut up or burnt alive for hearing thoughts, you probably won't not get cut up for wearing a tail? I presume it's detachable or something?] Sarah said.
[Yes, just a special skirt. The not cutting up bit is part of it, yes. The other part of it is that you're starting to get really close to our construction methods. When you do, we'll have nothing to offer. Right now, we're about on a par technology-wise. And that's hard too, on a small community like ours. Keeping up with the arms race is wearing us out. We've hardly had any time to play for two generations. When Amanda's great-grandmother was a young woman, almost her whole life was about enjoying being alive and not getting herself caught by some unsuitable man. That was her life. Knowing that sort of thing, knowing that if only we didn't need to keep up research and development then we could be have a wonderful time playing like dolphins and chasing down fish like the top-predators we are... that hurts us. Really, we'd much rather be savages than scientists, you see.]
[Wouldn't we all?]
[I don't know. Would you, given the choice, swap your life of comfort for a hunter-gatherer lifestyle where you'd rely on your wits and quite possibly die rather painfully from not being careful enough?]
[Maybe not.]
[But most of us would. But not so much that we'd abandon our families and our kids to a future of slavery in a freak show. Ever since your Institute published about the power, we were expecting the backlash, that people would be locked up, and yes, cut up. But it looks like homo sapiens teris has finally grown out of that sort of thing and homo sapiens aquaris can stop hiding.]
[You think you're a different subspecies?]
[There are enough differences, yes. Most of us hear thoughts, we have webbed feet, we have aquatic mammal muscle, not land-mamal muscle, our hearing ranges are different, we hear thoughts underwater, we use sonar, our brains are wired for it, that is. Put them all together, and we're pretty sure that we're a subspecies. We're not a separate species, of course. Your ancestry is proof of that. But I really ought to be paying attention here, sorry, he's just finished telling everyone, including the news cameras, what we decided last time and why. Hopefully there won't be riots in the streets.]
[I hope you're joking.]
[I'll let you know.]
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Karella addressed the assembly and the cameras, painfully aware that almost all her people were watching.
“As you know, I am on this council because I have the gift of the land-man Jacob who married Sathzakara and brought warnings, change, and the Gospel; gift of the land-woman Rose who came among us and brought medicines, vaccinations and more immunity. Like them, and many since, I have kept my existance secret from others with the same gift and did not converse with any outsiders, only those who have, with tears, left us to walk as land-men and land-women. Until today. At our last meeting I was asked by the council to identify a thought-hearer among the land-men who would help us reach our decision. Someone with the right position, character, contacts, and resources to make it possible for them to come and not betray us if we decide, against all probability that we should hide another generation. I'm afraid I wasn't paying full attention to our honourable speaker's speech, as in the middle of it, Sarah, the woman I spoke to, took a vow of secrecy and spoke to me.
“She is rich among landfolk, and her fortune ultimately stems from the emerald that her forefather James gave Rose, if you know that song, which Rose gave to Karella's firstborn, Amanda, and Amanda gave to Japathe, who did not come to Atlantis, but stayed among the land-men, and kept the secret. Sarah knew nothing of her ancestry, but she was the first at the Institute of Human Mind to hear thoughts. So, I believe she is quite able to survive storms of publicity. You will not have heard her name in that context, because land-men have also learned the value of privacy since we fled. They are quite good at not using the technology they have, in most of their countries. I chose Sarah. In choosing Sarah, I also chose her husband, John, as they have no secrets from one another. Sarah and John are able to visit us, and willing to visit us, if we invite them.”
Karella took a breath and thought [Rose! Listen in.]
“So the question I ask is if we do invite them, or if we've thought better of it. Also, on behalf of my cousin Rose who walks among the landmen, and others like her, I ask one more thing. Before we ask such landmen among us and reveal ourselves to the world, might we not release them from their vows which prevent them even telling their husbands, wives and children who they are? Might we not also draw on their wisdom and experience? In fact, should we not? Should we not call in all who know the truth and their trusted loved ones, for this great decision our people face? We have the resources to make this possible. We've been labouring for generations to keep it possible to slip our submarines past their detectors. Why don't we? Let's use our superior technology for once, and bring our own people home before we reveal our home to the world! Otherwise, what's the point in all those laborious hours in study, when we could have been playing dolphin?”
[Wow! Karella... thanks. That'd be so lovely, I do miss home, and not being able to tell Enoch about it is so hard sometimes.] Rose thought. Not just to Karella, but to the whole council. Karella added [In case you're wondering, that was Rose.]
The eldest of the council struggled to his feet. “My grandfather told me of a time when Sathzakara Evangelia reminded her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to stop surviving and remember who they are. That began time of not hiding. The age when we stopped using one of the most abundant elements on the planet as currency, when we stopped being scared of infection. I know why we've been hiding under the sea this last two centuries. The years of chaos would have killed us, I expect. But... as I get old, I really want to copy Sathzakara and tell my children to go and make big splashes, bring me back a fish caught without fear but with speed, and maybe kill some sharks. So I agree with Karella. Let's bring our children home, and see what they think of making this city float above the waves for once. I'd like to see my great grandchildren before I die. The poor things don't even know how to swim with a tail. How can they ever play dolphin if they can't even do that? How dare we keep their heritage from them if we're contemplating inviting this land-woman and her husband?”
The meeting of the ruling council went on for some hours. Nobody minded at all.
Opinions were sought from others who had left the mer-folk. What did they think? Would they welcome the end of isolation? How risky was it?
It was not very often that the council voted. It was unanimous: Sarah would be invited, but only after the invitation of all the lost ones, whatever their age.
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ENOCH AND ROSE'S HOME, SAT. EVENING, JUNE 23RD, 2277.
“Enoch. I want to ask you something.” Rose said.
“Oh yes?”
“How do you feel about scrapping our holiday plans?”
“But.... why?”
“Going somewhere else instead.”
“You've been bubbling with something for half a week, what's this about?”
“We have an invitation I never thought we'd get. Before I say 'of course', I'd like you to have a chance to say, no, Rose, I'm perfectly happy going to place we've always gone on holiday, I don't want to visit your family home and meet your relatives.”
“Urm. I don't think I'd say that sort of thing.” he said, moving over to hug her.
“Good. I've just been told that it'd be really good to get home soon. You could call it a family crisis, if you like. It's a bit more than that, but... Oh well. Do you think we can arrange it with work? We can go any time we like, but preferably before the world turns upside down in about a month's time, if all goes to schedule. I've also got to try and teach you an old language, you poor thing, and introduce you to my cousin Karella. She's got gift, by the way, so at least that won't take long. Go, Karella!”
[Hello, Enoch! I love the idea of not being a total secret.] Enoch heard.
[You've urm, had the gift a fairly long time, then?] Enoch guessed.
[Only about fifteen years.]
[How come I've never spotted you?] after the experience of Kate, Sarah and John, Enoch had taken the decision to scan the world for people with the gift.
[Because, if you remember, your wonderful sneaky wife suggested you do it continent by continent. You did have us worried for a while when you first thought of it, though.]
[You're not on a continent? Oh! Of course not, you're on the island Rose came from, aren't you?]
“Enoch, dear,” Rose said “You know I made the you promise to never look where I was talking to you from? Have a seat, then look where Karella is. That is where I came from. Then we'll talk, OK?”
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JOHN AND SARAH'S HOME, EARLY SUN. AFTERNOON, JUNE 24TH, 2277.
[Sarah, have you talked to Rose recently?] Karella asked.
[No. Should I have?]
[No, it's OK. The world's changing, just so you know, Enoch knows now. There are others too, who are finding out what their husbands or wives, mothers and fathers, have been rather cagey about until now. I got clear instructions to invite everyone like that home before I got to you. If it's a disaster, then it's all my fault: I pointed out to the rest of the council that while it'd be great to have one or two people to lend us their expertise, it made a lot of sense to have lots of people to really thrash out ideas. I don't know how many people will be coming to our meeting, but there will be more than I said at first. I hope it's not a problem for you, with the pain.]
[As long as I've got John with me, it should be OK.]
[I hoped so. Now... details, and a timeline for you. That interceptor that totally failed to meet the comet is due to hit Earth in just under six weeks. Roughly speaking, it's landing right above my head, according to your scientists. I believe you call that 'safely out at sea and away from populated areas'. So, since it takes a little bit of energy to get a city moving, we're giving ourselves two weeks to move to a safe distance. Our fusion reactors are being got ready to start up now. It'll take a while, since they were in pieces for their fifty-year maintenance work before you announced that you were dropping a damaged, possibly perforated, nuclear weapon on our heads.]
[You want to be safely out of the way. I understand that.]
[Exactly. And those reactors are ancient. We'd hoped to have a year to check them over and put them back together, and the guys and gals were a month into it when they heard otherwise. We do have a plan B, which'll make a big noisy mess. Also, that rather depends on the reactor just failing to start nicely, rather than turning into a fireball. So, just in case, when they get ready to hit the big scary button, the city will be empty, and if something goes wrong, we'll be onto plan C, which means we've nowhere to hide any more.]
[So, plan A means no one notices, plan B means you get noticed and plan C means you're coming for tea?] Sarah checked.
[Yes. Except that your ocean monitoring satellites are so sensitive these days you might notice the heat anyway. Last time we moved the city we rigged an Earth-tremor or three to make it seem like a sub-sea volcano, just in case.]
[What's plan B look like?]
[All the little boats push and pull really hard. Imagine speed-boats trying to pull two dozen supertankers.]
[Ah. And that's in about a month?]
[Yes. If you could be somewhere near an Atlantic coastline, in less than a week's time, that'd be wonderful.]
[For how long? A fortnight?]
[Yes.]
[And the reason you want me to come would be... what exactly?]
[Our city is not very large, compared to some of yours. But right now holds almost all of us. We ask you to come, to speak to the council, and help us reach our decision. We have decided there will be a referendum, which we hardly ever have, part of the way through your time with us. We'll be asking your advice about exactly the things we've spoken of already. Should we just surface? Should we send emissaries to United Nations? To individual nations? To lots of nations? How might the general public react, those things. Also, most of us have never seen a landman. Help us understand you. There are many differences between us. For this reason we've also called back Rose and those like her, with their loved-ones. We call back our children and grandchildren so they can see the city before it might be evacuated, or even destroyed, which would be bad, to learn a little of who we are. If we vote to stay hidden, even if the city is lost, then you are welcome to stay, and enjoy our home for a while. If we vote to reveal ourselves... your related experience would be very helpful. Also you have contacts, you have resources. You are a woman known to the media, able to talk to reporters, and get them to listen. Those qualities are why I chose you. Also... we are an independent nation, I didn't think it would be good to ask your cousin to be involved, at least not right at the beginning.]
[I'm also an expectant mother... trying to slow down.]
[We're not expecting you to do much of the talking to journalists, really. Just making some initial contacts. You will do it, won't you?]
[I will.] Sarah thought to Karella. [May knows we're planning something. And she knows she can ask others to contact me in an emergency. And let's face it, my lawyers ran the company for a decade without me doing anything.]
[I expect you're not idle most of the time though.]
[No. Maybe this will help, actually. Convince them they can carry on without me.]
[I'm glad you can look at it that way. A question for you to ponder... If we do evacuate. Where would you send half a million people who want to do nothing much except swim, catch their own fish and have somewhere to stay warm in the winter time?]
Sarah thought for a bit and eventually said [Let's hope you don't need to evacuate.]
[I thought you might say that. Maybe we'll need to make ourselves some pacific atolls or something. That might suit us just fine. I was just wondering if there was a country you knew of that was short on people, but with lots of coastline.]
[I think U.N. might frown on a war of conquest.]
[So do I. I was more wondering about some power vacuum where the addition of half a million quite effective warriors might tip the balance, even if all they're really interested in is going swimming.]
[And not the local women?]
[Most of the warriors would be women. Among us, traditionally the women fight, men hunt. And we're a more Christian nation than most apparently. Three thousand years of pagan history behind us makes us rather thankful to God that he sent us a missionary.]
[Just one?]
[Yes. Then he married Amanda's great grandma and she reportedly would threaten to carve out the tripes of anyone who didn't let her finish when she gave a gospel presentation. It might be exaggeration, but we were rather a direct people back then, so it was probably entirely culturally appropriate. Not to mention that we knew all about how silly it was to cross the God Yah.]
[It sounds like I've got a lot to learn about your people.]
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
[Yes. Sorry. When you're here I can give you a memory ball if you like.]
[That sounds useful, yes please. We've got one we can pass on to you, if you want. I don't know if Rose has mentioned it. From Mama Ng.]
[Oh, that one. Yes, please. It's big, isn't it?]
[Don't accept it on a hot brain, don't touch it until you've cooled down entirely.]
[Too big, then. Why not split it?]
[We don't know how.]
[Oooh, you've got even more to learn then! What fun! What interesting things can you do with this gift, I wonder? But more urgently, when can you come?]
[Well, pretty much after my checkup, assuming everything is fine. Am I right in thinking it would be really useful if John and I were on to some isolated spot on the beach, say here{image}, at three A.M. Tuesday morning?]
[That'd be wonderful, yes! I'm sure we can make sure we've got some sort of inflatable to get to the beach and back.]
[You'd come yourself?]
[Of course! You don't invite someone to come and not meet them in person!]
[Well, I was thinking you might be busy.]
[I've been busy. I fully intend to do some three A.M. swimming.]
[That reminds me. Rose said something about how long I could hold my breath.]
[Oh! Did you test it? Properly, I mean, underwater?]
[Yes. A not very impressive three minutes.]
[While swimming?]
[Yes.]
[Actually, I'm quite impressed. But don't try again with your baby on board.]
[No. Baby wasn't impressed actually. I got some definite thoughts of disgruntlement.]
[You're hearing your child already?]
[Shouldn't I be?]
[I really don't know. I didn't when I was pregnant.]
[Hear that, Baby? You're a genius! Sorry Karella, I didn't ask if you were married or anything.]
[That's OK, you were too busy getting your world turned upside down. I'm forty, married for half of that. My son, Jake, who's eighteen, will be doing a lot of the driving because he needs the practice, my husband would love to come for a swim but then we'd be bringing our two daughters, who are sixteen and fourteen, who of course would love a chance for a swim without several miles of water underneath them, too.
But seven on our boat, with five of us dripping wet at the start, is going to be a bit crowded.]
[How long is the trip going to be?]
[From where you said, about eight or nine hours each way.]
[That's fast! When you say a bit crowded. Are we talking standing room only?]
[Oh, it's not that small. Just... well you and John would end up needing to share a rather narrow bed.]
[How narrow? We've survived the rebuilding in one that was barely a metre wide.]
[It's more like eighty centimetres. And were you sharing it with you pregnant?]
[No. But I'm sure we'll survive. If it's worth it for your daughters to have a sixteen hour boat-ride just for a quick swim, then far be it from me to say they can't come.]
[I think I'll know exactly what they'll say, but do you want to ask them yourself? They're called Mabel and Sathie. Not to be confused with all the other Mabels and Sathies in the family. I'm afraid we take 'keeping important names alive' a little to extremes in our family. The family tree for the last few generations has only had about ten different names in it.]
[Doesn't that get confusing?]
[Of course! It doesn't stop us doing it though.]
[Do you want to warn Mabel and Sathie that I'm about to talk to them?]
[Where's the fun in that? I'll just go and watch them jump out of their skin. Wait a moment.]
Karella went to the living room door. [OK, they've noticed me watching.]
“Mum's planning something.” Sathie announced.
“How do you know?” Karella asked.
“You've got the that look on your face.”
[Hello Mabel and Sathie.] Sarah called. [I'm Sarah. Your mother wants to see you jump out of your skin.]
[Oh. Mum's in for a disappointment.] Mabel said.
[I hear she's coming to meet me.] Sarah said.
[And go swimming.] Sathie moaned.
[Jake goes, why can't we?] Mable agreed.
[Couldn't you stow away?] Sarah asked.
[We tried that once.] Mabel admitted. [We got grounded.]
[Oh. Good job your mum says that you can come too, then.]
“Mum, you're fantastic!” Karella almost got knocked off her feet by their enthusiastic embrace.
[Thank you Sarah.]
[Not a problem. Is there anything special I should be bringing as a gift? Or is that just a land custom?]
[I guess it is. What sort of thing would you bring, why?]
[Just as an acknowledgment of friendship, I guess, when someone visits, it's fairly normal to bring a small gift to their host, or the person that meets them. Maybe a bottle of wine, or a box of chocolate?]
[If I reciprocated with just a diamond or a bar of gold, how would that be?]
[Entirely uncalled for. Wine and chocolate are rare?]
[We can make something Rose said is almost wine-like, but grapes don't like it here. As for chocolate... Rose once arranged to drop some bars off a pier I was hiding under. I sold some pieces for their weight in gemstones. Which aren't as rare down here as they are up there, by the way.]
[OK. I'll skip the wine then, and use the space for the brown gem.]
[You're really going to bring chocolate?]
[No promises. There might have been a global shortage and every shop in town run out.]
[Does that happen often?]
[It never has so far. Warn your daughters it might give them spots if they eat too much.
[You think I'm going to let them near it?]
[I'll get them a bar each. They can decide whether to eat it or sell. Should I get them milk-chocolate or plain?]
[Milk-chocolate as in cows? We might not be able to digest it.]
[I should have thought of that. OK, I'll go shopping for lactose-free chocolate. Anything else that's easy to get here and unobtainable there?]
[Pretty much every food except what comes out of the sea.]
[Right. We'll bring a lactose-free picnic hamper for seven then.]
[You don't need to, Sarah!]
[No, but I want to.]
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[Hi, May! As warned, John and I are going to vanish for a couple of weeks' rest and relaxation, if only, starting Monday afternoon sometime. I'm guessing we'll be out of wrist-unit contact after Monday evening.]
[So, this isn't a holiday then?]
[Think of it as ... a top secret government advisory panel.]
[So, in case of emergency, I contact the palace?]
[No. Wrong government. You'll have to contact me through Kate, or someone else with the gift, anyway.]
[What on Earth are you up to now?]
[Like I said, May, top secret. All I can tell you is I know where we're going and I've been talking to the family that are taking us there. They're really distant relatives, it turns out. She's in their government and they wanted some confidential outside advice. It might turn into three days of advice followed by holiday, but I really don't know.]
[All right, so, if anyone says they need to contact you then I can get you a message via Kate and you'll contact them?]
[Urm, probably not. You get me a message via Kate and I'll contact you.]
[Uh huh.] May sounded unconvinced. [And if they demand to speak to you in person?]
[You're my personal assistant, I'm unavailable, out of the country. You can take all messages in all areas including medical. Alternatively, they can talk to my lawyers if they prefer. You can get a message to me in an emergency, but from what you understand, it'll be time-consuming to get somewhere where my wrist unit will work, and you've been given instructions to deal with all calls.]
[Wow. You're really dropping off the face of the planet, aren't you?]
[You never know, I might be able to tell you all about it when I'm back, May.]
[I hope so.]
[Now on to other matters... just for the sake of your matriarch's curiosity... Just where do things stand between you and Q.Q. these days? It's months since you mentioned him.]
[We are, officially, friends.]
[And unofficially?]
[Friends, going in different directions, glad we never actually got engaged.]
[So, where does that leave you?]
[Young, free, single, relieved actually.]
[And him?]
[You haven't talked to Kara lately, then?]
[No. Should I?]
[I'm not giving away any secrets.]
[What secrets?]
[Talk to Q.Q. or Kara, Sarah.]
[You're not saying Q.Q. fell for Kara's eyelashes are you?]
[It's years since she stopped doing that to him, Sarah.]
[So?]
[I thought gossiping was a sin?] May pointed out primly.
[Oh all right, I'll talk to Kara, and then to Q.Q.]
[Can you tell them that you're going incommunicado? It'll save me ringing them.]
[What are you saying?]
[I'm asking you to tell them you're going incommunicado for a fortnight. I'm refusing to gossip or speculate about anything I might have had some hints about.]
[Fine! I'll talk to Kara.]
[Good.]
----------------------------------------
[Hi, Kara, are you able to talk?]
[{embarrassed} urm, Hi Sarah, yes, I can talk.]
[What are you up to that you're embarrassed?]
[Urm. We're just holding hands.]
[You and who?]
[Q.Q.]
[What is going on here?] Sarah asked, widening her thought to include Q.Q. too. [I didn't think I'd been that out of contact with everyone.]
[Sorry, Sarah.] Q.Q. thought [Urm, well May and I decided it wasn't going to work a couple of months ago, I guess you know that.]
[She just told me, yes. Talk about keeping secrets!]
[She told me a month ago. Formally declined her claim on Q.Q.] Kara said.
[And we've been talking since.] Q.Q. said.
[And holding hands, I hear.] Sarah pointed out, with a growing suspicion where this was leading.
[It's a good way to have a private chat.] Kara said. [Did you know I've got a job at the same school as Q.Q. from next term?] They'd both ended up as teachers.
[No! Congratulations. I suppose that might explain hand holding, but the kids will sure talk, if any see you! May asked me to tell you I was going to be incommunicado for a fortnight, maybe longer, by the way.]
[Oh!] Q.Q. thought. [Urm. We weren't just talking about school, Sarah.]
[What Q.Q. means, Sarah, is we were just deciding that it was time for us to talk to you about our plans.]
[Are you free this evening?] Q.Q. asked.
[Or even before church?] Kara asked.
[Come on over.] Sarah said. [You know my door's always open to talk about clan affairs, if I'm home.]
[Thanks Sarah, we'll just catch a transport, then.] Kara said, decisively.
[I'd better put the kettle on. Not to mention warn John he's laying the table for four.]
----------------------------------------
JOHN AND SARAH'S HOME, SUN. AFTERNOON, JUNE 24TH, 2277.
Kara entered the house on Q.Q.'s arm, looking very much like the cat who'd got the cream. “Hi, Sarah.”
“You're looking pleased with yourself, Kara.” Sarah said.
“Mmm. I'm rather pleased with life in general, anyway.” Kara said. “Q.Q. asked me a question on the way here.”
“Oh yes? I'm guessing it wasn't 'What's the time?'” Sarah said.
“No. It was more along the lines of would I like to change my surname.”
“And what did you say?” John asked.
“I said he ought to wait until Sarah had said it was OK to ask questions like that, and that I couldn't possibly say yes until she'd agreed to it. After that I kissed him.” Kara said matter of factly.
“Do I dare ask what happened after that?” Sarah asked.
“We got out of the transport.” Quentin said, rather embarrassed about how long that kiss had ended up being.
“Well, it rather sounds like all the most important decisions have been made.” Sarah said.
“Not really.” Kara said. “But firstly, Sarah, as I'm sure you know I've been after him for years. I'm delighted that May's finally realised she's not right NgBilla for him. So, can I have him now?”
“Q.Q. I'd like to hear your side of this.” Sarah said. “First, tell me about you and May. Like I said earlier, I only heard you weren't together today, so this is all a bit of a surprise to me.”
“Me and May... We started off too quickly, I guess. By the end of the first month I think everyone was assuming we'd marry, us included. But it was too fast, we were too young, and we ended up constantly trying to avoid romantic thoughts about each other, so she could concentrate on teaching me about clan. She did that really well. When I came back from university, we'd go out, chat and stuff, but we carried on squashing any feelings, because it was too soon, we were both a bit scared of how quickly we'd started. By the time we'd finished university I think we were realising that maybe we'd killed romance a bit too successfully. It was like we'd put each other in brother/sister category. We decided we'd give ourselves another six months, and see if we could alter our thinking, but.. every time we kissed it just seemed wrong. To both of us. You know about when we stopped seeing each other, and when we tried to get back together a couple of months ago, it was pretty clear we still liked each other, still got on well together, but that was as far as it went. We were certain then it really wasn't going anywhere. And, well, May knew Kara still had feelings for me.”
“And you realised you reciprocated?”
“Yes. I guess I've always thought if things don't work out with May then Kara's a lovely woman too. Urm, my thoughts were really going along those lines when May and I had our time apart.”
“And we had a few what-if conversations.” Kara said. “Those really helped me decide I wasn't interested in dating anyone until Q.Q. and May had made up their minds.”
“So, really, you're saying that you've had feelings for each other a long time.” John said, “but out of respect for May, clan rules, and everyone's expectations, you've not acted on them.”
“Yes.” Q.Q. agreed.
“Fine. You have my approval.” Sarah said. “Have your parents given any hints, or are you on your way there next, Kara?”
Kara laughed “Yes. I told Mum we were going out and she said 'Well, I'm glad Q.Q. and May have finally come to their senses, let me know when the wedding is in time for me to get my hair done.' and Dad said 'Don't go keeping the man waiting for an answer for our sakes!' Which I think counts as prior approval, too.”
“So, when is the wedding?” Sarah asked.
“That's a big question, yes.” Kara said, “Do we follow what seems to be a truthsayer tradition of marrying within a couple of months of the engagement, which means err, six or seven weeks if we're going to be within the school holidays. Or are we sensible and wait until, say, Christmas, Easter, or even next summer.”
“Six weeks sounds too quick to me.” Q.Q. said. “But, like Kara's said, she's been waiting a long time and she's not normally patient.”
“Also, Mum's got her wedding dress.” Kara said. “It's not as fancy as yours, was, Sarah, I'll freeze if we wait until the winter.”
“Does it fit you? Otherwise you're going to need it adjusted.” Sarah asked.
“I don't know.” Kara replied.
“I think you ought to talk to your parents, Kara.” John said, “But I tend to agree with Q.Q.: six weeks' engagement is too short, you won't have time for organising the wedding or for seriously considering all the things that change with it. If your dress won't let you have a Christmas wedding, wear something under it or over it or pick a later date.”
“John, how long were we engaged for?”
“That's beside the point. We weren't exactly ready, were we? And we didn't have any family members to invite, either.”
Q.Q. looked curiously at John. “How long were you engaged for?”
“Six weeks. June 17th to July 29th.”
“Whereas if we only had a week's honeymoon...”
“Too short.” John and Sarah responded in unison.
“... we could get married on 26th of August and that's eight weeks' engagement.” Q.Q pressed on. “Is that better?”
“Not if it means only a week's honeymoon and plunging straight into a new school for Kara.” Sarah said.
“Unless you're getting feedback already.” John added.
“What do you mean, already?” Kara asked. “We've been getting that since our first date, a month ago.”
“So, how did you manage the kiss on the way here?” Sarah asked.
“Self control.” Q.Q. said. “Thinking to each other 'yes, that's right, we love one another, and a kiss expresses that. But our God is holy, so that's as far as it goes.'”
John and Sarah looked at one another in surprise. Sarah shrugged and said “Your self-control is better than we ever managed. We couldn't even touch without hiding by the end. We had a quick wedding because we couldn't beat feedback, and decided that a quick wedding was better than falling into feedback-induced temptation. If you can beat it, then I'd let other considerations take their part in the decision. But only a week's honeymoon? Not recommended. You're going to be exhausted for the first two or three, days, just from the stress and everything of the wedding, take off travel days and if you go for only a week then you've only got a few days to settle down and start enjoying each other before you need to go back to stress-filled normal life. Go for ten days at least. My standard offer to members of the clan and friends apply, by the way, Q.Q.”
“Urm, could you tell me what those are?”
“If you want to stay at Blackwood Cabins, you can for no charge. To you, anyway. If you want help getting a ring with a decent stone at trade prices, let me know. Ditto for one of my I.D. diamonds, but they cost more, surprise surprise. Don't ask me for help getting a poor stone though, that'd be against my prejudices.”
“And what ever you do, do not even think the Z word.” Kara added.
“Exactly.” Sarah agreed with a smile. “Some people round here seem to know me. But seriously, Q.Q., assuming you haven't gone and bought one already, do talk to each other about what you want to do about rings. Not everyone agrees about what makes a good ring.”
“For example.” John said, “There are some people who think big and shiny is more important than quality of the stone, some might who prefer something other than diamond, and some people who think 'I couldn't wear a ring with a stone to school, anyway.'”
Q.Q. was starting to look a bit frazzled. “I didn't know it was all so complicated.”
“The whole wedding thing is really complicated. You should know that, its one of those key anthropology things, isn't it?” Kara asked.
“Urm, yes. I just presumed I already knew it all for our culture.” Q.Q. said.
“You have no idea how much you've got to learn before you big day.” Sarah said. “Alternatively you could spend big big money on hiring a wedding expert to organise your wedding for you. But you might not like the result or the bill you get at the end of it.”
“Urm. Probably not on my salary.”
The reminder that Q.Q. had got a top grade in his anthropology degree started to form an idea in Sarah's mind. “Q.Q. No promises, but there's just a chance I might need some input from a trusted anthropologist in the next month. Would you be available if I do?”
“Urm, sure.”
“Great. Any idea what I ought to pay an anthropology consultant?”
“Sarah!” Q.Q. replied “I'm not an anthropology consultant!”
“If you do work for me where I'm making use of your anthropology knowledge, and I'm consulting you for advice, you're a consultant. And I'll make sure you're properly recompensed for the time I'm stealing from you. But I've no idea if I'll need that sort of help or not.”
“Where are you going?”
“I can't tell you, sorry. Not even May knows. We're not going to be contactable except via someone with the gift, except that I'll try and contact May every so often.”
“OK, so if it's really urgent we contact the Institute, if it's not very urgent, May might be able to ask.” Kara summarised.
“Yes. And if it can wait a fortnight, then we ought to be back then.”
----------------------------------------
ATLANTIC COASTLINE, 2.30A.M, TUESDAY 26TH JUNE
[Hi, Karella, we've got here early.]
[How did you know about such an isolated beach?]
[Oh, that's easy. I've got this land management company, which runs a beautiful patch of landscape a fairly long way inland from here and has been able to turn it into a nice lucrative tourist location. That left them with rather too much money. This spot came on the market and we thought, well, not everyone likes to stay in isolated mountain cabins, why not branch out into isolated beach and cliff-top cabins too?]
[So it's your beach?]
[Well, I own the company that owns the company that owns it, yes.]
[And the surrounding land?]
[Up and down the coast, about two kilometres each way, I think.]
[And no tourists yet?]
[None. Well, none officially, anyway. The previous owners kept delaying the sale and we've only just bought it, a month ago. There's a campsite just inland, but I took one look and agreed with the surveyor that it needed a complete refit of the washing facilities and... Well, pretty much everything. It was probably actually dangerous to stay there, not that many people did. So, building work is in progress, but I'm not at all sure they'll be able to open before the last week of August. That late in the season... it may not even be worth opening, I don't know.]
[You know, I wouldn't be at all surprised if two hundred years or so ago it was owned by one of us.]
[Really?]
[I'm pretty sure there are some livable caves at the foot of your cliffs. I know that in the fifty years before that our people were buying up the coast-land they lived on, if they could. Then... then we decided it was too risky, and most people sold up.]
[I trust you're enjoying your swim?]
[Oh yes!]
[Don't let me distract you, we can wait.]
[You don't mind us investigating those caves do you?]
[Not at all. Just stay safe.]
[Oh, I intend us to.]
“Did you catch that, John?”
“I did. We can huddle together for warmth and watch the stars go by.”
“It's not that cold.”
“OK, let's just huddle together for company, then.”
“Absolutely. Let's watch the merfolk play too.” Sarah said, seeing a splash out in the bay.
----------------------------------------
ATLANTIC COASTLINE, 3.10A.M, TUESDAY 26TH JUNE
“Hi!” Karella said, walking out of the water after a last splash in the sea. “Well, I can tell you these caves were definitely used by some of us sometime in the past.
“Really, how? Artifacts?” John asked.
“Not as such, but there's a beautiful hidden dock for a couple of our submarines, just along this way. We don't need to mess about with inflatable anything, I'm happy to say.”
“Oh! That's convenient.” Sarah said.
“Very.”
“How do you know it's not natural?” John asked.
“Well, the little tuned echo-reflectors dug into the rock to help you follow right path are a bit of a give away.”
“I don't know if we know what an echo reflector is, let alone a tuned one.” John said.
“Imagine a carefully shaped hole in the rock that echos a certain note.”
“Oh! A resonating cavity?” Sarah asked.
“Yes.” Karella replied “I wasn't expecting it and found myself thinking, 'I'm swimming in the wrong place I should be over there.' and the got really co%nfused about why I might think that. Then I realised I was hearing the reflectors meant for a sub. I've set my kids swimming back and forwards along the tunnel to get the feel of them. We've got them at home of course, but you don't exactly tell your kids to play in busy traffic.”
“Ah, no. So you think we can get into this dock without getting wet?” Sarah asked, trying to look along the path they were taking ith the torch she'd brought along. It seemed like it was going to disappear into nothing.
“You could at the other end, so I think so. I hope it's not one of those 'only at low tide' paths.”
“Or 'only without suitcase and picnic hamper'.” John added, putting the said items down. The discussion of who'd carry them had been resolved on the way to the beach.
“I'll scout ahead. No, better idea.” [Mabel, can you try and meet us by dry land?]
[Sure, mum. And then can go and I dolphin a bit more?]
[You're going to get so exhausted! Of course you can.]
[Thanks, Mum, you're fantastic!]
It didn't take very long before Mabel emerged from a crack above them, and called down. “You're going the wrong way, Mum.”
“Oh, of course, we should have gone up.” Karella said. “I'm sorry.”
----------------------------------------
“Let me do the introductions, along with some cultural education.” Karella said, once they were on the submarine. “I'm Karella, as you know. Our names don't follow your patterns, so my name at birth was Karella Helen Jacob, which means my mother was Helen and father was Jacob. Jacob was a member of land-folk Abbot clan, so you could put that on the end if you like. You could also put in my grandparents too if you want to be really formal. I've also got called a few other things, some of which were only appropriate when I was young, so have fallen into disuse, others are still used, so you'll probably hear me called Karella Farspeaker, because I've got the gift, and recently some people have started calling me Home-Bringer, for my role in persuading the council to tell people they can come home. Personally, I doubt it'll stick, but you never know.”
“So you sort of accept nicknames and they become part of your names?” Sarah asked.
“Yes, sort of. But it means if you look really deeply at the skin of this room, you'll find my full name which runs to about ten names long. You'd also find Christoph's name,” Karella said, indicating her husband, who waved. “Christoph doesn't speak much English, so you'll need to use your gift to speak to him. This is Sathie, who's fourteen, and as a test to see if you've been paying attention, you can tell me what her name started off as.”
John guessed “Sathie Karella Christoph?”
“Yes, except it's really 'Sathzakara' not Sathie.”
“But Sathzakara's too famous, so I'm just Sathie until I do something really spectacular.” Sathie said.
“Nonsense, you can be Sathzakara any time you want.” Karella replied. “But she does have a point, I suppose: Sathzakara Karella Lamura Far-seer Evangelia is one of our most significant historical figures. She's the one who's really credited with convincing our people to follow Christ. She didn't do it single-handedly, of course, but she was really effective.”
Sathie spoke to her father, who nodded. She fled up the stairs with a grin, and he followed.
“When was that?”
“During what you call the 'first world war', and we call the 'third escape'.”
“That's... fairly recent.”
“Between the second escape and third escape, we were very isolated. For a while, between third and fourth escapes, we owned land according to land-folk customs, and some of us walked among you. Some of us even pretended to be land-folk playing at being mer-folk. Then, with much heartache and sorrow, we fled before your unbridled technology, to live almost exclusively under the waves. As you can see, by the enthusiasm of my husband and children to not be onboard any longer than necessary, we don't like that life. You're going to help us decide if we can stop fleeing and come out of hiding.”
“So the third and forth escapes were what, a hundred years apart?” John asked, trying to put numbers together.
“A little more like a hundred and fifty.” Karella corrected.
“When were the first and second?”
“Oh, a long time ago. The first was when we had what you might call the public-relations disaster of Jason and the Argonauts, the second was when the Romans started taking over everything. We got on OK with the Greeks, mostly, we were pretty interested in their technology. A few of us learned Latin, The Romans, though? They were just war, war, war, law, law, law, bore, bore, bore. Sorry, we just found some caves, kept to ourselves, except to chat with any Greek engineers we could steal ideas from.
We'd founded Atlantis by then. It started out as a raft that could be lowered into the sea, using pulleys and things, when ships came along we didn't want to say hello to, then we added steam engines, air pumps and compressed air, from the Greeks. We really saw the potential applications of those. We kept on plodding along, technology-wise. We'd worked out electric generators by urm, I think it was just before or after the fall of Rome, and by A.D one thousand we had fusion power, with forcefields not long after. Soon after that we rebuilt Atlantis again and we were almost totally isolated.”
“Wow.” Sarah said. “So, the fusion reactors your people are rebuilding are that old?”
“Yes. They use magnetic confinement, since they're pre-forcefield, so they're big. But they're reliable.”
“I didn't see a propeller in your submarine.” Sarah said. “It works by magnetohydrodymamics?”
“Yes. Atlantis uses something more mechanical. I'm sure you know about it, but I can't remember the land-folk name. Heat goes into a gas which expands, moves the piston. Then it's shoved past the water that's being pumped out, gets cooled down, contracts, and moves the piston the other way, and so on.”
“Sounds like what we'd call a Stirling engine.” Sarah replied.
“Yes, that sounds possible.”
“And that generates electricity?” Sarah asked.
“No, the drive engines just drive. No electricty involved, just pistons.”
“Oh! Right. So you've got gas moving pistons that move water?”
“Yes. It's an impressive machine. Well, set of machines. They try to start them up so there's a constant jet of water, so there's less noise from that.”
“So, to sum it up, you've got high pressure water being moved by higher pressure gas, all being heated up by a magnetically confined plasma which is hotter than the centre of the sun, in a fairly good vacuum.”
“Yes.”
“I can see why you do regular maintenance.” Sarah said with appreciation.
“I presume we're just waiting for your family to finish their swim?” John asked.
“Yes. Except... would it be OK if I went and joined them? Getting to somewhere we can really swim is something that only happens once every couple of years. I mean, we do somtimes swim underwater near Altantis, and there are exercise pools there too, of course, but...”
“It's nothing like the real thing?” Sarah asked.
“Exactly. Real waves, propper currents,...”
“Go ahead. You know how long it takes us to get where we're going.”
“We allocated half an hour each side to mess about with inflatable boats...”
“Which we replaced with a few minutes of walking?” Sarah grinned, “Feel free to play, cousin.”
Karella took her at her word, and after pointing out the sleeping arrangements and other important facilities on the sub, she went off to find her family. Sarah looked at the bed. At this time of night - morning — it looked incredibly tempting. “Our hosts are away, I think we might as well try to get some sleep, don't you?”
“Sounds eminently sensible. I'm sure the picnic can wait until breakfast time if we don't wake up when they get back.”
“Or even if we do. Are you hungry?”
“Not really.”
----------------------------------------
7:30AM, UNDER THE ATLANTIC
John woke up, bleary eyed, as Sarah crawled back over him from her short trip. “Sorry, love.” she mumbled, and settled back to sleep. Three breaths later she seemed to have succeeded. John wasn't so fortunate. He adjusted his position a little and Sarah shifted slightly, taking up more space. Karella had been right, there wasn't really space for two on the bed, especially when one of them was five months pregnant. John listened to Sarah's sleepy thoughts — mostly about what to call Baby — and eventually managed to doze uncomfortably himself.
----------------------------------------
9AM, UNDER THE ATLANTIC
A thundering metallic sound echoed through the submarine, and penetrated John's sleeping thoughts. “What's that?” he whispered, half to himself.
“Noise pollution.” Jake replied quietly from his bunk. “We're staying fairly near to the surface to confuse your microphones, and make them think we're just an airliner going over, but it means we get your freighters.”
“Oh.” John said, and then realised that Sarah wasn't beside him. “Is everyone else up?” he asked, equally quietly.
“Not Mabel. Welcome to somewhere mid-Atlantic, also known as the boring bit of the journey.”
“Does it count as breakfast time, or are we waiting for Mabel.”
“No, we're waiting for you actually. Hungry?” Jake sounded optimistic.
John's stomach rumbled noisily. “I guess so.” he replied, still in a half-whisper.
“Oh good. This bit of the journey's just got more interesting.”
John sat up and almost put his foot on the sleeping girl.
“Oops.” Jake said. “I was supposed to warn you.”
“I thought she had a bed?”
“She was awake earlier. Mum moved her so Sarah could have more space, but Sarah couldn't sleep, and it looks like Mabel could.”
“And you've been driving or piloting or whatever the word is?” John asked.
“No, we can leave that to the computer unless anything exciting happens.”
“What counts as exciting on this leg of the journey?”
“Contact with a landfolk warship, for example. Some of your ships can almost go as fast as we can. And your torpedoes can certainly go faster than us.”
“Is it likely they'd shoot?”
“You tell me.”
“I hope not. Not without trying to contact us first, anyway.”
“Well, they can try. They're not going to succeed in making us stop though. Too many questions we'd rather die than answer. That might change while you're in the city of course, but right now, standard rules of engagement apply.”
“What are those?”
“Don't get stopped. If you do get stopped, don't let them board. If you do get boarded, that's an act of war and your vessel and genome are a top military secret. Assess their forces and act accordingly.”
“Meaning what exactly?”
“Out here? Just sink the sub, probably. Somewhere shallower? Self destruct.”
“Isn't that rather extreme?”
“When the survival of our whole sub-species is at stake? I don't think so. We don't want to be hunted down, experimented on, nuked, and so on. We know that's would have happened in the past, and we're still acting on that presumption.”
“Oh.” John hadn't quite thought of it like that. But it made sense. “I hope we don't ever end up with a war between subspecies.”
“So do I. You'd lose a lot of ships, possibly even coastal towns while it was going on. But we'd be annihilated. We have sea-power, but no air-power.”
“What a depressing topic of conversation.” Mabel said.
“Hi Mabe.” Jake said. “Did you sneak a look in the funny basket?”
“No. That'd be rude.”
“Sarah said I could have a peak. She and John brought all sorts of strange packets with them. I think they're for eating.”
“Most of them are.” John said. “But we also brought a few litres of fruit juice too.”
“Oh wow. Hear that, Mabe? I think we're about to eat and drink a king's ransom.”
“Oh goody, I'm hungry.” Mable said.
----------------------------------------
Halfway through the meal Karella said, “You know, we're being incredibly selfish, eating all this ourselves.”
“I suppose we don't need to open the second packet of ham.” Sarah suggested. “But honestly, lots of this food should have stayed in a refrigerator, and we just fell asleep with it in a warm room without asking if you even had one on board. It'd be dangerous to leave it uneaten.”
“Oh, well, if it's going to go off anyway, I'd love some more of the dead pig.” Sathie said.
“Ham.” Karella corrected. “Or pork, depending.”
“On what?” Sathie asked.
“How it's been processed, and where it comes from?” Karella said, looking to Sarah for help.
“John? Any idea? About all I know is that pork cooks to white, but ham and gammon stay pinkish.”
“Oh, I used to know this.” John said “I know that ham is pork that's been cured, and that curing means they put something on it that's not just salt. I'm afraid I can't remember what else it is. But that's why it stays pink: because of the curing.”
“OK. So ham is pink pork.” Sathie summarised.
“Not quite dear.” Karella said.
“Fine! Ham is delicious, and stays pink when you cook it.”
“I'll agree with that.” Jake declared “Now, what was this one again?” he asked, taking a bite.
“That's a croissant.” Sarah said. “Invented by the French. Best served warm with butter and jam. Except that you probably ought to avoid the butter, since that's from cows. Oh no! The croissant probably has butter in it too, I've just remembered.”
“I accept the possibility of stomach pain. This is good!”
“I'll remind you you said that.” Karella said. “And don't speak with your mouth full.”
“What is the chance of us not being able to digest it, Mum?” Mabel asked.
“Lots of landfolk can digest it, I've never heard of a study on how many merfolk couldn't. You three have got land-folk genetics from your English land-folk ancestors from my side and your Dutch land-folk ancestors from your Dad's side, but I don't know, really.”
“Not to mention our Maori ancestors.” Mabel added.
“That's true, but I'm not sure if the Maori influence would help.” Karella replied.
Sarah pulled a face “From what I remember, I'd expect any ancient Greek or Phoenician ancestry would be more useful than Maori.”
“Oh! Well, give me a croissant, then.” Karella said. “We've got plenty of Greeks and Phoenicians in our ancestry.”
“But we've also got webbed feet.” Sathie said.
“Yes, Sathie. There's no doubt that you're mer. Certainly not after the way you were catching fish last night.”
“That was fun!” Sathie declared.
“Oh, I didn't say.” Karella offered, “If anyone wants some fish, we've got a full hold. I can easily grill some.”
“Fresh-caught fish?” Sarah said “I'd have certainly taken you up on that, but I'm full now.”
“Same here.” John added.
Mabel looked at them strangely, trying to work out if they were joking. “I suppose if you don't eat fish every day...” she shook her head after trying to process that strange concept for a while, and asked “Can I have some more ham, please? We don't want it to go off, do we?”
“Here you are.” John said. “And after you've finished that, it might be safe to get out the chocolate.”
“It's terrible, terrible stuff, children.” Karella said, trying not to smile. “Don't risk trying it.”
“I've heard about you selling some, once, Mum.” Jake said “Wasn't the going rate it's weight in diamonds.”
“Yes.” Karella agreed. “Such terrible, profligate wastefulness.”
“Diamonds in exchange for chocolate? I should think so.” Sarah agreed.
“I really should have kept the chocolate.” Karella said.