THE OTHER BIG SECRET 3: SAFELY OUT AT SEA / CH. 3:INTRODUCTIONS
FRIDAY, 6TH JULY
Letter of introduction
From Karella Helen Jacob Farspeaker Homebringer, Queen of all Mer-folk by will of the high council of Atlantis, ruler over the navies of the Mer people, undisputed sovereign of the deeps and shallows, and custodian of letters acknowledging the following and other, lesser, historic titles by right of descent from her predecessors:
Rightful ruler of all the coasts and seas, preserver of knowledge, custodian of tradition, defender of justice, (granted by the Archons of Athens);
Empress of the seas, and the outer reaches of the Nile delta (acknowledged by Pharaoh Rameses, presumed the first);
Honoured partner in trade, protector of the lost mariner, undisputed empress of the seas and sea-caves, ruler of Ophir and the distant isles (Hiram king of Tyre and Solomon king of Israel);
Defender of sailors, ruler of the deeps, bane of sharks (willingly bestowed by Priam of Troy, Agamemnon of Mycenae, and various others);
Ruler of the deep (grudgingly acknowledged by the Senate of the Republic of Rome, during the Latin war);
To all people, whether they be freemen, nobles, priests, warriors, scholars, princes or kings,
Let it be known that Penelope Yasmin Lesley Stephens, whose face is shown below, is hereby accredited our ambassador and represents our sovereign nation and my royal person. Let all people grant to our ambassador all honour, courtesy and protection due to her rank, or face the consequences.
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FRIDAY, 6TH JULY, 11.PM, BESIDE THE SEA.
“That ending is a trifle blunt, isn't it?” Lilly asked Penelope, as they walked along the quay-front.
Penelope shrugged “It is traditional, and we are a people with more than three millennia of tradition.”
“What's this written on? Its not any material I know.”
“They used what we do formal certificates in, with a few modifications for fun. It was written on the preserved skin of a giant squid, and then embellished with gold and diamonds and encased in a synthetic rubber matrix. My picture is Titanium in synthetic diamond.”
“Wow.”
“Karella tells me you wanted impressive.”
“I'm impressed. It says she's custodian of those letters...”
“We've got the original documents, yes. They're not in very good condition, but they're in the archives.”
“Wow. What might the consequences be?”
“Urm, depending how much Karella gets upset... pretty bad.”
“How bad?”
“You land-folk still have fusion and fission weapons. Would you use them? We hope not, but you have done relatively recently from our point of view. We would be able to retaliate.”
“You've got your own nuclear weapons, you mean? Her Majesty hinted at that.”
“We looked at the technology, oh, back around the battle of Hastings, but they're too messy, too complicated. If you want to convert mass to energy there's much simpler ways of doing that. But we don't really want to do that, do we?”
“Urm, if you're hinting at what I think you're hinting at, then no.”
“So, let's try and keep everything peaceful, shall we?” Penelope suggested.
“Absolutely. Oh, I see the ambassador coming.”
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“Hello, Lilly. What's this all about?” the ambassador asked.
“Hi Jim! Sorry, let me start again. Mr Ambassador, the association of truthsayers has been asked to introduce certain people to certain other people, and vouch that this is not a wind-up, prank or other attempt at humour. This is Penelope, and this is not a joke.”
“Mr Ambassador.” Penelope nodded her head respectfully, and passed her letter of introduction over. “May I present my credentials? I have other copies, so you may have it analysed if you wish, though I'd like it back eventually.”
The ambassador had seen many strange things in his life, and Prince Albert had called him earlier in the evening to say that he'd heard from a reliable source that he was about to make history, and please would he not to embarrass his father by displaying too much disbelief. So, he chose his words with care.
“Madam Ambassador, do I take it that the other languages say the same as I read in English and guess from the Latin?”
“Yes, Mr Ambassador. I apologise if the final line is rather blunt, but it is the traditional form and we have been out of formal contact with land-folk for some millennia.”
“You have a purpose in making yourself known to me, I presume.”
“Yes, Mr Ambassador. We understand that the Security Council has the authority to exclude military traffic from a certain region of the ocean. We would very much appreciate it if this were to occur. It would be extremely unfortunate if an ignorant or excited mariner panicked and fired upon our capital as we move it in haste from the area of sea where the damaged interceptor probe is due to crash. The dome that protects our city from the crushing pressures of the deep was never intended to withstand attack from a torpedo or missile. Since we withdrew from the coastal areas some two centuries ago, almost all our people live in Atlantis, a population of some half a million. It is to avoid such a genocidal attack, and to establish normal relations with the rest of the world, now that you have once again reached almost parity with us technologically that I, and others like me, have been given the status of Ambassador for our nation. We trust your discretion regarding who you need to tell about us.”
“The final clause speaks of consequences.” he pointed out.
“Yes, Mr Ambassador. Lilly and I were just discussing the complexity and long term unreliability of fission and fusion in the conversion of mass to energy. Our scientists considered these approaches as weapons around the time of the Norman Conquest of Britain, but have preferred a far simpler solution for the last five or six centuries. Given the area of your landmasses, we are unable to assure complete mutual destruction, but be assured that since the time you know of as the cold war, we have had systems in place to deter any attack on our capital. We are a peace-loving people, but we are well aware of the need to be prepared in case a shark should not understand the value to us of the lives of our children.”
“I am not a scientist, Madam Ambassador. Could you spell out to me the simpler solution you hint at?”
“Antimatter, Mr Ambassador. It is a simple thing to contain some antimatter in a forcefield, and that makes an excellent nightmare weapon. But those disgusting weapons will only ever be used if our people will be otherwise extinguished, perhaps not even then. We are an ancient civilisation, we have seen empire after empire rise and fall, we have preserved records and knowledge and have never been given to needless destruction, even when we have fled four times before you land-folk. We would probably flee again before this new threat, but you are catching up with our technology, and each generation, hiding from you becomes harder. We would rather approach you as near-equals than barbarians. What we'd really like to do is swim freely near your coast-land and trade freely at your markets.”
“You speak our language well, Madam Ambassador.”
“Our hiding from you has not been perfect, over the centuries there have been some intermarriages. I myself learned English from my father, who learned it from his mother and so on. Plus, of course, I chose to walk among you land-folk two decades ago, and now live with my husband about half an hour's drive away.”
“Oh, yes, that might explain it. How long has your husband known your background?”
“Oh, almost a week now. He's slowly getting over the surprise. We go scuba diving sometimes, and he's been known to call me his mermaid. I kept telling him to call me a merwoman instead. He was really surprised when I got my tail out of storage and proved it to him by swimming round him for ten minutes without a tank.”
“Your tail?”
“Your traditional image of merfolk having fish-tails is not wrong, Mr Ambassador, but they've never been part of us.” she changed the topic, “Mr Ambassador, do you believe it would be possible for you to enable me to address the Security Council? Our city will start to move in two weeks, if all goes to plan, we would appreciate it if there could be a military exclusion zone by that time.”
“Enforcing such a zone is costly, Madam Ambassador.”
“I believe that the undisputed sovereign of the deeps and shallows will not have difficulty enforcing such an order, Mr Ambassador. But we would rather not be accused of piracy or unprovoked attack on shipping should some foolish government, admiral or submarine commander not listen.”
“You are confident of your naval power, then?”
“Mr Ambassador, you are land-folk, we are mer-folk. The ships and submarines you have are slow, noisy and primitive, your sonar is ineffective. I admit some of your torpedos are marvelous, but if you try to torpedo one of our submarines you will find our submarines are far more agile than you would expect, and your marvelous torpedo might end up heading towards one of your own ships.”
“And if depth-charges are used?” the Ambassador asked.
“Shame sir! Would you hunt a sniper by blindly throwing sticks of dynamite into a village? Do you condone also the use of napalm bombs? If one of your captains dares to attempt to use the unaimed indiscriminate weapons you call depth charges, which destroy habitat, kill fish, dolphin and mer, adult and child alike, and wound whales tens of kilometres away, then you will find how easily our rock-cutters can cut metals under water or in the sky. They were never meant for war, but the lasers that we have used for a century to sculpt rock will have no problem removing a plane's wing or a ship's keel. You have acted in willful ignorance until now, but their continued use is another item we will certainly be raising with the security council.”
“I hear you, Madam ambassador, and I appreciate your patience with us until now. I will communicate with my government, and seek to win you audience at the council.”
“Thank you, Mr ambassador. You are the first ambassador I have spoken to, but I assure you that you will not be the last. Oh, a little on the history of our people.” she gave him a perfectly normal data-crystal.
“We are due to meet the Greek ambassador next, aren't we, Lilly?”
“Yes, Madam ambassador.”
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The ambassador wasted no time getting home. He handed the letter to his wife for examination, and summarised the conversation to Prince Albert. It was going to be a long night.
“Yes sir, Atlantis. According to a short history text I was given, it was a deliberate choice of name, after Plato's work.”
“Well, I know I asked you to not be too unbelieving, but I didn't quite expect that.”
“Might I ask what you did expect, sir?”
“I got told exactly what I told you. No further details. I know the person to be a trustworthy person, and they assured me that it wasn't a joke.”
“I was introduced to this merwoman ambassador by a member of the Chartered Association of Truthsayers I've known for a few years. Also a reliable person. She assured me the woman was genuine. The letter of introduction she gave me is certainly impressive. Not exactly diplomatic, but impressive.”
“How not diplomatic?”
“After a lot of introductory stuff which is going to have the historians picking their jaws off the ground, and end up with a re-writing of the law of the sea, if we acknowledge it, it says accord this person diplomatic rights or face the consequences. She was rather apologetic about it, claimed it was the traditional wording.”
“I'm not aware of there being any traditional diplomatic links with Atlantis or mer-people.”
“If it's not an elaborate prank, they used to have diplomatic relationships with Ancient Egypt, Athens, Troy and Mycenae, but things went down hill with the Romans. They also claim to be able to move their underwater city at speeds of up to ten knots, which is no mean feat of engineering, given that it's apparently inside a crystal and rock dome about three hundred metres high and two kilometres diameter.”
“That's an impressive engineering feat alone, making that dome. They don't say what it's made of?”
“No, just crystal and rock.”
“That's vague. But anyway, they're good at large scale engineering.”
“Yes, sir. They claim to be a peace-loving people totally opposed to the use of depth-charges, but just in case anyone thinks of genocide by breaking their dome with high explosives, I got warned that they've had antimatter weapons for the last few centuries.”
“Anti-matter weapons? That's crazy!”
“I agree, sir. She claimed that their scientists had decided fission and fusion were much too unreliable and complicated, back around the time of the Norman Conquest, whereas just holding some antimatter in a forcefield was easy and reliable, though a disgusting idea. She says they actually put them into place as a deterrent during the time of the cold war.”
“Over two centuries ago.”
“Exactly, sir. As far as I understand it, we can't hold antimatter in a forcefield yet. My thought is, unless this is an elaborate hoax which has fooled everyone, they are quite scared of how vulnerable they are, but otherwise they are a small but disproportionately powerful nation. Given how much we rely on shipping they would be bad enemies to have.”
“I don't think we want to start a war, ambassador. It doesn't sound like they do either.”
“I'm glad you agree, sir. Also, having studied history at university, I'll tell you in all honesty, sir, that the nation's historians will be ready to kill if we don't do everything we can let them see their museum or archive or whatever.”
Prince Albert laughed, “Very well, Ambassador, I'm sure you'll be hearing from my father in due course.”
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FRIDAY, 6TH JULY, 11.50PM
The Greek ambassador looked once more at the document the strange woman had left him. Yes, very much the traditional wording, and as a classicist he needed no help in understanding that three of the texts contained the same message. He called Athens and said “An ancient enemy of Rome and ally of our noble city has risen from the waves and calls upon us to remember our history.”
“Are you drunk?” his friend asked.
“Not yet. First I must tell you that, as we have heard before, Jason was not as much of a hero as his fans said, Plato made up the story of Atlantis, and if only the Romans hadn't beaten us, we might have had fusion power to help us beat off the Turks.”
“You have been drinking, haven't you?”
“I hold in my hand a document, a letter of introduction in ancient form. It is written on the skin of a giant squid, decorated with diamonds and gold, and encased in some sort of transparent waterproofing. It bears the image of the woman I met, in what I am told is titanium encased in artificial diamond, and also an impression of the grand seal of Atlantis which from my memory looks exactly like the one your museum has but has never dared to show the public. I will read to you the words it bears in our ancient tongue.” With that, he read the flawless ancient Greek.
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While his friend and fellow scholar was spluttering at the other end of the phone line, he continued “This message they repeat in Egyptian hieroglyphs, Latin, old Hebrew, Cuneiform, and for the untutored among us, Spanish and English. The woman also tells me: 'Our library was never burned.' They do not ask much, just a military exclusion area, friendly relations and trade. Those idiots at SpaceGuard are dropping their interceptor onto Atlantis; the city must move, and they fear that some under-educated vandal in a submarine will destroy the dome that protects their city and priceless treasures. May I give them our wholehearted support against the destroyers of artifacts?”
“You are sure it is not a trick?”
“Who would know enough write these things? Who would use precisely those terms?”
“Many, unfortunately. A group of students?”
“A group of students who can embed Titanium in an artificial diamond? She was introduced to me by one of those truthsayer people.”
“You are sure it's not just plastic?”
“It is metal-cold to the touch, and nothing scratches it. I tried. The woman tells me that a fellow ambassador will be approaching the archaeological museum in Athens tomorrow, bearing several documents. One is a copy of the document from the Archons of Athens, the others are copies of the works of Anticlides.”
“The works of Anticlides of Athens are lost.”
“Only on land, my friend. Only on land. He will also have his credentials with him, of course, so you can judge for yourself.”
“Did she say what time?”
“High tide. May I now get drunk? I wish to cry over the lost glory of our people.”
“Perhaps it returns.”
“The world has moved on. But, she said that perhaps these Mer people will want to swap some diamonds for coastline.”
“Diamonds?”
“Not exclusively. Apparently, when you have a two hundred year old private submarine which makes the most modern and agile in our rich friends' navies look like a slow and dangerous toy, it is not so hard to pick up diamonds off the bottom of the deep on the coast of South Africa, or rubies somewhere else. She also spoke of tools that could be used to cut rock to pieces, or perhaps enemy shipping. I think it would be very good to make friends with the undisputed sovereign of the deeps and shallows, and rightful ruler of all the coasts and seas, do you not?”
“We have a lot of coast, she cannot claim it all!”
“Ah, my friend, to them the coast stops at the land. They only claim the water, and they grant free passage.”
“And what of our shipping and fishing interests?”
“They are a people of long memory, to whom oaths are sacred. Our ships have not been in danger from them since we agreed to those titles almost three millennia ago, and nor will they be, so long as we uphold our part of the oath.”
“Ah! Such a trustworthy ally is worth a lot!”
“Exactly.”
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SATURDAY, 7TH JULY, 8PM, EMBASSY OF ISRAEL, NEAR THE U.N
“Mr Ambassador, I thank you for seeing us, so soon after Sabbath.” Lilly said.
“You stated it was somewhat urgent, truthsayer. I do not recognise your friend.”
“Mr Ambassador, I present Penelope Stephens, ambassador from somewhere I expect you never believed existed. I have it on good authority that it is a real place and a real kingdom, however. She asks that you communicate her message on a need-to-know basis.”
“My credentials.” Penelope said.
“In pre-Babylonian-Hebrew?”
“Among other languages, yes, sir.”
“You have an interesting way of trying to get my attention. I see, your queen has some interesting claims.”
“I have seen the original letters, Mr Ambassador, but I don't claim to read all the languages on this letter.”
“You do know that Rameses the second was the greater Pharaoh?” The ambassador asked, conversationally, as he continued reading.
“I'm told that the indications in the letter the suggest it was his grandfather, the founder of the dynasty.” Penelope replied.
“Fascinating. Someone's had fun doing their research.” he turned to Lilly, “She had you fooled, did she?”
“Mr Ambassador, last night I helped the lady Ambassador get off a submarine which is of no design I've ever seen before. I believe you're aware of my history and so will know that I've studied such things. The lady wife of my country's ambassador confirms that the transparent disk you see before you is indeed diamond, and the parchment is from the giant squid.”
“We did not wish to interrupt your Sabbath, sir, or I would have visited you earlier.”
“You will no more convince me that Atlantis is a real place than you will that you sprout a tail in water.” he said.
“By preference, I put on a tail in water, or rather, before getting into it, sir. But if you have a swimming pool and quarter of an hour to spare I think I can prove I'm no land-woman.”
“How?”
“Would my swimming around it underwater for that long convince you, sir?”
“Quarter of an hour under water? Impossible!” he was trying not to laugh.
“To you, yes sir.” Penelope sighed “To me it would merely be uncomfortable. Alternatively I suppose I could take you to see Atlantis yourself, but that'll take a lot longer, and I don't really have the time. I suppose a third way is that a member of my honour guard could get out his rock-cutter out and cut you a new doorway for your embassy. I don't believe you have caught up with us on that technology either.”
“Oh yes? What other technologies would you claim?” the Ambassador was still not convinced at all.
“First let me state the reason for my coming; it is as follows, Mr Ambassador. We are a small state surrounded on all sides by those from whom we have fled and hidden from for millennia. I hope you can sympathise with what that feels like, just a little. Furthermore, our city and our entire population is slap-bang in the impact zone of SpaceGuard's damaged interceptor. Therefore, we plan to move it, as we have no desire to be underneath a red hot mess of plutonium when it hits the ocean. If it somehow went critical then our city might not survive, and even if it didn't we've no desire to be expose our children to the radiation. Moving our city in a hurry will be detectable. Some admiral might decide that he wants to send a submarine or a cruiser to find out what's happening. We do not want any stupid sailor to decide to shoot a torpedo when he sees a two-kilometre wide submarine coming towards him. If he did that would almost certainly be the most effective act of genocide in history, as the dome of our city was designed to be proof against the steady pressure of the ocean, not shaped charges. Therefore, we will be asking the United Nations Security Council to exclude all military from our vicinity, starting in eleven days time at the latest. If the Security Council can declare such an exclusion area, we are more than capable of enforcing it. If the United Nations refuses to enact it, then we must either warn off shipping ourselves, which of course might start the war we're trying to avoid, or risk that some idiot might want to start Armageddon. Should a genocidal attack occur then do be assured that global destruction will follow. We do not have missiles, we do have a network of antimatter bombs, each containing approximately fifty grams of antimatter, beside almost all the world's significant waterside cities. I do not approve of such disgusting weapons, but they are a relic from the time of the cold-war when mutually assured destruction seemed to be popular everywhere. It is an automatic system and it would take years to dismantle. With that in mind, with such stakes, will you please allow me to convince you that I'm a genuinely a woman of the mer-folk, and not some con-artist wanting you to make a fool of yourself?”
“Now I am far more convinced.” he replied. “Come in, sit, tell me of the history of your people.” Lilly left them to it, and went to chat to the honour guard.
“How far back?” Penelope asked.
“How far back do your people remember?”
“I will tell you of the old days then, which mother and father have told son and daughter from before there was writing. Before this time there are tales, which might be true or might not be. Like the tale of Noah and how his boat came to rest on the mountain, or the tale of who some of his grandsons married. Or the tale of foolish Gilgamesh the warrior with a bad memory, who met him long after, and never could remember his name and made up other bits to cover his bad memory. We lived along the coast of Canaan, and we ignorantly worshipped the Baals of the Cananites, though their other behaviour was repulsive to us. Then one came, wandering from the city of Ur, and told us of his God, He who is. Some of us believed, most did not. We worshiped also the sea goddess, and we frolicked with the whales and dolphins and avoided the crocodile and shark, and we laughed at those who cowered on the land. We were a warrior people, proud of our swimming and our speed with the knife and spear. Centuries came and centuries went, We learned to make tails for ourselves from the skins of sharks and then none could match us in the water, neither man nor beast. We claimed the land of the Nile delta for our fishing grounds and we claimed the caves of Ophir for our homes, and learned to pick up the gold that washed down the rivers.
Then Moses came from Egypt with the children of Israel and plenty of others. Those who worshiped the God who is judge of all, and who is, told us that the sin of the land-folk of Canaan had reached its fullness, and we should leave. Even those who did not worship that god saw it was not safe to walk in Canaan, and we left. We moved to the islands and the caves. We met other people, and some of them decided our king, who they called Dagon, the fish, was a god, because of how quickly he could swim. And we laughed at them too. From the people of Tyre we learned writing, which we judged useful. And that is the end of the first tale of our people, and of our first flight from our homes.”
“Then, you are a Canaanite people?”
“We are not of the sons of Het, nor of the Perizzites, Jebuzite, Amorites, Canaanite or Hivites. Nor are we of Tyre, Sidon, or Philistia. These peoples we knew and were not us. There has been some interbreeding, but we have been a separate people a long time, our genetics tells us that. We are not like you. Some of the ancient tales say that God separated us from Adam's line before the flood, and gave us the task of ruling over the fish. I do not know.”
“You are truly different then? Not just culturally?”
“We have the muscles of diving mammals. We see clearly underwater, not fuzzily like you, we can use sonar like dolphins, and can hear the whale's songs. Most of us do not have your clarity of thought or ability to concentrate, except for things like hunting or chasing down prey. We are impulsive, not really planners, most of us lack your curiosity and drive to control. We learn patterns and languages quickly, but concepts slowly. Our science and our engineering have been a long slog, and you have caught up two thousand five hundred years of our progress in barely three hundred. We knew of the promised serpent-crusher from the days of Noah. We have known of the power of the God who judges for over three thousand years, but only a few worshipped him. Now, we are a Christian people, but it took us nineteen hundred years to realise that the Christians we'd heard of a few times worshipped the one true God of Abraham, and that was only after God had reminded us that he is Judge, and does not tolerate those seek to wipe out his name. That saved the missionary's life. Partly that ignorance was isolation, but partly we just weren't interested enough to find out; playing in the water was much more fun. Plus, of course, avoiding getting caught as a concubine (or killed in the attempt to catch one) was an almost universal pass-time in the under thirties. Our sinfulness had reached its full limit, but God was kind and did not destroy us, but called us to himself instead. We no longer worship the Baals or any other false gods.”
“I of course do not accept all of your testimony.” the ambassador said, growing uncomfortable at all this theology.
“No. You do not accept that Jeshua ben Miriam and no man was the serpent crusher, the messiah, seed of Abraham, and son of David, foretold from before even Eve's eldest was born, do you?”
“No. I don't.”
“Well, God is good, and he is patient and abounding in love, even to a people as stubborn and rebellious as ours. I will not press you to listen to much more. Tyre is no more, but the people of Solomon still live. The letter referred to recognises our claim to the seas and sea-caves, and agrees to friendly relations between our peoples, to trade when we meet and absence of war. An oath was sworn, a perpetual covenant. We remember this, but your people have not had the freedom from invasion that we have had. If your government chooses to renounce this covenant, we will be understanding and will not call upon the judge of all the Earth to judge between us and punish the oath-breaker. It was not imagined when it was vowed that we would not talk or meet for more than two millennia. But we now remind you of it. Let your scholars verify it, let your lawyers study it. If you accept it, it will be considered to have never lapsed, and will bind both our nations; if you decline it, neither of us will be bound, and perhaps another treaty can be written. The terms of such a new treaty will of course be different, and all things that we agree to now will be subject to our laws and customs as they are now and as they will be in the future. But let the decision come quickly. An ambassador from us will take a copy to your capital in the next few days, I do not know exactly when.”
“When you speak of your laws and customs, do I take it that the covenant includes terms that would not be permitted in a new agreement?”
“It does, but I do not know the details, and may not highlight them for you. Only to tell you must consider carefully what you choose to accept or reject.”
“You do not want us to accept this covenant do you? Why do you bring it up?”
“An oath made must be kept. Do you expect us to make ourselves and our children oath-breakers and shark-food?”
“No, ambassador. But such an attitude... I find surprising.”
“You land-people should fear the sea then, ambassador, and the high mountain, the fast car, and even the adventure of life itself, if you take oaths so lightly. I will leave you to communicate with your government, you might want to read this short history of our people. May the shalom of the Name be with you and your family, and the fear of He who is guide your thoughts and deeds.”
She bowed and left the ambassador to his thoughts.
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“I don't really care about her document. Oh, it's impressive, but I'm sure that with enough time someone could work out how to replicate it. Though I must admit that the picture of her looked like it was only taken in the last couple of days. No, I listened to her attitude, and I'm telling you either she's the best actress I've ever seen or she's a hundred percent genuine. There's a copy of a treaty on its way to you, reportedly confirming an oath between them and king Solomon. Yes, that one. They're giving us an opt-out, which is mighty nice of them, since by the sounds of it it includes us upholding their territorial claims to I'm not quite sure where. But it was also pretty clear from her attitude that they'd rather forget the whole thing. I naturally asked her why they were bringing up a old document no one knew about, and you should have seen her reaction! Oh man! You'd think I'd just asked her to boil her babies! It was like, how could you possibly not honour an oath? It's been made, it has to be kept! It was like I'd walked straight into Jephthah on his way to sacrifice his daughter. You've said it, you've got to do it, even if you're going to hate yourself for the rest of your life. I'm utterly convinced that she's not from anywhere I know of.”
“So, you think she's genuine? What do they want?” his boss asked.
“They're in a bind, they've been in hiding since the fall of the Greek empire, and they can't hide any more. They're convinced they're a different subspecies, and since everyone is in their city it only takes one trigger happy commander to commit genocide. Oh, she also says that if someone did do that, it'd make a really big mess, because during the cold war a previous ruler left fifty grams of antimatter next to any coastal city they thought big enough to act as a deterrent. She wasn't impressed by that at all, but said it'll take years to clear up and they've only got days before they need to move. No, I don't know if it includes us, but from what she said about the ancient treaty of friendship, they're going to be really embarrassed if it did.”
“Fifty grams of antimatter?”
“Yeah, I had a go at working it out. I might be wrong but I got a bit under two megatons.”
“That's big enough to really ruin your day. Jerusalem was hit by a half-megaton bomb, wasn't it?”
“Yes. You realise the 'nice' thing about antimatter bombs, don't you?”
“You can't defuse them?”
“Well, I guess you can if you know what you're doing. But they're certainly not going to fail to go bang if something breaks inside.”
“No. Quite the opposite. So... You're going to raise this little matter of concern at the security council, I hope?”
“Absolutely. And I think we're going to ask them very politely how and when they're planning to get rid of them, where they're planning to play with their little toys and how far away we can get.”
“And I really hope they're not planning to let SpaceGuard launch them at a comet or anything like that.”
“I doubt it.”
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[Penelope, how are things going?] Karella asked.
[They do not like our doomsday weapons.] Penelope replied
[Nor do we.]
[I told you they were an abomination. But they are a useful abomination. I didn't realise — they do not have this technology at all.]
[Not at all? But they have forcefields all over the place!] Karella said.
[Their forcefields only work on matter, not antimatter. Or at least, so they believe.] Penelope answered.
[A different version of the technology?]
[Maybe. Or a different force?]
[It will be an interesting discussion for the scientists, I'm sure.]
[Yes. In general the attitude is shock, surprise, let's be friends. Belief in our existence is not easy. I think the thought of the destruction an accident would result in is persuading Israel to take our request very seriously. But the ambassador realised we do not want the covenant, so he will be reading the text very carefully.]
[I will remind our ambassadors they should be careful not to mention the blockade in the trade in gold.] Karella promised.
[Greece is more concerned about our antiquities, as you expected, but the ambassador thought that diamonds for 'useless' coastline might be looked on very favourably.]
[Good. Sarah is not opposed to the idea of part of her land becoming our embassy there, and will ask her king.]
[I must ask, majesty. Our covenants with Athens and Israel, did they prevent the planting of bombs near them?]
[Of course. An oath must be kept! But we had no covenant with Knossos.]
[Ah. The one was with the city, the other with the whole nation?]
[Sort of, the one with Athens stated all the territory we now hold.]
[What of Mycenae and Troy?]
[That one covered all their ships, but only until the end of their dynasties' rule.]
[Ah, that is more pleasant. And Egypt?]
[Silly Rameses, the text simply reads that he had heard our claim for all time, to that stinking marshland and the sea beyond, and as long as we claimed no dry land of his he had no dispute with us.]
[Nothing of protecting his shipping or perpetual peace, then?]
[None. A very self-confident man, that.]
[So the big one is trading with the Israelites on equal footing as our own people?]
[Yes.]
[But our own people can't trade gold either]
[No. But they can buy Perls and enough Perls turns into boats.]
[And rock-cutters.] Penelope realised. [I have spoken of them.]
[A rock-cutter is just a tool.]
[Your majesty, will a rock-cutter on full range not cut a plane out of the air, or the keel off a boat?]
[I suppose so. You said this?]
[I became angry, my queen. Lilly's ambassador asked who would enforce the exclusion zone. I stated that as undisputed sovereign of the deep that would be no problem, then he mentioned depth charges, and I said woe to any captain using such a weapon.]
[Yes. If they drop depth charges on Atlantis from a plane, or indeed on a family then we would act, to save lives, now it is no secret that we exist.]
[Yes. This thing we take for granted could make a terrible weapon. We have some fitted already to exploration boats and the construction boats, but in conflict, it could equally destroy torpedoes, remove propellers, or sink ships. We do not need to send brave mer to risk being chopped by a propeller; they can cut the propeller shaft. But rock-cutters in the hands of a land-man could do terrible damage.]
[We must restrict the trade in them also.]
[Yes. And we must train our people in their use as a weapon.]
[Ah! My ambassador, you are a genius!]
[I am?]
[We train people in their use, do we not? Before they can buy them?]
[Yes, majesty.]
[What if we say only those trained may own one? And the same with boats of gold. Only those who can pass the test can purchase one, after all they are both dangerous. And the training is not in any landfolk-tongue.]
[And so we do not restrict the untrained landman any more than the untrained mer! But we do not offer training to landmen, and the treaty only mentions trade Your majesty, it is you who are the genius!]
[I must speak to the council. They have laws to enact. Training in these dangerous tools will only be offered to mer, and their spouses who take a vow to uphold our laws.]
[Your majesty, that is good. But I have sad news. Not even the Israeli ambassador takes vows seriously.]
[It has always been our law that an oath-breaker is shark or shark-food.]
[This is true, majesty.]
[It will be your duty as ambassador to make this clear.]
[Does this apply to tourists and traders also? Is not an adulterer an oath-breaker?]
[Not all sharks need killing.] Karella said [But we will have to warn tourists and traders, yes.]