***** Vol.5 Chap.35 The scenic route *****
Kristin was not sure what to do.
“You mean you cannot take me back to Elijah’s place?”
“I am afraid you are right.” The TEVE replied.
“Why?”
“I do not know the answer to this question.”
“Was the mission a failure?”
“I do not have any information about the mission.”
“What do you know?” She was getting impatient about the negative responses.
“Please rephrase your question.”
“OK, what are your instructions?”
“My instruction was to take you back to your submersible and put you back into your underwater gear where we found you.”
“I see.”
“How much time do I have before you have to do this?”
“24 hours.”
“Can I talk to Elijah?”
“No, my communication has been severed from the other end.”
“What would happen if you do not take me back?”
“I am programmed to self destruct in 24 hours.”
“And if you succeed?”
“I am programmed also to self destruct in 24 hours.”
“Can you override the self destruct mechanism?”
“It is not under my control.”
“It is not?”
“I can only activate the mechanism, I cannot disable the mechanism.”
“Has the mechanism been activated?”
“Yes, when you tap on the water.”
“What can you do in these 24 hours?”
“I can take you anywhere within the confines of the ocean.”
“OK, we are in the Mediterranean right now, right?”
“Right.”
“Do you know where Atlantis is sunken?”
“Of course.”
“How long does it take to go there?”
“Ten minutes.”
“Let’s go.”
“Yes, Dr. Sobinowski”
The TEVE began to descend as it moved through the caves following the underground river. The TEVE moved slowly as it meanders around the river pausing occasionally when she wanted to examine more carefully some bottom dwelling creatures. Soon they were out of the underground caverns into the open ocean of the Mediterranean.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
The TEVE changed course slightly and began to speed up. She resisted the urge to slow down the TEVE, but there were so much she wanted to see and she did want to see them all before her time was up.
After a few minutes, the TEVE began to descend into a steep crevasse on the sea bottom.
“Where about are we?”
“We are just off the shore from the island of Crete.”
“People had been searching these parts for Atlantis for ages and have found nothing.”
“It was well hidden in a cavern. The only access to the cavern is this crevasse that we are passing through.”
“No wonder no one can find it.”
“Here lie the ruins of Atlantis.”
“It is beautiful!”
She stuck her face to the TEVE wall and was gawking at the sights outside. There were gigantic columns fallen down into pieces on the floor. Most of the houses had fallen down and only the foundation was barely visible.
She tried to imagine what the city was like. She tried to imagine where the streets were, where the town hall was, and where the market was. Of course there was no way of telling because only a small fraction of the foundation remained.
But in her mind, she was back thousands of years ago walking among the buzzing streets filled with the residents of Atlantis. She pretended that she was having an intellectual discussion with the scientists and a stimulating conversation with the town magistrates.
“Can I go outside?”
“No, it is too deep to breathe unaided and you do not have any diving gear.”
“Can you form a protective bubble around me and let me walk around the ruins?”
“Yes.”
The TEVE settled down on the ruins and the bottom of the TEVE began to part. In no time, she felt her foot on wet sand. She was actually standing on the streets of Atlantis. Even though she could only take a few steps, but that was enough.
Within the confines of the TEVE, she was dancing and jumping up and down. She was exhilarated. She moved to one of the fallen down columns and admire the handiwork of stone. There were inscriptions on the column though she had no idea what they mean. She was like a little kid running around the streets playing with her friends.
After she had spent her youthful energy for quite some time, she asked the TEVE to close up and take her exploring the different parts of the ruins. In a stroke of genius, she made the TEVE shrink as small as possible. So in a sense, the TEVE was her diving gear.
Together with the TEVE, She went exploring. She passed through an open space that she surmised to be the market place. She arrived at a huge structure with a few remaining columns still standing. She stood at the middle and pretended to be addressing the general assembly. She figured that that must be the coliseum.
She passed by a large collection of smaller structures. She guessed that these could be the homes of the residents. She made belief that she was living in one of the homes there.
Then she passed another large structure. She really had no idea what it was, so she called that the library. After that, she just started to name the different structures, an education building here, a theatre there, a city hall here and a factory there. She was having fun.
After a while, she grew tired of Atlantis.
“OK, we can leave.”
The TEVE changed back to its original configuration.
“Where do you want to go next?”
“I want to go underneath the North Pole. Please go as fast as you can.”
“I will have to reconfigure. Please lie as flat as you can.”
“OK.”
The TEVE reconfigured like a bullet and in no time, it shot up through the crevasse, slowed down just enough to change course and shot away towards the Gulf of Gibraltar. It was amazing how fast the TEVE could travel and how smooth it traveled.
Kristin kept wondering if she would run into some large fish and get swallowed like Jonah. Or worse, she wondered if she would hit a reef or an island and got lodged permanently in the sands underwater. But no such accidents happened. The TEVE was smooth and soon they were underneath the North Pole.
“We are here.” The TEVE announced.
“Wow, we are directly underneath the ice shelf?”
“Yes.”
“How about let’s go back to the edge of the ice shelf.”
The TEVE sped there in no time.
She could see whales playing underneath the ice shelf.
“Can you transmit the outside whale sound so that I can hear?”
Instantly, the TEVE was filled with whale calls. One whale was calling to another whale. The other whale was answering back to the first one. Their song was melodic and highly harmonic. Kristin was momentarily mesmerized by their songs. She thought how carefree and happy they were. She directed the TEVE to reconfigure like a whale and to swim slowly side by side next to the nearby school of whales.
“Can you translate the songs?”
“I am sorry. I do not have the translation program.”
She was a little disappointed, but she really did not expect a positive response anyway. She was happy just being able to be one of the whales and to hear the whale songs. Together with the TEVE, she would follow the group to the nearest breathing hole where they watched the whales surfaced to take a breath. Then they would follow the whales to dive underneath the ice and play.
It was time to leave. They slowly traveled to another part of the ice shelf and watched the seals, the otters, the penguins hunting and playing in the water. They surfaced and bobbed up and down as Kristin watched thousands of penguins resting and tending their young. This was better than any pictures or documentaries. The day slipped by quickly and Kristin watched the sun setting in the horizon.