Mapmaker, p.22
Mapmaker, page 22
“She is a force of nature, isn’t she?” He grinned, glancing at his soon to be fiancé.
“She’s something, all right.”
“Natty, come look at this,” Tessa beckoned. “Are those what they look like?” She pointed out the window.
“Why would there be railroad tracks a hundred feet under the ocean?” Nathaniel asked. He looked at Snee, who rose and came to join them.
“I think we should go out and check them out,” Enesneth ventured.
“I think we should follow them and see where they lead, first,” Snee responded. “We’re still a good hundred miles from your island. You’re from Drohana, Tessa,” he pointed out. “How do you even know what railroad tracks are?”
“And you’re a Drow elf from the Daiermoore. I might ask the same question?”
“I’ve been to Hevanok, and they have trains there,” Snee rejoined.
“I’ve been to Hevanok as well, and more recently to Terra, both of which have railroads.”
“Excuse me,” Natty interrupted. “Could we get beyond you two sniping at each other for a while? Yes, I agree with Snee, let’s follow them and see where they lead; otherwise it could be a very long walk underwater.”
“Helm,” Snee commanded, “can you see the tracks we’re talking about?”
“Aye Captain,” the helmsman replied as he looked through his viewing port.
“Follow them, three quarter speed.”
“Aye-aye, sir.”
They had followed the rail tracks for roughly three quarters of an hour, with Tessa alternating her views from the port windows on the side and the helmsman’s viewer to the front, all the time with her hands flying over the map table, drawing in each passing foot. “Object ahead on the tracks, Captain,” the helm reported. Tessa, Natty, and Snee crowded around the helmsman.
“Okay,” Snee conceded. “Now, Aviator Bluehavens, it is time for that excursion.”
“I’m going too,” Tessa said in a tone that indicated she was not to be argued with.
“Tessa?” Natty looked at her.
“I heard you earlier, my love. I’m a force of nature, remember, and you don’t want to get in the way of a force of nature,” she smiled sweetly. “Do you?”
“I suppose not,” Nathaniel responded hesitantly. He turned to Snee. “Do you think you have another one of those suits that might fit me?”
“Probably. I think the two of you will be more comfortable in those helmets than any of us with the longer pointed ears.”
“Natty has pointed ears,” Tessa replied defensively.
“Natty is a half-elf,” Snee reminded Tessa as he touched the points on his long Drow ears. “What did you say your leprechaun friend calls them?”
“Short-tips,” Nathaniel replied. “You two are doing it again. Don’t make me send you to your rooms without dinner.” Tessa looked at him with alarm in her eyes, fearing the loss of their private dinner together. “Especially you, young lady.”
Snee laughed and moved closer. “Tessa, I’m sorry. I’m used to dealing with sailors, aviators, and Naval Rangers. I’m not good in mixed company, but I don’t mean anything by it.”
“You wouldn’t really cancel our dinner, would you?” Tessa sounded worried. Natty kissed her on the forehead.
“You’re not getting rid of me that easy, Tessa Chart.”
“I don’t want to get rid of you, easy or hard. Together, remember?”
“Always,” he smiled. “Let’s go look for seashells by the railroad tracks.”
Chapter twenty-six
City Beneath the Waves
The object the helmsman had told them about turned out to be a locomotive, partially covered with sand, silt, and coral. Snee motioned for the others to stay on the ground as he climbed up. They watched as he bent and scraped off the covering from a couple of locations, pointed down on the upper surface of the engine, then back at the Nautilus, waving his hands over his head to form what Nathaniel and Tessa correctly assumed was the sun. He was telling them that the engine was powered by the same source as the Nautilus, solar power.
Behind the engine were several train cars, the last two of which appeared to be freight cars. Mr. Cassel, who had been granted a crowbar in place of a weapon, came forward and popped off the lock on the first train car. With great effort, five of them slid open the door, and their eyes almost popped out of their heads. The train car was filled with gold. It glinted off the light from the electric torches they carried. Cassel, Enesneth and Pipia were already removing the lock on the second freight car. They looked closer at the glittering mass that greeted them. It was difficult to tell a hundred feet underwater, but this car appeared to be filled with precious jewels. Snee motioned for everyone to return to the submarine, but Enesneth frantically signaled to him that she needed to take some of the gold and the jewels back with her. Snee kept crossing his hands to say no, until Nathaniel came up alongside Enesneth and gave Snee a double thumbs up, after which he acquiesced.
Back in the Nautilus, they shed the excursion suits and stared at what Esse had carried back. “This doesn’t look like any writing I’ve ever known or seen,” Snee observed. “It looks almost Terran.”
“I don’t think so,” Enesneth said. “If it is, it is from part of Terra that we have never been to for the Library.”
“How did it and a locomotive end up on the ocean floor, is what I’m wondering,” Nathaniel said, hefting the gold ingot.
“I have a theory,” Tessa looked at the others. “I think they may have been trying to escape when disaster struck. Obviously, we’re not going to be able to salvage this on this trip. We are in international waters, so since the Nautilus is now a Gewellyn flag vessel, it’s just become the property of King Lochlain Wynfarin.”
“You mean we don’t get to keep it for ourselves?” Mr. Cassel asked.
“If we had the capability, which we don’t, I could lay claim to it for the Library of Ellandaril,” Enesneth put forward. “Unfortunately, we don’t have the capability to salvage anything this large anymore. Hopefully, King Lochlain will allow us access and enough of the relics to include at the Library.”
“What do you want to do, Tessa?” Snee asked. “I’ve already had Chadoc notify the Commodore of what we found.”
“That’s fine,” she replied. “As Esse said, we’re not going to be able to take more than a few samples. Let’s keep following the tracks and see what’s ahead.”
“Agreed,” Snee confirmed. “Ahead three quarters, helm.”
“Ahead three quarters. Aye, aye, Sir.”
Working from her nearly photographic memory, Tessa drew in the images of what they had just seen and then moved back to the submarine’s windows. She was watching some fish that had been passing the window when the helmsman shouted, “Everyone hold on!” Instinctively she grabbed the nearest thing, which happened to be the handle that shut the steel doors over the window, narrowly missing her leg. The submarine heaved to the left, and the helmsman fought to regain control.
“What is it? What did we hit?” Snee said as he sat down in the seat adjacent the helmsman.
“If we did hit it, Captain, it was a glancing blow. I think I avoided it. Some sort of mechanism, like a gate or a trap, flew up out of the ocean floor.”
“It’s time for us to surface anyhow. Let’s get topside and see what damage we have,” Snee directed. “Prepare to surface!”
Tessa reached up and pulled the lever to re-open the window cover. As it opened, so did her eyes at what unfolded in front of her. “Natty, Snee, Esse, look at this!” They joined her at the window where a vast abandoned underwater city spread out in front of them.
“Chadoc, as soon as we surface. call for the Chimera. We’re not going to be able to handle this with just the Nautilus,” Snee directed.
“Aye Sir.”
“And then send the same message to Commodore Sparo. We need the Celantine, the Gallant, and at least three more surface vessels, preferably armed and trustworthy.” He looked at Tessa and Natty. “I’m sorry, but we’re not going to be able to continue your little expedition for the time being. Just the railcars alone are going to be a major operation to salvage. And, Nathaniel, I’m sorry, but I’m probably not going to be able to serve as your best man if you are intent on holding the ceremony right away.” Snee looked at the water in the direction of the city. “What do you want to do?”
Nathaniel looked at Tessa. “By now, Abby has gotten the images to Thallan. Word is going to spread, and that doesn’t count what we just encountered. Snee is right. This is going to be a major salvage operation.”
Tessa nodded, and pulled on his sleeve so his ear was close to her mouth. “I want to get a look at that city. Esse does too. Then, I want to go home to Eldaria, and, Natty, I want to come back as Mrs. Nathaniel Clark. Can we do that?”
A smile grew across Nathaniel’s face. “Together, we can do anything, Tessa.” He looked at his friend. “Snee, Tessa and Enesneth would like to poke around that city down there for a couple of hours, and then we will fly back to StarFire Island for the night. Does that work for you?”
“It does,” the submarine captain agreed. “I’d like to see what’s down there also, but I’m not sure how much time we have left in those air tanks. Mr. Cassel, what do you think?”
“We were only out for less than an hour, Captain. We should have two more hours plus the reserve.”
“Okay, we have ninety minutes plus a safety factor. Your engineer, Senter, agrees with my helmsman that the damage is surface only. We’ll go straight down, see what there is to see, and come straight back up. Let’s get ready. A smaller team this time; Natty, Tessa, Enesneth, Cassel, and myself.”
When the Nautilus was back on the ocean floor, they exited the ship through the airlock, which only Mr. Cassel knew how to operate. He had explained that they had been using similar mechanisms in Bolandria for a number of years, although they did not have powered submersibles, only vehicles he described as “deepwater bells” that were lowered from a surface vessel.
They followed the outer wall of the sunken city until they located what appeared to be a gate. Snee took the lead and was three steps into the passageway when Natty and Enesneth grabbed him and pulled him back. Two bars shot across the opening in each direction, where Snee had stood moments before. In their suits, the way was now effectively blocked.
“This close, even Snee should be able to mind-speak,” Enesneth spoke to the others. Natty and Tessa nodded immediately, while Snee shook his head and then nodded. Only Cassel remained clueless.
“I believe that was a faux gate,” Nathaniel opined. “The real one will probably be much less pronounced, maybe even hidden.” They continued along the outer wall. Without really knowing why, Natty stopped and looked behind them, amazed to find they had just walked past a staircase. He tapped Snee on the shoulder and pointed. “Wait here,” Natty indicated. He walked past the staircase, which was once again invisible, and then went back to where the others stood and could see it again. “What did I say about it being less pronounced. Let’s see where it leads.”
“Natty, can you hear me?” Tessa mind-spoke. “Menta Kai and Lona have been working with me on it, but I’m afraid I’m not very good at mind-speaking.”
“We’ve got our entire futures to work on it, Nin Mel. I’m not really very accomplished at it either, and Fiona has been working with me since I was a little elfling. Lona too, for that matter.”
“As long as we can communicate with each other and Esse, I’m good.” Tessa concluded.
“Natty, I can only tell you nodded because I was looking at your face,” Enesneth told him. “It bobbed up and down. We can’t see facial expressions or head movements with these helmets on.” Nathaniel started to nod and then corrected himself.
“Understood.”
They reached the top of the wall and found themselves looking over a vast city stretching miles in every direction except behind them.
“I believe we are on the southwest side of the city,” Tessa mind-spoke and indicated the taller remains of buildings to their Northeast. “This place must have been huge. You can’t even see the far reaches in any direction.”
“I’ve seen architectural like this on Terra,” Enesneth told the others. “I believe they call it Art Deco. It was very modernistic in its time.”
Snee pointed down the stairs, and carefully they made their way down into the abandoned metropolis.
“Straight in, or work our way around?” Natty asked.
“From what we saw on top of the wall, it could take us a week or longer to walk around,” Enesneth responded. “I say, straight in.” Tessa gave a thumbs up with her gloved hand. Natty knocked on Snee’s helmet and then pointed into the city’s apparent center. Snee responded by pointing to his eyes and then indicating they should watch for traps. Many of the buildings were caved in, some were still standing, and some even had doors and windows intact. Enesneth tried one of the doorknobs and found it unlocked. There was an audible click as she pushed on the door, and Tessa grabbed her and pulled her back as the blade swung across the doorway.
“Okay,” Natty mind-spoke. “We know that these folks believe in home security. Let’s see what they have that’s worthy of protecting.” Slowly he pushed the door the rest of the way open, but no other device was triggered. They shined their electric torches around the main room and stopped suddenly at the figure crouched in the corner. Tessa reached out and grabbed Nathaniel’s arm. They approached and realized that it was, or had been, a woman, and she was holding the remains of a baby to her chest. “It looks like whatever happened here, happened suddenly. The water here is cold enough that the woman and child were preserved.”
“It looks like she was packing to leave when it struck,” Enesneth indicated the remains of a bag on a table just beyond where the woman was crouched. “Natty, there are books on the shelves. Should we take some of them?” Nathaniel drew Snee’s attention to the books and pointed to Enesneth.
“A few,” they were able to make out from Snee’s mind-speaking.
“Where is Mr. Cassel?” Tessa looked around but the Bolandrian was nowhere to be found.
“Maybe he waited outside,” Tessa suggested. Natty stepped outside of the house and looked up and down the street but couldn’t find any sign of the other man.
“Where is he going to go? The only way out of here is aboard the Nautilus, and the crew won’t certainly take him anywhere without us,” Enesneth reasoned. Snee came out of the building, looked around for a few seconds, then indicated the timepiece on his wrist, and then pointed back toward the staircase where they had come in, which was now a good distance away.
“What are these tracks?” Natty pointed to the ocean floor. “We left footprints coming in here, and it looks like someone took a giant broom to them.”
“Look at this,” Enesneth indicated. “This is where Mr. Cassel was standing. These heel marks look like he was dragged away. I don’t think we’re alone down here.”
“We need to look for him,” Tessa insisted. “He may need help.”
Snee pointed at his timepiece, more ardently this time. “No time. Weapons ready, move it!” the Drow officer was able to mind-speak.
Natty looked at him for a second and then grasped the urgency. “Let’s get back to the ship and get more air. We can come back after we fill the tanks.” The other three agreed, and they began trudging that direction in their weighted shoes. Suddenly, Natty, who was in the lead, stuck out his hand to stop the others and shown his electric torch down a passageway. There, a pair of malevolent eyes gleamed out. “Squid!” He mind-spoke and yelled within his helmet at the same time, as a pair of tentacles played out from the depths of the alley.
Enesneth and Snee fired simultaneously, and the tentacles retracted, then the entire creature started moving toward them. This time, all four in the party fired, and a black, inky blood oozed from the wounds, but it didn’t seem to slow the monster at all. Behind the squid, Tessa caught a brief glimpse of Cassel lying on the floor of the alley behind it.
“The gate! Head for the gate,” Natty commanded. “There was a lever on the side of it, and if that doesn’t work we should be able to get up the stairs before that thing.” They moved as fast as their leaden boots would allow, Esse and Snee covering the rear. The body of the squid had retreated back into the alley, but it’s tentacles still reached out, as if searching for its prey. Natty reached the lever first, but it was stuck fast, unused for hundreds of years.
“Here it comes again!” Enesneth mind-yelled, backing away from the rapidly approaching menace, she backed into Nathaniel shoving him into the lever which broke free and dropped down. The trap bars retracted.
“Go! Go! Go!” Natty yelled, shoving his wife through the opening. Esse and Snee followed, then just before the tentacles reached him, Natty threw the lever back up and dove through the gate, the squid in hot pursuit. Then, it stopped. The deadly trap arms shot back out and impaled the creature just as its head entered the opening. The tentacles and arms shuddered twice and collapsed, inky blood filling the gateway.
“Shouldn’t we go back and see if we can help Mr. Cassel?” Tessa asked, starting toward the staircase; but Natty stopped her and pointed to the gauge on her air tanks and motioned, ‘no.’ They turned and crossed the distance, finally reaching the Nautilus. Two at a time, they went through the airlock, with Enesneth and Natty the last two. As the water drained from the airlock, Esse pulled off her helmet. “We need a bucket or buckets big enough for these books. We can’t take them out of the saltwater until we can get them to Ellandaril. Lord Hrodebert has Librarians who are skilled at restoration of documents like this.”
“It was a shame about Cassel,” Natty observed. “I thought he was going to work out and be a real help to this project.”
“I don’t think he ever saw it coming,” Snee responded. “I think he honestly was looking for a way that he could help, and that thing just snuck up on him. At least that’s what my report is going to say.”
