Out of Deep Time

A red light came on by the door, and a blaring alarm resounded through the facility.

"Our freedom may be short-lived," Karris said. "We need to move!"

"I want shoes," Adam said in a drug-induced stupor.

"Gwen, help him." Gwen put Adam's arm over her shoulders and they followed Karris out into the hallway. They heard voices from their left, so they ran the other way. At the end of the hall was another intersection and an elevator. The elevator was in use and headed toward them from above. They ran to the left and through a door into a spiral metal stairwell. Boot tromping echoed above them, so they went down.

"We'll be trapped if we go down!" Gwen protested, even as she and Adam followed Karris down the stairs.

"We can't fight our way out!" Karris answered.

"You are really good at doing things," Adam complimented drunkenly in his native language. "And you have a really nice butt. You both do."

"What's he saying?" Gwenbel asked in the Tunge as they continued down the stairs another level.

"He likes our haunches," Karris answered matter-of-factly.

Suddenly, a door opened on the level they were passing, and an armored woman stepped through. Karris prepared to attack with the pain staff, and the soldier began to cry out in alarm, but she was silenced as she was zapped from behind. Another soldier stood in the doorway with a stun baton, and she caught her former comrade as she fell unconscious.

"Peace!" The soldier declared as she set the stunned woman aside on the stairs. "Stairway is clear!" She called through the doorway, then closed it, standing with them in the stairwell. She took off her helmet, showing her obsidian skin and tightly-braided red hair. "My name is Tracee, and I'm here to help. Follow me!" She headed down the stairs.

Karris and Gwenbel exchanged a glance, and Gwen gave a nod of approval. They followed Tracee to the bottom of the stairs, to level fifty. The metal there was corroded and water dripped down to a drain in the middle of the cement floor. There were no doors to be seen.

"How is this helpful?" Karris fumed. "You've taken us to a dead end!"

"Think again," Tracee said, and she lifted the drain grate, which was no bigger in diameter than her head.

"I don't think we will fit down there," Adam commented.

"Just what are you trying to pull?" Gwenbel demanded of Tracee.

"This," Tracee said as she reached down into the water. She gave something a tug, and at once a portion of the cement wall behind the stairs slid backwards and revealed a passageway. "Mago's first," she gestured politely.

Adam wobbled away from Gwen, who had been steadying him, and stepped into the dark passage which was only big enough for one person at a time. Gwen went next, followed by Karris. Tracee stepped in and closed the wall behind her. The darkness in the tunnel was absolute except for Karris' glowing freckles.

"We are safe here. Hey, nice florescent proteins!" Tracee complimented behind Karris.

"Why are you helping us?" Karris asked.

"Keep moving, I'll explain on the way."

"I'm with the resistance," Tracee said as they felt their way along the damp, narrow walls. "You're lucky I found you, I'm the only agent stationed down here."

"What are you resisting?" Adam asked clumsily in Tunge, his head still foggy.

"The Fêra-only law. There are many who wish to see magodegn returned to the world. We have a network with secret support from some of the matron mothers."

"Forgive my frustration earlier." Karris apologized. "Thank you for your help."

"You're welcome, Captain Karris."

"I don't recall telling you my name," Karris said with suspicion in her tone.

"Your names and likeness were broadcasted to every sector shortly after you arrived. You're the talk of the world, right now."

"Where are you taking us?" Karris asked, uncomfortable with her sudden fame and desiring to change the subject.

"To your means of escape. This tunnel was built during the Water Wars, before the Matriarchy rose to global supremacy and put an end to the fighting."

"And an end to unsanctioned pregnancies," Gwenbel commented sourly.

"Yes, so the only way to raise a family was to support the system. We gained order but we lost our freedom. We deserve reproductive autonomy. I think magodegn can learn from the mistakes of the past and live with Fêra responsibly, if given the chance. No, more than that...I think the love between Fêra and magodegn could be just as beautiful as the most connected love between Fêra."

Adam stumbled up against a wall, and Gwen stumbled into him, and Karris into her.

"Here we are!" Tracee announced behind them. "Feel for the switch on the wall, on the right."

Adam found the cold metal switch and flipped it. The wall opened, revealing nothing at first but more darkness. Then, however, dim lights flickered on, one at a time along the ceiling of a large underground hanger with strong buttresses sculpted from bedrock. They stepped out of the tunnel and beheld a blue whale propped up on robotic, hydraulic arms and flanked by a stair scaffold. It was completely motionless, as if it were a full-scale model of the real thing.

"I think the drug they gave me is making me see things," Adam remarked, rubbing his eyes.

"What is that creature?" Gwen asked.

"It's a whale," Karris answered. "I read about them. Great beasts that used to roam the oceans in herds."

"It's a submarine," Tracee corrected. "It's disguised as one of those great beasts. It was an effective strategy during the Water Wars, until the other side found out and started blowing up every whale they saw. So it became obsolete. It's been abandoned in this secret hanger for many hund, and it was forgotten by all but a few. Now its time has come. Use it to get to Sowulo."

"I work with airships, not submarines!" Karris exclaimed.

"All air traffic is grounded. This is your best chance to escape undetected, and the sooner you get underway, the better. There's a manual inside. Sowulo is north by northeast. Get aboard and I'll flood the hanger."

"What about you?" Gwen asked her.

"I need to stay undercover and send a message to our leadership. Go. With luck we will meet again in liberation." She turned to Adam, leaned in, and pecked him on the cheek. She smiled at him, then trotted off through a bulkhead in the hanger wall into a control room. She closed the bulkhead with a loud squeak, sealed it, then gave them a nod through the window. Adam smiled back at her as he was tugged along by Gwenbel to the scaffolding against the whale.

Adam reached out and touched the "skin" of the submarine as he climbed the metal stairs. It was rubbery with a fine layer of dust on the surface. There was an open hatch on the top next to a "blowhole" vent.

One after another, they climbed inside, Adam being the last. He gave one last look to Tracee. She waved to him, and he waved back, then climbed down into the dark tunnel. He closed the hatch above him and turned the locking wheel until it was snug. Small, dim lights began to glow on the metal walls, and he climbed down the rungs into a circular chamber partially divided into top and bottom hemispheres. The top portion was like a loft that had a chair with glass screens and metal consoles arrayed in front of it. Karris dusted off a yellowed tome and opened it to the beginning, holding it close to one of the little dim lights.

Gwenbel was in the bottom portion, which had two fold-out cots with a kitchen galley between them against the dished wall. She tested the tiny faucet. A bit of dust puffed out of the spigot, then a gentle stream of water came. The lights in the round chamber slowly grew brighter.

A deep wooshing sound splashed against the hull, and Karris looked up from the manual, flicked a silver switch. The screens in front of her winked on, first glowing a dull red, then a red script of blocky symbols ran from the top to the bottom of each screen in sequence. Adam and Gwenbel crowded up into the navigator's loft and stood on either side of her chair. The central screen produced a full-color rendition of what lay in front of them, showing the hanger actively flooding from pipes on either side of the big doors.

When the hanger was fully flooded, the doors opened with a grating sound that stretched through the water and drummed against the rubber-wrapped hull. Even though the tunnel beyond was dark, the screen showed the tunnel walls in red. Karris turned the page of the manual and flipped another switch. There was a clunking sound as the docking arms released the submarine.

Karris pushed the throttle forward gently, and the whale began to undulate. The spherical room that held them moved counter to the tilt of the animatronic vessel so that the room remained level relative to gravity.

"Tówunderlic," Karris remarked in astonishment.

"I haven't heard that word before," Adam said in the Tunge.

"It is a..." Karris began in Ancient English, then considered a moment while she got a feel for the controls. "Strong adjective. Worthy of admiration."

"To think that it still works after how long it sat there..." he said in his native language, "it is as remarkable as anything I can remember seeing from my time."

"It is remarkable you still work after how long you sat in your—"

"Box of goo?" He asked.

Karris laughed, the thrill of new experience brightening her spirit. She piloted the whale out of the tunnel and into the coastal waters of what Adam could only guess was once Antartica. There was enough light coming from the water's surface to make out a kelp forest clinging to the rocky sea floor.

"You have no idea how well I still work," Adam remarked playfully after a minute.

Karris pulled back on the controls, sending the robotic whale into a backward loop. They came full-circle while the habitation sphere remained upright and balanced inside. Adam could not help but become a little disoriented as he watched the screen. Karris shot him a broad smile.

"Who was it you said was good at doing things?"

**************************

Karris set a north-northeasterly course and continued to familiarize herself with the controls as she read through the manual. She reviewed what she learned with Gwenbel so they could take shifts piloting. Their mechanical beast was tireless, and the droning hum of the ancient engine adorned the passage of hours.

Adam asked Gwenbel questions about her life as the two of them sat side by side on one of the cots. She told him about her mothers who were schoolteachers in the same district. She told of her desire to see the world from a young age, her enrollment in flight academy, and how Karris was a flight cadet a year ahead of her.

She seemed hesitant to continue, so she asked him about his life and the distant past. Adam tried to relate to her what he could using his grasp of her language. He told her of his mother and father and of his teenage years working in the plastic mines to put himself through trade school. He told her of the woman he was to marry, and how he had planned to return from the mining job on the iciest moon of Jupiter with enough money to buy the both of them luxuries few could afford.

His stomach rumbled, but Gwenbel discovered that the nutrient paste of the galley's food dispenser was long expired. She ran her fingers through his hair as he lay on his back in the cot. Exhaustion overcame him, and he fell asleep.

When he awoke, he was alone, there was light coming from the open hatch, and he saw a coral reef on the monitor. The kitchen galley cupboards and drawers were open like someone had gone through all of them. Gwen's stockings were laying on the other cot.

Groggy from sleep and weak with hunger, he arduously climbed the rungs towards the blue sky and the sound of seabirds. He shielded his eyes and adjusted to the relative brightness. He realized that the whale was parked in shallows in the shadow of a towering wreck sitting askew upon a long sandbar. The wreck was twice as tall as the whale was long, and was at least several times in length, with the rear of the ruin hidden beneath the sand.

Gwenbel was sitting crosslegged and bare-breasted near the blowhole vent of their submarine, breaking into oysters with a short knife. A small pile of shells was heaped beside her next to a pile of intact oysters in her shirt, and a stainless steel bowl from the galley was cradled on her skirt over her ankles. The skirt was wet and clung to her thighs, indicating that she had recently been in the water. Open ocean surrounded them on the horizon.

"Sunnanmorgen!" She greeted.

"Good morning, Gwen," He answered with a smile. "Where is Karris?"

"Delving," she responded, and pointed to the wreck with her knife.

Adam climbed out of the hatch and took another look at the wreck. Had it been an ocean vessel or a space ship, he wondered? The entire exterior of the thing was corroded, pocked with holes, and bristling with green lichen. There was bent and broken railing around several peripheral walkways, which was uncommon for spacecraft, so he guessed it had been a seafaring craft. He recognized round laser turrets, despite being covered in centuries of bird droppings and lichen. There were flocks of white birds roosting on the command and control tower, and as he looked at the birds circling around it he realized their feathered legs served as a second pair of wings.

"Is it safe to eat those clams?" He asked, the prospect of food making his mouth water.

She nodded with a smile. He sat down in front of her.

"Sensors broke," she said. "Karris is looking for components in that ruin."

"It looks dangerous."

"She explores such places often. Besides, she is the one with boots," she shrugged. "We fled in such a hurry, I left my shoes in Langsha Moyle. Rust is sharp. Karris likes exploring. Sometimes she brings back treasure."

"How long has she been gone?"

"Not long. She said if she does not return when the sun comes over the wreck we should worry."

"Are you worried?"

She glanced at the long shadow of the wreck and smiled, said: "No."

"I'm glad of that," he said. "Assuming she finds what we need, what do you think we will find at Sowulo?"

"Karris and I have been there before," she said. "It is a wondrous place of many creatures. I have heard they even have creatures that can heal the body. The city itself is alive, floating in the ocean. It is one of the few places where the blood-song is woven."

"I can't wait to see it," Adam said.

They didn't say anything for a while as Gwen opened oysters and handed them to Adam. He slurped the tender flesh into his mouth. It was salty, which didn't surprise him, but there were unexpected flavors, like mushrooms, carrot, and butter. When they had both eaten their fill she set her knife down and sighed contentedly. He ran his fingers through his hair, combing it out. It felt tousled and unkempt. Gwenbel's fine, fur-like hair flicked over the edges of her ears in the breeze. It was warm, but he could see goosebumps form on her rosy skin.

"Karris and I..." She began, "...we are lovers. We became such soon after we met in flight academy. Ever since I have been her co-pilot, and she has been my captain. We are partners."

Adam waited for her to continue, but she had paused. He took the moment to let the knowledge sink in. "I see," he said.

"I love her. We want to have each other's children. But her work studying ancient cultures, exploring ruins...it is dangerous. There are only a few cities in the world that can make the pregnancies, and we were always too busy to settle down. I always wanted adventure...when we found you, it was like a dream come true. What Fêra does not dream of adventure with imaginary magodegn? It is the stuff of—of myth, of naughty stories. You awakened something in me that was wild and—and crazy! Now...we are fugitives, and it is my fault."

"How can all of this be your fault?"

"Because I acted. I chose to be...intimate with you, without her knowledge or consent. And I acted in Langsha Moyle. I did that also without her consent, but still she followed. I choose for her, and so it is my responsibility. My fault. Now we can never have each other's children." She looked down and tears welled in her eyes.

Adam placed his hands on her knees and leaned in a little. He mustered all the mental agility he had to express himself in her language.

"You gave up your safe life for my freedom. I don't know how to tell you how much that means to me...it means more than my life. I am with you, from now to whatever end, and I will do everything I can with my freedom to do what is right by you. For Karris, too. For Tracee, and everyone. Thank you, Gwenbel."

Gwenbel blinked the tears from her eyes and leapt up into his lap, wrapping her arms around him. He hugged her back, and they held each other for what seemed a long time. Her embrace made his distant past and the possible troubles ahead feel inconsequential. He felt her tears on his bare shoulder, and he stroked the skin of her back from her neck to the top of her skirt. The warmth of her breasts pressing against his chest caused him to swell with arousal, but the constriction of his stretchy pants made it uncomfortable. Gwenbel could not help but feel him against her naked flesh beneath her skirt, and her sheltered cleft moistened, even with all the emotions swirling within her.

She leaned back to look at him, and smiled with a sniffle. He brushed a tear-trail from his own cheek, and he felt a need to clothe himself with some immediate purpose. "What do we do now?" He asked her.

"Well...we could harvest more oysters. It is a long journey to Sowulo, and we may not get another chance. Do you know how to swim?"

"I...think so?"

She laughed at that, and he laughed as well. She got up out of his lap. Adam rose without taking his eyes off her, and she smiled up at him as she bent over to pick up her knife and shirt, her pert breasts swaying. She straightened, then moved to the prow of the submarine.

She bounced twice on the thick rubber, revving herself up for the jump, then catapulted herself off the head of the whale. The way she leapt overboard, the coming together of her legs for a sleek dive, the slight clench of her buttocks that he glimpsed under her skirt as she went down, it all sparkled in his mind in a way that drew him along, and before he knew it he was diving after her.

He found he could swim as well as he suspected, and though his vision was burry underwater and the salt stung his eyes, he followed Gwenbel to a rocky outcropping in the shallows and helped her gather oysters into her shirt, which was tied shut to make a pouch. They surfaced for air every minute or so, and when the shirt pouch was full they swam back to the whale. They climbed up from the tail, and placed the oysters in a bowl of seawater to save for later.

"You should dry those while you can," Gwen said, pointing to his pants.

"You just want to see me naked again," Adam teased.

"Maybe," she grinned.

Adam was not shy about peeling his pants down and tugging them off. He wrung them out and laid them down. The sun had not yet crested the wreck, but it was getting hot. The breeze felt good on his skin. Gwen wrung out her skirt bit by bit without taking it off. Adam admired the curves and colors of her lean body. He still had not yet seen her completely naked.

"I like your tattoos," he complimented.

"My what?"

"Your, um, ink," he said, and stepped close to brush a finger over one of the milk-white stripes on her forearm.

"You think they are drawn on?" She laughed.

"Are they not?" He smiled, thinking he was being teased.

"I was born with them. Both of my mothers were of the striped people."

"Tówunderlic," He stated, and knelt down in front of her, sitting on his heels. He wanted to get a better look at the stripes on her thighs. He brushed her damp skirt up a little and traced her stripes with his fingertips. Goosebumps formed on her skin, and she stroked an errant tangle of his long brown hair away from his eyes. "Will Karris be upset with us if she sees me touching you like this?"