Tugboat Man and the Lost Continent

I said, "Duh??!! I'm HERE aren't I??"

She said, "But remember, all of those Atlantean colonies and the refugees. What were they doing while all of that was going on?" I said ipso-facto, "They must have gotten on their flying saucers and gone home -- right?"

She said, "But what if the entire continent of Atlantis was destroyed by war? There wouldn't be any spacecraft then -- only a whole lot of frightened exiles fleeing their homes. What would they do after that?"

This was all beginning to make sense. If you were willing to buy into the idea that an advanced civilization had decided to set up housekeeping on a primitive planet earth. Of course you would have to be certifiably nuts to believe that. But I might as well get the entire story.

So I said, "I would guess they would try to rebuild their civilization somewhere else. Like I said, they would probably eventually be absorbed into the cultures of the places where they settled. If you think about it that might account for the early rise of places like Egypt and China and even Mesoamerica."

Then I got it!! I said, "You're telling me that Atlantean genes are still in the human gene pool."

She looked at me with true love and said, "Some people have more of them than others."

I said with dawning understanding, "And you are saying that you think that I am one of those???!!"

She said with deep emotion, "You are more like me than any other person on this planet. I discovered it when I kissed you that first time."

Then her face crumbled. She wailed, "It has been such a long time and I have been so lonely." Then she inexplicably collapsed on me weeping like her heart was going to break.

I held her and tried to soothe her. But at the same time I was thinking that she was batshit crazy. Me, with some super-race's genes!!??? Seriously???!! My old man owns a hardware store and my mom is a homemaker.

I'll admit that I have always been different. But "naturally weird" seemed like a much better explanation then "alien genes."

In the case of the mentally ill, my normal policy is to get as far away from them as possible. But the catch was that I didn't just love this woman. She was an indispensable part of my soul.

In fact, I was so in love -- so closely bonded to her - that I had no idea what I would do when she got back on her daddy's yacht and sailed off into the sunset.

I suppose the problem with living your life as a totally disconnected nerd is that you have nowhere to run if somebody manages to break through your defenses.

And the woman who had finally managed to accomplish that feat thought that she was from the Lost Continent of Atlantis. I would ask God WHY? But I know that he would just tell me that nerds piss him off.

She stopped sobbing and looked at me pleadingly. She said, "Join me. You will experience things that you never thought were possible. And I will make you the happiest man in the space-time continuum."

I looked at her with all of the devotion I felt and said, "You're nuts!! There are no words to describe the way I feel about you. But if you are suggesting that we run away together to mythical Atlantis I'm telling you that my heavenly chariot is in the shop getting its oil changed."

She actually laughed. She said, "Who do you think the other two people on the yacht are?" My heart sank. I had just assumed that Carlos was her dad, not some dirty old man who was keeping her aboard as a fuck-toy.

I said appalled, "They aren't your mother and father?" She looked at me like I had just fallen off the turnip truck. She said, "I'm a Priestess of the Sun. So is Carlos. We are allowed to travel. And we travel as a family unit."

By that statement I got the sense that she really believed that she and her family cruised relativity on a luxury yacht. It was heartbreaking. I had spent thirty-one years barricaded in personal isolation. And then the one person I let in - the person who I knew was my indispensable other half - thinks that she is a "Priestess of the Sun."

I wondered if her parents kept her in a padded cell while they were navigating quantum-gravity.

But the idea of separation from this woman was too profoundly painful. I couldn't understand the cause. Maybe it was all of the stored up isolation from all of my years of solitude. Or maybe it was her smoking hot body and refined sexual appetites.

Or maybe what she said was true -- we had a fundamental predisposition to each other because we were genetically attached. Whatever it was I was compelled to play the hand out to its heartrending conclusion.

I said, "I don't believe a word of what you're saying." Her face fell. Subtlety was never my strong suit. But I AM honest.

Nevertheless, I continued with, "Do you want to be with me in the way that you describe -- totally connected as man and woman for eternity?"

Those amber cat eyes focused on me again and she was back in my head. A voice up there said with touching sincerity, "Forever my love."

I said, "I spent most of my life in my parent's basement, not conducting sun rituals on the pyramids of Atlantis. So you are going to have to help me out a little bit here. What exactly would I have to do in order to spend eternity WITH you?"

What the heck. She was nuts but I loved her. So I might as well throw the ball back in her court. A Cherry Bomb of pure joy went off in my mind. She said, "Well first you are going to have to fuck me some more. THEN we are going to have to sleep cuddled together all night. And tomorrow we are going to have to make a little visit."

She purred, "Then, I am going to have to leave you for a very short time. I need to return to tell the elders that I have made my choice. We are allowed to bond with humans in real-time if we choose. Then, we will spend the next couple of thousand years making love."

Well, that seemed simple enough...

The first part was stress-free. We just stayed on deck under the stars. The air was sensually warm, the night was silent and enfolding. The water around us was peaceful and the motion of the boat soothing. While the vastness of the ocean swallowed her wild cries and moans.

Afterward, we lay together on a spread out sleeping bag and held each other. I have been by myself my whole life. And I always thought that I preferred it that way. But this woman was so precious to me that holding her spooned together was better than all of the sexual experiences, with all of the gamer girls in the world.

She was soft and tender as we lay together. And the languorous language of her beautiful body told me that she was utterly mine. Holding her would be reward enough. But there was a constant presence in my head telling me how lonely she had been. And how overjoyed she was that she had found me.

It was her ability to do that very odd mental trick that convinced me that there might be something more substantial behind her totally fantastic story - other than simple insanity.

~

Sunrise in the tropics is not like it is up north. One moment it is dark and then the morning sun literally seems to pop up over the horizon. We awoke slowly. I was against her back and she was enfolded in my arms. I was holding one of her big firm tits in my hand and the nipple was rock hard.

She was faintly moaning as my morning wood began to make its way between her ass-crack headed for a delightfully wet spot a little further along.

Suddenly, she shoved herself forcefully backward and gave a loud groan of satisfaction. And I was buried in hot velvet. She got up on her hands and knees with me still attached. I grabbed her tiny waist and began pounding that big muscular butt for all I was worth. I still wasn't thinking very clearly. I don't do that before my morning coffee.

She dropped down onto her elbows and elevated her ass. Her abandoned cries of ecstasy, and the sight of the ripples that accompanied the impacts that I was making with her superb round butt, pushed me over the edge.

The minute I shot into her she arched her back like a cat and then went off into a series of bucking gyrating maneuvers. THAT, along with her shrieks, indicated she had gotten there too.

She collapsed forward with me lying on her smooth back. We were both breathing in gasps. Finally, she popped one eye open and said merrily, "Now THAT's the way I want to wake for the next millennium."

She used the shower while I prepared the coffee. Then we switched and she put together something with fruit and eggs. I had never eaten anything like it before. I said, "Is this South American." She said nonchalantly, "No, it is a regular breakfast dish in New Atlantis."

So there it was. I wasn't dreaming. She really thought that she was from the Lost Continent of Atlantis. My heart sank. She was in my head as I thought that and she chuckled. She said, "You'll see."

We cleaned up everything from the night before and I started back toward Browns. She said, "We might as well get our visit out of the way. Can you take me to the area where the mangrove swamps are?"

I set the course north-by-north-east and coasted around the tip of South Bimini, close by the airport. It was more direct than going through the passage between the two islands.

It took a couple of hours but by late morning we were offshore. Back in the mangroves there is a very odd place that the natives call "The Healing Hole." That was our destination. I had told Maria about it the day before. And she had feigned interest. But today she was in charge. And she was acting like whatever we were visiting was a familiar place.

I keep a skiff on a davit on the foredeck. It's there for the very reason that we were going to use it - transportation to shore. I was certainly NOT going to try to maneuver a 100-foot tug with a twelve-foot draft into that nest of bushes, trees and reptiles.

There is an inlet to a very shallow river about three-quarters of the way up the eastern shore of the island. The river itself is technically a bay in that it is just simply low-lying swamp that is covered by seawater.

But since it winds around in a sort of reverse curve to the curve of the island itself it feels like you are traversing a river.

It got very hot and humidly unpleasant when we got back in the mangroves. The vegetation around us nearly blocked out the sun. I was using the electric motor to propel us along. Maria was sitting in front of me. She turned and looked at me wistfully. She said, "It wasn't like this." Another puzzling statement.

I said, just to humor her, "What was it like?" She said, "This was a mountain plateau, very pleasant and breezy." Okaaaaaay...

We settled down - making our way along in silence. About an hour later we reached the end of the river. The saltwater widened there and a much larger freshwater lake was to our east. She took off her Topsiders and said now we walk.

It was actually a case of wading in a foot of unspeakable muck. We made our way through the mangroves to the weirdest little place. There was a pool of water right in the middle of a collection of mangrove roots. It was oddly clear, almost glowing blue. I dipped my finger into it and it was cold, perhaps thirty-five degrees different from the sea water that we were standing in. And it didn't stink.

I said, "What's this?" She said, "It's the Healing Hole that you told me about. People have called it the Fountain of Youth since the time of Ponce de Leon."

I thought, "Yeah sure, first Atlantis, now the Fountain of Youth. There's a plaque that commemorates that very thing mounted right next to the airport. The tourists love it."

But instead I said, "Why haven't people been flocking here to take a drink of immortality?" She said, "This only works for Atlanteans. For normal humans it is just a cold drink of mineral water. Ponce de Leon must have heard about it from one of our people."

At that she pulled a collapsible cup out of her satchel and said, "Drink now." I took the cup filled it with the water from the spring and took a gulp. It was refreshing. I finished it. But I didn't feel any different. I told Maria that it didn't work with me.

She said, "Yes it did. I can sense it. Every flaw in your body is being repaired as we speak. And soon you will be utterly cleansed and perfectly healthy."

I shrugged and said, "I don't feel any different."

She looked at me lovingly and said, "You will feel exactly as you feel now. But it will be for the next thousand years." Well she was the world's wildest fuck so I was happy to humor her.

We got back to the tug several hours later. It was almost dinner-time by that point. There must have been SOMETHING in the water because I would normally be feeling a little weary from our adventure in the mangroves. But I actually felt full of energy. So I said, "Where-to next, my Priestess." She gave me a look that said she didn't appreciate the sarcasm and said, "Now we talk to my parents."

Meeting the parents was not something I wanted to do. But I couldn't avoid it because frankly I would have done anything that Maria asked at that point. We had gotten incredibly close over the period of two days. So much so that it felt like we were functioning on some shared plane of existence. It was a feeling that transcended the normal man-woman relationship. I knew that she felt it too, because she kept cutting me adoring looks.

It was almost dark as we tied up the tug. In the past 24 hours I had been told a tale about my beloved's background that made me wonder how many bats she was actually harboring in her belfry. My heart wanted to believe her story. But my brain kept laughing at that OTHER silly, impulsive organ.

I actually put on a pair of khaki pants and a shirt for the big event. And I followed her gently swaying hips up the teak gangway of her parents' yacht. I board my boat on a two-by-twelve-foot scaffolding plank.

Her parents weren't in the lounge when we came aboard. So Maria called a steward over and said, "Get Tug a drink while I change." She disappeared and a Pirate Republic long-neck appeared almost magically.

I walked around the lounge as I was waiting. The décor was similar to a very rich man's living room. The paintings seemed to be genuine works of art. They were done by people who I had actually heard of, like Picasso. There were also the usual interesting knick-knacks that you might expect in a public room; like little carvings.

I picked up one of the carvings to examine it. It was made out of jewelry quality jade and it looked like the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan in Central America.

A man's voice behind me said, "That is not what you think it is." I fumbled the thing and then almost dropped it on my foot. I cautiously put it back down and turned. Carlos was standing behind me looking amused.

I said, "I'm sorry. I was just looking at it. It's Aztec, right?" He laughed and said, "It is the Temple of the Sun in the mountains of Quin Ling Shan, near Xian in China. That is the tallest of our pyramids, almost 1,000 feet."

I said as politely as I could, trying NOT to sound like I thought that insanity ran in the family, "Does that mean that the pyramids in Egypt and Mesoamerica are related to the ones in China?"

He laughed and said, "Maria has just told me about you. I understand your skepticism. Yes, those are all located on lay-line points that are part of the Atlantean religion." Okay -- now I knew that nuttiness was inherited.

I said, "She has told me that she is a Priestess of the Sun and that you and your wife are also Priests." I might as well go along with the delusion. I had nothing else to chit-chat about.

Carlos smiled modestly and said, "Yes -- I am the High Priest of the Sun and Maria's mother is the High Priestess of Cleito. Cleito is the mother of all Atlanteans; basically a fertility goddess."

I couldn't believe that I was actually engaging in this conversation with a straight face. But I said, "And I assume that Maria is some kind of Under-Priestess -- that she serves with you."

Carlos was amused at the irony in my voice. He said, "Maria is my daughter. She would have inherited the mantle of High Priest someday. Atlanteans make no distinctions between the sexes when it comes to positions of authority."

He continued with, "But she has chosen to live with you in your society. It is her right. Nonetheless, we will need to replace her now." He added gently, like he was trying to reassure me, "That is why we have to journey back. The Elders must release her from her vows."

I thought, what the heck -- there are people who like to dress up like the characters on the Starship Enterprise at their weddings. So if the father of my beloved wants to act like the Atlantean version of the Pope I'm happy to play along.

I said, "So this is an Atlantean form of meeting the parents? What do I have to do to prove my worthiness? I know you can't tell it by how I dress and act; but I am very rich too."

Carlos found me funny. He laughed uproariously and said, "Money means nothing to us. My only concern was whether you were Atlantean. And I could sense immediately that you are almost pure. I don't know how that happened without us discovering it."

I said, "I am having difficulty keeping up. But I DO know one thing for sure. I love your daughter. I don't have any idea how that could happen so inexplicably fast. But I would do everything that I could to make her happy..." And at that point Maria walked back in the room. She was with her mother. Both of them were glowing.

As I said, the mother looks like an earth goddess. Maria is lithe and pantherish. Her mother has the enormous tits and hips that you would expect with a Fertility Priestess - now I am sounding as crazy as them... But her body is every guy's fantasy. That is, if you like voluptuous women.

The mother walked over to me and I heard her voice for the first time. Maria's is as smooth and refined as luxurious silk. Her mother's was low and sultry and sex personified.

She actually came over and kissed me on the cheek. She said, "My name is Carla and I am SO happy that my Maria has chosen a mate."

Okay -- that sounded a little too zoological for my tastes. But I got the message. She was approving of me. I said, "Thank you. You will never have a reason to doubt my love for your daughter." I felt a blast of pure tenderness in my head. Apparently the daughter had inherited THAT ability from her mother.

I really didn't know what to think at this point. Two days ago I was standing in this same approximate spot trying to be as unobtrusive as possible. Now I seemed to be holding an engagement party with the entire crazy family.

Carla was still in my head. So she heard what I was thinking. A sultry laugh like the tinkling of bells said with conviction, "You will understand and believe."

We had a pleasant evening. I told them a highly sanitized and abridged version of my life. That is, I left out the parts that made me sound like I was a juvenile delinquent. I told Maria's parents that I had made a lot of money in an unspecified internet business.

Maria promptly piped up with, "He's a very accomplished hacker -- one of the best in the world." Her father actually chuckled approvingly and said, "We don't go out of our way to prey on humans but they make it so easy."

I told them about my relentless feelings of alienation growing up. And Carla said, "Of course you would my dear. You don't really have much in common with the average person around you."

I said, "How in the world could that be? Where would I get those genes? It isn't like my parents fit the profile of your typical Atlantean superhuman."

Carla's full lips twitched with a smile and she said, "Our genes have been dispersed by all of the intermarrying. It takes a certain critical mass to make you Atlantean. Your parents obviously had some but not enough."