Quiruhl is on the island now, inside the glow of the mysterious being that is the source.
Maybe it is sleeping. He feels it, he knows that it is repairing itself after an experience so traumatic that it is a wonder it lives to illuminate the slow moving clouds and waters of disputed southern portions of the Northern Oceans.
Quiruhl stands on his back legs, balancing his long, slender body against the trunk of a nearby tree to look at the hovering thing, the glorious thing. He expects the scouts from other Wiq-Krogs submarines to arrive soon, he had alerted dispatch of the anomaly before he left his vessel, and he wants to see it up close before the thing is disturbed.
He feels it, and Quiruhl is confused by the sensations, by the feelings that he understands and feels, but are not his own.
“Step away from the anomaly, Observer Quiruhl,” he hears behind him through the intercom of a Wiq-Krog submarine. When he turns, he sees the tops of many black submarines that have breached the surface and bobble in the slow moving waves. Privruhl is looking out from the hatch of her vessel, half her body still inside the submarine, and she speaks into a microphone attached to a headpiece.
“You’ve done good but we will take it from here.” She is in her stately uniform, meaning that she was called away from duties with the North Queen, and Quiruhl drops down on all fours to the sand of the glowing island when he faces her.
“Queen Regent, with all respects, has this being been identified?” Quiruhl asks humbly as he approaches the woman who acts as a regent of the North Queen in the area of the Northern Oceans that includes these disputed regions.
“When you radioed in, it raised flags to superiors. I don’t know what it is, but it is a wonder isn’t it? Queen Vrhuhl will be very pleased to have acquired it, especially in these contentious areas. Have you spotted the equates?”
Quiruhl looks back at the glowing being. “No, Queen Regent, but honestly I would not have noticed.”
“They retreated and are amassing military forces that we estimate will arrive shortly. I have command of the Wiq-Krog security squads until reinforcements arrive. Board your vessel and retreat to the station for evacuation of surface posts. They are boarding now and will dive soon to keep civilians safe from any potential military engagement.”
Quiruhl is confused. This has all escalated so quickly. “What is this thing?”
“It’s causing disagreement between the Queens,” Privruhl says, “so it can’t be good. Quick, get back into your vessel and head down to the station.”
Quiruhl gets one more look at the being that is still very serene and glowing, and then he runs as a loud alarm blares behind him that harkens the arrival of the Equatorial Marine Tactical Corps.
– – –
Darker has killed a lot of people, but it was only to survive. He killed out of necessity, when a failure to act would have cost him his own life. Even the death of his first love was meant to protect his life, and other murders under the same circumstances were similarly justified. He’d known Francisco since they were boys hitting old baseballs with mop handles in the streets, and ducking under the train stalls for a free ride to Coney Island in the summertime. Their first sexual encounter was brief, he and Francisco were on the train late one night and the car they were in was empty. It was cold and they sat next to each other, laughing about the day, and then he felt Francisco’s hand on his thigh and slowly rising, and he did not stop him when he put his hand that was surprisingly warm into his pants and massaged him until his crotch was visibly stained.
They kept their secret for years and when Darker returned from prison, he was eager to reconnect with the friend who had cared for him through the years. But Francisco wanted a relationship, and Darker could not accommodate that. They could only be good friends with very secret benefits because homosexuality put a target on the backs of men in his line of work. When Francisco threatened to expose him, Darker knew what had to be done. He was making more money than the mayor and he wouldn’t let anything jeopardize it.
One night as Darker used Francisco like a sex doll, he grabbed him tightly around his neck. Francisco knew what was happening, they’d never had sex like that before, and he did not struggle. He looked deep into Darker’s eyes so as to haunt him forever, a victim of Darker’s true cowardice.
Whatever it takes, Darker lives by it.
He wakes suddenly in a place that is strange to him. He is on a beach that has what looks like palm trees, but smell almost like pine trees. There are many of them and Darker is taken aback when he notices the horizon of water that surrounds him. It is so expansive and absolute that he knows he is not on a planet he has seen before.
And there are eels with feet surrounding him. They are obviously eels, but Darker sees their short legs and arms that appear almost human, but fish-like.
“What the fuck?” Darker exclaims and he suddenly plummets to the ground; he had been levitating a few feet from the ground. He hits the sand and it begins to smoke and darken underneath him.
The eel people scramble and they each engage robotic exoskeletons that allow them to stand upright without leaning on anything. There are four of them and they have longer arms and legs with the armor, and all of their arms are fixed on Darker, the tips glowing a light blue energy.
The Krognians of the planet Vwrawl speak a language that is extremely difficult for a human of Earth to replicate. Krognians have a written language and the pronunciation of words involves tricks of the lip that human lips can hardly duplicate to produce proper pronunciation. The name of the language is Krriwwl, which a human would probably pronounce like Kriwl, or Creel. Also, it is difficult to speak Krriwwl outside of the water even for Krognians and they use a variation of Krriwwl when they are on the surface.
“Be calm, mister,” one of the Krognians says with a robotic voice, as though the exoskeleton is speaking for it. They are all members of the Northern Defense Squadron that serves as the armed forces of the north and servants to the North Queen Mother. They have universal translation technology that they engaged when they were tasked with security of Darker.
Darker stands and the black sand crackles underneath him. His skin is dark and slick with sweat, and there is a faint glow around his being that slowly dissipates.
“Where am I?” Darker asks.
“You are property of the North Queen Mother Vruhl. Be calm, mister, or we will be forced to harm you.”
Darker reacts with anger, even though he knows that he is likely no match for his captors, he charges the Squadron member who speaks to him through the exoskeleton, and it surprises even him that he damages the suit. The Krognian inside is not physically hurt by the blows, but he yells loudly as Darker punches.
Then the others fire their weapons and soon Darker is suspended in a ball of what appears to be water and he feels a shock through his body that knocks him unconscious.
– – –
The Equatorial Tactical Corps appear before Privruhl and the Wiq-Krog security forces. They have one large submarine and many of the corpsmen fly into the air with the aid of an exoskeleton that covers their head and is filled with water. They aim weapons at Privruhl and her forces, large water cannons that shoot high powered streams of water that are charged to incapacitate a target or obliterate it completely depending on the setting. The submarine has large cannons as well and they engage as one of the corpsmen approaches Privruhl who is standing on two legs, resting on her wide fin, atop her submarine with a large cannon in her hands. Her stately attire is like a slick suit used for deep diving, but there are flowing accents of deep violet and blue that waft in the winds created by the amassing corpsmen and their weapons. Privruhl is unfazed as the corpsman floats before her and disengages their helmet.
“My equate counterpart,” Privruhl says with a smile and loud enough to be heard over the cacophony of loud weapons assembling.
“Counterpart,” the woman scoffs. “You are not fit to swim in my mother’s oceans. You and your northern trash are outnumbered and need to evacuate these waters immediately. There was something of interest found on one of our islands. Leave everything as you found it.”
“You are overplaying your hand, Grafpt. You may be regent of the Equatorial Queen Mother, but her influence is not felt here. You show disrespect to the supreme Mother, Vruhl of the North, in waters of the north no less. We will not be disrespected.”
“Surrender the being at once or we will open fire and wipe away every krog standing against us.”
“Then it is war.”
Privruhl aims her weapon quickly and the flowing accents of her clothing wrap her body in a protective exoskeleton. She fires on Grafpt as Grafpt fires on her. They both take hard blows that send them flying into the water where the larger war is starting. The vessels of the Equatorial Corps open fire on the few subs of the Wiq-Krog security forces; jets of electrified water like underwater lasers knock the bulbous submarines around like black balls. Some crash into the enormous mountain that they war around, where the mysterious being had been found on the tip above the surface. One of the Wiq-Krog subs explodes.
Privruhl recovers and catches her bearing underwater. She sees the Corps subs steadily firing in the direction of the scattered Wiq-Krog subs, and she engages her communicator.
“Tell me the being is secured and that my backup is on the way!”
“You should be seeing them now,” she hears in response from Northern Defense Squadron communications dispatch and just as they say it, large submarines arrive to absorb the fire from the Corps subs.
“Get me that equate scum Grafpt now! I want to talk. Neutralize the threat and hold positions.”
“Aye, Queen Regent, threat level to zero, the being is secure and headed north for containment and study at the Queen’s Academy. Regent Grafpt’s communication line is being dispatched to you in three, two…”
“Where is the being! It belongs to Queen Wrrafpt of the Equatial Oceans. We have laws and treaties that support her claim, laws your Queen agreed to.”
“Calm down equate, I am authorized to negotiate a rendezvous between our mothers to discuss this mess directly. What will it take to summon Queen Wrrafpt to the north?”
Privruhl swims to the larger of the submarines that are sealed in order to ease the effects of pressure as the vessel quickly changes altitude underwater. She arrives at the submarine hatch and engages a screen to allow entry inside. When she makes it inside, she takes command of the sub, all the while speaking with Grafpt.
“Queen Mother Wrrafpt is happy to speak with her sister,” Grafpt says over the communication line. “But she will arrive here shortly and asks that the Queen meet her here in these disputed waters.”
“So be it. Cease fire with the condition of conflict resolved.”
“So be it,” Grafpt responds and then the line disconnects.
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