Hamish X Goes to Providence Rhode Island (14 page)

At last, Xnasha stopped at an archway with a black metal door. She fished in a pouch that hung from a belt at her waist and pulled out a slender, delicate key. Holding the shell lamp in front of her, the Atlantean found the keyhole, inserted the key, and turned it. With a soft whoosh of trapped air, the door swung inward. Xnasha stepped back and indicated that the girls should go ahead of her through the door. After a moment of hesitation, Mimi shrugged and stepped through, followed by Cara and Xnasha, who pulled the door shut behind them.

The lamplight illuminated only a small circle a few metres across, but Mimi felt that the room was vast, stretching out into the surrounding darkness.

“Where are we?” Cara asked, her voice throwing echoes off the hidden walls.

Xnasha pressed a button beside the door and soft light flooded the chamber. Mimi and Cara gasped in unison as they saw what the room held.

The room was divided in half. Where they stood, a solid stone platform housed a number of giant cranes and smaller vehicles resting on rails that allowed them to move from side to side and up and down. The cranes were meant to service the strange vehicles berthed in the piers that made up the other half of the vast chamber.

The piers were carved of the native stone of Atlantis, jutting like fingers into inky water. The wavelets lapped against the sides of some of the most alien and beautiful vessels Mimi had ever seen. Long and sleek, they had the shape of dolphins lying at rest alongside the piers. They were made of a silvery-grey metal that shone softly under the diffused light. Mimi counted twelve of the crafts bobbing slightly in the water. Eight of them were truly huge, measuring more than two hundred metres in length, but the other four were much smaller. One vehicle was only about twenty metres long.

“Amazing, aren't they?” Xnasha said reverently. She walked towards the smallest vessel. “We used to rule the waves with these ships. The ancients, fearful of what their primitive minds couldn't comprehend, called them sea monsters. We mapped the oceans of the world. We travelled the seas and dove beneath the ice of the polar caps …” She stopped speaking and gazed over the piers, sadness plain on her pale features. “Those were great days … but now they are gone.” She shook off her sadness and beckoned the girls. “Come.”

Mimi and Cara followed the Atlantean along the ancient stone pier. Mimi couldn't help but be awed by
the amazing technology. “Submarines,” she said in a reverent whisper. “Awesome!”

Xnasha looked pleased that Mimi was so impressed. “Yes, they are. So beautiful. They represent the most advanced technology our ancestors ever achieved. Sadly, none of us really knows how to operate these craft any more. The knowledge has been lost over time.”

“What a waste,” Cara said.

“Indeed, yes,” Xnasha agreed. “Thousands of years ago, we travelled the world's oceans and explored her continents, discovering the mysteries of science and technology. We were curious, intelligent, and eager to explore. Now, however, we have turned our attention inward. We hide from the world. Our technology keeps us alive, powers the dome that protects us, increases our lifespan, but we have turned away from the world.”

“Why?” Mimi demanded. “You have so much to offer.”

Xnasha shook her head. “In a moment.” They had arrived at a gangplank that ran from the pier to the fore-deck of the smallest submarine. A modest console stood on a pedestal at the head of the gangplank. Xnasha reached out and tapped a triangular crystal on the console. On the deck of the submarine, a circular hatch slowly opened. “First, let's go aboard. We have much to talk about before you face the assembly tomorrow. We can be comfortable inside.”

She started across the gangplank. Mimi and Cara looked at each other.

“I cain't think of nothin' better to do,” Mimi said.

“After you.” Cara bowed sarcastically. Mimi snorted derisively and set off up the gangplank. Cara was only a step and a half behind her.

Climbing into the hatch, they found the inside of the submarine even more amazing than the outside. Xnasha
led them down a passage into a control centre. Elaborate banks of crystals covered the walls and the ceilings. In the centre of the space were four comfortable-looking swivel chairs. Xnasha plunked herself down in one and the two girls did likewise.

“Amazing, isn't it?” Xnasha mused, looking about her at the shining instruments. “My people built this craft thousands of years ago. I cleaned and restored this one as best I could. I've even managed to puzzle out the basic power systems and the propulsion unit.” She held her hands out towards a bank of crystals and they began to glow. A soft hum filled the cramped cabin. She lowered her hands and the hum ceased, the glow faded. “I think I could launch her if I had a reason to.”

“Why don't you?” asked Cara, flipping a stray lock of brown hair behind her ear. Somewhere she had found a comb, and it looked like she'd even had a bath. Mimi hadn't bothered washing and had fallen straight into bed. Stuck in the tight quarters of the submarine control cabin, she sniffed her armpit and began to regret not having had a quick scrub.

“You mean launch her on my own?” Xnasha shook her head, rattling the many shells twined in her hair. “It'll never happen. I'm the only one who comes down here any more, and I'm not supposed to. We're forbidden to fiddle with the ancient technology.” Her face clouded. “The rest of us have almost forgotten these things exist.”

“So, yer sayin' you built this thing, but ya don't know how it works?” Mimi threw up her hands. “That's crazy.”

“
Tragic
would be a better word.” Xnasha sighed. “My brother wouldn't be happy if he knew I brought you here, but I thought I should show you what the people of Atlantis were once capable of. Our ancestors built this
great city and now we scurry through it like mice.”

“Why?” Cara demanded. “Surely if you all applied yourselves, you could reclaim these machines. Atlantis could rise again. Think of the gifts you could bring to the world.”

Xnasha hung her head. “No. We can never reveal ourselves. It would be folly. They would find us and destroy us.”

“Who? Who would find y'all?” Mimi asked.

Xnasha raised her eyes, and they were full of fear. “The ODA. The Grey Agents. They tried to destroy us once and very nearly succeeded.”

“You told us you've been down here for thousands of years,” Cara said. “The ODA arrived in our world only about a century ago—”

“No,” Xnasha cut her off. “They
returned
to this world a century ago. The first time they tried to cross over into this world, we inadvertently invited them in.”

“I don't get it,” Cara said, confusion written clearly on her face. “What are you saying? Atlantis brought the Grey Agents here?”

“Yes.” Xnasha nodded. “And we paid dearly for our mistake.” She held up a hand for silence as both Mimi and Cara opened their mouths. “I will give you a history lesson. I hope it will explain everything.” Cara and Mimi nodded and leaned forward in their chairs, listening eagerly as Xnasha told them the history of Atlantis.

Chapter 15

XNASHA'S TALE

“Thousands of years ago, when the Egyptians had yet to build the pyramids, contenting themselves by constructing very large stone cubes instead,
⁵⁶
mammoths still roamed in the northern wastes—”

“One still does,” Mimi interjected.

“Shoosh!” Cara hissed.

“I'm just sayin',” Mimi grumbled but fell silent again.
⁵⁷

“… and the world was greener and the sea bluer, before all the great civilizations of China, India, and Greece had risen above the Stone Age, Atlantis was already a noble and powerful nation. From our island capital in the centre of what you now call the Mediterranean Sea, we travelled the world in our ships above and below the waves, mapping the world and bringing enlightenment to our benighted
human relatives across the face of the globe. We taught farming and building techniques, studied medicine and science, mathematics and astronomy. There was no problem that we couldn't bring our superb intellect and culture to bear upon. We were proud. We were confident … too confident, as it turned out. We sowed the seeds of our own destruction.

“Our scientists began to dream of reaching other worlds, other planes of existence just beyond the surface of our own. They began to experiment with potent and dangerous technologies that might open a gateway to these other planes and perhaps contact creatures that might live there. In our defence, we believed that any intelligent creatures in these other planes would be benevolent like ourselves. Such foolishness is its own punishment.

“High atop the highest peak on the Island of Atlantis, the Atlantean scientists constructed a vast machine. Drawing on the power of the molten core of the Earth, we opened a gateway, a rip in the fabric of space, and punched a hole into another plane of existence.”

“You found the Grey Agents' world,” Cara breathed.

“Yes.” Xnasha nodded, her eyes reflecting the soft glow of the crystal instruments in the cabin. “And it was a bleak and hungry place populated by voracious, evil beings. Their world lacked life and energy. They had drained it of all its vitality. By opening a gateway to their world, we invited them into ours, and they must have thought their prayers were answered. They poured out of the gate and immediately began to possess our citizens, turning them into the kind of creatures you know as the Grey Agents.

“The destruction they wrought upon the Earth was appalling. We Atlanteans were not a warlike people.
We were not prepared for the attack. Quickly, we turned all our energies into creating weapons to combat the threat. We fought a war with the Grey Agents, and there was devastation on a scale that is impossible to imagine. Tidal waves shattered whole cities. Earthquakes altered the geography of the world. Fire rained from the skies. The moon, once a vital, living planet, was turned into a lifeless ball of dust.

“At last, we were victorious. We forced the remaining evil invaders back into their own plane and destroyed the gate forever. Yes, we were victorious, but at a terrible cost. Our civilization was in ruins. Most of our people were dead.

“With our remaining resources, we built this refuge in the sunken ruins of our capital. The dome was built and the shields went up. We went into hiding. Our great achievements were forgotten by the surface world, and the name
Atlantis
faded into myth and legend.”

Xnasha heaved a great sigh and fell silent. Mimi and Cara sat lost in their own thoughts. Mimi tried to imagine the beautiful world as it had once been—the glorious city shining and alive, filled with magnificent wonders instead of the faded shell that now remained—but it was hard to grasp the magnitude of what Xnasha's people had lost in that long-ago war.

“So the Grey Agents have been here before,” Cara said, finally breaking the silence. “How did they manage to come back if you destroyed the gateway?”

“I don't know. I can only guess that once they got a taste of the life and energy in this world, they have striven ever since to return. As I said, the gateway was a massive undertaking requiring all the resources of our great and powerful civilization. Perhaps it has taken them this long to find
a way to return—and even then, managing only a small breach allowing just a few to come through—but I'm sure it is just a prelude to a much larger invasion. My belief is that they are trying to build a permanent gateway somewhere in our world, and then they will come in strength.”

Cara turned to Mimi and nodded. “It has to be in Providence.”

“Providence?” Xnasha asked.

“Thur Headquarters in Rhode Island,” Mimi explained. “It's a state in America.”

Xnasha clapped her hands in delight. “I've heard of it. They make chickens there!”

Mimi laughed. “I guess they do, kinda.”
⁵⁸

Cara folded her arms over her chest and leaned back in her chair. “That's something I find curious.”

“What?” asked Xnasha. “That Rhode Island has a chicken named after it?”

“No … although that
is
weird. But what's weirder is that you know anything about Rhode Island and chickens and that you speak almost perfect English.”

“Oh that! That is easily explained. Come with me.”

A few minutes later, after being led back up to the city square, they found themselves in one of the strangest places they had ever seen. Considering how many strange places they'd been in before, that was quite an accomplishment.

“So that's how y'all know how to speak American,” Mimi cried in amazement.

“English.” Cara rolled her eyes. “The language is English.”

“Whatever.” Mimi scowled. “Just answers a few questions, is all.”

They were standing in a vast stone building beside the temple. Stacked haphazardly around the space were piles of artifacts from the surface world. There were cars, tires, wagons, and chariots. There were suits of armour from every era of history: plate mail from Europe, coats of metal rings, rusted and rotting, swords, shields, and helmets. There were licence plates and kitchen appliances. There were farm tractors and furniture. In short, almost every aspect of surface life was represented in some way. Most of it was the worse for wear from soaking for a long time in the salty depths before the Atlanteans scooped it up for their weird museum. All the junk was stacked willy-nilly in tottering piles, but one piece had been lovingly restored, cleaned, and polished. Standing in the most prominent place in the centre of the hall on a marble pedestal,
⁵⁹
its shiny chrome gleaming in the torchlight, was a radio.