NUtPS Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Alek awoke with a sleeping Alexis next to him. Her golden hair sparkled alone because her aqua eyes were hidden by her eyelids. Her lithe legs moved slowly under the covers, gently brushing Alek’s. The boy made sure that his pants were still on. Although Alexis had demonstrated nothing more than a platonic love with him, there was still the chance…
His pants remained on his legs. Good.
Alek slid a hand and froze. He felt a wet spot.
How did that get there? he wondered and looked up.
There was water dripping from the ceiling.
Alek breathed in relief. This sea witch really did love him, otherwise she would have simply taken advantage of him during the night.
“Alexis?” he caressed her leg.
She smiled with her eyes still closed and made a sigh.
“Wake up.” he pushed her gently. “I’ve–we’ve got to go.”
“Five more minutes.” she pleaded.
“We leave in five minutes.” Alek got up and threw a shirt on. He dashed into the bathroom with a pair of jeans and slammed the door. In a second, he emerged with the jeans on and his pajama pants in his hand.
“Come on!” he yelled as he exited.
Alexis was already dressed in a shirt and capris.
“Look good?” Alexis asked with a smile.
“Show-off.” Alek grumbled.

The two sprinted down the stairs.
Alek’s father was reading the newspaper. He could no longer visited at the oyster farm as the owner and did not feel like visiting as a major stock-holder.
He muttered something about a “damn goon” and sipped unhappily at his coffee.
“Alek, don’t forget you’re-” Alek’s mother began, holding a brown paper bag. “Oh! Alexis! I didn’t see you come in…”
The woman’s face became suspicious.
“Open window.” Alek explained.
Alexis yawned.
“Okay.” Alek’s mother was unconvinced. “Well, you two have a good day.”
“Sure thing, mom.”

Maddox lit a fresh cigar and took a long draw.
“Those things will kill you.” Eddie warned.
“That’s what they said about the Mafia. Bad move on their part.” Maddox said and started to whistle “Steam Boat Willy” while puffing smoke rings.
Eddie smiled in amusement.
“Let’s get started boys.” Maddox shouted. “Get me those oysters.”
Twenty scuba divers from the Dugong splashed into the water. After a few moments, they brought up basketsful of oysters.
“Look at that.” Maddox laughed. “Like the ocean’s gold.”
“Or diamonds.” Eddie added. “What are you going to do with the money?”
“That’s my business.” Maddox said and sighed. “But if you insist, there are a few…groups across the globe wanting a few more toys. You’re old organization included.”
Eddie paused. “Ah, yes. That organization.”
Maddox sniffed. “How could you forget it? I hired you straight from it!”
“I forgot about it because it would be better for my health if I did.” Eddie looked at Maddox. “Perhaps you should too.”
Maddox coughed. “Watch what you say. Maybe you’re forgetting who I am.”
He stamped the cigar on the pier.
“I’m beginning to forget why I even hired you.”
Eddie smiled. “Shall I remind you?”
Maddox shrugged. “Please.”
Eddie picked up a spear gun. “Always wanted to try one of these. Pick a fish.”
“Are you serious?” Maddox threw up his arms. He searched the water and spotted a bright red fish the size of a quarter.
“That one.”
“Pretty.” Eddie frowned. “What a shame.”
He aimed and pulled the trigger.
The spear flew out with a hiss of released gas.
The fish darted around, disturbed by the spear’s small wake.
Maddox laughed. “Impressive! I don’t hold anything against you: it is a very small fish.”
Eddie said nothing and stared into Maddox.
“Help, Vince!” Maddox called. “Eddie’s scaring me. Well, at least he can’t shoot me. He’d probably miss.”
He laughed and walked down the pier back to his office, his gargantuan bodyguard following. A plume of cigar smoke wafted past Eddie.
The hit man sat down on the pier and let his feet dangle off the side. His shoes hovered above the water surface.
A diver appeared nearby, holding the discharged spear. Impaled on the tip was one of the most dangerous creatures of the sea: the Blue-Ringed Octopus. A single venomous bite from the animal was sufficient to kill a man.
The diver wrestled off his mouthpiece and looked at Eddie, then at the empty spear gun, then back at Eddie.
“You saved my butt!” he said. “I found this guy on my arm and was like, ‘I’m so dead.’”
“No problem.” Eddie smiled. “Can I have that guy’s pearl?”
He pointed to a large oyster in the diver’s basket.
“Sure.” The diver pulled out what looked like a large pair of tweezers and plucked out an eyeball-sized pearl. “Here you go. Don’t let the boss see it.”
“Don’t worry.” Eddie examined the pearl. He pulled the deadly octopus off from the spear and replaced the miniature harpoon into the gun. “Thanks.”

The ice cream parlor was one of Alek’s favorite places after school. Naturally he would get a simple two-scoop on a waffle cone. He loved vanilla, even though everyone said it was so boring. But at this particular ice cream vendor, even the simplest dessert was incredible. He bought his usual cone, plus one more for Alexis.
“Wow, this is good.” Alexis said happily.
“Yeah. It’s a shame this is the first ice cream you’ve tried. Now everything else will seem bad.”
“Actually we have a delicacy a little similar. Kelp paste and ice.”
Alek gagged.
“It’s not bad!” Alexis said with a hurt face. “But this is very good.”
“Well you can’t make it underwater.” Alek said thoughtfully. “There are more possibilities on land. Electricity, technology-”
“Yeah, but do you exactly need these things?” Alexis replied ruefully. “You land dwellers tend to think that you need certain thing, most of the time you don’t, but you still work to do them anyways. Many things done here are done for pleasure’s sake rather than for necessity. I mean, this ice cream, you could survive without it, right? So many things are so wasteful, for things you shouldn’t even have.”
“Like?”
“The world would be so much better without money. Our society abandoned the concept of money a few hundred years ago. Now we’re so peaceful, you know why? Because criminals exist for money. You extinguish money, oh, and power too, and half of the world’s evils are instantly eliminated.”
“What about government? How would we function?”
“That’s the problem. You think that societies need governing. Well below water, we don’t exactly take possession of anything, so the entire community is essential itself, just a community. No residence, no property to fight about. And you know why we prosper?”
“Why?” Alek was listening intently.
“Your heroes and martyrs died for, we understood that millennia ago. Every action we do is for a common good. We know that one’s failed actions are detrimental for the entire community and we therefore do whatever we can for the greater good.”
Alek was pretty sure that there was a flaw somewhere in the reasoning, but the delicious taste of vanilla distracted him.
Alexis continued. “It’s always “more, more, more” for you. Don’t you realize that the resources on this planet are limited. Sooner or later, you’re going to be like the rabbits in Australia. Just by breathing, you can kill the world if you continue this.”
“But we are continuing to improve. Our technology is always becoming more advanced. We are always approaching perfection.”
“But Nature has always been perfect!” Alexis protested. “What you have been doing recently, Nature has always done since time began. We are adaptable, growing. And it is because of your tampering that Her improvements are stumbling. We’ll all be extinct because of your imperfections, your knowledge and your greed.”
Alek was getting a little annoyed. “I do not constitute the entire world, but I do admit that there are some evils in society. Whatever you say, technology is destructive, right? Well, technology is all we have, not your precious magic, so we have no alternative in order to survive. And selfish as it may be, us land dwellers are not going to let ourselves descend into extinction, be it for the sake of Nature. No, we’d rather use what you’d call a monstrosity to help her.”
“But she doesn’t need any help.” Alexis said.
“And we’re still going to exist.” Alek said firmly.
Alexis looked down at her ice cream. It was half melted and drooping a little. She looked at it and continued to indulge it.
“Perhaps we could teach you.” Alexis said with a reconciliatory tone.
“Perhaps.” Alek answered and smiled.
“There’s still hope for you, I guess.” Alexis said and licked her cone.
“Yeah.” Alek agreed. “But you’d better hope that the ocean doesn’t run out of sharks and whales. Otherwise, my less civil brethren might start hunting you guys.”
“You actually think we could be caught by a fisherman?”
“Why not?”
Alexis scoffed. “We appeared around the same time as you, but never has there been a single record of us. Perhaps a similar being appeared in a movie, but I think that is a lucky coincidence. You and I are the first of our kinds to meet.”
“Lucky us, eh?”
At that moment, Jenny burst into the parlor.
“Alek!” she called. “I’m about to set sail!”
“Really?” Alek turned to face her. “It’s been what, two months?”
“Yeah.” Jenny walked to their table, ignoring Alexis. “I’m so excited!”
“I’ll bet.” Alek said. “Is it charged?”
“Yes, she is!”
“Okay, we’ll meet you at the southern fishing pier.”
“Alright.” Jenny smiled, but the gesture disappeared as she glanced at Alexis.
She walked out briskly.
“What was that about?” Alexis asked curiously.
“Jenny has a new toy.” Alek said. He paused and looked distant in deep thought. He suddenly grabbed Alexis’s arm. “You can help us out. I thought of a great idea.”

A few minutes later, the two of them headed out to the end of the fishing pier. The sea gulls swarmed over the island harbor like a squeaking dark grey cloud that occasionally rained things more pungent than water.
“Ugh.” Alexis curled a lip. “Messy little things.”
“They’ll settle down soon.” Alek reassured her.
Alexis wasn’t convinced, especially when a fat white droplet landed on her shirt.
“This is why I live underwater.”
Alek laughed. “So you can swim and live in your own excrement? Lovely. When we go underwater next time, don’t use the spell. I’ll just hold my breath.”
Alexis stuck out her tongue.
Another droplet left a chalky white smear across Alek’s face.
“Gross.” he said and spat reflexively.
Alexis laughed.
“So what are we doing here?” she said and helped wipe off the bird dropping.
Alek told her.
“Oh!” Alexis said with a grin. “You are a very mean person.”
“You’ll do it?” Alek asked.
Alexis shrugged. “I guess. Should be fun, I suppose.”
The sea witch started back down the pier, passing by a fisherman. She gave him an ugly look as she peered into a bucket of bait.
“Alek!”
Jenny was waving from the end of the pier, holding a large model boat in one hand and a radio controller in the other. The long antenna of the remote whipped wildly through the air as she waved, barely missing Alexis as she passed.
Alexis stopped and watched Jenny begin to dash towards Alek, slightly amused that the girl could run so fast with such a large toy.
“Here she is!” Jenny held out the model boat. “The Lynx.”
“Very…elegant.” Alek noted.
It was a scaled-down man o’ war design from the eighteenth century, complete with opening firing ports and cannons. A helm the size of a quarter was visible atop the poop deck. Alek was beginning to feel like a giant and was half-expecting miniature men to flow from the various hatches in the miniature vessel. They would probably spot the giants and the tiny captain would order the cannons to fire. Oh, what an imagination he had!
“Can the cannons fire?” Alek asked.
“Originally, no.” Jenny beamed. “But I replaced the props more realistic things.”
She held up a copper BB between her fingers.
“You can fire those?” Alek was impressed.
“Yep. I’ll give you a demonstration.”
She bent down and placed the boat in the water, flicking on a little switch on the deck as she cast off. Lights on the ship flickered to life, giving the impression that the miniature captain was in his quarters.
In the distance there was a splash.
Jenny turned to the sound at the other end of the pier.
“What was that?” she asked.
Alek shrugged.
Jenny returned the gesture and poised the controller. She pressed the horizontal “turn” lever and the rudder of the scaled-down warship turned in response. The Lynx caught the afternoon breeze and began to slowly move away from the pier.
“What happens if it goes too far?” Alek wondered.
Jenny smiled knowingly and held a length of fishing line, which extended from a slowly unraveling mass in her palm to the aft of the ship.
“I’ll reel her back in.” Jenny said confidently.
“I kinda expect a monster to pop up. You know, like the Kraken.”
“You watch too many movies.” Jenny replied and focused on her ship. It had taken her many months and quite a few hours at the local grocery to buy the Lynx. The look of a happy child on Christmas was on her face.
The ship stopped.
“What the-” Jenny muttered.
“Maybe you’re out of range.” Alek offered.
Jenny made a puzzled face. “The marketed range is supposed to be two-hundred feet. We aren’t even a quarter of that distance. Still…”
She walked down the pier while thumbing the remote levers, trying to make her ship move.
A gust blew and the ship didn’t budge.
“She’s stuck.” Jenny gasped. She tugged on the fishing line, only to be rewarded by a slight twitch from the boat. “Not moving.”
“Uh-oh.” Alek said.
Black tentacles, like those of an octopus, began crawling up the craft’s hull. They wrapped around the masts and felt along the deck of the ship.
“No, no, no!” Jenny cried. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
A tentacle found the fishing line, wrapped around it and pulled the tether from Jenny’s fingers.
Jenny screamed obscenities, all blurred together into an indistinguishable mass of curses. Luckily, the fisherman had his music player on full blast with what appeared to be rap. He probably thought Jenny’s shouting was part of the song.
“Damn cephalopod!” Jenny yelled and opened a compartment on her controller, revealing a red button. “All batteries, FIRE!”
Twenty copper balls were shot out in unison. Only a few struck the undersea monster’s appendages, resulting in the tentacles just grasping the ship more tightly.
Jenny waited for the cannons to reload and pressed the button again. All the BB’s missed this time, as the tentacles moved out of the way.
Jenny screamed in anguish and ran down the pier.
Alek watched as she came back with an armful of rocks.
“Won’t you hit the Lynx?” Alek asked with a worried face.
“A damaged boat is better than no boat at all.” Jenny replied and hurled a baseball-sized chunk of volcanic rock in the ship’s direction.
The tentacles moved a little as the rock splashed nearby.
“I think you’ll just anger it.” Alek warned.
“Kinda late for negotiations.” Jenny said and threw another stone.
The rock fell a few inches away from the Lynx and the tentacles wriggled.

Below the waves, Alexis rubbed her forehead where the piece of cement had hit. This was starting to get painful.

“Not so eager to fight, huh?” Jenny called out to the sea monster. “Eat land, sea monster!”
Alek opened his mouth to speak as Jenny held a rock the size of a small melon, but closed it quickly.
The fisherman looked at the two of them with a mixture of puzzlement, curiosity and annoyance on his face.
He pulled out his ear buds and said, “You’ll scare the fishes.”
Jenny gave him an insolent look and heaved the rock at the ship.

Alexis cried out as the rock struck her body. Though the water had slowed down the makeshift projectile, it was still a large rock.

Alek grimaced as the splash died down.
The tentacles shuddered for a moment, then lifted the Lynx out of the water, drawing back a little as they did so.
“It wouldn’t.” Jenny gasped.
“Yes she would.” Alek said gloomily.
The ship suddenly was sailing through the air, reminding Alek of a certain Peter Pan scene.
“No!” Jenny cried as the Lynx soared towards them. It brushed past her fingers and dove at Alek.
Alek made a surprised “oof” as the miniature ship hit him in the stomach. His arms grabbed it before it hit the pier surface.
Jenny was immediately cradling the vessel.
“Thank God!” she said, on the verge of tears.