Lords of the Sea (8 page)

The bed dipped, rousing Cassie. Reluctantly, she opened her eyes, struggling to bring the face hovering above hers into focus. Raen, she discovered, was leaning over her, his hands planted on the bed beside her.

“I have brought food,” he said when she’d blinked at him several times.

Still half asleep, feeling as if she’d only just closed her eyes, Cassie pushed herself upright with an effort and looked around as he straightened. A man and two women were just leaving, and she saw a table and two chairs had been set up in the open area of the room. Dishes and platters covered the table top.

She lay back down. “I’m not hungry. I’m tired.”

The bed dipped again. Cassie cracked one eye and peered up at him. She couldn’t tell anything about his expression, but he didn’t seem to be angry.

“Eat. Then we will talk, and then you will be allowed to sleep.”

“Didn’t we talk enough already?”

He leaned closer.

Cassie felt her eyes crossing as he neared her.

“No, we did not. But I could always join you and then we can talk later.”

Cassie arched her neck back to put a little distance between them so that she could focus her eyes. He looked deadly serious. In fact, there was something about the look in his eyes and the set of his jaw that gave her the distinct impression he would be all too happy for her to challenge him. Heat wafted through her, but so, too, did a weakness that was equal parts nerves and anticipation. She cleared her throat uncomfortably. “I’ll get up.”

“I thought you might,” he retorted coolly, pushing away from the bed and straightening.

Cassie pushed her hair out of her eyes as she sat up again, noticing the lock was still damp. She couldn’t have slept long, she realized, or her hair would’ve dried. She felt drunk when she got up and knew it was from fatigue. Heading to the bathroom instead of the table, she splashed water over her face to wake up and finally returned to the table.

She stared at him across it.

He stared back at her.

Obviously pulling the chair out wasn’t a custom he was familiar with. She pulled her chair out and sat down. He settled across from her.

Ignoring him, she studied the food on the platters.

Surprise! Fish!

At least it looked as if it had been cooked. “Y’all cook your food?” she asked in surprise.

“No, we generally just swim out and bite the heads off and eat them that way,” he retorted coolly.

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Cassie stared at him wide eyed for several moments, trying to decide if he was serious or just being nasty. Frowning when she decided from the distinct glitter in his eyes that it was the latter—wondering what had put him in such a nasty mood—she looked down at her plate. “I don’t know anything about you.”

“You do not need to,” he retorted curtly.

She focused on cutting a piece of fish and moving it to her plate, irritated with herself that the comment had hurt her feelings. It was stupid! She was a prisoner. If he’d been friendly, and she wasn’t totally stupid,
that
would’ve made her suspicious. At least he was honest enough not to leave her in any doubt of what her situation was or how he felt about her.

She managed a shrug. “I don’t care to, either,” she said finally. “It was the others who were curious. I was only pointing out that you needn’t be insulted because I don’t.

You live under water. It can’t be easy making fire.”

“Do you cook with fire?”

She didn’t look up at him that time. It was hard to tell, just from the tone, whether he was merely curious or if he was pointing out that fire was a primitive method of cooking at best and that they certainly weren’t primitive. She swallowed the bite she’d taken with an effort and chased it with water. The water tasted strange, almost flat. She decided it must be distilled—which would make sense, she supposed. “Electricity …

mostly the microwave.”

Her appetite didn’t improve as she ate. The food was flavorful enough but she wasn’t a big fan of fish anyway, and she was too tired to feel hungry. She’d been tired and desperate to take a nap
before
everything that had happened. She was more tired now and wondered if this was a sleep deprivation sort of tactic. Keep her awake until she couldn’t think straight and continue to question her until she tripped herself up?

She’d never honestly seen how that could work. She could hardly understand questions put to her when she was really tired, and it was harder still to formulate answers that made any sense.

If that was his plan, he was going to find out it didn’t work worth a shit on her.

She put her fork down when she’d eaten all she felt she could without puking. “I don’t know what you want,” she said tiredly. “Apologies? A fine? It’s not like I actually saw anything—except you. And to be perfectly honest, I wouldn’t even try to tell anyone because they’d just think I was crazy. No one was interested in anything but looking.
They
belong to a club and all they do is dive and swim around the bottom of the ocean and look at fish and coral and take pictures. I don’t even belong to the club, and I’d never done any diving before, and I frankly haven’t lost a damn thing at the bottom of the sea! I don’t know why they find it so fascinating, but it doesn’t do a thing for me. I don’t even
like
the ocean! I only came because my date invited me, and I thought it’d be rude not to give it a try.”

“The one called Mark?”

Cassie glanced up at him at that. “Yes, Mark.”

“He is your mate?”

Cassie gave him a ‘you must be insane’ look. “God no! Date. I said he was my date. I told you—I met him on the net.”

“What is the net?”

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“The internet?” she asked in surprise. “Computers all over the world connected--which means people all over the world. I don’t know how it works, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“You meet males on this net?”

Cassie reddened. “Everybody does these days!” she retorted defensively.

“Females and males meet one another on this net to form unions?”

Cassie got up from the table, looked at the bed longingly for a moment, and finally moved to the only other piece of furniture the room boasted, an easy chair. Not that it was all that comfortable, but it was better than sitting across the table from him.

“It’s not like it’s easy meeting people, you know! I work all the time. Everybody does, and if you don’t meet someone at work that you like, or live next door to somebody, there aren’t a lot of options. Clubbing hardly ever works out unless you’re just looking to get laid.”

He got up when she did, moving from the table to sit on the foot of the bed.

“What work do you do?”

Cassie sighed. She’d hoped he’d finished questioning her. “I’m a floor manager in a retail store—we sell women’s undergarments.”

He folded his arms over his chest. “Tell me more about this net. This is where your people meet?”

She frowned, uncertain of what he was looking for in answer. “You can do just about anything on the net now—shop, catch the news, meet people, find out movie times, buy books—buy just about anything—find people you’ve lost touch with—research just about anything, I guess. It’s the information super highway.”

He nodded and straightened. “Rest. You will be called upon to speak to the council.”

“What do I have to talk them about?” Cassie asked in dismay.

“Whatever they wish to ask you.”

Cassie glared at his back as he strode from the room. After a moment, she went to use the facilities and climbed into the bed again. As irritated as she was by the questioning and as anxious as she was about his announcement that she was going to have to talk to a ‘council’, she was still tired enough to begin drifting almost immediately.

Maybe, she thought, as underhanded as she’d thought Linda’s suggestion was at the time, it wasn’t as bad an idea as she had considered it then. Honesty sure as hell didn’t seem to be making a lot of headway for her.

On the other hand, despite Linda’s suggestion that he’d seemed interested in her, she sure couldn’t tell that he was—if he was, he didn’t seem the type to be swayed easily by ‘feminine wiles’—and in either case seduction seemed unlikely to be any more helpful than talking to him had been.

* * * *

A young girl of no more than sixteen—in appearance, at least—met Raen at the door to Senior Science Officer Thaddeus ap Mercurios’ temporary quarters. She bowed low in respect, gesturing gracefully with one hand for him to enter.

Raen stepped through the portal, returning her greeting with the slight nod that was all that was required of one of his rank and station to anyone of lesser rank or station.

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“Greetings, Lord det Kira,” she said politely. “May I offer you a robe for your comfort?”

Again, Raen nodded. Though he colored faintly at the title in discomfort, he didn’t bother to correct her.

Moving to a storage unit, she removed a robe and offered it to him. “I will tell Lord Mercurios of your arrival.”

Donning the robe, Raen glanced around the vestibule—saw there was no seating for the comfort of guests, and merely assumed the stance he was most comfortable with, that of a sentinel on guard.

“Raen det Kira!” Lord Mercurios exclaimed with obvious pleasure as he entered the vestibule himself moments later.

Raen returned the elder’s smile as he bowed in respectful greeting, but he was discomfited. “Ap Aquinox, my lord,” he corrected.

The elder’s white, bushy brows rose, the smile fading from his face. “I beg pardon. I had not heard of your changed status.”

Raen smiled thinly. “We have all had far more important matters to concern ourselves with than personal matters.”

Lord Mercurios studied him a moment and finally nodded, gesturing toward the doorway he’d lately entered. “Nothing is more important than personal matters with the trouble we have had,” he disagreed. “Come and sit with me and tell me what you need of me.”

Raen sent him a questioning look, and the elder chuckled. “I do no flatter myself that the head of Atlantean security would pay me a social call in the midst of the chaos we find ourselves in. Later, when you have put us back together, young man, I
will
expect a social call,” he added, gesturing toward a lounge opposite the chair that he seated himself in as they reached the small room he was using to entertain guests. “You were always my favorite student. I can not speak for your sentiments, but I have always considered you the son I never had. You must indulge this old man with your company when you have time.”

Raen smiled faintly. “Gladly. You know my sentiments. Do not pretend that you do not.”

Mercurios chuckled. “I still like to hear it. Can I offer you refreshment?”

Raen couldn’t prevent a glance of interest, though he shook his head. “I have much to do and not a great deal of time.”

“You can spare the time to eat, surely? I do not want to insult you, but you do not look as if you have and it is unwise to ignore the needs of the body, especially considering the prolonged period of stasis we have lately emerged from.”

Raen nodded his concession, and Mercurios sent the serving girl to fetch refreshments for both of them.

“What is it you need?” Mercurios asked the moment the girl had departed.

Raen couldn’t forebear a smile at the elder’s eagerness. “Am I correct in interpreting your remark to mean you are aware that we were in stasis far longer than anyone anticipated?”

“Rumors are already circulating—Little surprise that! With the citizens awakening rumors of all sorts will be flying about, I am sure. Nothing Atlanteans find more entertaining, eh?”

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Raen nodded grimly, feeling his good humor desert him as dread tightened in his gut. He was bound to be the center of a good deal of that gossip once it became general knowledge that he had been set aside, and that, moreover, his woman had added insult to injury by running off with his brothers.

It was understandable, he supposed. Theirs was a small community and although most of Atlantis’ citizens led fulfilling lives, they also had a very great deal of free time upon their hands with nothing to do but to entertain themselves. And what was more entertaining than the real life drama of their neighbors?

He’d expected no less. His rank not only did not protect him from such things, it made him
more
of a target because he was more highly visible than most of the citizens of Atlantis.

He shifted uncomfortably. “No doubt,” he agreed. “The exact length of time in stasis has not yet been determined. However, I can say positively that it was much longer than anyone expected and it has created a problem we had not anticipated. The natives have progressed a very great deal while we were sleeping. We need to know how much has changed and where we stand in the scheme of things—and we need to know this quickly.

“The council will expect a report when they convene with our brethren. They can not make an informed decision unless they are provided with all of the information available.”

Mercurios looked a little doubtful. He frowned. “They will be convening in a matter of hours, my lord. I am not certain how much I could gather for you in that small window of time.”

“There appears to be a possibility that you could gather a very great deal. We have detained a small party of natives. In questioning one, I have discovered an information source that would allow the compilation of a respectable report—assuming the information is true.”

“A source? One? A library I might access?”

Raen frowned, trying to formulate his thoughts. “It was described to me as an

‘information super highway’.”

Mercurios stared at him blankly. “Go on,” he said finally.

“Cassie called it a net. She described it as computers around the world connected and all sharing information.”

Mercurios blinked several times. “Cassie?”

Raen reddened. “The Lady Cassia Pendell,” he corrected himself uncomfortably.

“One of the natives I mentioned.”

Mercurios looked intrigued but resisted the urge to question him further, much to Raen’s relief. “A net?” He tapped his fingers thoughtfully on the arm of his chair.

“Computers, humm.
Around
the world, did you say?” he exclaimed abruptly, sitting up in his chair. “Apollo’s balls! The
natives
have computers?”

“Aye. She claimed as much. I would have doubted, but she could not know of them otherwise.”

“Well! They were either far more intelligent than we gave them credit for or they have had a very great deal of time to advance!”

Raen nodded, containing his impatience with an effort, hoping Mercurios would not allow himself to be distracted and go off on a tangent.

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“If they are connected, then they will certainly need a ‘highway’ to do so and if that is the case, then my department can assuredly find the route.”

“You will need a translator,” Raen cautioned him. “We have been working on the language of the natives we have detained. It is
not
a language we are familiar with. I am not certain any of the languages we know will be of use to us.”

The serving girl arrived with a tray and settled it on the table between the two men, pouring each of them a glass of
fermentè
.

“Thank you, Hara,” Mercurios said absently. “You must go and fetch Malek, Barus, and Marcus. If they have not been awakened as yet, then see that they are—and tell them to hurry!

“The labs?” he added, directing the last question to Raen.

Raen nodded, relieved that Mercurios had realized the urgency of the situation.

“The lower levels have been flushed.”

“Good! Very good!” Mercurios said enthusiastically, helping himself to a segment of fish from the tray.

Despite the emptiness that had been gnawing at Raen’s gut, which he’d been refusing to acknowledge, he felt his stomach tighten in revolt as he reached to help himself to a portion of the food. He’d intended to dine with Cassie. He hadn’t been able to then because he’d distressed her and ruined her appetite with his ill tempered remarks and the reminder was enough to spoil his appetite now.

He wasn’t certain what had prompted him to speak so curtly to her. He’d been insulted by her assumption, though, far more than he should have been. She’d spoken nothing but the truth. She had no way of knowing anything about any of them, and he was in no position to enlighten her even if he’d wanted to. Her ignorance—the ignorance of
all
the natives was a matter of security. One did not tip one’s hand to a potential enemy and give them
any
information that might later come back to haunt.

It had rankled, though, to see himself through her eyes, to allow her to believe they were nothing but backwards barbarians—which was obviously what she thought.

The irony of being considered backwards by a woman who hailed from a tribe he had once considered little more than animals was not lost on him.

They quite obviously weren’t—not any more.

“Tell me what you have learned about these natives,” Mercurios demanded, breaking into Raen’s thoughts.

Raen swallowed the bite of food he’d taken and determinedly reached for another portion. “They are very intelligent, appear to be well educated, comfortably familiar with some fairly sophisticated electronics.”

Mercurios nodded. “They have embraced higher thinking as the Greeks, then.

This would explain the advancement—the pursuit of knowledge.”

Raen shrugged. “I have not reached an understanding of their societal structure.”

He frowned thoughtfully. “There are eight of them. That is not a particularly large test group to study.”

“And you have singled out the female—Cassie?—to study?”

In spite of all he could do, Raen felt his color fluctuate. He affected an off-handed shrug. “She seemed … receptive.”

Mercurios gave him a piercing look and then chuckled. “Receptive, eh? Well, you have never lacked appeal for the fair sex.” He sighed gustily, either ignoring, or 48

oblivious to, Raen’s scowl. “Would that I had been born a warrior! I might have a det to add to my own name! Females have far more interest in brawn and brain than merely brain!”

“I am no longer det myself,” Raen said irritably.

Mercurios shook his head. “And it was a shameful disgrace she dealt you, setting you aside—completely underserved. You may be certain that you will catch another maiden’s eye, however. I do not doubt it for a moment. You have an excellent pedigree beyond your exceptional good looks. When word gets around that you are unattached I am certain you will have a dozen offers and will be in the enviable position of being able to pick and choose.”

The praise discomfited Raen. “Unlikely. My ability to breed will come into question, and no female wants a male unable to produce—even as a second or third, let alone a first. And I will not accept a union where I am not first.”

“Pride goeth before a fall, young man,” Mercurios said chidingly. “There is no shame in being a second or third—a chosen male still has far more status than one who remains unclaimed. I am far too old now to worry about such things, but I would not have quibbled, let me tell you, if the right female had offered to take me—even as a fourth!”

Raen eyed the older man speculatively but refused to be drawn in to a discussion of unions. He didn’t believe for a moment that no female had cast her eye on Mercurios—he was still a handsome man and Atlantis’ most brilliant scientist. More likely Mercurios had declined, possibly because he had not caught the eye of the female he most desired but certainly not because he had gotten
no
interest. “Atlantis is the poorer that you did not,” he said mildly.

The old man snorted. “Indeed it is not. Do you think they did not collect? It is a hell of a thing when a man’s sperm is of far more worth than the man himself! The indignity of it!”

Raen couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Easy for you to laugh when you are allowed to deliver your own!” Mercurios muttered without heat.

“You should not complain. At least you know there is a splice of you running about. I can not even claim so much as that.”

“But then she did not produce at all, did she?” Mercurios pointed out. “No one will lay the blame for that at your door when she had none for the others either, whatever you seem to think.”

“If I was truly concerned about that,” Raen said, rising to take his leave, “I would go to the geneticists and allow them to test me. I only said that that would be the gist of the rumors, not that I believed it.”

“Why not do so, if it would stop the rumors?”

Raen shook his head but smiled faintly. “If I did that, then I might find myself in the uncomfortable position of having to decline—which always creates bad feelings no matter how graciously one does so—and I have no desire at present to tie myself to another female.”

Mercurios saw him to the door. “I will send word to you the moment we crack this thing.”

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Raen nodded. Bowing respectfully to the elder, he discarded his robe by the door as was customary and left his old friend and teacher to see what information the other interrogators had managed to cull.

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