Page 55 of Graevale
Alex looked dubiously at the slimy, brownish offering, not at all thrilled by the idea of putting the foreign weed in her mouth.
“The Undersea Islands are deep on the ocean floor,” Blake explained, reading her hesitation. “The cities themselves are protected by compression fields, but the journey there and back is swift enough to be taxing on the human body.” He nodded encouragingly towards the weed in her hand. “Take it, or I can guarantee you’ll experience what feels like the worst migraine imaginable once we resurface.”
Trusting him, Alex placed theaegonin her mouth, gagging at the salty flavour. She could manage barely three chews before she had to swallow the rest of it whole, but at least the deed was done.
Satisfied, Blake gave a chin jerk, gesturing for her to follow his gaze, and she did so, her eyes widening as she realised just how rapidly they were moving underwater.
Their glass-like vessel offered a crystal clear view, but since the surface was now impossibly far above them thanks to their unprecedented speed, there wasn’t much to see with such little light filtering so deep into the water. But that didn’t mean there wasnothingto see, especially when they reached the ocean floor and continued along it in a stream of movement.
Flashes of sea creatures in all sizes flew past Alex’s vision, from tiny luminescent fish to large, sharp-toothed beasts she didn’t want to know the names of, let alone encounter outside of the Airlock vessel. Underwater landmarks came and went, along with large caverns rising up from and descending into the ocean floor. There were coral reefs and gaping chasms and even a long-abandoned wreck of some ginormous vessel. It was like a whole new world, and Alex was mesmerised by it.
Finally, their transport began to slow from what felt like warp speed to something much more appropriate for sightseeing as they approached a ledge in the sea shelf. When the drop-off area spanned out in front of them, all Alex could do was gape at the vision before her.
Resting on the lowered ocean floor were what looked like hundreds, maybe thousands of glass domes, all like upside-down goldfish bowls. They ranged in size from being large enough to fit a house, to large enough to fit the entire campus of Akarnae. And Alex could see this, because inside each of the spheres were softly illuminated buildings, sometimes just one or two, sometimes a whole spread of them in various shapes and sizes. All of these spheres were connected to a massive central dome by transparent, interlinking bridge-tunnels—a central dome their Airlock vessel was heading directly towards.
Flashes of architecture whirled by Alex’s vision as they sailed through the underwater city, allowing her to compare the buildings to something that might have been found in Ancient Greece; pillars and arches and enough splendour for her to liken what she was seeing as the Medoran equivalent of the mythical Atlantis.
It was, in a word, breathtaking.
“Welcome to Nialas,” Blake said, breaking into her reverie. “The capital of the Undersea Islands.”
Fifteen
“Please prepare for docking,” Glyn said, andeven though her voice remained timid, it still seemed loud to Alex’s ears, so engrossed as she was by the domed city.
“This isbeyondcool,” Jordan whispered, his tone reverent.
Alex looked over at her friends and noted the marvel on their faces as they took in the view all around them.
“This place… just…wow,” Bear said, unable to articulate more than that.
As for D.C., she could only nod in agreement, her eyes full of awe.
Alex turned back to watch through the glass as they made their approach for ‘docking’. The Airlock vessel slowed further as they glided towards the central dome, the speed now allowing Alex to note the figures inside the transparent spheres surrounding them. Green-skinned Flips with all different coloured tribal markings walked within the domes and along the glass tunnels between them, going about their business as if living thousands of feet underwater was a normal everyday experience. For them, itwas, but even seeing it with her own eyes, Alex struggled to believe it.
Even more fascinating to watch were the Flipsoutsidethe domes, swimming through the ocean like finless merpeople, using their webbed hands and feet as easily as flippers as they moved casually between any domes that lacked connection tunnels.
“Docking in three…” Glyn said, “two… one.”
Alex had forgotten the Flip’s earlier instruction to prepare, but she needn’t have worried, since docking merely involved the Airlock flying into the mouth of a smaller sphere just off to the side of the central dome, lowering until it rested on the transparent base. Alex barely jolted as they came to a stop, her attention focused on Glyn as she ran her webbed fingers along the floor of their transport again. The Flip’s actions prompted the open mouth of the sphere to become sealed as if by an invisible shield, making it just as whole as all the others they had passed during their journey. A final swipe of Glyn’s fingers had the trapped water draining away until, within a matter of seconds, the space surrounding them was filled with nothing but air.
Apparently satisfied that they would be able to breathe outside the safety of their Airlock vessel, Glyn deactivated the barrier around their transport. It disappeared instantly, with the outer sphere now their only protection from the weight of the ocean.
“At the risk of repeating myself…” Jordan said, his eyes full of wonder. “Cool!”
“If you’ll please follow me, Ambassador Blake,” Glyn said shyly, “I’ll deliver you and your fellow representatives to the Clan.”
Blake trailed behind Glyn as she led the way through one of the interconnecting tunnels leading towards the central dome, with Alex and her friends following closely at their heels.
“Back where I’m from,” Alex whispered to D.C. at her side, “they have these aquarium parks where you can walk through glass tunnels in manmade underwater environments and watch the sea life swim all around your heads.” She paused to watch a school of strange, glowing fish flit past the transparent barrier. “Those aquariums havenothingon this.”
D.C. appeared to be so amazed that she wasn’t able to utter a response.
Once they reached the central dome, Glyn led them past structures that could easily have been plucked straight from the legend of Mount Olympus itself and relocated deep under the ocean. The architecture was undisturbed by time or decay, with white marble decorated by gold laurel wreaths and vines painted in whirls and spirals overhead and underfoot.
Their Flip escort only brought them to a stop when they reached a massive tower-like pillar streaming right up to the top of the dome, and it was there that she asked them all to step inside a circle marked out on the marble floor.
As soon as they were all in place, a mini dome appeared around them and lifted them off the ground, like a spherical glass elevator.
