MARIA AND THE MERMAN

MARIA AND THE MERMAN

A Collaboration


    Maria loved to stroll on the beach every Saturday.  The sun was out, the sand was smooth, and the waves sent a calming effect on people who liked to lounge by the shore.  Her friends wanted to do some fishing by the pier, but fishing was never her style.  Maria just wanted to be free like the crashing waves that broke up against some of the rocky shoreline.

    She walked past her favorite drink stand, a small refreshment stand run by her pal, Sonny.  Sonny was a 75 year old man who loved the sea.  Used to be a sailor, but could never be far from the water even after he retired from the navy.

    "Hey, my little Pumpkin!"  he like to call Maria pumpkin, and she smiled, enjoying his sweetness.  The young people loved getting a nice cool drink from Sonny's refreshment place.  He was sort of like a Grandfather to people who stopped by the beach.

    "How are you, Sonny?"  Maria smiled.  She got her usual drink,a cold Coca cola

    "The wind is blowing nice today, I think we're in for some excellent weather.  I noticed your friends went fishing.  You're not into it?"

    She shook her head "I don't find it to be a good sport, grabbing a helpless animal with a hook.  It just doesn't feel right."  She sipped her drink.  "I think I'll take a walk over to Pike's Point.  I want to see how big the waves get!"

    Sonny smiled "Just take care and watch your step!  Those rocks can be a little slippery!"

    She made her way down the beach, past some vacationers, a family of four lounging around, a sandcastle builder, and some guys chilling out near the parking lot entrance.  The wind picked up, going through her long brown hair and giving her a little chill despite the sunny sky.  She wrapped her orange jacket a little closer.

    The sand gave way to a more rocky terrain, and maria tried to walk a careful balancing act as she made her way to a small grotto that was out of view from the rest of the beach.

    Maria heard voices.  She peaked around a rock and saw some cute boys swimming in a small cavern entrance that was half under water.  two were brown haired and looked to be a few years younger than her but the third boy was muscular and looked to be her age.  He had blonde hair and a nice smile.  The boys were joking around, splashing each other.  "Hi!"  she called out.

    The boys looked at her in surprise.  the two younger ones gasped and ducked into the water, swimming deeper into the cavern.  The blonde boy was a little nervous for a split second, but then smiled at her and waved.  "Hi."  He replied.

    "I'm sorry.  I didn't mean to interrupt your fun."  She frowned.  She didn't want to be a nuisance.

    "It's no problem" the boy replied "They're just shy.  they don't talk much around hum- uhh, nice girls."  he grinned.

    "What's your name?"  She broke the ice with a smile "I'm Maria"

    He smiled and swam up against a rock and held it tightly.  "I'm John."  He replied warmly.  "I was just messing around with two of my cousins.  they don't get this close to the shore usually." He smiled.

    "It certainly is a lovely day for it, wouldn't you say?"  She looked out at the horizon along the ocean.  She looked back at him and noticed his stunning blue eyes and well built muscles.  She tried to look over the rock more at him.  He moved a little funny, as if trying to keep eye contact.

    She slipped for a moment, and almost fell into the water, but John grabbed her.  "Whoa there!"  he caught her and tried to keep her above water.  "Gotta be careful"  John struggled a little, but swam up against the rock and lifted er back on it.

    "Thank you.  I almost ruined my outfit"  She clutched her jacket.  Maria looked at him, grateful for the timely rescue and noticed that he lifted himself up out of the water a little more to set her on the dry rock.  She noticed his swimming trucks were shiny, and looked a little odd.  that's a nice out fit you have."

    "What's that?"  John looked at her, confused.

    "Your swimming trunks"  She tried to reach down and touched them. "They look like, shiny scales.  where did you buy those?"

    John ducked the lower half of his body down in the water. "Oh"  He turned red with embarrassment.  "I think my parents bought them....I think, uhmmm, I have to go.  take care, Maria"

    She watched him swim off away from the cavern.  there was something funny about those swim trunks.  They were long....Maria suddenly gasped at what she saw!  While he built up momentum to swim away, Maria SWORE she saw.....a tail.

    She cupped her mouth in surprise.  it couldn't be, could it?  Was she imagining things?

    Maria started to return quickly to the beach, but she went too fast.  As she rounded the grotto to get back to the sand, she slipped and hit her head on the rocks.  Sonny was right, this place was a bit hazardous.  She lay there for a moment, feeling a little dizzy as the family of four came over to help her up.

    She almost wanted to scream out what she had seen....but then realized nobody would believe her.  they'd make her go to the hospital to look at her head wound.  but there was no time for that.  She had to find out what was going on, find out what John was.  And there was only one person who could her.  Sonny.




    Maria ran back to the refreshment shop and sat out of breath.  Sonny was handling a few orders with some tourists who stopped by to enjoy the beach.  He often got to talking to customers for many minutes at a time.  Sonny loved meeting new people and learning new stories of people's lives.  He was currently talking to a couple from Kalamazoo.  Both were redheads who loved Polar Bears and collected polar bear stuff where ever they went.  Not much in the way of Polar Bear souvenirs here, but they had a good laugh over sipping drinks.

    She didn't mind the wait.  She was still out of breath.  Finally, he spotted Maria and smiled.  He fixed her favorite drink, but his smile disappeared when he saw her dazed look.  Maria kept rubbing the nasty bump on her head, which didn't help.

    "What happened?  Did you slip?" He inquired

    Maria sighed.  How was she going to finish THIS conversation?  "Sonny" cleared cleared her throat "What if....you needed to tell somebody something, but it was so outrageous and completely unbelievable?  What if telling people this would make them think you were crazy and that you might even lose them as a friend?  What would you do?  What if it was something you could hardly believe yourself?"  She looked at him with a little fear and desperation.

    Sonny paused and rested his elbows on the counter as he stirred the drink with a straw, deep in thought.  "I'd try"

    Maria took a deep breath and winced, looking at him "Sonny, I saw something....and it was scary but also fantastic....You were a sailor once.  Do you ever recall seeing anything phenomenal out at sea?"

    He contemplated the answer.  "I have seen quite a bit in my time.  Beautiful coral reefs, I once saw a killer whale fight with a group of dolphins, I have seen the aurora borealis...a lot of crazy stuff"

    "Have you ever seen....anything like....well...."

    He leaned in, listening "Yes?"

    "Like a mermaid?  Like....a half man half.....well, you know..."

    He looked at her for a moment.  He looked down.  She wondered if she hadn't just made a fool of herself.  He took a hesitant breath before speaking.  "Back in 1967, a lot of things were happening in the world and I was stationed off the coast of Okinawa, watching out for Russian activity since things were rather cold between the superpowers" He went over and fixed himself a fruit flavored drink.  His eyes glazed over as if reminiscing about something he kept hidden for many many years...

    "I was stationed on the USS Whitfield County, during the crisis in Vietnam.  Didn't see much of the war at the time, but I did experience....something."  He took a sip "One night, I think it was June or July, one of those summer months, I was pulled for guard duty on the Starboard side.  The waters were very restless at the time.  Well, a gust of wind took me off my feet.....and over the edge...."

    Maria gasped as he looked down at the counter.  "I fell thirty feet into the hard cold water.  Almost snapped my body in half like a twig.  So there I was, knocked unconscious and sinking like a stone, when I felt something, or *someone*, grab me.  I woke up, alive.  I was being carried by the most beautiful girl you ever saw.  An Asian girl with hair black as night and eyes pure as bright silver.  We were on the surface of the water, and she called out to any crew on the ship who could hear her.  I figured she must have been a local girl....but I had sensed something was different about her.  As my shipmates were pulling me up, I saw the mos amazing thing as she swam away.  i wanted to ask her name but I was stunned to see that she was.....that is, her legs....well, they weren't legs.  I had been given a second chance at life by something in nature I did not fully understand.  I see you have undergone a similar experience...."


    While Sonny talked, a man was watching Maria from a distance.  Dressed as a tourist in a Hawaiian shirt and a big straw hat, the stranger looked through binoculars, and then whispered into a microphone.  "It's her.  You want us to bring her in?"

    The boss was a man standing on the deck of his submarine as it floated away from from shore at quite a distance.  "Bring her to me.  She knows too much!"


    Maria felt some comfort that Sonny believed her, she was even more encouraged by the fact that he knew what she was going through.  "It's hard to keep such secrets after  almost fifty years.  But listen, you gotta be careful who you talk to about this.  There are a lot of dangerous weirdos that would take advantage of this...."

    "Thanks...thanks for listening....I need to go, but maybe we can talk again tomorrow?"  She smiled as he nodded and looked around.  Customers called for him, and business was good.  Maria walked on her way home near the shore.

    For the first twenty minutes, the walk was uneventful.  Maria saw that a man in tourist clothes was walking in the same direction behind her.  Soon another man randomly walked next to him and they kept following her.  They wore dark sunglasses which started to make her nervous.

    The men started walking faster, catching up to her.  Maria felt a flash of fear in her.  She started walking faster.  One of them whispered to the other.  She could not hear what was said, only that it made the hairs on the back of her neck tingle.  Maria broke out into a run.  no one was on the path....no one would be there to help her.  The men started running as well.  "LEAVE ME ALONE!!"  She screamed.

    One of the men grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back.  "That's far enough, little girl!" he barked.  He spun her around and moved her against a nearby tree.  She was terrified at his hostile grip.  "What do you want?!" she panicked.

    They were like secret agents or something, They looked through their cold, black, soulless sunglasses at her.  You will tell us about what you saw in the water.  It was ONE OF THEM, wasn't it!?"

    She looked down.  What could they possibly want with those....merpeople?  Would that be a good name?  Merpeople?  And why?  Why are they trying to interrogate her?  "I don't know what you're talking about!  I slipped on the beach.  I didn't see anything!"

    One of the men pulled out a vicious looking taser and sparked a few blue zaps of electricity in front of her.  "Don't lie to us!  Was it John?  HUH?  Was it the one called John!?"

    Maria realized now that the stakes were even higher.  They were after John, and she had a bad feeling about this.  She kicked the man in the groin and took off running.  Unfortunately, both of them had tasers, and both were good shots.  The second man took aim and fired a paralyzing bolt into her back.  Her whole body froze in a fit of shakes and almost epileptic shock.  He turned of the taser, but the impact of his shot made her lose her footing.  Maria stumbled off the path, rolling downhill towards the water.  Her muscles were useless, she couldn't stop her fall.

    She reached the edge, rolling off the cliff towards the water twenty feet below.  Her body could not recover to help her block the impact.  She smashed into the water and started sinking like a stone.

    She held her breath and winced at the pain of hitting the water.  She looked up at the surface getting further from her.  She was a great swimmer....but that would not help since her muscles were still recovering from the jolt that made them useless  She sank further, and closed her eyes, wondering how long t would take to drown....

    She felt something, or *somebody* grab her.  She looked up to see him.  John was there.  He winked at her, reassuring her that she would be ok.  He zoomed to the surface and hit the bright sun and cool air. Maria gasped and breathed all she could.

    "Hello again" He smiled.  She didn't have the energy to smile or be fully grateful.  Her body ached from the taser attack.  More importantly, she looked up with urgency at the men in sunglasses, aiming real guns at the two of them.  The strange, dangerous men fired at them.  John knew these men, and knew Maria was now in serious danger  "I need you to trust me and take a deep breath, ok?"  He looked at her.  She had no time to answer.  He dipped them both under the water and swam to safety.

    She started to panic.  he was going deeper and deeper.  She could see bullets that almost hit them slow down in the water and sink.  Most of her held breath was almost gone.  She was able to move her hands and gripped him in a panic.

    He looked at her calmly, and told her again with his eyes, his striking brown eyes, "I need you to trust me".  She was on the verge of panic without oxygen.  John caressed her face and held her head towards his.  he kissed her in the dark depths.  He kissed her and would not let go.  it was an incredible sensation that seemed to calm her down.  She embraced him almost instinctively.  It wasn't an entirely unpleasant way to die.  She caressed his hair and also held onto this kiss as he swam with his powerful tail down into the deep of the ocean, far from shore.

    the panic was replaced by curiosity.  she was not drowning the horrible death she thought.  She just kept kissing him....suddenly realizing he was giving her oxygen to breath.  he could breath above and below the water.....and he could share that with her.  She pulled back with lungs filled and refreshed.  She looked into his eyes.  She almost blushed under the sea.

    Words could not come to her, but it would not have mattered anyway.  She smiled at him as he continued to swim.  She looked towards where he was going and saw a wondrous sight.  A beautiful city under the ocean.  Brightly lit, they had a similar technology to humans above ground.  Buildings, street lights, houses.  It was incredible, and it was a city that merged with nature.

    The Merpeople coexisted with the creatures and plants of the ocean.  He smiled at her while she looked around curiously,  but she kept a close monitor of her air.  She looked at him as they almost entered the city.  She smiled, finally able to thank him for saving her life.  Thanking him with her grateful eyes.  She kissed him again, very deeply, very passionately.  It was air.  It was beauty, and it was life.  what would happen next?  She was not sure, and neither was he.  But they both came to realize, in this deep kiss that made them embrace each other tightly, they were now destined for something wonderful together.



    "John....well, you are certainly full of surprises!"  She blushed as they entered a safe zone in the underwater city.  Just as the surface had pumping stations for keeping the water supply flowing in the cities on land, the Ocean city kept stations that pumped air in designated locations for emergencies....such as this.  She looked around and was in awe of this hidden civilization.

    The city itself, with its buildings and houses, seemed to carry an architecture of a bygone, ancient era.  It had the flavors of ancient Rome, a touch of Byzantium, and Greek styles with the stylish domed structures, elegantly carved columns, and practical but shiny marble dwellings that decorated the gorgeous city scape.  The natural environment allowed for beautiful coral gardens and vast tracts of floral parks and multicolored kelp beds to flourish in dazzling designs.

    "It's beautiful, John!"  She marveled.

    John smiled at her happiness.  He was excited to let her see a glimpse of his world....and yet, his smile was a brave one.  He may have endangered her bringing her here.  "The city is called Knossos.  I probably shouldn't have brought you here.  we.....we're not used to surface people visiting us"  He said sheepishly "But we had to get away from those thugs!"

    She looked at him, the smile faded "Who were they?" A part of her wondered if she would ever be safe back on the surface again.

    "There is an organization run by a crazed Millionaire named Maximillian Skarro.  He is what you might call an obsessed collector of oddities from around the world.  He....is determined to find our city and capture several of us.  He has been determined for several years now to hunt us down to be displayed in his secret museum.  He calls it 'The Citadel', but to us it would be a horrible prison!"  Maria had suddenly noticed he was walking with her on legs and not the large fin that helped him under water.

    "Your fin!  What happened?  I could have sworn...." She was speechless.  How did she not notice this when they entered the air pumping station?

    John put her curiosity to rest "It's....a simple process all of us in Knossos can do.  It's a biological 'adjustment' you could call it.  We can blend it with the surface people for a short amount of time.  We have this transformation ability, a sort of survival mechanism.  You regular surface humans tend to not notice because we keep you focused on our faces while we change.  Still, we cannot completely live on the surface.  Our lungs are smaller than yours, and we need the water to moisturize our skin or else the sun damages us.  Another reason we hide from Skarro!  He might not fully understand how we survive, and could kill us with his carelessness."

    "What can you do to hide from him?  It's only a matter of time before your city is discovered by the nations of the world!" Maria tensed up as they walked to a locker room. "You're so close to the beach.  How come I've never spotted you before?  I've been at the beach every day since I was a little girl."

    John pulled out a silky cleat outfit.  "This is a sort of wet suit for humans.  You will need to wear it if you want to move through most of our city, Maria."  He handed it to her.  It fit like a glove.  "Some nations....well, already know we are here.  Their governments keep it quiet because revealing us to the public could be a disaster for both us and the surface.  You normally would not find our city because we have special technologies that help us stay hidden....and mobile."

    Her jaw dropped as she finished putting on the clear face mask. "You're kidding!  That's....that's amazing!"  He guided her into a special airlock that filled with water after he closed off the pumping station.  After it was completely filled, Maria would finally get a taste of the Mermen civilization!  She swam with him, suddenly realizing he adjusted from legs to a fin again.  She had to remember to actually watch the transformation next time.

    They wondered through the streets, or pathways that could be interpreted as streets.  There were some vehicles, but most of the people of Knossos traveled naturally.  Though John was careful to keep Maria in isolated areas, since her outfit was a dead giveaway.  He pondered his next choices as he looked at her.  Maria was too distracted by the lights, the shops, and the people.  hey were just like humans.....but except for the developed ability with the swimming tails.

    "Look, Maria.  I should probably get you back to the surface.  We have a very cautious ruling council here, and the Queen of Knossos is very protective of our society.  If she were to find out about you, it could be rather tense."

    Maria frowned, looking behind him.  A voice responded to his thoughts, and John closed his eyes, knowing he has been caught.  "Well, John, I'd say that was a moot point now.  You really screwed up THIS time.  Your mother, the Queen, will not only be furious....I'll be surprised she isn't forced to banish you for this!"

    A Merman in royal armor and carrying a ceremonial pike swam up behind him with a stern look.  "You cousins tried to lie about where they were, and where YOU were, but I know all the old tricks!" The merman frowned.

    John turned with a fake grin "It's not what you think, Uncle Hieronymous!  I just saved her life from a couple of Skarro's goons!  They were going to kill her!"

    "Because she spotted YOU!  Because she talked to you!  You endangered a human girl's life and endangered our society with your curiosity to go to the surface!!  John....this is the THIRD TIME you have been caught!  When are you going to learn!?"

    Maria felt compelled to respond.  "I am grateful, sir!  He did-"

    The Merman, Hieronymous, was not in the mood for a human in the city "I am not concerned with your testimony.  I know you appreciate what he dd.  But you should not BE here.  You should never have known our existence!"

    Maria became desperate to defend John "I won't tell anyone!!  I won't tell this Maximillian Skarro!  Who would believe me anyway!?  Sir they would call me crazy if I talked about undersea cities and mermen!"  She tried to use logic.

    Hieronymous had had enough.  "Let's go, we need to see the Queen."Young Lady, you obviously do not realize what Maximiliian Skarro is capable of doing if he were to force ou to talk....there are those who would believe.  No matter how far fetched.  Finding us would be a treasure, the discovery of a life time for the surface people.

    They were brought to a grand underwater palace, with glorious bulb shaped lights in every corner of the property.  Guards were everywhere, an organized military guard that wore submersive aquatic camouflaged colored outfits.

    John frowned as he swam up to the grand double doors made of brightly carved silver.  Maria was still in awe.  Hieronymous led them down a bright red, luxurious corridor to a huge thrown room.  Hundreds of aristocrat merman and mermaids attended and watched with curiosity.  They stared at Maria in wonder, some with excitement, some with fear.

    The Queen sat on an Ivory throne.  Though she had her fin, she relaxed there, probably to put Maria at ease by just sitting rather than swimming.

    "I see my son has disobeyed my commands again!" She yelled out with a parental barking.

    John turned a little to Maria "Let me do the talking."

    Maria did not hear him, or maybe ignored him to make a desperate plea for him.  She walked two steps past him and bowed on her knees, looking down.  She was suddenly scared, but the Queen looked at her in wonder, surprised at her extreme polite behavior.  "Speak, child.  there is no need to fear us here."

    Maria looked up with a shocked look.  She almost didn't know what to say, but she pursed her lips and looked the Queen in the eyes.  "Your majesty, I wish....to ask that you not punish your son. John saved my life when a group of terrible men wanted to capture me.  I know he should not have been there, but....I owe him a debt of gratitude, and therefore owe you and your beautiful people that same debt of gratitude."  She looked down.  The room, with hundreds of people, was silent.

    "Such good manners!"  The Queen exclaimed "I had expected you to scream in panic, or threaten us with nuclear war....or call us freaks."  She said, having seemed to have experienced many negative responses from the surface.

    Maria looked up with a smile "Oh no, your majesty!  I think....I think your civilization is beautiful!  I just wish you did not have those negative experiences with us on the surface.  There is much our peoples can share."

    "We share with various governments of the world, but it is a secret thing, a cold calculated interaction with you United States of America, your People's Republic of China, your superstitious Japanese and your United Kingdom of Britain....plus a few others.  we exchange much for the sake of goodwill....but we have a long way to go since we are looked upon as....oddities by even your most enlightened thinkers and biologists. I am sad that we must meet like this, young lady.  Tell me" the Queen swims down to her "What is your name?"

    "I am Maria, your Grace"  She suddenly blushed a very shade of red.  But she also felt a warmth from this Queen.

    "It is a lovely name, Maria.  I am Tanith the Third, Queen of Knossos.  Of course, you have met my silly, rebellious son, John.  A boy who must still learn what it means to be a responsible Prince if he is to ever rule us with a competent head!" she shoots John a disciplinary look.  "For now, think of yourself as our guest!" She smiled "But know that we will probably need to return you to the surface.  I would hate for your parents to worry..."

    "I understand."

    Things took a turn for the worse, suddenly.  An alarm went up around the city, and the guards mobilized fast.  The Queen looked up at the glass dome on their ceiling of the throne room with concern.

    "Deep Ones!"  She announced.  "John, take your soldiers and man your posts!  Come child, there is no time to explain!"

    Maria looked at John, scared that he might be going into some kind of fight.  He looked at her with a quick expression, the same that he used when he needed to kiss her.  "Trust me"  he gave her that look.  She was comforted a little, but is was enough to let her be separated from him as the Queen led her down into a safe bunker below the palace.

    "Are we at war?"  Maria panicked as more alarms sounded off and hordes of Male and female guards shot past her.

    The Queen, forgetting protocol, grabbed her hand to hurry her into a fortified command center.  "They are creatures we call the 'Deep Ones"  she responded grimly.  They are like us in many ways, a race of merpeople, but they are greedy, malevolent and cause nothing but destruction, especially to surface people."  She looks at Maria with sadness "We can beat them back.  We have superior technology....but we must be ever vigilant. they have sworn to destroy us, and they will never stop hunting us."

    Maria looked at their combat screens, their electrically activated sonar.  It looked almost like a human command center with officers bustling about and calling out coordinates and statistics, and calculating the best way to kill the invaders with the least amount of casualties.  For a sad ironic moment, Maria realized that the Merpeople had much in common with the surface, perhaps more in common than they were willing to admit...




    "What is happening?" Maria looked at the monitors "Who or what are 'Deep Ones?"  She watched some screens show areas outside the city.  She saw them, and was horrified.  They were humanoid creatures with frog like expressions.  There was something completely malevolent about their faces that sent a chill down her spine.  John's voice sounded out over a communicator "We are in position!" he announced.

    The Queen held a serious look.  "he Deep Ones are an aquatic race similar to our own, but they are a dark, and depraved people who worship a monster God.  They attack and destroy everything they come across.  They do not give back to nature like most creatures of the seas and oceans.  They leave only destruction.  They are also responsible for death and destruction involving humans from the surface.  They operate out of an area known as the Bermuda Triangle, their dark empire of evil..." She frowned.  Combat began, and reports flowed in from the city's defending guards.

    John, meanwhile, led his platoon in the open waters under the ocean.  A dangerous place normally when going up against the frog-like monstrosities, but for the royal guard it was not terribly dangerous.  John's people kept up with technology.  The deep ones weres imply brute warriors with golden holy ornaments around their necks, wielding spears and swords.  As much of a threat as they were, they were no match for the spear guns of the soldiers of Knossos.  John gave the signal as the first wave of creatures approached.

    His men fired their spear guns with deadly accuracy, cutting down a wave of the frog-like creatures, skewering them.  Blood filled the water as the Deep Ones regrouped to continue their advance.  John signaled for the Shark brigade to be released.  It was a devastating attack, letting the sharks frenzy around the wounded and dead.  But deep Ones had the advantage of numbers, and it felt to John that they seem to sprout two more for every one that was killed.  The swarm of them swam closer and closer.

    The Queen watched silently, her fears for her son were hidden behind the calm mask her face expressed.  Now was not the time to crack under pressure.  The Deep Ones started to overrun the defenses, even though they were being cut down by the dozens, even hundreds.  John fell back and ordered a retreat.  The Queen's face goes pale and Maria becomes fearful when they see the Monitor.  John is surrounded by four large Deep Ones trying to tear him apart.  He fights them off with his sword.  Several other guards shoot the creatures with a round of spears from their guns, and he swims back.

    "There are so many of them!"  the Queen whispered.  She almost wondered if the city would survive when suddenly the Deep Ones were attacked from behind.

    "Look!"  Maria pointed to one screen "A Submarine!!  It's a human submarine!!"  Her eyes lit up with hope.  the sub attacked the creatures and even had human scuba divers shooting them with spear guns.  he sub was blowing up large numbers of the horde of Deep Ones with explosive torpedoes.  It was enough to scare off the invading army.  The Mermen guards rallied around John, who watched cautiously as the sub came forward.

    "People of Knossos!  I come in peace!"  A voice crackled over the radio in the command center "I come that we may enjoy an everlasting alliance against the filthy creatures that would destroy your civilization!  I propose we could join Forces and benefit one another as equals!"  The voice celebrated.

    The Queen smiled, overjoyed "We are delighted hat you have come to our rescue.  John, can you hear me?"  She called out.  Maria smiled as she heard him, alive and well after a near harrowing experience.  she had been scared for him when he was surrounded by those horrible monsters.

    "I hear you, mother"  He answered "What are your orders?"

    "Escort our guest to one of the pumping stations and give him our gratitude.  I want him to be our guest of honor for helping to drive away our ancient enemy."  She smiled brightly.

    Maria chimed in with a smile "John!  I'm so gad you are ok!  I hope you will be back soon!"

    She was filled with joy as John smiled in his response "I'm glad you are ok, Maria.  Don't worry, I will be there soon!"

    Maria almost wanted to dance after the tense battle.  "Tell me, Captain of this submarine....what is your name?"

    Maria stopped dancing and frowned as the voice, which sounded like an older, sort of creepy man, responded.  She became afraid.  "Your Highness"  He said with his gravelly voice "I am Maximillian Skarro."


To be continued......