Standing Read online

  The man was desperate. Somehow this had to end before the two dictators caused any more damage. Resistance out of desperation. The feelings of his fear and pain flowed through him. He looked down at his limp arm. It had been damaged in a grylone attack. This was one of the most feared types of gas attacks. Grylone would shrivel anything that it touched. This had to stop. The people around him looked at each other. Resistance out of desperation. Then a mixed shout rose into the air. About sixty people joined him. He hoped that this would work. It had to work, or by the time Ginvay and Jaegear died there might barely be anything left of the world. Suddenly, he was turning upside down through a bright green tunnel, then he was in the middle of an invasion of Draysok. The petty army of fifty stood no chance against Jaegear’s well trained guards. He heard explosions going off, then he was hit. Resistance out of desperation. He woke up outside the city with a deep wound. His friend Marilyn was beside him weeping.

  He winced as he sat up, “What happened?”

  “We failed,” she said as she looked at him with pain-stricken eyes. “There are only six of us who were not taken captive or killed.”

  He sat up even farther and hugged her as he wept his own tears. Normal life was out of the question in this world. Resistance out of desperation. Danger was around every turn.

  Gale sat up straight, panting. It was dark all around. It was just another dream. But it had seemed so real.

  The next day, the members of The Force handed over Jaegear to the citizens of Draysok, and the people elected a council to rule them and set a new government into place. The council consisted of two women named Liseel and Torra and two men named Naten and Case. They were Taynar’s old friends. When he had been asked to be part of the council, he had refused, saying that he would go to Keesen with the rest of The Force. He had, however, recommended his trusted friends.

  They left behind a crowd of celebrating people as they set out on the next part of their journey. This time it was about three days away. On the way to Keesen, the group passed by what used to be Aptos, California. Dellinia was only a short ways out to sea from there. Gale and Force told everyone else in the camp that they had an errand, so they would meet back up with them outside of Keesen a few days later.

  Gale and Force waved a temporary goodbye to the members of The Force as they walked down to shore.

  As soon as they were out of sight Gale said, “That went pretty smoothly! They didn’t even ask what we were doing!”

  “Yep! Except for Junior. But he’s getting bigger and understanding logic more now.” Force smiled. “Hey, I’m ready to go for a swim. You?” he asked.

  “Yep!” Gale said with a laugh. They started wading down into the bright blue ocean. They both took it slowly. “Oh my goodness!” exclaimed Gale, “This is freezing! Eeee!”

  Force laughed and said, “Too cold for your taste?” Then he splashed her.

  “Aaa! Force! That’s so cold!”

  “They say the best way to experience something is to dive right in!” he replied with a ornery grin.

  “Who says that?” Gale shouted, laughing at him.

  Then he grabbed her hands and pulled her into the water. A frigid shock hit her. Out of habit she tried to take a breath before she hit the water, but then she remembered.

  “Force!” she called, her words bubbling slightly.

  As she looked down at his face through the water she could tell he had heard what she said and was laughing. Then he released one of her hands and motioned for her to swim downward. She rolled her eyes and smiled.

  Surprisingly, she became warm very fast as she descended and adjusted to breathing water. Force and Gale swam for about an hour. The light kept steadily decreasing, until Gale could just barely make out Force swimming deeper and deeper. It seems like we are going much faster than I remember being able to go in a swimming pool. She thought. At that moment she caught sight of Dellinia and its lights! But there was something different, she could feel it. Last time I was in Dellinia I felt only good emotions. There’s a lot of that right now, but there’s also a source of deceit here. A few people that are...lying...or-or hiding. Her stomach twisted and an air of foreboding encompassed her senses.

  Force paused and looked back up at her. “Home!” he joked.

  They finally landed on the bottom of the sandy ocean floor, right in middle of Dellinia. A lot of Dellinians were staring at them in curiosity and confusion.

  Force leaned toward her and whispered jokingly, “We can’t seem to go anywhere without drawing attention to ourselves, can we?”

  Gale clicked her tongue and shook her head in mock dismay, “I guess not!”

  A strict but kind looking Dellinian with blue hair and a blue tail swam up to them and, holding out her hand, said, “Welcome to Dellinia, I am Comell, Minister Of Foreign Affairs.” She smiled, then leaned in. “Frankly, I have no idea who you are, but you are the first piece of work that I have ever had. And I am glad for it! The last twenty years have been rather monotonous!”

  Gale smiled and Force said, “We formally request to see The Three Of The Current First Tier.”

  Comell looked shocked, “How do you know about that? That system hasn’t been in use for the last seventy years. We now have one prime ruler. Would you like to see him?”

  “Yes,” replied Force.

  Considering that the entire government system of his country had changed, he was taking it quite well.

  Comell smiled with confusion and said, “Follow me.”

  As they followed Comell, Gale looked around at the city. It doesn’t seem to have changed very much...In fact, I don’t think it has changed at all! Domed, brightly colored buildings were everywhere, but they were very orderly. The streets, which appeared to be a smooth white cement-like element, were straight or curved gracefully. Everything was very clean.

  After Comell had led them down a few spiraling hallways and through a few arched doorways, they reached a room that was almost like a bubble. The sides and roof were one round dome and the floor sank into a slight curve, but not one that would throw you off balance. Inside, it was all silver. In the middle of that glistening room sat an older merman of about sixty. His white hair was combed back and he was very short. He sat at a stylized white desk.

  He stood up when they entered and asked, “Who do we have here?” His voice was full of forced happiness.

  Gale could feel his disgust for them, though she didn’t know why that disgust was there. His presence was large and imposing and she could feel his power.

  “These are two visitors that came down from the surface requesting to see you,” said Comell uncomfortably.

  The merman smiled a hard smile, “Thank you Comell, I will take it from here.”

  Comell nodded her head respectfully and swam out of the room. He motioned to two previously unseen comfortable chairs and said, “Sit down.”

  So Gale and Force did just that.

  When the Dellinian had taken a few minutes to settle himself into a chair he began, “My name is Keed, and I need to ask you a few questions. First of all, what is your purpose in coming to Dellinia?”

  Gale looked at Force, sending a visual plead for him to do the talking. This was his homeland, and out of the both of them, he was the one who knew how to handle the Dellinians the best. Force took the hint and began, “We are from 2013. We share the fact that we can time travel with your people. If fact, I grew up here. I am amazed at how little it has changed in the past two-hundred years! Anyway, twenty-nine days from now someone sent a message saying that Dellinia and humanity were destroyed. So we’re here to fix that. The name that was signed on it, was Keed.

  He looked contemplative, not panicked like Gale would expect him to be.

  “I don’t know what caused this misunderstanding, but I do know that we are in no danger. We have evacuation procedures for natural disasters and are quite safe from humans. I appreciate your time and concern, but we are fine.”

  Seriously? thought Gale. At tha
t moment she felt a very strong dark and deviousness come close. She whipped her head around to face the direction it was coming from. She saw something rush past the window. Was that a...pair of legs? She could feel that it wasn’t the source of the evil, but rather the helper carrying out the instruction of evil. A few words from his emotions and focus flowed to her mind. Tech...target...take over...Ginvay...this is commander...forces in place…3:20 PM.

  Then it hit her. It all became clear and she knew she had to say it. Gale stood up and looked Keed in the eye and said, “Humans have developed technology great enough to find you, and now a bad leader is invading Dellinia. She probably wants your tech and will target community buildings such as the library to scare you away, but not destroy the tech itself. You have to leave now!” She looked at a clock on the wall. 2:10 PM. She returned her gaze to Keed, “It’s going to happen at 3:20 PM today.”

  Force looked at her in surprised confusion.

  Keed looked at her in disbelief and said, “Our technology is the most advanced in the universe, it is impossible to develop it any further. Therefore, it is impossible for humans to have developed more advanced technology. We are perfect. We can not be threatened by humanity. We decided a long time ago to stop monitoring and trying to help humans. We needed to focus on the beauty of our own culture.”

  Gale could feel the stubbornness flowing out from him. How can he really believe that?

  Keed turned away and said, “Dismissed, thank you for your concern, but it has no basis.” Gale turned and led Force out of the room.

  As soon as they were out of the building she started swimming horizontally toward the outskirts of the city. Once they were outside of Dellinia, Gale kept swimming. She motioned for Force to follow her, which he did.

  “Where are you going?” Force asked.

  “Ginvay’s soldiers are plotting and preparing right now. I can feel their evilness and it’s this way.” When they could barely see the buildings of Dellinia or each other, Gale stopped and sat down.

  Force spoke again, “How did you figure out that Ginvay is going to invade?”

  “Ahhh...you know how in Draysok I started to cry? Well...I kind of am able to feel other people’s emotions, and occasionally even words floating from their emotions or focus. In Draysok I was crying because I felt the pain of the people there. Anyway, last time I was here in Dellinia, all I felt was kindness. This time I felt that again, but I also sensed something malicious that was hiding. When you were talking to Keed I felt it come closer. Then I saw a flash past the window, I couldn’t see the face, but I could see that it had two legs. I felt it’s emotions and caught a few words. Then everything fell into place. Ginvay’s greed, the technology of humans, the message. Ginvay is trying to take over the world, so if her sensors discovered Dellinia...you get the picture.”

  Force looked serious, “That’s a problem. Keed is so stubborn, he’s not going to believe us unless he has evidence. Even then, he will try to disprove the evidence.”

  “Agreed, we need to be careful, our whole plan of retaking Keesen is based on the element of surprise. If the invasion force spots and then reports us, we could be in trouble,” said Gale.

  “So, how are we supposed to do this without being spotted?” asked Force.

  “I don’t know. I guess we just have to be as quiet and careful as possible. I feel the bad feelings coming from over there,” she said pointing away from Dellinia.

  “Let’s follow them then, you can be our hound!”

  Gale rolled her eyes.

  “Actually, your ability is pretty cool!” said Force with a smile.

  Gale started swimming in the direction of the dark feelings. As she got closer, they became stronger and stronger. She could barely see. She veered suddenly to the right. As the feeling of darkness got really strong she wondered, How can anyone live like this? It’s cold, and every moment is terrible, full of hatred and anger and deception. She slowed down, then stopped.

  Now the feeling was like a continuous wave washing over her. Force put his hand on her shoulder. “Where are they. Are we close?”

  Gale looked at him blankly for a moment, then said, “Oh, uh, yeah. They are right over there.” She realized that she had been so wrapped up in the emotions that she hadn’t been noticing her surroundings.

  She started trembling. As they neared the source of the deceitfulness, a structure that was camouflaged by the darkness came into view. It was round, and looked like a big rock, except for the faint outline of a door.

  Force glanced at her worriedly when he saw her trembling. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine. We need to hide, and then figure out a way to get inside,” she replied. Gale pointed to a patch of seaweed right outside of the door and started swimming to it. Force followed her. He brought out what Gale thought of as the Dellinian GPS. He tapped a few buttons.

  Gale leaned toward him, “What are you doing?”

  “Getting the coordinates so we can tell Keed.”

  “Good idea, but lets make sure that this is something.”

  They had just settled into the seaweed when the big door opened smoothly without a sound. A man came out, he was carrying a small white box. He had a black suit on and strip that fit around his mouth and nose. That must be what allows him to breath, decided Gale. She motioned for Force to follow the man. They quietly trailed him for about fifteen minutes. Finally he stopped, set the white box in the middle of a bunch of rocks, and started walking back the way he had come. Force glanced at the retreating back of the man, then he started to swim towards the box.

  Gale put a hand on his shoulder to stop him, “Don’t try to see what it is, I think that it’s a weapon. One meant for Dellinia. They’re testing it. We need to get away from here.”

  “Come to think of it, you are probably right. I think that we need to get back to Dellinia as fast as possible to warn Keed. We can tell him the coordinates to that rock building thingy and he will have his proof,” Force said.

  Gale was filled with a sense of urgency. “I agree.” She glanced at Force’s watch. “It’s 2:35, that’s not a lot of time for an evacuation.”

  “If they still do it the same way as two-hundred years ago, then that should be enough time, but it will be close,” said Force.

  “Let’s go,” replied Gale.

  With that, they started swimming back to Dellinia as fast as they could, while still staying in the shadows in case another of Ginvay’s agents was swimming around. The journey was silent and intense.

  About another fifteen minutes later they reached Dellinia. They went as fast as they could into the building that housed Keed’s office. The door was closed, but they didn’t even bother knocking.

  As soon as they were there Force said, “Open,” and the doors to the office quickly slid open.

  Keed looked up in surprise and said, “What are you two doing back here?”

  “We found evidence! They have a base a few miles from here. We saw them testing what we think is an underwater weapon to use in their invasion. I suggest that you completely evacuate Dellinia immediately. It’s 2:50 and they are attacking at 3:20. If you absolutely need proof, then the Dellinian coordinates to the base are thirty-two, sixty-four, forty-eight. But time is precious, don’t waste it. You wrote the note! It was signed ‘Keed’. Listen to yourself. Your people sent us on this mission to save everyone in Dellinia. And we will not fail,” said Gale firmly.

  She felt some of Keed’s stubbornness and certainty fall away, but he still clung to the hope that his people were at the very top of the technology food chain, and they couldn’t be defeated.

  “We must see it for ourselves,” he declared. With that, he faced a device on his desk and said, “Send a message to all Dellinians telling them to prepare for a possible evacuation. Send a message to Gracenne, telling her to swim as fast as she can to...pause.” Then looking up at them asked, “What did you say the coordinates were again?”

  “Thirty-two, s
ixty-four, forty-eight. It is a big black base camouflaged as a rock. You can only tell it is a building because of a big door. You have look closely to see its outline.”

  Keed looked up, pursed his lips, and said, “Forget it. Erase that last message. Declare and begin city-wide full evacuation!”

  Gale felt the desire in Keed to protect his people overrule all of the feelings of pride.

  She looked Keed in the eye and said, “You’ve made the right decision.”

  “I hope so!” he muttered as he quickly headed out into the hallway.

  Gale and Force followed him. She was amazed to see metallic-blue, football-shaped ships floating directly above the city. Gale realized that they were evacuation ships when she saw mermaids staring out of the windows. They stretched on for miles and miles, their shiny square window frames glinting in the artificial light. One by one they were filling up with Dellinians. When each one was completely filled with passengers, it rose up until Gale and Force could no longer see it. This continued for twenty-five minutes until there was only one ship left. Gale glanced at Force’s watch anxiously again and again.

  Keed turned to face them and urgently said, “We must go now.”

  Gale looked at the time. 3:18.

  “Come on!” he said as he started swimming quickly towards his ship.

  Gale and Force followed. Gale’s heart began to pound. They were so close. The door to the spacecraft was twenty-five feet from Force and Gale. Keed was already inside, floating in the doorway, waiting for them.

  At that moment, a loud boom rang out into the water, hurting Force’s and Gale’s ears. Gale felt herself being hurled away from the ship. Red flared in front of her eyes right before she hit the ground. It knocked the breath out of her. She sat up and looked over at Force, making sure he was okay, then looked toward the explosion. Apparently it had been close to them, but not close enough to cause any damage. Beyond that point, buildings that had been tall and upright a second before now lay in ruins. Gale gasped and Force stared at the destruction. Half of the city had been decimated and through the water, heading straight for them and Keed’s ship were twenty armed people. Panic coursed through Gale. Her adrenaline started to kick in. They definitely aren’t friendly! she thought.