Watchtowers : Water Read online

  “I have the private funds to support your studies. Provided, of course, you share any and all findings, significant or otherwise, with me.”

  She pulled her hands from his and picked up her fork. “You’re looking at a partnership?”

  He smiled again. The action lacked warmth and sincerity. Something was not right about the entire situation. “Mr. Doubilet...”

  “Stephen,” he interrupted.

  “Stephen. Your offer sounds generous, but I have to wonder about your motives. You seem to encourage separation from IFSS.”

  The bot returned to the table with the champagne. The celebratory pop when it opened the bottle was loud in the muted atmosphere of the restaurant. Based on what she’d heard so far, she didn’t believe there was cause to mark this as a special occasion.

  “I’ve read your reports, Keely. The ability to communicate with intelligent mammals not of our species, to share in their knowledge could be significant to the future of mankind.” He paused as if catching his breath. “And you, you’ve talked with them. You are on the cutting edge of something huge, and I want to be there with you.”

  The speech was impassioned; she’d give him that. “I work best alone,” she warned. “I don’t tolerate interference. Others in my field consider my studies unorthodox.”

  “I know,” he gushed. “That’s why I selected you. You aren’t afraid to step out of the bounds of convention and follow your instincts.”

  “Mr. Doubilet,” she began, stopping when his eyebrows arched in disapproval. “Stephen. I’m willing to try this out on a temporary basis. Month-to-month. We may not be a good match. And, I want to find out exactly what is going on with the IFSS.”

  “Deal.” He tipped his champagne glass her direction. She picked up the crystal the bot had set next to her and watched the bubbles slowly float to the top and burst.

  “Deal.”

  *****

  “Have you won her over?”

  “She’s agreed to my financial support, your Grace. She’ll be so dependent on your aide she’d turn nowhere else.”

  “Well done, Doubilet.” Amidurah clasped his hands behind his back and walked along the row of floor to ceiling windows of his penthouse. “Let me know the moment she reveals anything about her communications with the dolphins.” He rubbed his chin. “They hold the key.”

  “Your Grace?”

  Humans were so dense. Dolphins and whales, intelligent creatures, knew well in advance when humans put another toxic poison into the water system. “They sense the pollution, Doubilet. If we are to return the eco-system back to its pure state, recreate paradise, the dolphins will alert us to our success or failure.”

  “Yes, of course. Keely assured me she does indeed communicate with the dolphins.”

  Doubilet was nervous. Good. He controlled Doubilet’s very breaths even if the man was too stupid to realize it.

  “Our little experiment in Africa went well. It’s time for the next battle in our war on pollution.”

  Time to cleanse the Atlantic by using the land of Europe as a toxin filter.

  Chapter Four

  Excited chirps and whistles greeted Keely alongside her boat. The pod of Rossi’s dolphins she’d been communicating with showed unusual behavior. Usually calm, this group of seven slapped their heads on the side, hitting the surface of the water with energy. In a behavior generally performed by the older animals, all participated.

  “What’s up, fellas?”

  More whistles, loud and frantic.

  Keely dropped the listening/recording device she’d created into the water and placed her headset over her ear. She concentrated on Lotis, the eldest of the group. “Big shake. Flee. Dead.”

  This was the most unusual communication she’d ever received. “Lotis, what do you mean?”

  “Danger.”

  Keely leapt to her feet. “I’ll be right back,” she promised and removed the headset. She ran to the cabin and awakened the computer. An emergency holograph of the ocean sprang to life.

  Near the eastern edge of northern Canada, Keely saw what alarmed the dolphins. A wave of gargantuan proportions began there. It crossed the ocean at unprecedented speed, already past Iceland and headed directly toward western Ireland and the rest of the Western Zone of United Europe! The calculated time before the wave struck was less than a half-hour.

  Keely double-checked the computer projections and then turned on the News Screen. Red slashes crossed the top and bottom of the screen with emergency text messages between verifying the impending disaster. The speed of the wave had increased as it neared shallower areas.

  She ran back to the pod along the side of her boat as she tried to contact her parents. “Go,” she commanded with a wave of her hand. “Be safe.”

  Her thoughts fled to her parents. Early in the morning her father had informed her they were taking a picnic on the northern end of the beach they owned.

  Her audio communication device finally connected with him. “Get off the beach,” she yelled. “A tsunami is on the way.”

  “There have been no warning signals.” He father sounded nonplussed.

  The sensors in the oceans should have triggered warnings around the entire Atlantic. In place over a thousand years, they picked up the slightest move of tectonic plates. “They failed! I’ve seen the projections on the weather hologram. Get to higher ground now!”

  “If you’re sure.”

  Her frustration and fear for them broke out in a scream. “Daddy!”

  “Keely, if you’re that worried about it, your mother and I will head back home.”

  She heard a beep indicating he’d shut off the messaging. Dear Domnu, let them take her warning to heart.

  Beneath her feet the boat lurched. She grabbed hold of the counter to steady herself. Once she’d regained her balance, she raced to the port side of her vessel.

  The first stage of the tsunami arrived faster than the hologram projections predicted. The water receded, the depth of the ocean diminishing with alarming rapidity. Keely returned to the engine compartment, cut the engine, and then made her way to the starboard area of her vessel.

  Once there, she watched in horror as a giant wave formed like some prehistoric sea monster, stretching toward the sky. Bile rose from her stomach and burned her throat. She couldn’t be weak and survive.

  She grabbed her scuba gear, yanked the straps of the tank over her arms and shoulders, pulled the mask over her forehead, and watched the continued growth of the water.

  Suddenly, the boat thumped. Keely’s heart leapt into high gear. She glanced over the edge of the vessel, seeing dark wet sand. Large and small fish of indeterminate varieties flopped on the ground. Treasures lost, weapons, oddities of junk littered the exposed sea floor.

  Still the wave grew. It had to measure seventy meters high and stretched as far as she could see in both directions. The thought of the devastation wreaked on the coast in a few moments chilled her to the bone. Unprepared, nothing living near the beaches would survive.

  With a dash to the gunwale, Keely ducked beneath the reinforced plexiresin and prayed her parents took heed of her message and headed for high ground. The rear of the boat appeared the safest area to await the imminent force of the wave.

  She inserted the rebreather hose in her mouth and sealed it around her lips with the placement of her mask. The wave, with a deafening roar, slammed into the far side of her vessel. The charter fishing cruiser she’d bought via SatBay tipped toward the shore at a sickening angle, and then returned with equal force upright, loosened from the sand. Life vests, deck chairs, pieces of pseudo wood, metal, and other debris slid around the deck. Seawater soaked her clothing, pasting it to her skin. Keely shivered.

  The wave’s downpour lasted an eternity. The water pushed and lifted the boat in crazy vertical and horizontal directions and drove it further from the shoreline even as it filled with water, fish and aquatic plants. The additional weight drove the cruiser down in the deeper water.
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br />   Toward the mid-section of the ship, a fishing chair broke loose from the jerking and skidded her way, the broken legs pointed straight toward her chest.

  Keely jumped from beneath the gunwale and onto the swimming platform at the rear of the boat. At her side, she saw another monstrous wave cresting. With the ship taking on water she doubted it would survive the next impact without sinking or being capsized.

  The chair struck the gunwale. Keely shrieked and jumped. Beneath the surface of the water, the sea appeared murky. She kicked out, away from her vessel.

  Calm and quiet engulfed her as she swam from the boat. Shadowy plants swayed back and forth like aficionados waving at holostars. The roar of the wind and waves was blessedly absent.

  From behind, an object struck her head. Underneath her eyelids, fireworks exploded, and then as she sank, darkness overcame her senses.

  *****

  Keely opened her eyes shocked to see her legs and her left hip were trapped beneath a large piece of debris from a boat’s sidewall. Hers? How long had she been unconscious?

  The rebreather alarm drummed into her ears. She jerked her head and looked at the gauge on the air tank. Pain radiated from her skull and down her neck. She forced herself to look at the dial.

  The tank showed ten minutes of air remained.

  Ten minutes! It’s not enough time to escape. She frantically looked around her for anything she could reach to use as a lever and get the debris off her legs and hips. Stay calm. You use more air if you panic.

  The water above, clearer, allowed muted light to filter through. On the ocean floor, half buried in the sand lay a long tube of metal. If she could reach it...she twisted and stretched. Fuck! She was too short!

  Something brushed against her. God, was she bleeding? Had she attracted a shark? Fear raced through her body and she turned, prepared to fight the creature off.

  Zion?

  Her brows furrowed. What was he doing here? A moment later, he placed his hand over her ear and with care inserted some sort of object into the canal.

  Blue eyes peered at her through the water. His golden locks floated behind his broad shoulders in easy, languid buoyancy. “The dolphins said you were in trouble. I’ll have that off you in no time.”

  Her examination of Zion shocked her. In his hand, he held a weapon reminiscent of ancient whale harpoons. He didn’t wear traditional diving garb. In fact, the man wore nothing at all!

  Her eyes deceived her. They had to. No human could survive at the bottom of the continental shelf without protective gear. Her eyes widened. Zion lacked an air tank!

  Air. She glanced at the tank again. Mere minutes were left. She had to get out from beneath the debris and up to the surface. Panic struck full force. Struggling, Keely tried to push the boat wreckage from her hips.

  He laid his hand upon her arm and smiled. “Calm down, Keely. Help is on the way.” He pointed in front of her.

  Keely took a quick breath and tried to control her panic. Zion remained the picture of calm. She focused on him, tried to absorb his composure. Her heart rate slowed a bit.

  A disturbance rippled the waters. Dark shapes sliced the water. The nearer they got, the clearer she saw them. Dolphins. Rossi’s dolphins to be exact. The Rossi’s dolphins from her pod. The lead nudged Zion’s arm. Once her eyes focused, she saw Lotis followed by Mona.

  “Let’s dig on this side, and then roll this rubbish off her.” At first she thought Zion spoke to her. He hadn’t. He’d directed his command to Lotis and Mona.

  To her surprise, the two shifted until they were vertical. They started to use their tails like shovels. Zion pressed against the wreckage.

  The water turned murky from displaced sand and Keely no longer saw what the trio did. With a heave, Zion pushed against the fallen debris.

  The boat wall rolled and suddenly one of her legs drifted free. Keely moaned. The wreckage wasn’t completely off her yet and placed more pressure on her damaged hip and leg.

  The water whipped around her facemask. The two Rossi’s and Zion shoved once more and released her other leg. Agony shot through her. A red stream rose from her leg. The dark liquid dispersed into thinning wisps and her diluted blood flowed throughout the North Atlantic.

  Death grinned at her, even as disappointment filled her. Blood attracted sharks. Sanctuary didn’t exist in the depths of the North Atlantic for victims of cuts. Unfinished work, undiscovered love. So much time wasted to help ... no one.

  When she closed her eyes, Keely knew they wouldn’t open again.

  *****

  Lips. Keely woke to the sensation of lips on her cheek. “Mmm.”

  She opened her eyes and looked into the face of the man she’d known forever. Another sigh left her mouth and she closed her eyes to settle back into a pleasant dream of dolphins and men.

  “Keely. Keep your eyes open.”

  “Let me rest.”

  “I can’t. You need to stay awake for a little while. This is necessary to help your healing.”

  She forced her eyelids apart, focused on a deep, tan face and fought the sensation evocative of alcohol bed spins. “Zion?”

  *****

  Beneath her fingers Keely clutched stiff cotton. She opened first one eye, then the other. Pale green walls, tubing and medical equipment were lit by artificial light. Nothing in the room looked familiar. She turned her head and groaned. God, she ached.

  She stared through the clear polyresin sidewall and fought the panic swelling within. Laser sensors crisscrossed her body. Gradually, the evidence coalesced and made sense. She was in a hospital bed.

  A swoosh preceded the opening of her door. A bot wheeled into the room. “Good morning.”

  Keely opened her mouth to speak. Nonsensical utterings poured forth. What was wrong with her, why couldn’t she speak? Her eyes widened and she tried to scream. The garbled tone drew no attention to her plight.

  The bot rolled nearer, lowered the sidewall, and lifted her arm between its pincer-like hand. With its other appendage, the medbot opened a panel on its chest and placed her hand on it. “Keely Shane. Age thirty-one.”

  Soft whirs. Subtle clicks. The machine paused and searched her medical data. “Oh dear, oh dear,” the bot intoned. Then it clicked a button on the same panel where her hand had been placed.

  Keely’s breath quickened. She took in her surroundings again. Several different beams were aimed at her chest, head, and abdomen. The bot’s unemotional comment left plenty of room for interpretation. Was the “oh dear, oh dear” positive or negative?

  She tried to say, “What’s wrong with me?” Muffled, unintelligible noises came forth instead. Her sounds went unheeded, as if they hadn’t been heard.

  Another swoosh. Keely trained her eyes on the doorway. A tall, slender man stepped through, his burgundy jacket bearing the insignia of the medical college of Dublin. Finally, a doctor.

  “Well, Ms. Shane, I’m glad to see you awake.”

  She wrinkled her brows and tilted her head.

  “You’ve been unconscious for several days. Kept trying to tell us all about Zion before you took the big sleep. Lucky man, if half of what I heard was true. Almost too good to be true. You are certainly besotted with him. Called me by his name even.”

  Had the doctor seen Zion? Or did the man think she was suffering a breakdown because of the lack of her meds? She tipped her head once more and lifted her arm toward her throat.

  The physician pulled a silver object from his pocket. “You damaged your lower spine. Most probably hit by an unknown object during the tsunami. Fastest way to repair the bruising is by using the nano rebuilder via your airway. It prevents you from speaking coherently while the nanobots replicate and enter your blood stream to carry out their mission.

  “Close your eyes. It’s easier for both of us and you’ll feel less pain if you don’t look. There will be a tiny prick from the anesthesia. Once you’re relaxed, I can remove the rebuilder.”

  She forced her eyes shut, squeezing
so hard streaks of red flashed behind the lids. Warm fingers caressed her throat, relaxed the tensed muscles. There was a pinch, like the sting of a bee. Keely jerked from the nip and opened her eyes.

  Vertigo struck. Her head and body no longer seemed one. A disembodied hand caressed her eyelids and made them heavy. She fought to keep them open and lost.

  Chapter Five

  Keely couldn’t believe it when Zion entered her room later the same day. Everything about him looked solid and authentic, from the black tee shirt molding to his chest to the black jeans hugging his muscular butt.

  “Good morning, Keely.”

  His voice sounded real and still held the warmth she remembered from their earlier encounter. Keely prayed whatever the doctor had done to her throat worked. “You’re here? Did you really rescue me?”

  Zion frowned. “Back to square one?”

  He understood her! Keely would have jumped from bed and danced around the room if able. Instead, she settled for a smile. “The doctor told me I called him by your name. I think he thought I was dreaming. Was I?”

  His words cut like a laser through glass. “I wasn’t occupying your mind if that’s what you’re asking.”

  She hadn’t meant to wound him. “No. It’s not what I meant at all. I just wanted to know it was you I owed my debt of gratitude to.” She was alive thanks to Zion’s efforts. “Were you here while I was unconscious?”

  He nodded, the muscles of his face relaxing as if he willed his ire to flee. “I couldn’t stay away until I knew you were recovering.” He approached the hospital bed, leaned forward and swept his lips against her cheek.

  “Did you really find me under the debris? Call Lotis and Mona to help you? Are they okay?”

  He nodded. Despite her scientific training which told her otherwise, Zion existed without artificial means beneath the ocean. Each encounter disclosed a different aspect of his nature, revealed his concern for her.