LORD OF WATER

BOOK II

They came for the water. He came for them.

Copyright © Mike King, 2026. All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author, except for brief quotations in a book review.

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Coming forward from Lord of Water: A Precious Water Planet

They were too late.

The White Sapphire Crystal — silent guardian of a precious water planet for almost a million years — sent out the signal before they could reach her. The universal alarm. The one a Lord of Water is never supposed to need. The one that says: he couldn’t do it alone.

Somewhere out there, the Marshal heard it.

And now the Rigs have arrived. Dark machines on the other side of the globe, operated by beings too enslaved to question their orders. Their mission is as old as greed itself — find water, drain every last drop, leave a dead rock spinning in the dark. The global evaporation has already begun.

Our Lord of Water has half a year to cross this ocean and stop them. Not just to save a precious water planet — though that alone would be enough — but to prove that he never needed saving himself. To finish what he started before the Marshal arrives and decides the matter for him.

Gary is at the bridge. Mila is at his side. Max and Pei are scampering across the decks like they own the place.

Hi-Sun is already sailing. And there is no time left.

None at all.

Chapter 1

Set Sail!

The moon fell away and the gravitational lift on the ocean abated. The intense energy of this annual epiphany dropped away as the king tide circled out and down across the globe. The next day would see the highest tides of the solar year through all the continents, just as it had for billions of years.

Gary regained his demeanour of relaxation and cheekiness. Mila took my arm and strolled the deck with me, holding my hand, flowing admiration and warmth toward me and I to her in my boyish and warm way. Below the lean hull of Hi-Sun, the dorsal pilots finished their bruising assault on the slicer sharks, leaving them scanting like wild scavenger dogs, yelping below the waves.

“Which way, my Lord?” called Gary.

I turned my head out over the horizon.

“We will follow the systems to the other side, my fine rhyming captain. We have but half a year to get there.”

“Let’s go, go, go,” called Gary, with Max and Pei scampering in all directions straightening the decks and trying to look busy.

“That was pretty wild,” Mila whispered into my ear. “You had me going there. I thought that I had lost you, but refused to believe it.”

“I’m here Mila. Our fun has only just begun. We have half a year. Are you ready for the adventure of a lifetime?”

“Of course my handsome man. I wouldn’t miss this for all the slicer sharks in the sea.” She leaned her forehead against mine and just pressed as close as she could. Both of us smiling, holding each other tight. I hoped she felt what I intended — that I would never let her go.

“Come on, let’s give Gary a rouse about.”

We both strolled across to the bridge and loafed there while Gary and his wild crew prepped Hi-Sun for the start of another awesome adventure.

“Take a grip,” hollered Gary as Hi-Sun took a slicing launch into the ocean below. The whole crew steadied as she built her momentum and then Gary, out of nowhere, contagiously started to laugh. The whole crew joined in, laughing and enjoying the exhilaration as once again we started to chase the sun’s tail.

“To the other side we shall sail, my Lord of Water.” Gary looked prouder than any seasoned captain on all the seas. Everyone laughed and sang and laughed even harder. Then Gary turned, everyone falling into silence. I knew exactly where he was coming from and needed not say a word.

It dawned on me then — we had been together through all of this wild adventure and still hadn’t exchanged this most ridiculous but customary of formalities.

“It’s totally fine, Gary. My name is Shane.”

Chapter 2

On the Deck with Gary. The Disentanglement.

I came back on deck to find Gary still at the bridge. Hi-Sun had built up to full energy flow once again — easing at an even height, cutting a clean angle through the tops of the ocean swells below.

“We’ve got some nice momentum happening now, Gary. She’s riding so much quicker than on our journey in.”

“That’s right, Shane. Now that we’re riding the swells, she slices beautifully either way — but when we ride with the direction of the ocean swells, it really is something else.”

“I can feel it. She flies like a slinker bird touching the tops of her wings on the crest of the swells. Effortless!” I spoke softly to Gary.

“We surely are on an adventure now, Shane. I haven’t much touched these waters on this side of the globe. I feel we are going to find new things that I haven’t come close to for many lifetimes past.”

“Maybe even some never experienced before,” I replied.

Gary contemplated my words and thought of the past.

“Now that’s what I’m in for. Tell me more about that planet, Shane. You know — Blue-3. It sounds so incredible to me.”

“It’s quite a place. Insane beyond belief! Well, it was. But it has a special feel about it too. I made a good home there.”

Gary paused, thought, and shot again.

“Shane — these dark beings. What is it with these guys and how do you handle them?”

“Blue-3 wasn’t really much in relation to true evil,” I said, “but you can never underestimate the damage that can be caused when even minor grade bad guys are concerned. We all have the power to imagine and create the most amazing effects — and what some of these guys got up to was no exception.”

Gary and I paused for a while to take in the stars and the colourfully lit clouds, moving in contrast to the distant galaxies. The smaller moon sat low and clean, still casting a shimmering reflection to the left of Hi-Sun’s line.

Below, the dorsals turned easily with the wake of the keel.

Gary broke the silence with some cool dorsal facts, as always.

“They travel in their sleep. You can see the front and rear sentries holding the line. All of the rest pocket into the energy wave and shut down to recharge themselves.”

Gary sat back on his stool with the fingertips of his right hand just touching the rod, letting Hi-Sun know he was still with her.

“She knows where we want her to take us. Tomorrow we will find some calm corner and give her a well-deserved break. Now! Tell me — how is it that you can handle these dark beings?”

I began.

“Any Lord has this ability, and in truth, any one of us can become a Lord. It is called the disentanglement. Deep down we really are all basically good. But what more powerful energy cell than the spirit himself — placed inside a black machine and then convinced that his actions are ‘good.’ If arranged properly, you could keep a dark being enslaved and in full force forever. For as you know, Gary — we are immortal spirits. And whatever it is we believe is right or wrong, we will keep on carrying out as many ‘right’ actions as we can, no matter how bad they actually are.”

“That is what we do. Yeah!” Gary exclaimed, laughing. He could now see it so clearly — all of those crazy little idealities that we do, and sometimes keep on doing, because they seem ‘right.’

“You’ve really got it, Gary. What a lack of fun, and life, we could be missing out on if we didn’t have a problem here and there to challenge us from time to time. This is the exact point you are demonstrating right here in front of me. But the dark being is so trapped that there is no way he could even stop and take a look at himself or his actions. It is just not within his capabilities. So he just needs a little help.”

“And how do you do that?” Gary asked.

“As I said, Gary, it is an ability that all of us Lords have. We just disentangle the being from this trap. It goes a bit like this. Once we can get in close enough to the being himself, we just touch him and establish a streaming contact.”

“It’s a connection!” Gary replied.

“Sounds easy — but how do you get close enough?”

“Well, that’s a whole other kettle of fish. In the future, you will be helping me get close when the time comes.”

“Well, thank you for letting me know, Shane. I hate to ask — but once you have this connection established, what do you do then?”

“Well, Gary, they are just trapped in a machine. Barely visible, like the haze of a black cloud — but a machine nonetheless. The spirit is trapped inside and is operating purely on the information that the machine feeds him. Generally the calculation is along the lines of ‘Destroy to Victory!’ Not just destroy a few things — I mean to carefully and computationally destroy all others about him until eventually all are dead or enslaved. Even himself.”

“Now that is a dark idea. What do you do with that?”

“That’s right, Gary — it is a black thought. But still nothing more than a machine. To explain it in the simplest way possible, it is no less than a miracle to take a spirit and draw him back away from that machine so he can see it clearly. See it from the perfect life force that he is — and to see the machine and what it does, and nothing less.”

“So what happens to him?” Gary asked.

“Well, there is always some entertainment involved — and this is what usually happens. When he is clearly able to see the machine for what it is and what it is doing to him, then the disentanglement begins.”

“Mmmmmmmm!” Gary voiced.

“The machine has recorded a perfect stream of all that it has put the being through. All of those vulgar transgressions in wonderful animation — ready to present itself at any time. At that moment of disentanglement, it all plays back, one after the other, so clearly for the being to see. All of the lives that were killed, all of the trickery and treachery — one after the other until each and every one of them are streamed into clear view, presenting to the being what he has been through and, more importantly, what he has done.”

“And then?” Gary asked.

“And then we have the ‘Weeper.’ The grief, regret, and sadness has to come out somewhere. It lasts anywhere from a short moment up to a matter of days — the being goes through the Weeper and cries and cries and cries until finally it is all gone. Then he will pick himself up and just do what we all do so naturally. Find a way that he can get busy and help.”

“Wow! I think I would also like to do that, my young lord. It sounds like it would be great fun.”

“I think you’re up for it, Gary. Already you are proving yourself to be Lord of the Wild Seas. I can show you if you’d like — and if needed, you could help me too.”

“I would like that, young Shane — for I am never happier than to help another.”

“So, Gary — with the trap of this machine exposed and the mystery unravelled by the being, this dark machine has nothing left to keep it alive. It just falls apart. Evaporating into the aether.”

“That is so cool!” Gary replied, gleaming at his own imagination of the possibilities.

“It is very cool. But the difficulty we face is not in disentangling and freeing these beings — it is in getting close enough to do so. Or not being destroyed while trying to get there.”

“I have full confidence in you, my young lord. We have a mighty team and we will do whatever it takes, no matter what we come up against.”

“Thank you, Gary. Your bravery and loyalty is clearly demonstrated. We will do just fine.”

Max and Pei suddenly appeared with the pre-morning breakfast for Gary and I to share. We feasted as the first sign of sunrise touched the horizon. Then Gary and I retired for a long nap while Max and Pei took control and carried out the orders of the day.

Slinker Bird — spearing scout birds that often travel with ocean vessels, seemingly as a guide. They not only follow the journey but will scout a huge circumference, as though keeping the watch.

Chapter 3

The Nightmare

Gary was staring right at a black spot partially obscuring the helix cluster of stars. I asked him what it was that he could see, but he just stared at me, glazed.

Everything sunk on the shock wave and the sky broke open above us. A deathly black beam dropped directly from the bottom centre of a massive alien hub. As the beam hit the water, a slicing squeal pervaded everything as the whole energy balance of the ocean, atmosphere and even the planet shifted as the hub locked in with the brutal black beam.

As all of the water around it vacuumed in and absorbed as if falling into a black hole, Hi-Sun was unable to hold her line and she fell inwards. No escaping from the pull of blackness. Max and Pei scampered in attempts to hold whatever they could in place. But it was useless as everything was sliding starboard and toppling over the edge.

I caught myself with the sudden thought of Mila and turned to the quarters. She was braced across the doorway trying to scream towards me. But the mere sounds of our voices became inaudible in the sheer and deathly scream of the black beam.

Another shock wave engulfed us and then pulled back into the vacuum. I was ripped from the deck of the ship. As I drew out into the void, I could see Mila’s face looking directly at me. She was no longer screaming, but just held the last life of our communication till the end.

Another shock wave hit and Hi-Sun smashed into a billion splinters. I screamed and reached out to the destruction as the impact blew me out of existence.

“Shane, Shane!” Mila spoke gently as I woke from the nightmare. She held a hand on my face and the other on my chest as I sat up in our bed. Dripping in sweat and shivering.

“Hey, hey! It’s ok. I’m here. I see you,” she said.

“Look at me.”

“Woah! That was full on. Too real.”

“Come on, we have food,” she gently gestured.

Mila led me to the deck as we walked out to a perfect afternoon. Lady-Sun was falling towards the horizon as shimmers of her light danced across the long lines of ocean swells spanning the curve of the globe.

“Eat,” she whispered and nudged me with her elbow.

Mila handed me more and more food until once again I came back to the sanity of a perfect late afternoon sunset. Gary was laughing. Max and Pei were fooling around. The dorsals were all in high action dancing around the wake of our keel.

Mila leaned her head on mine.

“Are you here?”

The food had calmed me and brought me right back to this beautiful day.

“Yeah mate. I’m here.”

I led her to the side rail so we could share the sunset and laugh along with our cheeky crew.

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Chapter 4

A Restful Paradise

For the first time in quite a while, we had land in sight. A handful of tall islands protruding from the ocean. All very thick in the green rainforest and plenty of life emanating from them.

“Today we will pull into this archipelago and spend a little time to restock our supplies, along with giving Hi-Sun a well-deserved rest,” said Gary with a sound of relief in his voice.

“Look at this place. Simply amazing. I can already feel the hum of life that is flowing from the forests and we are yet half a horizon away,” said Mila.

“I have heard of these islands and that they are full of amazing life forms and fruits aplenty. There should be calm waters on the other sides that are protected from the ocean swell. I am hoping for a calm bay with the possibility of a golden beach that we are able to anchor on safely. We may even spend a few days to ensure that Hi-Sun is fully recovered as well as ourselves. We have plenty of work to do, but a little fun as well is what the spirit needs. Time to exercise our right to play.” Gary spoke so effortlessly across the deck to us all.

“Give us all the orders that you need, our fine captain. There is fun to be had, but this is no time to slacken off from our journey and where we are headed.”

“Well then, my fine Lord, Hi-Sun will need some good service across the surface of her hull and through all of the components of her keel. After such a trip we are bound to have collected a few layers of ocean life forms. I think that you will find this work of extreme interest and you will certainly gain a new and intimate connection with her. Let’s see if you can use that water helmet of yours for something useful. Maybe the dorsals can also give you a hand.” Gary said as he steered Hi-Sun, observing the island approach.

“Now you are talking, Gary. I certainly do best in the water.”

We slowed in closer to the islands and the size of the ocean swells that were crashing against the cliff faces and rocky beaches became more visible. This side was definitely not the place to try and land Hi-Sun. Schools of keel whales began to move all around us. These sleek and very playful keels swam in line and then moved in closer to our dorsal pilots. A few times they almost touched fins and then began an exchange of jumping out of the water and incredible turning and diving tricks.

We turned in and padded on the left side of what appeared to be the main island. But all of them each would appear to be the largest of the cluster once up close to their imposing grandness. One could hear plenty of chitter chatter coming from the thick forest that climbed so high on the steep mountainside. We could easily see many species of birds along with families of feisty and loud warm-bell monkeys. With two sets of arms and strong handed legs, they were dominant in the space that they held. Dozens of them froze and peered at us as we passed right on by. Their very human faces grouped up together, checking us out with a very strong sense of curiosity.

“This place is such a paradise. There will never be any need for man to ever settle here. This is their place and I know that we will leave them their island for the life of this planet. So much abundance. We will find a safe haven shortly and do a little exploration ourselves to gather food and fresh water,” said Gary.

“Is there anything that we need to look out for, Gary?”

“I don’t think that we can afford to turn our backs on nature in this place, young Shane. We have our dorsal whales to protect us in the waters, but when we set foot ashore, a little alertness and some basic self-defence will be necessary. Nature’s gifts are so very amazing and beautiful, but she is also very hungry. Our lovely and fresh human flesh may very well be too tempting to the many creatures of the jungle.”

“Well! If you would like me to escort Pei and Max, I can certainly make sure that they come back alive and on their toes. We certainly need to gather plenty of food for the delicious courses that they serve,” I said.

Gary spoke.

“That certainly would be appreciated, my young Shane. I haven’t seen you have to strike a blow as of yet, but I detect that you are quite able to handle yourself when called for.”

“I do alright.”

“Don’t underestimate my Max and Pei either. These two characters of mine may look so young and innocent, but let me assure you, I have seen them in action and they definitely didn’t come off second best.”

“Pleased to be on the same team.”

Mila called our attention.

“Shane, Gary, look at that.”

Just as we turned the corner, a powerful waterfall became visible about halfway up the side of the island. It appeared to be falling into a large reservoir of water that jutted out from the side of the island to collect the force of the falling water, and from there the water diverted in many directions, finding its way to the base of the island and flowing into the ocean.

Gary spoke.

“That certainly is what I was hoping to find. We need water and our reserves were running down to about a week’s worth.”

“Where does Hi-Sun store it all, Gary?”

“The water is what gives Hi-Sun her balance and stability within the ocean. When she is full with fresh water and as our reserves begin to drop, she is able to counterbalance the weight with ocean water — with an amazing membrane separation between her two storage cells. As we drink, she fills and she always holds just the right weight to counteract and force her way through the momentum of the sea.”

“There is so much about Hi-Sun that I have not learned yet. I have tried to observe how it is that she does what she does, but there is something missing in my understanding of her.”

“So much more will come clear to you when you help her out with some maintenance once we find and pull into a cove. I think that we are going to find exactly what we are after for berthing just around the corner of this island. It seems to me that a fair portion of the flowing water is wrapping around the cliff faces and channelling through to the other side.”

Hi-Sun turned the corner and we seemed to step off the large swells of the sea and then just relaxed into the calm waters that sat on the protected side of the island. The dorsal pilots and the keel whales all spread out around us and formed playful groups of social interaction and games. I knew that the waters around us were completely safe. We had our dorsals posted all about us along with some incredible local guides to ensure a safe passage.

It was certainly time for our crew to take a rest and restore their inner spirits. Hi-Sun was well due for some tender loving care and the dorsal pilots loafed and played with their newfound but somehow familiar friends. But what lies in the thick forest and jungle of this completely raw natured island? The noises that echoed from deep within certainly indicated that the frolic for food supplies may not be as light and friendly as the markets back in the waterways.

Keel Whales — smaller, lighter whales of a similar species to dorsal pilots. They are known to stay closer to the land masses, unlike the dorsals who are well able to travel the full length of the globe.

Warm-Bell Monkeys — large furry and intelligent apes. They have four arms and two shorter and stronger legs. They dominate the forest with their power and speed in motion.

Chapter 5

The Bay

The bay was surrounded by thick rainforest that towered up to the side of the island cliff faces and into the clouds still holding onto the island tops. Across the middle spanned a sandy beach with thick grass matted around the trees where the sand met the forest’s edge.

Smaller groups of various monkey species were visible in the trees and a few squealers poked around the forest edge. The ebb and flow of the ocean swell lapped up onto the beach with waist height waves dumping on the beach’s edge. Through the water, there was plenty of visible ocean life, with schools of fish darting about and a few faster surface fish scouting the bay.

Even though there was such an abundance of life vibrating from both the waters and the forest, there seemed to be no hunting going on between the various animals. All just picking as if trying to decide whether one more bit is necessary or not. No doubt, we are in the middle of a very active and balanced food chain here, so it was vital firstly that we upset the balance as little as possible, but most importantly, not to turn our backs or take it for granted that we would be safe at any time. This was not the time for complacency.

Hi-Sun slowed in comfortably to the left side of the bay in a deep blue rounded cove with plenty of room to manoeuvre, though still close enough to the shore to reach the beach in an easy paddle. I stood on the edge of the deck looking down at the dorsals playing about the bay. Gary looked at me as if to say “What are you waiting for!” So I just smiled back at him and then dove over the edge and into the warm clear water of the bay. My main dorsal friend and a few of his team turned in beside me and I held one of his dorsal fins as he guided me down to the lower sections of Hi-Sun’s keel.

I studied the shaft as it telescoped down into the lower driving keel section of Hi-Sun. Multiple sections had all compressed closer together and at the bottom, the driving keel sat almost idle. But in fact, it still had a slight motion occurring, just as you would see fish sleeping at night and still moving slightly with the water’s flow.

I placed my hand on the top of this driving keel and it momentarily slowed while I held my hand there. Then as I moved along the keel towards the front, I could feel the slow turn of her through the water — just enough to hold her perfect balance, but in the same light, accommodating to my presence.

Her casing seemed to be more than that of a crustacean, or even reptilian in some way — very tough, thick and flexible with a feeling of ocean life. I had forgotten that moments ago I was on the deck of a beautiful timber vessel. But now I was gliding along the length of what appeared to be a complete living entity.

I ran my hand along, feeling the various barnacles and ocean life that had built up on her surface, and then as I reached the end, I rolled over the keel front and floated there facing right back at her. On either side, two sets of eyes opened gently and peered right at me. I just smiled and held the gaze. Here in front of me was an amazing being that had been a part of our journey for weeks and now my curiosity was answered. I nodded my head to acknowledge her presence and in her own way, she relaxed and gave me a long warm smile. I nodded again and told her that I would do all that I can to take care of her — and for now, to clean her skin and give her the renewed affection and tender loving care that she so well deserves.

Hi-Sun acknowledged my unspoken words with a gentle closing and opening of her eyes. I placed my hand on her forehead and then lifted back to the surface with the aid of my dorsal.

“She’s alive, Gary. She is wonderful, amazing, incredible. I had no idea that she had been with us all this time. But now I understand the feeling that I have had since that very first day we stepped onto the wharf. She is alive, she is alive.”

“Well then, my fine Lord of Water, I am pleased to see that you have finally learned something new for yourself. This is a good thing. So — time to get busy.”

I spent the following days working with the dorsals, carefully removing barnacles and other life forms that love to cling onto our Hi-Sun and be a part of her journey. But she is not a tourist’s vessel. This lady has the purpose of the ocean, so we took the greatest of care to clean each and every one of her keel sections until she was once again gleaming and free for full motion.

The surprises of this universe are always there. Even a Lord of almost infinite past experience finds himself humbled at the abundance of what is still to be discovered in this incredible universe of ours. He knew that he was a part of something precious — and it brought him into a new state of determinism and certainty.

The mission to save this precious water planet must be won.

Chapter 6

The Water

We had spent the last few days caring Hi-Sun into top shape along with gathering food and a few other requirements for ourselves to continue our journey.

“We are almost set for leaving, Shane. There is the final mission to collect water and fill the belly of our Hi-Sun to the brim. I need to get to the clean source of the water that is filling the stream that flows to the bay in the corner there. If we can get the water right where it leaves the stone, then I know that we have the purity and hydration that we are after.”

“How do we get the water needed to fill Hi-Sun all the way from where she sits afloat?” I asked.

“We have piping and a large funnel that only has to be placed under the water source. Once she starts to fill, the transfer of the ocean water out of her hull is all that is needed to draw the water along the piping and in to fill Hi-Sun.”

“Mila and I can take the hose to the base of the water source. It should be fun to venture a little closer into the forest chatter that we have been hearing so much over the previous days. There is a lot of life in there.”

“I’ll send Max and Pei in there with you. They still have more nuts and berries to gather, and I would prefer that Mila have all the protection available if she will be going in there with you.”

“Thanks, Gary. She certainly is ‘more than I could ever physically handle’, but I agree that the four of us are safer together,” I said cheekily.

“I am sure that she is well able to take care of herself as well, and the water source is but a few hundred arms from the water’s edge. So the four of you be quick and busy, for I plan to take Hi-Sun out of this resting place tomorrow and back into the direction of our journey.”

“I think that we are well prepared. Let’s finish filling Hi-Sun and tomorrow, with good sleep under our belts, we will once again continue our journey.”

Gary opened the loading shutter of Hi-Sun and started to feed the piping out to us.

“The piping will extend way more than is needed for the distance that you have to go in. Take this funnel with you and when you reach the water source, join it to the piping and place it under the cool clean falling water from the cliffs.”

Mila and I walked the piping into the forest and Gary continued to allow it to feed out at just the right pace to keep us walking. We followed the path of the stream and the noise of the freshwater falling became clearer with each step. We turned the corner and it opened up into an alive and teeming lagoon surrounded with many birds, monkeys, lizards and colourful animals of so many types. At the back of the lagoon poured a crisp and powerful waterfall at the end of its journey from well above the rocky tops of the island, each day replenished by the rain clouds above.

All awed by the beauty and life of this water source, we were no less on our toes, alert to the power of the wildlife and the potential to be mistaken as a part of the food chain.

Mila and I took the funnel and with it now connected to the piping, placed it under a clean fresh cascade of falling mountain water. The piping swelled and it was obvious that the water was easily following the inside wall of the piping all the way into Hi-Sun.

“We must visit this place again, Shane. Possibly on our return journey. The life force here is something of a very unique nature. I feel like I am 16 years old once again,” Mila said, comfortably.

“It certainly is a special place, but, as Gary said, it is best left to the nature of the inhabitants that have been as one in the natural community since the dawn of this planet. To visit again would be lovely, but not what is needed to keep the circle of life intact.”

Mila replied.

“Come on, spoilsport. You know that I love a honeymoon any chance that I can get.”

I just laughed and leaned my forehead onto hers. I had only taken my attention off the environment for that brief moment but suddenly and so unnoticed, we had become surrounded by at least a dozen warm-bell monkeys. There seemed to be a sense of upset amongst one or two of them. The others just joined along. There were two males predominantly pushing in closer to us. Mila and I just held our space and continued to ensure that the water fed easily into the funnel. I stayed as relaxed as possible and there was no need to impress the same for Mila. She was well experienced with wild animals and she knew the necessity to convey only feelings of certainty and calmness around any such beast.

There was a third little coward that seemed to be chattering behind the two fronted-up males. In fact, edging them on in some way. Mila spoke gently.

“Seems we have a little stirrer amidst our fine furry friends.”

“Always the third party causing trouble. But I wonder — what’s his beef.”

“Doesn’t really matter much. What do you suggest we do?”

The two front males eased closer, both with a growling sneer on the sides of their mouths. The third instigator continued to chatter.

Just as I was ready to strike the first blow of defence, Max came dropping in out of nowhere and — “Crack” — dropped an elbow right onto the forehead of the instigating monkey. Both Pei and Max dropped forward into the range of the front two males and again, “Crack” — “Crack” — brutal blows to the forehead of one and the chin of the other. These are very strong and agile beasts. Although now startled by this sudden and unexpected defence, we were no less in quite a bit of trouble here. Right then, a larger mass smashed through a thick wall of trees and vines to the left-hand side of us all. A monkey much larger than any of us had ever seen dropped right into the middle of the action and we all just froze in his presence.

The warm-bell monkeys all cringed and showed their intimidation to this obviously superior member of their race. With all now waiting, he turned slowly toward Mila, Pei, Max and myself. He turned his head in a slightly curious expression. I knew that this was now my responsibility to take over the communication between our two races.

Max and Pei both fenced up ready for a violent onslaught, but I held my hand for them to lower their guard. No doubt, we may have landed some damaging blows, but we were all very obviously way in over our heads here. The large warm-bell monkey was very calm and at ease in our presence. There would be nothing on this island that would be of threat to him. Nothing that we had seen that could come close, anyway.

I stepped forward to indicate that I was the leader of our clan and remained as relaxed as possible in order to instil the confidence in him that we were of little to no threat. He seemed to gesture at the water and indicated in his expression that it appears that we are looting his home. With both Max and Pei now stocked to the brim with wild berries and nuts, this was a point that I certainly could not deny.

It was all irrelevant. We were here for a higher purpose and one that is for the greater good of each and every one of us standing here at this water source today.

I held eye contact with him and at the same time, reached down to take a handful of water. I brought it up in front of me and wielded it in various forms that seemed to emanate the intention radiating from me right there and then.

“I am Lord of Water, protector of all water planets within this universe. I am a warrior that fights for all life forms on this precious water planet and those of all the others that span this universe so far and wide. I am your friend and the forwarding of my purpose will bring about survival for us all and for so many more generations to come. See what you see and allow us to pass on this fine day of our meeting.”

The warm-bell monkey just relaxed in wonder and leaned forward, gazing into the motion of the water within my hands. He then looked back up to me and gestured a warm and friendly feeling that was an indication of his blessing. He reached out and with the tips of our knuckles, we touched in friendship. The leader turned to acknowledge Mila, Max, and Pei. He then turned to lead the members of his island clan away from us so that we were able to complete funnelling all the water that was needed for Hi-Sun.

The water stopped drawing into the hose as an indication that our work was done. We carefully drew the piping back to Hi-Sun, taking care to leave all that we had touched exactly as it was before we had been here. A change of spirit fell over all of us — as a group and members of an amazing and powerful team. We had been accepted and would forever after be welcome to this island.

The true test of a team is its ability to stick together no matter the odds. And they had passed — every one of them. They returned to Hi-Sun with a new sense of belonging and purpose.

Chapter 7

Tsunami

Gary was very light-hearted on our return to Hi-Sun.

“Did you make any new friends while venturing into the depths of the jungle, my friend?”

“You could kind of say that, Gary. I think that we are welcome to come and go as we please now — with the blessing of the monkeys of course.”

“Is that so? It went awfully quiet for just a little while there. I was thinking of looking for you.”

“Well then, Gary, you know that we are quite capable of taking care of ourselves. Pei and Max here certainly are just a little more surprising than they make out. Quite cracking, actually.”

“Oh yeah! They have both gotten me out of trouble on quite a few occasions. You always have to watch out for the quiet ones in this universe.”

“That’s for sure and these two are no exception. You should have seen the way that they…. Oh! I’ll tell you all about it later. Let’s get busy. We have to wrap all this up and get moving. We still have a very long journey ahead of us and every single minute counts. By the time I tell you what happened later on the deck, it will be twice as wild.” I paused, thinking to myself, then spoke again. “Is there any reason that we cannot leave by day’s end?”

Gary replied.

“Not at all, Shane. In fact, this was my plan. Hi-Sun has her belly full now and Max and Pei have the galley stocked to the brim. The dorsal pilots may miss their new friends, but even they get restless with too much play. It is time for us all to move forward with our journey. At day’s end, we once again chase Lady Sun’s tail into the night skies.”

Mila and I did whatever was needed to assist Gary, Pei, and Max — securing Hi-Sun, packaging food supplies, cleaning the decks and responding to any orders Gary called out.

Gary only had to give me a slight look before I knew what was needed — a final check on Hi-Sun down below. I smiled, as this was my absolute pleasure, and dove right off the edge. My main dorsal was already right on top of it and as always turned right in beside me as I speared through the water and down beside this magical keel.

She was now all glazing and beautifully mobile in each and every part of her. Her surface that was earlier covered in sea life and slime was now so clean, well oiled and shining — just like the beautifully glazed armour of a sea turtle shell. The shaft poised ready to extend as needed and below, the driving keel holding her position with a gentle balancing motion at the bottom of the lagoon.

I turned and glided my hand across her back, gently caressing as I approached the spirit of our amazing vessel. Once again, I turned over the front of the keel and faced her, waiting for her final approval. Her eyes widened and she turned her head — almost in a cheeky poise of friendship — and without a doubt, I knew that she was ready and grateful for the care that we had given her.

I gave her my bow and took a final sweep all the way through to her tail, under and on all sides. A final gentle hand on her forehead and I returned to the surface — checking and checking again all of her living parts to ensure that we had not missed even a hair.

My dorsal lifted me to the height of the deck and I stepped back on board. The clean lagoon water just fell off me, leaving me with a final revitalised feeling from this bay that would be forever a part of my fondest memories.

Gary announced his presence.

“Line up, my fiery crew. Too much rest can make a team way too lazy for my liking. Just a second off your toes can be a costly mistake. So I don’t want to see any more slacking off from either of you.”

Gary was almost laughing but he managed to hold it in. Mila, Max, Pei and I all stood at attention — our backs straight, each and every one of us on the verge of bursting out laughing. Despite the fact that this planet was so close in the balance of what may present itself to be a mortal threat far bigger than we are able to handle, we were all having the greatest time of our lives.

“What’s happening, Gary? Why are we dropping?” asked Mila.

She was the very first to notice, alerting all of us as we also became aware of the motion.

“All in!” called Gary, in a wail. “Max, Pei, secure the decks and return to the galley!”

Max and Pei were already in full swing. The water was draining from the bay very rapidly with the levels already dropping down on the beach at a rapid rate.

Gary called again.

“Shane and Mila, both of you at the helm with me, now!”

The three of us rushed to the helm with Gary in full control.

“Hold tight my loyal friends. It is about to get a little wild.”

Hi-Sun lifted instantly and turned in with the flow of the water draining out through the bay. The pull of the water was now funnelled more narrowly through the heads of the bay with the entrance surging more and more narrowly.

Gary guided Hi-Sun and she accelerated swiftly straight through the centre of the heads. Either side of us, the heads became a valley with the rocky edges piercing out of the water like claws from the island. Gary held Hi-Sun surely and she confidently punched right out of the bay. But to either side of us now, we became a part of an even larger stream of water that was pulling away from the island and drawing us rapidly into a basin.

Gary screamed at Max and Pei to close up and lock in.

“You both hold tight with me. We are safest right here so remain either side of me. Hi-Sun will protect us. She is very well prepared. There she forms,” Gary called.

Mila and I both had a very secure grip on either side of the helm. Gary was holding fast but at the same time, allowing Hi-Sun to move through the water as she knows best. In front of us, the water lifted and lifted and lifted until it was very clear that we were right in the impact zone of a humongous wave peaking and ready to crash right where we lay.

“Go!!!”

Called Gary and Hi-Sun accelerated more and more, ready to attack this wavefront head on with all of her force. She extended her shaft high and now we were sitting square in front of a monster that seemed to dwarf the mountainous islands that we had so swiftly escaped from only moments ago.

“Go!!!”

Called Gary again as we sat moments away from smashing into the biggest wave I had ever faced in all the galaxies. We could almost touch it now and it was inevitable that in the coming seconds, we were going to be smashed into oblivion.

Gary lowered his voice and whispered reassuringly to both of us.

“Hold on tight, my friends. We are going to be fine.”

Mila and I both gripped with all our might and held down low as instructed by Gary. Right at the moment of impact, Hi-Sun dropped her shaft and we dove to the very base of the wave. Suddenly the helm became covered in a sleek shielding as Hi-Sun closed up into a tight projectile and pierced directly into the base of the giant wave.

Hi-Sun now bound in very tightly — looking more so in the form of a dorsal pilot — drove deeply into the pit of the wave as it passed right over us. The strong, swirling current tried to draw us upwards and throw us over with force, but Hi-Sun just drove deeper and deeper into the pit of this water mass and continued to punch right on through and out the back of it.

Gary, Max, Pei, Mila and I all held in very tightly, only able to feel what was occurring through the motion we were experiencing. There was light about us, but the silence left us all waiting — all in the hands of Hi-Sun as she punched us through to safety.

We lifted through the back of this brutal wave and now sat out on the deep water behind the path of the Tsunami. Although quite shaken by what had just happened, we were all safe and very much alive.

The shields over the helm lowered and we sat in the wake of this humongous water mass that was now smashing into the islands that we had so luckily escaped. The white waters smashed up the sides and seemed to engross more than half the height of the mountainous walls, almost touching up to the cloud cover that sat so high on the rocky tops.

Mila just stared back at the island and tears began to drop from her eyes. It was not necessary for any of us to say a word. This was a devastating loss. But the inhabitants of the island are very tough and would no doubt hold life together. The water dropped back down from the sides with the forests and rocky ledges holding firm.

Gary spoke gently.

“They will make it. We have no time to turn back. Our time is more important in the direction we follow. This is just a small sign of what may happen if we do not fulfil our duty. I feel it too, my lady. I feel it too.”

The water about us swirled and did not really settle for many hours to come. The dorsal pilots had been with us all the way — a tight escort on either side, reinforcing our motion as we had pierced through this monster. Hi-Sun was completely untouched and emanated a high level of energy. She was very much on her keel.

We ate, cleaned up and ensured that all was locked down as we continued our journey into the night. The skies were infinite in the clusters of the universes above us. No moon had risen as of yet and the distance into the stars seemed as far as I had ever imagined. It was not a time for words. Mila lay in bed writing in her journal. It had been a day unlike any we had ever experienced before.

The true test of a team is its ability to stay together through whatever barriers may threaten its survival. Sometimes though, it is not all just glory. They had all grown that little bit more — and come to realise the power of what they may be facing in the months to come, fighting for the ultimate victory of this precious water planet.

Chapter 8

No More Easy Days

The adventure had been so much fun to date. But for the first time, we had all felt the loss that we face — the loss that awaits this precious planet if we fail. The tsunami that came so close to stopping us was the first true sign of the destabilisation already occurring. We have visitors. And they are already affecting the balance.

The mood of the ocean had taken on a new tone. Gary had changed in his attitude toward this adventure. We had all steeled ourselves to the task at hand and come to terms, for the first time, with the very real possibility of losing it all.

“Max, Pei,” called Gary. “Check all sides of Hi-Sun for damage. We will be pushing on for a few solid weeks before we get another chance to care for her. Be quick, but thorough. If we have to stop, we will — but time is our worst enemy right now. If she is all good, this may be the very last chance we have to service her until the mission is complete.”

Max and Pei paid no personal attention to the strength in Gary’s voice. They were both completely dedicated to the purpose of the mission. This was not the time for good manners or formalities. We had a task to complete — and until it was over, the lives of us all, and that of this planet, were all that mattered.

Gary took complete command of the vessel for the following day, ensuring that not an inch was missed and every part of Hi-Sun was in top working order.

“Mila, Shane — are the decks clean to every corner?” Gary called out.

Mila and I gave the thumbs up. We had been through all of it.

“I’d like both of you to continue into the bowels of Hi-Sun. Max and Pei spent many hours on her back on the island — but a lot has happened in the last two days. Go through and white-glove every inch of her insides. Keep a close eye for fractures on her internal walls. She has been through more than I have ever brought her close to before. You know the deal — don’t miss an inch.”

Mila and I took our rags and buckets through the galley and stepped down into the lower bowels of our vessel. Pei handed me a white ceramic bottle with a long neck. She turned my hands to pour just a few tiny droplets onto a clean cloth, then guided me to spread it gently across the inner wall.

The clear fluid was pure, viscous and oily in character. It spread and worked amazingly into the surface, giving it renewed moisture and life. Where dryness and minor cracking had taken hold, the fluid was simply absorbed — and the wall transformed before our eyes, restored to a texture full of life, renewed as a perfect part of the ship once again.

I knew what had to be done. After giving Pei a warm smile of understanding, I turned and stepped with Mila into the lower chamber of Hi-Sun.

Drawn up the walls were the roots of Hi-Sun’s life form, holding the complete hull firmly in place from within. It was as though our ocean vessel was no more than a shell — held together by the living being of Hi-Sun from somewhere deep below us. I placed my hands on the walls, and now I could see all of what she truly is.

She is a vessel. She is dedicated to the passage of the water people.

Mila held her hands against the walls, caressing them, feeling the life within. Then she spoke.

“Her purpose is duty. She lives on the higher purpose of all living things. We are never happier than when we are helping those around us. This amazing, spiritual life force appears to be happier than all of us put together — living right at the very edge of duty, each and every minute of her life.”

We scoured every inch of her insides, oiling her walls with the magical fluid and feeling the life within her as she continued to drive through the ocean.

Mila and I returned to the deck, welcomed by the wonderful smell of fresh fish cooked with tropical vegetables and herbs from the island. The galley was sparkling. The table was filled with the afternoon dinner that we had all so well deserved.

Gary had come right back to his cheerful and mischievous self.

“Did you have a lovely time down below, you two? Hope you both remembered there was work to be done.”

Mila laughed and looked a little coy.

“She is wonderful, Gary. I can truly see and feel the life in Hi-Sun now. I am so honoured to be a part of her on this journey.”

“She is just that, my fine lady. And believe me — she is no happier than being right here with us. Even that last little challenge has raised her morale to a level I have never experienced before. Can you believe how she just punched right on through that wave?”

“I know, Gary. We all went a little serious for a while there. The island will survive. And look at us — nothing is going to stop us.”

Gary chuckled and called for Max and Pei to bring on some music to dance. We all feasted and celebrated the life that we hold, and the spirit of play that still remained in our journey.

Almost overwhelmed by an incident that could have ended everything, Shane and his mighty team were now stronger and more certain than ever before. Impossible? Nothing could faze them.

Chapter 9

On the Deck

We had made great progress. The seas had been filled with amazing life — days that never ceased to amaze us. Nights filled with wondrous galaxies, our orbiting moons shifting the colour of the skies as they moved.

Our dorsal pilots are a part of us now. On the few occasions that we enjoyed brief rest, I always took advantage and dove with them to ensure Hi-Sun was well taken care of down below. She had grown so much more accustomed to my visits and each time we came face to face I could feel the warmth between us deepening.

My main dorsal and I had developed a deep understanding between us. He could take me to any depth needed and with such great ease return me to the deck, where I would find Mila and share with her what I had discovered each time in the water and with Hi-Sun.

Another evening began to set and it was time to while away an hour or two on the deck with Gary before catching a deep and well-earned sleep. We had just finished another feast brilliantly prepared by Max and Pei. I don’t know how Mila and I are going to do without them when this journey of ours finally comes to an end.

Mila, Max, and Pei all retired for the day and I stood at the helm with Gary, both of us gazing at the galaxies above in silent wonder of the days to come.

Gary broke the silence.

“What is it that they are after in stealing our water, Shane?”

“Good question, Gary. On Blue-3 it was all gold and oil. There was so much water there that nobody seemed to notice the solution to their existence right under their noses.”

“Well there is plenty on this wonderful planet of ours. Can’t they just take a little and then leave?”

“You would think so, Gary, but it isn’t as simple as that. The volume of water, believe it or not, has little to do with it.”

“But how could they possibly carry it all?”

“You have all the right questions, Gary. These dark beings are sent in from another universe. They have no consideration of time — locked into electronic bodies that control them completely. Without the slightest doubt, they believe they are doing what is best for all of existence. That is just the design of the program that traps them.”

“Electronic bodies. How big are these things?”

“Some are quite big Gary, but size is not really the consideration here. It is what they are doing with the water that matters. They are not collecting it — they are stealing the energy locked inside it. Energy they will take back to their own universe.”

“Energy? From water?”

“Water contains two vital components — the energy of breath and animation that sustains all life, the raw building blocks of this physical universe. The combination of these two, compressed and converted, is almost infinite in its potential. That is what they are after. Not the water itself — what is inside it.”

“Gary, what you are going to see in the coming days will shake you. It will show you what sheer destruction looks like — and just how fragile life can be.”

Gary said nothing. He was listening with everything he had.

“The life force of this planet is powerful and eternally regenerative, as you know well. But when stripped completely dry, a planet cannot sustain a single living entity. They come in with enormous mining machines and draw the water up into their converters — like a giant suction pipe filling a tank that never seems to fill. They reverse the very structure of the water particles, converting them into stored energy. Sucking and converting, sucking and converting, until there is nothing left. Not a drop on the surface, not a trace of vapour in the atmosphere, not a single underground channel untouched. What remains is a dead wasteland — another barren rock spinning in the dark.”

“And their technology?”

“Advanced beyond anything on this planet. Defence systems that on first appearance would make you think them completely indestructible.”

Gary had gone a little pale. He started to speak but the words dissolved before they reached his lips. I lifted my hand to reassure him and continued.

“As I said, they are surrounded by superior technology and defence systems. But they have never been touched by a Lord and have no idea what disentanglement is. None whatsoever. Once the first one falls into the Weeper, they all seem to go into confusion and apathy. They are not programmed for defeat — only to mine and to destroy anything that stands in their way. And if they achieve their ends, the energy storage units are shipped back through that same wormhole they snuck in through.”

“Ok then, how are we going to get close enough to do anything about it? Let alone get one to sit still long enough for you to deliver the disentanglement.”

“I know, Gary — it really does seem completely off this planet what we are up against.”

“Completely off this universe is more like it.”

“And you would be right. But it is not as hard as it seems. They are on the lookout for other invaders armed with high powered technology. Native wildlife they won’t even flinch at. And that is exactly what we are to them — native wildlife. No threat whatsoever. If we get directly in their way we will be squashed like a bug, so it is the method of getting inside each of them that is the task before us. We have to find a hole.”

“Find the hole! Oh my God!”

“Don’t worry, my fine captain. I will take you through it all. I know it can be done because I have done it before. Many thousands of years past — but just as I am able to move the water, I know that I will be able to penetrate this evil technology and free the dark beings trapped behind it.”

Gary looked a lot calmer. He let out a long breath and almost laughed at himself.

“It’s just a job. And like any other job, once you get started you find that the hardest part was thinking about it.”

“Now you’re cooking, Gary. You wait — you’re going to love it.”

Gary smiled and shook his head, that quiet chuckle of his finding its way out.

“So what do we do with these Weepers once we have finished with them?”

“Just get them busy helping. It doesn’t take too long. They start to help out and slowly come to the realisation that they are a life form — that they have just been freed from a trap that until this moment was an eternal and agonising sentence. Like any good spiritual being, they are generally just great guys. But they can have the strangest bodies you have ever come across. So I hope you are ready to see something that is literally out of this world.”

“I’m ready, Shane. You just make sure Hi-Sun gets through safely without getting in the way of one of those… things.”

“Hi-Sun is the least of my worries. I know that she will guide us right on in as we need. My main dorsal and his warriors will help me take it from there. You guys hold in close on standby. We drop one and get back on board, ready to hit the next and the next until we have gotten them all. If we fail, the Marshal will have to take over.”

“Ok, Ok! And what’s this Marshal that you were talking about. What’s he got to do with all of this? Has he just come along to watch?”

“You don’t miss anything, Gary. The Marshal is here to watch. If I don’t do my job, things are going to get very complicated — he’ll have to call in a bunch of cranky Lords pulled off their own missions because I have failed at mine. So we ain’t gonna let that happen, yeh?”

“I’m with you, Shane. I have seen you do the unimaginable already. I trust in your word and will hold the line for you. We’ll pull this off.”

“We will. And sorry for making you a bit dizzy there with all of this. But you wait — it really is a lot of fun. And the look on some of their faces once they hit the Weeper is quite a sight. Hysterical in fact.”

We both joined in raucous laughter as Hi-Sun sailed on into the night. I retired shortly after, leaving Gary at the helm under a sky full of stars. He had come to terms with what we were truly up against — and so had I. The days ahead would bring us face to face with it all. But tonight, at least, we could laugh.

Chapter 10

First Sightings

From that night onwards, Gary and I held a complete and unspoken agreement between us. We both knew that we were heading into the unknown, at least to a certain degree. As far as my past experience had taught me, the program never really changes. They send in mining missions, manned with witless beings driving high-powered extraction Rigs, with one purpose only — find water planets, suck every last drop, convert the energy into condensed antimatter and return through the wormhole from which they came.

There must be an infinite number of universes, and so many of them are likely being mined and ravaged on a constant basis by these dark beings, stealing the life energy of one precious place after another. There was no doubt in my mind about what we were going to find. They always make contact in the outer orbit, and they always arrive with a fleet large enough to drain a planet bone dry.

Gary had changed before my eyes. He had always been on board, no doubt about that — but until this point, he had been following an intention, a purpose line driven by belief. Now there was something else in him entirely. Not a breath of doubt. He had seen the dark patch in the helix cluster. He had stood at the helm while a tsunami pulled the sea out from under us, pummelling the islands behind us. He had listened to me talk about the Weeper and the disentanglement. He had laughed and chosen in all the way. This incredible captain of mine now knew, with the certainty of a man who has read the ocean his whole life, that there was an invading intergalactic force above us. And that we were the only hope this planet had.

The days had grown shorter as the seasons turned. We chased Lady-Sun’s tail into the horizon and with yet another evening soon to pass, the first stars appeared and the red glow of the sky slowly turned to night.

“Shane!” called Gary, sharp and low. “To the horizon — left and right. There seems to be a Rig of sorts.”

I came up beside him at the helm. Gary indicated the two locations on the horizon. Left and right of our line of travel, there was a glow of activity — and protruding from the horizon what appeared to be some kind of structure, shimmering with a low electromagnetic field. The field hung around each Rig like a lazy halo, the kind of weak crackle a thing puts out when it isn’t trying to hide and isn’t trying to be seen, when it is simply working.

Looking at them, something in my chest dropped and settled at the same time. There they were. The dream. The black beam. The hub in the sky. Made real now, sitting low on the line of the world like they had always been there waiting.

“Gary, just continue on the line we follow,” I said quietly. “They have no awareness of our presence other than that of an ocean whale or some native form of this planet.”

“Well, I suppose they see us exactly as we are then, my Lord,” said Gary.

“That is right, Gary. And that is a good thing. We should not be perceived as a threat in any way. We have many hours still before we are close enough for a better evaluation. I’ll retire early to ensure my sleep is sufficient. When we are within clear view of the first Rig, come and wake me. We will see what we have.”

“The Rig on the right seems to be the closest one.”

“Then the Rig on the right it is. Set your line and have Max and Pei take over. I need you to sleep early as well — I want you fully on your toes when the fun begins.”

Gary nodded. He didn’t laugh and he didn’t joke. He simply turned, lifted his voice gently into the rigging and called Max and Pei to the helm. They came at a run — silent for once, reading the deck and the captain in a single glance. Gary handed them the rod with a soft word and a hand on Pei’s shoulder, then walked the length of Hi-Sun towards his quarters. Not even a glance at the horizon.

He didn’t need to look. He had already seen.

Mila was awake when I stepped in. She was sitting up in the soft glow of our lamp with her journal in her lap, the pen resting in the crease of the page. She looked up at me and her smile did not waver — but her eyes searched mine for half a heartbeat and found the answer.

“They’re out there, aren’t they?” she said softly.

“Two of them. On the horizon. Left and right of our line.”

She closed her journal and laid it gently on the side shelf. No drama. No questions she didn’t need to ask. She simply lifted the blanket on my side of the bed and held it open for me.

“Then come and sleep, my Lord of Water. Tomorrow you go to work.”

I lay down beside her and she folded herself in close, her forehead pressed against mine the way she always does when she means it most. Not a word more needed to be said. No words would change a thing now, and our most valuable weapon would be the energy in our own bodies and the clarity of our own thinking — and that could only be guaranteed by proper rest.

Mila’s breath slowed against my cheek. I could feel her there, settled and certain, with that strong and quiet confidence of hers pressed right into the centre of my beingness. She knows I have done this before. She knows what we were about to step into. And she knows me.

I let her draw me under.

Below us, Hi-Sun drove steadily through the long ocean swells towards the first Rig. Max and Pei manned the helm, holding the line clean and easy with the small competent movements of two who have grown up under Gary’s eye. Below the keel, the dorsal pilots had drawn in tighter. Not in alarm. In readiness. My main dorsal held the front of the formation as always — and behind him, the team curled and turned with the wake of our keel like a lean driving muscle.

The two glows on the horizon grew slowly closer. Neither Rig moved. Neither Rig reached. They simply held their place on the ocean and went about their work. Whatever that work was, it was the reason every dream I had carried since the eclipse had been dark.

Across the darkening waters, the Rigs held the horizon — patient, electric, unaware that the small lean vessel slicing the swells between them carried the one being in this sector who could undo them. Two glows on the far rim of the world, and one Lord of Water sleeping with his Mila in his arms, gathering himself for the work ahead.

Below the keel, the dorsal pilots felt the change in the water. Something deep had stirred long ago and was stirring still. Whatever lay beneath those Rigs — whatever had possessed the slicers in the dark months past — was awake now. And it had not forgotten the taste of a water planet.

Tomorrow, our young Shane would step into the work he was made for. Tonight, the ocean carried him forward.

Chapter 11

The First One

I felt it before I saw it. A negative energy drifting in under the door of our quarters, cold and oily, the way bad water feels when it has given up on being clean. Mila stirred and sat up with me without a word. She felt it too. We pulled on something warm and went out to the deck together to see how close we had come.

Gary was already at the helm. Max and Pei were both taking their rest below, and the night was so still that I could hear Hi-Sun breathing beneath us — that low, living hum she makes when she is holding herself steady against something she does not like. Down at the keel our dorsal pilots had drawn in tight, pressed close to her driving line, none of their usual rolling and playing. They had stopped saying hello. They were watching.

Out across the black water, blotting the low stars from the horizon, sat the beast.

“Do you recognise this big ugly beast, Shane?” Gary asked, without turning his head. He didn’t dare take his eyes off it.

“I am familiar with this death machine, Gary.”

It squatted on the sea like something that had no right to float — three vast legs driven down into the dark, a swollen grey body bulging above them, dull and seamless, catching not one glimmer of the starlight the way honest things do. The longer I looked the bigger it grew, until it seemed less a machine than a piece of the night that had come loose and settled on our ocean.

“I feel like I can almost touch it,” Gary breathed. “Look at the size of that beast.”

“Don’t let her size fool you, big fella. It’s only as strong as the moment we give it.”

It had been such a long time since I’d stood this close to one. But there was no room now for doubt, no room for the loafing man I’d let myself become these past easy years. They were here. And if they were not stopped, and stopped quickly, the momentum of their mining would begin to build on itself — and the water would be stripped from this globe faster than any of us could ever hope to save it.

“Waiting for your orders, my Lord,” Gary said.

I studied the great grey body for a long moment, reading it the way I’d read the swell.

“They haven’t begun yet, Gary. Look — she’s still settling. There’s a fair bit of setup before they lock their legs into the crust and line themselves up with one another. But once they get rolling, then we are in real trouble.” I let the stillness of the night air gather my thoughts. “These Rigs are no cleverer than any other machine ever built in this universe. They take in energy, they burn it, and whatever they can’t use, they have to dump. Everything that feeds has to foul somewhere.”

Gary’s mouth twitched, the cheek breaking through even now. “So these three-legged mushrooms have to take a crap in our oceans?”

I couldn’t help but laugh, and the sound felt good against all that cold. “That’s exactly right. And the worst of it isn’t even their own waste. It’s what they pull out of the water itself. They’re only after the pure stuff, Gary — the life force, the living energy. Everything else — all the salts and minerals that belong in a healthy sea — they strip it out and, as you say, crap it straight back out the rear. That’s where the balance of a whole planet begins to tip.” I nodded out at the silent body. “They lock into the core, set themselves up as one parasitical group, test and talk between each other until every last one of them is ready. Then they rip together. A swarm. And once a swarm like that starts pumping, it does not stop until the water sits lower than the ocean floor they’re standing on.”

Below us the dorsals shifted, a ripple of unease running down the line. My main pilot rolled just enough to find my eye in the dark, and I felt his question come up to me clear as a spoken word. Do we fight this? I sent him back the only thing I had — not yet — and he held his line.

Gary eased Hi-Sun forward, the gentlest pressure on the control rods, walking her in toward what was plainly the front of the giant Rig. Beyond it, far across the horizon, another grey shape. And behind that, just at the edge of seeing, another — all of them standing in a long quiet line like soldiers waiting on a marching order.

“That big fat mushroom looks impenetrable, Shane.” Gary kept his voice low now, as if the thing might hear. “You’re really going to have to help me with this one. If we’re to get you inside so you can do your thing — how in the devil do we get in?”

“Same way as everything that feeds, Gary. We go in where it fouls.” I pointed to the rear of the nearest leg. “There’s a fault in every one of them. Where the back leg meets the upper casing, there’s a wastage point — an excretion gap that has to open every time it discharges. Don’t worry yourself. We’ll get close enough to see exactly where I’m aiming.” I let the next part land easy, because I needed him steady. “And remember — this isn’t an armed force we’re up against. It’s a thieving operation. A robbery on the grandest scale you’ll ever lay eyes on. But a robbery all the same.”

Gary nodded, silent, and brought her in.

We slid under the shadow of the body, into a cold that had weight to it, the great legs rising on either side of us like the trunks of dead iron trees. Hi-Sun went quiet as a held breath. Up underneath, where the rear leg socketed into its joint, I could make out the seams — and just below that, set back, an opening with a narrow platform slung beneath it, hanging out over the sea.

“We’ve come just at the right time, Shane,” Gary whispered. “Look at that.”

The opening above the platform drew back, wider and wider, and out lowered a great length of limp piping, swinging down and off the back of the stubbly ledge. A few dribbles of black, watery sludge sloshed from its mouth and fell the long drop to the ocean below, where it spread on the surface in a slick that killed the starlight wherever it touched. Then it finished. But the pipe stayed lowered, the doorway hanging open in the dark.

“It looks like it’s just getting comfortable,” Gary murmured. “Settling in for the long haul.”

“You couldn’t be more correct.” I watched the slick drift and felt the water flinch from it. “They’re set to begin on the outer slingshot of our orbit. Once our precious water planet starts her return from the far ellipse, there’s less gravitational pull on the tides — less resistance for them to fight. That’s when they’ll start ripping, with every intention of leaving us bone dry before she swings back to the inner orbit.” I turned to him. “Which means we have time yet. Time to set up. Time to learn how to topple this whole operation over.”

“So that’s when our Marshal calls in the cavalry, yeah?” Gary said. “The cleaner you sent for.”

“That’s right. Half a year out, and counting.” I drew a breath, because there was one more thing I’d been letting myself put off telling him, and there is no kindness in keeping a man in the dark on a night like this. “There’s one more hazard, Gary, and I’ve been slow to mention it. There’s a ship out there with this fleet. We call her the Monitor.”

“The Monitor!” Gary’s whisper cracked up into something nearly loud. “And what in the devil is the Monitor?”

“She’s the intelligence behind all of this. Every Rig out there is driven by an operator — and every one of those poor souls is enslaved, hypnotised, programmed to follow orders no matter what’s left of the mind underneath. The Monitor is the slave master to all of them. She’s the ship the whole swarm is run from, and the one who runs her has done so many universes before ours.” I let him take that in. “He is a completely different kettle of fish to these dumb grey mushrooms. That’s why we play this game so very carefully.”

“Right.” Gary swallowed. “And what’s stopping the Monitor from spotting a little fishing boat sitting under his leg taking notes?”

“That’s the one piece of luck we’re born with. We’ve no technology he wants and none he fears. To anything aboard the Monitor we’re nothing — a tiny native vessel, a scrap of timber on the swell, putting out no signal worth a glance. And the way I speak to my dorsals, the way I’ll speak to the Crystal — it runs on a thought-wave far below anything his machines can hear. Clever and powerful as he is, he is deaf and blind to us. We will not be detected.”

“Well.” Gary let out a long breath. “That’s a bit of a relief. And if we were detected?”

“We’d be fried.”

“Oh, lovely.” Gary closed his eyes. “Fried. Boiled little fish. More wonderful news.”

“It’s all right, big fella.” I clapped a hand to his shoulder. “I know you’re up for it.”

And he was. He laughed — a real one, low so it wouldn’t carry, shaking his head at the madness of it all — and then, because he is who he is, he burst into a soft sea-man’s jig right there on the drive deck, a dance of high seas and danger done on his toes in the dark, grinning the whole while. Mila came up beside me, slipped her arm through mine, and gave me that cheeky grin of hers, rolling her eyes at the both of us.

“You certainly handled that well, Shane,” she whispered. “You don’t think Gary’s quite lost it now, do you?”

“He’ll be fine. This is the adventure he’s been waiting for his whole life.” I watched him spin his careful jig under the belly of a planet-killer and felt a great fondness for the man. “There wasn’t much I could’ve done to prepare him for a thing like this — other than to bring him here and let him stand in its shadow. That’s the only way anyone ever truly believes it.”

I looked back along the line of grey bodies marching off into the dark, and the next piece of this impossible mission settled in on me.

“I need to see how long this line actually runs. They’ll all be on this side of the globe, set high on the outer face of the final orbit. There could be a dozen or so.” Something cold touched the back of my mind as I said it — a feeling that I was guessing low, that the truth out there in the dark was worse than the number I’d let myself name. I shook it off. “First thing is to find out whether we’re sitting on the outer one in the line or somewhere in the middle. So we’ll chase out a little further along and count.”

“How do we know where they end?” Mila asked.

“They keep within a horizon’s span of each other — never further. Close enough to see one another, close enough to coordinate. A team.” I felt my own mouth tighten. “Or a swarm. That’s the truer word for it.”

Gary brought Hi-Sun about, turning her head out and away from the line, and she answered him gladly, relieved to be moving off into clean water. He sang as he sailed, loud and bright into the night — a daft, booming song with no tune to speak of — but under the foolery there was a thread of pure bravery in it, and it warmed every one of us and lifted our spirits the way only Gary can, now that we truly stood on the battle line.

Below, my dorsals fell back into formation around the keel, vibrant and ready, and I felt them gather their courage with ours.

A little shocked he may have been, but Gary understood that nothing about the stakes had shifted one inch. Everything to lose. Everything to win. Eternity itself, all hanging on a fishing boat and a handful of cheeky souls. And to be sailing now in among the very feet of an alien force bent on the death of our world — well, I could think of nothing more fitting for the spirit of this crew that had carried me all the way to this front, on this day, where we all now stand.

I held Mila a little closer, took one last long look at the first of them, turning my mind to the impossible we will overcome.

Chapter 12

All In A Row

We had definitely struck the end of the line. The horizons had dropped off for another day and there was no sign of another Rig. I gave Gary the nod and we turned Hi-Sun to follow the line of Rigs, one after the other, to see what we were really up against. For the following three days we drove Hi-Sun at a safe distance right along the line of Rigs as they sat one after the other, all in a row across the horizon.

“Nineteen, Shane,” Gary gave the final announcement as we were certain we had again driven well past the other end of the line.

“Then Nineteen it is, Gary. We only have about two weeks left to wreak havoc before the Marshal arrives. He will be here at the turn of the orbit though I doubt little that we will see his presence beforehand. This is a tricky game we are about to begin. The Rigs themselves are driven by hypnotized slaves, no more, but it is the Monitor that we have to stay aware of. If he detects our presence there is very little room for hiding out here. It would be a matter of trying to outrun a machine that is capable of spanning the whole universe.”

“The Monitor sounds like one of those school teachers that I was always getting in trouble with back in my school days,” said Gary.

“I wish it were, Gary, but this Monitor is the leading unit of this mission. It will be driven by brutal, cold and feelingless creatures with no other purpose than mining this planet to dust. They will stop at nothing to achieve their mission orders and they are armed with heat ray weapons of the like that this planet has never seen before.”

“Heat weapons, huh!” Gary laughed again and was now really in hysterics about the impossible odds that we faced. “We have the dorsal pilots and Hi-Sun and the brute of Max and Pei of which I know they have never felt before.”

“That’s the spirit, Gary. That is exactly what we have and I can tell you one thing with total certainty. It is not a team that we are up against here. Each one of these worthless pirates would not be able to trust each other for a second without their technology to protect them. Spiritually, they are nowhere and you wouldn’t want them on your team even if they were the last choice on Blue-3. However, we do have a responsibility to straighten them out when it’s all done. Deep down each one of them is just a trapped soul that was one day long past, bright, alive and faithful just as we are.”

“Well, if you must take care, then you have to do what you have to do. Personally, I would love to just smash them up and grind them to dust, but I figure that they are just going to pop up in another lifetime and sooner or later we are going to have to sort them out.”

“You are our wise, Captain Gary. There is no doubt that you are above the brutal revenge that it is so easy for a man to seek.”

Gary paused to take in my words. Looking back at the Rigs, he asked, “Which one do we start on first, Shane?” He reached for his tall cup of mill tea and took a large gulp.

“I want to take one out somewhere along the center. We will strike at night time and leave Hi-Sun well back from the action. I don’t want the Monitor to catch wind of her in any way. I will be guided by my dorsals and carry out my work on the first Rig. At first, they will only notice that there is one Rig out of action, but within a few days, they are going to start noticing that one after the other will be left unmanned as we snatch the operators away.”

“Well, it will just look like the brain dead operators have gone missing then!” laughed Gary.

“That it may, Gary. But they need them driven and they need them all in a row. So they will certainly notice that something hidden and unknown is taking them out.”

“Just tell me exactly where you want me, my mighty Lord of Water and we will be right there for you,” Gary gave me that look with an almost serious frown that nearly got me. He has an amazing ability to make me think that he has truly dropped down to a serious tone, but not this guy, I am sure that he doesn’t have a serious bone in his body.

I guided Gary and Hi-Sun to the back of the middle Rigs just over the cover of the horizon. We had all eaten and the whole crew was on standby for orders. There wouldn’t be much for them to do, other than to be ready and take custody of the first Weepers — with the assistance of the dorsals, we would bring them one at a time on board.

Mila took my hand and held me close.

“I will see you soon,” she whispered.

I turned to Gary, with Max and Pei standing beside him. I looked each of them in the eye — and they held mine. We were ready.

The sun had finally set over the horizon. The darkness of the night set in. I stepped to the nose of Hi-Sun and dove a high arc out and into the ocean. My main dorsal right there beside me as he picked me up and drove me through the ocean towards the first Rig. Let’s see if I was still up for the challenge.

As we approached, the glow of the Rig illuminated the water more and more. We dove deeper to be less visible and six of the other dorsals disbursed in various directions to remove the appearance of an approaching attack.

There were plenty of other ocean inhabitants sharing the water with us. I felt relaxed and knew that there would be no reason for us to raise the attention of the Monitor.

I could perceive the three magnetic legs that supported the Rig so evenly above the water. Taking great care to keep my dorsals clear of the disturbing field radiating outward from each of the three magnetic legs.

We thrust up through the water, pierced the surface and sailed high and lightly right to the disposal platform on the underside of the Rig. I stepped to the side, still holding a guiding hand on the left dorsal fin of my main man. I could not have stepped more gently onto the platform as my dorsal pilot smoothly dropped back to the ocean below and slid back in under its surface.

It had been quite a few lifetimes since I had set foot on one of these lower decks, but the black steely smell and feel of death were oh-so familiar, once again.

How the wormholes allow such machines to pass through never ceases to amaze me. Wormholes! A disgusting death vacuum. I suppose it does give us a game.

Lord of Water found himself standing alone on the all too familiar platform. They are all built the same and for one purpose — to suck every last drop of water from any water planet they can rest their feet on, and steal it back to their own black universe. What he would find inside, he did not yet know. But he was already in.

Chapter 13

Slip In

The disposal door slid open and the hydraulic shaft pushed the mucus of the day out over the platform, splattering across the ocean surface below.

I knew the deal. Entering the Rig is not a pleasant experience, with the waste shaft being the only way in. The internal caverns were not built for comfort or vacation. There is room to operate and service these Rigs. There is no need for more.

I followed the withdrawal of the shaft as the lowered panel rose back behind me.

“I am only here to look,” I said to myself as the stench of the caverns began to engulf me. “I will soon be back in the clean cool ocean. Let’s just take a look and see how these Rigs are manned. Tomorrow night we step into action.”

I slipped over the top of the shaft driver and carefully scanned all directions to ensure my entry had not been seen. Generally there will be an operator and one service crew — completely docile and simple to deal with, but it’s policy to check each and every time before taking action. Once the de-Rigging begins, there is no turning back until it is all done.

I followed the walking deck across to the middle of the lower service area. The service terminal would be down here somewhere — either robotically doing his rounds, eating, emitting waste, or sleeping out his allowed time off the floor. Up above, the operator sat within his encapsulating suite, following the program — his orders, his duties — basically holding the Rig in place ready to commence conversion of all water into aqua antimatter in a few days time.

As I slipped lightly along the deck, I spotted the service terminal at the far end, slumped on a crude-looking chair. It had just lowered its ugly, disfigured body down and slowly relaxed into what appeared to be a long-awaited rest.

“Man! They sure are ugly,” I thought to myself as I carefully stepped onto the ladder staircase to the upper operator deck. Slowly rising to the top, I carefully lifted my head above the floor and the upper deck became visible. Surrounding the stairwell were walls plated with various door latches and riveted plates. There, right in front of me, was the rear of a chair that was most obviously that of the operator. I could see the right hand, gloved up in mechanical casings — not much different from the arm of a crab. Locked in and rested onto a shaft that is nothing other than the position controller of this whole Rig.

About the operator and within reach of him were controls to the various other functions, including the lever to commence water conversion and right there in the middle of his sight were the command screens that had his attention fixed so solidly for the complete duration of each day. There is no need for him to be any place other than to sit and drive or hold in place this Rig.

As normal, the screen was lit with location indication, position in fleet, current sequence step, and most importantly, steps to complete absolute dehydration of this planet — now only seven days away from commencement, and not far beyond that, completion of the mission and exit right through the wormhole portal with its haul tightly packed.

The operator just hovered there, his attention fixed on the screen and his hand in position, keeping the Rig in place.

“This is clearly the execution program,” I said to myself as I took a final gaze at the screen to ensure I had missed nothing. I was certain that nineteen Rigs and their Monitor were all I was dealing with. “This is all we have. Tomorrow night we commence takedown.”

I turned and began my descent back to the lower deck and the excretion shaft. My heart froze. I stood face to face with an expressionless, zombie-looking alien, gazing straight through me as though it was walking in its sleep. Its stinking breath and slimy body odour emanated right onto me as it stood there, mouth open, drooling and panting.

I stood perfectly still. Not one breath. The whole mission — nineteen Rigs, the Monitor, the planet — all of it balanced on whatever happened in the next three seconds.

Chapter 14

Take Down

Shane let out a brief sigh and uttered that universal word, silently, to himself: “F**k.”

In a fraction of a second, knowing completely that a decision is the most important action in any moment of doubt or surprise, he jammed his fist directly into the neck of the service terminal. With his index finger curled and pointed, supported by the thumb, he drove the full force of his knuckle deep into the throat of the service terminal and held it there as he took the alien’s weight across his left shoulder, silently lowering it, unconscious, to the floor.

Shane stepped instantly around to the left of the operator and, in one smooth motion, took the control shaft from its right hand, snapped its face shield up, and dropped his palm directly onto its forehead. He held it firm and placed a spiritual connection in a place that only a Lord is able to find.

The operator moaned and winced, then held still as Shane rolled its memory back and back and back — one at a time through the life spans of dirty work this being had carried out, one after another after another, until all of it had played right back to it: the evil, the damage, the crimes it had been party to and used to execute upon others as a member of this dark machine.

The “Separator” was completed, and the poor sod flopped in its seat, falling into an uncontrollable wail before quietening down to a continual, monotonous weeping sorrow of regret.

“Well!” Shane whispered to himself, “The Take Down has begun. We have no more than seven days to take these nineteen down and somehow drop the Monitor to prevent a message of distress from ever passing through the portal and to the dark, awaiting, cowardly forces.”

It certainly had begun — and yet here he stood, holding the control shaft of an actual Rig, one operator a dribbling mess, the other unconscious on the deck. Had anything really begun at all?

Chapter 15

Time To Run, Guys

I left the operator in his chair to weep by itself. I then took the other still unconscious alien and slid it across the floor and onto the elevator platform, then lowered it to the bottom deck and dragged it out to the edge of the disposal shaft. God, I had forgotten how smelly these dirty slave beings could be.

Leaving the unconscious mass on the floor, I returned upstairs to coerce the operator out of its seat. While it continued to sob uncontrollably, I led it down to the same deck.

I walked it to the edge and, right on cue, a dorsal rose from the water. I pushed the alien off balance and into its open mouth — it engulfed the operator and dropped clean back into the ocean below.

I winced at the thought of the disgusting aftertaste my dorsals were going to endure over the following days.

I slid the still unconscious one to the edge and rolled it over. The next dorsal took it, just as gently, back under the ocean surface. I placed my hand on the Rig — a quiet word to hold its place in line with the other eighteen.

I arched out in a clean dive and pierced the ocean surface alongside my head dorsal, waiting right below.

With the two alien cargo safely in dorsal custody, we drove through the water toward Hi-Sun and her crew, who I knew would be waiting.

My main man lifted me to the height of the main deck and I stepped smoothly onto Hi-Sun as if I had walked right off a jetting landing.

I turned to gesture to Gary and the crew to help. As the dorsals allowed both aliens to spill out of their mouths, Gary, Max, Pei and Mila were all there to cradle them gently into a recovering position — one in a sobbing state of shock and the other now starting to slowly come out of unconsciousness.

“Oh my God,” called Gary as he burst into a state of glee. “You certainly have been deep sea fishing tonight, haven’t you then?”

I gave Gary that cheeky smirk that I had now become quite accustomed to giving him.

“I hope that Max and Pei don’t have to cook those things for dinner. They don’t look very tasty at all.”

Gary had gotten me. I was unable to hold back any longer. We all burst into laughter — all the while the operator sat sobbing, and the other one had started to awaken, becoming vaguely aware that it was somewhere entirely unfamiliar and among very unfamiliar company.

I excused myself to the crew and walked across to the unsightly creature, which was now eyeing the edges of the deck with the clear look of a being about to bolt.

I placed my hand on its forehead and began the Separator — rolling it back through the eons of slave membership, and further still, to the earliest crimes that had brought about its entrapment in the first place.

It let out a disgusting wail of eternal torture and regret, all crew members covering their ears in shock, as this long-lost soul — for the first time in eons — was able to take a long hard look at itself, awakening from the amnesia it had been sentenced to.

Max and Pei somehow brought these two familiar entities together and they seemed to be of comfort to each other. They sat now, both more peacefully together on the side of the deck.

I turned to Gary, ready to start explaining what had been done. Then I stopped dead at what had risen up over the horizon, heading directly for the line of Rigs.

“Oh! My! God!”

Another unpredictable event was already in the works.

Chapter 16

Pure Evil

The Trade Vessel moved through the water just like the King of the Ocean it had been for so many millennia past. He wore the scars of immortal trade and dominance across the planet’s ocean spans, carving stronger than ever through the clean ocean swells, driving such a solid and proud line.

The vessel was manned with a skilled crew of seamen, all posted on deck as the early morning lifted behind him, reaching left and right, engulfing the horizon with a new day. But the line of Rigs was not a natural landmark of this precious water planet — and with little reason to be looking for such structures on a planet as clean as this, he was already too close before any turning or halt in momentum was possible.

“Oh my God,” I said, as much to myself as anyone. I knew exactly what was about to occur and there was not a thing I would be able to do about it.

High in the clouds above, the Monitor moved — I could feel it before I could see it. Slowly, deliberately, it leaned into position directly in front of the approaching vessel.

Up in the Monitor, Slab smiled at his screen. “This job sure does have its moments,” he muttered, his smirk widening as he flipped the lid with his alien thumb and held the pressure poised over the fire button.

I knew exactly what I was looking at as the Monitor moved ever so gently into position in the sky just beyond the vessel’s path.

“What’s happening, Shane?” Gary asked.

“There is nothing we can do,” I answered.

The Monitor sat directly in front of the glorious vessel and, for a moment, time stood still. A white flash blinked into the atmosphere and then a narrow beam shot instantly into the very front tip of the vessel. It held right there, following the motion — withdrawing just enough as the vessel continued to drive forward into the line of Rigs. Then the slicing began, the Monitor carving directly into the living tissue of this wise and powerful entity. The whole mass appeared to wince as the beam pierced through its core to the very bottom of the hull. Then the Monitor simply held its position and allowed the momentum of the vessel to carry it forward — splitting itself in two. Unable to stop. Unable to save itself.

The deck came alive as all hands attempted to save him. Deckhands threw themselves at the beam as it moved further and further along the deck, killing all it touched instantly — destroying life inch by inch in what appeared to be a deliberate and torturous act.

Many of the crew were now throwing themselves into the beam in an attempt to block its destructive flow — but as each one came into contact with it, they merely evaporated in an instant, not affecting its power in the slightest.

Mila, Max, and Pei all stood there gazing with tears streaming down their faces. Gary, also with his face covered in tears, began to stir into a rage of uncontrollable anger — his wrath turning into an anxious desperation of helplessness as this spirit and its crew were seared right down the middle. The last life left in him steamed and slumped into the water as the momentum inevitably began to die, crew members scrambling and falling from the sides, desperately fighting a force they were in no way prepared for. I took Gary firmly by both shoulders and held him there.

“There is nothing that we are able to do, my finest friend. Should we step in there in any way at all, we risk our own lives — and we are the only chance this planet has left against this evil force. We cannot allow ourselves to be seen now. But I promise you that we will get our revenge.”

Nothing else needed to be said. Gary stepped across to his deck and placed a hand onto Hi-Sun, turning her and taking the crew safely over the horizon and well out of reach from this brutal sight. The remains of the once mighty vessel lay across the ocean surface in a mass of death and destruction. The slicer sharks had moved in, carving up any remaining crew — the larger ones making short work of the driving keel, the vessel life force itself.

This day would be etched into the minds of our crew far beyond this journey — and possibly many lifetimes to come. The pain of such a loss is the price paid for eventual freedom, if this planet is going to be saved.

Chapter 17

A Ballad of Hope

Gary very gently steered Hi-Sun back behind the horizon and then some. He knew that I had made a decision for the better of all beings and life forms of this planet. Turning and walking away, knowing it was the right thing to do, made this deep sorrow no easier to deal with. The glow fell behind as we moved further past the horizon and into open blue seas.

“We go straight back in tonight,” I said, my words settling across the crew. “We have no time to mourn — we represent the future of all incredible spiritual beings, and especially of that crew. Their future is on this planet and it is our responsibility to ensure that it is here for them. They will live again.”

Not a word was spoken. Max, Pei, Gary, and Mila all shared the shift. Sleep, food, and deck work all a part of getting ready for a huge night ahead.

The sun dropped behind the horizon and the crew all shared a well-prepared meal. Mila had been humming through the day and now, as all sat and sipped mill tea, she broke into words with tears streaming, releasing what had been building in her heart.

My heart, my love is streaming, but it’s a fight. To find out what it takes, who we are and where to start. Our seas flow with their might, with life and power, our world in flight. Our pride and honor, for this fight, it’s our world, let’s make it right. It’s our night, our love, our fight. We are the chosen. We fly tonight.

Mila continued to hum the melody while the spirit of the crew rose to an all-new high — not only living on the very edge of life, but fighting for the life of this entire precious planet. There is no choice. There is no option.

I stepped to the tip of the bow and leaned oh so easily forward, diving slender in a perfect arc as I pierced the ocean top. My main dorsal was right there with me and I turned toward the line of Rigs just past the horizon, backed by a team of powerful, spirited dorsals the likes of which this planet has never before seen.

It is time to go to work.

Chapter 18

Game Over

Slab sat, chuffed over what had been the most satisfying day to date on this water planet mission. He was down one Rig with no report coming in and no communication. But it stood there in line, so he just figured the operator had fallen asleep or something.

“I will check on it tomorrow. We are all set and tonight, I just feel like a little chill time.”

Slab set the monitorship controls on pause with it hovering back one-third along the line of Rigs, a comfortable view of all below. He took a tablet from the right sleeve and placed the all-dimensional play headset over his head. Time for some fun with his favourite game: Evaporation of Galaxy Federal Forces.

Based on the defeat of the same interstellar forces that had banished the dark beings from this universe so long ago, the story had been twisted — the good guys, of course, being the most evil of all, and the “evil Interstellar Forces” deserving of the most excruciating death ever imaginable. Pain and amnesia for eternity, trapped in a magnetic field holding them in immortal suffering.

For so many millennia past, a game had been the closest the dark beings of the wormhole had ever come to obtaining much-desired revenge. Now, with one of the most fruitful galaxies laced quite plump with water planets, this precious planet would be the first to topple the balance and reverse the universal flow of power so long desired, planned for, and sought after. Slab much preferred the game to the real-life war at hand — for one thing, it took him out of time entirely, and time was his biggest source of hatred. Along with the common hungry purpose of all his race, he desired blackness and solidity for all, deep down inside his black soul. Slab headed into one of his favourite chapters within the game — destroying a lush and spiritual sector of the outer deep Milky Way. A peaceful and balanced planet, left to the wild and free from any technology of a destructive nature. His only challenge was to slip past the Galactic Marshal Forces and have his fill — torture, freeze into painful time warps one at a time, evaporated and condensed into an almost disintegrated nothingness.

The only thing Slab enjoyed more was to slingshot his captives one at a time into the vacuum of space, watching the life slowly sucking out of their squirming bodies. He sat deep within the experience of his helmet and, if not for the alarm set for the morning, would stay inside forever, drooling and writhing in the pleasure that he felt so deep inside.

I lifted up to the base of the first chosen Rig. This was no longer an observation mission — this was the mission. Time to go to work and, one at a time, take out these Rig operators until the line could no longer hold itself.

It is just a matter of time until we take out enough to overbalance this row, I thought to myself — calculating and executing the steps of the mission.

The lower crew terminal was the first and easy target — to take out and deliver the Weeper to. I left him sobbing on the lower deck and ascended to the operator, taking him out of service in a similar manner. I set the controls to idle — with no member in place to execute the final stage of water transference into transportable antimatter, the Rigs were no more than useless standing tower masts. Just to be certain, I set the timer to commence detelescopation in two days’ time. One more night to take out the remaining balance — and with no intention of being spotted by the idiotic Monitor above, there was no thought of failure.

The night’s work had been carried out in random strikes through the line of Rigs, with now eleven still standing in the line. There had been a few encounters with slicer sharks through the night, but nothing the dorsals were unable to make short work of. I marked the notches on my belt and, with the pile of sobbing Rig crew and operators now slobbering on the deck of Hi-Sun, it was time to cut and run before the dawn began creeping across the horizon.

I slipped back on deck as Gary swiftly drew Hi-Sun aside, ducking over the horizon before any sign of light began to cast across the skies.

“These are the ugliest and smelliest pile of disgusting slobs that I have ever seen in all of my days,” muttered Gary, as if talking out loud to himself. “Can we just put them out of their misery, my Lord?”

“There’s no need, Gary,” I answered. “They won’t harm anyone again. Your short-term satisfaction will not do any good for your long-term state of mind. These poor beings are nothing more than the slave victims that this disgusting wormhole race wishes you and me to be. They were once also a free and productive species. Now they can go back to their long-lost state of existence.”

“They are still ugly,” Gary said, getting in the last word.

I smiled for the first time in a few days, enjoying the spirit of play that Gary always managed to express.

Above it all, Slab slammed the game tablet in a fit of disgusted anger — the Marshals within the game had foiled him again. He had come so close to completing this impossible level.

“Damn the Marshals!” he screamed, shuddering in his chair. “God I hate this game.”

A night of pleasure had turned into massive disappointment as another unwelcome day lifted across the horizon. Slab took a deep breath and reached for a carbon bar as he scanned across the monitor screens. When he pinged out to all Rigs for updates and attention receipts, just over half returned to attention.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarh! Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn I hate this s**thole.”

Deserted by almost half of his crew, Slab knew that less than half a crew would be the end of his mission and only give him retreat in shame as an option.

There would be no returning unless the mission was accomplished.

Chapter 19

You Lazy Piles of Sludge

A night of leisure had just turned into the biggest disgrace of the mission. There were eight Rigs refusing to reply to communication and all the others now seemed to sit stunned, not knowing what to do other than sit there like useless robots awaiting orders.

Slab’s biggest pet peeve was now looking inevitable — he was going to have to step out of his cushy monitor ship. Inspection was the only option to get an idea of what the hell had happened to those disgusting lazy sludge piles. There was no reason for them to have left their Rigs, and not a trace of land for god knows how far over the horizon. There was no playback of any vessels coming close to or departing the Rigs.

Slab cracked the case for his outside suite and was doing the best he could to remember the workings of it that had been downloaded into his thick head hundreds of years ago. Now he was more than pissed, and he had to hold back his urge to tear the suite and its operating apparatus to pieces and slam it on the floor. The only thing holding him back was the picture in his head of his asphyxiated body lying, or even worse, floating across the ocean of this forsaken planet.

He checked the quality of his breathing and any detection of a viral trace. The suite meters all read clean as he lowered the vessel to the first of the Rigs. The upper plate rotated as the burst of stench flushed out through the hatch and around his suite. Slab was fully sealed in of course, but he just knew what the smell of it would be like, and he took in a deep sigh of disgust.

Ascending the stairs into the operator’s cabin showed no sign of any life or movement. Slab stood there staring at the empty control station. The seat was empty, the joystick was held in place and balanced with nothing more than threads of seaweed.

“These dirty, deserting scum, what the hell do they think that they can get away with?”

Slab questioned to himself. There were no other signs of any operations within the Rig — both the operator and crew terminal obviously deserted. The mystery was this: these slaves were so heavily implanted that he had no idea how they could ever become conscious enough to even conceive an escape. But the fact was, they were gone. Where to? The other Rigs all checked out in the same way. There could be a deeper investigation, but time was running very short. Only a matter of days until the execution of water antimatter transference — and only two Rigs away from being unbalanced and beyond the task at hand. There would be no sleep from this point on.

“I can’t wait to suck this planet dry and leave it floating like all the other dead rocks of this universe,” Slab grinned to himself as he stepped back onto the monitor ship.

Slab had no doubt about the idiotic crew he had at hand. It was now totally up to him to crack the whip ferociously, with no mercy, to the very last second of the mission. The loot would be loaded and each one of them vapourised for their disgusting effort. Slab was certain that he would now be left alone with this unforgivable crew.

They are all guilty.

Chapter 20

Too Hot To Go Near

I knew the position I was in. Only two more Rigs to take out and the whole system would be underpowered for the task at hand. This was an old enemy, and neither technology nor tactic had changed — only the endless patience of these dark beings, waiting and returning again and again in search of the loot of precious water planets.

My knowingness was not something I ever doubted. We were very close — one step away from total sabotage of this attack. But to leave the mission only half-finished, with such a destructive monitorship still floating above, was not a pretty vision.

I would much rather walk into an angry hornet’s nest than taunt the bad temper of this Monitor — whose destructive capability I had already witnessed firsthand.

The Monitor was certainly alert to the dangerous position it now found itself in. Just over the horizon, almost half of Slab’s slave crew sat in a new state of mind — freed, and never to be reclaimed again. “Deserted” and now left on the brink of mission failure, Slab would not be asleep for even a second in the days leading up to the orbital outer sling.

Sitting well beyond the horizon, my crew and this newly awakening alien family sat with me in a period of contemplation. On the second sunrise, the total extraction of this water planet’s fluid would begin — the brutal enemy sitting just out of sight, within lethal range, and completely unapproachable.

Chapter 21

The Final Plan

Gary and I sat sharing warm stew with thick fish slices.

“This is the time that we plan the final steps, Gary. It will all come together as the monitor’s mind is ruled by the stupidity of greed and self-indulgence. We almost have his fleet of Rigs overbalanced, but we have to capture him if we are to take him out of the game. If he fails, it is likely that he won’t go home, or he would ensure that he destroys everything in sight before returning to report his failure.”

“I think that I am starting to understand the mind of this character that lurks above in that destructive machine. What is your plan?” Gary questioned.

“We have only two days to the outer sling of our orbit. This is the time when he will have all Rigs in alignment to hit the transference button. That stack of machines you have seen strung out across the horizon has the power to zip every drop of water on this planet into an easy, carry sized package, yet containing enough power to blow this planet back to the dawn of time. He has every intention of leaving us here nothing less than a drifting, lifeless dry rock.”

“I find it hard to imagine such an event, but after seeing what he did to that grand vessel, I have no doubt in what it is capable of.” Gary sat calmly beside me, not in a state of worry or even terror as you would expect in anticipation of planetary annihilation now only two days away. He knew not to question — he could feel the certainty in me. It emanated like a glow of force that he had never experienced in all of his memories.

It was as though Gary could receive my thoughts clearer than the spoken word itself. I nodded to him as I leaned my hand onto Hi-Sun and she gently angled yet further away from the Rigs that were safely out of sight.

The morning was growing into a brilliant, pristine day. Mila, Max, and Pei had Hi-Sun in a state of marine perfection. The somewhat dismayed but much awakened alien guests sat quietly in the lower, rear berthing sharing fish and water amongst themselves and bonding together as a newly formed group. Some of them seemed to share a familiarity with each other of memories long past. There were leaders amongst them. They sat all very peacefully with no threat or upset.

“There she is, Gary.”

“I thought that I was supposed to be your guide, my young Lord,” Gary rolled his eyes as we both glanced at an island tip just on the edge of the horizon. He pulled Hi-Sun into the calm waters of the island bay with the team of dorsals gently escorting us on either side.

“This will do fine Gary. Hold Hi-Sun just here and we will take these poor awakened souls to shore.”

I reached out for the first of the ex-operators and Rig crew and gave a reassuring look. The first one stepped forward and I took it by the paw, leading it to the deck edge. Together we ascended the side step deck as three dorsals rose ever so gently to the surface just below us. I held its hand firmly, but reassuringly, as I led this trusted being to a step of faith onto the backs of the dorsal trio. It sat safely on top, half submerged in the warm bay water as they gently moved from Hi-Sun and carried it ever so carefully to the sandy shores of this quiet island.

I continued to lead them one at a time as the dorsals turned through the water and onto the shores of this perfect desert island. As the group grew, we lifted another and another onto the shore until they all stood there together as a slightly bewildered but united crew.

As I stepped upon the shore with the last of this gross and motley crew, now all together, I stood there for a moment faced with sixteen souls waiting for guidance. I smiled and with that intention, they all breathed a sigh of relief — all knowing they were not being deserted and would wait until the return of all the other members.

I turned back and slipped through the shallows to Hi-Sun with the dorsals at my side. As I stepped onto the deck, Gary already had her in full turn heading back to the line of Rigs sitting ready to steal the life from this precious water planet.

There were no words necessary to express the seemingly impossible task now at hand. The sun now falling to the horizon for possibly the second last time in existence with a shimmering sparkle that is cast across the long dancing ocean swells.

Another long night ahead — but how would we even get within range of the Rig line. Slab was now wide-eyed and loaded with laser-accurate ray beams, able to slice the largest vessels that this ocean could carry into smouldering flesh.

Chapter 22

Slab Patrol

Slab hadn’t lowered his gaze from the line of Rigs since coming out of his defeat on Destruction of Water Planets. His time out had cost him eight Rigs now. He glared, still fuming, across the full line of them, now barely held in place with just over half the crew. If he ever were to lay his eyes on those deserters, they would experience the most excruciating torture he could possibly conjure up.

“They would never ever ever forget,” he thought. “Agonising pain and torture forever.”

The idea of this almost tempted a smile on his grossly antagonised face.

“The slicer sharks have probably chewed them into shreds by now,” he thought, but the mystery of how they escaped still remained a vacuum in his mind. There was no recording of movement on the surface across any of the Rigs’ surroundings.

“Only two more sunrises and the extraction would begin. There will be no sleep until it is done,” he muttered. Slab trusted nobody other than himself. He knew with certainty that there be, in the vast universe, not a soul that he could depend upon.

He worked the line backwards and forwards along all nineteen Rigs, with eleven of them parked in line and still connected to the chain, ready for the ignition stage. Luckily they all sat in the exact position ready for the final day. Should there be any need to move them at this point, it would be an impossible task without the operators and deck crew.

Slab smiled as he envisioned those deserters being torn to shreds by the slicers. They were the one life form on this planet that he enjoyed so much. He had seen them take apart schools of whales and other large fish in their thrashing frenzy. His only regret being that he could not take a few with him as pets and that they all too would be fried and dried with the final evaporation.

The remaining crew all sat at idle, but strictly monitored with brief intervals between the electrical bite from their helmets ensuring that they all remained not only present but awake.

“It will be more than a little pulse that they will feel once I have the package loaded and ready to haul ass out of this cesspool. I will thoroughly enjoy my moment of satisfaction as I evaporate each and every one of them. Stupid, ungrateful slobs.”

Slab continued to scan the line up and down. It was only a matter of hours now. Not a speck of surface life from horizon to horizon would pass until it was done. He looked again in disgust at the game pod just to his right. He smashed his fisted paw right into the screen, then threw it on the shelf with it sliding into the corner of his cabin.

“If it hadn’t been for that useless game I wouldn’t be in this mess,” he muttered.

We had caught the unsuspecting Monitor off guard. But Gary and I both knew what we were dealing with now. To cross even an inch over the horizon would mean certain evaporation and death for all of us.

Chapter 23

The Impossible

Gary and I sat together for the final time after a night travelling back into range. Not far over the horizon lay the destruction machines, ready in wait to take each and every drop of water from this planet and steal it back as their own — to be used as nothing more than liquid energy to burn.

Mila, Gary and I shared our last hours together enjoying the warmth of the morning sun and a bountiful breakfast put together by the mighty Max and Pei. The clean, fat slices of fish went so well with the fresh fruits of the island. Gary was laughing raucously in the middle of one of his wildest childhood stories as Mila snuggled up against my side. The whole crew laughed in hysterics as Gary shared yet another cheating-death tale with his best childhood friends. Hi-Sun sat ever so comfortably just offset to the angle of the glass-like swells coming in from the sunset horizon. She stretched, turned and even appeared to be yawning off the last effort from an easy night’s travel. She was right in her prime and her command of the ocean was absolute.

Gary gave Mila and me a lift of the head to shoo us off to bed. The night of our lives was very nearly upon us. It was time to rest up and enjoy this time together as one — quite possibly for the last time.

There would be little sleep for Max and Pei. Their duties were light and between them they could catch moments of rest through the day as needed. This was the treasure of both their lives, and they each eased their hands across the decks and rails of Hi-Sun, caressing her with the admiration they both lived for.

Mila and I came back to the deck to find the whole crew sharing another bountiful feast of the ocean. It was a quiet time for all of us, with adoring friendship flowing from the eyes of every one of us — all worthy and proven, with a shared pride in ourselves and in the planet we were fighting for with every inch of our lives. There was no room for fear amongst us. We held each other as high as gods, ready to drive this evil right back to where it had come from.

Lady-Sun began to chase the far horizon, her tail dancing across the tops of the ocean swells. A light breeze cast a clean shimmer of ripples across the water as the dorsal pilots turned and played in the last of the day’s sunlight. It was nearly time. A night of sheer impossibility lay ahead — and completed it would be, for there was no other choice. Tonight’s turn of events may be the turning of the tides, for the very last time.

Chapter 24

Diving Deep

I stepped onto the bow and turned for a last look at my Mila and the crew. There was nothing any of them could do other than sit out of range over the horizon. We held that unspoken communication as time stopped around us. Here stood immortal friends who would never be separated from the spiritual bond we now shared.

I turned back, stood at the very tip of the bow and lunged — ever so gracefully — diving with full power and dominance over this mere mortal body that was so easily performing the acts of a god. The dorsals had already left the water and together, as one united power of the ocean, pierced the tops of the clean even swells and drove deep into the depths, almost reaching into the total darkness of the underwater world below.

Mila, Gary, Max and Pei stood still for only a moment, then each continued with the care of Hi-Sun, preparing for whatever this vital night would bring. It was only a matter of hours before the planet would reach the outer orbit and touch that final point Slab had been so desperately waiting for. All of the planet’s forces would pause for that brief moment — and then it would be time to throw the execution switches, commencing planetary evaporation and the packaging of the universe’s most precious jewel.

The antimatter formed from water was the highest form of energy known, and it was of the highest demand in the Black Universe. There were no other forms that carried such an abundance of almost eternal energy. The holder of this resource would be the wealthiest of all dark beings in that desperate and utterly opposite world from which the evil forces reside.

I rose vertically with my main dorsal directly beneath the tenth Rig, lifted up ever so gently and stepped onto the disposal platform. Stepping inside, all was extremely calm with no sign of abnormal operation or alert. All of the Rigs were now into the last night of their mission — sitting in perfectly normal operation, simply holding the line for the event that was very soon to occur.

I took the time to scan the Rig and ensure there was no additional crew ready to jump out with any unexpected surprises. Alerting the Monitor would be the end of the line. There would be no escaping his high-tech power were he to discover the infiltration occurring right below his observation ship.

There was only a deckhand and an operator present — a skeleton crew, exactly as they were set up for. I silently arrested the decky and slid him over the platform for the dorsals to take away. I then stepped into the mind of the operator, swift and clean — taking the weight of the controls while simultaneously placing my hand on its forehead and rolling it back through the Weeper until it sat there in a mesmerising mess of misery.

With the operator placed into the mouth of the next waiting dorsal, I was now the balance of the mission — the ninth Rig silent, the operation teetering on its own threshold, and the treacherous Monitor patrolling above completely unaware.

I took the greatest care to dive in alignment with the deepest shadow of the Rig. I was already in the air — and then it was too late. Below me, unnoticed until this very moment, slicer sharks were carving in from all directions. I was falling vertically toward the ocean’s surface, and directly beneath me, driving up hard through the water, came that same dark, powerful and ancient evil — the slicer shark I had so narrowly escaped at the White Sapphire Crystal.

This time there was no escaping. I had the power of water and could move and manipulate it as I pleased — but here, falling through the air, I was at the mercy of the planet’s own gravity, pulling me down and unavoidably into the jaws of what could only be the king of all slicer sharks.

I had half an instant and one problem — I command the ocean. Falling through open air with nothing beneath me but jaws and water, I ran it fast and landed on the only answer I had. This king slicer driving up toward me. I felt the ocean just beyond his teeth. And I smiled. This beast of the ocean was about to make the biggest mistake of his very long life.

Chapter 25

Line Up You Bastards

Slab hovered at a steady altitude across the top of his final Rigs. Ten sat still under his control. The outer sling finally drew near. Boot time being within moments now, he held the balancing power of the Rig line sufficient to strip this stinking planet of every last drop of that disgusting and wasted fluid, leaving it as a spinning, lifeless rock that it deserved to be.

Patience was a virtue of none from the Black Universe. Power waits for nothing. There is no need for any such game where slavery provided such a dominating pleasure. The only opponents being the hierarchy of dictatorship that he served. On return, with energy not seen the like of in billions of years since the dawn of darkness, to be more to the point, would bring him to the status of the most almighty marauder to ever serve the high and mighty Lord of Death forever.

Slab caught himself drifting into the fantasy of his pay, knowing that for just these final moments all that was to be achieved was to hold the line until that precious moment would begin. He looked down the line of Rigs and initiated demand for each separate Rig to ignite.

One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten — Eleven failing to boot!

“What? Come on! Come on!”

He hit again on Eleven, but there was none. “It doesn’t matter. It’s time. I have ten and the vital balance now counts down as one mighty force.”

Slab commenced his countdown.

Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Ignite.

In this split moment, all mass from this point onwards will pull gravitationally back to the central orbit as it has for so many billions of years past. But before it reaches that high point this time around, this “Precious Water Planet” will be nothing more than a rock spinning around this sun, robbed of its purpose to provide life and fertility, fed so natively by the water and nutrients that this planet is so rich in and holds so well.

Slab joyfully pressed down on the ignition as the black rays of the antimatter-vacuum forced down and spread into the root of and from the bottom of all ten Rigs.

He smiled a sigh of relief and gently spoke to himself,

“Line up you bastards! It is time.”

Chapter 26

“No!”

The entire planet seemed to wince. Gary, Mila, Max, and Pei could not do a thing. The skies pulled over a dark curtain as the haunted screams of water sizzled into and around the ten black beams of death. Static noise crackled out and about all of the Rigs, spanning the skies in all directions in and out of the black cloud mass. The hydrostatic tension reaching the verge of burning water. A temperature unthought of, but possible nonetheless.

The dorsals smashed out through the surface. The vibration of the water was now unbearable. Even the slicer sharks all fled from what had only moments ago been such an agreement of vibration. They too turned, bursting in all directions from the fear of this betrayal and imminent death.

Slab smiled in extreme pleasure. The evaporation, annihilation and total destruction had finally begun. The following weeks would be nothing more than a formality. The haul was his as he felt the first droplets of antimatter slide up and into the compact storage cylinder secured deeply in the hub of his monitorship. Amusing that a global mass would sit condensed, compressed and packed to the size of nothing more than a package in the trunk. The reward and glory would be nothing short of immense on the day of delivery.

“The Title will be mine!” Slab screamed at the top of his voice. “There has never been such a hero and legend of marauding excellence in all the history of the universe. Of any universe,” he spoke to himself.

“Number Ten, straighten up now!”

“What are you doing?”

“Get back in line now!”

“Noooooooooooo!”

Slab screamed and smashed on the dash of his monitorship. The balance toppled as the flow of even, black energy slumped below its vitals with the final but minority nine Rigs in timeless stillness.

There was no flow. No sizzling, screaming, searing gash of the ocean’s waters. It had all stopped with the blackness now motionless and clouded about the line of alien Rigs.

A light crackling of static lightning bolts popped and split in random directions while the whole mechanism settled into idleness.

“Number Ten must die.”

“He will DIE!” screamed Slab.

Chapter 27

Get Out of the Way Now, You…

Slab lowered his monitorship onto Number 10, almost crashing too hard from impatience and anxiousness for revenge. The key locked in place and the gas lock door burst open with the stench of the Rig pressing back into the monitor vessel. Slab had no time or attention to even notice the disgusting smell that was typical of each Rig — more like a sewer and beast pen for the two inhabitants that manned the Rig station so many light years away, entering from that wormhole.

Slab stepped through the hatch into the upper platform and descended the stairs as rapidly as possible. Writhing in wrath and already imagining the pleasure he would take in personally crushing the skull, inch by inch, of the operator. Still remembering that he had not been on his feet as he should have been for such a time, he consciously had to slow himself, ensuring that a stupid slip would not come in the way of smashing that idiot out of the way and getting Number 10 back in line again before it was all too late.

Slab knew deep inside that his actions were futile. With the bridging current now broken, there would be no way to start it over again until the next outer sling occurred one full year ahead of him. He ignored his logic and continued with every intention of setting it straight here and now before it was “too late.”

“You will pay now, you useless piece of…” As Slab turned in to face the operator, ready to take him by the neck and root him right out of the chair, aiming to smash his pee-wee brain head into the screen in front of him, he paused in utter shock — right before him stood a native being of the planet, calm, relaxed and with a warm grin on his face.

Before he could even blink, Shane’s hand sat firmly on Slab’s forehead. The Separator had begun.

Chapter 28

Can You Fight?

Gary, Mila and the crew drove in beside Rig number 10. They had been idle for hours now, and I could feel Mila’s anxiousness from inside the frame — desperate to find me and scratch the eyes out of any threat I might still be facing. Hi-Sun eased in to rest at the side of the Rig, less than a hand’s distance from the dark, uneasy metal.

Gary threw a rope up high, the anchor on its end hitching into the frame of the Monitor Ship. He climbed smoothly but cautiously to the top section and examined the lock between ship and Rig. No entry there — a solid airlock sealed what looked like the passageway.

Mila called him back down. She had sensed the lower platform might hold an opening, just as I’d shared in my previous adventures. As Gary stepped back onto Hi-Sun, Mila brought her around a third, and there was the platform, a foot of water flowing over it with the ebb and flow of the ocean. Still no opening they could see. They sat there pondering how to get in — and whether I was even in there at all.

Gary started giving some aimless order to Max and Pei, just to be doing something. That was when I slid the hatch aside.

The stench rolled out ahead of me. I stood there with a calm grin and spoke as though no time at all had passed since last night’s dinner.

“I had a feeling I might find you lot lurking around out here,” I said.

“Well, we thought it would be polite to drop in,” Gary said. “But with a smell like that, I find it hard to believe you ever have any friends come to visit.”

“I think the four of you will get over it. Come on up — we’ve got a little bit of work to do here.”

“Hold your breath now, Mila,” Gary said with a cheeky smile. “This is not something a lady of your status should ever have to smell.”

“Don’t you worry about me, Gary. I want to see what’s inside one of these things.”

They stepped onto the control deck. There on the floor was the ugliest pile of trembling mess any of them had ever seen.

“What in heaven’s name is that thing lying there, Shane?” Gary exclaimed. “You sure must be able to fight, to have brought it down to a state like that. Can you fight?”

“I can look after myself, old fella. But this one’s an evil black piece of work. I’m exhausted, and I’m just not going to take him all the way across. This one’s too far gone. I’m going to send him back as an example of what happens if they ever try to send anything into this universe again.”

“Can I give it a boot, Shane?” Gary asked.

“Don’t bother yourself. This thing is neither good nor bad now. It’s just plain useless — doesn’t deserve to be either way. It can live out its days as a shameful example of what happens to anyone who ever tries to touch a water planet. Anyone.”

“I’m with you, Shane. Let me know what we have to do.”

Mila already had me in her arms. I was hers now. She rested her forehead on mine and laughed, tears rolling down her face.

“So — is this our Honeymoon Suite with an ocean view, my darling?”

The three of us burst into laughter, the echoes cascading through the cavities of the Rig and baffling out through the lower deck for Max and Pei to hear.

It is truly and finally over. The mess of Rigs still cast across the ocean, a new refugee population among them — and one ugly beast left to somehow do away with.

Chapter 29

It May Rain For A Little While

“Come on, my friends, I’ve got something pretty cool to show you. Don’t worry about him — he’ll probably lie there for days. He isn’t going anywhere.”

Gary held back his urge to lay the boot in, but only just. I led Mila and him up into the Monitor Ship locked tight into the top of the Rig. Frowning at the stench of the capsule, I found the lock on the side plate and cracked it up and out. A fresh burst of air poured in and filled the cabin.

“This is what you’d call primitive technology, Gary.”

“Primitive? I haven’t seen anything flying around this planet the whole good while I’ve been here,” Gary said.

“Take my word for it. This is ancient. I’ll have it worked out in a short while.”

I scanned the internal controls, talking the logic through to myself, now and then uttering words neither Gary nor Mila had ever heard spoken before.

If the antimatter liquid was drawing through the magnetic fields, then the separation converters would sit in the hubs of the Rigs themselves. The field would draw and connect the matter, pulling it into a single stream, transferred to the transportation capsule here in the ship. It must be located… ah. Here.

I placed my hand over the almost-centrally located panel, felt for the opening, and gently lifted the small lever, releasing the sealed lid. It popped and pulled the air in around it as it lifted, leaving the clear capsule exposed. I examined it, then walked the ship a few paces, finding the components I needed across the inside panels. I returned and pressed, twisting the capsule until it released from its lower lock.

“Now look at this. There’s hardly the slightest vapour visible — but what we have here is about a day’s collection of water from the point where we stand. Incredible to think every single drop on this planet would transfer and sit comfortably inside a capsule like this.”

“I just can’t fathom what you’re saying, Shane,” Gary said, all three of us staring at the faint traces inside.

“You will in a minute, Gary.”

Mila smiled along. Gary just followed with his jaw gaped in a docile expression.

I locked the capsule into the eject cylinder and primed every component, sealing the blast cover over the top. I rested my hand on the unit, knowing it was secure — almost thanking it, wishing the package well. Then I stepped back, placed my hand on the release, and pressed gently until the system engaged. A light recoil resonated through the ship as the capsule launched on a high arc, booming up towards the top of the stratosphere.

I turned and smiled at Mila and Gary.

“It may rain for a little while,” I said, with a chuckle I now meant to make a characteristic part of myself once again.

Mila stepped across to the deck area, her arm on me, as the three of us looked to the skies. The arc of the cylinder’s flight disappeared into the blue. There was silence for a moment, and the whole planet seemed to calm. A gentle breeze blew in off the ocean, across each of our faces — and then, right where we held our gaze, a vast disk of vapour blew out and spread the span of the skies. It grew and grew, thicker and thicker, until it almost seemed that night had fallen.

The planet seemed to fall right back into balance.

The air filled with such a high power of life, and the water all along the line of the Rigs calmed, emanating a deep blue glow.

The first shed of water burst through the skies.

With the sun dropping towards sunset, the streams cast rainbow spectrums the like of which had never been seen on this precious water planet.

I smiled and chuckled again. “I think we’re going to get some serious rain tonight, Gary. What do you think?”

Gary was rumbling from deep within his belly. “From those little drops in that wee cylinder, my Lord? It looks like it will. I’m sure that it will.”

What a sight — that almost galactic explosion of water bursting across the stratosphere. But what of the disgusting beast, and the disgusting mess of Rigs that still span the horizon?

Chapter 30

Clean-Up Time

Once again, Max and Pei seemed quite natural at rounding up all the operators and transporting them safely to the island. I’d taken a few crazy swerves getting the hang of the Monitor Ship. More than once I thought briefly of keeping such a toy — but I knew the premature introduction of technology like this to a small water planet would only lead to something it was far from ready for.

The first Rig lifted a little shakily, but only until I gained confidence in the strength of the Monitor Ship and the weight of each Rig. The disgusting structure rose up and out of the ocean, little aquatic creatures clinging to the cold, dark metal of its frame. I pulled more and more Rigs from the water — but after a hard day’s work, I decided to relax with my friends back on the beach.

“You seem quite comfortable bopping around in that toy, my young Lord. Anyone would think you were an alien invasion yourself,” Gary laughed.

“I’ve had my share of time shifting these machines around, Gary. Though most of mine’s been spent dodging them, same as we have for almost half a year now.”

“I suppose it’s better to be at the driving end — especially with that blasted thing that comes out the front of it,” Gary carped.

I’d been working on de-arming it, and on how to set the controls to send it on the long, cold journey ahead. One thing the dark universe had done successfully was crack the code on the universal energy that’s ever-present, no matter the location. The Monitor Ship and its haul of metal would move on comfortably for light years into eternity. But this one was heading right back where it came from. Giving it back its own pile of trash.

“Shane, come and look at this. You’ve got to see it!” Mila called, stepping out of the trees. Gary and I came quickly, showing the lady the greatest of manners for any request she’d make. The three of us stepped into the clearing to find Max blowing a high tune on his waidle. Pei was turning with one of the operators, and the thing appeared to be smiling, or something of the like. Along a line she had a dozen of them paired and turning in synchronisation to the traditional dance pattern of her hometown.

Mila, Gary and I all laughed and clapped along with the tune, then joined in the dance ourselves. We feasted and laughed, and the operators seemed never to want to stop this new form of expression they’d all discovered.

“What will happen to them, Shane?” Gary asked, as we finally rested for the day around the fire, enjoying fat fresh fish and crustaceans.

“They’re all neutral now, Gary. They can finally enjoy a life of production and happiness — but they won’t live many years in these gross bodies, now that they’re part of the cycling universe we live in. When they pass, their spirits will move into the unison of this planet with the other life forms. Some may even drift off to join other planets, not too far away indeed.”

“Sounds like a worthy reward for what they’ve been put through. Any slave deserves a time to be free, and the space to be free in. But what about that ugly, useless piece of wasted space? It’s been lying there for weeks now. What’ll we do with it?”

“I’ll be sending it back with that pile of rubbish in the sky. He’s got a journey of many lifetimes ahead of him, sitting in that boring compartment — and when he finally arrives, he’ll be a lovely reminder of the ass-kicking any of the black universe scum will get if they ever try to enter again.”

“But wouldn’t it be best to just stomp him into a grave right here, and send that mess off into some other galaxy?” Gary questioned.

This would seem the best solution — but then we’re left with a spirit not worthy to be floating amongst us. He might one day find himself part of our culture, and a troublesome member at that.

“So we send him back,” I said. “Don’t worry — it’ll be millions of years before they even think of venturing out this way again. Besides, we need a bit of a game to keep us on our toes. I sure would like to see the look on their faces when this ugly pile of meat floats back in with all this metal dragging along behind it. Don’t trouble yourself in any way, Gary. Shortly he’ll be long gone from our lives. Forever, as far as I’m concerned.”

“Forever it may well be. But it sure won’t take away the feeling that I should’ve just booted it to a pulp right here while I had the chance,” Gary said, a look of disgust held under his breath.

“This will pass, Gary. If you can just imagine what’s going to happen to it at the other end, you’ll understand that your boot would be nothing to what he has coming.”

Mila, Gary and I, and all the rejoicing crew, danced on into the night. It was a time of rejuvenation and renewal for all of us. A world of freedom and beauty to look forward to.

Waidle — a small flute, similar to an Earth instrument like a fife.

Chapter 31

Kiss His Ass Goodbye

It was a time of rejoicing, and of monument, as the Monitor latched onto the pile of Rigs in the sky.

The whole crew and I sat in anticipation. Nothing more than a glow of metal mass, sitting ever so still in the red sunset sky. The first of the evening stars began to sprinkle out, one after another, as the sun’s red light fell further to the other side of the planet — the string of Rigs becoming ever more obvious and lit.

Nobody but me knew what was about to occur. The intergalactic programming of the navigator was something I wouldn’t begin to share, and I looked forward to letting it all fall from my memory until the day it might be needed again. The anticipation was strange — everyone knew the thing would shortly be gone, but how, or where to, was a complete mystery. Only I sat so calm and certain. My job was done. Soon the launch would engage.

“It’s moving!” Gary called, and everyone looked more intently to the sky, trying to perceive whether anything at all was occurring. Mila held closer into me, placing her head on my chest, gazing up at the object.

“There it is,” she said, as the movement became clearly obvious — drifting slowly to the left of the stars sitting so steady above us. For minutes we sat there silently, imagining, trying to comprehend the journey it was heading into. I reached forward, took a large fresh slice of ocean fish and chewed it gently, the smile growing wider and wider across my face.

Max began to play, and one after the other we all joined in with a chant and war cry of conquering, as the Rig drew faster — blowing out of the solar system, heading across galaxies, back to the black death portal from which it came.

Gary called out loud and raucous with a joyful war cry, and Max tuned in, in perfect harmony and anticipation of the ballad to come:

Oh poor and evil purposes, we have locked you from our skies Your death and seething madness, no match for our delight For we are perfect in harmony, one to unite and fight Try again and we’ll be waiting, these are our holy skies Try again and we’ll be waiting — try again on any night Try again and we’ll be waiting You’ll never know such a fight. We have water, warmth and friendliness We have the value, true and right We have water clean and endless This, our endless spiritual right It’s a freedom one can know ’Cause we’ll share it with delight We have water more than plenty This, our endless spiritual right.

At that very moment all the crew — even the operators, in humorous chanting duplication — chorused in loud and enthusiastic:

Try again and we’ll be waiting Try again on any night Try again and we’ll be waiting You will never know such a fight. Back you go into your dark, black world You could never see the light We are warm and free and sharing You’ll never know such a delight. You’ll be back — I dare you plenty Just you dare to play this fight Our planet warm, clean and friendly Precious water, you have no right. Try again and we’ll be waiting Try again on any night Try again and we’ll be waiting You will never know such a fight.

“Wooooooo! Wooooooo! Wooooooo!”

We all screamed and chanted, long and rightful hollers of victory echoing out into the skies. The drifting cinders of the fire lifted on the warm, still night air, floating up and out from the shores of the island beach, and the celebration went well into the night.

Far out beyond the orbit’s edge, where no eye on that island would ever think to look, the Marshal held his station a moment longer. He had felt the nine Rigs fall silent, felt the tenth go still, felt the water of a precious planet settle back into its rightful balance. There was nothing here that needed him now. No cranky Lords to summon, no cleanup to order, no failure to set right. Only a young Lord of Water who had never needed saving after all. The Marshal turned, quiet as he had come, and was gone — on to the next call, somewhere out across the vastness, where some other jewel of the universe might not be so fortunate in her keeper.

I watched Gary lift his head the next morning, the rising sun a little too warm for any further sleep, as Mila and I strolled towards him along the clean water shoreline.

“It was a worthy night of celebrating, our master captain,” I called, with a relaxed tone of nothing-but-fun-to-be-had. “You may have drunk a little too much mead in jest — but there’s no better time to indulge. Nobody will ever really know the victory we’ve accomplished, or the world we’ve saved. For it’s already ‘just another day.’”

Mila, Gary and I stood together, smiling and laughing, smiling and laughing again. Gary gestured just off the edge of the shore.

“It appears somebody’s a little restless.”

Hi-Sun sat no more than a stone’s throw from the sandy edge, holding herself poised and ready to cross the horizons of the globe.

“Where to, Shane?” Gary paused for an answer, and I turned to Mila with a smile.

“Well — now it’s my turn, our cheery grandmaster captain,” Mila said. Gary and I stood courteously, waiting for her thoughts.

“Sometimes we live here in a man’s world. You are strong and wise and proud, and to the end of this last day you’ve done a splendid job. But there’s a time when the world is a woman’s, and that time is now. We have a wonderful planet here — culture and beauty and a wealth of mystery. I’ll spend the rest of my days caring for her, and spreading this word of life that we now hold dear. It is our world, and it will always be our world, as long as we care for her.

The secret of what we’ve done this day need never be spread — not in fear, nor of what may someday return. But it may. And we do have to hold the future of our spiritual freedom out there, for each other and for every spiritual being we behold on this precious water planet of life.

So where do we go now, my finest men of the universe? I think Hi-Sun is itching to chase our Lady-Sun long into the day. We chase her tail, and within a small time we’ll come to the lands of great people, ready for the word of immortal life and hope that we carry. We move off this very day.”

I just smiled, and Gary took a breath, acknowledging that his night of celebration and well-earned rest was already over.

“Max! Pei! Let’s get this trip together. We leave right away.”

Hi-Sun lifted and turned out from the sandy drop-off she’d been holding to at the island’s edge. On the shore, the operators all stood. There was no word of thanks necessary. They’d been freed from the immortal torture they’d so long been trapped within — free spirits now, here to enjoy the last days of these bloated, apathetic bodies, the bodies themselves the last reminder of where they’d come from. Before long they would pass, freeing them into the spiritual flow of this clean and life-giving world.

Mila, Gary, Max, Pei and I held our hands high in the air. The operators returned the farewell, lifting their hands and hollering across the distance as Hi-Sun curved her line into Lady-Sun’s tail, chasing her long and relaxed into the afternoon.

“They are good spirits, Shane,” Mila said, so gently.

“They are,” I answered. “I’m sure they’ll be a loyal and contributing part of society for many, many generations to come.”

Mila turned to Gary, taking the helm — firmly, but ever so politely excusing him from his post.

“Tonight is a great night, and I feel there’s quite a bit more celebration in your soul. Max, Pei! More mead for our captain. And let’s get the tunes a-blowing. This wonderful evening we party long into the night!”

Gary smiled and laughed and filled his cup over and over as he walked the deck of his beloved Hi-Sun.

“That’s a happy man,” I said to Mila, as we sat side by side at the helm of this incredible vessel of the seas.

“We have all night, my wonderful Lord of Water. We’ve no duties other than to chase Lady-Sun’s tail — or the stars that hold her direction in place till she rises behind us tomorrow. The orders are that we all just do as we feel is fun. We head to the sun, and to do your share is all that’s needed. Everyone aboard — this is our time. The planet is ours, and we the servers of her. We deserve this time no less than any other. Celebration, feast and journey is the reward we all deserve and share.”

Gary laughed. “To that I raise a cup, my lady. And to the new captain of this ship, I cheer.”

“Only until your celebration is over, our fine master of the seas — for when you’re once again ready, you’ll take us to the far reaches of every corner of this planet. Worry not, and celebrate to your heart’s content. The helm will be here waiting for you. So sing loud, and dance like a crazy fool, one and all. Tonight, and every night, is our night.”

Mila leaned towards me, lifting her chin to whisper in my ear.

“I’ll be in to see you later tonight, young and healthy man of mine. Not too much mead, if you please.”

“Understood, my fine captain,” I said, and stood straight to attention with a smirk and a cheeky smile at the corner of my eye.

A precious water planet — now free from the threat of global evaporation. The stupidity of evil forces, predictable and ridiculous, so easy to see, but never for one minute to be overlooked or underestimated.

Our fine crew cheered and danced long into the night, and for many nights to follow. A message of spiritual freedom never ceased to be widespread, and forever realised. For it is the spirit of man that is here to keep this precious water planet immortally alive.

Chapter 32

Blue-3

“Wow,” Gary said, looking up at me. “I think I’m about ready to start the next journey. I thought we could just party and relax forever after that one — but I need a new game again.”

“Without a doubt, Gary,” I replied. “I was kind of waiting for you to come around, my jolly captain. We’ve actually still got a lot of work to do — but the pressure’s off, that’s for sure. This is a big and beautiful planet. Peace and tranquillity span its surface. But I’ve seen planets in such a condition take themselves almost to the brink of destruction all the same — without ever having to worry about the dark beings from the black universe. It might take a few thousand years to do it, but that’s only a blink in time.”

Gary laughed and leaned back in his chair with a large cup of warm breakfast mill tea.

“That’s right, Shane. Tell me more about Blue-3. I’m trying to imagine how a planet with everything it could ever need could get itself into a position of near self-destruction. That really is off the planet — and how did you end up there anyway?”

I leaned forward, elbows on the table, forehead in the palm of my left hand, and rolled right back to Blue-3.

“That’s for sure, Gary. Blue-3 really is something else. You know, I started there just as I did here on this precious water planet of ours — growing up and playing in the ocean. But behind it all, something certainly was not right. Cars, houses, airplanes, televisions, computers. Just a perfect point in time. And all the while, across the planet — war, terrorism, drug and slave trafficking in mass beyond imaginable proportion. Underlying it all, a hidden evil that had infiltrated almost every inch of society. Luckily, not everyone was asleep to it.

We have time now. Let me tell you all about it.”

Gary and I spent the next months together, laughing and drawing up sketches, making plans for a future civilisation to be. A moral code is all it would take. A code all of mankind could agree to — one that would carry him forward as one, from here to eternity.

And so began their true journey.

THE END

The journey continues in

LORD OF WATER — BOOK III

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