Journey into the Deep by Guy S. Stanton III
It was a God thing that there was one less orphan in the world tonight. At least it felt like it should be night, even though it was as light as day all around us.
I glanced at Matt, “Still glad that I let you come?” I asked.
Met shrugged and smiled ruefully, “I could’ve done without the storm. I…… what’s that?” He asked pointing off to the side.
My eyes swung in the direction of his pointing finger. After a moment of shock I managed to get out, “That is our first sea monster sighting it would appear.”
The sea monster in question consisted of a long neck with a small head that stuck up above the waves a good distance of perhaps about ten feet.
“I think it’s a plesiosaur!” Matt exclaimed.
I wasn’t sure what that was and I asked in order to verify the alarm I felt, “Is it friendly?”
No sooner had I asked that than the small head attached atop the long neck lashed out threateningly at the boat’s approach. It bared its teeth, which were menacing to behold and snorted viciously. Oh this was not good!
Flynn came storming into the wheelhouse his eyes wild, “Should I break out Betsy?”
“That sounds like a good……” I swallowed the rest of my words, as the elongated necks of more monsters rose out of the water all around the ship.
“What do we do?” Ortega asked clearly panicked, as the longnecked sea creatures came closer hissing and lashing their long necks.
“Pray!” I said.
Oh God we need you now! Show me You have a purpose for bringing us here other than to destroy us!
The boldness of my words gave me fear of censure, but I felt none given. It was about to get bad as the snake headed monsters got closer to the Celestia’s Prize.
The onslaught of the strange looking beasts, which I had no doubt could rip and smash the boat apart, abruptly halted their snarling as they swiveled in the water to face outward from the boat. I breathed a sigh of relief at the loss of being the source of the monsters interest, but something else was up and I began to mentally gird myself against whatever was to come next.
All of a sudden all the sea monsters heads dipped below the surface. The water began to boil all around us with underwater activity and the Celestia’s Prize was rocked around like a cork in a bathtub.
The surface of the surrounding sea broke apart as great marine bodies rose to the surface with blasts of water and air. The first thing that I saw break the water were tusks and I thought of narwhals, but then the mass behind the tusks became unmistakable as that of a whale. Whales with tusks!
What would be next, sea snakes as thick as trees and a football field long?
Oh God I hoped not!
I grabbed a hold of Matt to keep him from falling as the boat pitched up and down, because of the disturbed water all around us as the whales surfaced. This was just all too wild!
These whales were like none I had ever seen before. They were big and very tough looking. Their gray blubbery sides were scarred and literally chewed up with the signs of war. One whale’s tusk came out of the water only to reveal the gored through body of one of the snake headed creatures that had been about to attack us.
The whale rose up out of the water impressively far and then with a drawn back twisting jerk release of its head the whale sent the impaled sea monster the size of a large elephant soaring over top of the Celestia’s Prize. Blood and seawater rained down upon the boat, as the dead carcass of something most likely thought extinct sailed up and over to the sea on the other side, only it didn’t reach the sea.
Another whale on the other side rose up out of the water and caught the carcass in its mouth with one massive toothed bite. The sound of bones snapping and water splashing was drowned out by the sudden uproar of squeals given off by the congregated whales that sounded almost like cheerful applause!
My jaw had long since fallen open, but now it fell wider. They were playing!
What did these whales do when they were angry?
“They are your guides to land. Follow those whom I have set as the rulers of these waters for they will not lead you astray.”
Humbled, I clutched onto the wheel as the pod of thirty or more whales broke away from the boat as one and began swimming in a spread out formation away from us. Obediently I eased the wheel over and began to follow after them.
Matt looked at me incredulously, “Are you crazy? Let them go!”
I shook my head negatively and said, “Can’t.”
“Why on Earth not?” Matt exclaimed.
“Because God said so.” I said wondering what his reaction would be.
He gave me an odd look and then looked forward at the whales I was keeping a safe distance from. “Whales it is then.” He said commenting softly.
After a moment he asked, “Did you ever think you would experience anything like this in life?”
“Can’t say that I did.” I responded truthfully.
He glanced over at me, “God has laid something on your heart to do hasn’t He? That’s why the sea lane was opened up to us wasn’t it? And why we’re following the whales?”
I nodded.
“That’s a big change for you.” Matt said studying me further.
“A needed one.” I said in reply.
The whales swam on and on and I faithfully stayed back in their wake following their every move. I didn’t even let anybody else have the wheel.
Flynn eventually butted in between me and the wheel and said, “Take a load off your feet Captain. When we get into the action you’ll need something to still fight with.”
Reluctantly I stepped back and let the smaller man takeover.
Curiously I asked, “You’re expecting a fight Flynn?”
He didn’t take his eyes off the whales ahead as he answered, “I’ve been at sea a long time Captain. After a while you have a way of sensing when a storm’s brewing. Storm’s coming Captain and we need to be ready for it.”
I looked out at the mangled equipment on deck. I hadn’t asked before, but now I did, “how did everything fair through the storm?”
“Betsy’s all mangled up, but the Children are still here.” He said stoically.
I nodded grimly. It would have been good to have had the fifty caliber machine gun, but now we would have to manage without it.
I didn’t go to my cabin, instead I stayed in the wheelhouse and lay down on the floor. Surprisingly I fell asleep.
Chapter Eight
Landfall
“Captain!”
I jerked up slightly into a half rise at the urgency in the voice rousing me awake.
“Captain you’re gonna want to see this!” Flynn said and I quickly got up and came to his side.
The first thing I saw were the clouds. It seemed as if the clouds had come down to the surface of the sea and formed a misty veil of glowing effervescence. The whales ahead of us abruptly dived and disappeared from view. They didn’t resurface.
In a way I found myself missing them. They had been in a way a source of encouragement sent by God and now that they were gone I was left alone with my faith once again to fill in the gaps of my courage.
“I Am is still here. I’ve gone on before you and the way is clear.”
The words from within felt like a promise and they helped build up my courage once more to face the unknowns of this world and be confident that I could weather through them with God as my strength. I gripped a hold of the wheel and Flynn relinquished it to me.
“Unlock the handguns and give everybody one. Give one shotgun to Jim and keep the other for yourself. You and Ortega will remain on board the ship.”
Flynn eyed me speculatively, “Determined to go ashore then, are you, upon this strange coast that I feel lies ahead of us?”
“It’s why we came Flynn. Hate to break it to you, but there might not be any treasure to be collected while we’re out this time.”
Flynn laughed, “Who needs money when you have adventure like this! Besides I knew it w
I patted him on the back as he turned to leave. I had been blessed with a singularly great bunch of individuals to make up my crew. I couldn’t have asked for better people.
I kept the Celestia’s Prize headed for the glowing fog bank ahead. The fog didn’t glow as much as the overhead canopy, but it obscured whatever lay beyond it. Time passed by as we blindly headed forward toward whatever destiny God had put in place for us.
Christina stepped into the wheelhouse and I glanced down to the gun on her hip. I smiled warmly at her as I asked, “Flynn show you how to use that?”
“Jim showed me.” She said sounding nervous about something.
“What is it Christina?” I asked, as the fog started to dust over the ship’s surface and visibility became zero.
“I’m to go ashore then with the rest?”
“Yes.”
“Why? I don’t know anything about fighting or much of anything really!”
I patted her shoulder in a fatherly gesture, “It’s a good time for you to start learning. You’re one of us now Christina. I know you’re scared and I know you doubt your capabilities, but you’re wrong to do so Christina. You are a strong young woman and I wouldn’t be having you come along with us if I didn’t think you were up to it.”
She straightened under the weight of my hand slightly and I didn’t say anything more for a while.
Lost in the fog the Celestia’s Prize forged onward.
I was proud of my ship. All the abuse it had taken and yet it was still together in one roughed up piece giving me all it had. A man couldn’t ask for more from his boat. ‘Graceful degradation’ I believe was the terminology for it.
Graceful degradation was the term used to describe how much damage and loss of operating systems a fighter jet could suffer and still remain in the air and be operable. The Celestia’s Prize wasn’t a forty million dollar fighter jet, but she was still floating and under power ready for the next adventure.
The fog was starting to break up and I prepared myself for the view of an island crowned with an imperial city populated by Atlantean giants. With baited breath we pulled free of the last of the fog and the island was revealed.
There was no grand imperial city dominating the mainland. All I saw was a lushly forested island that had crop fields here and there. Some deep part of me relaxed at the sighting of no ancient city of advanced technology, but I re-tensed at what I thought for sure to be the signs of agriculture upon the land.
The Southern treasure fleet really had made it here and set up a colony. Was I about to be made over into a slave?
Time would tell on that one. I did know one thing. If white plantation owners were still enslaving people of my color then I was going to do something about it. What that would be was still a mystery, but God had brought me here for a purpose and if He wanted it done then it would be done.
It appeared to be a large island, but not the island continent of ancient fables. Perhaps it had broken up into smaller pieces when it had fallen through from the world above.
Maybe it wasn’t Atlantis at all, but the lone volcano spout lifting above the tall forests of the island seemed to testify to the fact that this was the remnant of the landmass that had been Atlantis at one time.
A harbor became prominent as I picked out the outlines of ships, houses, and even more evidence of cultivation. I wondered again curiously for the hundredth time as to why the whales had left us and hadn’t escorted us into port.
It took us over an hour for the details to start standing out to us and when they did it became apparent that we had been noticed as well. The ships in the harbor were what one could expect of the great sailing era of the seventeen hundreds and a little later.
I saw no ironclad battleships among the moored vessels. There had been several to make the voyage with the Southern fleet, but in retrospection I reasoned that they had probably rusted out long since. Even the wooden ships at anchor looked of a more recent construction than a hold over remnant from the Civil War era.
It had been roughly 150 years since these people had come here, but technology had seemed to stand still and didn’t appear to have progressed any. That was strange I thought to myself. Had all of Atlantis’s vast technology been destroyed along with everything else in the great flood?
It would seem so, at least, from outward appearances. I had half expected to have alien looking gunships hovering in the air all around us as we were threatened with being blown apart by death rays.
While I was glad that wasn’t the case I was surprised. Had these plantation owners really just been growing crops all this time?
They didn’t even have a market to sell produce to!
Or did they?
There were a lot of questions to be answered.
I could see people lining the docks in the distance. As we got closer I saw something in the water beside one of the ships at anchor. It was a whale and it was dead.
There were people up and down the length of the whale cutting it up and harvesting the carcass for meat and blubber. I looked around at the other ships at anchor. Each ship had a figurehead ornament of a whale tusk mounted to its prow.
I wasn’t opposed to the practice of whaling, but there seemed something off with this setup. All these ships were whaling ships. What need could there be for so many whaling vessels?
Why kill whales who appeared to not have it out for humans, but instead protected them?
I was starting to get uneasy about my decision to make a bold approach into the harbor. Maybe we should have just tried to slip ashore unnoticed somewhere and test the waters first.
Oh well, we were committed now. It was up to God to deliver us if I had made a mistake, as I even now feared that I had.
Matt looked along the dock and those gathered upon it in shock, “I can’t believe what I’m seeing! Eli I didn’t expect this!”
“Me neither.” I said grimly, as I felt my own shock at what the gathered crowd of spectators along the docks was revealing.
Irony couldn’t come close to describing the current of events that must’ve occurred in this colony at some point in the past.
“Maybe you should stay on board Matt.” I said, as I continued to look at the perplexing makeup of the crowd.
Matt shook his head stubbornly, “No, I’m going. You were willing to risk slavery coming on this quest and now it would seem that I must as well attempt a similar fate.”
I started to speak again, but Matt patted my shoulder and I remained silent.
I watched as the white slaves parted away from the dock to give way to their black masters dressed in the finery of plantation owners. It was an odd sight to behold and not a good one.
Slavery had been wrong the first time it had been implemented and to see things reversed wasn’t empowering to me, but rather it was one of the saddest sights I had ever seen. Instead of abolishing the yoke that people of my ethnic background had been burdened with they had continued it on in a spirit of petty vengeance against their former Masters, who they had made their slaves.
Perhaps vengeance could have initially been understandable, even excusable, but not now. Not a hundred and fifty years later.
The slaves I saw, which bore evident signs of abuse had nothing in common with the sins of their plantation owner ancestors of the old South. These white slaves were hopelessly caught up in a cycle of abuse and belittlement even as my ancestors had been.
There was nothing deserved or justified by the enslavement of these people for something their ancestors had done worthy of such a judgment. If anything, the reversal of roles in the sunken world was one of the strongest arguments ever to attest to the equality of all mankind regardless of skin color and ethnicity, because the same atrocities could be perpetrated equally measured by all colors of people against each other.
I fought against the overwhelming urge to just turn the ship around and leave this island that bore evidence of man?
Did I in turn have any more right than Abraham Lincoln to turn away from the suffering of his fellow mankind, whether they be of my color or of a different color?
No, I did not.
I brought the Celestia’s Prize up alongside the dock, as I made the promise to myself to be a holy agent of change to affect the freedom of people under bondage.
“Shut her off Ortega. You and Flynn are staying on board. Don’t let anybody else on board!” I said briefly into the ship’s COM system.
I let go of the wheel and stepped free of the wheelhouse followed by Matt.
“It’s not too late Matt.” I said in an aside, as I fell back to walk beside him, as each of us was the subject of several hundred stares by master and slave alike.
Matt shook his head wryly and said, “This reminds me of the black hat brigades who fought for the North. If they were captured by the South they were shot on the spot instead of being taken prisoner, because of their Negro heritage. I knew this was a one-way ticket when I signed on Eli.”
I nodded in affirmation. Matt was showing me a special kind of courage that I would never have guessed was to be found in the quiet academia professor that always had his nose stuck in a book.
Big Jim stood with feet shoulder width apart as the shotgun in one hand trailed down to point at the deck. Christina stood slightly off to the left and behind him looking scared, but resolute at the same time. She’d back up Jim’s play should he have need of it.
Above all else, no matter what happened to the rest of us, I wanted to see those two free and clear to go on living.
I stepped up onto the dock as the silent crowd moved back from us. Matt stepped up beside me and together we waited.
An older black man stepped out from the crowd. His eyes flickered from Matt to me before he addressed me, “You are from up there?” He asked pointing upward with a finger.
“We are.” I said.