“The fish must have fled from that,” Maddox said.

  “The darkness?” asked Meta.

  “No, but what spewed the inky substance.”

  They sailed over the spreading darkness and noticed it was dissipating the farther they sailed. It must have spread here first.

  With his intuitive sense stirring, Maddox took down the sail and threw anchors overboard. The bottom was many fathoms down. The anchors did not reach that far, but he hoped the anchors would at least slow any boat movement.

  Far in the depths as he peered, it looked like… “Meta, is that a submarine?”

  She leaned over the edge, peering down. “It’s a spaceship, I think. It is circular like one of the Spacer vessels, but its designs are different.”

  “Indeed,” Maddox said. “I wonder how deep the spaceship is.”

  “Too far for us to dive without gear,” Meta said.

  Maddox rummaged around, checking their equipment. There were no air tanks, but there was a facemask and fins. He looked at Meta, “I am going down to take a look.”

  “Oh darling, do you think that’s wise?”

  Maddox chuckled, “What is wise? We’re in some godforsaken ocean with a destroyed city in the distance, fishes all fleeing, and a spaceship down there. Surely that is what is being tested: my resolve.”

  “No, don’t you remember telling me? You said Omegan was testing your wisdom. Perhaps the wise thing to do is to sit here and wait.”

  “How hard is that to do? If I feared, I would be too afraid to do anything else. No, my dear, I must go down and inspect the spaceship.”

  “To what end?” asked Meta.

  “I don’t know. But it is time I prepared for the dive.”

  Maddox spit in the facemask, washed the saliva around on the glass with his fingers and then rinsed it out with saltwater. He’d learned the trick long ago. The spit kept the facemask from fogging up. There was no snorkel. Maybe it was a moot thing. He set the mask over his nose and eyes. Then he entered the water and had Meta hand him the fins. He put these on and accepted one of the lances, wrapping a thong from the end of it around his wrist.

  He took many deep breaths, trying to hyperventilate. Then, he submerged his head, letting go of the launch. He jackknifed in the water, aiming his head and torso straight down. He thrust his legs up in the air, helping to propel him down, and began to kick slowly and leisurely, propelling himself into the depths.

  By relaxing as much as possible, he conserved oxygen in his lungs and body. He placed his thumb under the rubber over his nose and expelled air through his nostrils to equalize the pressure in his ear canals. He kept descending, spear thrust before him.

  So far, no fish or other aquatic creatures approached him, though he half expected it.

  As Maddox reached the depths, with sunlight still penetrating, he realized he couldn’t stay down much longer. He didn’t waste time looking up at the launch. Every moment was crucial. He tapped the end of the lance against the hull of the spaceship, and it rang metallically, as he had suspected it would.

  The ship was saucer-shaped, and he swam along its surface, studying it. Then he kicked over the edge going underneath it. It was dimmer here, and he thought the spaceship hadn’t been here long. Ahead, on the under-hull, he saw what appeared to be a hatch with a small wheel. He glided to it, released his spear, shaking off the thong, and turned the valve. Soon, the hatch opened.

  This was a pivotal moment. Dare he enter the spaceship? The air in his lungs felt depleted. Only someone reckless would enter a spaceship under these conditions. But what were his alternatives? Return to the surface and hyperventilate again? He might not last as long the second dive.

  Trusting his intuition, Maddox propelled himself into the tiny chamber, closed the hatch, spun the wheel, and fumbled around until he pressed a switch. Pumps activated. The water drained, and he took a cautious breath. Though the air had an odd taste, it was breathable.

  Could a spaceship function like a submarine with such a hatch? It seemed so strange. Maddox was puzzled. He only had his swim trunks, wits and intelligence. Would Meta think he had drowned? Might she have seen him go underneath the spaceship?

  It was time to trust— not in luck, but in courage and wits. This was a wild impulse, he knew.

  Once the last of the water drained from the chamber, an inner hatch opened. Maddox pushed the hatch, determined to discover the secrets of the saucer ship.

  -37-

  After about fifteen minutes of wandering the dim corridors, Maddox found the first alien. It looked like a squid, wearing garments and a sidearm. Maddox took the weapon and studied the alien. The squid thing was cold, its eyes lifeless, but not decayed. He sniffed the corpse. The alien did not stink as something that had rotted, so he assumed it had died only recently. It was three-quarters his height.

  He had to hunch as he walked down the corridors. He found the corridors claustrophobically low, but he endured. As he went further, he discovered more of the dead aliens. None had a weapon that he could determine, but each bore different insignia. He stumbled upon sleeping quarters and other places that might have been an engine room.

  Eventually, he reached a circular area he assumed was the bridge. The functioning lights and some of the circuitry indicated there was still power in the ship. Considering the recent disturbances by sea creatures and the ink cloud he and Meta had seen before, he deduced the ship might have crashed recently. These observations fit with the nature of the squid-like creatures, the ink cloud in the water. But a question arose: if these beings were like squids, why was the ship filled with air and not water?

  Maddox approached the main control board. Clearly designed for many tentacles, he tried to make sense of it just the same. Through a combination of intuitive thought and deduction, he began to interact with the board. A stellar map illuminated on the main screen. He studied the map, mentally marking a specific area he believed represented the Aquila Rift. Was this a recent journey or something from the distant past? Could Omegan transport him through time and space?

  Pondering these questions, Maddox recalled the saucer ship’s airlock, speculating whether the squid aliens sometimes submerged their spaceships and deployed explorers underwater. He continued to manipulate the controls. Without relying on his intuition, he doubted he could decipher the alien system’s intricacies.

  Maddox recognized a distinct star pattern on the map. He adjusted the display, revealing a red zone. He wondered about the red zone’s significance and its stellar coordinates. Adjusting the controls, he identified a location twenty-eight light years away from the red zone and outside the Aquila Rift. Was this a clue about a Seeker, the Prism Drive, or the squid aliens’ homeworld? He had no idea.

  Regardless, Maddox felt the discovery was crucial. The idea that anyone, including him, could decipher such a system seemed far-fetched. He shrugged off the negative thought. He’d found something. It was time to return to Meta.

  Maddox paused. Should he attempt to fly the saucer from its watery grave and journey to the identified location? He attempted to fire up the engines, but nothing happened. Maybe he should be satisfied with the coordinates to the red zone.

  Decision made, Maddox began to retrace his steps through the corridors.

  Panic briefly gripped him as he thought he might not find the way back out. He could be traveling in circles. However, after another fifteen minutes, he located the hatch.

  Entering the small chamber, he pondered the reverse process. If unsuccessful, he’d be trapped in here, leaving Meta waiting above. Maddox closed the inner hatch and activated the main switch, hoping he was doing this right.

  The chamber flooded with water. Maddox almost panicked as he settled the mask over his face. Then the outer hatch opened. He pushed out, recognizing the orange haze of the sun down here in the depths.

  Maddox shot up for the surface, realizing he’d forgotten the hand weapon in the alien bridge. What a stupid move. He didn’t have a lance anymore. He had nothing except the knowledge he’d acquired from the stellar chart.

  Maddox kicked his feet, and the fins propelled him higher and higher. Then, a rubbery long tentacle uncurled from underneath the giant spaceship. The tentacle reached up and grasped Maddox’s left ankle like a boa constrictor. The rubbery substance tightened around the ankle and squeezed with terrific force.

  Maddox stopped rising. He turned and twisted, and knew he had but one chance. He attacked the tentacle with his teeth and fingernails, clawed, bit and tore. Unfortunately, none of that had any effect on the tentacle.

  Out of the corner of his eye as he fought for his life, Maddox saw a voluptuous, beautiful, bikini-clad woman swimming down with sure strokes of her legs. She had a lance in her hand and a knife clenched between her teeth. Her eyes blazed with fury.

  Meta dove at the great tentacle that was holding Maddox. Another whipped up toward her. Maddox motioned for Meta to leave. Instead, she buried the point of the lance head into the tentacle behind where it grabbed Maddox’s ankle. She let go of the lance and grabbed the knife. Wrapping her legs around the tentacle, she slashed with the knife.

  The second tentacle grasped her midsection. She turned and slashed furiously at it. The knife had a wicked sharp edge. Dark blood began to pump from the cuts on both tentacles.

  The second tentacle whipped away, although the first grimly hung on.

  Now a gigantic shark-like fish swam up and grasped the first tentacle in its teeth, severing it.

  Freed from the tentacle, Maddox began to kick. His lungs burned for air.

  Meta swam up beside him and clutched an arm around his torso. She strove upward with him.

  Maddox stared at the distant surface. It seemed desperately far away. He fought to retain consciousness. A burst of bubbles exploded from his mouth. He sucked and swallowed bitter, briny, salt water. He flailed, and he must have blanked out.

  The next thing Maddox knew, someone was pushing and pumping his legs, and water gushed from his lungs out of his mouth. He was in the launch. Meta had managed to push him over the edge into it.

  Meta pushed his legs back and forth like pistons.

  Maddox retched more water. Then he sucked down glorious, beautiful air.

  Meta hugged him, laughing. Tears streamed down her face. “Oh my darling, my darling, we must leave here! We must leave this terrible wretched place. Look below.”

  Maddox struggled up. She helped him up. He looked over the side. More of the giant sharks had come. They were attacking the tentacled monster, which was more visible now as it crawled over the saucer ship.

  Maddox indicated that he’d seen enough.

  With Meta’s help, he hoisted the sail.

  This time, the breeze didn’t take them out but toward the smoke rising from the city on shore.

  “Now what do we do, dearest?” Meta asked. “You’ve escaped the spaceship. Did you discover anything?”

  I did,” Maddox said, feeling only tangibly better. His lungs and throat ached. He didn’t want to undergo such an experience again. It had been dreadful. “That’s the second time you’ve saved my life.”

  “Who’s counting?” Meta asked.

  “I am. You saved me once from a Yon Soth.”

  “Oh, darling, I’m so glad I came on this mission. But we must return home. First, we must get back to Victory. If we don’t, Jewel will grow up without a mother and father.”

  “She will have a grandmother,” Maddox said, as he held Meta’s hand.

  A fierce emotion surged between them. He leaned near, embraced and kissed Meta. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

  “I am too. You need me with you to make sure you’re safe. I can see that now.”

  He kissed her again.

  Later, Maddox looked at the smoke rising from the antimatter-smashed city. Had the radiation from it reached them yet, penetrated their skin, their organs? He didn’t feel that.

  Maddox looked back over the sea. The spaceship and squid-like aliens made little sense. He felt sure this was a different time and place, although not a different dimension.

  “Cube,” he said. “What now? Was this what you wanted me to see?”

  “Who are you speaking to?” Meta asked, looking around.

  “Omegan must have some manner of watching and listening to us, wouldn’t you think?”

  “I have no idea,” Meta said. “I just want to leave.”

  “I don’t know how to do that,” Maddox said. “Except—”

  A monstrous shark-like creature jumped from the sea and hit the water with its side like a humpback whale. That was from about twenty feet away, droplets of water splashing them. The crash caused a wave to smash against the launch, causing the mast to snap in half. The top part of the mast came down. Then more giant shark beasts shot up from the water and smacked the sea like humpback whales.

  Were the fish intelligent or was something driving them to do this? Perhaps something was yet alive on the spaceship, manipulating their primitive brains.

  The waves from the sea creatures rocked the launch wildly so both humans clung to the gunwales.

  “Maddox, look!” Meta shouted.

  He saw an opening in the air appear several feet beyond the launch. Unfortunately, the distance between the portal and launch was widening as the portal was in the direction of the crashing sharks.

  “Come on,” Maddox said. “This is our only chance.”

  “What do you mean? We can’t reach the portal. And look at those monsters!”

  More sharks shot up and crashed back against the sea with a wet smacking sound.

  “Meta, trust me.”

  Maddox felt awful. Even though his lungs ached and his legs felt like rubber, he stood and staggered. He hurled himself over the side and began to swim clumsily for the opening that was several feet above the sloshing waves.

  He heard a secondary splash. It was Meta. With sure strokes, she came toward him, and she had a lance in her hand. She came even with him, and together they reached the hole several feet in the air.

  As she rode up on a wave, Meta used the barbed end of the lance to hook the side of the portal. It might have seemed preposterous, but it happened.

  Meta turned to him and said, “Push me up!”

  Maddox shoved against her luscious posterior, and she used arm strength to clamber up the spear and latch her fingers onto the bottom, of the portal. Meta hauled herself up and lay prone in the other world, her head and shoulders poking through toward this one.

  Meta reversed the spear, and as Maddox rode up on a wave, he grasped the end. With her help, he struggled up. Soon they were holding hands, the lance falling into the water and the giant sharks rushing toward them. Meta drew him into the portal.

  Across Meta’s body, Maddox saw a black obsidian plain. Upon it were billions of rubies. In the other direction, in the water, gigantic shark-like creatures swam for him, their teeth gleaming.

  Maddox and Meta rolled into this other world. The portal closed with a snap, and they were back on the Ruby Planet.

  -38-

  Maddox stood, and so did Meta.

  “What wonderfully fast thinking,” Maddox said, as he enveloped Meta in a hug.

  She hugged him back and beamed up at him.

  Maddox let go of her and looked around. “We’re not wearing proper attire for this place,” Maddox said, having on his swim trunks. Meta had her beautiful bikini. Maybe what he needed was to find a cove and make love to his wife one last time. He shook his head. No, that was defeatist thinking. They could get back to Victory, somehow.

  “All right,” Maddox said, “I’m open to suggestions.”

  “I don’t want to pick up a rake this time,” Meta said. “I wish I’d kept the lance so I could shove it up Omegan’s aperture.”

  Maddox chuckled in agreement. Then he spotted two individuals raking. They didn’t look their way. Maddox wondered if they should head toward the two.

  “Let’s do something other than just standing around,” Meta said. “The ground is a little hot for my feet. What about you?”

  “Yeah,” Maddox said, glancing at the sky. “We should hurry. I don’t know how much time we have, but I have a sense of urgency.”

  “Is this your intuitive sense speaking?”

  “That, and look, the star is climbing into the sky. It was always hottest here when the star was highest.”

  Meta shaded her eyes against the sunlight and nodded. The brilliant, pink, gem star was half way up already.

  Maddox and Meta hurried toward the other two, who wore metallic garments and wide-brimmed hats and raked with determination. They’d created many piles of rubies, just as Meta and Maddox had done earlier.

  As they closed the distance, Maddox realized he recognized Ludendorff and Riker. He hailed them.

  Neither looked up.

  “It’s likely,” Maddox told Meta, “they’ve been raking the entire time. That means they didn’t resist whatever mentally forces them to rake.”

  “I broke the hypnosis, or whatever it was. Was that because of you?”

  Maddox shrugged.

  Meta rounded on him. “Husband, I want you to be honest with me. You know I can handle it.”

  Maddox sighed and nodded. “Likely, my proximity had something to do with your breaking free.”

  “Then let’s hope your proximity can do the same for them.” Meta became thoughtful. “Will the four of us have to climb the scooper to leave this place?”

  “Let’s take one step at a time. That’s the best bet in a situation like this.”

  “As you wish,” Meta said. “Proceed, please.”

  Maddox grinned, and, hand in hand, they approached Riker and Ludendorff.

  “Professor,” Maddox said, “isn’t it time to take a break?”

  Ludendorff glanced up once, his eyes lingering on Meta in her yellow bikini, before returning to his raking.

  “We know the old goat is lecherous in the extreme,” Maddox said. “Why don’t you sway seductively past him? That might break the hypnosis long enough for me to reason with him.”