Thirty-six thousand feet below sea level the United States government had a station in the Mariana Trench for research purposes. The lights from it provided illumination, but it was no Pacifica. Remembering Henslowe, the alleged Katanga sympathizer, Cormac wondered if he was here even now. There was a submarine connected to the station, so could it have been his?
"Do you think we should be careful?" asked Melusine. "How many people do you even think is in there?"
Shrugging, Cormac answered: "I don't know. Counting the submarine crew, there can't be anymore than twenty can there?"
Swimming over to a window, Cormac and Melusine both peered into what seemed to be sleeping quarters. There were a pair of dead men on the floor, both with knives in their bodies and the quarters were a mess. It made the lockers at Cormac's high school look tidy, aside from his which actually had been tidy.
"What do you suppose happened?" inquired Melusine, unsure what could have possibly caused two individuals residing in the same quarters to turn on each other like that. Were they even individuals that resided in the same quarters or had there been a quarrel between the station people and the submariners?
How was she supposed to know? How was Cormac supposed to know? They were both on the outside with no way in and even if they could get in, she had no legs and Cormac could only be out of the water for five minutes. How much would they be able to find out if they were to go in and investigate? It was a wonderful question, but alas, it seemed to be one they were not able to answer, all they could do was peer—
The moment a man of fifty-three years entered the quarters, his head facing downwards and a rather disinterested look on his face, Cormac and Melusine both swam to the side a bit. They could still see inside the quarters, but hopefully the man could not see them.
"McIntire!"
And apparently, they could hear inside as well. As another man, this one fifty-nine years old, entered the quarters, the first one, McIntire, turned to look at him and asked: "What, Taylor?"
"Henslowe has sent up another reel, it looks good."
Rolling his eyes in annoyance, McIntire asked: "What is it this time some damn big squid? How about an octopus? Did he see the ghost of Moby Dick? I'm tellin' ya, that Pacifica enthusiast makes the rest of us Katanga sympathizers look bad! What could possibly interest good old Moise Tshombe about some fairy tale?"
"Watch your stupid mouth!" Taylor roared. "Pacifica is real, I know it in my bones like any real submariner."
"You callin' me a phony, Taylor?" asked McIntire, turning to face the slightly older man.
"You are a phony, McIntire! All this time you've sneered and scoffed at Pacifica and Ronemun! No real submariner would ever do such a thing!"
"Pacifica and Ronemun ain't nothin' but some old fairy tales, Taylor." Said McIntire, putting his hands on his belt. "Things like that make people crazy like these poor bastards who killed each other."
"These slobs killed each other due to being unsatisfied with some blue movies from 1950!" retorted Taylor. "Believing in Pacifica and Ronemun don't make crazy, it is the isolation that makes people crazy! Seven men, no women, just some old films. They needed a couple of hookers down here to make things better!"
Two women and seven men? Cormac was no expert, but he did not think that was enough for peaceful cohabitation.
Swimming away from the window, Cormac and Melusine continued on down through the Mariana Trench. As they continued on down, Cormac wondered just what Henslowe had gone down in? Was there another submarine? A slightly smaller one? There must have been another submarine, one for going down further for research purposes. There may have even been a bathysphere.
All that the Young Egan and the Helena of the Deep knew was that Henslowe was here in the Mariana Trench and that he must have found Pacifica and it seemed he really was a Katanga sympathizer. Was he actually here to claim Pacifica for Katanga or was there something in Pacifica that would have been of interest to Moise Tshombe?
Alas, they knew not, but yet they wondered what could have possibly in Pacifica that would interest the leader of an unrecognized breakaway state? Something that could give their state recognition? What would that be? Something equal or greater than the nuclear bomb? Wasn't that a terrifying thought?
What if it was something else? What if there was a monster or a demon trapped beneath Pacifica that Ronemun kept imprisoned so it might not spread terror across the Deep and the Surface alike? So many questions came to mind and yet there were no answers.
Not yet at least. The two Children of the Storm would have to wait until they actually reached Pacifica to find out, if they didn't run into Henslowe or some malevolent inhabitant of the Deep first.
Deeper and deeper the two swam, the lights of the station fading. The farther they got, the more they began to notice something strange swimming towards them. Twisting and wriggling were some strange pink glowing things. It was only when they had gotten closer than they realized the glowing things were the bioluminescent snakes that served as the hair of a Pacifican mermaid whose skeletal upper half was green in colouration… With a moustache that was a pair of bioluminescent snakes?
Completely taken aback, Cormac and Melusine both stared, causing the Moustached Mermaid to exclaim: "Have you two no manners? Do you not know that it is rude to stare?"
Still staring at the moustache of snakes, Cormac wondered what strange individual he and Melusine had come across. He had heard of bearded women, a common staple of circuses, but bearded mermaids? Were there underwater circuses? If so then this Pacifican Mermaid would probably fit right in with one of them.
"Forgive us, madam." Said Melusine, attempting a curtsy. Cormac only stared with raised eyebrow. Seeing Melusine attempt to curtsy when she had no knees was odd, if not interesting. "We have just never seen a mermaid with a moustache before."
Putting her hands on her hips, the Pacifican Mermaid answered: "Nor ever will again, I wager, dear. I am a one of kind."
Noticing the mermaid's crooked tail, Cormac asked: "Are you alright, madam?"
"Oh, it is nothing, son." Replied the Pacifican Mermaid. "It might slow me down, but no one will dare bother me. I defeated Urefenkebos in a magic duel once, you know." Looking at Cormac, her blank eyes boring into him, the Pacifican Mermaid then asked: "An Egan? Oh, of course you are! I quite liked Ronemun's father. He was a nice man and I very much approved of him marrying… Oh, dear! I haven't even introduced myself! Netaurefenrefen be my appellation, how are you two children called?"
"I am Cormac and she is Melusine Johns." Cormac answered. He was not sure, but he thought he and Melusine may have found the individual with the longest name in the Deep.
Clasping her hands together, Netaurefenrefen exclaimed: "Oh, named after Ronemun's father, are you?"
"Apparently he is my great-uncle." Stated Cormac. "As strange as that is."
"Life is strange, dear!" stated Netaurefenrefen. "Sometimes you swim back in time without meaning to." Chuckling, she then added: "It has happened to me once or twice and I quite enjoyed it. That Blackbeard was such a charmer!" Blackbeard? The Blackbeard? The pirate? Looking Netaurefenrefen up and down, Cormac could only wonder if the Pacifican Mermaid was pulling his leg because if Blackbeard had indeed been a charmer towards a type of mermaid that was a skeleton with snakes for hair from the waist up, an eel from the waist the down, had no noses, gaping mouths with fangs and a body length of sixteen feet… On second thought, the Young Egan wasn't exactly sure he wanted to think that about that. Looking at the claws upon her fingers and her blank eyes, Cormac was left to wonder how such aspects of the Pacifican Mermaid's appearance did not frighten off Blackbeard. How did the moustache consisting of a pair of snakes not frighten off Blackbeard? Shaking his head, Cormac watched as Netaurefenrefen turned to Melusine and asked: "And you are named after 'Melusine?'"
"Yes, madam." Melusine answered with a nod.
"Oh, I haven't seen her in a long time." Chuckling the Pacifican Mermaid added: "Lets see here, I probably haven't seen her in seven hundred and sixty-one years. You even kind of look like her, you wouldn't happen to have some Plantagenet blood in you, would you?"
"I-I'm not sure." Uttered Melusine. She was becoming confused. The Sea-Bishop had caused her to question if she had truly been born human or if she had been born a mermaid princess that an Emperor of the Deep had had to give up for some reason, but now Netaurefenrefen was causing her to wonder if she was simply named after a distant ancestor and fate had now made her a being who dwelt in the water just as the Melusine of old had. Life was strange indeed.
"Ah, no matter!" said Netaurefenrefen with a wave of her hand. "Come children, I will take thee down to Pacifica! It is not safe out here. Surface-Dwellers from the station do not usually come this far down."
"They aren't from the station, they come from Ireland, where we come from!" Cormac explained.
"Explanations can wait, dear." Stated Netaurefenrefen. "You can give them before Ronemun, Aremy, their sons and the rest. Now, come! Come!"
And with that, the Moustached-Mermaid dived down. Seeing nothing else to do, Cormac and Melusine followed after her.
Holding each other's hands, the Young Egan and the Surface-Born Merrow-Maiden followed the Moustached-Mermaid. While they both wondered how she could have gotten such an appearance, Melusine thought about what Netaurefenrefen had said and wondered if in reality, the Melusine of old was simply a Child of the Storm, a Surface-Born Mermaid, just as she was. How was she to know?
Cormac however wondered solely how Netaurefenrefen could have gotten her appearance. Green bones? Bioluminescent snakes that were pink rather than pale green? A moustache consisting of a pair of snakes? A crooked tail? How had such an appearance come to be? Could it have been that Netaurefenrefen had been born like that? According to the Sea Bishop, Ronemun had been born with eyes that were completely black and skin that was pale white, so wherefore shouldn't the Moustached-Mermaid's appearance have been natural to her?
Seeing a new source of lights, the three paused and Netaurefenrefen held up a hand. Before them was a submarine.