Man From Atlantis Read online

  A group of young Navy men came around the corner and headed toward the gate, jabbering and laughing among themselves. Mark fell in behind them. He walked with a rolling gait, turning his head from side to side to take in his new world.

  The group, with Mark at the rear, waved at the guards as they passed through the gate. Mark copied their moves exactly.

  They walked down the street. A blue Navy truck rumbled toward them, and they all stepped out of its way onto the sidewalk.

  Except for Mark. With a screeching of brakes, the truck came to a halt a few feet in front of him. The driver leaned out.

  “Where the hell you walkin’, monkey? This ain’t no pedestrian mall! Move it!”

  Mark stared back at him.

  “Come on, move itl”

  The driver waved his arm toward the sidewalk, and then Mark responded quickly, hopping onto the

  walk. The driver shook his head, shoved the truck into gear, and moved on. Mark stared after him.

  He looked around for the other Navy personnel he had been following, but they were gone.

  Elizabeth walked beside Admiral Pierce and in front of Lt. Ainsley as they headed toward the lab where she had left Mark to work out.

  “I just hope I told you everything,” she said. “There was so much to condense into so short a time.”

  “Please, you did magnificently. Nobody expects to learn in an hour everything that’s taken you weeks. You told me enough.”

  “It just seemed so strange, in a way. I’d got quite used to him and his idiosyncrasies from my daily contact. But then it seemed so strange to be actually telling it all to somebody...”

  “Dr. Merrill! Dr. Merrill!” The lab assistant came flying breathlessly down the corridor toward them. He skidded to a stop on his heels. “Unh,” he took her arm and looked wildly at her. “I gotta talk to you, alone!”

  “Go ahead, it’s okay. What is it? Calm down.” But she herself was already trembling, knowing instantly that it had to be some emergency.

  “Mark’s gone!”

  She stepped back.

  “Who’s Mark?” the admiral asked.

  “I forgot to tell you we had given him a name.”

  Mark stayed on the sidewalks now, virtually clinging to them as he saw people do. He barely dared to cross the streets, and did so only in company with others. He saw more and more people as he approached the town.

  His eyes took in everything; everything was new to him. Cars and trucks, people of all shapes and sizes dressed in every imaginable color; grass and trees and concrete; signs and lights and posters; bicycles and motorcycles and parking meters; telephone poles and lines; stores with goods displayed behind glass.

  People moved around him every which way, in confusing patterns, not in familiar schools. So occupied was Mark with observing everything that occasionally he bumped into somebody. He moved quickly away from such confrontations, learning to grunt in response like those he bumped into.

  He tried to fali into the patterns of walking, following people who were in any way bunched or even in tesos, if they seemed to be headed in some rather constant direction.

  He followed a cluster of three into the revolving door of a bank. He found himself propelled not into the bank, but all the way around in the door until he was back outside. He watched two others enter the bank, then stepped into the door and managed to get inside. He stood behind the two men as one by one they transacted business with a teller.

  Then Mark stood before the caged window, staring at the teller.

  “May I help you?” the young woman asked.

  Mark just stared.

  “Sir?” Slowly she eased off her chair and walked away. She tapped a guard on the shoulder. “That Navy guy over there,” she whispered, gesturing discreetly behind her, “is acting suspiciously.”

  “Who?”

  When she turned around, Mark was gone.

  He exited through the revolving door, looked up and down the street, and turned to bis right to walk toward a Jack-in-the-Box drive-in restaurant. He kept his eyes on the metal clown which stood next to the building.

  He walked up the driveway and looked at the clown face smiling down at him. The gravelly voice said, “May I take your order, please?”

  He stared at the face.

  “May I take your order, please?”

  A car pulled up behind Mark. The horn tooted, startling him. He spun around toward it. A second car pulled up behind the first.

  “May I take your order, please?”

  Three horns now tooted. Mark backed away, turned, and walked off down the street.

  He moved more quickly now, more nervously. Still he looked from side to side to take in the sights, but he eyed things more warily. Ahead of him a man stepped out of a glass phone booth.

  As Mark neared the booth, he heard the phone ringing.

  He stepped into the booth, the door sliding shut behind him. He stared at the jangling phone. Slowly he reached out and touched the receiver. The phone rang again, and he snatched his hand back from the vibration. When that ring stopped, he picked up the receiver and looked at it.

  “One moment, please,” came the operator’s voice, “for overtime charges.”

  Hearing the voice, he put the receiver against his ear. But there was silence. He held it in front of him, and the voice returned.

  “That’ll be one dollar and forty-five cents additional, please.”

  Mark put the phone to his ear again, and again heard nothing. The voice returned when he held the receiver in front of him.

  “Hello? Are you the party that placed the call to Seattle, Washington?”

  Quickly he put the receiver to his ear. This time the voice continued.

  “Hello? Hello? Is this the party who.”

  A rap on the glass caused him to drop the receiver.

  He turned to see a small boy standing outside the booth, gazing at him. The boy motioned for him to come out. The sign on the side of the door facing Mark said Pull. Mark pushed at the door. He pushed harder. He turned and pushed at the walls of the booth. His eyes began flicking right and left. His hands clenched.

  The boy rapped again. Mark smacked the door with his palms.

  Then the boy reached out and gently pushed the door open. Mark stood staring down at the boy, breathing heavily. The boy smiled. Mark quickly slid past him out of the booth.

  The slightest tinge of darkness appeared at the ends of his fingers. He scanned the horizon. He saw the tops of the communications antennae that rose over the Undersea Center to the west.

  He walked off quickly in that direction, his rolling gait a bit unsteady.

  “No, Admiral, I’m sorry, but I must insist that there be no general alarml”

  “But Doctor, we’ve got to gnd him as quickly as possible, as you yourself said.”

  “Yes. But not that way. We just can’t have armed guards who know nothing about him chasing him down.”

  “But how...”

  “We have to do it ourselves.” She started toward the main entrance door, moving at a near trot.

  The admiral and lieutenant trotted behind her. The lieutenant put a hand on the admiral’s arm. “Sir,” he whispered, “should I put the alarm out anyway?”

  “No.” The admiral caught up with Elizabeth. “Dr. Merrill, hold it a second.”

  They stopped together near the door. Elizabeth stood uneasily, her eyes flitting back and forth from the admiral to the door. She began to edge closer to the door.

  “Doctor, I’m willing to defer to you on matters relating to this project. But really, we can’t just race out there willy-nilly. We have no idea where he might have gone, which direction, nothing.”

  “Admiral, he’s running out of time.”

  “I understand, but..”

  “Which means that either he will come back here—which I admit is unlikely—or he’ll head toward the ocean.”

  “But he could have gone straight out there to the dock and already have gone in
to the ocean right there.”

  “No. Take a look out there.” They all turned to look out the glass doors. “The guards are in their positions, just as if nothing happened. Everything looks normal. He didn’t go into the water there. He must have walked away, just like a normal Navy man. We’ll find him. Please!”

  “Let’s go.”

  They pushed open the doors, then stopped short.

  “Mark!”

  He was coming up the steps toward them, his labored breathing apparent. He stopped and stared at them, then he put a darkened hand to his chest.

  “Help him insidel We’ve got to get him into the pool!” She took one of Mark’s arms, the admiral took the other. “Try not to make it obvious.”

  They quickly brought him incide, steered him through the corridors, and out the back door. At the edge of the round pool they released him. He quickly slid into the water and submerged, fully clothed.

  “Close,” Elizabeth said, panting.

  “Lucky.” The admira! nodded. “Or maybe it wasn’t luck. He must trust you enormously, to come back like this.”

  “Let’s hope so.”

  “That’s terribly important, for him to trust you completely.”

  “You mean for the research.”

  “And the usefulness of it, the applications.”

  “How so?”

  The admiral didn’t answer. He squatted down beside the pool and watched Mark moving underwater.

  He had recovered quickly, and was gliding around gracefully. He stopped underwater to remove his clothes, leaving on only his tight swim trunks. Then he resumed bis undulating swim.

  They watched silently for a while. Then Mark’s head broke the surface. He moved slowly over to the side near them, and looked up at Elizabeth. She nodded to him. He took another dive, and resurfaced beside them.

  Elizabeth knelt down beside the admiral. “Mark, this is Admiral Pierce.” Mark slowly turned his head toward the admira!, who nodded to him. “He’s come here from Washington, from our govermnent headquarters, to meet you. He’s a very understanding man, a very important man, and he’s going to help you. He’s going to help us get to know each other better.”

  Mark backpedaled a few feet and stared at the admirai. Then he looked at Elizabeth.

  “It’s all right, Mark. He’s a friend. He is a very important friend. You can trust him.”

  Mark ducked under the water and dove for the bottom. They could barely make out his outline, shimmering fifteen feet down.

  “What now?” the admiral asked.

  “Give him time.”

  “All right.”

  They waited beside the pool as Mark lay submerged at the bottom. Then he began moving around the floor, swimming laps just above it. For twenty more minutes he stayed near the bottom. Then gradually he made his circles higher, moving toward the surface.

  His head and torso emerged right in front of Admira! Pierce.

  Elizabeth smiled. “Admiral, meet Mark Harris.”

  The admiral got down on his knees. Lt. Ainsley winced when he saw the knees of the admiral’s bright, white ducks scrape on the concrete.

  The admiral stuck out his hand toward Mark. “How are you, son?”

  Mark looked at the hand, then at the admiral’s face. He did not reach out to take the hand.

  The admiral studied the deep, green eyes, and withdrew his hand. “I’m very glad to meet you, Mark. I’m pleased that you are working so well with Dr. Merrill here.” Their eyes remained locked. “I hope to see a lot more of you. I’m sorry you went away from the laboratory for a while. You caused us quite a scare. I’m sorry too that your wanderings,” he smiled slightly, “caused you to run out of gas.”

  Mark shifted his gaze to Elizabeth. She smiled down at him.

  “We’re glad to see you’re feeling better now, Mark. Why don’t you pick up your clothes from the bottom and hand them to me. I’ll get them dry. You can stay in the pool for as long as you want. Okay?”

  Mark quickly dipped under the water and dove straight down like an arrow, snatched up his clothes, surfaced in an instant, and handed them to Elizabeth. Then he retreated to the bottom where he lay on his back, looking up at them, the refraction of light in the water causing his image to waver. But his unblinking eyes glimmered steadily like twin beacons.

  The admiral stood up. Ainsley quickly stooped to brush off his knees.

  “Well, Doctor, we’ve had not only an excellent presentation by you, but an adventure to boot, and a marvelous display in the water by your Mark Harris.” He did not smile. “It’s been quite a day. Now then. There’s a lot to do. I want some very specific information in the coming days. I want to know his underwater speed, agility, strength, and stamina. Not in general terms, but in absolute limitations so far as you can determine them. You’ve got whatever funds you need. Start testing him right away.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Ainsley.”

  “Yes sir?”

  “Take those clothes of his and see to getting them dry. We’ll leave the good doctor to more important tasks.”

  “Aye-aye, sir.” Ainsley took the clothes.

  The admiral spun smartly on his heel and walked off toward the gate.

  Ainsley looked at the clothes, which were dripping onto his shiny black shoes.

  “There’s a dryer in the east wing, Lieutenant.”

  “Thank you, ma’am.” He looked up at her. “I hope you’ll excuse me for butting in now and then, back at the presentation. But I’m supposed to keep things moving smartly for the admiral, because if things drag, he gets cranky, and—”

  “Forget it, Lieutenant. Glad you came.”

  “Um, one other thing, Dr. Merrill.” He looked shyly at the ground. “I’m supposed to stick around here, with you. The admiral wants me to help keep an eye on him.” He cocked his head toward the pool.

  “I understand.” She pondered the glistening surface of the pool, and Mark’s shivering image deep within it. “Tell me something, Lieutenant.”

  “Ma’am?”

  “What is the admiral’s primary interest?”

  “Well, I don’t know that I can speak for the admirai...”

  “I mean, what did he tell you was his purpose for coming out here?”

  “National defense.”

  Elizabeth nodded slowly and closed her eyes. When she looked back at the pool to see Mark’s head poke out from the rippling water, her eyes had a touch of disappointment in them.

  chapter 3

  “Phil, nobody knows better than I how strange it sounds. But it is not impossible. Human breathing is not so far removed from that of fish.”

  “Oh, come on, Elizabeth,” Lieutenant Commander Roth looked at her over his glass of wine, “that’s like comparing apples and oranges. You might as well say a man breathes like a bug—everything needs oxygen. But fish get their oxygen from the water. People can’t do that. And the way you describe him, he’s practically human.”

  “He is similar to a human male, Phil, except for certain aspects. Foremost among the ways he is different is that he doesn’t have human-type lungs. Our pictures of his insides show that rather than two human tissue pouches called lungs, he has in his chest layers and layers of membrane that look a lot more like gills.”

  “You’re going on looks alone?”

  “Looks and behavior. After all, we can’t just open him up and take those tissues out and examine them under a microscope. They appear to be similar to gills. And he appears to breathe under water.”

  “What do you mean, appears to?”

  “Well, he can stay submerged for hours at a time—apparently indefinitely. Wouldn’t that suggest to you that he breathes under water?”

  “Okay. So he’s a fish, then. All he needs is some scales on his body, and some big lips. Then we could just dump him back in the water and forget about him.”

  “Oh Phil,” she smiled, “you always have to have things so cut and dried. Things have to be totally one way or total
ly the other for you. No, he’s not a fish. Yes, I think he breathes like a fish. But what I’m trying to tell you is that with certain alterations in lung structure, so could anybody. There’s not that much difference.”

  “You need some more wine, my dear.” Phil reached for the bottle of Bordeaux Supérieur. “Your project is getting the best of you.” He refilled her glass, and the dark red wine sparkled in the light of the candle. “You get enough to eat?”

  “I sure did.” She leaned back and stretched. “Your veal piccata is still marvelous. You haven’t lost your cooking touch. You must be entertaining a great deal.”

  “Piccata is like swimming. Once you’ve learned, you never forget. We’ve got mousse coming up, don’t forget.” He sipped his wine. “Tell me why it is so easy for a man to breathe like a fish, dear Doctor.”

  “You mean a man with respiratory structure more like gills than lungs.”

  “Okay. So tell me about it.”

  “I’ll try. There are a lot of things we still don’t understand completely. Don’t get impatient if I start with basics, which you already know, to build my case.”

  “Am I ever impatient?”

  “No, Phil,” she chuckled, “never.”

  “So hurry up and tell me then.” He chuckled back.

  “All right. Humans breathe by taking oxygen and nitrogen into the lungs. Those gasses filter through the lung wall and are taken into the blood. Carbon dioxide is released by the blood back through the lung wall, and is breathed out. Fish do the same, except that they breathe in water instead of air, and the oxygen and nitrogen in the water pass through the gill membranes into the blood, and carbon dioxide passes back through the gill membranes and re-enters the water. Okay?”

  “So what else is new? So far it’s high school science.”—

  “Right. Now, the reason that exchange of oxygen with the blood and air takes place in humans is that the pressure of oxygen in the air is greater than the pressure of oxygen in the blood, so oxygen tends to move from the air through the lung wall into the blood. At the same time, the pressure of carbon dioxide in the blood is greater than that in the air, so the carbon dioxide tends to leave the blood through the lung wall and enter the ah.”