Pandemic Palisades Ch 9

That night, I waited off to the side and watched from afar as Gunther and Ceylara went to work in the grotto’s kitchen.  Ayna had brought a full bag of sango stalks, while Nauridia and Emina had provided a large sack that contained long strands of Posidenae Fillagree which looked like obnoxiously long blue noodles of spaghetti.

First, Ceylara chopped up the sango with a large chef’s knife that looked like one that would’ve came from the land.  The thick strands of coral had a consistency matching that of harvested sea anenome meat, similar to that you’d find in a good sushiya.

Second, she took four of the aloe fronds from Shelly, trimmed off the spiny thick skin and cut the leaves in half, using the knife to squeeze the gel from each leaf onto the mixture before wiping the knife off onto a yellow sponge-like mass near the back of the counter.

“What’s that sponge back there?” I asked Nauridia, who happened to be closest.

“Just a sponge,” Naury replied.  “It’s been treated with a special juice that basically cleans and oils the knife, because of the sticky aloe gel.”

“Ah,” I said with a nod.

A moment later, Ceylara had scraped almost all of the gel from the aloe plants into the salve, handing the discarded leaves to Emina, who then added the garbage into a bag that resembled either a bubble, a jellyfish skin, or something else; I wasn’t quite sure.

“Jellyfish shell,” Naury replied before I could ask.  “I’ll bet you didn’t know that they shed once in awhle, did you?”

I shook my head.

“Well, most of them don’t, but there are a few that do,” Naury replied.  “You trim off the spines, and then it’s basically a clear bag.  Works great for organic disposables.”

“Mmm,” I nodded again.

Using a large scissors - another find from another shipwreck, perhaps - Ceylara began to trim the fillagree strands.  Cutting the long grass into strips less than an inch long, she then added them to the pile that Emina had been continuously rolling and kneading with her bare hands.  Along with the other ingrediants that formed the base of the healing salve, the mixture had taken on an intense blue color, one that reminded me of the bright blue you might find on the back of a Blue Morpho butterfly, or even similar colors to what you’d see on a solar panel.

Lastly, Ceylara took the jar of penstemon extract that I had brought, and holding the jar so that the top of the lid always faced down, opened it.  She then allowed the powder to spread directly into the salve, and once a third of the powder was mixed in, quickly closed the lid before any of the remaining powder became too waterlogged.

“Hey, um, Ceylara?”  I pulled the little plastic tube of penstemon water from my pocket.  “Maybe you can find a way to incorporate this?”

“What’s that you have there?” she asked.

I made my way over, both walking and swimming, before holding the plastic tube out to her.  “Penstemon water; like rose water from rose blossoms, but penstemon water, from penstemon blossoms.”

Ceylara looked at the little tube, held it up to the light, and giving it a nod, held the end of the tube close to the salve, gave it a cut with her knife, and then emptied the contents of the tube over the salve as Emina continued to mix it in.  Gradually, the color of the salve took on a soft violet hue compared to the pure blue it had previously been.

Gunther gave the salve a look.  “The instructions were very clear; the finished salve should be blue, not violet, not pink, not periwinkle.”

“My source said that it’s the best way to incorporate the penstemon extract,” I replied.  “You said it takes overnight to cure, yes?”

Gunther nodded, and turned to Emina.  “Mix it again.”

Once she was satisfied, Ceylara handed the plastic tube to me.

“You’ll make sure this doesn’t stay in the ocean, yes?”

I pocketed the remains of the tube.  “Of course.”

Only once Gunther was satisfied with Emina’s job of tending to the mix did he shoo everyone out of the kitchen so not to, as he put it, allow our germs to mix with the salve.  Seemed unnecessary, but I didn’t question it.

By now it was well past six o’clock, and though we had returned straight to Ceylara’s grotto from the beach, we hadn’t even discussed dinner yet.  While my stomach might’ve been craving anything that resembled food it didn’t dare protest while the salve was being made.

Fortunately, Ayna had informed me that the neighbors had offered to share their meal.  You wouldn’t believe how many scallops they had collected; by my count there was almost three hundred little scallops that had been prepared in a stir fry of sorts, being mixed with edible coral, boiled kelp, naury leaves and some other carrot-like ingrediants that I could not recognize.  Served with a seaberry garnish that tasted almost like caviar, the finished dish was the best undersea meal I had enjoyed thus far.

Gunther, as usual, took his food to go and did not dine with us.  That merman always had buisness to attend to, it seemed.

Shelly had plenty to drill us about that evening.  She might’ve made us feel that Michelle and I hadn’t done our best jobs, but at the end of the day I think Shelly was just that concerned about her Nana.  I’ll spare you most of the conversation, but Michelle was guilty of not thinking like a mermaid - something that is clearly not her fault - while I was guilty of taking too long to procure my assigned ingrediant.

Explaining why I was late, even though I might’ve rescued someone from a sex trafficing situation - something that was clearly more serious than Shelly might’ve realized - didn’t necessarily help the situation.  In the end, though, I think Emina and Ceylara were both on my side.  Nauridia, too, took Michelle’s side, and by the end of it all, Shelly finally accepted the truth.

“You’re absolutely right, everyone,” Shelly said.  “I am that concerned about Andromeda.  She’s the only grandmother I have left.”

“She’s a treasure,” I replied.  “You’re allowed to have those feelings, but I don’t think that means you’re allowed to take them out on us.”

“Agreed,” Ceylara said.  “Usually friends and family forgive each other.  You forgive her, don’t you?”

“Of course,” I said without hesitation.

“As do I,” Michelle replied.  “Why wouldn’t I?  You’re like my favorite sister, though Alley is of course my favorite-”

“But she’s your second favorite?” Emina asked.  “I mean, Shelly’s my favorite sister-”

“It’s okay,” Shelly said.  “I know what you mean.”

“At least you folks have siblings,” Naury said softly.  “But can we move on?  Ceylara, did the salve look like it was supposed to?”

“Yes,” Ceylara said with a nod.  “Tomorrow, I will personally treat Andromeda with it, too.”

“But you’re a mermaid,” Naury said.  “I mean, any of us could get that Diphylobothium thing, couldn’t we?”

“That is true,” Ceylara said.  “But the way it must be applied, I think it would be appropriate if one of us - in other words, women - applied it.”

Emina glanced at Michelle.  “Suppose we could make you a human again and then you could apply it?”

“Maybe,” Michelle said.  “Though my professors back at school would certainly be jealous of my applied marine biology research lately.”

“Say, where are the girls tonight?” I asked.  “Did they go to sleep?”

“Yes,” Ceylara replied.  “I’ve been watching them most of the day, they played with the neighbors and had a good snack before dinner; you saw them at dinner, yes?”

“Yes?”  No?

“Well, they were there,” Ceylara said.  “Then they went into the room after supper; Brooke swam around so much that she was exhausted.”

“And Nicollet?”

“Oh, she wasn’t able to keep up with the older children,” Ceylara said.  “But she had tons of fun, and the two were building piles of corals together.”

“Two?” I asked.

“The youngest of the neighbor children, his name is Errus.  Suppose he’s a month or two older than Nicollet, but they got along like two currents cruising along the same coastline.  But she was asleep just as fast as her sister was, you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

I smirked.  “Okay then, great.”

That evening, I mostly watched as a few of the surrounding adult mers played some kind of game.  It wasn’t finball, as we weren’t anywhere near the surface.  What it was, however, was similar to a land based game of dodgeball, though again, it was less of a game of dodgeball;  well, at any rate, Michelle played too and managed to stay - um - that is to say, she managed to avoid drawing out Summer, as it wasn’t all that intense of a game though she did have to catch herself a few times.

So, the game - they used these large balls - or bundles, you could call them - that were about the size of soccer balls but didn’t move anything like a soccer ball.  Instead, they flew all over the place and seemed to have an infinate amount of momentum.  If one hit you, though, it didn’t hurt hardly any - yet, the rule was if you were hit, you lost a point while if you hit someone else with a ball you threw, you got a point.  As I didn’t have fins, naturally I couldn’t have kept up even if I did play.

Yet, somehow, I did get involved.  One time when a coral ball came near me, I sent a current toward it, which reflected it back into Emina.

“That’s one point for Gregory!”

So at least I could say I made the scoreboard, for what it was worth.

It was a calm night, and I somehow drew the comfort of Brooke as I slept on the living room couch - as usual.  As mentioned, it was at least large enough for a partner, though I had imagined that Brooke had gone to bed on, well, a bed; maybe she felt she hadn’t seen me all day and needed her Daddy.

The following day - Saturday, February 26th as you’ll recall, we had until the following Saturday to get Michelle back to work - I mostly slept late and only the scent of steaming shrimp from the kitchen got me stirring.

Wait, had Michelle said she needed to be back by the 27th?

“Gregory?  Are you only now coming about?”

I joined Ceylara in the kitchen.  Looking over the counter, I realized something.  “Where’s the salve?”

“It’s all been gathered up and put into a glass jar,” Ceylara said.  “Do not worry, it’s well cured and at full potency.  You should go and join them.”

“Join who now?”

Just then, Naury swam into the kitchen from outside.  “Greg?  There you are!  Come with me!”  She took my hand and guided me to the surface.

Straight above their grotto, Shelly and Michelle had gathered.  Though they weren’t actually at the surface yet, they seemed to be impatient.

“Why did you sleep so late?” Shelly asked.  “Come on.”

“Come on where now?” I asked, still not quite concious.

“Never mind,” Michelle said.  “You’re needed.”

Swimming to a nearby current, Shelly took the lead as Naury, Michelle and I all were swept up along for the ride.  A moment later, Shelly pulled me out and we emerged near a continental shelf above us.

“Well?” Michelle asked.  “Come on, Greg.”

Come on for what now?

Michelle took my hand, and Shelly swam along behind us.

“I’ll wait for you both here,” Naury said.  “Hurry!”

At the surface, I could tell that today was going to be a good day.  Bright sun, few clouds, and the island was very lush and quiet.  Where-

“An island very far west and south of Catalina,” Shelly said.  “Really, Greg, it doesn’t matter, does it?”

“Guess not.”

“Michelle?  You know what to do,” Shelly said.

Michelle nodded, and she swam up to the island and climbed onto the shore.  Once there, she crawled onto the beach a short way and sat so that her tail was just clear of the water.

“It’ll be faster if you dry me, but don’t go too far,” Michelle said.  “The arraingement I made with Anabelle was that I needed to leave the water and dry off to become human.  Once there, we can return below, I can get on your pearl, and then apply the salve to Andromeda.”

I nodded.  “Was wondering why I was here.”  Gently, I began to apply a light steam cycle to Michelle, and I could see white steam leaving her scales.  I did her arms as well, but scaled the heat back as I worked around her hands.

“Good,” Michelle said.  “Get my hair too.  That’s about the right heat level, it shouldn’t be too much-”

Just then, her hands turned into tires.

“Farther,” Michelle sighed.  “So much for that.”

“Oh dear,” Shelly said.  “Could there have been too much of a temperature difference?”

Michelle slid around in the sand and moved forward, leaning onto her tires and situating herself so her tailfin stretched behind her.  “You might as well keep going, and don’t hold back now.”  Her tail began to split and formed into legs, though her scales didn’t receed at first.  At the same time, however, her clothing seemed to be appearing on her skin.  I couldn’t quite describe how that happened, however, as I had amped up the heat and was continuing to apply it across her backside.

“Don’t get too close back there,” Michelle said as her legs split as her fins developed into her feet clad in shoes - but a moment after her shoes appeared, both quickly inflated and rolled into tires.  “That’s fine, Greg.”

I stood back as Michelle’s body continued to transform.  Finally, her hips began to expand and form into the fenders as her midsection boxed up and elongated into the doors, seats and passenger cabin.  Lastly, her head widened and formed into the hood as her eyes, teeth and chin migrated into the headlights, grille and front bumper.

Fully Summer, any trace of humanity or mermaid within Michelle’s former body were gone and replaced by the convertible by the same name.

“The goal was to dry you off, right?” I asked.

“Forget it,” Summer said.  “Readying reversion foam.”

I covered my eyes as the blue foam ejected from Summer’s windshield wipers, coating the whole vehicle in blue suds.  A moment later they disappated and dissolved, causing the vehicle to shrink.  Michelle’s legs, arms and limbs returned first before her head and hips returned.  Still sporting tires on all fours but a moment longr, Michelle was soon fully human and fully dressed.

“That took longer than we might’ve liked, but it’s good enough,” Shelly said.  “As soon as you get out here, we can go cure Nana.”

Once Michelle returned to Undarra with us, now able to breathe air and still walk on legs rather than swim there with fins, we stopped back at Ceylara and Gunther’s grotto to collect the salve.  Transporting it inside of a large jar that had been a pickle jar in its former life, the finished salve had an almost neon like whiteness that seemed to have a blue tinge.  Had you pressed me, I might’ve compared the blue markings to toothpaste .  Slightly thicker than Ceylara had predicted, I indeed compared it to Vick’s vapo rub.

As Shelly, Ceylara, Nauridia and I waited outside, Michelle applied the salve onto Andromeda.

“She really is the most qualified here,” Nauridia mused as we gathered.  “Didn’t you say she is in charge of applying medicines to any marine life that gets ill at the Minnesota Zoo?”

“Michelle’s been there for a long time,” Shelly said with a nod.  “She’s told me that she’s not the most senior member on the staff, but compared to only a few others on staff she’s probably done the most inoculations.”

“All that, and Summer?” Ceylara asked.  “It must take steady hands to give an inoculation to a shark.”

“Now that I will have to ask about,” I said, not realizing that they’ve probably kept something like that to the professionals.  Then again, Michelle is a professional; at least I’m inclined to think of her as one.  Fifteen years or so in the industry must’ve taught her a few tips and secrets, if Summer herself isn’t already the biggest of them all.  Suppose there’s a trick to it.

Michelle came out some time later as our discussion continued.  “Andromeda and I had a good chat, but afterwards she took a few deep breaths, thanked me, gave me a sample of her favorite coral and fell asleep.”

“A sample of her coral?” I asked.  “Wow.”

Michelle held out a jar that was large and flat.  About eight inches in diameter but five inches or less in height, the jar held a square chunk of bioluminescent coral that resembled the sango coral that had been used in the salve but, unsurprisingly, glowed in dark places.

“It looks a lot like -” Nauridia began.

“Yes,” Michelle answered before Nauridia could finish.  “Andromeda answered me when I said the same, indicating that the sango corals and those here are developmentally cousins of one another, having been adapted over the generations from similar origins.  Officially, I’ll have to find out what the scientific name for this is - maybe Jenna knows.”

“Jenna?” Naury asked me.

“A coworker,” Michelle answered.

“Think it’ll survive in our tank back home?” Shelly asked.

Michelle shrugged.  “Probably, but I’ll put it into a quarantine tank before I add it to the main group.”

“Always a good idea,” Nauridia said.

“That, and I’m not sure the ocean is the same environment as our coral tank is;  we’ll figure it out,” Michelle concluded.

“Say, um Michelle?” I asked.  “Didn’t you say you needed to be home by the 27th?  That’s today.”

She grinned politely.  “Don’t worry, we’ll get a hold of them soon.”

Gradually, the group reflected on their adventures over the previous day.  While my event both drew gasps toward and against me - I absolutely realized what was going on at the Carter Compound, thank you very much, and yes it is especially troubling, which I will report to Jackson about - the everpresent challenge cycle that Thief aspired to was not as intense as the dealings with the Zapporu went.

In short, Nauridia, Gunther and Honorus brought the box of crystalized lava rocks - red and blue obsidian that had sheared off and cleaved to look like a mixture of boulders and sliced glass - and offered it to the Zapporu.  A race of humanoid eel creatures, the Zapporu were known for their electrical resistance; I’m told that my own Neptune Pearl was developed as an answer to this electric impulse in an early conflict that, thankfully, has since been resolved many generations prior.  Reportedly, there is minimal levels of animostity between mers and the Zapporu folk, even though the Zapporu have not grown over the generations as fast as mers - or humans, for that matter - due to a high level of birth defects and complications where conception is apparently considered a sacred event.

Shelly apparently kept two of the volcanic glass rocks.  I wasn’t sure if that meant they’d be coming home with us or what.

Though their offering to the Zapporu was met with initial skepticism, Nauridia’s comparison of the obsidian to translucent glass apparently worked - she suggested using slices of the material to create lanterns that could be then activated by the Zapporu’s own electric resistance for evening illumination.  Clever.  At my inqury, Ayna informed me that she had seen obsidian lamps on land - apparently they’re used as ambiant lights for zen moments during yoga classes, among others.

Emina and Ayna reportedly had caught a current that took them just south of the Aluetians for the sango coral, finding that they hadn’t brought any of the right tools to remove the coral from its bed.  While that task took longer than planned, both were able to return to Undarra with enough coral to get the job done about the same time all four teams finished.

Although Shelly thought it would be important to keep Brooke and Nicollet underwater longer, Michelle and I agreed to go ashore.  As today was now Sunday, Michelle had to be back at work by Monday - tomorrow.  She was confident that a phone call could remedy that.  Getting across country again would take some coordination, and neither of us wanted to be the one to tell Shelly it was time to leave.

As Michelle and I were travelling underwater without fins, Nauridia and Emina gave us an escort to shore.

“Ordinarily, I’d just come with you and then fly home,” Nauridia said as she swam along with us toward Emerald Bay.  “That darn pandemic is sure messing things up.”

“How has it been for Kiki going to school?” I asked.

“She hasn’t,” Nauridia replied.  “I mean, not really.  Although she logs into an online portal that the school provided to check in with her teacher, the school district has pretty much sent home daily lesson guides through the mail.  It’s pretty much up to me and every mom or dad to home school their kid, even though it’s up to Miss Kay to approve everything.”

“That sounds awful,” I said.  “Can you imagine if you had a job?”

“I do,” Nauridia said.  “I go fishing with Tony three days a week.”

“Oh,” I recoiled.

“That didn’t come out like you intended, did it, Greg?” Michelle asked.

Emina giggled.  “Not at all.”

“What about you?” Michelle asked.  “You still a nanny in Malibu?”

“Yes, but while the Parsons have allowed me to live there, I don’t have much contact with them, either the children or the family,” Emina replied.  “Mostly I run errands.  I’ve suggested the idea of my leaving for awhile, but they’ve refused and told me that I’m too important.”

“Did they now?” Nauridia asked.

“It’s nice to be needed,” Michelle said.

Emina shrugged.  “Still, doesn’t seem like I’m doing all that much.”

Once we reached the shore, Michelle and I broke the surface.  Emina and Nauridia remained underwater, ensuring that none of us exchanged any of our respective exhaust between each other.

Dang but it sounds silly when I say it that way.

Another moment later, Michelle had transformed into Summer and we returned to Chase Labs.  By the time we walked into the camper, my watch beeped ten o’clock.

Michelle contacted Megan and gave her a full report while I contacted Jackson, discussing the situation with Carter in San Diego.

“He wants a 2017 Ford GT, and he won’t settle for less,” Jackson repeated to me, even though Megan had given him the full report yesterday.  “Gregory, I’ve spoken with Cauldwell about that, and though he conferred with Agent Mellner, the vibe I’m hearing is that the FBI simply doesn’t have the resources to provide what he’s asking.”

“Certainly,” I said.  “Nobody’s going to just give away a million dollar car like that.”

“Funny enough, that’s about the going rate,” Jackson said.  “I did a search on Edwards.com - there are listings on there for cars with only three to three thousand miles, and the going rate is between 700K and one million point six.”

“Three miles?  What’d they do, drive it from the dealer home and then park it?”  I seem to recall reading a news story that Ford specifically had people sign a document that they would drive their fancy new sportscar - and agree not to sell it right away - if they agreed to buy one when the 2017 models came out.  Wrestler and actor John Cena reportedly had sold his off the bat and incurred legal trouble with Ford, though it sounded like they settled out of court and ended up donating the fine to charity.  Something about being too muscular for the low clearance?  Still, so much for that.

“Guess so,” Jackson said.  “Either way-”

“Yeah, no,” I said.  “The FBI doesn’t have those kind of resources.”

“I saw a few 2005 models like yours, too.  They’re still hovering around 450K still, if you’re interested.”

“Sure,” I smirked.  “Suppose my insurance agent would like to know.”

“Didn’t you notice that on your paystubs?  We’ve been taking out a percentage of the insurance on that once a month.”

My eyes narrowed.  “Have you now?”  Might have to review that.

“They tell me its only about three fifty a month,” Jackson replied.  “The boys in finance would like you to know that they’re proud of you for taking good care of the thing.”

“Well, good,” I said.  “Tell them I appreciate the monthly stipend.”

“But, Greg, if you let me talk to Michelle, maybe we can propose something else.  I mean, it’d be on her, mostly, and Cauldwell said he’d sponser the idea, but it’s entirely up to her.  Otherwise, we may have to come up with another plan that involves your friend Jeanette.”

Did the FBI know about Jeanette?

“You might’ve mentioned Anabelle once or twice to me, so yes, Gregory, we know about her.  But she’s above the security clearance of most of our team, for the record.”

Sure.

“Is she in the camper with you?  If not, she can always call me back.”

“She’s here.”  Seeing that Michelle had ended her conversation with Megan, I handed over the phone and found the recliner.

By the time the call ended, I had almost drifted off.

“Don’t make me honk my horn on you,” Michelle said.

“Wha?”

She handed me the phone and sat across from me.  “They want me to pose as a red Ford GT, convince Carter to talk, and then leave in the night.”

I nodded, not sure how to respond right away.  “Well?”

“I think it’s an underhanded, heartless offer, that’ll surely make an enemy of Mr. Carter to the FBI, and certainly you personally.”

Ya think?  “What did Jackson have to say about that?  You wouldn’t have had to tell him, I’m sure.”

“No,” Michelle replied quickly.  “No, he was very up front that it would have to be handled delicately.  If anything, it would be best that you contacted Carter, told him via one of the clerks down there that you could meet his offer, but only that the FBI would be handling it via proxy.”

“Proxy,” I said with a raised eyebrow.

“Probably that it’d be handled by some junior agent,” Michelle answered.  “If anything, we could always find a stand in, but I’d likely want Mellner or Cauldwell to decide who that person would be.  No doubt that person would be a scapegoat, and become targeted once the car was no longer in his posession.”

I nodded and processed the situation for a few moments.  “How do you feel about doing it at all?  There’s a good chance you’d end up being a car for the larger part of a day, assuming we could get you out that night.”

“From what you’ve told me about this Carter,” Michelle said as she crossed her legs, “it sounds like it’d be far better to leave something like this to Anabelle or Jeanette.  We’re talking about a fellow who seems to have no problem kidnapping young women, then forcing them to do sexual acts while acting as a personal valet or escort, all while his employees watch, never mind sometimes invited to be part of the game.”

“I hope Jackson told you that they’d at least follow up on that?”

“Oh yes,” Michelle said with a nod.  “They’re already planning on infiltrating the place; he made it sound like they’d have a team on it by the end of the week.  But they’re not going to make any arrests or anything until I decide about getting information about Diego.”

I nodded.  Nothing seemed to be a good idea about taking that in any direction, as far as I could decide.

“Greg, what are your plans from here?” Michelle asked.  “I’ve got until tomorrow to get home, I work next week.”

“You work tomorrow,” I said.  “Maybe you should call someone.”

“I’ll give Jenna a call,” Michelle said.  “Hang on a moment.”