Chapter No. 30 The Hordes from the East

George Stevens tilted his head back to peer though his reading spectacles, forcing him to bend over to get as close as he could to a large monitor. He also hummed with a frequency that varied with his interest in the displayed image.

Eric Hauptman sat next to him, but he examined the same screen at a distance. He didn't have to put up with the inconvenience of spectacles.

The monitor that they were so intensely studying displayed a complex MRI anatomical image that had been computer enhanced to show detailed structures of bones, blood vessels and organs.

"The lungs are much larger than I had expected," Eric said. "And they have a very weird heart."

"To say the least," George said, rubbing his brow. "There are cogged-teeth valves in the right ventricle that can shunt blood back through the body without sending it to the lungs to be oxygenated. It's very similar to the heart found in a crocodylus porosus."

"Ah, they have crocodile hearts. I wonder if they shed crocodile tears."

George gave him a funny look.

"What I find difficult to understand is why they don't exhibit scars and marks on their skin like the cetaceans?"

"According to Delvin, their hair follicles have stem cells in reservoirs, and these same stem cells are all over their epidermis. Their skin is able to regenerate."

"They're just a bundle of wonders, aren't they?"

"I agree, Hauptman."

Eric pointed at oval shaped organ near the lungs. "What's this?"

"It's a buoyancy bladder. This species has organs from several different animals, sort of the best of the best."

"Must have gotten mixed up in its evolution."

"Makes sense, though. The rib cage is very strong but has the ability to compress. The large lungs, the cogged-tooth heart valves, the buoyancy bladder, the strong skeleton--these are the attributes that allow this creature to dive to depths that would crush a human."

They stared at the images in silence for several minutes.

"Must be a shock to realize that this creature has a larger brain than we do. Doesn't it, George?"

Stevens wasn't impressed. "Doesn't bother me, but I wonder how the public is going to accept them."

Eric laughed. "Wait till they find out how they have sex."

Stevens flashed a fleeting smile. "Oh well, they'll get over it."

"I don't know, George. It's kind of kinky."

"This must be the testes," Stevens said, pointing to a small walnut sized organ deep in the abdominal cavity. "This Vas Deferens runs all the way to the tip of its tongue." He turned to look up at Eric. "I've never encountered anything like this before."

"Indeed." Eric rubbed his beard. "You have to wonder how internal testes function. I was under the impression that mammals need external sperm producing organs to keep the spermatozoa below body temperature."

"That's true, but remember that this creature maintains a lower-than-normal mammal body temperature."

"You're right George. But you have to agree that it's still most unusual."

Stevens rubbed the side of his jaw and then leaned back. "Well, the fact that this male has functioning breasts probably indicates a very subtle sex differentiation during the embryonic phase."

"Something about that doesn't jive," Eric said. "I have a hunch this species isn't a true mammal."

"You're right, Hauptman," said Dr. Delvin from behind him. "If I didn't know any better, I would say that this species is the merging of two different animals."

Both Eric and George turned around.

"What are you suggesting, Doctor?" George asked him.

"There's a possibility that this species was genetically engineered."

Delvin's statement had an ominous ring, but neither Eric nor George reacted immediately.

After several seconds of thought, Eric stood up and confronted him directly. "You think that Stram had something to do with this. Don't you?"

Delvin nodded. Stevens' jaw dropped.

Eric stared at Delvin with a confidence that sprang from previous consideration of this theory. "I don't think so. If Stram had genetically engineered these creatures, he wouldn't be going to such extreme measures to capture one." He paced a few steps away from the other men and then swung around. "Besides, we've seen many strange species in the oceans of this planet. Why do we have so much trouble believing that something like this could have naturally evolved?"

Stevens joined the argument. "Conners believes that the present form appeared in the middle Pliocene period and that no major changes have occurred since then. She also contends that they evolved from the precursor to the Archaeocetes and represent a separate branch that appeared in the early Miocene period."

"I find that hard to believe," Delvin said. "She has scant evidence to back her theories up."

"She claims that the tape that Hauptman made in the Galapagos cave show fossil records that date back to the Paleocene epoch."

"That would infer that these creatures engage in paleontology. Without actually examining the actual articles, we have no way of substantiating her contention."

Just then, the subject of their argument stuck her head into the room. "Hey! You guys had better get your butts down to Holding Tank 1-A. It's happening." Then she disappeared.

George stepped to the door and leaned out into the hall. "What's happening?" he yelled after her.

She didn't answer. He turned back to Eric and Delvin and shrugged.

Eric's eyes lit up. "Oh, oh! She's giving birth."

All three men rushed down the hall. They didn't wait on the elevator, electing to make a mad dash down the stairs to get to the lower level.

When they arrived at the observation window of an auxiliary aquarium tank, they found Margaret, Conners, Wang, Anderson, and several other scientists standing at the window completely engrossed in what was occurring in the tank.

Her eyes radiating wonderment, Margaret briefly turned around and gestured to her husband. "Eric! It's happening. Hurry!"

Eric Hauptman could barely believe his eyes. The pregnant adult was seated on the bottom of the aquarium tank engaging in an ancient biological ritual. Her whole body shuddered with slow cyclic convulsions, and at the end of each convulsive cycle, she opened her mouth wide and regurgitated five or six small tadpoles. Her birth discharge immediately swam away by wiggling long finned tails. The birth cycles came once every three minutes while the male and the juvenile swam slowly around in circles silently observing.

Stevens smiled. "Well I'll be! They have a larval stage. Now why would a species of this complexity still employ such an ancient reproductive method?"

"Why not?" Eric said. "So they're some combination of an viviparous species and an amphibian. You're the mammalian expert, George. You explain it."

George had no explanation. He peered into the tank with confusion showing on his face.

"How did they get into this tank?" Anderson asked.

"They crawled over the wall," Margaret said.

"Why?" Conners asked. "Why would they go to all this trouble to give birth?"

"It's quite obvious," Wang said. "There are fish and seals in the main tank. There's nothing in this tank to consume their larvae."

Eric held his face close to the observation window and tried to survey the entire tank. "How many of these things are there?"

"I lost count when it went over a hundred," Conners said.

Anderson leaned his hand against the observation window and sighed. "Yes, you're right. It appears that we're going to be up to our ears in these creatures." When he turned around, worry draped over his face like a curtain. "And to exacerbate the situation, our Micronesia Island Expedition just reported that they've acquired several new specimens."

The scientists stared at him in disbelief.

"I don't get it," Stevens said, his brow heavily wrinkled. "These creatures have coexisted with humans since humans appeared on this planet. Hell, they probably predate us. No one has ever gotten near one let alone capture one. Now, they're popping out of the woodwork. What the hell's going on?"

Eric decided to tease him. "Come on, George. There have been many sightings of mermaids. Even Christopher Columbus claimed to have seen them."

Stevens gave him a disdainful look before he turned to the others. "What I don't understand is how we were able to capture them so easily. We sure as hell don't have a patent on cleverness."

Conners didn't divert her attention from the activity in the tank when she offered her opinion. "Could it be that they're coming to us because their numbers have decreased to the point of extinction?"

Eric cracked a smug grin. "If that doesn't prove that they're intelligent, nothing will."

The birth cycles continued while camera crews began to film through several windows. The entire observation area was soon crowded with scientists and technicians from all over the Institute.

Eric placed his arm around his wife's shoulders and turned to look into her eyes. "I'm glad that we're here together to witness this, Love."

Margaret squinched her nose and smiled. She turned to look through the window again. "God love her," she said with emotion coloring her voice.

###

The squeak of bed springs snapped Margaret's brain to a semi conscious state. She awoke to discover that her husband was no longer lying beside her. She reached over to turn on a lamp that sat on a bed stand.

Two Thirty! What's he doing up in the middle of the night?

Margaret crawled out of bed and proceeded to the patio. She found her husband sitting near the edge of a pond layered with water lilies. Small peripheral lamps gave him and the patio a blue glow.

"What are you doing out here at this time of night?"

Eric turned to glance back at her. "I couldn't sleep. I'm sorry if I woke you."

She pulled up a lounge chair, sat down next to him, and crossed her legs. "That's ok. I thought you were sick or something."

"No. Nothing like that. I just couldn't sleep."

Eric stared at his wife for a few moments, noting how lines of concern dominated her face.

"I just can't stop thinking about these . . . Why did they select us? Why us?"

"Does it really matter?" Her words said that she didn't care, but her eyes said that she did. "They're here with us now. That's all that matters.

Eric got up, slowly shuffled toward the edge of the patio, paused, and then turned around. "I'm going to have a talk with them."

Margaret jumped up. "At two thirty in the morning?"

"I've always wondered how well they sleep. Besides, there'll be no distractions."

"Mind if I tag along?"

"Of course not."

When Margaret walked over to his side, he stared at her with an amused look. She was barefooted and wearing a short, sheer nightie that revealed her curvaceous figure in the bright moonlight.

"Are you going like that, Love?"

She smiled. "The mermaids certainly won't mind, and there's no one else up at this time of night unless they're as crazy as we are."

Eric kissed her on the cheek.

Marineland of San Diego's main dolphin holding tank is a short distance from the Hauptman's patio. Since the demise of their apartment on the Institute's grounds, they've been living in a similar apartment on the Marineland complex.

A breeze caressed the water, prompting it to gently lap against the sides of the dolphin tank. Moonlight reflected from the lapping water in shimmers of blue glaze, giving the area around the tank a dim oscillating luminescent glow. Occasional splashes punctuated the dark silence at first, but the unexpected appearance of two humans caused a sudden increase in activity. The water began to turn with frothing wakes as the mermaids circled around in an agitated state of alertness.

Eric and his wife sat down on trainers-station bench near the edge of the tank. Soon, three mermaid heads surfaced and gathered around. They intoned their collective greeting in perfect synchronization. "Hi Mar-ga-reet. Hi Er-ic."

Both Eric and his wife returned their greeting, subconsciously emulating the mermaids' style of answering together and prompting what Eric thought were smiles on the creatures' faces.

The male assumed his privileged role as spokesman for the group. "Why are you visi-ting Sea Woo-man in the dark time?"

Eric and Margaret were surprised by the clarity of diction. The words were sung. The pauses were quicker than normal but the sentences were punctuated with the usual clicks.

Eric scratched the side of his beard. "Well . . . You see. We couldn't sleep, so we decided to come down here and have a little talk with you."

The mermaids remained silent, staring at Eric with their large eyes as if they were transfixed by his image.

Eric could feel the coldness of their stares. His palms began to sweat, and he nervously smiled and gestured with his hands as he talked.

"How old are you?"

The creature stared at him in silence at first and then sang his response. "I live many cir-cles."
Margaret brushed hair back from her face, an action that captured the male's attention. "How many circles?"

"I cannot say your num-ber," he sang.

Margaret moved her hand around in the air once. "This is one." She did it twice in rapid succession. "This is two." She then repeated the action, through the rest of the digits until she came to ten times. "And this is ten. If I did all of them ten times I would have ten of the ten." She looked at the male for a few seconds. "Now, I want you to tell us how many circles."

"Ten of the ten, three of the ten, and eight," he sang in a loud voice.

"What is a circle?" Eric asked him.

The male pointed up. "The star re-turns to the same sky place each cir-cle."

Eric and his wife exchanged surprised looks.

"Good heavens!" Margaret said. "He's referring to one of the solstices. He's one hundred and thirty eight years old!"

"He doesn't look a day over twenty," Eric said with a grin.

"Very funny, dear."

Eric turned to the male again. "We would like to know why you came to us . . . us, in particular, that is."

The male coyly tilted his head like a dog trying to discern an unfamiliar sound. The female and the juvenile simply remained motionless.

Eric rephrased the question. "Why did you allow us to capture you?"

"The Sea Woo-man must con-tin-ue," the male sang. "We cry for our ba-bies."

The words to his song had a chilling effect on the two humans. They both had grave concerns that the creatures were in trouble but now they knew that it was true.

Margaret reached out and touched the male's face. For a moment they stared at each other without saying anything. There was no need to express love but both human and creature did so in sync.

"We love you, Mar-ga-reet," all three creatures intoned.

"I love you, too," she said, a tear forming in the corner of her eye and eventually streaming down her cheek.

Eric was not sure what to think. One thing he did know was that his wife had lost her scientific detachment. She was emotionally involved and it was clouding her judgment.

"Will you swim with Sea Woo-man?" the male asked.

Eric tried to make an excuse. "It's late."

Margaret looked at him with a pleading expression.

"You're not exactly dressed for swimming, Love."

"Ah, what the hell. Nobody's watching."

"I wouldn't make that assumption. I'm sure that Willis has surveillance cameras trained on this tank."

"So what are they going to see? I'll be in the water."

Eric gave her a reassuring smile. "Ok, Love, have your fun."

Margaret jumped into the water and swam off with the mermaids. Eric sat there and watched his wife disappear under the water. She was enjoying herself and learning more about the mysterious creatures' behavior in the process. Her judgment was flawed but her heart was in the right place.

He saw his wife's head pop to the surface near the center of the tank. She waved to him and dove beneath the surface again to appear again after a few minutes at a new location. Occasionally, the mermaids surfaced with her.

After nearly an hour, Margaret swam over to her husband and climbed out of the water.

"Had enough for one night?" her husband asked her, noting with some amusement how the water had soaked her nightie to the point of complete transparency and had sculptured it firmly to her body.

She nodded before slicking her hair down with her hands.

"We had better get you back before somebody sees you like that."

She looked down at her body and then up at her husband. "I don't care. I had fun."

"I think the creatures enjoyed it as much as you did."

"Yes. They seem to be genuinely interested in me. I just hope it isn't because they're sizing me up for a meal."

"What makes you say that, Love?"

"Because they like to lick me," she said. "It's extremely unnerving."

"I can imagine." He paused while his eyes searched for a logical answer. "Maybe they express affection by licking. Their tongues are their genitalia, you know."

"I realize that, but this is more than foreplay. I think they derive pleasure from exploring their prey with their tongues. I wouldn't be surprised if they capture an animal and keep it alive so that they can entertain themselves before they consume it."

Eric stared at her. "That's a frightening idea. What you're suggesting is that these creatures stimulate their libidos by . . ."

"Yes." She quickly stopped him. "I know it sounds terrible, but the evidence certainly suggests it."

"Boy! I think the public is not going to like that."

She stopped. "They don't have to know. Some things are best kept secret."

"I agree, Love."

They walked in silence until they reached their apartment.

"Well, Love," he said, playfully patting her derriere. "Let's get some shuteye. We're going to need it."

"I'm not really tired," she said shaking her head to affirm her statement.

Eric slapped her bottom with slightly more force; the contact of his hand with the sheer wet fabric of her nightie caused a sharp report in the silence of the night.

"Time for bed, Love." He sounded apologetic, not imperative.

Stopping, she turned her head to give him a disapproving look, but instead of voicing her displeasure, she offered her bottom to him. "If you're trying to spank me, dear, you're not doing a very good job of it."

He answered with a nervous giggle. "Sorry, Love, I have no intention of harming one square centimeter of your lovely bottom."

She didn't move, bending over to provide him with a more tempting target. And, as expected, he couldn't resist this tempting target. He slowly--and lovingly--pulled the nightie up with his left hand, gently swiped his right hand down her derriere and carefully squeezed a handful of moist flesh before he gave her marvelous bottom a very gentle pat.

She squealed--an almost teen-like squeak that sent a bolt of excitement through her already excited husband. She stepped into the apartment, gave him a teasing smile, seductively slipped out of her wet nightie, wiggled her derriere, and then sashayed off into the darkness.

"Wow! Maybe I should let her swim with her buddies more often," he said to himself as he hurried after her.