There was a feeling creeping up inside Sarah as she left the Founder's Day Parade: she was about to lose someone again. She trembled, for to that feeling she was no stranger and she feared for Beamer. On the way back from the parade she pondered over it and decided she would do something about it. Sarah went straight back to her quarters and told Zenith and Emmie everything. Emmie's face went white.

"Oh Sarah!" said Zenith, "you don't think..."

"I cannot say for certain what will happen, it's true," said Sarah, "but the officer seemed quite clear. Though I'm not sure of his motives."

"Are you not?" said Zenith. "I think it's clear the officer likes you."

Color rushed to Sarah's cheeks, "Surley I haven't given him any impression I have interest!"

"Well like it or not I think he's taken a shine to you, maybe there's some jealousy on his part in the way of Beamer? Perhaps that is why he said those things about him?"

Sarah laughed as if to shake off the notion then thought about it.

"Or maybe the officer is just trying to impress you?" wondered Zenith.

"I guess those are all possible scenarios, I just, well, want to be able to do something this time around if anything should happen. It's just awful sitting powerless unable to do something." Sarah was silent.

"It sounds like you have some of your grandma in you," said Zenith squeezing Sarah's hand.

"Yeah well, we all know how that all turned out," said Sarah closing her eyes.

"You are probably just worried about nothing," said Zenith hopefully, "but I will help you with your plan if it somehow comes to that. My father and mother love Beamer, he has come around our place a lot since you moved up here, they wouldn't hesitate to help if he was in trouble. I'm not sure how we are going to execute the first part of the plan though, there are a number of loose variables it seems. Eh, we're probably all just paranoid and it won't come to anything."

"I hope you're right," said Sarah feeling better. She probably was overreacting. "Once bitten twice shy," she thought, "or should it be twice bitten thrice shy?"

Emmie did not say anything but left the room towards the end of Sarah and Zenith's gala preparations so she could make some arrangements for Sarah's plan, should it be needed.

"It won't come to it," said Sarah, trying to reassure Zenith and herself as she fixed her hair in the mirror, "and we'll just laugh about this later. I'm sorry Zenith that I can't be with you for the first part of the evening; I have to stand in the receiving line with Sir LaRosa, mother, and Jack."

"No worries. I'll probably just sit in one of the seating areas nearby and wait until you're done. Then we can walk into the Great Hall together. I brought a book to read."

"Hey, maybe you'll meet someone, a scientist maybe. I bet you guys talk for hours."

Zenith laughed, "I think I'd rather stand in the receiving line." She gave Sarah a playful shove.

"How do I look?" said Sarah after a bit. She had just finished applying some light makeup and did a twirl for Zenith. Her blue gown billowed out and the starfish earrings glittered with her pearl necklace.

Zenith clapped her hands together, "Oh Sarah!" she said, "that officer will have a hard time keeping his eyes off you! You look amazing!"

"Don't say that!" said Sarah with a smile, "but I do hope we can enjoy ourselves tonight. Beamer will be sitting at our table and Jack too with his "date" from school."

"So there will be five of us at our table tonight?"

"Well, I happened to peek into the Great Hall yesterday, they have us in the back corner near a Sir LaRosa statue. I think I saw six place settings at our table. Most other tables have eight. I'm not sure who the sixth spot at our table is though."

"How do I look?" said Zenith, spinning. She wore a straight white floor length gown with white gloves and sparkling crystal pendant earrings. A gleaming gold pin held her dark hair in place.

"Oh wow Zenith!" said Sarah, "Oh wow! You look absolutely beautiful! That officer is going to be staring at you all night!"

Zenith laughed and rolled her eyes and they both laughed. "Thank you so much for inviting me to come Sarah! This is so much fun!"

"Well I wasn't going to face the elite of Undersea alone," said Sarah hugging Zenith.

"Speaking of which," said Zenith, "Isn't it about time?"

"You're right," said Sarah glancing at a clock. "People will start arriving at six thirty, it's nearly a quarter after."

There was a knock at the door.

"Oh, hello officer," said Sarah when she saw the young officer who had escorted her to the parade standing there wearing a crisp dress jacket with stars on the shoulders, polished boots, and pressed trousers. He had his hair slicked back and wore a obliging smile on a his face. She smiled politely back. "My friend and I where just..."

"...getting ready to go down to the party," said the officer with a knowing grin.

"Well, yes," said Sarah turning to Zenith with an "oh help!" expression.

"I am here to escort you to the receiving line, LaRosa's orders," said the officer with pleasure.

"Perhaps you would be so kind Mr. Officer," said Zenith stepping to the door, "to escort us both to the Front Room?"

"Very well," said the young officer with a sigh.

Zenith took his left arm and Sarah the right. They walked to the balcony in silence and descended the right staircase like stoics, feeling rather forced by it all. From the stairs Sarah caught sight of mother, Jack, and Sir LaRosa standing by the polished entrance doors now flung open. Sir LaRosa was dressed similarly to the young officer escorting them Sarah noticed, except he had many more decorations pinned to his long thin torso and they gleamed in the soft light of the room like a display case full of polished spoons. He stood there next to mother, hands clasped behind his back, head bowed as if rehearsing something in his thoughts.

Mother stood next to him beaming and she threw a little wave to Sarah as she descended the stairs with the officer and Zenith. Mother wore a dark blue ball gown with silver rhinestones in starfish patterns that rippled in the light when she moved. It seemed to Sarah all the wrinkles of care in mother's face were gone and that she was eager to laugh. In her hair was a diamond tiara that flashed, catching the eye under the lamps of the Front Room like the bright sun on the surface of the sea. Around her neck was a chain of gold and pearls.

Jack stood next to her looking uncomfortable, dressed like Sir LaRosa

"Why thank you officer!" said mother when they arrived giving Sarah a wink. Mother gave a sidelong look at Zenith and Zenith drifted back to a nearby couch.

"No problem madam, for the good of the city!"

"For the good of the city!" responded mother.

"For the good of the city," murmured Sir LaRosa deep in thought.

"Dear," said mother to Sir LaRosa, "our first guests are arriving!"

Sir LaRosa turned to look out on the patio.

"I shall sit with you at the table tonight," said the officer bowing to Sarah, "Sir LaRosa's orders!"

"Oh," said Sarah trying not to look to bothered, "well, we shall see you then officer."

His face grew serious and he left the Front Room. Sarah barely had time to breathe a sigh of relief when the first guest offered his hand to Sarah which she took absent mindedly. It was promptly kissed.

"A pleasure to met you young Sarah. You look quite the splendid little jewel of Undersea."

"I, um, thank you so much," said Sarah putting on her biggest smile and wondering how many lips were going to touch her hand tonight. But the first guest had moved on to Jack now and Sarah was speaking to the wife. Live music began to play and it filled the house with a stylized version of the Hymn of Undersea. Sarah thought she could hear several bassatones being played.

The next guest stood before Sarah: a short, balding gentleman unaccompanied, wearing a simple black suit and tie. "Professor Dodson at your service!" he said taking her hand in his and patting it with the other, "I hear Sarah you have taken quite a liking to marine biology! It interests me as well; I am the head of that department at the university!"

Sarah's eyes went wide and she found herself responding with a nervous curtsy. "Oh yes very much professor! And your work on the ovoviviparous nature of large hexanchoids in the bathyal zone was excellent! Not that I'm an expert or anything," she stammered.

"Indeed?" said the Professor, "you sound well on your way to becoming one! I have students, even colleagues if you can beleive, who tell me they love my work yet can't recall half of what you just did. Tell you what, I'll send you a copy of my next work, it's almost finished, and you tell me what you think!"

"Oh," said Sarah blushing, "I...I confess I have but limited knowledge in the feild. But I would love to read your next work!"

Mother cleared her throat as the line began to back up, and Professor Dodson gave Sarah a wink, pumped Jack's hand with a firm shake, and meandered off for some hors d'oeuvres. Soon after Sarah caught a glimpse of him seated near Zenith having what appeared to be a one sided conversation with her. Sarah smiled as she heard a snippet of the professor expounding upon the life cycles of underwater bacteria on hydrothermal vents.

More and more people filtered in through the receiving line; it was a guest list of nearly three hundred, and Sarah's right hand worked overtime as it was repeatedly kissed, patted, and shaken. Anyone who was anyone (or desired to be anyone) was there. All the members of the Council of Seven (except Oscar and his wife Lebeitha with their son Beamer: they would arrive last), heads of various departments in Sir LaRosa's regime, high ranking Mariner Patrol officers, scientists, and other members of the elite arrived one by one, usually with their partners in tow. To Sarah they blurred together with few exceptions.

"Young Sarah!" they said, "you look as if you were the very flag of Undersea itself!" or "You're a vision, an absolute vision!" or "a true daughter of Undersea, you must be so proud of your step father." Sarah smiled and curtsied her way though the whole of it, ever looking forward to the final "how-do-you-do?" of the evening.

Last of all a most extravagant vehicle pulled up to the steps of the house. It was covered in gleaming chrome and it bore a small flag of Undersea in place of a hood orniment. Sarah leaned to look out through the front entryway and smiled when Beamer popped out of the far passenger side door and rushed around to open the rear door. Beamer offered his hand to his mother and out stepped Lebeitha in a shimmering golden gown and sparkling diamond necklace. She laughed merrily at something Beamer said and stepped aside as Oscar scooted out behind her. Oscar wore the dress jacket like Sir LaRosa and there were no small amount of medals on his chest. Arm in arm (Oscar to the right, Beamer to the left, Lebeitha in the middle) they mounted the stairs to meet the LaRosa's.

At the top of the steps Sir LaRosa pasted on a smile and bowed stiffly to Oscar, who returned the bow and then shook his hand. Sir LaRosa touched his lips to Lebeitha's offered hand and then turned to Beamer who, dressed in a blue dress jacket with white trousers, bowed deeply and then bowed again while clearing his throat.

"I acknowledge you oh Great Sire for inveigling us this eventide to your grandiose dwelling!" proclaimed Beamer as if delivering dramatic lines in a play, "and may the amorous dalliance you and your resplendent dame luxuriate never be ephemeral!"

A perturbed Sir LaRosa gave a rigid bow in return and flashed Beamer the look one gives when contemplating a gnat. "Thank you," he said with a frown.

Beamer turned to Sarah's mother and kissed her hand, "Oh thou great and fairest lady!" he began, "I..." But he was cut short by Lebeitha's firm hand upon his back guiding him on to Sarah.

"Please keep him out of trouble," murmured Lebeitha to Sarah. Zenith soon joined Beamer and Sarah and the three of them broke off from the receiving line.

"Whoa!" said Beamer to Sarah when he looked her up and down, "I really like your billowy dress! It's so poofy!"

"Beamer likes poofy dresses?" wondered Zenith gaily and they all laughed.

"Oh I like yours too Zenith!" said Beamer with a smile, "It's as slick as a slippery clean sea lion!"

"Um...thanks?" said Zenith and they all laughed again.

"Have you been reading poetry recently Beamer?" asked Sarah, "that was quite the hello you delivered to Sir LaRosa at the door just now."

Beamer smiled, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"

"Beamer, you've never seen a summer's day," laughed Sarah.

"True..."

"Hopefully you weren't to bored sitting by yourself," smiled Sarah, turning to Zenith.

"Well yes and no," said Zenith with a laugh, "some scientist guy sat down next to me and started talking about microbial volcanic something of other and then the reproductive habits of sixgill sharks!"

"Wish our places had been reversed," said Sarah, very much interested in those things. "Come Beamer," she said after a moment, slipping her hand in behind his elbow, "would you escort us ladies to our table? I think dinner will start soon. They have us in the back corner near an exit I believe." Zenith took the other side and just then the young officer from earlier came into the Front Room. He lurked to the side when he saw Beamer with the girls.

"Near the exit and hopefully near the food as well!" Beamer was saying, not noticing the officer.

"Hear Hear!" said Zenith and they strolled towards the Great Hall. It was noted that Beamer's jacket and trousers did match Sarah and Zenith's dresses quite handsomely.

"There's nothing amiss here," Sarah was telling herself as they walked, passing near the young officer, "Just a young officer trying to impress, trying to make himself feel important." It seemed so obvious and in light of those thoughts she felt silly and a little foolish for worrying to the point of putting together a plan like they had. She sighed. Yet there was something still, something telling her that she was not foolish, and glancing back at the cold eyed officer drinking spirits from a crystal glass she became anxious. "Relax Sarah," she muttered, "Re-lax."

They entered the Great Hall from the Front Room, using its main entrance which passed between the bottom landings of the two curving grand staircases. They stepped into the Great Hall, across from them were the kitchens and pantries and the smell of food wafted to them. On their right was the dance floor and beyond that a stage where live music was now playing. A lectern was also set up there for speeches. In front of them and to the left were many round dinning tables, and in the far left corner near a side doorway leading to the Parlour Lounge, which then connected back with the Front Room near the staircases, was their table. They made their way to it along the wall, passing tables of seated guests. "Top o' the evening to you!" Beamer would say to each table as they passed and it was all Zenith could do to keep from cracking up. Sarah noticed the young officer following them in.

They spotted Jack already seated at his place next to his acquaintance from school; a shy looking girl who seemed as nervous in these surroundings as Jack was. "I hope you saved some food for us!" boomed Beamer when they got close, "Top o' the evening to you!"

"And you too," said Jack relaxing a bit. They introduced each other and sat down with an empty spot between Jack and Sarah. The officer slid into it. "Top o' the eve..." Beamer started to say to him but stopped short under his glare.

The music ceased playing and everyone stood. Announcements were made and the band struck up the music to The Hymn of Undersea and all lifted their voices to sing.

"Beneith the swollen tides, away from human strife, a new city of life!..."

The young officer sang the whole song with great gusto, for he had had several glasses of spirits already. When the singing finished everyone raised their crystal cups in a toast as Oscar and Lebeitha and Sir LaRosa and mother walked in and took their seats up at the head table. "For the good of the city!" everyone said. "For the good of the city!" cried the young officer draining his glass and calling for more. "For the good of the city," said everyone else at their table meekly except Beamer who raised his glass and shouted his response, then took a deep swallow of the spirits in his cup and started a coughing fit.

"Ooh, it burns!" Beamer sputtered, then after he regained himself as an aside to Sarah, "blech, this stuff tastes like cleaning supplies!" The officer rolled his eyes and drank more.

Sarah smiled, "now how do you know what cleaning supplies taste like Beamer?" She glanced over at the officer.

"Looong story," said Beamer.

The live music started back up and dinner began: servers came bearing plates of food. There was crisp kelp salad with a honey-like dressing as a starter. A portion of oysters with melted butter came next. Dishes of stewed vegetables and steamed crustaceans arrived, then fish with sweet plankton cakes, and on and on. When a dish of octopus cooked in an inky black sauce showed up Sarah poked it warily and decided to pass; Beamer and the young officer slurped their's down without second thoughts. Finally sargozo tea was brought out to go with a flaky fruit filled pastry for dessert but Sarah could eat no more.

"Marvelous, absolutely marvelous!" said Beamer dabbing his mouth with dainty gestures, "I'm going to need to dance the night away if I want all this to digest!"

"Overshare!" said Zenith laughing and Beamer burped into his napkin as discreetly as Beamer could.

Sarah glanced over at the officer who seemed to be radiating hate in Beamer's direction. He downed another glass of spirits. "Come Zenith," said Beamer getting up from his chair, "let us cut the rug, as it were!" Beamer turned to Sarah, "don't worry, your next!"

"Oh, I'm worried alright!" laughed Sarah and Beamer and Zenith made their way to the dance floor to join the other couples. Sarah distracted herself from the fidgety inebriated young officer on her left (who had now placed his arm across the back of her chair) by trying to encourage her brother and his date to go out and dance. She finally succeeded just as Beamer and Zenith came back to the table. "Come Jack, you can follow Beamer and I out on foor," she said quickly. The officer gave an exaggerated sigh and crossed his arms.

Beamer danced better then Sarah thought he would. "Part of 'eddicate' training," Beamer said as they moved to the music. It was not long, however, before they bumped up against their young officer reeking of alcohol. "I think I'll budt in now," he said putting a hand on Sarah's shoulder. There was a pause

"But of course officer!" responded Beamer with a generous bow. Then to Sarah he whispered: "Don't worry Sarah, song's almost over."

The officer and Sarah stumbled through the last few minutes of the music getting their feet caught every few steps. "That Beamer kid," muttered the officer looking over his shoulder back at the table, "he'll be fixed alright, yessiree."

"What do you mean officer?" said Sarah trying not to look frightened.

"Mom and dad are goin' bye-bye!" said the officer stepping on Sarah's toes.

"I-I don't understand, this party is partially in their honor!" said Sarah, "to celebrate Oscar's new appointment as vice president on the Council of Seven."

"No," said the young officer, "they are to be made example of!" He slurred the word "example".

"Example of?" said Sarah swallowing hard.

"Yesh," said the officer wobbling slightly on his feet, "like that story of Icarush. Yes Icarus! They flew to close to the shun! LaRosa is Undersea and Undersea is LaRosa! There can be no other."

Sarah's eyes flashed around the the Great Hall. Soon it would be time for speeches. There seemed to be a large presence of Mariner Patrolmen in the room.

"And there are others who will have to go," the young officer was saying, "out with the old, in with the new." He seemed to relish the idea.

"It's a purge!" came a sudden thought to Sarah and she looked wildly around, "will any of us survive this night?" Bitter tears welled in her eyes. She did not ask to be here, did not ask for any of this, and there was nothing she could do. And then she remembered her plan. "No, they will not get Beamer too," she resolved with clenched teeth.

The officer led Sarah back to the table and the speeches began. Sarah saw Emmie refilling drinks nearby and caught her eye. Sarah went to her and they had a whispered conversation. Zenith saw them and Sarah gave her a nod. Thankfully the others were trying to listen to the speaker at the podium when Sarah sat down. No one noticed her hands shaking. She put them in her lap.

Though the speeches were going on it was not quite so clear what was being said at the back table. But everyone at the closer tables were sitting up straight in their chairs listening; especially when Sir LaRosa started speaking, and all hung on his every word. The young officer smiled at Sarah and raised his glass to her in mock toast. Then Beamer, filled with that unquenchable curiosity of his, sitting on Sarah's right and tired of trying to hear the words of Sir LaRosa's speech, eagerly began talking across Sarah to the young office.

"So, what do you do here in the mansion?" he whispered.

"Security," said the officer with as little feeling as he could.

"Is that all?" said Beamer feeling extra chatty.

"Is that all?" mocked the officer. He snorted. "I'm also involved with the Under-Line if you must know."

"The Under-Line! Why didn't you say so!" said Beamer. He had a fascination with that sort of thing. Studies in mechanical and electrical engineering were some of the areas he was starting to excel at in school, much to the relief of his mother.

Just then Sir LaRosa reached the height of his speech and started to point with an accusing finger. Even those seated at the back table were taking notice now. Beamer, oblivious, was talking to the officer about key cards now. The officer smiled at Beamer as if he were a condemned man from whom secrets no longer needed kept. Upon hearing the topic of key cards come up Sarah turned to the young office. She gave him her full attention in desperate hope it would encourage him to keep talking. The issue of key cards was suddenly very important.

At the front of the room Sir LaRosa's words were becoming quite ugly, back at the table the young officer reached into his pocket and pulled out his key card as if to show off for Sarah's benefit. He took another drink of the spirits in his glass and looked around at those watching, relishing the attention. He placed the card on the table.

Then it was as if a storm broke.

Far away there arose a great clamor and an immediate struggle broke out at the front of the room. Screams and commotion reached the back and confused Mariner Patrolmen rushed into the Great Hall with weaponry. Weapons were discharged, streaks of lightning ripped though the air. There was much wailing and smoke now and the young officer, sensing reinforcements were needed, rushed forward. "For the good of the city!" he bellowed as he went. On one side of the room near the front was Oscar, surrounded by men drawn tight about him as if in his defense. Lebeitha was shrieking.

"Mother?" said Beamer half standing. He saw and went numb.

Sarah sprang up snatching the key card. "Quickly Jack," she shouted, motioning to his date, "get her to the Lounge and take cover!"

Emmie and Zenith pulled Beamer under the table, Sarah met them there.

"Beamer!" said Sarah to a shocked young man, carefree and young no longer. "Listen to me! Do what we say and you'll get out of here! Listen Beamer, do you trust me? Beamer!" Beamer gave a dazed nod. Already they were removing his dress jacket with the stars on the shoulders and replacing it with the white dress suit jacket of the male house servants. "I'll see you upstairs," Sarah said to Emmie and Beamer. "And Beamer, keep your head down!"

Emmie led Beamer along the back wall of the Great Hall to the kitchen, through the pantries and laundry to the servants stairs that led to the floors above. Sarah grabbed Zenith's hand and ducked into the Parlour Lounge as more screams came from the Great Hall. "For the good of the city!" someone yelled. There was a flash.

From the Parlour Lounge they entered a panicked Front Room choked with people fleeing the Great Hall. Down the right staircase rushed the two guards who stood watch over the Under-Line near mother and Sir LaRosa's rooms.

Sarah felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned. It was Professor Dodson. "You'd best get out Sarah!" he shouted over the chaos, "come, follow me!"

"Right behind you professor!" yelled Sarah, "but first there's something I must do!" She and Zenith dashed to the second floor as flashes lit the Front Room. There waited Emmie with a sobbing Beamer just inside the hallway from the balcony. Sarah's heart rent in two when she saw him, but quick action was needed and she urged them on to the entrance of the Under-Line. It was a great relief that the guards were gone: they had been a worrisome point in the plan, but Sarah had not let that detail stop her at the time and continued planning Beamer's escape in faith. Now it was paying off.

The door to the Under-Line yielded to the key card and pass code; they hurried to the platform and Sarah helped Zenith and Beamer into the sphere. "Left button on the inside console opens and shuts the hatch, the right one is the release," said Sarah. "You won't need the keycard anymore, the door into the Lab from the Under-Line's platform will open automatically as you leave." Sarah handed the key card to Emmie to put back on the table where the officer left it. "Be careful down there Emmie," she said, "don't take any unnecessary risks getting it back." Emmie hurried off and Sarah turned to Beamer and Zenith. "You'll be safe with Zenith's family," she heard herself say, "I'll send word when I can." A moment passed as they all looked at each other; no words came, only tears. "Go!" said Sarah and she stepped back. The hatch closed and the ball dropped and Sarah felt as if loss had found her again, only this time in the most extravagant house in all of Undersea.

Sarah's slow walk back down the hall seemed to last hours. When she did get near the stairs she stood inside the balcony entryway and listened to the commotion below. Soon she was met by a terrified Emmie, still holding the key card, and from her learned what had transpired. A sort of last stand by Oscar's faction had been made in the very corner Sarah and her table had dined that evening. Amongst the small fires scattered here and there were grisly results: Oscar was dead, Lebeitha was dead; there bodies all but vaporized by the lightning weapons or "flash sticks" (as they were called) of the Mariner Patrol. Amongst the carnage of that corner lay the tattered remains of Beamer's dress jacket. He had been wearing some medals he received in school and his name was still on them.

And so ended the Great Purge of Undersea that had also been a coup, for Oscar had made his own plans but in the end Sir LaRosa proved the stronger. Mother, Sir LaRosa, Jack, and his date all survived but in the days that followed Sir LaRosa moved to expand the purge beyond the gala. Others in his administration soon disappeared.

In the aftermath the remains of Oscar's allies were gathered and dumped as food into the teaming pens of farmed fish just outside the walls of Undersea. Such was the chaos of the gala that Sir LaRosa took no notice Beamer had slipped his net, for indeed all assumed him dead. The young officer who had danced with Sarah suffered a grievous wound in the melee as did many in the Mariner Patrol that day. Sarah took the key card from Emmie and destroyed it.

Some consternation remained, however, as to how the Under-Line sphere ended up down at the Lab that night. The guards at the Lab had not been at their posts when Zenith and Beamer slipped out of the building and into the night, fleeing to her parents house in Fish Town. It had been suggested by some that a power surge from a discharging flash stick could have caused the sphere to uncouple from its mooring mechanisms up at the big house on the wall. The Lab guards had been punished none the less for not having been present when the sphere arrived.

- - -

When things settled a bit Sarah sent Emmie out with Zenith's overnight bag and news of what had befallen: it being dangerous for her to go to them, for Sir LaRosa had eyes and ears everywhere, especially now. Emmie would be okay, indeed she had volunteered to go, for she had the legitimate excuse of having to run errands for the kitchen staff down in Fish Town: the part of Undersea nestled near the outer wall in the New City just beyond the Pool. (Emmie had more responsibilities now, at least temporarily until more help could be acquired. Several servants had died in the crossfire.)

"Be sure to hug them both for me Emmie," said Sarah through tears. "I won't rest until you return."

When Emmie got back she gave Sarah three big hugs. "The first is from Zenith," she said, "the last two are from Beamer."