Undersea

Chapter 5: How the War Ended

There were many rumors in the week that followed the departure of the sub fleet. Sarah did her best to occupy herself with mundane tasks to keep herself from thinking on them. She cleaned the quarters father and her shared from top to bottom and Zenith was with her to help. Beamer would come over too, for Founder's Day was always followed by seven days of light work, little schooling, and many more speeches.

Since Undersea was at war speeches and news were delivered over loudspeaker nightly. There were many such loudspeakers in Undersea; on every street and square every so many intervals, all tied back to the Central Agency of Information. It was said that from there a line ran directly to Sir LaRosa's office in the Lab; the very headquarters of his governance.

And every evening during the war it would be his voice that spoke. Indeed, there was seldom any news detailing the fate of the men that fought, only assurances that they fought bravely and well. Then Sir LaRosa would launch anew into his visions, his reasoning, and the rights of Undersea to rule the tides. He expounded much upon their accomplishments and inventions and the rights those things gave the people who wielded them. Even through the loudspeakers he could be heard the pounding of his fists on his desk. To Sarah he always sounded in those moments like a child in some fit of anger. A child who had been told 'no' and yet now, by virtue of his rage, deemed it justifiable to contrive destruction.

Where was the check or recourse in Undersea for such behavior? Especially when it seemed to many he led well. Just listen to his passion! And always he ended his speech with "For the good of the city". When that card was played most people swelled with pride and thought their leader of them and for them, and deep in their hearts stirred the desire to do his pleasure. Sarah always thought "For the good of LaRosa" would have been a more accurate way for him to end the speeches.

So what was it that drove Sir LaRosa, what caused the hearts of the people to harken to him? "We all worship something," thought Sarah after one of his speeches and she pondered what grandma had said long ago about ideas and the fruit that certain ones bore. Sarah shuttered and wondered about the fruits that were to come. In her soul she was weary of it all: her anxieties, father's abscence, the war, and for Sarah sleep came as a welcome respite: until the day before the war ended when Sarah first had the dream.

To call it a dream would not be wholly true, for dreams are pleasant and oft forgotten, one blending into another until the night is passed and one awakes refreashed. It was a dream of the frightening sort, a terror as real in the mind as anything awful in the waking world, and being asleep Sarah was none the wiser in its experience. Yet when she woke she could have sworn it was happening, had happened, or would happen. She did not know its meaning, whether as metephor, something else entirely, or nothing at all, and any guesses she hid deep within herself.

The frightening dream had left Sarah feeling unrefreshed the next day and as she set about the small tasks of life pondering visions of the night, Zenith slipped quietly into the flat.

"There is to be a special announcement today, before noon," Zenith said and then seeing Sarah in a state of blue vexation stopped short of saying anything more.

"I-I had a dream," began Sarah in the silence that followed, "no, I will say no more about it just yet."

"About your father?"

Sarah wrinkled her brow and shook her head, "I don't rightly know," she said, "but you say there is to be an announcement today?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Yes, I heard it from the loudspeakers on the way over," replied Zenith, "and I knew I should hurry to be with you. I got the sense it shall be something worth hearing for a change. Something final about the war."