The White Singularity: A Choose Your Own Adventure

Chapter 17: The Dual Evolution of Man

I press the enter button with a shaking finger. "There.  Message has been sent. NESCA should receive it within seconds."

Zell looks at me sympathetically. "It's  not recommended that we talk to the team personally, is it?"

You shake your head. "No. They might try to talk us out of staying. And we might accidentally say something revealing about this place.   It's best if we make a clean break."

"In that case, it would be best if we did this..." Zell inputs a convoluted command that would permanently disable the tachyon emitters and its antennas, along with her personal command code. Your short-range communicators would still work, but you would no longer be able to contact anyone at the surface. "So that we don't succumb to the temptation of trying to contact them again."

"Deactivation of long-range transmitters and transfer of power to main power generators is irreversible," the computer announces. "Proceed?"

You made it so that drastic actions such as this would need the agreement of both pilots. You meet your wife's eyes. "Proceed, command code 44590 alpha."

There is a brief pause. "Done."

"Well, that' it," Zell says, exhaling.  "Let's inform the Delfinos."

You notify the other ship, and Eco immediately radios back for you to follow her. The Atlantean vessel glides down into the submerged city, and you follow close behind. It heads for one of the tallest buildings, and a large circular portal opens silently on the base. The Delfino enters, and so does the Singularity.    

The two ships touch down on a ridged, metallic surface, and the doors close. From the portoles, you can see that you're within a hangar.  Several other vessels resemblingthe Delfinos and others resembling sharks are docked within it.  Even immobile, the Atlantean vessels possess a grace and organic structure that  would make them appear almost identical to the animals they mimic.   If you'd seen these on your way down to the trench, you would have taken them for real whales, dolphins, or sharks.  Within seconds, the water starts to drain from the chamber until the outside is almost completely dry.  

The speakers crackle.  "It's  safe to come outside  now," Eco says.  "The atmosphere here is almost completely like  yours except that there's no trace of pollution." 

You'd been wondering about that.  Although the Atlanteans are still technically human, there have been several thousand years of divergence in your evolution.  You discreetly ask your computer to analyze the air, and it corroborates what the Praetor said.

You and Zell step outside and take a  deep breath.  Aside from a strong salty and rather fishy tang, the air is fresher than anything you've breathed above.  It's as if the industrial revolution never happened here.

Eco and her bodyguards are standing outside Delfinos, waiting for you.     "Please come with me," she says, turning and entering a door that leads inside.  You follow a cautious distance behind them.

The interior of the building is even more spotless, streamlined, and technologically advanced than you'd imagined.  The walls are made of a translucent amalgam of glass and steel that gleams in the soft bluish light diffusing from everywhere.  There are no corners or seams that you can see. Everything seems to flow into each other as if the entire structure grew from a single crystal.  

A few people pass you on the hallways. Without exception, they are all tall (the average height seems to be a few inches above six feet, even the women),  athletic, and exceptionally healthy-looking.  Although of various skin colors, they sport the same silvery hair and eyes as the Praetor.  Everyone is dressed in practical but form-flattering outfits made of mostly metallic fabrics.  They bow respectfully to the Praetor as she passes and give you friendly nods.  

You and Zell look back in awe, feeling like cavemen in the presence of gods.  

You reach a spherical chamber that seems to be on the outer part of the building.  

"I want to show you something," Eco says, pressing a hand against the wall.  The entire chamber suddenly becomes transparent, as if you're in the middle of a huge air bubble at the bottom of the ocean.  

You and Zell gasp.  There are Atlanteans swimming around freely outside, but they don't appear to be wearing any kind of breathing equipment.  Their hands and feet are webbed like frogs, and there are slits on the sides of their necks that flap open and closed slowly.  A few of them sense your fascinated attention and come nearer, waving cheerfully through the glass.

You glance back at the Praetor.  She definitely doesn't have webbed digits or gills.  

"Have you divided into different species??"

She laughs at your confusion.  "In a way, yes.  Some of our communities have been underwater for so long that their members have actually evolved to live a hundred percent underwater.  On the other hand, there are those who dislike the water and have evolved better land-based abilities instead, like enhanced strength, eyesight, agility, and running speed.  These are the ones who live at the top of the cavern.  You must have seen the islands when you first arrived.  A very few, like me, are hybrids--I have enhanced senses and strength but my increased lung capacity enables me to stay underwater for up to an hour at a time.  That is why I am Praetor, because I can bridge both worlds."

She holds up a finger.  "You have not evolved as we have, but our medical technology has progressed to the point that we can artificially replicate these traits for you.  We can either make you members of the underwater communities, where you can work to protect the denizens of the ocean, or members of the island communities, where you can save the remnants of the endangered species that we brought back from above, such as rare birds, mammals and reptiles."

She smiles.  "The choice is up to you.