The White Singularity: A Choose Your Own Adventure

CHAPTER 24: The Marine Atlantean

You sigh. "As much as I would love to have our daughter stay with us, I can't be certain of a surrogate protocol that's only been tested on chimps. I vote that we have her develop as a marine Atlantean instead. We would still be able to visit her, right?" 

"Of course," Eco says softly. 

Your wife bows her head and sobs silently, but she doesn't contradict your decision. 

"When do you have to transfer her?" you ask. 

The doctors confer amongst themselves for a few minutes and call up some graphs. 

"We can give you an hour to say your goodbyes," Cal says gently. "She can hear you through the glass." 

They give you and Zell some privacy. You spend the time touching the glass surrounding your daughter and talking to her in loving tones. You know that she can't understand what you're saying yet, but you hope that she can recognize you somehow. You remember reading somewhere that even very young fetuses respond to their parents' voices. And Eco did say that your baby appears to be very advanced, and that was even before her growth got accelerated. 

After exactly an hour, Eco and the doctors return. 

"We have to take her now," Mira says. "The marine Atlanteans are waiting." 

You and Zell nod and stand back. The cocoon turns opaque and detaches from its stand, hovering above the floor through some technology that you don't understand. The doctors guide it in front of them so that it floats silently across the floor and out the door. You walk after them, holding hands, as they pass through several hallways and into the large spherical chamber that you recognize as the one you went to earlier when you first arrived. 

Waiting just outside the transparent chamber, floating effortlessly in the clear blue water, is a contingent of six Atlanteans who must be doctors and scientists. They gaze at you with warm, sympathetic smiles. Eco taps a command on a nearby panel, and the walls retract, making you gasp. However, water doesn't come rushing in; on second look, you realize that there's a slight shimmer in the air from floor to ceiling. 

"A one-way forcefield," Eco explains. "Objects can go out, but nothing can go in." 

"I see," you marvel. "I can't even begin to fathom that level of technology. Where I come from, force fields in general were thought to be impossible." 

"You'd be surprised how many supposedly impossible things become possible after a few thousand years of research." 

You can't help but agree with that. 

"We have to turn over your daughter now," Shein announces. 

Zell puts a hand on the cocoon as if she could physically touch the baby.  "Will they also be able to stop her accelerated aging?" 

"We'll all have two weeks to work on the problem until she comes to term. I do not doubt that we'll have reached a solution by then," Cal says firmly. 

You're reassured by his confidence. "They'll update us, won't they?" 

"Every day," Eco confirms. 

"Okay, then." 

You hold your breath in mingled awe and trepidation as the cocoon slowly glides forward of its own accord and breaches the forcefield without resistance. The seal is airtight, so no water comes in. Finally, the entirety of the cocoon reaches the ocean surrounding you. The marine Atlanteans catch it between them so that it doesn't float up to the surface or sink into the depths. One of them, a woman, catches Zell's eye. After a moment, Zell nods, a tear sliding down her cheek.The Atlanteans each put a hand on it—three on each side—and guide it away from you into deeper water, swimming effortlessly with their webbed hands and feet. After a minute or so, they're gone.

You turn to your wife.

"Did that Atlantean speak to you telepathically?"

"Yes," Zell confirms.  "She told me not to worry, that they would do our best to make our daughter develop into a healthy little girl."

You sigh.  "I guess that's the most that we can hope for."