Chapter I; Star of the Sea
Marna had wailed and screamed when she had been ripped from her father's arms to be thrown into one of the freighter's storage pits by the marauders. They were pirates, plain to see from their shabby dress and poor weaponry. Still they were ruthlessly effective with their guerrilla-style fighting, wiping out most of the crew with ease with their assault on the Star of the Sea. It had been a bloodbath, most of the crew scientists and researchers like herself, unprepared and untrained in the craft of shooting and fighting. What had been played out in front of Marna haunted her already restless sleeps; her friends and colleagues being gunned down like deer on the hunt, sprays of their blood painting the freighter red.
It had been weeks since she had last seen the sky and sun and how she missed them. During Marna's imprisonment, she had begun to realise how much she had taken advantage of her life before. The simplest of things that evaded her made Marna near weep, things like walking under the sun and being amongst friends were just a melancholic past for her now. She didn't know if she would ever be free again, or even if her father or other crewmen that survived the initial assault were still alive to rescue her from this seemingly never-ending nightmare.
She drew to attention when the door's iron lock creaked open. The noise made her jolt with fear at the uncertainty that could lurk behind it. Perhaps the pirates had grown tired with keeping her locked away, most wouldn't have seen a woman in months and long voyages always strained on a man's desire. Marna was not naive to not know that to some of them she was just an object they could use to get their cheap satisfaction. To her short relief, it was not a cohort of men looking for some fun but the man who brought Marna her meals was who appeared in the doorway. A thick soup was set upon a tray with a glass of water and a piece of staling bed. Limpy, as Marna had begun to refer him as due to his stilted walk, was not alone this time. At his side was a hunched man dressed in a dirty laboratory smock. He was smiling at her with yellow, gaping teeth.
"Hello, my dear," His words were strung together with a thick Cold War accent, "I thought I may introduce myself at last, since I am your host."
Your host.
Marna grimaced at the notion of this man being the cause of all that had happened. The phrase 'looks may be deceiving' came to mind as she gave him a glance over. He was small and unassuming, a mop of greasy greying hair covered his head and thick-rimmed glasses enlarged his cold eyes. The man must have been in his mid-sixties judging from his heavily lined face that sported a scraggly beard.
Limpy had set the tray on the edge of her makeshift bed that had been crafted from a few wooden cargo boxes with a roughspun sheet sprawled across it. She never liked the way he glazed his eyes over her body, his pupils never failing to dilate with lechery as he looked at her.
"Leave us." The older man directed at Limpy, who like a hound to his master obeyed diligently.
Shutting the door behind him, he left the two alone. Marna didn't like it. She felt even more confined than normal. He gave off an aura which Marna was hesitant of, like the weak form of his was just a facade and hid something she couldn't quite put her finger on.
"Where is my father?" Marna asked, sounding more desperate than she wanted to.
"He is fine, he worries for you too. I told him that you're safe but he does not believe me."
"Please let me see him."
"Sweet girl, he's busy guiding this ship to my base. It shall take a few weeks before we arrive but you will be reunited when we get there."
He walked to the end of the bed, nestling himself on its edge. He didn't greet her with the same glares as his lackeys did but Marna didn't find his smile friendly or reassuring.
"Forgive me for my rudeness, I have forgotten to introduce myself," He gave a dry laugh that grated over her eyes, "I am Dr. Lemuel Dorcas."
Marna swore her heart stopped. She had heard of him before. Lemuel Dorcas was shunned and had been annexed by the scientific community long ago and for good reason. He had been a scientist for the Soviet Union before its fall yet had been cast out when it was learnt he was dabbling in human experimentation and illegal cloning. His procedures were infamous, his splicing of DNA from aquatic creatures and then mixing it with human DNA to create powerful halflings was widely discredited with Dorcas being accused of unethical practice. He had been unheard of for years, except for whispers that he was still performing his procedures under the authorities' radar.
"Your papa speaks of you a lot, Marna," He moved closer to her and was met by Marna edging away further against the cell's wall, "He loves you very much, it warms my old heart."
"What do you want from us, why have you taken over the ship?" Marna demanded, ignoring the strange man's conversation, "You must have a ship anyway, we're in the middle of the Atlantic."
"I do, my dear, but I'm afraid it's damaged from an incident. I have valuable cargo and your papa's ship has the facilities I can store them in without them spoiling," His eyes enlightened for a moment and a smile curved on his lips, "I know, why don't you come and see my products? Papa tells me you're interested in marine biology."
Her stomach coiled. She had feelings what he wanted to show her was not some algae or coral fragments. Marna felt a wave of desperate emotion engulf her once more, tears beginning to stain her cheeks as they fell.
"Oh, sweet girl, I know my boy's treatment of you has been rough but it is the only way. What I have to show you will make you happy, maybe I will take you to your father too while we are there, a few minutes will not delay our course."
"I will come if I get to see my father."
"Sure, you may see you papa but let me show you my most prized possessions first."
The walk to the holding hall was hard. Some of the pirates threw crass remarks to her as she walked, whistling and making rude gestures mockingly. It disgusted her the things they said and did and she did her best to ignore them. Marna hadn't realised how incredibly weak she was either. The trek down the levels and multitude of stairs tore at her languid, neglected muscles. Even Dorcas was faster than her with a spring in his step and gleeful grin dancing across his face as they reached the vast doors leading into the room.
"It took me so long to get these specimens, I lost good men too acquiring them." He said as he gestured for two guards to open the steel-bound entryway.
Nothing could of prepared Marna for what she would see in that hall. Like meat hanging in a butcher's display window, blue-skinned humanoid forms were dangling from the ceiling. Some were spread across tables half-dissected and the room reeked of blood and other bodily fluids. Others had been propped up in long tubes to be pickled and tentacles of pipe and cables were pierced into their body's extracting their essences. Marna couldn't tell if the poor souls were even dead but she prayed they were, it was far kinder than the experiments Dorcas had been operating.
"They are Atlanteans. I could see the confused look in your eyes, Marna," Dorcas made his way to a table where the body of something that was once a child was strewn across. "They are key in my research and I found a plethora of them not far from here. It was easier than what I thought to collect them."
"You're a monster." Marna had closed her eyes but still the images of what was before her had tattooed themselves on her mind.
"I'd prefer visionary. My methods may disgust people but they do get results. I've found out so much about them, things that can benefit humanity."
"They're people, you've killed innocents. You've killed children."
"They are not people, girl," His voice had changed, poisoned with a inhuman coldness that sent shivers across her body, "They are not like us, do not think that for a moment. The Atlanteans are basic barbarians and savages."
"Let me see my father, please. I want to go." Marna was weeping now, fists clenched against her face to shield herself from the horrors of everything around her.
"Sweet girl, you really think I would let you see your papa in the state you're in? He will think I've hurt you," Dorcas grabbed her wrists and ragged them away from her face, his eyes mad as he rattled her form, "Look at the future, sweet girl, these creatures will allow us the secrets we need to better us as a species."
"Get off me, go to hell." Marna shrieked, throwing herself away from him blindly trying to escape.
"Don't be a stupid girl, come back here before you regret it."
Marna ran as fast as she could, hearing the steps and thunder of the corsairs around her. She knew she had no options left, she knew she just wanted to find her father and have him hold her in his arms and tell her everything would be alright like he did when she was a girl.
"Dad, where are you?" She was frantic and had blurred everything around her. She nearly missed the boom of the alarm beginning to screech in her daze.
"Let her go, we have bigger problems. He's found us." Marna heard Dorcas shout, leading the pirates to scatter away to their stations.