/- Chapter Two! Apparently this site won't let you upload stories until your account has sat there for a few days, so I'm just gonna write a bunch of chapters and upload them in one big clump. I have biiiiig plans for this storyline, but will my interest be held long enough to finish it? Stay tuned to find out! ;)

Happy Reading! -- Icebreaker -/

Space is, really, far more vast than the human mind is prepared to comprehend. The Vortex, however, have no such flaw, perhaps because of their ability to instantly communicate between each other. If one were to hang in the vastness of space, with spheres of light in the far distance all around, one would sense snippets of Vortex energy rushing past, a veritable web of information that criss-crossed the unfathomable distances of the galaxy. One such exchange occurred as follows, directly after the destruction of the three Vortex warriors on Earth.

"It would appear that your hypothesis was correct, concerning the Anomaly." This message came as a spreading wave through the cosmos, like a pebble dropped into an absolutely still pond, extending outward in all directions. If one had been able to read the message, they would've sensed the magnitude, the FORCE of the thought energy behind it. It wasn't long, several nanoseconds in Earth terms, before a reply was formed and sent:

"Yes. Now you see the wisdom of sending in that small force first, to see if it would reemerge."

There was a barely perceptible pause. "If this is indeed the creature spoke of in the Ancient Library, we must proceed with the utmost caution."

"This does complicate matters. We have, of course, planned for the creature's appearance, but it makes everything more difficult."

"And if... if we fail? The texts warn of this creature, perhaps it would be best to abandon the project..."

"No. We've put far more effort and time into this now, and besides, there is suitable evidence to suggest that the humans have succeeded in their task."

"Well, that being the case, perhaps we should press on --"

"I knew you'd see it properly. You are, of course, a Queen, but you have much to learn yet..."

"But of course, Brood Mother. I accept your wisdom without question."

"As it should be. Now go, and carry out the next stage of the plan. We'll have planet PF-109 lay its secrets before us yet."

And with that, the link was broken across the ocean of space, replaced with more mundane communications.

- - - - - - - - - -

Donovan, on the other hand, was tending to matters of the less celestial. Specifically, he was trying to open his eyes and ignore the dull ache of his brain. He brought an arm up to touch the back of his head, it felt like he'd suffered a nasty bump when he fainted, but nothing to be too worried about. He'd get it checked out for concussion when he got back to shore...

To shore... It all came rushing back to him. Light, spacecraft, aliens, claws, dolphin...

His eyes snapped open as he sat up, steadying himself under the hot sun. His boat was still intact, that was a good sign. He looked over the sides for any sign of his dolphin savior, but could find none. He sighed and stretched, leaning against the door into the cabin. "Perhaps it was a dream..." he thought to himself.

And then he spotted, just about to cross over into the horizon, the floating Vortex strike craft. The realization came down like a hammer on his psyche, he was actually attacked, by ALIENS, no less... And the one who had saved him...

"Ah, you appear to be conscious again," squeaked Ecco, after having emerged from the depths with a fish clamped in his beak. "If you are hungry, you can have this. Just caught one for myself, in fact," he said, twisting his head and flinging the fish onto the deck of the boat.

Donovan stared blankly at the dolphin, then at the fish. "Are you trying to tell me you want fish? I can't eat them when they're raw..." His voice was just as blank as his expression, devoid of emotion. He was still in shock. "I should have a bucket of them around here somewhere... got knocked around a bit, I'll find it, hold on." Keeping himself occupied with smaller tasks, Donovan went down below to find the bucket of fish he'd caught earlier.

As the human spoke, Ecco pondered the strangeness of his song. Was this the language uttered in the ruined pathways of Atlantis, so long ago? Ecco couldn't shake the fact that this creature and the statues in the submerged city seemed to correlate with each other perfectly. It couldn't be a coincidence... could it?

"Creature, do you know of Atlantis?" sang Ecco, towards the boat. "Can you understand my song at all?"

"Whoa, whoa, hold on, I've got your fish," said Donovan, as he emerged from below decks. "No need to make such a ruckus, I think those... things... are dead and gone by now." He held out the bucket of fish, tipping it so that the dolphin could see its contents.

"Fish?" thought Ecco to himself. "Well, at least this creature seems friendly..."

"Atlantean," he sang towards Donovan. "Can you or can you not understand my song?"

"Geez, impatient, are we? Well, here you are, it's the least I can do for you," said Donovan, as he emptied the bucket overboard. "Dolphins... clowns of the sea," he thought, as Ecco started squeaking again.

"Grah, I would have thought you Atlanteans advanced enough to be able to understand songs other than your own," sang Ecco. "Perhaps it IS a coincidence, you can't be related to those great architects, you're too slow, weak..."

"Stupid creature," thought the human and the dolphin, each to themselves.

Donovan shrugged as Ecco refused his fish, who instead was squeaking at him angrily. "Well, that's all the thanks I can give you, really. Don't suppose you have need of money." He glanced out to the horizon, towards the spacecraft that was slowly floating away. "And someone's going to get a lot of money if they can get the rights to this site... I've gotta get back to shore." He started rigging up the sails again, still speaking to himself. "This is the biggest discovery of the century... the millenium... hell, perhaps EVER..."

Ecco shook his head as the human continued prattling in his weird song. "Why have the Tides dropped me here?" he asked himself. "Certainly the Vortex are back, but am I to protect this creature, and perhaps his whole kind?" He looked up into the sky, with the clouds floating by leisurely, and the bright, ever-burning sun. "By Delphinus, am I never to rest again? When will my tasks end?" He shook his head again, attempting to clear his thoughts. "No, no thoughts of that kind. I have been assigned this task, and I will finish it. But how am I supposed to protect that with which I cannot communicate?"

Ecco looked again at Donovan, as he worked to get the sails up and working. "These creatures must be land dwellers," thought the dolphin to himself, studying the human's legs intently. "I will take this one back to land, and perhaps meet his elders. Maybe they will know how to sing my song..."

Donovan did quick, mental calculations as he readied the sails. "At this windspeed," he thought to himself, "I should be able to get back to the coast in, what... 2, maybe 3 hours?" He sighed as he got the rigging up, preparing for the long journey ahead...

There was a bump, a thud, emanating from the back of the boat. Donovan leaned over to see what was happening, and nearly lost his balance as the boat started gaining momentum. "What? It shouldn't accelerate THAT fast..."

He looked over the edge again as the boat kept accelerating, peering intently beneath the waves. There he saw that dolphin again, pushing his boat towards the Florida coastline.

"Damn, this guy's really cooking!" said Donovan. "At this rate, we'll be at the shore in half an hour!" He gave a slight bow towards the dolphin, surveyed his boat once more, and then had a seat on the deck.

"Delphinus give me strength," Ecco panted, as he pushed this creature's massive craft towards land. "These beings appear to be helpless when it comes to water travel... why can they not just stay on land?" The dolphin continued pushing the boat as Donovan relaxed, thinking of what to do next.

"This dolphin, here, might have something to do with those... aliens." He raised a hand up to brush at the bump on the back of his head. "If only I could communicate with him, perhaps we could learn a little about those nightmarish creatures."

Something from the back of his mind, that he hadn't accessed in a long time, came bubbling to the front of his consciousness. "That old crackpot? Naw, he couldn't really... could he?"

He glanced out at the water. "He did say he had a way... but he's a total recluse! He's senile, a schizo!"

Another part of his brain countered this. "But what if he was right?"