Chapter 10

Cleveland, Ohio, same time It was one of those days that makes living in Cleveland, Ohio worth all the winter weather and lake effect snow. The southerly breeze brought the early spring temperatures into the high 70's, and energized the few scattered wisps of clouds. The brilliant blue sky highlighted the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's glass pyramid and the rounded dome of the Science Center.

My daughters walked out of the large downtown Galleria Mall after sneaking lunch in the food court. Barb turned to Sera. "Something's wrong with Brian. He's alive, but he is scared shitless."

"That doesn't sound good. What do you think it is?"

"I don't know, Sis, but I don't like it." Barb pulled out her cell phone. "I'll try Brian's phone, and you try Dad's."

After several attempts, Sera said, "All I can get is an out of service message. I didn't think satellite phones were ever out of service."

"I'm getting the same on Brian's. I don't like this. Both phones can't be down at the same time."

"Can you tell if Brian is still OK?"

"He's not hurt, but I don't know where he is, and his link is getting weaker. I don't like this at all."

Bermuda Triangle same time - Jeff

The wind pushed the boat to the starboard as Brian fought to keep it to the port side of the breaker's opening. As he would make some progress, a gust would push the boat off course again. Gradually, they pushed eastward. As they approached the reef, it looked as if Brian had overcompensated. Just as they were about to hit the eastern reef, Brian swung the wheel to starboard and the boat popped through the hole in the wall of foam. As soon as the boat entered the harbor, the waves almost disappeared, and it started being blown to the sandy beach. Brian yelled out to me, "Dad, can you see about getting a line to the Beach?

I could see a group of people along the beach waving to the boat. I moved to the bow of the boat and reached into a forward boson locker and pulled out a quarter inch line with a weighted monkey's fist at one end. As the boat moved through the inlet, the people on the shore followed along with it.

When I felt I was close enough to the shore, I let out the line on the deck and started swinging the monkey's fist in an ever increasing circle. When I thought the fist was moving as fast as possible, I let go of the line and it trailed out behind the fist as it landed on shore. Two of the men on shore grabbed the line and started to pull the heavier one inch line to them. After I fed it around a mooring chuck, the group pulled the mooring line to the shore.

I allowed the larger line to be fed to the people on shore and then pulled enough out to secure the boat to one of the trees on the other side of the beach before I secured the mooring. As the boat was secured, the weather started to slack off. Soon the rain stopped and the sun came out.

Brian joined me on the bow and pointed to a man on the beach. "Dad, do you remember me talking about this guy I met in Korea that fucked up so much they had to make him a general to get him out of the way?"

Bill moved to stand below the two men. "At least they didn't try to pawn me off to our poor allies. Are the Korean's talking to us yet? I think they almost threw us out when they got stuck with you."

Brian and Bill started laughing. "Hey Bill, thanks for the directions. How did you know to do that?"

"I learned the hard way. I lost my ship on the Western side of the opening."

"Where in the hell are we anyway?"

"Welcome my friends to what's left of Atlantis. You are smack dab in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle. Welcome to your new home. This, as far as I can tell is the Triangle form of 'Hotel California.' You can check in, but can never check out."

Brian looked at his old friend. "I don't think I want to hear this. We can't get back home?"

"That's not exactly correct, Brian." Everyone looked at Amanda.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

About that time Alpha moved to Bill's side. "Welcome home, Amanda. Your mother will be happy to see you. You have done a great job, but we missed you."

I looked at Amanda and asked, "Would someone like to tell us what's going on here?"

Alpha turned to Bill. "Master, could we explain this when we get back home and have Beta looked at by the healers?"

Bill looked at Brian and me and nodded. After everyone was on shore, one of the men from the rebel camp said, "Your boat will be safe here. We do not have any theft here, and the bay will protect it from the weather.

"Alpha, can you get Beta back to camp? I think we need to talk to the queen and Ada."

Aleia offered, "Champion, your body slave should stay with you. If it is acceptable to you, Shea and I should escort your other body slave to the city. Should we also invite Lady Tirana to come with us?"

"Yes. Invite only. She will be under my protection if she comes and I will assign you two as her protectors in addition to her personal guard while she is with us. If she does not wish to visit, I will return when my business in the city is complete. I think something is going on here, and it affects every one of us.

"I would like to thank you, gentlemen, for helping us rescue my friends." He looked each of the village guards in the eyes. "I owe each of you. If I can ever help you please let me know how."

As Bill and Alpha escorted the travelers to the city, he explained his situation. "I still am at a loss as to how I got here. I have been here several months and I'm still confused."

Brian looked at Bill. "How could you have been here several months? We just talked to each other in a chat room three weeks ago. About a day after that, I felt a strain in our connection, and have been trying to get to you since.

"No, I tell you I've been here for months."

Amanda put her hands on both men's shoulders. "You are both correct. I will explain more when I report to Queen Norse."

"Amanda," replied Bill. "I hate to be the one to tell you this, but Queen Norse was murdered the day I arrived."

"Oh my Goddess, it can't be true. It can't be true. Who would do such a thing?"

"Well, it is still screwy, but some of the men in the rebel village got off the island in a storm and left an imbalance in the number of people. A ship of pirates landed and killed the queen and her body slaves. They also tried to rape the queen's daughter, but she was saved and the men were killed."

Amanda looked at Bill. "How?"

Alpha answered for him. "That is why he is Queen Lisa's champion and your mother and I are his body slaves."

Amanda looked as if someone hit her in the face. "Beta is my mother? Is she hurt?"

"Yes, Amanda, but she will recover. You will see her with any luck tomorrow."

Bill looked at Amanda. "You're Beta's daughter? Yes, I can see that now. That's why I thought I knew you."

As the group reported to the palace, Bill was hugged by the queen and dinner was served to the guests. After dinner, several scholars joined the group to discuss the latest issues.

Sceal, the headmaster of the university postulated, "I believe that when Queen Norse died, Amanda lost her contact with us. Did you not feel the loss, Amanda?"

"Yes Lord Sceal, but I thought it was due to my injuries. I was hoping by getting to Bermuda that I could reconnect with the queen. I did not even think something could happen to her."

"Someone want to clue me in on what you're talking about?" I wondered.

"Sorry," replied Sceal. "We have a limited amount of egress from the island to Earth and back. We have five scouts in your world who keep us up to date on what you are doing to yourselves. It's not always pretty, but we need to know.

"The gateway is a mental link to our scouts through our queen. Sometimes this can be bypassed via the energy of a major storm. The storm allowed our champion to arrive here, but the last storm should not have been strong enough to pull our new visitors through. This is most confusing."

Brian replied, "I may be able to shed some light on this. A long time ago, Bill and I were in combat together. One of our friends, Kim, was killed, and we went to his funeral. One of Kim's family members took a liking to us and gave Bill and I some kind of link. We can talk to each other in our minds from any where in the world. We can feel when each other is in distress and when we are extremely happy. We usually keep it tuned way down, because it is a serious distraction and is very tiring."

"That is amazing. The only person here that has that ability is the queen."

"Really? I also have this ability with my youngest sister, Barbara. We have had this link since we were kids."

"You have a sister who you can mind link with?"

"Yes."

"The Goddess has been good to us and sent you. We were in fear of our scouts' lives. Now there is hope to get them home. Can you help us?"

Brian, Harry and I all looked at each other and saw the agreement in each other's eyes. I turned to Sceal. "We will if we can. What can we do?"

"If I am correct, we can use Brian's link with his sister as a path between the two worlds. We can use Brian's link with the champion to get back. Otherwise it will take at least two earth years for the Queen Lisa to develop her mental powers. We do not want to leave our people without support for that long."

Sally tightened her grip on me. "My captain, you are a hero, but now you are also my father. I will be angry with you if you get yourself hurt."

Brian smiled at the young girl. "Don't worry, Sis. I will take care of our feeble father. In his golden years, he deserves our help."

Sally giggled and hugged me tighter. "Yes he does."

More Training

It was decided that, since there were enemies in the other dimension, all travellers should go through the home guard training. Amanda, Brian and I were able to make the first day training run with full packs in close to record time.

Self defense was another matter. Brian held his own until Gamma decided to combine traditional Atlantis art with Bill's training. Brian felt pretty good. He had made the first day run with pack almost without breathing hard. When martial arts training came up, he knew this was going to be a cakewalk. No problem!

Brian and Gamma bowed to each other and circled to get a feel for each other's movements. Brian faked a move to Gamma's right and moved to his right. Before he could see what happened, he was flat on his back fighting for air.

He jumped up into his defensive stance. Before he could fully regain his bearings, he felt a light touch in his groin. He looked and saw Gamma's foot gently rubbing his family jewels through his pants. Brian moved back gave a slight nod with his head and moved in again.

As Brian moved in, Gamma rushed back to the edge of the ring and stopped. Two steps and he was again face down.

Bill called, "Halt!"

As Gamma helped Brian to his feet, she told him, "You are better than any other opponent except the champion. In a few weeks, I will not be a match for you."

Brian looked at the woman. "Lady, if I'm the best you've seen, this island is in real trouble if you ever have to get into a fight."