Lincoln Island
Somewhere in the South SeasThe sea above the viewing window in the Nautilus bubbled and frothed as if it was boiling around the submersible. As many times as Allan Quatermain had traveled in Nemo's great vessel, he never tired of it. He and the various Captains often did not see eye-to-eye, but the Nautilus was still like a second home.
Light exploded into the submarine as it broke through the surface inside Dakkar Grotto, a large caldera at the base of the volcano on Lincoln Island. The bright blue water of the lagoon shined bright in comparison to the obsidian rock of the island. An island which had changed greatly since he had last been here. He could see a geothermal power plant coming out of the mountain, and modern buildings poking up above the jungle beyond.
As he was escorted form the vessel onto the dock, Quartermain noticed an island full of activity. Soldiers of various races, creeds, and colors milled about, all dressed in the same uniform. Grey fatigues with black body armor over top, across the right breast of their chest was emblazoned with a symbol that looked like the Kraken of legend. Jack didn't have just a following. He had his own army.
Lincoln Island was no longer a refuge. It was now a rogue state.
As he made his way down the dock, he saw other, smaller submarines docked next to the dreadnought that was the Nautilus. All of them were nuclear powered as well, and looked like they could be crewed by a few dozen men each. While the Nautilus was fashioned after the same Kraken on the crews' uniforms, the smaller ones looked more like sharks ready to tear into their prey.
At the end of the dock stood Jack Dakkar, the current Captain Nemo, under beautiful, obsidian statues of his late mother and grandfather. Jack was clad in the same uniform as his soldiers, except with a blue-green sash around his waist and a matching turban on his head. On his hip was a scimitar, its pommel fashioned like the shell of a great clam.
He turned to face Allan, a warm smile that the latter never expected painted across his caramel colored face. It had been too long, Allan thought. Dakkar was showing his age. Living the life he did made his features hard, and the lines in his face seemed more like cracks in a foundation than skin. His beard was streaked with silver hairs. But there was still strength and fire behind his brown eyes.
"Allan!" he exclaimed and shook the old adventurer's hand. "It has been far too long. Welcome back to Lincoln Island."
Quartermain was puzzled, but happy to have a warm reception, "I must admit I was surprised when I received your invitation. Much has changed here since the last time I saw it."
"My people hae turned Lincoln into a technological marvel, haven't they?" he beamed with pride as he looked past Allan towards the geothermal plant. "My mother and grandfather would be proud of what we'e built here."
"Yes...your people," Quatermain mused. "Or your army?"
Nemo's eyes shot back at Allan, a flash of anger illuminating them for a moment before softening, "Please, Allan. We're here to talk as friends. The business can come later. Let's take a tour of the island, shall we?"
The tour was illuminating, if nothing else. Nemo showed off his armory, his airstrip featuring jet fighters and attack helicopters, the island's main, bustling town of Independence Port, before finishing at his private villa overlooking Washington Bay. Quatermain was struck by how this place was a fully functioning island nation, when a few decades ago it was still little more than wilderness and a few huts.
They were now seated on Nemo's veranda, looking out of the crystal clear waters of the South Pacific as the sun began to fade past the horizon. In the distance, Allan could see the billowing storm clouds of the odd atmospheric disturbance that kept this archipelago hidden from the rest of the world. Only those who knew the route could get here, and the Dakkar family were the only ones to ever figure it out. Around them the sounds of the jungle murmured quietly in the background. At the edge of the terrace was a strange, ancient-looking, brass contraption that reminded Quatermain of a telescope, but it was missing the glass in the eye piece.
His host motioned for him to sit, as dinner was being served to them. As Allan did so, he asked, "Aren't you afraid they'll find you here? Building the island up like this could make you visible to satellites. You are a wanted pirate."
Nemo smiled and laughed loudly, swirling his wine glass, "They don't see what's in front of their noses. And that's the problem. No. I am not worried they will find me. They still haven't found the island with the giant ape on it right next door. Besides, who would they send after me? The so-called GI-JOE? That squad of muscle-brained oafs and bombastic bimbos? They're tied up with lesser men who dream of world conquest."
"And what do you dream of, Dakkar?" Quartermain leaned over his meal to ask. "What is the point of this nation you have built."
"I have some of the best and the brightest here, Allan," Jack was proud of himself. "I promised to show them the truth of the world, and in return, they will help me bring that truth to the masses."
The old adventurer's eyes narrowed, "So you fashion yourself a cult leader, then? A prophet?"
Nemo rolled his eyes, "No. Nothing like that. Prophets are charlatans, preying on the weak minded in order to carve out some power or riches or sex for themselves. I do not tell my people about anything I do not have direct, or familial, knowledge on."
The realization washed over Allan's face like the waves hitting the beach below, "My god...you don't mean?"
"Yes," Dakkar got serious. "I've told them everything about the League. Showed them what I could. I took them to see relics of the world. Of the real world. Of the parts that have been hidden by humanity's ignorance or the power structure's misdirection. They have seen things people have been blinded too for far too long."
"Jack," Quartermain half-begged, half-warned, "you can't. The secrecy statutes. Everything your mother and grandfather-"
"My mother and grandfather hated keeping this all a secret!" the pirate king flew into a rage. "My grandfather left your team not because you used biological weapons to stop an alien invasion. He left because afterwards you lied to the people about what really happened. You lied to them and said it was a plague, not that the quarantined area was full of alien technology. You kept them in the dark about something that, for all we know, could have been nothing more than a scouting party with more on the way. If that happens, humanity could have been preparing for well over a century. Instead it goes about its life like a sheep ready for slaughter."
He stood and began to pace the veranda. In that moment, as much as it pained Allan to think it, he reminded the old man of Dakkar's grandfather.
"My mother watched humanity kill something at the bottom of Tokyo Bay that could be considered nothing short of a divine beast," he pointed in the direction of the ocean. "All because the poor creature had the audacity to wake up in a world it didn't recognize. And again the powers that be lied about what happened. All because it was more easy and convenient than the truth. But the truth is we will be just like that creature. We will be the ones who stumble accidentally upon a world we don't recognize. I have seen it, and we will be slaughtered because we are not ready."
"And what's your solution, Jack?" Allan asked. "Tell them everything? Create a panic? Drive some of them mad?"
Nemo shook his head and motioned for one of his men to approach. As he reached his master, the man handed Dakkar a small object in an ornate, silk pouch. Nemo fiddled with the string before dumping the object into his hand. He twirled it as he looked at it, a blood-red jewel wreathed it iron tentacles. He dismissed the guards around them, and continued "No. Telling them would just mark me as a madman. This is what I will use to teach them the truth. I've spent years searching for it. The ruins of Thule are not easily accessed."
Quartermain's face turned to stone as he looked at the trinket, "A Seeing Stone. You should know better than to play with the objects of the Old Ones, Jack."
"Oh I haven't used it on myself," he waved the concerns away. "I'm not an idiot."
"You just said you've seen the future," Allan shot back. "Are you sure?"
"That...was an unintended consequence from the ritual," Nemo responded. He motioned towards the telescope-like device, "But I have no tried to gain knowledge for myself. I just had to prepare to give it to the rest of the world. This will not give them everything. But it will be like a pinhole piercing a dark curtain. It will let the light of knowledge in for the first time in centuries."
"Nemo," Quartermain was clearly terrified, "if you do this you will hasten the conflict you've seen. Humanity will move to protect itself. Everything else will do the same. War will be inevitable."
"War is always inevitable," Dakkar shrugged. "At least in this case both sides will be on even footing. Balance would be restored, and the world would be as it should be."
As the pirate lord approached the device, ready to put the jewel into it, he heard a gun cock behind him. He turned to find Quartermain aiming a small, concealed gun at his face. Dakkar knew that even at this distance and with a small caliber Allan could kill him. The man's aim was legendary. If Allan wanted to, Nemo's eyes would be smoking holes in a blink.
"Just like all the others," Nemo muttered. "I hoped you would see the benefit in this, Allan. I would hope you would join me."
"I'm not one to sign up for folly, boy," Quartermain growled. "They thought you were trying for a nuke. Or planning a terrorist attack. I never would have guessed you were going for something like this."
Dakkar smiled, "So who sent you? CIA? MI-6? Did Bond give you that peashooter?"
"He did," Quartermain didn't blink. "They wanted to bring you in alive. But I'm not sure that's a good idea."
"Oh, I won't be brought in," Nemo shook his head. "And you won't be leaving this island."
"Oh is that right?"
A shot rang out, but not from Allan's weapon, which exploded in his hand, the shards ripping through his hand. He cried out in pain, and Nemo laughed, "You should have taken the shot, old man. The world is passing you by. And I'm going to drag it into the light if I have to."
From the shadows around the terrace, a man emerged, brandishing a pair of guns. His skin was chalk white, and on his chest was a red, circular wound.
Dakkar motioned for him to secure Quartermain, "I may not like the Americans, but they certainly know a good weapon when they see one. I had to...borrow this one when I found out about him."
"Now," he sighed with relief and slid the jewel into the apparatus, "let there be light."
The telescope began to pulse with a red glow, and it hummed with power. A red beam shot from the end of it, and flew towards the horizon, directly towards the rising moon. Somehow, it struck the celestial body, and turned the white object to a deep, bloody red.
And the world began to awaken.
Simple Unicycle
Izurich
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