Crashing Tides

by Gwendolyn Marie

“I will not allow them to board. Have them go back surface side, and I will ignore the fact that you abused the use of the submersible for your own means, Diomedes.” ​“I cannot. They will not last,” Dio said. He looked from Telphousian to the screen displaying his family. Behind his wife and daughter was his mother. Placed in a container, tubes shoved in her nose, she laid tranquilized. ​“My wife said she could not leave her; she had hoped the Thalassic could place her in hibernation until a cure is found,” Dio continued. “The tranquilizer they gave her will not last to make the trek back to the surface; they don’t have much time.” ​Dio’s mother would awaken, a Chaot. She would kill his family if they remained in the submersible. ​“Even more reason to deny your request, though even without her I would say the same,” Telphousian said, her voice cracked from the stern dictator to reveal tenderness beneath her fiery locks despite her words. She turned and left, leaving Dio alone with Leander, and alone with his impending hardship.