And remember, you must all be together inside the dome, and you must assemble to do this before him if at all possible, explaining to him how he has failed us and why this is to be done.
Of course the Parents hadn't told them how they should multiply. It wasn't necessary, was it? And how the Parents had stressed that they would never send to the planet another as educated as Amel. That had been their terrible error, they'd said, equipping Amel with immense knowledge and intelligence to loose the plague on the planet and study its effects over the centuries in all the many ways that the Parents required.
Almost never do mammals on a planet gain ascendancy. Had it not been for the asteroid striking the planet this would never have happened and we know the fruits....
They had made Amel to be received as a god on the planet by the crude mammalian primates so that Amel could rule them and force their cooperation as he prepared to loose the plague.
Had Derek ever reviewed in his mind these specific things before? In a flash he saw the Parents, saw their immense round eyes, and their magnificent faces, saw them when they lifted their wings.
There was a phrase in these times on Earth for what had become of Amel. He had "gone native" on the planet. He had abandoned obedience to the Parents. He had used all of the fine knowledge they'd given him to gain power among the primitive primate mammals whom he discovered. He had adopted their ways.
So the four born to punish Amel had not been made with the immense knowledge of Amel. They had been equipped only with the knowledge they needed to complete the mission that Amel had never completed. And Kapetria, the leader, would be their authority in all things that they did not understand.
The vast spacious abode of the Parents had never been so vivid to him before in his memories, those many chambers lined with walls that lived and breathed with living visuals of Earth, and the great lofty enclosures in which the Parents would ascend to the topmost branches of the great trees. The chamber walls had been monitors with the resolution of today's motion-picture screens. Had they received images from everywhere on Earth or only the great wild lands around Atalantaya?
"You are equipped," said the Parent of the luminous round eyes who spoke to them with such gentleness, "with all you need to know to fulfill this mission, and this gentle one, this sweet and gentle Derek, will alert you to danger, as he is the one most attuned to the emotions of the inhabitants, so mark when he is agitated; mark when he weeps; mark what arouses his fear. Observe what is happening around you. And do what you can to comfort him because he suffers as you do not."
Oh, what a bitter thought--that they'd deliberately endowed him to suffer. And if so, why had they been so surprised when he wept at the idea that they would all die? He could not stop thinking of that moment. "But I don't want to die."
Oh, but it was still fragmentary, this remembering. He couldn't put the pieces together. He could feel the gaps. He had a sense of great time spent with the Parents now lost. Welf and Kapetria had merely watched as Derek wept. It was Kapetria who had ventured the question: why had the Parents made them such complex and powerful units if their mission was to terminate in their own death?
"It's simple for us," said the greatest of the Parents, "to make creatures such as you. And you will need the power and resilience with which you're gifted to survive in the savage lands, and to safely gain access to Atalantaya, without arousing the suspicions of Amel. We will be watching you always. Your bodies contain the means by which we can track you and see you and hear you. That is, until you enter Atalantaya, where the dome will make it impossible to monitor you or give you aid." There was so much more.
Ah, would Kapetria be angry with him when she discovered that he had managed to birth a duplicate of himself through the severing of his arm? Kapetria lived, she lived and breathed, and he must stop thinking of her anger. When had Kapetria ever been anything but loving to him? And surely she would understand he didn't know what was happening, and he couldn't have prevented it. And then what if Kapetria did not know...?
Slowly the pale milky daylight of the North Sea filled the dungeon. Derek pushed at the dying embers again, but it was no use. He thought of removing his shirt and burning it but that was not enough to reignite the log. Derek's teeth were chattering.
A sound. He had heard a distinct sound. He rose to his feet, and moved away from the door. Someone was outside the door. Someone was lifting the simple bolt out of its slots. And now the door was opened outwards and Derek saw the marvelous figure of his son standing there.
His son was dressed in heavy black jeans and a thick white sweater and he had on socks and shoes. His gold and black hair had been tamed and combed. He wore a handsome heavy tweed coat that hung to his knees.
"Come, Father, hurry," said the boy. "I know where we are and how to get out of here. There are humans on this island, and I don't know how long we'll be alone."
Derek rushed into the young one's arms.
"Father, there's no time for tears now," said the boy. "We can weep and rejoice later. I've found bedrooms and wardrobes of garments, garments that fit me, and you. I've packed suitcases with clothes, money, lots of it, and passports and credit cards, every conceivable thing we'll need. Now you have to come and dress. You are shivering. And there's more work on the computer that I must do. These creatures will pay for having imprisoned you for so many years. They will pay with everything we can take from this place."
The boy took Derek's hand and led him fast up a coiling flight of stone steps and into an upper hallway of stone as severe and barren as the dungeon chamber had been.
But within minutes they had reached another floor, with doors open to many well-furnished bedchambers. Ah, the wealth of these demons, Derek thought. His hatred wasn't strong enough to overcome his fear.
They entered a large oak-paneled room with an upholstered bed, thick blue carpets, and pale salmon-colored draperies over the high-arched windows. The weak northern sun was burning through a gray sky beyond. There were large modern paintings in heavy gilt frames on the walls, and velvet reclining chairs and a thin flat-screen television much larger than Derek had ever seen before.
Desk, computers, chests of drawers, closets overflowing. And the computer on the desk was on with a screen filled with pictures of the sea. It had been years since Derek had seen a computer, and he had never seen one with such a large monitor.
"I suspect the monster's acolyte, Benedict, was the owner of these closets," said the boy as he opened a pair of double doors. There were jackets and entire suits of clothing on hangers, shelves of folded shirts and sweaters, rows of shining boots and dress shoes.
The floors were strewn with paper money, English, French, what appeared to be Russian, and euros, and American dollars, passports, and bundles of credit cards bound with rubber bands.
"Father, come alive!" said the boy. He began to pull jackets and sweaters and pants from the hangers and the shelves, which smelled vaguely of cedar. "Here, Father, dress as quickly and as comfortably as you can. Choose what you like, but hurry. And the suitcases on the bed are packed."
"I don't understand how you know all of these things," said Derek.
"I know all that you know, Father," said the boy. "We can talk about that later. This blood drinker creature, Benedict, had a collection of watches. Here, put on this watch. It is brand-new. "
Derek struggled to pull himself together.
"Now I need to get back on the computer," said the boy. He seated himself at the desk and starting tapping the keyboard with two fingers just as Derek always did it. "We're north of the island of Saint Kilda. There are three boats in the harbor and I have to find more information on how to pilot the larger cabin cruiser. The speedboat is too complicated, and the smaller boat will not go fast enough."