THE SON OF ELI

CHAPTER 13: THE MERMAID MAN

Jo came to a stop and stared at the glass globule.

It was standing upright, and it was much bigger than she had thought about eight feet. It was covered with sea grime and algae and had a solid base and top which were dark metals. It contained a strange, white substance that seemed to be boiling, or having a kind of effervescent reaction. She could have sworn that in the dim light of the dawn she had seen the liquid to be multi-coloured, but now it was just a simmering milky colour.

There were strange knobs and dials on the base and upper cover, with darker, glassy recesses that could be lighted indicators.

Ebo and another Utility Team member called Nat were washing it with soapy water as Dr John, Nancy, and five other members of the community stood watching.

Nancy saw Jo and came prancing towards her with an excited face.

"Mommy!" she cried, as always, and Jo felt a great rush of warmth as the little girl wrapped her arms around her thighs and squeezed hard. "I missed you! You were gone! What's that thing?"

Jo put her hands on the girl's shoulders and hugged her back.

"You were sleeping, dear," she said. "Have you eaten?"

"Yes, best breakfast!" Nancy cried. "But I'm hungry again!"

Jo laughed and ruffled her hair.

"I know you are," she said. "Got some rice for us! I'll warm it soon!"

"Yippee!" the lovely girl cried. "With baked beans?"

"Baked beans and salad," Jo said with a chuckle.

They had found Nancy inside a car, weak and dehydrated. They had thought she was dead, but she had coughed weakly when the Utility Team was leaving, and Ebo had brought her to the Complex. There had been nobody else inside the car. However, there had been dried bones on the ground and two human skulls. This gave credence to the fact that her parents had been killed by a wild beast or tombers.

Nancy had been very weak and had spent several weeks in the clinic. Jo had fought for her, and slowly she had pulled through. Not surprisingly, her psyche had protected her from the trauma she had obviously witnessed, and she had forgotten that part of her story and called Jo 'Mommy' the moment she was able to speak. Interestingly, she had never referred to Mike as Daddy, and called him Uncle Mike instead, her own choice.

She was still thin and needed to get stronger, but she was going to be okay now.

She took Jo's hand, and they walked to the canopy and stood with the group gazing at the structure. Dr John was very intrigued, and when the soldiers washed the soap off with water, he approached it and ran his hands over the glass, then stooped to look at the knobs and switches on the lower panel.

"What's it?" Jo asked as the others looked on with varying expressions of curiosity and apprehension.

"I don't know," Dr John said with wonder. "But there's some writing at the base, almost indiscernible."

He was squinting hard, and Nat knelt beside him with a chuckle.

"Let me, Doc," the young man said. "Even with glasses, you can't see s**t!"

"Nat!" Jo said with a mock scowl.

Nat put his hand across his lips and grimaced.

"Oops, sorry, Mrs Mensah," he said.

Jo sighed as a bout of pain lanced through her.

She would be Mrs Mensah to them for a while, yes. That was the curse she had had to live with now. She had worn that name with pride. She had always loved to introduce herself as Mrs Mensah and glowed inside anything she was addressed as such. But she had just been a dispensable necessity to him, no doubt. He had not hesitated in jumping into bed with a younger, fresher woman.

"The son of Eli," Nat said.

"What?" many of them asked at once.

Nat pointed to the faint lettering at the base of the structure.

"That's what it says down here. The son of Eli."

"I'll be damn!" Dr John said in awed tones. "Of course! That was what occurred to me, you know, with the spectrum and knobs."

"An incubator?" Jo asked, suddenly scared and feeling down.

"No, Jo, well, not exactly!" Dr John said as he stood up and pressed his face to the side of the glass. "An incubator wouldn't have this spectrum within. Looks more and more like an artificial womb…"

"That's madness!" Jo cried instantly.

The doctor turned to her and pointed a finger.

"We live in mad times, my dear," he said. "What if it is true, huh? The son of Eli? Could this structure be a womb, a sac? That milky thing amniotic?"

"John!" Jo said with wide eyes. "You're getting out of hand! That's crazy, and you know it. That concept has never been attempted."

Dr John held up a hand.

"Wrong, Jo, very wrong. Been attempted several times without success after the inception of the in-vitro fertilization!"

"But you're speaking about fertilization and a womb structure outside the body of the woman! That sounds crazy!"

Dr John shrugged and pressed his face against the glass tube again.

"Warm, vibrating as the liquid boils, maybe ready to break?" he said as the others giggled and exchanged uneasy glances.

And that was when one of the nurses, Emelia, appeared behind them.

"Doctor, it is Mr Baidoo again," she said urgently. "Seizure!"

Jo and Dr John immediately hurried towards the clinic.

"Come, Nancy," Jo said. "I'll warm the food for you."

"But I want to eat with you, Mommy!" Nancy said petulantly.

"Alright, dear," Jo said as she hurried along, remembering that she had not eaten yet. "Come, we'll eat together."

The others hovered around the strange structure for some time after that, then they all left one after the other.

Nancy remained. She squatted and rubbed her hands along the surface of the glass, giggling at the way it was trembling and how it was getting warm. Eventually, she began pushing the knobs at the base and turning the switches until, suddenly, a control panel slid open at the base to reveal a digital interface with three blinking neon lights at the top, and a red knob beneath.

The little girl giggled happily and was about to press the knob when she heard a big thumping sound above her. She sat back and looked up, and then her mouth fell open with amazement when she saw a man's face pressed against the side of the glass globule.

She got to her feet slowly and put a hand against the glass, and saw the man's eyes opening wide and staring.

"Who are you?" she asked with a giggle. "Are you a mermaid man?"

The man looked at her, and a moment later, his two hands pressed against the glass near his face. Nancy laughed and put her hands and face against the glass too.

There was splashing sound, and the man's face disappeared from the glass. Nancy stepped back with pouted lips.

"Come back, mermaid man!" she said petulantly. "Please come back!"

There was only the sizzling milky liquid, then suddenly his face was pressed against the glass again, and he stuck out his tongue at her and blinked his eyes rapidly.

Nancy burst into gales of laughter and pranced around before putting her face against the warm glass again. They played around for a while until he moved off the glass and did not come back although she kept calling him.

Nurse Emelia appeared behind her with a quizzical look on her face.

"Hey, somebody looks happy!" she said as she watched the lights dancing in Nancy's eyes and how her cheeks were looking rosy and excited.

"Oh, you scared him away!" Nancy said reproachfully. "It was you!"

"Who?" Emelia asked carefully as she noticed the blinking lights on the base of the structure for the first time, and she began to look a little scared.

"Mermaid man!" Nancy said. "My new friend! Go away, please, so that he would come back."

"Your mom says the food is ready now," Emelia said carefully. "She's waiting for you to eat."

"Oh, but I'm not hungry now!" Nancy said, disappointed. "Do you think I can share it with the mermaid man?"

"Who's he?" Emelia asked, and she was getting a little alarmed now.

"He's in there," Nancy said and pointed, then looked at Emelia with frustrated eyes. "Aunt Emi, could you leave and let him come out?"

Emelia took her hand.

"No, young woman, please come with me," she said firmly. "You can explain it to your mother yourself."

Nancy drew her hand from the grasp of the nurse and began to run towards the clinic. Emelia hesitated a moment as she stared at the boiling liquid in the glass, then she turned and followed Nancy. She looked back twice, but nothing had changed, and she sighed, wondering if the little girl was now seeing things.

But the moment she was out of sight, the handsome face of the young man inside Doctor Victor Biko's artificial womb emerged from the opaque milky liquid and pressed his face once more to the side of the glass.

***

Both Mr Baidoo and Mrs Tilly were stable, so Jo went to the small kitchen and warmed leftover rice with canned baked beans and salad. She had a little stew in the refrigerator, and she warmed it too.

She served two plates for Nancy and Dr John because it was not much. She dished two plates of salad and hard bread for herself and Emelia. It was becoming harder and harder to find food supplies, so they had been cutting down on food.

Dr John was already seated at the small dining table eating. When Nancy came in, Jo was surprised when she practically rushed to the table and picked up the plate of rice.

"Mommy, is this mine?" she asked excitedly.

Dr John stopped eating and looked at the little girl with raised eyebrows.

"Woah, slow down, darling," Jo said. "What has bitten you?"

"I want to share it with the mermaid man, mommy," Nancy said and began walking towards the entrance. "Can you bring him out? I think he's lonely inside there by himself."

"Little woman!" Jo said, a bit sharply. "Would you stop for a moment? Who are you talking about? What mermaid man?"

Emelia entered the kitchen then.

"She claims there's a mermaid man inside that glass thing," she said as she headed for the table.

Dr John stood up so suddenly that he bumped into the table and sent a metal cup of water falling to the ground, but he barely noticed as he rushed to Nancy's side and squatted.

"Nancy?" he asked in an unsteady voice. "You saw him? Did you really see this, erm, mermaid man?"

Nancy nodded enthusiastically with a wide grin on her face.

"Yes, yes, Uncle John. And he was playing with me! He must be cold in the water, though. He has no clothes!"

Dr John raced out of the kitchen. Nancy began to follow.

"Darling put the food down on the table," Jo said.

The girl pouted.

"But, mommy, I want to share it with the mermaid man!"

"I know," Jo said shakily. "But, even if he's in there, he cannot eat out there. We'll bring him in here, and he will eat, alright?"

Nancy smiled broadly and put the plate of food on the table, and raced out excitedly after Dr John.

Jo and Emelia exchanged glances.

"I've never seen her that animated," Emelia said as she began to fork salad into her bread. "This thing, what do you make of it?"

Jo shrugged.

"I don't know, Emi. Better go and take a look."

"I'll come with you."

They hurried outside to see a small group had formed and been looking at Dr John and Nancy.

The doctor was squatting and studying the knobs at the base of the structure. Nancy's face was pressed against the side of the glass as she called frantically to the man inside.

"Mermaid man! Please, come out! No one will hurt you! I won't let them hurt you!"

"Are you sure you saw him, Nancy?" Dr John asked. "I can't see anything."

"You scared him!" Nancy cried, alarmed. "Maybe you should press that red thing!"

"What red thing?" the doctor asked absent-mindedly.

Nancy reached down and pressed the big red knob beneath the blinking lights, and Dr John gasped when he saw the words that blinked on the surface of the screen:

Continue with Birth?

Trembling with disbelief, he pressed the knob.

Process started…

Checking protocols…

All system protocols malfunctioned…

Proceed to emergency evacuation?

The doctor licked his lips nervously, but Nancy pushed the knob impatiently!

The glass globule began to emit a muted, dinging sound, and four hatches opened beneath it, and the milky water began to drain.

"Nancy!" Jo cried with alarm and rushed forward to put her arms around the girl and drew her back. Dr John stepped back from the structure with great awe on his face.

They all watched, struck with awe, as a great amount of liquid gushed out, and soon the head of the young man was revealed.

"Oh, my God!" Dr John whispered, and his whole frame began to tremble.

It happened simultaneously!

As soon as the last fluid came out, the glass split open through the middle and smoothly rolled apart, and the huge, young lad slipped from within and fell hard on the ground into the spreading liquid!

For a moment, no one moved.

They were all electrified into rigid postures as they stared with disbelief. Jo held Nancy and stared at the most beautiful male specimen she had ever seen! The man on the floor was young, not more than seventeen or eighteen. He had short and curly hair and a dark spread of hair on his chest and belly. He was amazingly muscled, like a demi-god, with a skin tone so beautiful that it was uncanny. And his face, as he looked calmly at her, was an asymmetrically amazing spectacle of beauty and masculinity.

Suddenly his lips opened, and a look of sudden trepidation marred his handsome features. A moment later, his body began to twitch before intensifying into hard trembling!

He was gasping for air, and turning a shade darker!

"He's dying!" Jo shouted and rushed to his side.

Oblivious of all the liquid on the ground, she knelt by his side, laced her hands, and began to give him a CPR.

Dr John was still standing dazed in one place.

"John!" Jo cried sharply. "We need the respirator! He needs oxygen!"

Dr John snapped to the present, and then he raced towards the clinic as if the devil was chasing him with a pitchfork.