"Mermaids, please," Ryan said, looking the smallest bit hopeful.

"That's just what my ancestor referred to them as. He was a mystical man, after all. He first thought they were angels that had come to take him to a better place--so what is more fanciful, angels or mermaids? They actually saved him from sure death when he escaped a French prison."

"The Chateau d'If," Farbeaux said aloud.

"Yes, the very same. He would have drowned upon his escape, but a group of what we now know as symbiants saved him. He was lucky, as this group of small symbiants was no longer indigenous to the Atlantic. They accidentally came upon Roderick Deveroux, the father of Octavian Heirthall, the man who built the first Leviathan."

"You call them symbiants. Why?" Compton asked.

Alexandria lowered her head and then paced to the observation window.

"Because they can live inside of a human host," Farbeaux answered for her, finally speaking up from his chair.

"Score one for you, Henri," Jack said, nodding in the Frenchman's direction.

"When Roderick Deveroux discovered them," the Frenchman continued, looking from Collins to Alexandria, "they were a dying species. At only four to five feet long, and grown from an octopuslike body, like a cocoon, they were formally known as Octopiheirthollis."

"Impressive, Colonel Farbeaux," Alexandria said, looking not at Henri but Dr. Trevor. "Continue, by all means." Her eyes flicked to Commander Samuels, who nodded once and then moved his attention to Trevor.

"They eventually shed their outer shell. They are like us in skeletal structure, but that is where the resemblance ends. They have a clear membrane they use as an outer skin, gelatinous to our eyes. They live in the deepest part of our seas. One of the last known areas, outside of the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico, was in the Mediterranean. That was why Leviathanwas there during the Atlantis incident that nearly claimed the life of Colonel Collins, much to my personal horror."

"The children," Jack said, more to himself than to anyone in particular.

"Yes, the children," Heirthall said, turning away from the window where she had been listening. "You must explain to me your vast knowledge on the subject, Colonel Farbeaux."

Henri unwrapped his robe and tossed the book-sized medical chart and history onto the table. He opened it, pulled one sheet of paper out, and passed it to Jack. The colonel read it, then placed it in his pocket.

"I'm what you would call a speed reader, Captain. You'll forgive my inquisitive nature. Colonel Collins, I have done my part."

"That you have, Colonel," Jack said.

"I think I understand," Virginia said, wanting to approach her old friend but staying well back. "They are symbiant with the human children, two beings living in the same body--you've taken them from the seas to protect them."

"My Ginny, you see, don't you? All of the small children onboard are the last of the Gulf of Mexico young."

"That's why the strenuous attacks on Venezuela and Texas City?" Lee asked.

"Yes. That is why we will continue attacking until the gulf is emptied of production platforms and all oil facilities. There can be no negotiation on that point. Now for the hardest truth of all--the midshipmen, the teenagers onboard, used to live right outside of these windows. They are the very last of these marvelous creatures from the trench. Only a few adults remain here. The very first of their kind."

"Where did you get the human element for this cross-breeding?" Niles asked.

"They are throwaways, Dr. Compton--children that your world could not, or would not, save. Third-world, dying children; starving, disease-ridden, saved by us--saved by the introduction of symbiants into their systems. They both use each other to live. When they grow too large, other hosts will be found for the syms. The midshipmen have the eldest of the young inside of them, but they must be removed soon, or both will die. The syms are starting to grow beyond the human brain's capacity to hold them."

"What gives you the right to take children against their will?" Virginia demanded.

"I saved them; my ancestors saved them, just like we are still saving them ... not from natural extinction, but from the human element of this planet. The trillion tons of pollution you have sent into the seas from petroleum and the fall of acid rain are killing this life form."

Just as she stopped talking, the hatchway opened, and the young woman they knew as Yeoman Alvera stepped inside. She looked from person to person until her eyes settled upon Dr. Trevor. Then her gaze wandered to Henri Farbeaux.

"Why have you left your station in control, Yeoman?" Samuels asked.

"It's all right, James; part of her knows she's home. Allow her in," Alexandria said. "Come here, Felicia."

They watched as Alvera slowly approached Heirthall. Once standing before her, Alexandria turned the young girl to face them, keeping her hands on her small shoulders.

"Yeoman Alvera is from Nicaragua. I found her fourteen years ago in a small village where she had just witnessed the execution of her parents by a death squad. When a shore excursion found her, she was starving to death. Dr. Trevor saw a long and painful recovery for her. I ordered one of the symbiants placed inside of her, where it wrapped around her cerebral cortex. She recovered quickly after that." She gestured for the girl to look at Niles. "Tell Dr. Compton about being host to the symbiant."

As Collins watched the scene play out before them, he caught sight of Everett. They both saw that the visage and demeanor of the young yeoman had changed. She no longer looked innocent and sweet at all.

"Can you control this ... this ... thing?" Niles asked.

"The question is moot, Doctor--neither one controls the other. I and my symbiant are merely sharing the same body. We share knowledge and learn together."

Farbeaux looked from the girl to Dr. Trevor, watching and gauging his reaction to the lie that was being presented to the Americans. Henri saw that the girl was starting to make the doctor uncomfortable.

"Are you saying each one of the children we saw being brought aboard are hosts to one of those ... syms?" Mendenhall asked.

"Yes, just like all of my crewmen you have seen, they all at one time were hosts to their own symbiant, at least until their life spans ran their course."

"That's why they are so fiercely loyal to you and your cause," Collins said as he turned and walked back to Sarah.

"Your perception is accurate, Colonel."

"But why destroy the vaults at the Group complex when you would have eventually told us anyway?"

"It wasn't only the Leviathanvault, Dr. Compton, it was the vault below it I was really after. It was that damnable relic stolen from my family by P. T. Barnum more than a hundred and eighty years ago. It was purely selfish on my part, but no trace of the syms can be left behind." Heirthall leaned down and kissed the top of Yeoman Alvera's head.

Samuels cleared his throat and nodded to the observation windows.

Alexandria closed her eyes and gestured for Samuels to commence.

"Please cover your ears. A few of you may feel some discomfort, but it will pass in a moment."

Yeoman Alvera pulled away from Heirthall, almost as if she was being held against her will, and then she faced the glass expectantly.

"Officer of the deck, this is the first officer. Begin the tones," he said into the microphone embedded into the large chair.