Weekend Worlds: Jonas and the Metro, Part III

Dear Readers,

  Enjoy this final piece of Jonas and the Metro, translated by yours truly from the original neo-Aegean.

  When we last left the Engineer Jonas, his fellow bathyscaph metro passengers cast him into the waters in the metro tunnel.  From there, we continue.  Look for Parts I and II in the archives, or in the links.

  Always,

  Dr. John Skylar
  Chairman
  Department of Anachronism
  University of Constantintople

The journey out of the bathyscaph metro car plunged Jonas into a topsy-turvy world of tunnel seawater.  Buffeted from left to right, he got only the few minutes' air that an occaisional trip to airpockets at the tunnel ceiling offered him.

If he could have spoken, he might well have said, "Not only will I die, but I will be tortured!  I should never have doubted Athena!"

He struck his head against the ceiling, and descended into darkness with no knowledge whether he would ever return.  [this is a good point to request donations to hear the end of the story; attached to Jonas, your audience will now want to put in a few bits to see what happens to him here]

Jonas came to consciousness surrounded by selkies.  On land, the color and shape-changing creatures seemed more innocuous and innocent than he ever noticed before.  As his thoughts clambered through the fog to find coherence, he watched their young play and fight amongst each other.

"I'm in their nest," he spoke aloud.  The selkies would not care if he talked to himself.

Somehow, as the waters bounced him about, they deposited him in a selkie nest above the tunnel waterline.

"I can't believe it," Jonas said to himself again, and shook his head.

The selkies all turned to face him, and communally opened their mouths.

"Indeed, that is exactly the lesson we tried to teach you.  But you did not see it.  And so, we summoned our servants, these selkies, to save you from the water, so that you might see how we control this world."

Jonas sat dumbfounded, and then prostrated himself, "Athena?"



"More than just Athena, Jonas.  We speak for all of the Olympians."

He begged, "I have learned my lesson, oh great Olympians!  I will go to Sennacherib, and I will warn him that his actions have endangered Harpazō.  I will tell him to reopen the Machinists' Shops and free any imprisoned Engineers.  I will do your bidding!"

The gods spoke again through the selkies, "And how can we be sure that we can trust you, Jonas?  You told us before that you would listen, but instead you fled."

"I feared Sennacherib, but I, your servant, was foolish.  If you can do this to your servant, no doubt you can do the same to the Captain of Harpazō.  I should have trusted you."

The selkies growled, "Indeed you should have.  But we have spared your life.  Now, trust the selkies, and they will carry you through the metro's waters to Captain Sennacherib's palace.  Warn him!"

The closed in on Jonas, and lifted him above themselves.  They became more seal-like as he watched, and their skin changed to the color of slate.  Without warning, they pulled him into the water and dragged him through tunnels.  At some points, he could breathe.  At other times, he had to keep his eyes shut tightly to keep the salty water out.

And then with all the speed with which it began, they spat him out onto a launch shore.  He glanced around at the dark cavern where they left him.  The stone and steel walls barely defined themelves from the darkness, and a single glowstrip lit a pile of wine casks.  Water dripped from the ceiling and lapped from the water below.

"Doesn't seem like much of a palace," his voice echoed against the walls.

He tried to stand up, and at that moment, glowstrips throughout the loading area came alive.  They revealed his mistake.  This was no loading area; this was in fact Sennacherib's wine cellar, vast beneath the palace.

Amphorae, via Wikipedia

Jonas walked forward, through the cavern with its stalagmites constructed of amphorae.  At the other side of the cellar he saw a vast machine, powered by a fire no doubt spawned from Hestia's own.  Vast gears, which bore the marks of Hephaestus's factory, drove the machine to raise a new amphora every thirty seconds, no doubt to Sennacherib's decadent harem.

At that moment, Jonas noticed that the amphorae looked to be about the size of his body.  He hatched a plan, perhaps the cleverest in his career.  He tossed an amphora off from the queue, and replaced it with himself.  In minutes, the machine grabbed him from the stack of jugs and threw him into the harem above in no kind way.

In an instant, Sennacherib's eunuchs drew their swords and prepared to attack Jonas.  He pulled the Aegis pistol from his belt and opened fire.  Green light fell onto them from the gun, and before its judgment, the eunuchs fell.  Their flesh soon turned grey and necrotic, and then passed into nothing.

He turned to the women behind him, "If you want to live, take me to Sennacherib."

The women shrieked, all except one.  This one merely sat and stared at Jonas.

"What is your name, concubine?"

Her voice stayed clear and strong, "I am Esther, Sennacherib's Queen.  I can give him anything you could give him, and more."

Jonas grinned, "Oh really?  And could you give Olympus back its rulership over this place?  Could you take away the Captain's vast immorality and make him see reason?  Or are you just offering yourself as a whore to the man with the gun?"

She stammered, "How dare you!  I offered you what you might want in good conscience, either from our kingdom or from my body!  You have no right to demand belief from my husband, nor to reject my-"

"Please.  If your husband does not listen, he and his pathetic City will be destroyed.  And your pleasures will be just a memory.  So listen closely," he directed his voice towards one of the other girls, "You, fetch Sennacherib.  Tell him what happened here, and bring him here.  I will warn him myself."

The girl whimpered, "But how will he believe me?  It is a death penalty to approach the Captain without being called."

Jonas roared, "He will know you by the mark I leave, and its wonders!"  He fired the Aegis at the top of her head, for only a second's time. That much was not enough to kill, nor even enough to destroy her skin.  But in that time, her hair, once luxurious, curled, and black, turned grey and stringy.  Some fell out.

The concubine screamed, but she ran to fetch the Captain.  In the meantime, Jonas busied himself with his hostages. [Play this up, depending on your audience.  Fishermen and nobles alike love this part.  Their wives do also, but only when their husbands are absent.]

In time, Sennacherib arrived.  Jonas heard his guards' march on the way to the harem, and ducked his head out the door.  He narrowed his Aegis-beam and fired at the soldiers.  They fell and dissolved, one at a time, to leave only Sennacherib and his hairless harem girl.

"Sennacherib!" Jonas boomed his voice from around the corner, "It is I, the Engineer and Prophet Jonas, who has survived the belly of your Metro.  The Olympians have sent me here to warn you.  If you do not undo your blasphemy, your City will be destroyed, and you along with it.  This is their decree, and your choice.  But no good will come of resistance."

From the hallway, he heard tears from the great ruler, "Why have you killed my best men, Jonas?  Why do you leave me bereft?  Let me see my wife."

Jonas grinned again, and tore Esther's dress from her, then tossed it into the hall.  "You have broken too many rules, Sennacherib.  There is no negotiation.  This is the gods' decree, and you will listen."

He sobbed, "I will listen.  You are right."

Jonas stepped out from behind the wall, "Then you may yet be spared.  Repent, and reinstate the Engineers here, and all will be well."


But Sennacherib's repentant statement was a trick.  He hurled a harpoon at Jonas the moment that the Engineer revealed himself.  It missed, and struck the wall behind Jonas.

"Fool!  I am protected by the gods, and you are protected by no one!" Jonas leveled the Aegis on Sennacherib, and prepared to fire.

It was at that moment that Jonas felt a terrible pain, and glanced behind him.  He saw Esther, on the wrong end of Sennacherib's harpoon.  He also saw the harpoon, run part way through his own body, and he collapsed.

He fired the Aegis with his last bit of effort, and time stopped for him.  From the aether, Athena appeared.  She lifted his arms and aimed the weapon, strength where his failed.  Her aim fell true, and Sennacherib's body exploded.  Indeed, the goddess's power was so strong that Sennacherib's death caused a great tremor in the ground beneath.  The tunnels and tubes for Harpazō's metro cracked and flooded the City above, and it sank beneath the sea.  So ended the apostate metropolis.

But what of Jonas? [Your audience has begun to break up from the "ending" of the story above; do not let it!  They think Jonas is dead; this question should make them believe he is not.  Make sure they pay to know the truth!]

No Engineer falls in the service of the gods without repayment.  Indeed, Jonas was repaid more than ten fold for his sacrifice for the Olympians.


When he fell, Athena supported him.  So too in Elysium.  Despite his rebellion, she allowed him to die and spent eternity in paradise, as her Captain and Servant there.  She gave him the formed souls of Harpazō as his soldiers, and when the spirit moved her, he shared her table and her bed.  Because he listened. [a good story should have a lesson, but a good storyteller should use his judgment about whether that lesson should be stated explicitly]

Part III, and the myth of Jonas, end here.