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"I would like to keep this a secret from the sirens for now, so let’s move all this," my arms encompassed the equipment, "back aboard the Nautica and we'll drive the boat further out toward Death Mountain Island." I ordered.
The sirens feared Death Mountain Island for reasons they hadn't shared with us. The island wasn't as big as some others and didn't give much room, since it was mostly a ragged mountain emerging from the sea. Every now and then smoke surfaced from the very tip of the mountain and it was said it could spit molten rock into the sky, but I had never witnessed such an event, neither had my father or his. But there were stories of it causing mayhem and disaster. One spoke of the water level rising so high, it nearly covered Aecor, another of waves taller than the mountain itself.
Whatever the reasons, whatever I might or might not believe, for miles surrounding Death Mountain Island there would be no sirens to observe us.
On the way Niara explained how to use the gear, what certain hand gestures meant and how to read the oxygen level meter.
"Oh my God, that is a volcano," Niara exclaimed when we came within viewing range of the island.
"A volcano?" I repeated, having never heard that word before.
"Yes, it's… is it active?"
I frowned, "What do you mean?"
"Does smoke come out of the top? And lava?"
"Sometimes we see smoke, and if by lava you mean the molten rock, then, zyn. Although I have never seen the melted rocks flowing."
She stared at it in amazement. Her expression torn between awe and terror.
"The stories are true then?" I broke the silence.
"I'm not sure what stories you mean, but if they include flying rocks, lava and possible tsunamis, then yes."
"Tsunamis?"
"Large waves," she explained leveling her hand as high as possible.
"Zyn, that's what the legends say."
"I read a couple of books about volcanoes," she informed me. "They've fascinated me since I was a child. I just never knew that there was one here, on Oceanus."
"Oceanus is big," I boasted, "it takes many years to navigate from one end to the other."
"This is dangerous Myles," she implored with a seriousness that caught my attention. "I need my books. These things can kill a lot of people. If it erupts, it can create a cloud of dust that could choke anybody."
"Not underwater," I checked.
"No, but you get air down into the domes somehow, and if the air in the atmosphere is poisonous, it will get down into the domes."
"What can be done to prevent this?"
She shook her head, "Nothing unfortunately, only to be as far away from it as possible."
Her words jarred me, "Are you suggesting I move my city?"
She nodded, "The greater the distance between you and this the better."
"When will this happen?" I demanded.
"I don't know, tomorrow in a hundred years, never?"
I cursed under my breath and threw a dark glance at the volcano. If it was this dangerous, why had my ancestors built Aecor so close to it? Why hadn’t there been any warnings? Why didn’t anybody in all of Leander ever said anything?
I admitted the last question was easy to answer, Oceanus was the only planet in the fourteen planet system with a volcano. Leanders were warriors, not scientists. We did not explore or invent or researched unless it was beneficial to warring, not like the humans did, who it seemed loved to research, explore and dig into all kinds of sciences that held little interest for us.
A thought hit me, maybe that was why the gods were suddenly so keen on mating Leanders and humans. Maybe both our races lacked at something and by combining them it would strengthen us. Besides not being a scientist, I wasn’t a philosopher either, so I buried this idea, having no idea how close I came that day to understanding the gods’ will.
