How cool is the fact that Marry Shelley got a premise for Frankenstein in a dream? Great novel!
I wouldn't go as far as comparing it with Stephen King though
. It's like saying that Zakk Wylde's shredding is Fallout Boy compared to Jimi Hendrix
Did you mean 'what' ?
Yeah, I meant 'what.'
I'm just finishing the first book. Pretty good. Want to read this?
Starry Night by Me
Prologue
She was 3,700 pounds of pure female, and she was in heat. Her wingtips were twenty-two feet apart and curling up in a frenzied quiver, just enough to break the surface of the water. Her signals would soon bring a male to brush across her engorged genital region and release his seed. Then, there would be more of them. Giant manta rays gliding through the shafts of sunlight reaching down from the sky in a frantic oscillation like streamers from a maypole.
In time, they would grow to become massive creatures, not unlike living spaceships, with every movement like a symphonic expression of effortless connection with the world around them – water pressing over and under the sand-like surface of their skin, centering them in a personal universe. A certainty of position truly defined, without question.
But the great manta had more than a few questions on this night. She had feelings that were familiar and yet altogether new. She had mated many times before, but never with such a sense of urgency. In fact, if she wasn’t able to attract a male, and his desperately needed seed on this very night, she had resolved to dive to the great depths where the makos would have their fill of her.
It was all or nothing on this starry night. She would mate or sleep forever. There was simply no choice in the matter. Her mission left her both liberated and elated. She had never had such a meaningful direction in her life. Her creator was guiding her. She would do His will, or die trying.
Then came the dolphins. They had only a few feet of water to maneuver in because the huge manta was hovering beneath them and determined not to move. With the entire Atlantic ocean in which to swim, the dolphins and the great ray chose to occupy the same 135 square feet of space. The dolphins swam in a tight circle, breaking the surface just long enough to exchange their pheromone charged gasps of air. There was no thought of their safety, no consideration for their well being. Their mission was before them. They had to procreate. Like never before, their destiny was a clear beacon to be followed without question. Soon there would be more of them.
They knew that the powerful new energy was emanating from the large alien shell that spookily held its position beneath the ray. They were deeply affected by the unusual energetic force field, but remained strangely oblivious to its presence. Indeed, life itself didn’t matter beyond their terrible purpose. They would obey this irresistible imperative without question on this night of nights.
After the dolphins, the sharks arrived. First it was the threshers and then the blues. Around and around they swam, taking care to avoid the dolphins who were in turn unconsciously avoiding them. They swam together for the first time in what seemed to be an eternity with a concerted effort to avoid any sort of confrontation.
Usually the two species gave each other a very wide berth, but on this night of pheromone frenzy, they blended harmlessly like the lions and antelope at a watering hole on the dry plains of Africa. Some instincts can be circumvented when survival is tantamount. The sharks had to keep moving in order to breathe, but the dolphins floated listlessly among them, like mindless marker buoys waiting for some regatta to tack around them.
Soon even the whales were moved by the urgent agenda. The right whales were the first to arrive. Their finely tuned sonar was able to triangulate the position of the alien energy signals from over twenty miles away. They were just about to begin their annual migration north for the warmer months of the year when the strange vibrations called to them and all but demanded their presence in the spontaneous dance of creation. After the rights, were the pilot whales and then at last the humpbacks and sperms.
They all circled in a lazy aquatic traffic pattern beneath the otherworldly shell like obedient aircraft following specific instructions from an air traffic controller. They were stacked according to size in a swirl of sea creatures, all in tune with the same powerful vibrations. They all shared one thing in common; an atavistic awareness somewhere deep in their evolutionary DNA which was somehow familiar with these particular signals from their ancestral past.
Perhaps thousands of years before, a similar stirring of the alien shell first brought to life their desperate need to procreate. That sense of need was forever planted in their blueprint for survival, to be passed along with each successive generation until the sleeping craft once again was brought to life.
Finally, the flying fish, determined to pass through the same small bit of space above the ray, launched themselves like surface-to-air missiles over the whirling mass of sharks and dolphin. They only spent seconds above the miasma of sexual frenzy, but it was enough to draw them back, time and again, from all directions.
Soon the scene resembled a dome like structure of layered sea life. Fish arcing through the air above the churning ocean, dolphins and sharks packed in a tight circle above the giant manta ray, while below, the whales moved in a sensuous swirl adding to the maelstrom. The sonorous mating calls of the whales added to the symphony of the primal mating sounds. Then, all at once it ended. The great ship that awoke from a timeless slumber slowly ascended and slipped above the waves.
After gently nudging the vast array of sea life aside, it slowly climbed up into the humid morning sky. It hung, ominously silent, six feet above the surface of the Gulf Stream, 90 miles off the coast of Florida. The sea life maintained their position beneath the craft, still intent on their selfless mission to multiply in number. There they remained for the rest of the night.
