Indeed, a thousand miles away, in the heart of a Colorado mountain, the Generals were infuriated when they lost their satellite reconnaissance of the Mermaid. The President was immediately notified of this new threat. Orders were sent through a secure line which Genie did not have access to. These orders directed the Air Force to destroy the boat.
A few minutes later, the trio spotted a Coast Guard cutter from Chicago headed their way at a pretty fair clip. Up till now, the Mermaid was only making twenty knots. Jim had interrupted overhead surveillance.
Helen and Antiope asked, "Are those sailors?"
"Yes," Jim responded, "Why?"
"I bet they're easy to turn on." Antiope responded. "Come on Helen, let's go on the back deck and sun ourselves. Jim, do you think you can drive this boat just fast enough to keep them from catching us, but at the same time, letting ourselves have some fun teasing those sailors?"
Jim laughed. "Sure."
Antiope and Helen proceeded to the rear of the boat and removed all clothing. They then turned up the radio and danced wildly and seductively in full view of the Coast Guard cutter. It did not take too long for the entire crew of the cutter to be within their sight. Jim managed to taunt the Coast Guard further by matching the speed and not allowing the Coast Guard to get any closer than he wanted. He was briefly aware of their attempts to hail him, which he ignored. He kept a close eye on the cutter for any threatening fire and activated a force field to repel any gunfire, which could possibly erupt.
The girls laughed as the cutter pulled back to retrieve a few men overboard. Evidently they had been accidentally knocked overboard while making risky attempts to get a better view of the ladies. Jim stopped the boat to allow the cutter to retrieve the sailors. The cutter resumed the chase after collecting the sailors. Jim monitored the Coast Guard transmissions reflecting their navigational coordinates and was capable of monitoring the orders being transmitted to the Coast Guard captain. He wondered if those guys would indeed fire upon the girls. Jim slowed the boat down to within earshot of the cutter while he alerted the girls about the orders to shoot them. He assured them that no fire could penetrate the invisible force field. The women understood and said they would handle the situation and for him to stay out of sight.
"Hello boys," Helen cried. "How bad do you want us?"
The crew cat-called, cheered, hollered, whistled and expressed an overwhelming interest in getting their hands on these "babes".
"How about a date?"
"Where are you from?"
"Those are the nicest pair of jugs that I've ever seen!"
"You're not shy, are you?"
"Request permission to come aboard, ladies!"
"What are nice babes like you doing out here?"
"Stop the boat and be boarded by command of the Coast Guard or we will fire," blared the captain over the PA system.
Antiope responded, "You boys are going to shoot us? Now why would you do a silly thing like that? Honey, we can't make love if you do that. Hey lover boys, what do you want to do, make love or war? If you shoot at us, we can't dance for you. Play another tune, Helen."
With that, the ladies engrossed themselves dancing provocatively and harmoniously with the rock and roll love ballads. Jim pulled a little further away from the cutter.
The Coast Guard Captain sensed his predicament. His first objective was to restore crew order. Yet his men seemed far from controllable at this point. He could not afford the confrontation between himself and the crew and at the same time attack these women. He also sensed an obvious trap if he dared attack the boat. His basic instincts flat out warned him of danger, and as a result, he backed away from the Mermaid on his own and headed back to port. He also suspected those two women as being the notorious gold dealers of the previous day. He surmised that they had probably bought the boat with the sale of the gold and were out on the lake for an innocent excursion. He would report that this was what they had told him while they were in earshot. With respect to the order to fire on the women, he obediently issued the order, but his first officers read his face as the order was issued. The order was passed down the chain of command, yet everyone seemed to come up with a reason why they shouldn't fire and no one fired at the boat. A report was returned to the captain that the fire control system had malfunctioned and the key to the armory had fallen overboard. The captain acknowledged the report and turned the cutter around and headed back to port for repairs. He sighed with a sense of relief that no one had shot at the boat, yet he feared greatly the consequences from his superiors.
Unknowingly to the captain, he was very fortunate not to have confronted the Amazons and would soon learn that he had done the correct thing. He would later be decorated for wisely saving the lives of his crew, when his superiors would learn of the peril he had indeed been in. Antiope and Helen were extremely disappointed when the cutter turned away, because the sensed their fun was over and these men were wisely retreating. Helen wanted to give chase, but Antiope understood and dissuaded her from the desire.
"There will be other opportunities," said Jim.
All the time while this was occurring, Jim and Idiot were probing the US defensive networks. The US military knew that it was being probed. The US command was highly aware of the reason for the satellite blackout over Lake Michigan. The Coast Guard incident was heard of, yet all of the details were not quite reported. General Needhymen, who was in charge of the Project Gold Alien, was certain that the individuals who sold the gold the previous day were the same individuals in the boat. The black and white units had reported that a trio had purchased the boat for $4 million in cash. The Coast Guard had been instructed to encounter the boat and to bring the boat in, if possible. Being aware of the President's directive, the general had hopes that the boat would surrender rather than face destruction by the Air Force. Now that the cutter had turned away, the jets would be directed to sink the Mermaid.
VENETIA
Chapter Thirteen
The Sirens and the Mermaid