Needless to say, Jim was totally shocked. Already her will had grasped hold of him and he didn't have the strength to resist her. She had caught him by total surprise and he simply was unprepared to resist her or flee. Flee? Where? At that he knew she was going to immediately seduce him so as to place him further under her spell. He could resist or at least try. He said nothing and waited for her next word. He became worried about the well being of Antiope. He was curious to know that if he asked about Helen and Antiope, how would Isis would respond? Only Jim knew where Helen was, and he knew Isis didn't know that.
Naturally, she spoke next. "Well it seems that you and earth are now both mine, and thanks to you, it will be much easier than expected to complete my conquest. The authorities were quite helpful in leading me to you. It seems they believed me when I told them I knew the killers of these innocent men and could bring them to justice. Bring her in."
Two guards brought in Antiope and she stood before Jim and Isis.
"Now tell me Jim, what shall I do with this murderess? What shall I do with this traitor? What should I do with this woman who thinks she can be your mate instead of me? What's she got that I haven't? Speak up Jim; I know you have something to say. Now what do you think I shall do with her?"
Jim looked at Antiope and felt compassion. He remembered his promise to her to protect her at all costs. "You harm one hair of her head and I promise you that Genie will destroy your entire fleet."
"Now just how are you going to do that?"
"Does it matter how if I am promising you that it will happen? Helen is on the Pegasus now with our father, who is determined to eradicate your fleet."
Isis looked at Antiope and then at Jim. "So it is true. Take her away and see that no harm comes to her. And if I don't kill Antiope, the fleet will be destroyed anyway. Is that it? It makes no difference to me when or if I kill her. But since she means so much to you, she'll be more useful alive. Be good Jim, and I will treat her well. Be bad, I shall punish her. I'll let you decide how I will treat her. Now about our father, I would really like to meet him. Perhaps you can take me to meet him on my Pegasus and we can discuss the fate of my fleet and perhaps the fate of a few other things. But since you brought it up, if my fleet does get destroyed, I will be forced to do very nasty things to Antiope."
Jim responded, "Well, we can sit here all day making threats to each other. You were never any good at diplomacy."
"I suppose I should just let you take Antiope and walk away."
"You don't look very sexy now; not at all."
"Well, at the present Jim, you may consider yourself my prisoner. Nice little yacht we have here. We'll have to stay on board and await any more guests. Shall we get underway?"
A dozen warriors came on board before the Dutchman pulled away. Half a dozen smaller vessels escorted the yacht as the group headed out to the Pacific. Two battle groups from Pearl Harbor followed the Queen as she headed for a rendezvous. She spoke to Jim very sweetly; "Thank you for the information, sweetheart. You volunteered much more information than Antiope. I sense you're playing games with me. Perhaps you expect me to go through your portal with you to the Pegasus. Jim, you belong at home on Artemis with me. I now have two portals here and you have yours on this yacht. I don't think you'll be able to use yours on Artemis. Now, let me talk to your genie."
"I left Genie on the Pegasus."
Now this disturbed Isis greatly. She found it hard to believe that Jim would be without Genie, yet she saw no belt on him. She was definitely uncertain as to whether he was telling the truth or not. He had first told her that Genie, their father, Helen and the Pegasus were on the other side of that portal. Jim was tempting her to go through. She knew he was playing mind games. If he truly didn't have Genie, then he was indeed powerless against her. It never occurred to her that Jim was just plain sloppy this time by not taking precautions. He had fallen victim to time lag. He had felt that he had only been gone a few hours and subconsciously forgot to take into account the difference in elapsed time between earth and the Pegasus was on the order of a thousand to one. Every second on the Pegasus was as a thousand seconds or greater earth time. It was this same time shift phenomena that John was using to his advantage to attack the fleet. Consequently, he had overlooked the fact that the seconds between Helen's arrival and his departure had resulted in hours on earth. That was sufficient time for Isis to find the yacht.
US intelligence services also were interested in the yacht, once again. The President had been stung enough by Isis that he no longer tried to confront her. Instead, the government let her go her way and remained observant. No debris confirming the destruction of the Mermaid had ever been found. Navy and Air Force reconnaissance photos showed that the yacht in Hawaii was the same style as the one in Lake Michigan. Both involved extraterrestrials and technology he hadn't dreamed of. Isis was a little more forward than Jim in venting her anger. After the US Air Force had attacked Isis's small group, she returned fire completely neutralizing a major US military base. She then offered the President a truce. The congressional committee eventually concurred that perhaps it would not be a good idea to confront Isis without due consideration.
The Navy kept its distance. They had orders not to bother the Amazons, in spite of Norfolk. The women decided to sunbathe on deck. After being underway a while an underwater craft suddenly surfaced directly in front of the Flying Dutchman.
Isis was extremely angry. She instructed her aides to get into communication with Washington immediately to explain the meaning of this. The Navy responded that they did not recognize the submarine. Jim recognized the submarine. He also understood the significance. He jumped overboard and swam very rapidly toward the submarine. The submarine turned towards Jim and headed his way. Within seconds, Jim was on board and descending through the hatch. John and Helen greeted him with a grin. John said, "You didn't think we forgot about you, now did you? Dive...Dive..."
The klaxon went off and Jim noticed the interior of the boat was larger than the exterior. "Just bear with me a few seconds Jim and we'll be back on the Pegasus."
The boat kept diving and then just before the bottom ,John energized his Box. It shape-shifted and transported its way right back to within the Pegasus. As they all climbed out, John spoke to Jim urgently, "Now we really have a predicament son. Take your belt this time and take her with you. I'll guard the portal and turn the fleet back with Pegasus and my Box. Secure the yacht, and deal with Isis. You will have your hands full.
Jim donned his belt and went back trough the portal after Helen. He also became invisible at the same time.
Helen was immediately taken into custody by the guards on the yacht. She wondered where Jim was as the portal closed. Surely he didn't send her here alone. Then she heard him whisper in her ear, "Be brave, I'm right by your side." She smiled in acknowledgment. She offered no resistance as the guards took her before Isis. Jim followed.
Jim felt uneasy as Isis looked in his direction. She seemed to sense his presence, but was confused by the fact that her eyes contradicted her feelings. She wondered if she was ill.
"Now Helen, why on earth are you here? Certainly you are not going to threaten me. What have you to say?"
"Pardon me your majesty. I shall tell you all you wish to know. I had no idea you had captured Jim and Antiope. I was just coming back to the yacht to see about them. I surrender myself to you to do as you will with me. I plead for mercy; as in each case I was only doing the will of your brother, my sovereign, whom I am sworn to obey."
"Very well, Helen. You may live, but Jim has escaped in a submarine. That submarine is nowhere to be found. Do you know anything about such a submarine Helen?"
"That submarine is probably Jim's box and Genie."
"Jim told me that Genie is on the Pegasus."
"Your majesty, I just came from the Pegasus and I assure you that Jim is here on earth with Genie and the box."
"Helen! Look into my eyes! Can Jim turn invisible?" Isis was tingling with certainty that Jim was near. If he were invisible, that would explain her feelings.
Helen would not lie to her queen at such a moment and Jim knew it. Still, the fact that she knew he was watching would not enable her to catch him. He wanted her to start showing some discomfort. "Yes your majesty! I have seen him use the belt to turn invisible and fly."
Isis sensed something was very wrong. She began to walk around the room, feeling for Jim working her way towards him.
Jim was not blind to the fact that Isis was apparently successfully sniffing him out. He floated around the room silently and invisibly avoiding her; spooking her all the same "Take me through the portal Helen. As your queen, I command it."
Before she left, she gave instructions for her communications officers to transmit to her general staff. Encrypted code also was transmitted to the Canopus to remain undetected at all costs.
Isis summoned a half dozen guards to go with her. Jim resolved to stay and do his part on earth. She also took Medusa and Godiva. Helen entered the pass code and the group entered the portal to say hello to John.
VENETIA
Chapter Twenty
Isis Aboard Dutchman