Winners Collection - Anthology

OMG..! IT'S ATLANTIS...!! - @Crazyasteroid

Jim was interrupted from reading his old high school notes by an urgent transmission from Star Fleet HQ. He listened to it; the Admirals wanted him to investigate a geographical disturbance out in the Atlantic Ocean. After further debriefing, the transmission ended, and Jim sighed, glancing longingly at the notes. Atlantis had been quite intriguing.

"Oh well", he sighed.

An hour later, Jim, Spock, and Bones were aboard a small hovercraft on their way to the designated coordinates. Spock was piloting and Bones was being his usual grouchy self.

"Where are we going again?" he grumbled.

"Within the vicinity of the Strait of Gibraltar", Spock replied.

"Pillars of Heracles", Jim muttered quietly, but Bones heard him.

"How the hell do you know that?" Bones demanded, eyebrow cocked.

Jim smirked and told him about his old notes. Bones only grunted and rolled his eyes at the smug look on Jim's face.

Jim felt a sudden, slight shift in the atmosphere, but he disregarded it when Spock spoke.

"Captain we are approaching the designated coordinates".

There was an underlying tone of caution in his otherwise emotionless voice.

"I would advise you to have a look at this...oddity, Captain".

That hesitance was enough to have Jim and Bones exchange a look of confusion before heading into the cockpit.

Jim wanted to ask what was up, but the question died down on his lips as he saw it. His jaw slackened, while Bones let out an exclamation of surprise.

Had Jim not read about this earlier, he probably wouldn't have recognized it instantly. It was...The Lost City of Atlantis. Jim pressed himself against the windscreen and let himself drink in the glorious sight. Spock had the hovercraft at a height suitable to make out almost everything on the island without difficulty.

Atlantis was magnificent. It was a collection of concentric strips of land, separated by concentric moats of seawater, fed by the Atlantic Ocean itself by an intricate network of canals that connected the moats and land in what seemed like a complex irrigation system. There was one, very large canal, about three hundred feet wide, that ran from the six o' clock position (from Jim's point of view) towards the centre, intersecting the land and the sea, draining into the innermost moat that surrounded the central part of the island.

The central land was enormous in comparison to the strip. Various buildings were strewn across the hilly, green, thriving land in the basic layout of a Greek city. At the dead centre, resting on top of a hill, was the Temple of Poseidon, surrounded by a wall made of pure gold and adorned with statues, the gold shimmering in the bright sun. Beyond the wall the marble pillars of the temple rose high, emitting a luminous radiance. Silver decoration glinted, and its ivory roof glowed. In the background, a mountain range was visible, which extended to the north, as well as along the shoreline, waning into hills and then into flatter land as it reached south-west on either sides of the coast.

Beyond the temple was a massive palace, a gorgeous beauty nestled at the base of unmistakably the tallest mountain, walls glinting and decoration shimmering in the sun. Originally built by Atlas (the first king of the island and the superior in the confederation of kings that had ruled this whole island) the palace had then been expanded by his successors into what could be seen now.

The three successive strips of land radiating outwards had sparser architecture. Little clusters of houses were located at irregular intervals wherever there was flat land, which looked more like farmland. The rest of the land had diverse forms of greenery, trees, shrubs and small ponds, dispersed all throughout the island.

Bridges had been built, over the larger canals and also from one strip of land to another, providing a route of passage. Jim did not miss the docks nestled comfortably at the junction between the main body of the large canal and the moats. Jim also noticed the watchtowers built in tactically ideal positions, scattered all over the island, providing a means of scouting. The two highest towers were situated on either side of a massive gate, located at the outer end of the largest canal. Jim squinted; the walls of the gate and tower seemed to be built of red, white, and black rocks, and adorned with metals Jim knew were brass, tin, and what could only be orichalcum. The rocks were the same ones that had been used to build the houses, as he had just seen.

Jim blinked, surfacing from his awe, then turned to Bones, taking note of the astonishment on his face. Spock was still in his seat, face passive but his eyes twinkled with fascination.

"Can you believe it?? It's Atlantis! It's Atlantis!" Jim exclaimed with a mixture of excitement and disbelief.

Bones looked at him like he was out of

his mind (more than usual).

"Are you outta your corn-fed mind?" Bones demanded.

"How can a city, that was supposed to be sunken into the sea and probably just a figment of the imagination, just pops up suddenly in the middle of the Atlantic??"

Jim grinned.

"I don't know Bones, but we are going to find out", he said with that gleam in his eyes Bones knew only too well.

"Say what?!" Bones exclaimed in disbelief.

He gestured in the general direction of Atlantis.

"Look at it! It's in perfect, pristine condition when its supposed to be buried and a wreckage, how the hell do you think that is? There's got to some weird mumbo-jumbo about all of this, we shouldn't go down there!!"

"That's what we're gonna find out", Jim grinned impishly. +

Desperate, Bones turned to Spock.

"Do something hobgoblin!"

"Doctor, as we have clear orders, the logical course of action-"

"-would be to go and investigate", Jim finished.

Bones gave Jim a death glare, helpless.

"I hate you both".

Congratulations, and thank you for a great read Crazyasteroid