Two Princesses of Mars (Patreon)

Diana was delighted to find that the Atlanteans’ idea of a breathing apparatus for outsiders was a clear, bulbous helmet, like a character on The Jetsons might use to go into space. She put the ‘fishbowl’ over her head and the hole automatically sealed against her throat, while still apparently being glass or at least something crystalline. That further delighted her, and she made the trip down to Poseidonis marveling at both the Atlanteans’ ingenuity and the sleek simplicity of their workmanship.

Reaching the vast dome that contained Poseidonis’ spiraling, swooping towers--so much like a collection of seashells on a vast, artistic scale--she was allowed in through an airlock. Diana was further struck by how the proud water-breathers constructed their living spaces to be full of air, but as she’d surmised before having it explained to her, there were limits to even Atlantean construction. A chair or table might be made that was invulnerable to watery corrosion, but making everything out of stainless steel would lead to a dull existence indeed.

Joined by the royal guard, she was escorted inside the palace and up a waterway to the royal apartments. There, she found Mera waiting for her. As permissive as she was, Diana was shocked by the redhead’s attire, if only because she was royalty and Diana had certain expectations of those representing the citizenry of their country. But Mera, though as regal as ever in her standing, was wearing only a white bra and filmy little panties. She had obviously recently come through her own private airlock, because her flesh wetly gleamed from the ocean and the dampness had made her underwear sheer.

“Diana. At last you’ve arrived,” Mera beamed, offering her a respectful salute before approaching her to clutch Diana’s hands. “What do you think of my garments? Arthur has been advancing the prospect of me trying surface world fashions--to better understand those who can only breathe air.”

“I can see why,” Diana said, still unable to believe how casually Mera acted as she exposed herself so boldly. Admittedly, she had little to be ashamed of. 

“Do the humans really swim in these? I always got the impression they were a bit--” Mera groped for an inoffensive phrasing. “Abashed by their own nudity.”

“They can be, and often are,” Diana said. “That’s why they wear swimsuits.”

“Swimsuits?” Mera asked.

“Yes. You’re wearing underwear. Lingerie, even.”

“What’s the difference?” 

“It’s complicated,” Diana said. “I’ll explain later. Is Arthur here?”

Mera grinned. “Ah. Straight to business. You make me look like a sluggard, Diana.”

“None could dispute your service to your Crown,” Diana said sincerely.

Mera waved her hand dismissively. “Clearly. So perhaps it’s just that you look forward to meeting with my husband? Finally resolving this unspoken attraction of yours.”

Diana was just about to respond to that--though she had terribly little idea how--when Arthur entered. Speaking of surface world fashion--he wore a short, luxurious robe that came down to just above his knees, tied in front with a sash. Seeing that his legs were bare except for a pair of slippers, Diana had two thoughts. One, that Mera truly had made the impetuous king ‘lighten up’ if he were willing to be seen by anyone wearing bunny slippers. And two, that his robe might very well be all he had on. The thought of his cock sheathed like a sword just inside the material of his dressing gown sent a warm buzz through Diana. As if she’d been engulfed in the warm waters of the Mediterranean.

“Hello, Diana,” he said, his voice as rough as ever, but she’d long since learned not to take it as intentional brusqueness--simply the words a hard life had left inside him. “I’m glad you could make it. Between royalty and our… hobby… it seems no one’s time is more precious.”

“What better to do with a precious thing than spend it on a friend?” Diana said, pleased by the way his eyes took in the broad expanse of her naked thighs beneath the hem of her costume.

“I had also thought some dusty old texts about relations between the Amazon Nation and Atlantis in the ancient world might be low on your list of priorities.”

“Never. After all, I’m here for you and your lovely wife as well.”

“Then I’ll allow you to visit with her while I prepare you your reading.”

When he’d gone, Mera sat down next to Diana on a couch. She rested her hand lightly on Diana’s leg, just above the knee, as if she were testing the strength of the muscle more than the creaminess of the skin.

“The way he looks at you… perhaps that’s why these garments are meant to be opaque.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Diana teased her, knowing full well that the evening’s ulterior motive was entirely on Mera’s red head.

“I wonder just how long he’ll be able to keep his hands off you. On the one hand, he’d been able to do so for this long. On the other hand, I myself find myself hard-pressed to do the same.”

“Feel free to keep your hands wherever you like,” Diana laughed. 

When Arthur returned with the leatherbound volume--another strong argument for keeping Atlantean cities pressurized, Diana supposed--Mera excused herself. Arthur took her place, sitting down next to Diana on the wide sofa.

“I’ve made some headway,” he said, “but there’s only so much I can decipher. The writing is very old and much of the context is lost on me. But I’m hopeful it’ll make some sense to you.”

As he leafed through the tome, Diana could feel him pressing his leg firmly against hers. The heat of his thigh burned through the thin material of his robe. 

“Perhaps you’d have more luck if you didn’t have such difficulty in concentrating,” Diana said.

“What do you mean?”

“That your mind is elsewhere,” she laughed. “Or, at least, your blood flow.” 

She placed her hand on the big bulge his erection had made in the front of his robe.

“Nnnnh,” Arthur groaned. “Didn’t think you’d be so forward.”

“As you said. Time is precious. And I find most things that are already a thousand years old… can wait a little longer.”

The king’s eyes were riveted on hers as Diana smiled at him with a slow teasing grin. Despite his self-control, Arthur was filled with a maddening excitement. He restrained himself, only moaning approvingly as Diana reached into the opening of his robe and grasped his throbbing manhood. As she tenderly drew it out into the open, his fully erect cock leapt up to dwarf her slender fingers.

Diana was completely astonished by his huge size. She suspected she’d have trouble getting it into her preternaturally tight sex, but if a smaller woman like Mera could manage, then she had no excuse not to try.

“I wonder whose curiosity is being satisfied the most tonight,” Diana asked. “Yours, mine, or Mera’s.”

“I’ve thought about it the most,” Arthur said. “By far.”

“And does it live up to your expectations?”

“Let’s start finding out.”

He grabbed Diana in a tight embrace, smashing his lips, his tongue on her soft mouth like a wave surging onto a beach. He seemed beyond control as he pressed her soft body to his, Diana still stroking his stiff member. 

He pulled at her low-cut costume, getting at the soft flesh of her breasts with his big hands as his tongue lewdly snaked against hers. For all that he was still restraining himself, Arthur was ravenous as his hands glided over every delicious curve Diana’s body possessed.

“I think we’ve found where your mind was wandering,” Diana laughed, pushing him away. “And your blood flow.”

“I’m eager to find where they’re going next,” Arthur said, releasing her as his entire body trembled with lust.

“Take your pick,” Diana said, loosening her costume with a few tugs on its laces, then pulling it off over her head, leaving herself deliciously naked.

Arthur stared almost hopelessly at her completely bare figure. He took in the creamy roundness of her well-sized breasts, the youthful curve of her sweetly rounded hips, and the satiny warmth of the sparse pubic hair placed upon her lusciously perfect loins. Through those dark hairs, he could see her coral-tinted labia. It glinted wetly with promise.

Even after years of marriage to Mera, Arthur was hard-pressed not to favor Diana as more beautiful, more sensual than his own wife. He had to just stare silently at her naked loveliness, hoping he’d be found worthy of it.

“Perhaps you might allow me a few suggestions?” Indelibly pleased with the effect that the sight of her had on Arthur, Diana raised her hands up her body, only actually touching herself when she teasingly caressed her soft breasts. She cupped them lovingly, fingers pinching on her ripe-cherry nipples, then molding themselves to the full heft of her teats to squeeze them roughly. She suggestively ran her pink tongue over her wetly parted lips as she groped herself. Without taking her eyes from Arthur’s, she made a round trip with her hands, letting them hover along her waist and hips until they hid the little artist’s signature of her pubic hair under their palms.

Arthur’s nostrils were flaring as he saw her fingertips teasing along her labia, easing her pussy lips slightly apart to let him see the glistening wetness between her firm thighs. Throwing her head back, Diana’s long dark hair flowed over her naked shoulders, her half-closed eyes glazed with passion as she began to gently caress herself.

Unable to stand another moment of being denied, Arthur grasped her wrist and pulled her roughly back down onto the sofa with him. Panting like some stampeding animal, he pressed her against the soft cushions and threw off his robe. His hot-blooded cock throbbed out wildly from his bloated balls.

Reaching out, Diana tenderly ran her hand over his entire length, the width proving to be a challenge for her small fingers.

“Oh, your highness,” she whispered, her fingers dwarfed by the thickness of his big, meaty cock. “No wonder Mera was willing to share. There’s more than enough for both of us.”

With a grunt, he dropped her down to the sofa, drawing her body into his arms. His hands closed over the soft, resilient flesh of her breasts, squeezing and kneading their firmness, wringing delighted moans from Diana’s gently parted lips. He could feel the intense heat of her passionate body as she writhed against him.

‘Very sweet,” he panted, feeling his stiff cock trapped deliciously between their squirming bellies.

His powerful hands were gliding over her aroused body, his fingers digging into her quivering buttocks. His entire body tensed with expectation when he felt her thighs open for him, and his shaft slipped up against her slit, finding it warm and moist.

“Please fuck me!” Diana whispered. “Oh, put that big beautiful cock inside me!”

Arthur suddenly felt her cool fingers wrapped around his length as she guided him into her slippery little cunt. Her smooth thighs parted even further, mirroring her labia drawing open.

“Goddamn,” he panted when the tip of his manhood grazed against the softness of her damp pubic hair.

Watching from around the corner, Mera was rubbing frantically at her own dripping slit as she watched her husband’s cock bring a familiar pleasure to Wonder Woman. Watching the heroine’s juices flow over her velvety little cunt, Mera could almost taste their sweetness. Diana’s pink sex was just made for licking and sucking, and Mera couldn’t wait for Arthur to finish so that her tongue could follow the path his prick was blazing.

Impaled on Arthur’s manhood, Diana’s lovely body was soon writhing and churning beneath his hard, deep thrusts. Diana was moaning with ecstasy, grinding her widely stretched cunt up around the base of his plunging dick, wanting and demanding every inch of his manhood in her deliciously wet pussy.

“Oh yes!” Diana squealed, clinging to his thrusting body. She felt him cupping her quivering asscheeks in his hands as he continued pounding deeper and deeper into her.  “I love it! Your cock feels so good! Ooooooh! It’s so fucking good!”

Driving with all his strength into her, Arthur could feel the smooth slick flesh inside Diana as it squeezed and sucked deliciously around the entire length of his manhood. He fucked into her sweet cunt with all of his burning cock, going into the fullest depths of her sucking cunt, bringing wild cries of further need from her fully opened mouth.

The wet sounds of the tempo they set filled the room, increasing as they both thought their impending climaxes even more determinedly. Arthur’s muscular body was glistening with sweat, flowing down onto Diana’s writhing body. She slipped and stroked against him, her dignity almost abandoned but never far from her eyes as she met his gaze, telling him that she wanted this as she acted the part of some beautiful wild animal. Writhing and lurching beneath Arthur, giving him as much pleasure as she demanded. 

Watching, listening, Mera wildly rubbed her clit and squeezed her heaving breaths. The sight of Diana’s wet little cunt full of Arthur’s driving cock--something she herself had often struggled to accommodate--was driving the redhead wild. She wanted to rush over and lick up the juices that had trickled down between Diana’s thighs. The thought of burying her face in Diana’s well-used cunt was intoxicating. From the way her husband was slamming his big cock into it, Mera knew it wouldn’t be long until that juicy pussy was as tasty as it was tight.

“Oh, your highness!” Diana screamed as he forced his cock deeper and deeper into her. “I love it! Love it!”

The thought of shooting a torrent of hot cum deep into this goddess’s taut belly was like a shot of pure adrenaline to Arthur. He could almost feel his seed bunting out of his cockhead, filling her with his scalding load. Diana’s cunt was sucking and milking at his plunging shaft. Obscenely spreading her muscular thighs, she drew her knees back to her shoulders, offering all of herself to his pistoning dick.

“Harder, Arthur!” she squealed with elation. “Don’t just fuck me, fuck me hard!”

She couldn’t believe how incredibly good his big bloated cockhead felt, pounding into the depths of her womanhood. Every powerful stroke knocked the breath out of her, but she was loving every violent second of it. Her sculpted ass shook and quivered, squirming from side to side on the sofa as her sucking, clasping cunt was fully possessed by his delving member.

“Fuck, Arthur!” she suddenly screamed as her entire body stiffened. “Oh shit! Fuck!”

Her face was contorted with pleasure and a desperate need for release as she lay beneath Arthur. She clung tightly to Arthur as he thrust into her, all of her statuesque body quivering and trembling as wave after wave of ecstasy washed over her. And then it suddenly happened.

“Aaahhhh!” she howled as her perfect body convulsed under Arthur. “I’m coming! Keep fucking me, don’t stop, I’m coming! Commmiiinnnggg!”

Arthur could not believe how arousing he found it to have driven the most refined, elegant woman he knew to such a paroxysm of obscenity. Spurred on by her vulgar words as much as her wild orgasm, the King of Atlantis gave a mighty lunge, driving his cock far up into Diana’s fully stretched cunt to explode, his hot cum gushing deep within her.

“Yes, Arthur!” she squealed with unabashed joy. “Come! God, it feels so good! I love your cum! I love it!”

When the last drop had trickled from his slowly shrinking member, Arthur withdrew and rolled onto his back. He was completely exhausted, but his mind was whirling, thinking of how unstoic Diana had been. Whatever she felt, she was unreservedly truthful about it, be it joy, lust, or desperate passion. Thinking of how his own unrelenting grimness had met with mockery in the past, he wondered how Diana walked the line between seriousness with some and open emotion with others, while still garnering respect from all she met.

Perhaps it was that he was simply one of a trusted few with who she was open and emotional.

Perhaps it was just that she was Diana.

Her hand traipsed through his chest hair, feeling out his wildly beating heart. “Oh, your highness,” Diana said, making his title a tease but not a taunt. “Don’t stop. Take me again. I want to come just like before.”

***

Watching, touching herself, wanting to satisfy the crest of autoerotic pleasure she was riding before she joined in, Mera’s thoughts were largely similar to Arthur’s. How could Diana be so open to sexual pleasure, so lustful, so goddamned slutty, and still be seen as such a sterling example as womanhood? No, not seen--she was every inch the exemplar of femininity she presented herself as. Yet she was also as desperate to fuck as a common whore. She wasn’t even repressed. This current side of her, writhing around on the sofa, frantically rubbing her clit as she sought to deal with the excess lust Arthur had left her with, was as much a piece of her as the powerful and soft-spoken leader that she was in public.

For Mera--often hot-tempered, plain-spoken, and hard-pressed to rein in her emotions--the thought of a woman who could swing between the extremes of self-control and indulgence without conflict or contradiction… it was powerful. Looking at Diana, she suddenly felt very young and inexperienced, and not in the least resentful of her husband’s feelings for the woman. Of course he’d want such a cultured and confident woman. She did too.

Walking across the room, Mera sat down on the edge of the sofa beside the writhing woman and her exhausted husband.

“Was it nice, Diana?” she asked, gently stroking Diana’s sweaty forehead.

Diana opened her eyes and regarded Mera with a warm regard. “Just so, my queen.” She was still digging her fingers into her cum-ridden cunt. “I wish he was still fucking me. I want to come like that again.”

“Let it never be said that the royal family of Atlantis refused to accommodate a guest,” Mera said in a soft, loving voice as she drew Diana into her arms.

She had discarded her bra and panties, finding them silly and useless, and she was proven right by her estimation: the feel of Diana’s soft naked flesh against her own was more than fantastic. Holding Diana in her arms, Mera lay down beside her. Their bellies closed together and she let her hands move lightly down over Diana’s back to arrive at the pert flesh of her shapely ass.

“Shall I make you come again?” whispered Mera as she moved her hand along the strong muscle of Diana’s thigh.

“Oh yes,” Diana gasped. “Again and again.”

“Only because your skin feels so soft,” Mera said teasingly.

Moving her fingers up the steady firmness of Diana’s inner thighs, Mera made contact with first soft pubic hair, then the lust-swollen lips they hid. Mera felt Diana’s naked body give an excited quiver, welcoming her fingertip inside her sex. Her cunt was hot and slippery with her arousal, with Arthur’s thick cum oozing out to provide a delicious contrast.

Easing her finger up near the top of Diana’s quivering slit, Mera made gentle contact with Diana’s swollen cit.

“By Aphrodite!” Diana gasped. “My queen! That’s it! That feels wonderful!”

Being a woman, Mera fancied she knew how to touch Diana’s pussy as Arthur never could. She expertly manipulated Diana’s clit until the mighty Amazon was sobbing and writhing with the intense pleasure she was receiving from that quivering little ball of nerves.

Mera always found it exciting to finger a woman’s sex, but the sluggish warmth of Arthur’s cum sloshing against her fingers as she did so doubled her intrigue. Her own pussy was burning with attraction as she stirred her long middle finger along the walls of Diana’s passage.

Still stroking Diana through her husband’s seed, and thinking of how delicious the mixture would be when she sucked it off her finger, Mera drew her naked body up until Diana’s perfect tits were pressed against her face. Her cunt was pounding with arousal as she sucked Diana’s nipple into her mouth like the pit of a cherry.

“Oh, my queen!” Diana heaved with delight, pushing her breast up against Mera’s offered mouth. “It’s yours! Suck me, Mera, yes!”

But, contrary to a fault, Mera released Diana’s teat to draw her vision of a face down and cover the panting lips with her own. Her tongue swirled deliciously against Diana’s, and she devoured Diana’s gasped as her finger still teased the erect clit underneath it. They clung passionately to each other, their tongues as deliciously entwined as the rest of their bodies.

Arthur watched quietly, his cock throbbing softly against his thigh. Experienced as he was with Mera’s beauty, it was multiplied exponentially when combined with Diana’s. The two of them were just too erotic for words. They were like living advertisements for sex.

Diana and Mera were both seething with need when Mera released Diana from the kiss and crawled down between her widely spread thighs. Lowering her face for another kiss, Mera sensually licked the creamy flesh on the inside of Diana’s thighs. She slowly worked her tongue up the corded muscles of her tensely held legs. Her mouth was soon only inches from Diana’s cunt.

Seeing her husband’s cum still oozing deliciously from between Diana’s pussy lips, Mera pressed her nose into the silky nest of pubic hair and breathed in the excitingly conjoined scents.

Gently grasping Diana’s hips, Mera ran her tongue along the slippery flesh of Diana’s sex. Immersing herself in the taste and texture of Arthur’s salty cum, which by now covered Diana’s groin like the topping on an ice cream sundae. The taste--bitter and sweet at the same time--left her licking her pouty lips. Moving with relishing slowness, Mera snaked her wet tongue up into all that Diana’s sex had to offer.

“M-m-merciful!” Diana shrieked, unable to finish the exhortation to her gods. She threw the backs of her knees over Mera’s strong shoulders, squeezing her thighs against Mera’s face. “Merciful Aphrodite! I cannot believe mortals are permitted this pleasure!”

“Mmmmmm,” Mera mewled from inside Diana’s warm, sweet cunt. “And I can’t believe ambrosia would taste any better than your hot little pussy.”

Her tongue flashed hungrily over Diana’s wet slit, lapping up her husband’s thick cum as well as the copious arousal inside Diana’s womanhood. Then, though she was far from satiating her hunger, she withdrew her tongue to flick the tip up to Diana’s clit. She was determined that Diana’s first sexual encounter with Atlanteans would be one she’d always remember.

Mera took her time in devouring the feast before her, savoring every drop she found while not forgetting to occasionally remind Diana’s clit of her presence. As she went on, Diana bent forward, staring down to see Mera’s face at her sex with actual tears in her eyes. Her back arched, she spooled further and further forward, as if unable to believe the longing kisses she would see Mera plant on her womanhood. Then, finally, it was too much for her. As if suddenly granted a vision she could not bear, Diana’s back thrust upright and bent backward, her head jerking backward as she arrived with a tiny, choking gasp. After the roar that had announced the climax Arthur had brought her to, this seemed a fitting testament to Mera’s more subtle approach.

As she began to suck wildly on Diana’s button, Mera’s hands slid up Diana’s bare flesh, seeking out her quivering breasts.

“Great Hera!” Diana cried out when her aggressive lover began pinching and twisting her erect nipples. “You know what feels good!”

“That I do,” Mera purred. “But do you know what else feels good?”

And, following Mera’s gaze, Diana saw that Arthur’s erection had returned to life.

“I can vouch for that myself,” Diana agreed. “But I believe it’s your turn.”

“But you’re our guest,” Mera insisted.

“Then indulge me. I want to see you ride him as badly as you wanted to see him mount me.” Diana grinned. “And he’s already seen the two of us.”

A moment later, Diana was watching as Mera straddled her husband, her creamy ass flashing palely in the room’s subdued light. Diana knelt on the floor and held Arthur’s cock as Mera moved her red-haired cunt onto the tip of it.

Leaning over and resting her cheek on Arthur’s broad thigh, Diana gazed at Mera’s ass, hoping she could soon sample it herself. She bore similar thoughts for Mera’s cunt, pink and so very wet as it fucked Arthur’s cock. She fondled his balls as Mera bucked up and down with whoops of wild pleasure. After allowing them to mostly enjoy each other for a span, Diana twisted her hand gently around Arthur’s manhood, adding to the pleasure as Mera’s tight cunt slid up and down him. The tight pucker of Mera’s anus winked at her.

Diana moved her head above Arthur’s very occupied lap and ran the tip of her tongue across Mera’s hot asshole, finding it easy to lick at Mera’s cunt as it held Arthur’s member. 

Diana didn’t need to hear the ecstatic squeal coming from Mera to know that her generous, sharing hostess had found another climax. The flexing of Mera’s asshole around her tongue told her that. As Mera arrived, she raced her cunt up and down Arthur’s cock so swiftly that Diana was forced to abandon her analingus. Instead, she pushed her mouth into a kiss on Arthur’s balls, tasting the cream seeping from the tight lips of Mera’s cunt as it flowed. She kept her lips there until their joined bodies stopped trembling. Then, after licking the cheeks of Mera’s ass, she drew away.

“I think I may need to lie down,” Diana said.

“We’ve had a bed made up.”

***

Diana pulled on her boots, awake after a restless bout of sleep. Odd. Usually she slept like a baby, but after her menage a trois with Arthur and Mera--the kind of pleasurable exertion that would usually send her contentedly to Morpheus--she was vexed. 

Perhaps she was just envious. Yes, Diana was quite self-aware, and though she wished the vagaries of human neurosis were a little more opaque to her, she could be certain jealousy had a role in her fretfulness. Imagining a partner for herself like either Arthur or Mera was wonderful. She had delighted in sharing in their relationship, if only for a time, but it did throw into sharp relief that she wasn’t balanced in the way the pair of them were. She wasn’t even truly balanced as she had been when joining with the two. It was enough to make her want to prolong this expanded relationship, and they might even be amenable, but Diana didn’t know if her desire for such a gratifying romance could ever eclipse her worry of destabilizing their pairing. If only she had a Lois Lane or Selina Kyle of her own. But, though she was endlessly impressed by the variety and quality of the peoples of Man’s World, and nostalgic for the many wonderful ladies in Themyscira, some days it seemed as if there were not one person on the planet who truly belonged with her.

Then the world pitched on its side.

Diana was thrown to her hands and knees, but quickly recovered and stood upright. She bolted out onto her room’s balcony, which offered a view through the dome that was Poseidonis’s first line of defense. She could see something, a maelstrom of rushing water, but through the flexing vortex it was impossible to separate cause from effect. Diana scooped up her rebreathing helmet, fit it over her head, and leapt out from the balcony’s railing to the dome of Poseidonis. The forcefield that formed it was designed to repel entry from the outside, but allow those inside to venture out. Diana passed through it harmlessly and suddenly felt herself buffeted by wild currents--like she was in the middle of a raging storm at four kilometers down. 

Unlike Superman, her ability of flight relied upon a gift from the god Aeolus. While Kal could propel himself through anything from atmosphere to the deep sea, Diana could only fly when there was an air current to seize hold of. She was forced to swim--even with superstrength and speed, it was an inefficient, not to mention undignified process.

But she got her look at the problem. It was a bubble of empty air poised in the middle of the water, like a distant cousin to Poseidonis’ dome, or the pressure wave of an exploding mine frozen in mid-blast. It wasn’t stable, either. The ‘surface’ that separated the inner void from the seawater on the outside was roiling and twisting, letting in gales of water that were twisted and thrown around like they were following the workings of some strange astrolabe. When they reached the center of the sphere, they vanished as if vaporized.

Diana could see more: in the scads of spray kicked up by the rough process, spinning around the sphere like the particles in a snowglobe. And--here Diana thought absurdly of the small rainbows that could be seen in the water from a lawn sprinklers--she could see a pillar of light directed up and out, its hue shifting strangely, unlike anything she had seen before. It could only be seen refracted through those minute dewdrops inside the sphere, not through the seawater surrounding it. Diana was passingly reminded of the zeta-beams Adam Strange used to travel to Rann; the phrase ‘dim reflection’ occurred to her.

“Diana!” she heard Arthur cry, his voice piped in through her rebreathing helmet’s speakers. “Get back! The pull is too strong; we almost lost the navy before I ordered them to withdraw.”

“Am I not more powerful than a navy?” Diana asked, venturing closer. Yes--she could see rays of that strange light reflected all around the sphere, forming a layer of its surface. Her thoughts now were of Boomtubes, and all the various portals she had come across in her adventures. Could some kind of wormhole be modified to open in the middle of the sea and allow through the modicum of water that was rushing in? Some alien species helping themselves to the Earth’s oceans and trying not to be noticed? Why, when hydrogen was the most plentiful--

Abruptly, the sphere expanded. After a whirling flurry of white water, Diana dropped into the void. She called upon Aeolus’s gift, but there was no air in here, just empty space. Yet she didn’t fall--she was seized by something very much like gravity, except for its feel, which spun her around the center of the sphere like water going down a drain. Briefly dry, she was plunged into a river in mid-air, seemingly swept along its rapids as she was sucked to the sphere’s core, where that strangely colored light became all she could see.