Waggys Latest Tale is here! April 5, 2008 7:50 PM

SYNIAD © A. Richardson

Syniad means idea in Welsh, and is pronounced suneead. This Waggy Tales is purely fiction with only some of the place names being real. I enjoy using the area where I live for my tales, but the animals and people are completely fictional. If you live in North Wales you may have noticed a newspaper article about strange lights being seen above the Menai Straits. This began my idea for Syniad, but another aspect of this Waggy Tale was written many years as a probable fiction/possible fact. That in the USA an experiment with a ship relating to Time had caused almost all the crew to lose their memories, and an odd one or possibly two to go crazy. This tale is for grown-ups although older children might find it interesting.

Syniad has lived in the Straits, (Menai Straits that is), for centuries. She is seldom if ever seen, but as far as the storiesgo, she has always been alone. People have speculated on there being others of her kind, but no-one really knows, because none have ever been seen. Anyway, Syniad may look like a monster from the deep, but she has often been known to secretly rescue and help people who have fallen into difficulties in the murky cold waters. This is a modern tale told in an old-fashioned way, of dinosaurs, dragons, and myths. It is set in the year 2010 just at the point where science in all its many forms has overstepped the boundaries of your imagination.

Syniad was busily entering figures detailing the number of large and small craft, which had travelled the Straits during the past month, on her gillipod , when the walls of the undersea cave which was her home, began to reverberate with a high pitched sound shaking everything including the seat underneath her. "For kelp sake, what now". She spoke rising from her stone seat to peer through the window. "Don't tell me someone up there has decided to drill for something silly like oil down here, the cl...ots". She stopped abruptly and gasped. A long metal arm was moving about in the water not far from her home. It looked very similar to a periscope, and Syniad has the uneasy feeling that there were eyes on the other end of the arm. Eyes which were searching for something which she sincerely hoped wasn't her.

Normally Syniad wasn't afraid of anything much. She had contentedly lived in the Straits, occasionally frightening the wits out of those who saw her, with barely a moment to cause her any fear at all. However, a shiver ran down her long back, as a feeling of serious anxiety threatened to overwhelm her, and she didn't even know why. What could be happening up above? As far as she knew she was the only creature thought of as a monster by humans. Maybe this thing was a different sort of monster though.It had felt so dreadfully evil.

"Well, there's only one way to find out. I'll just have to go take a look." Saying this, she closed her gillipod, first remembering to hit save to preserve her data, then as quietly as her massive body would allow, she slipped through her doorway, and gently floated upwards, keeping an eye out for the metal looking arm as she moved.

Higher and higher she rose, expecting to see the lightness above her since it was still daytime, but strangely it seemed darker to her the higher she went. Then she saw why. Above her, sitting just a few feet over the water, was a massive ship. It was totally black underneath, though she could see the glint of silver where the sun struck its side and reflected on the water. This could not be any ordinary ship, she knew, because nothing like it had ever been here before. Rather than take any chances she moved away from the craft towards the shore, following the line of what looked like a gang plank or bridge suspended above the water. Twice, when she was pretty sure she'd not be seen, she raised herself in the water, hoping to see what was going on.

A frown creased her face when she saw people, men women, and children, all wallking along the aerial walkway. From what she could see many were crying, but still she could not understand why. Unease settled over her with a dark foreboding aura of black tar as a smell like sulphur filled the air around her. Concerned to keep herself as well hidden as possible, Syniad swam just enough below the surface that no-one above would notice any shadow her large body might cast.

I'm writing this at the moment so please return for the rest of it...Waggy