Maketes rolled back over, his hair billowing around him like a cloud, and hummed low under his breath. The sound carried through the water, and would have easily been picked up on the opposite side of the achromos city. He would have heard it and known who had made the noise. But this achromo? She didn’t even look up.

His pod brother shook his head in disgust. “You see? Broken, these achromos. They think all the sound in the ocean is just that. Ocean. There is so much they do not know, and yet, they think they own it all.”

He nodded, agreeing with his brother. Still, there was something about her that caught his attention.

She might not have fins or pretty frills, but she moved through the water like she’d been born to it. She used her hands now, pulling herself up and over rocks as the metal creature took the long way around. It was still carrying that panel, and he couldn’t imagine what they were going to do with it.

Until Maketes pulled himself completely over the edge of the stone, hanging with one hand on it as his tail loosely swayed in the water. So easy for her to see if she just looked up.

Sometimes, his pod brother was far too careless.

“She’s going to fix the section of the city that you broke,” Maketes mused.

“What?”

“That’s why it’s carrying the panel. They’re heading in the right direction for it.” He pointed, and damn it, his pod brother was right.

That little mudskipper was going to fix what they had broken together. He hadn’t gone through all this trouble to have her fix everything that easily. Didn’t she realize what destruction they had wrought together? This was a good thing. The ocean could take back what they had destroyed.

Already there were barnacles and clams growing in that tube, through the hole they had created together. Life continued, the sea took back what it was owed.

“That little—” he ground his teeth, flowing over the edge and past his brother.

“Go on and get her, brother!” Maketes called out. “Bring her back for us, yeah? I think most of the people would like to speak with her.”

How they were going to do that, he had no idea. But Arges refused to let her fix any broken pieces of her city. If the metal creature tried to fight him, then he would learn the best way to battle it for his people. He would fight with honor.

She might not know it yet, but that achromo was his. And he intended to take her.

OceanofPDF.com

Seven

Mira

Mira was shocked the suit was holding. There was a decent amount of pressure this deep in the ocean, not to mention the insanely icy temperatures. Most people couldn’t dive even with suits on for very long.

But the engineers had really gone out of their way to make sure this suit was perfect. Most likely because they wanted to get back into their home, not because they wanted to keep her safe. Still, a girl could dream.

The drone meandered ahead of her, so slowly it made her eyes roll more than a few times behind her goggles. They’d insisted on sending this one with her, something about the undines being a little too close for comfort these days. And she understood the fear. Really, she did.

But wouldn’t it have been better to send her with six of the tiny gliders? They could hold on to the panel and move quickly. Faster install meant she was in the water for less time, and that limited the options for the undine to interact with her.

Apparently, such a thought was “beyond her pay grade”.

It made her want to hit her head on a rock and get it over with. She’d never be anything other than a useful tool to the heads of Beta, and she knew that. She’d grown up with those punches, and shouldn’t have expected that to change just because she’d made a device that allowed her to breathe underwater without a tank of air. Still. It took a while every time for the stinging ache of rejection to leave her body.

The drone moved forward, still holding that panel over its head like a shield. But they eventually made it to the engineering tunnel, and she sucked her teeth at the sight. The ocean didn’t wait long to take everything back.

There were barnacles on the walls. Starfish on the glass. Even a few little sea urchins that slowly meandered across the floor that was now covered with sand. Thankfully, it looked like her blast door had held.

Swimming in that direction, she kicked her fins and moved a little closer to one of the windows. Peering inside, she was pleased to see it was all dry.

No oxygen, maybe, but still no leaks.

It was a good start. They’d have to fix a lot more than just this panel, but at least they could get back to their things.

She pressed her fingers to the glass. Inside that room were her only belongings, and the only ones that made any impact on her happiness. A picture of her parents, her mother’s bronze bracelet, and her father’s tool belt.

They’d been injured inside, of all places. Her father had been fixing a rather large heating element and her mother had been working on the wires above him. No one really knew what happened, but neither of them made it out of that room alive.

At least she had their things, though. At least she had some way of remembering them beyond fragile memory.

Sighing, she turned and let the air bubbles filter out of her rebreather. She’d been working on this invention for a very long time. Twin tubes at the back of her head sucked oxygen out of the ocean and allowed her to breathe. Not quite like a fish, but really close. She’d never tested it underwater like this, though she had known eventually she’d have to wear it.

Thankfully, it worked. She honestly hadn’t been certain it would.

Mira saw the dark mass out of the corner of her eye just moments before it struck her. She hadn’t expected anything to move that fast through the water, let alone attack her. They’d already searched the area with drones to make sure there wasn’t anything large in the general vicinity.

Three other men were joining her. She had the belated thought as she was smashed against the side of the tunnel. She just had to make it until they got here.

Mira reached to the belt around her waist and tried to grab her serrated knife. It wouldn’t do much against a shark, but it might keep her alive. Or at least, make the creature think twice.

Whipping out the blade, she blindly struck but soon realized that every one of her attempts to hit something vital was stopped by what felt like a... forearm?

Twisting, she tried to turn in the water, but the damned deep sea flippers on her feet made that hard. They were built for long, graceful movements. They propelled her through the water quickly, but she had to be in control of her body.

Peering down, she saw a thick forearm wrapped around her waist. The darker skin, the slight yellow speckles that she’d not quite been expecting to see, and the thin fissures of bright blue that glowed like veins on top of those clawed hands.

Damn it, she knew exactly who had her in his grasp.

The undine, the idiot who had come far too close to the city and now he was grabbing her in the water?

Mira fought with even more intent. How dare he? He thought he could attack her outside the city? They had a deal. Or at least, some semblance of a deal. She’d saved his life. He saved hers. They were even. The damned thing needed to leave her alone.

Twisting in his grip, she finally spun herself around in his arms. But now he was holding onto her suit and she couldn’t wiggle without risking damage to the material.

If she somehow got away, there was no way she could explain the claw marks on an expensive new piece of equipment. Besides, she needed this suit to stay alive down here. The pressure, the cold, all of it would kill her instantly.