She was already waving those hands around, trying to convey some message to him, but he had no idea what she was trying to say.

“You have water and light.” He pointed into the water. “Now I will bring you food.”

And then he sank beneath the surface because he couldn’t stand to listen to her for much longer. His head hurt.

OceanofPDF.com

Nine

Mira

“Fuck!” Mira screamed, kicking a sizable rock toward the water. It made a very large, satisfying splash, but that didn’t change her situation.

The fucking undine had kidnapped her. He’d followed her through that volcanic field, fished her out like she was nothing but a nuisance, and then left her here.

To die.

She was so deep underwater, there was no way she could sneak home. She didn’t have her flippers, so swimming would be far too slow. Her feet would freeze off, and it was only a small miracle that the undine put off an insane amount of heat around those waist fins of his. Otherwise, she’d have lost her toes on the journey here.

But now what? He’d left her in a cave, with nothing but the natural light that emitted from the strange pool. She had to sit here and wait for him? She’d die.

He’d left her to die.

Her heart thundered in her chest and the words played over and over again through her mind.

He’d left her to die. She was going to die here. This cave would be her tomb and no one would know what had happened to her. No one would really care, either. Engineers went missing all the time when they took on an out-of-Beta job.

She could have hit a strange current. She could have hit her head and then floated off the cliff. Maybe a couple of people would be disappointed that they’d have to take up her work, but no one would outright miss her. Mira didn’t even have a friend who would ask what had happened to her.

They all just did what they could. No one in Beta liked to make attachments because what if something happened to them? Just like what had happened to her.

She set her rebreather down on a nearby stone and then slumped down beside it. She couldn’t take her eyes off the contraption that had worked so well.

The others would think her design was flawed. That something in her rebreather had gone wrong, and that’s why she hadn’t come back up. No one would even give her the credit for creating something that worked. Her design was perfect, and it had not only given her air during the assignment, but under a lot of pressure beneath the ocean as well.

“You were perfect,” she whispered, her voice echoing a bit in the cavern. Ghosting her fingers over the device, she stared into the glowing yellow water.

It was pretty. The natural motion of the sea turned into soft, undulating waves. Barely noticeable unless she stared at the water. Then she could see the flickering sparkles that drifted left to right. It lulled her senses, setting her mind into something almost like a trance.

“You are safe,” she murmured to herself. “You are alive. You are not dead yet.”

Over and over, she repeated the words until some of the tension in her body had eased. Her heart eased upon the hammering in her ribs like an insistent child. I will relax, it seemed to say. But soon we need to run again.

And run where? She was only feet from the icy water, and the ground wasn’t entirely warm against her toes. Not cold, but definitely not warm.

“You have to get up and do something,” Mira told herself. So she stood.

Maybe she stayed frozen there for a little while longer. Her stomach twisted as she thought about drowning herself. It would serve that undine right to return and find that she’d done the work for him. If he’d wanted to kill her, he could have at least fought her.

Starvation was a horrible way to go.

Finally, though, she tore her eyes away from the glimmering lights and turned her attention to the cave itself. Maybe this would give her a little more details on where she was. She couldn’t be on the surface, no undine would bring her there. Besides, wouldn’t she be hearing a lot more thunder from the storms that never abated?

She had to still be underwater. He must have brought her to a cave system that... that...

“Is that a crate?” she asked.

It was more than just a crate.

There was an entire computer system here. All set up in the back of the cave. She’d recognize the look of that anywhere. The hardware was similar to the ones in the engineering section of Beta. Old, but not impossible to turn on.

Taking a staggering step forward, she paused and then scrubbed her eyes hard to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating.

“You can’t have nitrogen poisoning,” she muttered. “You weren’t breathing gas.”

But it sure seemed like she was hallucinating.

She took another step forward. Then another. Her body started moving of its own accord as she lunged toward the equipment. A few clicks here, a swift kick to the side there, and three bangs of her fist on the top of the old generator and voila. She was in luck.

Apparently, the energy was derived from the water. She heard a soft churn before lights flickered on above her head. There weren’t many, most of them were on their own stand and a few of the bulbs were broken.

But she had three lights. Three white lights that weren’t coming out of the ocean.

And an entire computer system at her disposal.

“Oh, you stupid undine,” she muttered as she grabbed onto the side of the computer. “Messaging system, turn on. On.”

There were two words on the screen, and they crushed what little hope she’d had to send a message.

Systems Offline.

So, she wouldn’t be able to tell anyone that she was still alive. But at the very least, she had lights. She had crates of stuff to look through, although most of them appeared to be empty. And there was a cot in the corner with a very moldy blanket that had sunk into the mattress itself. She’d have to get rid of that.

It wasn’t the worst place she’d stayed by far. Neither would this be a very comfortable stay. But maybe if she tried her best, she could get that computer working. The signal would be weak, and it would be really hard for her to do much other than send a single message repeatedly, but it was a start.

It was hope.

The sound of rippling water caught her attention. Mira turned and shrieked when she saw the undine floating behind her in the pool. Just the top of his head and his eyes showed, watching her with that black gaze that somehow was more unnerving out of the water than in it.

She hadn’t realized he had so many gills on the sides of his face. Maybe they’d been flat to his skull the few times she’d seen him, but now they stood out. Sharp spikes with webs, rounded curves and edges, all blue and veiny and really gross.

How some people in Beta thought the undines looked humanoid, she would never understand. They were monsters. They were terrible beasts who kidnapped people who were just trying to do their job.

“What are you doing back here?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest and keeping a large distance between them. Could he get out of the water?

She thought he’d survive it. He’d been in the hallway with her just fine, and then he’d done that strange vomiting movement that had expelled water out of his gills. So he must be able to live for a while outside of the water.

The undine lifted something and threw it at her. She sidestepped, avoiding whatever projectile he’d tossed.

“Real mature,” she muttered, looking around for something to throw back at him. “Two can play at that game, you know.”

Maybe they’d left a wrench. It wouldn’t be very smart to waste such a valuable tool, but, oh, it would feel so good to see it bounce off his thick skull.