Again, she waved her hand over it and then rotated the other in the air. What did she want from him?

Swimming a little closer, he braced his arms against the rock and stared down at the fish with her. “Cod, is what we call it. It’s a rather flavorless fish, I suppose, but considering how the achromos eat, I cannot imagine that you will find any fault in it. I’ve already cleaned it for you, Mira. You can eat it.”

He mimed eating with his hand and then glanced up at her again. But she wasn’t looking at the fish. She was looking at him.

Her eyes a little wide, her face a little pink. He hadn’t noticed that humans could change color like a cuttlefish, but here she was. Changing color right in front of his eyes.

He met her wide gaze and wondered what she was thinking. She’d asked him to explain the fish to her, and he was. Not that she could understand a single thing of what he was saying. But Arges had always been the brother who enjoyed talking.

It was why he was a warrior. Why he had taken control over the pod rather than his brothers. He was the one who knew how to speak and when to listen. That was his gift, according to Mitéra. And he wanted to use that gift now to help his people.

But it was hard to think about his people at all when she watched him like that. A strange mixture of awe and curiosity played across her features. He had to wonder if he was reading her right, because the expression was so eerily similar to that of his own people.

Then she blinked frantically and shook her head. Coasting her fingers over the fish, she pointed to the water.

“Yes, it came from the sea.” He lifted a clawed hand out of the water, showing her his claws. “They are very easy for one such as me to catch. I imagine it would be harder for you to catch them.”

Her fingers were tiny and her nails were blunted. Any fish would get away from her long before she had the chance to use those soft claws. She didn’t swim fast enough to even catch prey that was mortally wounded.

He’d have to take care of her for the rest of her life.

Arges frowned at the thought. She wasn’t going to be alive for very long, anyway. Here he was, thinking about years away when he’d have to hunt for her every single day. And yet, he knew she would die at the end of this.

Mira was a means to an end. That was all.

Another voice interrupted them, clanging and metallic with words he could not understand. But he knew that it came from the box and he’d forgotten it was still here. It had listened to them clearly, and that magic was enough to send him careening back into the safety of the water.

He didn’t even try to stop the splashing wave that likely soaked the metallic being. He had to go. He couldn’t stay here, talking with her as if she could understand him.

But even as he swam away, the memory of her pink cheeks and the color that played down her throat haunted him.

Perhaps she was a witch, after all.

OceanofPDF.com

Thirteen

Mira

This wasn’t working. She’d been able to get him to talk a little, but nothing like she needed him to speak. He came back once or twice a day; she thought. There was no way to tell time down here, but she could see how much water she was going through.

Mira had set up a freshwater contraption her father had taught her to make before. When she was a kid, it was like setting up a bubbling laboratory. But her dad had known that maybe someday she might need to use this. Large portions of the city often ended up stranded, isolated from the rest by flooding, and there was a lot of salt water but very little fresh water.

The bucket she’d set on a small bunsen burner that she’d found in the crates. It only worked for a little while before going out, so she’d taken it apart and placed the welder there instead. At least that used oxygen to keep the flame going and some new technology that didn’t require fuel. Thank goodness it was a model that had upgraded to that, or she would have no fresh water.

As it was, she could boil all the saltwater and catch the condensation above the bucket with a piece of metal she’d hammered into a ‘v’ shape. The condensation mostly gathered together, rolled into the channel of the v, and then into the other bucket she’d set up there.

It wasn’t a lot of water, but it would at least keep her alive.

Sighing, she stared up at the ceiling and let boredom overtake her mind. Sometimes, she just didn’t talk for an entire day. Byte did all the talking for her, if she wanted. But today she’d asked for silence.

She needed to think.

They weren’t getting enough conversation happening, and when the undine spoke, he mostly used the same words.

“Are you sure?” she asked for a hundredth time. “You’re sure that he’s just repeating words?”

“I have deciphered many different languages,” Byte grumbled. “I am certain he is repeating words. But he likely believes he is teaching you his language, so he is using the proper teaching techniques. Merely, the wrong techniques for our plan.”

“Damn it.”

“Indeed.”

This would take forever. Perhaps longer than she had time for, because she was going to dehydrate. Or maybe he’d get bored with her, and she would die here. Leaving poor Byte with her rotting corpse when she’d promised the little android that she would get it out of here.

No, they needed to figure this situation out. They needed to be able to converse with the undine and... and...

Mira slapped her forehead hard enough to leave a mark. “Damn panic and stupid, stupid nonsense of a brain. Byte!”

When she rolled to her feet, the little droid used its arms to push itself away from her. “Don’t like. Don’t like that expression.”

Grabbing it off the floor like a ball, she marched to the end of the cave and popped it back on top of the server. Leaning low so they were eye level, she asked, “You said you could make a translation chip. Right?”

“Right.” Its wires were shaking.

“Then make one for English. I’ll give him the chip.”

“Him?” The robot shook its binocular head. “No, that won’t work. You’d have to get close enough to put it behind his ear, and if you did that, then you’re close enough to kill. Translation chips hurt, Mira! Not enough to kill him, but absolutely enough to startle him. That will easily be enough reason for him to murder you.”

“It’s a risk we have to take.”

“I will not do it. There is no logic in your plan. He’ll kill you.”

She hadn’t wanted to do this, but... “Beta Iota Epsilon 427. I order you to make me an English translation chip.”

Though the droid grumbled, there was nothing it could do. The programming required it to do whatever it was ordered to do, and she hated using that against it.

Whirring, crackling, and a few sparks scattered out of the box, but then there it was. A translation chip that was smaller than the nail on her thumb, resting on a small platform that came out of the robot’s belly.

“Thank you,” she breathed, before taking the chip and holding it tightly in her palm. “I’ll be careful, you know.”

“Just don’t get killed.”

“That’s the plan.”

Now, all she had to do was wait. It took quite a while for her undine to show up, and then she reminded herself to call him Arges. He was an undine, but his name was Arges and that was going to work to her advantage.

She’d seen his expression when she’d said his name. And if that’s what he wanted from her, if he was even remotely curious about her, then it was time for her to try to flirt.

As if she’d ever been good at that.

Stomach churning with nerves, she sat on the edge of the stone with her feet in the water. This was different, and she hoped that would make him come a little closer. He was clearly curious about her and her body. Their species were similar, but not in every way. She’d seen him eyeing her feet before, although she was pretty certain he was looking at them in disgust. At least if they were in the water, they couldn’t distract him.