Still, it was rather reassuring to be able to return to him and ask as she got into the water, “You aren’t going to kill me this time though... Are you?”

He grinned, those sharp teeth flashing. “No, Mira. I’m going to keep you.”

She wasn’t all that certain his answer was much better.

But she fixed her rebreather on, tightened her goggles, and sank into his arms with the same amount of trust as always. He gathered her up to his chest, even moving his hands to shift her feet into his gills as they slowly swam away from the darkness. She didn’t know where they were going, nor did she need to.

It startled her how much she trusted an individual who had tried to kill her. Multiple times. He could have drowned her at any point, and the rebreather was the only thing keeping her safe now. Even that was a little clunky now that she’d used it so much. But if it stopped working, she had faith that he would breathe air into her lungs until he got her to the surface.

That amount of trust in someone like him? It was... unprecedented.

Stupid, maybe.

But then she remembered how his fingers tucked her toes a little tighter into the warm gills at his hips, and how he regularly checked her fingers in the gills at his neck to make sure they weren’t icy and she forgot she was supposed to be afraid of him.

Soon the water lightened again. Turning from the depths of dark blue where all color disappeared into bright lights where she could see that they were fairly close to the bottom of the ocean. The ground seemed to come up from underneath them. Suddenly it was right there, sandy white with dots of starfish and shells of creatures she couldn’t name. Though there were not a lot of sea creatures around them, it was still beautiful in its own way. Endless, it seemed.

She could see the small tunnels left in the sand by all the creatures who had moved about in their shells. And soon, she could see the surface. She’d never been this close to the upper levels of the ocean where she could have swum up and poked her head out if she wished.

And there was sun.

Spears of sunlight that shattered through the water, like great weapons that were soft to the touch and broke against her skin. So beautiful that tears fell from her eyes and gathered at the bottom of her goggles. It was... unlike anything she’d ever seen before.

“Why are we here?” she asked, her voice muffled around the rebreather. “Isn’t it dangerous?”

He looked down at her and that booming voice shattered through every truth she’d ever had. “It’s been a long time since your people have seen the surface, achromo. A great many things have changed.”

“Are you... Are you taking me to the surface?”

“No. That is a wild, untamed land now. There are many creatures who rule it and you are not capable of protecting yourself. But I found something here, a rumor that turned out to be true, and I thought you would be more comfortable. Even if it is very far from me.”

How long had they been swimming? This was far?

She craned her neck to look behind him, back into the depths of the sea that disappeared from view. But then he flicked his fins, forcefully turning her, so she had to look at something else entirely.

It was a dome. A glass dome with panels on each side outstretched like little fins. Black structures that looked remarkably similar to the diagrams she’d seen of solar panels from the old days. It was connected with a single rod to the ocean floor, but the rest of it hovered in the middle of the water. Though the glass was covered in algae, making it difficult to see what was inside, she was certain it was a room.

He swam her over to the strange dome, then underneath it.

“There,” he said, pointing to an opening in the bottom. “I assume you are familiar with this?”

She startled, surprised he was talking to her. She’d gotten so used to them not talking and communicating through gestures that it was still rather strange to converse. “Oh, uh, yes. It’s a moon pool.”

“Why is it called that?”

“I don’t know.” She drifted out of his arms, through the warmer water and to the button that she could only assume was rusted, but was pleased to find still worked. Hitting it with her thumb, Mira moved away as the moon pool opened and revealed a room above her head.

She didn’t hesitate. Mira kicked her feet and ripped off her mask. She didn’t care if the air was stale or smelled like wet seaweed. She didn’t care even if it was breathable, because it had to be. There was a person living here. A human person who could... could...

No one had been here for ages.

She looked around, noting the thick layers of dust that coated everything and the strange, stagnant air. No one had been around to push buttons or maintain this space in a long time.

The steps down into the moon pool were very bland, but everything else in this room wasn’t. What little walls there were, mostly half walls of metal underneath glass, were hand painted with faded yellow flowers. Delicately and meticulously made to look like daisies. There were two levels inside. One with a table and half a kitchenette, small but enough for a single person. And the next level with a comfortable bed with a yellow comforter that somehow was still in perfect condition. It even had pillows. So many of them.

Spinning in the water, she turned to look behind her and saw the rest of the dome was full of life. Plants that overflowed with so many variations of zucchini, tomatoes, grapes, countless others she couldn’t name that weren’t bearing fruit yet. Food. Real food.

Her jaw hung open in shock. It wasn’t possible that there was a place like this under the ocean and yet, here it was. More food than she could eat and various tables and jars everywhere. A person had lived here. Not even just lived, but thrived.

A small rescue pod, out in the middle of the ocean. Far away from any of the cities. Who had built this?

Swallowing hard, she pushed herself out of the water and sat on the edge of the moon pool, trying to devour everything with her eyes. But her mind couldn’t keep up. This was beautiful and remarkable and far too perfect for everything that she needed.

Arges joined her, slowly rising out of the water like some kind of sea god who had brought her to salvation. “Will this suffice?”

“I don’t even know what this is.”

“There were rumors, years ago, of my people keeping... pets.” His lips wrinkled in distaste. “There was one in particular who had been brought to this area by her owner and I thought perhaps it was still around.”

“So it is.”

“This will keep you alive?” He stared at her a little too intently. “You will not die here?”

She could feel the warm sun at her back and was surrounded by food. No, she wouldn’t die here. “I don’t think so.”

Arges swam a little closer and tapped his knuckles on Byte’s exterior. The little robot opened the top hatch, glaring as much as a robot could.

The undine snarled at her droid before repeating, “She will not die here?”

“This will suffice.”

“Good.” He swam a little farther away from her, looking like he wanted to stay. “I have a few things to do, our trail to cover up, and I need to find where my brother is. Stay alive, human.”

“I—”

But he was gone before she could thank him.

OceanofPDF.com

Twenty-Eight

Arges

It took him far too long to figure everything out. He returned to his home, still hoping that Daios might have been there. But his brother was suspiciously absent, as were more of the members of his pod.

A bitter ache churned in Arges’s belly the longer he was with his people. He knew that there was some undercurrent of disrespect, but he didn’t know how to deal with it. His people had never not trusted him. They’d always looked to him to lead.