Chalam’s face had paled and he stared at me. “So a . . . neutral beam vaporized the water and dissolved our hull? And melted my brother’s hand?”
“The laser vaporized the water. The beam just passed through the void, straight to your seacar. And it didn’t melt the hull, or your brother’s hand.”
Max said, “Neutrons would have knocked the protons out of atoms. Pushed molecules apart. Shoved electrons aside. Technically not melting from heat. Just . . . disassociating atoms. Dissolving them.” He frowned and looked away. “Someone invented this weapon?”
“She’s here, with us now,” Johnny said. “She’s coming with us to steal it back.”
“And what happens then?”
“She’s going to stay here and work with us.”
“She’s been here for weeks already,” Johnny added. “Working with us.”
“Incredible,” Max breathed. Then he straightened and faced us. “Count me in. I want to be a part of this. I need to learn more. And if this weapon will help us protect Trieste, then absolutely I want to participate.”
Chalam was watching the exchange. “I don’t understand why we need to know about the Trench though, Mac. I’ve been teaching Max about it. Neither the base nor Diego Garcia are in it. They’re farther to the west.”
“You two are part of the plan to get the Third and Fourth Components from The Vault. We definitely need to know the geology of the area in order to steal them. But the Second Component is next, and it’s on board the Aurora Rex.”
“What are the components?” Max asked.
I thought back to Alyssna’s lesson. “The Second one is the Staging System, to feed power to each part of the weapon. The Third is the Aiming Module, and the Fourth is The Accelerator.”
“And these three with the ten lasers is the . . . The Water Pick?”
“Exactly.”
Chalam said, “You don’t have to ask me again.” He glanced at Max. “We’re both in.”
—••—
Johnny and I left Chalam in the lab to continue planning with Max, who guaranteed that he’d have more Isomer Bombs ready for us. He’d have them loaded in SC-1 and ready to go in two days. Meanwhile he was also going to keep working with Chalam on the geology of the region.
Johnny said, “The big issue at the moment is Aurora Rex,” he said. “How are we going to locate her?”
“That’s the Commodore,” I replied. “He should be able to tell us where she is. We’re going to go to Blue Downs in two days and launch the next operation from there.”
I had planned to go meet Alyssna in her lab, just a few decks away from Hyland’s. Johnny went on to his office to deal with city business, and he was also going to make sure SC-1 was ready for the upcoming voyage.
Alyssna had already arranged for the Laser Module’s transport, and sure enough, inside, I found her fawning over the weapon. She was connecting cables to sensors and computers and was running a variety of diagnostics.
“I can’t believe what those morons have done here,” she snapped, barely looking up at me.
“Does it work?” I asked.
“Of course, but the efficiency is down. It’s not detecting the water conditions as quickly as it was before. And the wavelength transducer is off. I’m not sure why they made these changes. I have to adjust everything.”
“Care to chat for a bit? I can have some coffee delivered?”
She finally looked at me, as if realizing for the first time that I was in her lab. She smiled and straightened. “I’m sorry, Mac. Of course, that would be nice.”
We moved to a seating area in the corner and I called a local café. I looked around; her lab was really taking shape, especially with the massive laser pack in the center. The device seemed to pulse with power. The lasers arranged around the barrel—currently a void space waiting for The Accelerator—looked deadly. “Don’t turn it on by accident,” I muttered. No doubt a ten-terawatt blast would instantly melt the bulkhead to the exterior.
“It has safety measures built in.”
“Good.” We made small talk while waiting for the coffees. Alyssna was happy in Trieste and had already seen many improvements over her previous working situation. Here, she was her own boss. I had given her total freedom.
Coffee arrived and we sipped it, practically in the shadow of the lasers. “This would impress your dad, I think,” I said. It had been a calculated comment, and sure enough, her face froze.
She stared at me. “I doubt it.”
“I have had to deal with my own issues regarding our own father. Meg and I, both. He destroyed our lives.” I’d already told her about it, on SC-1. “It was only recently that we fully reconnected.”
“And restarted the independence movement.”
I shook my head. “Actually, that never stopped. I didn’t realize it. But when I took over Trieste City Intelligence, I had a distinct advantage over my dad.”
Her eyes showed her confusion. “What?”
“The SCAV drive. Nations are desperate to get it. It gave us a major advantage in battles. That’s been the impetus for independence now.”
“I see.”
“But your invention is going to be the next catalyst for us. And you created it, Alyssna.”
“I did.” She nodded. “But it wouldn’t impress my dad.”
“Why not?”
“For the same reason he was never impressed. I was born a girl.”
A long silence descended over us. I had known this was a difficult topic for her. She stared at her laser for long minutes. Finally, “You want to talk to me about my dad. But I asked you a question that you ignored too, Mac. Would you like to talk about it now?”
That genuinely confused me. “Pardon?”
“Remember, a while back I asked you about Katherine Wells. I asked you how she died. You said you buried her at sea but wouldn’t say more. No comment, you said.”
“Ah.” I leaned back. I wanted Alyssna to open up to me, to feel a part of the team. I said, “She was with us during a battle in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. We call it the Third Battle of Trieste.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“It’s not common knowledge. We obliterated a fleet of USSF and FSF warsubs. They were trying to locate our base there. Captain Heller of the USSF wanted to kill me.”
She looked shocked. “And you won?”
“We destroyed ninety-eight USSF vessels. Killed Heller. We destroyed double that number of FSF warsubs.”
“Bullshit.”
“It happened, because of the SCAV drive and our deep-diving tech, called the APD. We can descend to over 6,000 meters with it. We only had some fifty armed seacars to do it.”
Her eyes were wide.
“And now The Water Pick is going to add to our arsenal. We’re going to be a serious power.”
“I’d say you already are.” Pause. “But how did Kat die?”
I sighed. “She was in SC-1. A torpedo detonated too close. Her control console exploded in her face. Shrapnel impaled her.”
“And have you recovered?” She studied me. “You’re with Renée now, so you must have.”
“A part of me will always remember her.” I exhaled. “It’s been tough to get over. I spent a while suffering. Renée helped me, and I fell in love with her.”
She nodded slightly at that.
“I don’t jump from relationship to relationship,” I explained. “I didn’t love anyone until Kat. I was forty-four at the time. I fell hard for her.”
“She was kind and loving?”
“She was. But there’s more.” At her raised eyebrow, I said, “She was fierce. Fiery. She argued with me a lot. She was hard to keep happy. She had her own plans and ideas, and I was always trying to modify mine to compromise. It bothered me at first, but I fell in love with the process, and with her. We were better as a pair than apart, I think.”
“Renée is like that too, I’ve noticed.”
I thought about the past, how Renée had spent a year trying to find and kill me. I snorted, and Alyssna raised an eyebrow again. “She is, actually. Funny that you say that.”
“Thanks for telling me about Kat.”
“Where’s your dad now?”
She stopped suddenly, her face growing dark. But she said, “I don’t know, Mac. He might be dead. When I left Zambia, I left forever. I studied at Cambridge and never looked back. I don’t care, frankly, where he is. He was never a father to me.”
“Maybe not in spirit, but the impact is always there.”
“Meaning?” Her eyes flared.
I shrugged. “Just that those relationships—regardless of how we view them—play a role in who we are and what we become.” I pointed at the laser, growling with power under the lights. “Look at that, Alyssna! It wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for your dad.”
“I did that, Mac. Not my father.”
“But if your father hadn’t rejected you, would it exist? Would you have built it? Would you even be an engineer?”
She stopped at that and stared at me. I couldn’t tell if it was in anger, or self-realization.
She said nothing more.
—••—
I had a break in my schedule after visiting Alyssna, which I found shocking, because my work at Trieste never seemed to end. There were forty-five minutes before my next meeting with the City Control staff for a monthly update on procedures and to review any new issues. After taking a quick scan of the agenda, I saw that Grant Bell wanted to provide an update about the increasing traffic around Seascape, which came up nearly every meeting, Joey Zen wanted to address a pressure control issue in one of the travel tubes, Melissa Larret had an issue with the mining vehicles not following departure procedures, Germaine Kraft had an update on the city’s sonar systems, and a work crew foreperson was going to update everyone on the repairs to the torpedo launcher that the explosion had damaged a few weeks earlier.
Forty-five minutes seemed an eternity for me, so I called Renée to see if she could meet at a café near City Control.
“Actually, it’s time for my swim,” she said over the comm on the bulkhead just outside of Alyssna’s office. “Care to join me?”
“I’d love to,” I said without hesitation. “Our last one didn’t work out so well.”
“Funny.”
“Where are you?”
“The airlock near my living compartment. I’m just getting changed.”
“I’ll be right there.” A sudden thought occurred to me, and I added, “Can I bring Sahar? I want to give her a tour outside.” I recalled how the fish and colors outside had amazed her.
“Absolutely! She’ll love it.”
I signed off and signalled Sahar. She’d been exploring the city with Richard, and she immediately said yes, with enthusiasm.
Five minutes later we were at the Living Module airlock. There was a seating area just outside with a wall of lockers; each resident in that section had their own. I had to carry my own tank, regulator, full face mask, and wetsuit in, and Sahar had her own equipment, which she was already wearing. The hood covered her hair. She had a massive smile on her face; she couldn’t wait to float among the incredible variety of wildlife she’d been watching from inside just a few minutes earlier. Perhaps she’d take the opportunity to pray.
We checked each other’s tanks and equipment and moved into the airlock.
“Richard didn’t want to let me go,” Sahar said. “He was giving me the most wonderful tour. I just couldn’t resist your offer though.”
Renée asked, “What did he show you?”
“The central atrium was magnificent. It was simply amazing, especially with the sun overhead. We also went through some travel tubes. He even showed me the nuclear plant, which you moved underground after The Battle in 2129.”
I chuckled. Leave it to Richard to tie in a tour with his view of the necessary changes for the independence movement. “He feels it’s too dangerous to leave power plants exposed to attack.”
“They hit it in the fighting?”
I nodded. “Targeted it to make us surrender.”
“It’s a good idea, actually,” she replied.
“The strategy to hurt us, or the burying of the plant?”
“Both.”
The inner hatch slid shut and we all locked eyes to make sure we were prepared. Going out was second nature now, but we could never let our guard down. There were still so many dangers, including the pressure, air supply, nitrogen narcosis, fast moving vehicles, marine life, and more.
We stood there waiting for the water to flood in from the deck up.
I looked down after a few seconds.
There was no water.
I heard a few clicks in the environmental equipment. “It seems to be taking longer than normal—”
Then finally water began to flood around our flippers and rise up our legs. It was warm and comforting, and Sahar smiled. “It’s much different than the Channel!”
Her enthusiasm made me smile too.
The water rose to the ceiling and I faced the outer hatch, waiting.
It didn’t open.