Petrified for my friends and the salvies, I swim toward them as fast as I can kick. Dai, Ocho and the rest follow hard on my heels.
:Janni,: I yell, :you’ve got two shredders coming at you from two o’clock!:
:We see them,: she cries. Raising her spear gun, she darts in front of Julita and the other startled salvies. Thom and Kalli flank her, and all three fire at the charging mutates.
The first one stops and convulses violently, spear darts protruding from its eye and mouth, but the second keeps coming. Rohan and Tobin fire at it, and Miguel rams his tow into its body before the shredder can savage Julita. Two other salvies shoot darts into its gills. The water fills with dark red blood as both shredders sink, jerking and twisting, toward the floor of the bay.
:Nere, watch out for the shredder patrol!: Dai shouts.
Cold fear floods through me. I twist about in time to see the six shredders speed past. The scent of blood and their hunger must have overridden the chips in their brains. Four shredders dart downward and tear at the wounded rogue mutates. The last two charge Janni’s group. One closes its jaws on a salvie’s leg and shakes him violently. The other salvies frantically fire spear darts into its head and gills.
The last shredder rushes at Tobin. My heart stops. He’s still reloading his spear gun.
:Tobin, look out!: I cry even as I strain to reach him, but I can’t get there in time.
His dolphin partner Mali flashes past me and rams the shredder in the side. But the mutate keeps coming. Tobin tries to fend it off with his spear gun, and the creature chomps on the tip of the weapon angrily. Shadow swims up and fires a spear dart into its mouth. Then, armed with only her dive knife, she coolly shoots ink at the shredder from a gland in her neck. As Shadow grapples with the mutate, they disappear inside a revolving black cloud.
Panting, I stop just outside it. I can’t shoot. I’m too afraid of hitting Shadow. Tobin hovers on the other side of the cloud, his face white and his spear gun raised and ready to fire. The ink thins a little, and Shadow backs away from the shredder. Just as it lunges forward and rakes her arm, Tobin and I shoot darts into its gills. The wounded creature twitches and stares at us balefully as it sinks into the dark sea below. Tobin grabs his med pack and goes to work on Shadow’s torn arm.
Twenty feet beneath us, Dai, Penn, Ocho and the others fight the last of Kuron’s shredder patrol. When one of the mutates turns on Robry, Densil rams it hard in the gills. Freakishly fast, the creature reaches out and tears Densil’s back before he can streak away.
Just as Ocho and Wasp finish off the shredder that injured Densil, there’s an ominous rumble in the distance. I glance down at Dai. From the stricken look in his eyes, I know we both fear the same thing.
Trembling, I reach out to Sokya. :C-could you, Nika and Laki go see if that sound was caused by the sub exploding?:
:we go to see,: Sokya says and arrows away with her sisters.
:Don’t get too close to it,: I call after them, afraid more torpedoes might blow. If the nuclear missiles had exploded, I think the shock wave would have crushed us by now.
I swim up to Shadow. Her eyes are closed and her face looks paler than ever as Tobin ties a compression bandage around her arm. :Will Shadow be all right?: I ask him anxiously on a private send.
:She’s got some deep cuts, but she should be okay,: Tobin replies.
:She just saved your life, you know. She’s pretty amazing.:
:Yeah, I’m beginning to figure that out,: he says, a smile lighting his green eyes, and then he turns back to treating her.
I glance over at the salvies. Rohan put a tourniquet on the leg of the teen boy savaged by the shredder, and now Julita and Miguel load him onto their tow. After raising their hands to us in farewell, they hurry away with their wounded companion. James will fill them in on what’s happening when they surface. I hope the boy makes it, and I hope that I get to see Julita and Miguel again someday.
The dolphins crowd around Densil. I rush to check on my friend. The shredder’s claws scored three long gouges along his back. They don’t appear to be too deep, though, and dolphins do have amazing capacities to heal.
:How do you feel?: I ask, pulling a salve from my seapack that my mother used on dolphin wounds.
:I am glad the shark people are all dead now,: comes his practical reply.
As I gently smear the salve into Densil’s cuts, I contact James. :Tell Cam the sub is gone and he can head out to sea.:
:Roger that. You all right down there?:
:It got ugly, but I think we’ve finally killed the last of the shredders,: I reply. I pray I’m right and we never see any of those cold, tormented creatures again.
The water around us fills with throbbing thunder as the freighter’s engines shift into gear. I smile as the Esperanza passes over us, heading out to sea. Dai swims up beside me.
:I think my mother would be happy to know her c-plankton is going to be spread throughout the oceans at last,: he says with a wistful smile as he looks up at the freighter.
I stiffen when I spot Ocho and Wasp approaching us. Ocho holds one of Wasp’s gloved hands between his own.
:Nere,: Ocho says, his face turning crimson again, :please tell your dad I’m sorry the bossman learned so much about Safety Harbor and your plans through me. The doc was great about letting me build my omniphone and making me feel welcome. I never meant to put anyone from Safety Harbor in danger.:
:It was all my fault,: Wasp says. :When he talked with me, Ochy didn’t realize how much information I was passing on to the bossman.:
:What are you two planning to do?: I wish I could offer them a home at Safety Harbor, but for now my father would never let Wasp be around his other Neptune kids.
:We’re not sure,: Ocho admits.
:There are eleven other Neptune colonies around the world, and they are all working hard to grow c-plankton,: Dai points out. :Maybe you could get a fresh start at one of them.:
:Or if you stick around here and help our teams growing the c-plankton,: I suggest, :maybe you could win yourselves a place at Safety Harbor eventually.:
:We’ll think about it,: Ocho replies for them both, and they swim away together into the black sea.
:Good luck,: Dai calls after them. From his intent expression, I can tell he has something important to tell me, but Sokya contacts me first. I hold up a hand to stop Dai so that I can concentrate on her words.
:the sub must have exploded,: she reports. :the water above it is very cloudy, but we can sense the sub lies in many pieces now along the canyon floor.:
:The fact it’s in pieces means none of the nukes went off,: I say with relief. :The sub would have been completely vaporized if they had. Can you sense any tows or survival pods in the area that Dai’s dad might have used to escape before the explosion?:
:the seas are empty,: Sokya says, her tone tinged with sadness. :he was a bad man, but we are sorry for your friend.:
:Come back to us now, and thank you.:
:you are welcome,: Sokya says, and for once there’s no snarkiness in her tone.
I draw in a deep breath and focus on Dai. Sorrow and worry churn inside him.
:That rumble we heard was the sub exploding, wasn’t it?: he asks.
I nod. :I-I’m afraid the dolphins couldn’t find any tows or survival pods in the vicinity.:
Dai bows his head in grief. I swim closer and wrap my arms around him, and he lets me, a final gift from his father.