says.
:It gets more amazing. Open your eyes and look down.:
:I can see everything!:
I turn away from Robry to check on Lena. She is floating very still in the water next to me, her arms braced against the rock, her face in the sea.
:Are you all right?:
I ask her tentatively.
Lena turns her head and glares at me.
:Yeah, no thanks to your homicidal mother. She held my head under the water!:
:She did that to me, too. At least you punched her a good one.:
It occurs to me then to check on my mother. She sits slumped all alone on the ledge, her face deathly pale. Thatâs when I realize just how scared she was for us. Even as I watch, she drags her sleeve across her eyes and seems to gather herself. She stands and walks up the tunnel toward our lab, the solar pistol back in her hand.
AFTER MY MOTHER CHECKS to make sure the secret police arenât coming down the tunnel in the next few minutes, she helps us out of the harnesses that kept us anchored by the rock ledge. After we all put on dive fins, Robry darts back and forth, exuberant as a young dolphin in the water.
:Why canât we go out there right now?:
he says, looking toward the open sea.
:Because,:
my mother tells us firmly,
:first you need to realize that on land you were the top of the food chain, but in the sea, there are plenty of creatures capable of hurting and eating you.:
:I know there are plenty of dangerous predators in the ocean,:
I say, interrupting her lecture.
:Thatâs why I still canât believe youâve done this to us.:
:Itâs good that youâre aware of the dangers, Nere,:
Gillian replies, back in her scientist mode.
:That awareness can help you stay alive. You must never forget how vulnerable you are, and you must never go anywhere in open water without the dolphins and a speargun.:
She tosses a weighted buoy into the water.
:I want you to practice firing at this target. Your life may well depend on how accurate you are with your weapons. As you practice, make sure you retrieve your spear darts. You probably wonât have the opportunity to obtain new ones for a long time.:
Lena seems to take my motherâs lecture about our lower place on the ocean food chain seriously. She grabs a speargun and a quiver and starts firing away at the buoy. At first sheâs rusty, but Iâm relieved to see her old skill return to her. Robry and I practice as well, but Iâm not sure itâs necessary, because both of us have spent hours each week snorkeling through kelp forests shooting fish for our familiesâ suppers, soâ¦
While weâre practicing, Gillian loads the zode with our packs and her own gear.
:Thatâs enough for now,:
she tells us.
:Is anyone hungry? If you surface, youâll find you can still breathe air for short periods of time.:
Warily, I surface and take a breath. My mother is right. I can still breathe air, but now it feels dry and weird in my lungs.
Gillian hands us big thick ham sandwiches made with Aliciaâs wonderful bread. With a shudder, I wonder what Iâll be eating in a few weeks. Somehow I doubt thereâs much fresh-baked bread where weâre going. The idea of eating raw fish for the rest of my life, however long thatâs going to be, is beyond depressing.
âThatâs strange. I donât feel the least bit thirsty,â Robry declares after heâs halfway through his sandwich.
âThatâs because your body needs less water now. It can filter out the water you do need from the fish youâll be eating, just the way dolphins do,â Gillian tells us.
When we finish the sandwiches, she checks her watch. âThe tide should be low enough to get the zode out of here in another half hour. Iâm going to come with you as far as Tylerâs Cove just to make sure you get off all right,â she says, and her gaze lingers on me.
âIn the meantime, I want you to put these seasuits on over the swimsuits youâre wearing
:It gets more amazing. Open your eyes and look down.:
:I can see everything!:
I turn away from Robry to check on Lena. She is floating very still in the water next to me, her arms braced against the rock, her face in the sea.
:Are you all right?:
I ask her tentatively.
Lena turns her head and glares at me.
:Yeah, no thanks to your homicidal mother. She held my head under the water!:
:She did that to me, too. At least you punched her a good one.:
It occurs to me then to check on my mother. She sits slumped all alone on the ledge, her face deathly pale. Thatâs when I realize just how scared she was for us. Even as I watch, she drags her sleeve across her eyes and seems to gather herself. She stands and walks up the tunnel toward our lab, the solar pistol back in her hand.
AFTER MY MOTHER CHECKS to make sure the secret police arenât coming down the tunnel in the next few minutes, she helps us out of the harnesses that kept us anchored by the rock ledge. After we all put on dive fins, Robry darts back and forth, exuberant as a young dolphin in the water.
:Why canât we go out there right now?:
he says, looking toward the open sea.
:Because,:
my mother tells us firmly,
:first you need to realize that on land you were the top of the food chain, but in the sea, there are plenty of creatures capable of hurting and eating you.:
:I know there are plenty of dangerous predators in the ocean,:
I say, interrupting her lecture.
:Thatâs why I still canât believe youâve done this to us.:
:Itâs good that youâre aware of the dangers, Nere,:
Gillian replies, back in her scientist mode.
:That awareness can help you stay alive. You must never forget how vulnerable you are, and you must never go anywhere in open water without the dolphins and a speargun.:
She tosses a weighted buoy into the water.
:I want you to practice firing at this target. Your life may well depend on how accurate you are with your weapons. As you practice, make sure you retrieve your spear darts. You probably wonât have the opportunity to obtain new ones for a long time.:
Lena seems to take my motherâs lecture about our lower place on the ocean food chain seriously. She grabs a speargun and a quiver and starts firing away at the buoy. At first sheâs rusty, but Iâm relieved to see her old skill return to her. Robry and I practice as well, but Iâm not sure itâs necessary, because both of us have spent hours each week snorkeling through kelp forests shooting fish for our familiesâ suppers, soâ¦
While weâre practicing, Gillian loads the zode with our packs and her own gear.
:Thatâs enough for now,:
she tells us.
:Is anyone hungry? If you surface, youâll find you can still breathe air for short periods of time.:
Warily, I surface and take a breath. My mother is right. I can still breathe air, but now it feels dry and weird in my lungs.
Gillian hands us big thick ham sandwiches made with Aliciaâs wonderful bread. With a shudder, I wonder what Iâll be eating in a few weeks. Somehow I doubt thereâs much fresh-baked bread where weâre going. The idea of eating raw fish for the rest of my life, however long thatâs going to be, is beyond depressing.
âThatâs strange. I donât feel the least bit thirsty,â Robry declares after heâs halfway through his sandwich.
âThatâs because your body needs less water now. It can filter out the water you do need from the fish youâll be eating, just the way dolphins do,â Gillian tells us.
When we finish the sandwiches, she checks her watch. âThe tide should be low enough to get the zode out of here in another half hour. Iâm going to come with you as far as Tylerâs Cove just to make sure you get off all right,â she says, and her gaze lingers on me.
âIn the meantime, I want you to put these seasuits on over the swimsuits youâre wearing
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