Daughter of the Deep(61)

I’m starting to think my fears were overblown. We’re among friends. We’re safe. The Nautilus just wants some respect. All we have to do is try one quick dive. Then we can fix whatever leaks occur, come back tomorrow and try again. We have plenty of time.

That’s when Socrates breaches in the middle of the lake. He splashes down sideways, making as much noise as possible. A moment later, his head pops up at the base of the pier. He chatters, clicks and whistles at me urgently.

‘Whoa,’ Gem says. ‘How did he find us?’

But that’s not the right question. The question is why.

‘Something’s wrong,’ Ester says, her water-blotted note cards forgotten in her hands.

Socrates bucks his head backwards – a signal I remember well. Let’s go! Hurry!

My insides feel like they’re plunging into the Mariana Trench. My foreboding starts to make terrible sense.

‘Everybody!’ I yell. ‘Hey!’

I don’t have Ophelia’s skill at getting the class’s attention, but the alarm in my voice makes an impression. The others turn towards me.

Nelinha frowns at the dolphin, then at me.

‘What’s going on?’ she asks. ‘You okay?’

My hands are shaking. ‘None of us are okay. I think the Aronnax has found us.’





My announcement douses the class’s spirits more effectively than the Nautilus’s hose-down.

For a few chaotic moments, the entire class mills around asking ‘What? What?’ while I try to explain why I’m so sure we’ve been found. For some reason, ‘The dolphin is telling me so’ doesn’t clear up the confusion. Meanwhile, Ester and Top try to interview Socrates, but that isn’t going well. The dolphin is highly agitated. Judging from his body language, his only message is Leave now.

Finally, Ophelia restores order. She gives each house a different assignment: Sharks to check the island’s defensive grid; Cephalopods to send out drone reconnaissance; Orcas to monitor communications and LOCUS; Dolphins to sweep the Varuna one more time for tracking devices.

‘And the four prefects,’ Ophelia says, ‘stay with Luca and me.’

Our hosts lead Franklin, Tia, Gem and me aboard the Nautilus.

This time, the bridge controls light up as soon as I step into the room. Luca strides over to the comm station and manipulates the LOCUS sphere. He’s able to turn it just by holding his hands on either side. Three days using LOCUS aboard the Varuna and I never even thought to try that.

‘I see nothing,’ he announces.

‘Check again,’ Ophelia says. ‘Set the LOCUS to maximum radius.’

‘Of course I have set the LOCUS to …’ Luca falters. He adjusts a dial on the control console. ‘There. I have set the LOCUS to maximum radius. Still nothing.’

‘We’re in the middle of a mountain,’ Gem says. ‘That’s got to affect the Nautilus’s sensors.’

Luca smiles thinly. ‘Not as much as you might think. Even through hundreds of metres of solid rock, these instruments are still more sensitive than anything else in the base.’

‘But if the Aronnax has dynamic camouflage,’ I say, ‘which it probably does –’

‘We should see thermal variations, nevertheless.’ Ophelia frowns. ‘But perhaps not until it gets closer. Too close. Tia, are the drones online yet? You should be able to check with the nav console.’

‘Uh …’ Tia fiddles with a few knobs. She spins the LOCUS sphere. Even for a brilliant Cephalopod, it takes a few seconds to learn a new interface. ‘I don’t … Wait.’

She hits a toggle. A swarm of purple dots appears on the holosphere. ‘Yeah. They’re fanning out in a search perimeter. But, if the Aronnax is out there, won’t the drones give away our position?’

‘If the Aronnax is out there,’ Luca says grimly, ‘they already know we’re here, and we have much bigger problems.’

I clench my fists. I hate the idea that we might have led our enemies to this sanctuary. ‘How could they have tracked us? We swept the Varuna. We were camouflaged and silent. We did everything Dr Hewett told us …’

Even as I say that, my conviction evaporates. Hewett could’ve been working for Land Institute after all and set us up to fail. Or maybe somebody else on board was the traitor, and they sent a communication we didn’t detect. Just thinking about it makes me nauseated.

‘We can’t know,’ Luca says. ‘Clearly, LI has managed to keep a lot of their advances secret. Theodosius warned us of his designs for the Aronnax when he first came to HP. He claimed his sub would rival the Nautilus, but he didn’t believe LI would actually be able to build it for at least another decade or two. If they’ve done it so quickly, without us even being aware …’

Gem shoulders his collection of rifles. ‘But Lincoln Base is well defended, right? We saw the turrets on the way in.’

‘We have defences, yes,’ Ophelia says. ‘We can fend off almost anything a regular navy could throw at us. But we can’t be sure what the Aronnax’s capabilities are. We have to assume the worst.’

Franklin laces his fingers nervously. The blue streak in his hair has turned violet in the glow of the bridge lights. ‘We saw what the Aronnax did to HP. What happens if one of those warheads hits this island?’