Daughter of the Deep(70)

The only sound is the distant hum of the air circulators.

‘Ana,’ Gem says at last, ‘nobody blames you.’

I stare at him. I’d be less surprised if he told me the ocean was purple.

‘You’re not your brother,’ he continues. ‘What he did doesn’t reflect on you. You’ve brought us this far and kept us alive.’ He looks around the group. ‘Anybody disagree? If so, speak up.’

No one does.

I wonder if this is just peer pressure. Gem is a hard person to contradict. But I sense no discomfort in the crew: no furtive glances, no squirming in seats.

A feeling of gratitude wraps around me like a warm quilt. I want to thank my friends, but that seems insufficient. The best way I can thank them is by living up to their trust.

‘If you’re sure,’ I say, brushing away another tear, ‘then we have a lot of work to do. Where are we on repairs?’

Their reports do not help my headache. Our to-do list is as long as the submarine. On top of cleaning goop and repairing the systems we broke when we made our escape, there are still a thousand things about the Nautilus we don’t understand.

Luca and Ophelia spent two years trying to comprehend this ship. They were HP’s best. If we ever want to get underway again, we’ll have to complete their work without the benefit of their experience – or their base or any other kind of repair facilities. And we don’t have two years in which to do it.

Nelinha says what I’m thinking: ‘We have to help Lincoln Base.’

Kiya Jensen shifts her broken arm in her sling. I can tell she doesn’t like what she’s about to say.

‘I’m just going to put this out there,’ she says. ‘Our duty is to make sure the Nautilus doesn’t fall into anyone else’s hands, right? Wouldn’t Luca and Ophelia tell us not to try helping them if there’s any chance LI could capture the sub?’

She’s right, of course. We’re riding in the most destabilizing technological breakthrough ever: a leap forward as dramatic as iron weapons or gunpowder were. And hearing a Shark like Kiya suggest running away hits me like ice water in the face.

‘Plus,’ she continues, ‘we’re outmatched. Dev wasn’t wrong about that. We’ve got a very old, not fully functional sub … beautiful and amazing though she is …’ She says this last part loudly, addressing the chandelier. ‘And we’re not trained to operate her. Land Institute sent their senior class. They were foolish not to send alumni, or their adult staff, but still … they’ve got Dev. They must have been planning this operation for a long time.’

I wonder again why LI sent only students, even if they sent their best. Maybe it was school culture – fostering self-reliance, like Caleb said – but I have a feeling it had more to do with Dev. I can imagine him putting conditions on his cooperation – that he and only he would be in charge of the Aronnax, that LI had to trust him with command to prove they were different than HP. Maybe, in the back of his mind, he was even trying to level the playing field, to give HP a fighting chance …

No. I can’t think like that. I can’t be Dev’s apologist. He made his choices. Vile choices. And now, if he fails to deliver the Nautilus, I imagine his new friends will turn unfriendly fast.

Nelinha scowls at her sandwich. ‘Land Institute killed our friends. They destroyed HP. Now they’re holding Lincoln Base. We can’t run away from that.’

Brigid Salter glumly pushes away her plate. She lost her brother at HP. She knows exactly what Land Institute has done. ‘They want the Nautilus, not the island. Maybe the Aronnax left Lincoln Base to follow us.’

Judging from her tone, she desperately wants that to be true. She wants her chance at a fight.

‘Or,’ Dru suggests, ‘sorry to say this, but they could have already destroyed the base.’

I shake my head. ‘They destroyed HP because it was part of their plan. It spurred us into leading them to the Nautilus. Lincoln Base is different. It was Nemo’s final resting place. They’ll want to explore it. They’ll expect to find clues to our location, information about the ships …’

‘They’ll take the island,’ Gem decides. ‘Which means they’ll take prisoners.’

I think about those we left behind: Luca, Ophelia, Dr Hewett, Franklin, Tia. Even Socrates, though I’m not so worried about him being caught.

‘They’ll keep our people alive,’ I say, forcing myself to believe it. ‘Dev will want to interrogate them.’

I’m thinking of him as our enemy now. Not some faceless group of rival students. My own brother. I’ve fallen into a universe I don’t understand and don’t want to.

‘How long do we have?’ Gem asks. I understand his implication: until the prisoners are no longer useful.

I defer to Lee-Ann. She’s our best interrogator. I can no longer tell if her ears turn red, though, because they’re gift-wrapped by a ribbon of gauze around her head.

‘Depends on the captors’ patience level,’ she says. ‘Could be weeks. I imagine Dev – Land Institute is hoping we’ll come back. They’ll be waiting. It’ll be useful for them to have live captives.’

I think about the interrogation methods I learned at HP. We were always taught to avoid cruelty. That’s not our way. Still, some psychological techniques can be devastating, and I doubt Land Institute will take a light hand. Every day in captivity will feel like an eternity.