The Neptune Challenge

by Polly Holyoke

  I close my eyes again and push past the waves of hunger coming from the shredders. Farther away I touch another mind, one that’s dark and angry. There’s a man in the sub, and he’s completely focused on the shredders. He feels possessive toward them and eager to see how they perform.

  Then I sense a different mind, one I’ve encountered before.

  :I think Wasp is with that sub,: I warn everyone.

  Seconds later, the shredders halt their circling and charge straight at us.

  :Penn, hit your jammer!: Janni cries, but she doesn’t have time to press the button on her own. She’s too busy shooting the lead shredder in the head. Her boomer explodes with an orange flash, and the shredder veers off, its head partly blown away. Then a second shredder is on her. She tries to hold it off with her empty speargun. The creature reaches out and slashes her shoulder with its sharp, curved talons.

  I lunge forward and shoot the shredder in the face. My boomer blows a hole between its eyes, but it keeps coming, trying to rip us apart. Desperately I shove it away with my empty speargun. The shredder claws my forearm, but the mutate’s strength is finally fading. The creature falls away from us, twitching and seizing. A third one streaks downward and begins to tear at it.

  Our entire group fights the remaining shredders now. The dolphins help where they can, ramming the shredders with their hard beaks. Intently focused, Thom fires at a mutate charging Ree. Kalli shoots at a shredder trying to get at Lena. Kalli’s boomer tears a hole in its side. The wounded creature breaks off its attack and dives to feed on the crippled shredders below us.

  I see one of the monsters has latched on to Seth’s thigh, and I reload my speargun with a regular dart as fast as I can. The shredder shakes Seth the way a great white shakes a seal. His loyal dolphins keep ramming the shredder’s ribs. I can’t get a clean shot—the dolphins are in the way! At last the mutate breaks off the attack. Penn finishes it with a shot through its gills. Twisting and lashing around in a dark cloud of its own blood, the shredder sinks into the midnight depths beneath us.

  Now there are only two shredders left swimming. Both are wounded, but they still devour the dying ones. After Thom and Ree kill them by firing spear darts through their heads, they drift down beyond the limits of our vision toward the black floor of the strait.

  I glance at the sub, gulping when I spot a second group of eight shredders passing it and closing on us fast. We’ll never be able to fight off this second wave! I reach out with my mind, scanning them for any weakness. Once again, I’m overwhelmed by their searing hunger. A desperate idea comes to me.

  :Sokya, take Nika and drive that school of cod to the east of us into the shredders. The fish might distract them.:

  :we go,: Sokya says, and our two fastest dolphins streak away.

  :Eight more shredders heading our way!: I warn our group. :Mariah, keep an eye out for real sharks, too.:

  I glance toward Janni for orders. Clearly she’s struggling to stay conscious. Tobin’s already working on her shoulder and Rohan is bandaging a nasty bite wound in Seth’s thigh.

  :You take command,: Janni says faintly. :I’m useless now.:

  :’Kay,: I say, fighting panic. We’re out of boomers, we don’t have time to race back to that canyon, and the jammers appear to be worthless.

  :Let’s circle up around Janni and Seth,: I tell the others, :and reload our spearguns.:

  My blood thunders in my ears as I watch the shredders drive through the sea. They swim impossibly quickly, their legs kicking with machinelike efficiency. Where’s Sokya?

  The lead shredder is so close now that I can see its dead gray eyes. Trying to keep my trembling hands steady, I raise my speargun and aim for its head. I can’t afford to miss. But even if I manage to kill this one, seven more will be on us in seconds.

  Taking a deep breath, I squeeze the trigger. The speargun recoils in my hands as my dart pierces the lead shredder’s eye. The creature stops, but the others keep charging!

  I raise my empty speargun, hoping to fend off the next shredder rushing toward me. It’s so close that I can see a third row of jagged teeth in its lower jaw. Suddenly, Densil rams it so hard, he knocks the mutate away from me. Before the creature can twist about to attack either of us, a school of silver cod darts through the shredders, desperate to escape the dolphins chasing them. The starving mutates break their perfect formation. They chase the cod in every direction, frantically gobbling them down.

  Ree coolly picks off a shredder. I reload and wait for my chance. A frenzied shredder flashes past me, gulping one cod as it chases another. I send a spear dart through the gills at its neck.

  Another shredder veers toward us, intent on devouring three fish that race ahead of it. Thom’s beside me with his speargun loaded. :This guy’s yours,: I say.

  Thom fires, and his dart buries itself in the shredder’s belly. Two more shredders stop charging us to tear apart the one Thom wounded. Tobin takes out the first, and Lena shoots the second.

  The last two shredders start back toward the sub as if someone called them off us. But seconds later, they break formation and dive down to feed on their dying companions. Kalli, Penn, and Thom finish them off.

  I feel the fury of the man inside the sub. Cold dread washes over me as the sub speeds toward us. What if it’s armed with torpedoes?

  But the sub veers away and heads south, and I release a deep breath. Our dolphins come to find their human partners. I think they’re as shaken as we are. Mariah, Tisi, Densil, and Sokya crowd around me, and I rub their flukes.

  :Densil, you just saved my life, and Sokya, you were wonderful. You and Nika saved everyone.:

  :I am glad you killed those things,: Sokya says as she tilts to stare at the shredders sinking into the shadowy depths. :they are even worse than the big sharks.: For once, Sokya’s mental tone is subdued.

  :We have to hand over Seth and Janni to medics from Safety Harbor as quickly as possible,: Tobin tells me. :They’re both too badly injured to continue on to Atlantea.:

  :Is anyone else hurt?:

  :Just you.: He nods toward my forearm. The cuts burn like crazy, but I’m relieved to see they’re shallow. Lena comes over and helps me wrap a pressure bandage around them.

  :Mariah, keep an eye out for that sub, and for more shredders and sharks.:

  Shortly, we’re racing back to meet a medical team from Safety Harbor. We swim in a close formation, keeping an eye out for trouble. I don’t want to think about the precious travel time we’re losing.

  :Just how many of those shredder monsters do you guess Kuron has?: Lena asks me the question I think we’re all worrying about right now.

  :I don’t know. If he has lots of them guarding Atlantea, it’s going to be a whole lot harder getting in there,: I admit grimly.

  :Maybe we can still sneak into the fortress, but how are we going to get away if he can send a hundred more shredders after us?: Kalli asks. :Those jammers were useless.:

  :I’ve been thinking about the jammers, and I don’t think they are useless,: Penn speaks up. :Janni never turned hers on, and once mine was on, the shredders stayed away from me. Nere said the shredders were starving, and they acted like it. I think we can count on their drive to feed to override everything else.:

  :They did do more damage to one another than we did to them,: Tobin points out. :The moment one of them was wounded, the others turned on it, and whoever was in that sub couldn’t stop them.:

  :So if we have the jammers and we wound enough shredders to get them to turn on one another, and we have help from the Sea Rangers, maybe we can manage to get away after we find the c-plankton,: Thom says.

  :If that fortress is full of those shredders, we really have to get our niños away from there, and we still have to try to steal that c-plankton,: Ree tells us. :I vote we go on.:

  :I agree we should keep going, too,: I say, and Tobin sends me a grateful look.

  But will the rest want to come? I wouldn’t blame them for turning back. My throat g
oes tight as one after the other, each of my old friends from the southern sector votes to continue with our mission. Rohan does as well, and he even volunteers to take Janni’s place on the team that stays at Atlantea to search for the c-plankton.

  Soon we meet up with the medical team from Safety Harbor. I stay near Janni as the medics transfer her carefully into a stretcher strapped on the back of a big tow. Her eyes flutter open and her gaze meets mine. :You told your dolphins to distract the shredders with the fish, didn’t you?:

  I nod.

  :Quick thinking. Sorry I’ve been so snarky. Guess I didn’t like the way people kept talking about your long trip here and your being Doc’s daughter. I’d go on a mission with you any day.: She sends me a weak smile, and then the medics close in around her.

  :Is she going to be okay?: I ask Rohan.

  :Yeah, I think both she and Seth are going to make it,: he reassures me. After passing us a new round of boomers, the medics speed away on their tows. As I watch them disappear into the green sea, a part of me really wishes I were going back to Safety Harbor, too.

  WE EAT A QUICK meal from our seapacks, and then we start off again for Atlantea. We’re a quiet bunch as we travel. I think each of us is coming to terms with our terrifying fight this morning.

  :I wonder what we’ll actually find inside Atlantea,: I say to Rohan, who’s swimming point. I know he’s spent a lot of time reading the reports sent back by Dad’s observer team.

  :Originally, Kuron had hundreds of scientists, guards, and technicians working for him,: Rohan replies, :but now a much smaller staff of twenty or so keeps the fortress running.:

  :I’d like to know why all those others left,: Kalli says uneasily.

  :Me, too,: Rohan admits. :So, can you tell me more about this Dai character who traveled with you guys?: he asks me.

  I don’t know where to start. A part of me freezes up when anyone says Dai’s name.

  :He was the best fighter of all of us.: I’m grateful when Kalli replies for me. :He’s fast and strong, and he can outshoot Nere or Robry with a speargun. Oh, and most girls would think he’s gorgeous, if they’re into the distant, temperamental type.:

  I bite my lip. Being around Dai was like trying to surf a rogue wave. He could be funny one moment and sarcastic the next. He tried to act like he didn’t care about anything, but sometimes I think he was so sarcastic because he cared too much. But I never dreamed, during all those weeks he traveled with us, that he could be lying about who he was. Now I wonder if I knew Dai at all.

  :He probably wouldn’t want to admit it,: Kalli is saying thoughtfully, :but I think he really liked Bria. He kept them from hurting her the first time we ran into Wasp and crew.:

  :Do you know anything about his family?: Rohan asks me.

  :He claimed he was raised by his father, a marine biologist, and spent most of his childhood on research vessels. Because his father was so excited about the Neptune Project, he put Dai through the transformation when he was only ten.:

  :He had to start living on his own in the sea when he was ten?: Rohan looks shocked.

  :I think that’s why he’s so impatient sometimes,: Kalli says. :He got too used to being independent and doing things his own way.:

  Even though Dai could be abrupt and irritable, I still really liked him. I thought he understood what it was like to be different. Thanks to my scientist parents and my weak eyes and lungs, that’s what I’ve been most of my life. Dai and I both love the sea, and he seemed to care about me. But then I found out he wasn’t one of us at all, and I realized how wrong I’d been. And now we’re headed straight for his home.

  I think Kalli senses how much I don’t want to talk about Dai anymore, and I’m relieved when she changes the subject.

  Late in the afternoon, the dolphins start sawing and clicking in alarm. Rohan signals us to stop swimming, and we ready our spearguns. I’m terrified we’ve run into more shredders, but it turns out the dolphins just want to warn us about a huge silvery white lion’s mane jellyfish drifting sedately below the surface. Its bell-shaped hood is easily six feet wide.

  :Whoa, the tentacles on this sucker have gotta be longer than a whale,: Thom says as the dolphins lead us around it.

  :A few stings from a lion’s mane wouldn’t be fatal, but supposedly they burn like crazy,: Kalli tells us.

  We stop for the night and string our hammocks in a large cave the Sea Rangers often use when they’re patrolling this area. Before we sleep, Tobin insists on checking my shredder cuts.

  :You don’t want to risk them getting infected,: he points out when I try to put him off.

  :I bet you’re going to use something that hurts.: I look with suspicion at his med kit.

  :You really need to toughen up, Hanson,: he teases while he unwraps my bandage. Working fast, he gently applies an antibiotic ointment and soon has my arm neatly bandaged.

  :Those cuts are already starting to close. I don’t think they are going to scar,: he tells me, his green eyes earnest.

  :Thanks for patching me up,: I say. I do appreciate Tobin’s concern, but right now I’m a lot more worried about being eaten by a shredder than being scarred by one.

  As we start off early the next morning, I ask the dolphins to watch even more carefully for shredders and small submarines. During the afternoon, we have to split up several times and hide from boat traffic. The dolphins spot one shredder patrol, but they don’t spot us.

  That night, the best shelter the dolphins can find us is a cramped sea cave only four miles from Kuron’s fortress. I hang my hammock close to the cave’s entrance because I hate dark, close places.

  :All right, you know the plan,: Rohan tells us when we finish eating. :We’ll leave here at one a.m. That should put us at the fortress around two, when we hope most of Kuron’s staff will be sound asleep. Nere, try to contact Robry now.:

  I nod and swim to the mouth of the cave. I look out into the dark sea. There’s a full moon tonight topside, which makes the water a little lighter, even at this depth. Some silvery Pacific perch drift by, looking like a school of ghost fish.

  Robry is such a strong telepath, there’s a chance he can hear me. I take a deep breath, close my eyes, and reach out with my telepathy, broadcasting as strongly as I can.

  :Robry, can you hear me? Are you all right?:

  After a moment, I feel Robry’s mind stir, and I feel his surprise. :Nere, where are you? Your touch is so strong, you must be close.:

  :We are close. We’re coming to rescue you. Where are they keeping you?:

  :Nere, don’t. Kuron’s people will catch you for sure!:

  :Not if we can surprise them.:

  Suddenly, a strong, restless mind I have’t felt in weeks links with mine. :Nere, Robry’s right,: Dai says. :I swear I won’t tell them you’re here, but don’t come inside Atlantea. Promise me you won’t.:

  I’ve never heard Dai sound so desperate.

  :I swear I’ll find a way to bring Bria and Robry out to you—No, Wasp, don’t!:

  All at once, my link with Dai’s mind is broken, but not before I sense he’s in searing pain. Then there’s only a strange, muffled silence.

  :Dai? Dai? Are you all right?: But something or someone is blocking my ability to reach him. I reach out to Robry. Now I can’t link with his mind, either.

  Tobin’s there beside me. :Nere, what is it?:

  :Dai contacted me, and then I’m pretty sure Wasp stung him, and n-now I can’t hear Dai or Robry. This weird psychic interference came between us. It’s just like what happened when they took Robry and Bria.:

  Tobin touches my shoulder briefly. :I’m sure Dai’s okay. He’s pretty tough.:

  I hope Tobin’s right, but sea wasp venom can be lethal. As the others gather around, I try to keep it together and tell them what just happened.

  :At least we know both Robry and Bria are still alive,: Kalli points out.

  :Should we continue with the mission now that Kuron’s people know we’re here?: Rohan asks.

>   :I’m not sure they do know,: I reply. :Just Dai knows about us right now.:

  :Won’t he tell the others?: Lena asks.

  :Dai swore he wouldn’t tell the rest and that he’d try to bring Bria and Robry out to us, but then I think Wasp stung him.:

  Sea wasps are among the most poisonous creatures in the ocean, and I’m afraid Dai could be dying. But I can’t believe that strange, twisted girl would want to kill him.

  :I know he was spying on us,: Kalli says, :but I still think he liked Robry, and he cared about Bria. He stopped them from hurting her before, and I bet he didn’t want them to take her this time. Maybe he won’t tell the others.:

  :This is your call, Nere,: Rohan says. :I understand you knew Dai better than anyone.:

  But I didn’t know him, I feel like yelling at everyone. Clearly I didn’t know him at all.

  I try to focus on our mental exchange moments ago. Although Dai’s concern for Bria and Robry felt so real, can I really trust anything he said? Even if Dai was lying, we still have to get inside that fortress to find the c-plankton cultures.

  :I think we have to go ahead with the plan,: I say finally.

  :Then it’s time we got some rest,: Rohan declares.

  While Penn stands watch, we tie ourselves into our hammocks. I can only pretend to sleep. The walls of the cave seem like they’re closing in, and it’s hard for me to breathe. I keep trying to reach out to Robry and Dai. Their ongoing silence feels ominous. I twist and fidget in my hammock as the endless minutes crawl by.

  I’m jealous that Thom, who slung his hammock next to mine, is already sound asleep. I glance over and see Tobin is wide awake, too, and staring into the dark. He sends me an encouraging smile. I do my best to return it, but I’m afraid my effort’s pretty weak.

  It’s a relief when Rohan officially wakes us at one a.m. After we pack up our gear, we leave the cave and kick through the black sea, beginning the final stretch of our journey to Atlantea.

  ONCE AGAIN, six of our dolphins swim in a tight formation around us. The rest range ahead watching for shredders, Wasp’s gang, or submersible vessels. My stomach is winding itself into knots. I glance at Lena swimming right next to me. Her face is white, but she looks determined.