by Scott Rhine
Chapter 39 – Trial by Water
Red walked out of her officer’s exam tired but smiling. Her ex-roommate Risa met her at the door to the classroom. “So?”
“I got my lieutenant’s bars, too!” the pilot exclaimed.
“We never doubted it,” Risa said, hugging her. “Did Z help you with the questions?”
“No. He freaking gave me books with the answers,” Red groused. More quietly, she added, “He hasn’t talked much since the Kaguya incident, even to me.”
“Did she break him?”
“No, but he’s hurting and embarrassed. He doesn’t . . . touch me anymore. I admit that the first few times we ever made love, it hurt a little, but now that he can’t, I miss it,” Red whispered.
“Have you tried . . .?”
“He won’t let me touch him. He feels like he betrayed me, like he slept with her.”
“He didn’t do anything wrong,” Risa said.
“But his body thinks it did. The jolt caused all his . . . muscles to spasm.”
“Oh. Why is that embarrassing?”
“He soiled himself, too. The important thing is Trina thinks that Kaguya tried to break our pair-bonding.”
“Damn. I’d have thrown down with that puta by now.”
“I wanted to. But everyone tells me that wouldn’t help. Dr. Marsh said it’s like Conrad stared into the sun for too long. We just have to give his central nervous system time to recover.”
Risa bit her lip. “I’m no expert, but if it’s not all physical, you should talk to Yvette. She helps couples a lot in her job.”
“I asked her and Trina. They all agreed that the dolphins are therapeutic for Conrad. Cetaceans make more sense to him than people. He says it’s like being a kid again. He took me with him last time; it was liberating. He understands what their sounds mean.”
“Yeah. About that . . . people are talking.”
“Tell them he’s practicing for our team-qualifying exam. If we pass it, our group is officially sanctioned as a mission group.”
“I mean, the dolphins hang out looking for him, Red. You know, can Z come out and play?”
The married woman shook her head. “The whales can be discreet, but the dolphins live for the moment. I can’t control them.”
“Other than that, how’s married life?”
Mira smiled, glowing. “We do everything together, even laundry.” Whispering, she said, “It’s weird; he folds all the clothing, even my underwear.”
“What’s weird is a man doing laundry at all. You wanna hold onto that.”
“I plan to,” Mira said with a little swagger.
“So, if you get the team-lead role, what name are you putting on the roster?” Risa prodded.
“I don’t know, yet.”
“Girl, that means you do know and you’re afraid he won’t like it.”
“He’s letting me slide. You should, too. Have you packed to meet Herk’s parents yet?”
“Yeah. Been packed for two weeks.”
“Nervous?”
Risa laughed. “After seeing your grandmothers grill Z, hah. I’ve got it easy.”
Squeezing her friend’s hand, Red demanded, “What’s bothering you, then? The price of the wedding?”
“No, Mama is handling it. She’s in heaven planning all that. I’ve got relatives showing up even I didn’t know about. I’m worried about my Rafael.”
“Who?”
“Herk! The big guy who follows us around with your equipment. That’s his first name.”
“Sorry. You’re worried about his date with the Rex page in three weeks.”
“Wouldn’t you be?”
“It’s perfectly safe and only takes a few minutes. They haven’t lost a candidate for that page in twenty years.”
“But will he be the same?”
Red bit her lip. “It doesn’t change who you are. I have to believe that. It just takes away the inhibitions—like alcohol.”
“He cuddles when he’s drunk.”
“We’ll keep him human, Risa. The whole team will be watching out for him.”
“Wait, the team-qualifying test is the day before the semester starts.”
“Yeah,” Red frowned as she searched her memory. “Conrad manages all that. He’s been buying gear and planning for disasters all semester. It keeps him occupied. The Academy instructors have to shut down the island because all of them watch the test. That’s why there’s only one test a year. We go to some special shallow atoll that has the equipment we need. The test changes every time, but the people who take it aren’t allowed to talk.”
“The test happens before my man reads the page. What’ll we do for a Rex on the exam?”
Red shrugged. “For other training exercises, I think I remember something about issuing us mentors for missing talents. Trina usually assigns the person who’s going to be guiding our team member in his new talent for the next year.”
Risa nodded. “Good. We’re safe with Professor Horvath.”
****
The day of the team test, Herk ran into the locker room in a panic, “Shut down Red’s goggles!” The young woman already looked like the bear who’d found the little blonde trespasser in her bed. “Too late.”
“She knows,” Red growled. “The person in question sent her a link to the website. But since you feel compelled to meddle in our personal lives, why don’t you share with the rest of the class. That way, you won’t have to worry about how to whisper on the common channel.”
“I can tell them,” volunteered Zeiss meekly.
All the Actives smelled burning pancakes. Red fumed, “Sure, you want to tell them. You’re the best sex ever!” Then she stormed out of the room.
Zeiss ran after her.
Risa raised an eyebrow and Herk explained, “Kaguya gave a press conference about the O incident. She claimed Taz was the best, heart-stopping sex ever, before and after marriage. She told stories about sex in his office, the women’s shower, and the isolation tank—handcuffs, foot fetishes, and other total lies.”
Sojiro said, “Oh, damn.”
“Z would never do any of that,” Herk insisted.
“Close enough to cause Red’s engine to flameout,” Sojiro mourned.
Risa covered her face. “That bitch did this to sink us, right before the test. We’re doomed.”
“I think that Kaguya was aiming for revenge on Professor Horvath, not us,” Yvette said. “Kaguya blames the professor for her jail time and is convinced she has a thing for Z. That’s why Mori messed him up so bad.”
Toby kicked a locker. “The effect is the same. We finally agreed on a female candidate from NASA, but she won’t join us until we get our team rating.”
Yvette shook her head. “Red’s a professional; she’ll pull it together for the test and punish someone later.”
Herk opened a tall locker and handed everyone else a speargun as he recited, “Behold the seventy-five centimeter, aluminum-shaft carbine: excellent for beginners. You’ll each get one shot and about ten meters of line. The line will be strong enough to carry two ladies or one of me. Though, don’t try to hit anything more than six meters away. We’ll get a few minutes to practice once we get to the site.”
For himself, Herk removed a teakwood shaft as tall as he was with four black cables on each side.
Sojiro snorted. “Why do you get the big wood?”
“This is for long-range emergencies and generates about five hundred kilograms of force,” said the bomb technician. “I know how to handle it without recoil and can restring it in the dark. How about you?”
When no one else complained, Herk said, “Z says there are three teams trying out: ours, Green’s, and the Senior citizens.”
Auckland jeered. “They failed last year; they’ll fail again.”
Herk shook his head. “They passed the exam last time, but their score was five points lower than the winners. They’ve been polishing their weak spots for a year.”
“Rugged,”
said the doctor.
“That’s why Red’s been pushing us so hard, why she’s made Z run with weights on his ankles for weeks. If we blow this, we’ll have to wait another year for the chance to train in space.” Herk looked each team member in the eyes for emphasis. “Everyone suit up in full space gear. Get every piece of equipment and fitting checked by two other people because any safety violation gets that person bounced. Since we need thirteen astronauts, half the official mission strength, to qualify for the test, losing one person ends us before we even get in the ocean. Red’s counting on us. We’re the team that’s going to take that artifact.”
Auckland shouted, “Get your game face on; this is it!”
Zeiss and Red came back minutes later. She smiled at Risa. “Let’s win this.”
Her former roommate helped check her gear while Herk passed out the last of the weapons.
The first thing Red asked was, “Why is my gun so small compared to his?”
Sojiro snickered.
Zeiss said, “I bought them. I had yours fitted with a stock and sight just like Claudette’s shotgun. I even had it engraved for you.”
“For skunks,” she read. “Aw . . . How sweet. We could switch.”
Her husband smiled. “My guess is that this is going to be an underwater maze. Herk and I have practiced using these to pole vault without killing ourselves. Yours is a weapon: for sharks, breaking glass, and any unforeseen emergency.”
“Glass?” asked Red.
Herk cleared his throat. “When I was using my telescope on top of the library, I might have seen the faculty loading glass equipment into the boat.”
Risa said, “Z might have given me a problem set concerning tensile strengths of glass and the force necessary to—”
Red held up her hand. “I trust you all. We’re all doing what we do best—we’re the finest team out here. Let’s go prove it.”
****
Their boat took them to an atoll with shallow water and white sands that made the water a bright blue-green. Most of the instructors from the Academy camped along the perimeter of the natural pool so they could watch. There were record numbers of divers already in the water, most with camera mounts.
The technicians on the boat fitted them each with a new badge that had a micro-camera and a digital readout labeled ‘radiation’.
“No pressure,” Red complained. She was the last person to snap her helmet shut in the tropical sun and perform a radio check. Her media blocker didn’t work underwater.
“You’re already recording this yourself!” Risa countered.
“So I could pick it apart and be critical,” Red explained. “I don’t like when other people analyze me.”
Yvette chuckled. “Then Z never showed you his notes on the team from when he was your adviser?”
Red blinked. “He made criticisms on the team?”
Risa waved her arms and shook her head to stop him, but the doctor was too insulated in his suit to see. “Every member,” Auckland admitted. “He shared mine with me when I asked. It was a little painful but dead on the money. He pointed out that I only went into medicine because my parents were both doctors. I really wanted to be an athlete.”
Red overrode the rest of his sharing with, “Conrad! Why didn’t you tell me about these notes?”
Zeiss was already over the side of the boat. Dolphins greeted him as a he sank nine meters to the bottom. He fussed over a few of them and then tried to shoo them off. “Cheerful Once Bitten, I can’t play this morning. Maybe later. Thank you for the toy, Elsa Deep Diver. Go, now. Human time.”
The female dolphin made a rude noise and swam a few meters away, circling the entrance to the underwater maze of the test. Cheerful approached Red, Zeiss’s mate, next as she dove in. Red projected her ‘busy’ mood and the bottlenose said something in rapid squeak-speak to the other. She could swear they were laughing as they did laps around the team transport craft.
The last man in the water was from another boat. He bounded over to shake Red’s hand. They could tell from his face he was an islander. “Hey, I’m Apelu.”
Zeiss stood a step behind Red, to her right, looking like a royal guard with his spear. Over the team radio frequency, he said, “Sounds Samoan.”
“Good ear,” said the new man over the same frequency. “They assigned me to your team today—pulled me off a visit home to do it. I still have a little hangover from that party last night.”
“Why are you here?” asked Red.
Zeiss gestured to the armband. “He’s our Override talent. I thought we were getting Johnson.”
The Samoan shook his head. “The Senior team lost theirs at the last minute and called dibs. Sorry.”
Herk, on Red’s left, said, “They wouldn’t have called you if you weren’t the best. How well do you move in the water?”
“It was a surf party,” said Apelu.
“Welcome aboard, lucky fourteen. Red there’s leader.” Herk said pointing to the metallic-red cherries painted on her helmet. “Her husband Z—he doesn’t talk much, but when he does, listen.” He pointed to the lieutenant logo on Zeiss’s shoulder.
Apelu said, “And you’re Rafael Herkemer, Override candidate. Just a few weeks more. No limits!”
“No limits,” Herk echoed. “Red will give you the broad strokes on our objective; Z and I will give you details on execution.”
“Thas cool. Could you do it a little quieter?” Apelu asked.
They all lined up at the entry gate that resembled a moon base airlock. Rogers lectured them from an observation platform above. “Welcome to moon base three. The reactor is in meltdown mode and the entire site has been evacuated due to numerous leaks. Your group has been selected to retrieve the data core before the enemy steals it. The data core is extremely fragile and heavy. Rescuing it is worth one hundred points.
“If any individual’s radiation counter exceeds one-thousand, we will instruct that person to collapse. Your Rex can tolerate more for brief periods—you’re not sure how much more. Each person who survives the exercise gives you another ten points, with another fifty bonus if you push, pull, or drag every member across the finish line.
“The allotted time for this exercise is thirty minutes. For every minute early you finish, you gain a point. For every minute past thirty, you lose ten points. At T plus forty minutes, the reactor explodes, killing everyone still in the base.” The Seal paused. “Do you understand?”
Red repeated, “Twenty minutes to get the data core. Everybody comes back alive. Perfect score 300.”
“Correct on all counts. Questions?”
“What if there’s a point tie?” asked Red.
“Unlikely. But in that case, the lowest average team radiation count wins,” Rogers decided.
Zeiss cleared his throat. “I need a special equipment ruling, sir.”
“We’ve already cleared your harpoons, Taz,” said Professor Rogers.
“I meant the dye bombs, sir. Standard issue for underwater demolition teams.”
“I know what they are, Taz. What were you planning to use those for?”
“Evasion of pursuit and confusing other teams in a free-for-all, sir.”
The Seal chuckled. “An honest man. How do you justify them in this scenario?”
“Marking radiation hot zones, sir.” Zeiss replied. “Pursuant to Fukishima protocol—”
“You can have two dye bombs. One for each of your balls; it took big ones to ask. Is that all?”
“Conferring with the boss,” Zeiss said. He and Herk divested themselves of a lot of excess equipment. On the team link, he said, “Anything else we want to fight for?”
She sighed and over open channel asked, “Five minutes to plan strategy?”
“The first obstacle in this course is overriding the computer door lock,” announced the instructor. “You can plan while your scout cracks the safe. Any last words, Red?”
“Let’s dance, sir.”
Apelu laughed. “Good song.”
Chapter 40 – Pivotal Choice
Red organized the team into three subgroups. “Moon base is a ring of domes, just like Sirius Academy. The data core is supposed to be in the center. Team one, go with Z counterclockwise till you hit radiation and mark it. Team two: go with Herk clockwise. I’ll march up the center with Sojiro until it gets too hot. I’m sure my way will be blocked soonest because it’s the easy route. I’ll wait in the center transit ring for reports.”
Unlocking the front gate took longer than expected. “Three minutes forty seconds,” Red announced. “All teams: go!”
The artist wavered from side to side and said to the dolphins in the distance, “Hi, Cheerful. Play later!”
Red snapped, “Sojiro, did you see the data core while you were in there?”
“No, that’s what took so long. I had to defeat three different checks instead of one centralized authorization. Before base personnel left, they powered the data core down. Maybe they attempted to evacuate it.” Sojiro’s eyes didn’t want to focus on close-up items.
“Hear that, folks?” Red announced as she herded her dazed hacker forward. “The core could be anywhere. Be on the lookout for hostiles carrying it away.”
As predicted, at the five minute mark, Red’s sub-team hit a dead-end. She broadcast: “We’ve reached control central. Nothing here. Sojiro is scouting for clues to salvage but confidence is low. Be alert: the computer mock-up is made of glass. It’s hard to see in this water, and it’s very brittle.”
At the seven minute mark, Zeiss reported in. “Watch the bubble streams. They’re simulated radioactive steam. My group had their badge counters reach 250 before we noticed. We’re moving to rendezvous.”
Red countered, “Negative, aim for Herk’s location. I’ve pulled up the schematics and he’s closest to the emergency launch pad. If I were evacuating a valuable commodity and Chernobyl fires were burning around me, that’s where I’d head.”
Sojiro had to crack another difficult lock, allowing Zeiss to catch up with Red’s group. When Zeiss saw the hacker place a hand against the bulkhead for support, he ordered, “Auckland, check him out. He’s showing signs of mental fatigue.”
