by Ali Vali
“For plenty of reasons, but the one that comes to mind is you have a foot always in the sea, no matter your duties to your job. Someone like that will protect both the company and the places you’ll drill.”
“Thank you for your confidence in me, and I’ll think about it.” Vivien went back to looking at the water and swinging her legs over the side of the platform. “I can’t speak for Frankie, but I’ll consider what you said.”
They were silent for a while, and Kai broke the stillness by asking about the sensors under them. “What’s your game plan tomorrow?”
“Don’t you mean our game plan?” Vivien gazed at her with one eyebrow raised higher than the other. “My father’s flying in once the crew boats get here, along with a crew from OSHA. If it does turn out to be some stunt by environmentalists, he’s going to blow someone’s world to shit.” Vivien picked up their plates and handed them over when Kai stood and held her hands out for them. “I agree with you that we need to get everyone off before we go near them.”
“I doubt they’re dangerous, but it’s better to be sure about these things.” She followed Vivien down to the main deck and nodded when one of the crew relieved her of everything she was holding. “We need to figure out where I’m going to bed down tonight since you gave me your room.”
“You stay put and I’ll bunk in the Sea Dreamer. It’s comfortable, and I’ve done it plenty of times.”
Kai followed Vivien to the lift that would take her to water level and got in with her. “Thanks for the extra brownie and the company,” she said as they stood at the dock built off one of the legs that held up the structure. It was one of two, and Vivien’s vessel was already sharing space with a large crew boat waiting for evacuation tomorrow.
“Thank you for the pep talk and for not kissing my ass like most people when they want something from me, not that you do,” Vivien said and shrugged. “But even if you want something, you’re much more subtle about it than everyone else is.”
“Believe me, Vivien, when I kiss your ass,” she said close to Vivien’s ear, “it’ll be a memorable experience for both of us.”
*
Winston Palmer arrived at nine the next morning and walked directly to the control room the unmanned sub guys operated from. It was tight with him, Vivien, and Kai all watching the monitors, but no one complained as the submersible ran the line of every foreign sensor they’d found.
Kai concentrated on Winston and his mind since she didn’t see a change in any of the sensors after the tenth one appeared on-screen. For a man who ran a profitable company, his thoughts were surprisingly revolving around Vivien and Steve. The daydream of their wedding seemed to play in a loop, drowning out almost everything else happening around him. It was one of the strangest things she’d ever encountered when tapping into someone’s thoughts.
She focused on the monitor everyone was staring at and took a deep breath before crossing her arms so she could touch the shell at her throat and not have it be obvious. Oba and her mother Galen always said it was a matter of concentration, so slowly she broke through the fog and made the sensors and why they were there the most important thing in his head.
All Winston did for about five long minutes was blink repeatedly, as if he were in some discomfort, and eventually he rubbed his temples before asking to sit down. “What’s your plan, Viv?” He sounded oddly different from all the other times Kai had heard him.
“Like I said, we don’t know why they’re there, who placed them, and if they’re dangerous, so we need to get everyone off before we go near any of them,” Vivien said as she stood close to her and glanced up at her as she spoke.
“Kai, any suggestions once we do that?” he asked as his rapid blinking started to relax.
She placed one more thought into his head before she answered and almost laughed when he nodded. “I have some experience with explosives, not that I think that’s what those are, but I want an up-close look before we touch them.”
“No,” Vivien said in a way that conveyed the finality of her answer. “We’ll talk later about how you know anything about explosives, but you aren’t going to put yourself in danger to save Triton, no matter how in love the board is with this thing.”
“I didn’t say I’d touch or remove one,” she said and put her arms down. “One look to see if we need to call experts in, and that’s it. No sense in letting someone blow us out of the water without a fight.”
“Go ahead,” Winston said with his finger pointed at her, “but touch it, and I’ll let Vivien kick your ass if it’s still in one piece when you get out of the water.”
“Don’t worry, Dad,” Vivien said, her eyes focused on Kai’s. “I’m going with her, and I might take a spear gun with me to keep her in line.”
They figured out which three were closest to the surface to see where they had to put in, and Winston promised to stay in the control room to warn them of any changes. “Be careful, Viv,” Winston said as he took Vivien’s hand. “I love you,” he whispered, and Vivien’s expression changed to one of shock. “You were right.”
“About what?” Vivien asked, not trying to move away from her father.
“Lots of things, but let’s start with the evacuation. Once you two are done, we’ll get into the rest of my extensive list.”
“You feeling okay?” Vivien asked, and Winston laughed.
“Must be all this fresh air, but I’m good.” Winston hugged her briefly, as if he’d almost forgotten how, and left the confined space.
“That was different,” Vivien said as she stared at the door Winston had disappeared out of.
“Nah, he’s your dad. Different would be if all of us hugged you before we got on with our day,” she said and winked. Perhaps her mothers’ assignment that was meant to right old wrongs had placed her at the center of a bizarre situation. Oba would know for sure, but it was like someone had purposely put Winston in a fog. Why and how had they done it?
It was possible, but even in their realm such a tactic was used sparingly as a way to try to turn someone away from a life of crime or worse. That was a bit harder to do when it came to the women of Atlantis, since their talisman and their genetic makeup gave them the talent of joining their thoughts, but it was possible.
“Come on, comedian,” Vivien said, waving her through the door.
“You never know. It might improve morale if you started giving hugs,” she said and smiled when Vivien laughed and shook her head. She nodded slightly in Isla’s direction, since Talia was down getting her crew boat ready. Isla had gotten their dive equipment together so she was confident it was ready to go. “Meet you down at the water,” she said as she left to change clothes.
“See you, since my suit’s on my boat,” Vivien said as she followed Isla, helping with the gear she was hauling down.
Kai glanced back once and found Vivien doing the same. Had Vivien’s talisman picked up what she’d done to her father? If Vivien had felt it, she didn’t seem upset by the possibility, which made her wonder just how much Vivien and Franklin had figured out about the gifts she’d bestowed years before.
“One step at a time, Kai,” she said to herself, but that was hard to do. When it came to Vivien, her curiosity was becoming dangerously piqued.
*
Kai secured Vivien’s helmet in place before sitting so Isla could do the same for her. Usually the rig divers geared up with regular diving equipment, but she was using the same ones they’d dove with before so they could communicate with each other and with Winston. In the time it took to evacuate everyone, the sub crew rigged together another control room they could operate from on one of the crew boats.
“Thanks.” Kai faced Isla and gave her a thumbs-up. “Get clear.”
A few minutes later they were the only two people left on Triton, and Vivien raised her thumb as well once Winston radioed they were ready. Even in the bright sunlight, Kai could see the lights of the sub not far from where they were.
“Ladies first,” sh
e said to Vivien and heard Winston laugh.
They scattered the fish congregating around the leg of the rig that plunged into water, and Kai kicked hard to get in front of Vivien. Not that she wanted to get there first but to put herself between Vivien and whatever this was. The sub was to their right with its powerful lights on, illuminating the small box. Kai looked directly at it, bringing it into better focus because of the lights on her helmet.
“Nothing’s written on it,” she said as Vivien placed her hand on her shoulder to hold her position behind her. “No blinking lights or anything.”
“You think whatever it is could be operational?” Vivien asked.
Kai had skipped the wetsuit and gone in wearing a pair of shorts and a dark T-shirt. She took out a small mirror on a telescoping arm from one of her pockets and positioned it so she could see the back. She couldn’t see any markings on the surfaces, and she didn’t think it was a sensor, at least a sensor like they used.
“It’s a closed system since I don’t see anything that gives a hint as to what it is.” She moved the small mirror all along the back of it to see how it was attached. “Whatever these are, we have to hope whoever placed them left fingerprints to track them down.”
“How’s it attached?” Winston asked as the sub came closer to them.
“I can’t really tell without ripping it off.”
“Should I remind you my daughter’s right behind you,” Winston said rather loudly.
“I’m not suicidal, sir, but I do have an idea.” She turned to look at Vivien and pointed to the surface.
Once they were above the water, Kai saw Talia’s vessel close to them. “Vivien, get aboard and I’ll be right behind you.”
“What are you doing?” Vivien asked, treading water, then putting her hand up when Isla lowered a ladder for her.
“I need a small chain or strap like we use for cargo. Then I’m coming up to join you.” She glanced up at Isla and held onto the ladder to keep herself in place. “Think you can put one together long enough to keep us out of the way if something goes wrong?”
“You bet,” Isla said before heading inside fast.
Vivien grabbed the strap of her tank after she’d stripped out of her equipment so they could look at each other. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
“I’ll be right back—promise.”
Isla came back with a roll of straps they’d tied together and handed her an end. All she needed was one of these things to prove her mothers’ theories. So far she wasn’t sure this was anything like they’d ever had. Those first pieces of equipment Queen Nessa had brought back were built differently and had a warning system as a way to keep their secrets and their contents in place. She’d brought the mirror to save herself from the slight but attention-getting shock theirs put out.
She headed back down with the sub nearby and carefully tied the strap around the closest box. Sure that it was on tightly, she headed back, following the line to the surface. One of the crew took her tank and helmet to make it easier to climb aboard. As she stepped on deck, her talisman slipped out of her T-shirt collar, and she couldn’t retrieve it before Vivien reached out and touched it with one hand. Vivien’s other hand was on her own, and she momentarily formed a link between them.
“You ready?” she asked, taking hold of Vivien’s hand. “We need to get this done.” She tried to divert Vivien’s attention and had thought she’d succeeded when Vivien nodded, but it was clear that wouldn’t last.
Talia steered forward slowly until the strap became taut, then pushed the engines a little more until it became slack again. “Well?” Winston asked from beside her.
“It either popped off, or,” she said as she pulled the length back in, slowly when she saw the metal box at the end, “it worked.”
Talia’s boat held only the sub crew, the Palmers, Talia, Isla, and Kai, so Vivien and Winston nodded when she held it up but over the water. “It’s not ticking, is it?” Vivien asked.
“No, but if you want I can take it on board my boat to try to crack it open,” she offered, which in turn made everyone with them take a step closer.
“We’ve followed all the inspector’s recommendations, and according to his rulebook, once someone attaches something to a rig, it’s no longer theirs,” Winston said but made no move to take it away from her. “Anyone who wants to leave can, but I want to know what’s in there.”
“Me too,” Vivien said.
Kai took it inside and placed it on one of the tables bolted to the floor. She put on a pair of latex gloves and unrolled a sleeve of small tools she’d given Isla to bring along. The metal appeared normal, but it was starting to erode, as if whoever placed it didn’t realize how fast the salt water would eat through it. That had been the problem with their first sensors that were constructed from an Atlantean metal called genga. On their home planet, genga was widely used in underwater construction, from what Kai had read, but the water covering most of the planet contained no salt at all.
She let Vivien pick it up first and watched as she turned it to study all its sides. It looked like a solid metal box with no weld marks or screw holes. “We’re going to have to have it x-rayed to see what’s inside,” Vivien said.
Kai opened her bag and fished out a powerful magnifying glass. “May I?” she asked with her hand out. Like their helmets, the magnifier had lights around the perimeter, and she started with one of the longer sides. These appeared to be solid as well, and she had to really hunt for the releases.
“What’s that?” Vivien said when she spotted the faint line along the bottom edge.
She took a small screwdriver and ran it along the line, searching for a release button. She found four on each of the long sides and one on the smaller ones, and when she finished poking each one in, the box opened like an egg. Vivien’s hands shot up when the green glob appeared to be headed for the tabletop, but Isla was waiting with a container, so Kai concentrated on pouring the stuff inside. It was odorless, but Kai asked the guys to open all the windows as a precaution. Once most of the glob was gone, Kai placed the two sides in a tub Talia had brought and studied the series of glass tubes of various sizes that lined the inside.
“Well,” Winston said as he put his glasses on and sat on the other side of her. “What the hell is it?”
“I really don’t know, sir,” she said, and Vivien didn’t add to that. “I’ve never seen anything quite like it, but it must mean something to someone, since there are enough of them down there to fill our hull.”
“What do we do about that?” he asked as he rubbed his face as if out of frustration.
“I need to bring up a few more to see if they’re all the same,” she said as she packed the first one away carefully and sealed the container. “If they are, we can use the submersibles to retrieve the rest.”
“Then what?” Winston asked.
“This seems to be a lot of trouble for someone to go to, so I think we need to find a lab and ship them off,” Vivien said as she held up the container of the green substance. “After we start with extraction, we need to visit the other rigs in the area and see if this is just about us, or if we find more.”
Kai made two more dives, and the other two sensors were exact replicas, along with the rust along the outside. She and Talia exchanged glances as they opened the third one, since these sensors weren’t designed to study water health, temperatures, and organisms. They were communications modules. The only thing was, none of their systems had picked up any exchange except the weird random blips.
“I agree, only let’s take them out a few at a time, or leave them until we know what that is,” she said, pointing to the green slime.
“How long do you want to shut down?” Winston asked.
“Give me two days, and hopefully I’ll get us cleared. Head on back, if you want, and I’ll do what needs to be done to get us operational again.”
“I appreciate the offer, but I’m staying put,” Winston said as he signaled Talia to take them bac
k to Triton. “You might need my help, so I promise not to get in your way.”
“Let’s get started then.”
Chapter Nineteen
“I never noticed the shell around your neck,” Vivien said as they traveled to the Shell Oil facility closest to them. Winston’s call to their operations manager in New Orleans had cleared the way for their visit. “It’s like mine.”
“It’s similar,” she said, since Vivien was holding hers out of her shirt. “I’ve had it a long time. It was a gift from my parents, but I’ve always thought they’re like snowflakes. No two are exactly alike.”
“You’re an interesting person,” Vivien said loud enough to be heard over the whirl of the engine. “I’ve said that before, but now I’m fairly sure there’s something about you I haven’t figured out.”
“So you don’t think I’m an open book?” She smiled, and her smile widened when Vivien blushed and turned her head as if she realized her face was completely red. “But if you’re worried, you’ve already figured out my secret.”
Vivien held her hair back and her eyebrows came together, but at least she’d forgotten her nervousness. “I’m a fish lover but a terrible cheerleader.”
“That’s true, but—” Vivien’s voice was loud all of a sudden, since Kai had cut the engines to slow them down. “You seem overly qualified for this job, so I’m not sure why you took it.”
“You should be happy about that, since you’re getting a bargain if it’s true. Suspicious isn’t the way to go here.”
“Stop speaking for me, please. I didn’t say suspicious. You did.”
She brought them around and waited for the Shell crew to tie them off before fully facing Vivien. “Just remember that I’m not out to get or harm you in any way. I might have loved other jobs more, but sometimes—”
“You have to work for the evil spawn to pay the bills?”
“You have to find ways to make both necessities work together because the world needs both. We need fish and oil, but one can’t come before the other. For me it’s that simple.”
