The Neptune Promise

by Polly Holyoke

  THE NEPTUNE PROMISE

  Book Three of The Neptune Trilogy

  Polly Holyoke

  Copyright 2017 by Polly Holyoke

  Front cover illustration by Dave Seeley

  Second Edition, May, 2018

  All rights reserved.

  Published by HOLYOKE ENTERPRISES.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Holyoke, Polly.

  Title: The Neptune Promise / Polly Holyoke.

  Description: First edition. | [Plano, Texas] : Holyoke Enterprises, 2017.

  | Series: [The Neptune Trilogy] ; [book 3] | Interest age level: 010-

  014. | Sequel to: The Neptune Challenge. | Summary: "In a future

  where climate change is out of control, genetically engineered kids

  struggle to survive in the ocean and race to save our world from

  climate change."--Provided by publisher.

  Identifiers: ISBN 9780999611449

  Subjects: LCSH: Climatic changes--Juvenile fiction. | Children—Juvenile

  fiction. | Genetic engineering--Juvenile fiction. | Survival--Juvenile

  fiction. | Undersea colonies--Juvenile fiction. | CYAC: Climatic

  changes--Fiction. | Children--Fiction.| Genetic engineering--Fiction.

  | Survival--Fiction. | Undersea colonies--Fiction. | LCGFT: Science fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.H7435

  | DDC [Fic]--dc23

  HOLYOKE ENTERPRISES

  Visit www.PollyHolyoke.com

  Also by Polly Holyoke:

  The Neptune Project

  The Neptune Challenge

  For

  Karen Harrington Chapman

  Your exquisite prose, your fierce dedication to craft

  and your friendship continue to inspire me.

  Acknowledgments

  I am grateful to the many people who helped me research, plot, write and revise The Neptune Promise. Katie Allman did a great job of thinking up ways c-plankton might be cultivated and stored. Cindy Gay helped me to understand much of the genetic background to c-plankton and my genetically engineered characters. My thanks go to Kristin Gonzalez, Ian Straehley and his medical school friends for thinking up clever ways that data might be stored on a computer in the sea.

  Isabell Cruz and Sarah Champ were patient and gracious about helping me with Spanish words, phrases and character names.

  Thank you to my awesome team of beta readers who read and critiqued The Neptune Promise in record time. Reid, Molly M. and Molly S., Maia, Antoine, Sophie, Mary, Keighley, Maeva, and Rohan, along with Kristin, Mark, Adrian and Sophie Gonzalez, you guys are awesome!

  Karen Harrington, Karen Blumenthal and Kay Honeyman, thanks for being such great writing buddies and thank you for listening.

  I’m so grateful to the best little ole critique group in Texas. Pam McWilliams, Hema Penmetsa, Robert Eilers and Melanie Sumrow all helped improve many chapters in this story.

  Brenda Quinn, editor extraordinaire, did a wonderful job of editing this on a tight deadline. My nephew, Matteo Marangoni, who is a talented sound artist, shared helpful ideas on how my kids could create real music under water.

  I would like to give a special shout out to Robert Eilers who did such a wonderful job of designing the back cover to The Neptune Promise and helped me deal with the many technical and intimidating issues involved in self-publishing a book. Thank you for being my sounding board and for being so very generous with your time.

  Finally, I would like to say thank you to all the school librarians who have embraced my Neptune books, and to my fans from all over the world who kept writing and begging me to complete Nere’s adventures. This one is for you.

  P.B.H.

  Table of Contents

  chapter one

  chapter two

  chapter three

  chapter four

  chapter five

  chapter six

  chapter seven

  chapter eight

  chapter nine

  chapter ten

  chapter eleven

  chapter twelve

  chapter thirteen

  chapter fourteen

  chapter fifteen

  chapter sixteen

  chapter seventeen

  chapter eighteen

  chapter nineteen

  chapter twenty

  chapter twenty-one

  chapter twenty-two

  chapter twenty-three

  chapter twenty-four

  chapter twenty-five

  chapter twenty-six

  chapter twenty-seven

  chapter twenty-eight

  chapter twenty-nine

  chapter thirty

  chapter thirty-one

  chapter thirty-two

  chapter thirty-three

  chapter thirty-four

  chapter thirty-five

  chapter thirty-six

  A letter to my readers

  About the author

  chapter one

  Today the waters of the Queen Charlotte Strait are rough and cloudy from churned-up sediment. I hate days when I can’t see where I’m going, and there have been too many of those recently. Mariah’s sleek gray, white and black body glimmers through the green murk as she swims beside me. Her half-grown calf, Tisi, swims near us both.

  :It was supposed to be calm for our patrol today,: Ree grumbles telepathically as she kicks along on my other side, her dark brows drawn together in a frown. :We won’t see any sharks or boats until we’re on top of them.:

  :That’s why our dolphins stay close. At least they can sense what’s out there,: Tobin says. I can barely see his red hair, much less his face, but I can guess he’s smiling.

  I am grateful that the dolphins swim in a tight formation around us. We definitely don’t want to blunder within sonar range of any boats. The Canadian government doesn’t know about our secret colony, and we want to keep it that way. Safety Harbor is full of kids who have been genetically engineered to live in the sea, and Canada has strong laws against genetic engineering. Most people see us as freaks or abominations.

  Laki, one of several dolphins scouting ahead of our patrol, arrows up to me, sawing and whistling in her excitement. My stomach tightens as I order the others to halt. Are we about to run into trouble? Our main mission on patrol is to keep an eye out for any potential threats to Safety Harbor.

  From Laki I pick up a clear visual image of a canoe and Tsukwani, a First Nation girl I know, hitting the water with her paddle again and again.

  :the paddler makes the signal she wishes you to come and talk,: Mariah relays to me moments later.

  The other members of my patrol gather around me. :I’d like to go see what Tsukwani wants,: I say.

  :Do you think that’s a good idea?: Lena asks, tugging at one of her long, dark braids.

  :The Kwawaka’wakw gave us a good tip about that warship patrolling Blackfish Sound last week,: Sunny points out cheerfully, :and their other tips have been helpful, too.:

  Since Mariah and I rescued two young Kwawaka’wakw children we found adrift in a canoe several mont
hs ago, we’ve established a wary alliance with our closest neighbors, a small First Nation village on Allman Island. The Kwawaka’wakw, like us, aren’t supposed to live in the Broughton Archipelago. We let them know when we come across schools of salmon and lingcod, and they warn us when they spot Canadian vessels or Marine Guard ships from our former home, the Western Collective, prowling the strait.

  :I know you haven’t met her yet,: I tell Lena, :but I promise Tsukwani isn’t a threat to us. If it makes you feel more comfortable, I’ll scan her thoughts before I swim up to talk to her.:

  Most Neptune kids can only read thoughts sent directly to them, but I can read people’s surface minds. I don’t, though, unless I’m worried about the safety of my friends.

  :’Kay,: Lena says, and I sense her nervousness easing a little.

  I tell Mariah we all need tows, and our dolphin partners rush to find us. After Sokya flashes up beside me, she rolls over on her back so that I can’t grab hold of her dorsal fin. Mariah’s youngest daughter, Sokya is almost like a sister to me, and she has plenty of attitude.

  :We don’t have time for your tricks right now,: I tell Sokya sternly.

  :say ‘please,’: she teases me. I recently spent an hour trying to explain to her why humans say “please” and “thank you.” Dolphins find human courtesy unnecessary and funny.

  :Sokya, please, roll over and present your dorsal,: I say, fighting to hold on to my temper.

  :thank you for asking nicely,: she says, her glee evident in her mental voice, and she finally rolls over and lets me take hold of her fin.

  :Check in when you’re ready,: I order the members of my patrol since I can’t see them all through the hazy water.

  Lena, Tobin, Sunny and Ree all promptly let me know that they and their dolphin partners are ready.

  :Dai, what about you and Ton? Are you guys all set back there?: Dai’s lived in the ocean longer than any of us, so usually I assign him the most dangerous point or sweep positions with his dolphin.

  :We’ve been ready for the past two minutes,: Dai responds impatiently.

  So much for listening to my orders. I sigh and concentrate on not sending that retort. Instead I say, :’Kay, everyone, let’s get going.:

  I tighten my grip on her dorsal, and Sokya pulls me through the cloudy sea far faster than I could swim on my own. It’s weird to move so quickly and see nothing but green gloom in front of me, but I have to trust that Sokya’s ability to echolocate will keep us from smashing into something. To distract myself, I reach out on a private send to Dai.

  :Are you okay?: I ask him.

  Dai is often moody and distant. But during the past two weeks, he’s been so withdrawn, he’s hardly spoken to me or anyone else at Safety Harbor, not even the old friends he grew up with at Atlantea.

  :I’m fine.:

  :You know if you ever want to talk, my door is always open.:

  :Nere, there aren’t any doors at Safety Harbor,: he points out dryly. :We live in a network of coves and sea caves.:

  :You know what I mean,: I say, allowing some of the worry and exasperation I’m feeling to creep into my mental voice.

  :I do know what you mean,: he says after a few moments, his tone warmer. :I appreciate your worrying about me, but you don’t need to.:

  As I cut off the send, I sense he’s keeping his mind tightly shielded. Something is definitely troubling Dai, and it’s something he doesn’t want me to know about, which makes me worry about him all the more. I’m sure he heard the report that a Sea Ranger patrol spotted a triangular silver sub only fifteen miles from Safety Harbor last week. There’s only one person we know who pilots a sub like that… Dai’s father, Ran Kuron.

  A sharp, rhythmic slapping sound fills my ears, and I have to focus on patrol business. Reaching out with my telepathy, I find Tsukwani’s mind at once. She’s upset, and in her thoughts I catch a glimpse of a young whale terribly tangled in a net.

  :Stay down here,: I order my patrol. :It is Tsukwani, and I think she’s anxious about an entangled whale calf, but I’ll know for sure in a few minutes.:

  Swiftly I kick to the surface and breathe out the water in my lungs so I can talk aloud, landliver style. Tsukwani sits in the stern of a handsome canoe which she and her father carved from cedar wood. She’s a strong, pretty girl with big dark eyes. Usually she’s all smiles, but today she looks frantic.

  “Hey, Tsukwani, what’s up?”

  “Oh, Nere,” she bursts out the moment she spots me. “I’m so glad you’ve come. There’s a humpback calf badly tangled in a fishing net in the big cove on the southern side of Bonwick Island. We’ve tried to help, but the baby’s mother is too upset to let us get close, and the rest of its pod won’t leave it. Several Russian whalers are working the strait, and we’re afraid they’ll catch and kill the whole pod if the whales don’t leave soon. I thought you might have more luck getting close enough to cut that net off.”

  “We can try,” I say as I start entering Bonwick Island into the nav system on my wrist computer. “How’s your little sister?”

  “Still getting into plenty of trouble,” Tsukwani replies ruefully, “but at least she hasn’t launched any canoes by herself recently. You go on, and I’ll catch up with you when I can.”

  My nav system indicates that the island lies five miles south of us. Carefully, I take a bearing with my compass, too. I love the Broughton Archipelago, but these waters are full of rocky, tree-covered islands that all look the same, which complicates navigating around here.

  I send Tsukwani a final wave and hurry down to my patrol and tell them about the entangled whale. I’m not surprised when everyone, including Dai and the dolphins, promptly agrees that we should try to help. When we set off again, I discuss the situation with Mariah on a private telepathic send.

  :Can you actually talk to the whales and tell them we want to help?: I ask her. Baby humpbacks can be the size of a big pickup truck, and I’m worried that a frightened calf could hurt or crush us. If its mother got upset, the situation could become a hundred times more dangerous.

  :we cannot talk the way you and I talk now, but I think the old ones will sense you want to help,: Mariah replies calmly.

  :I hope you’re right.: Saving whales is not officially part of my job as patrol leader, but keeping my Sea Rangers alive is. Still, I can’t just swim away and leave a pod of humpbacks at the mercy of whalers.

  When the dolphins are sure there are no boats nearby, we surface to make better time. Skimming over the swells, our bodies create less drag for the dolphins. The sky has a strange yellowish tinge from the terrible forest fires burning inland. Today’s hot July winds must be fanning their flames.

  Through a break in the islands I catch a glimpse of the rugged coastal mountains on the Canadian mainland rising in steep blue layers, their southern portion shrouded in gray smoke. Even here in the Northwest, each summer is hotter and dryer than the summer before. How many more species will go extinct and how many more people will die before we manage to stop global warming?

  I’m distracted from my worrying when a pod of mottled gray dolphins join us. Clearly they’ve never seen dolphins towing humans before, and they swim around us in great excitement. These Risso’s dolphins are much larger than our Pacific white-sided dolphins, but I think Mariah and her family are prettier because of their dramatic gray, black and white coloring. Tisi joins some of our younger visitors as they leap and play in the waves. I laugh when the calves startle a flock of gray gulls resting on the waves and send the disgruntled birds flying.

  A half-hour later, we reach Bonwick Island, and the wild dolphins leave us. The moment we round the island’s southeastern tip, I hear the whales. Male humpbacks are famous for the songs they sing at mating time, but females are capable of plenty of vocalizations, too. Right now the waters are full of their distressed groans and grunts.

  At the mouth of the big cove, we find three kayaks. I sense the Kwawaka’wakw men in the boats are relieved and pleased to see us. The f
act we’ve been genetically engineered to live in the sea doesn’t seem to faze them. Still, I tell the rest of my patrol to dive and remain under the waves where it’s safer for us.

  :Please find the calf,: I ask Sokya and Mariah, :but be careful around the mothers. They sound upset.:

  :we are always careful,: Mariah reassures me, and the dolphins race toward the whales.

  I swim up to the closest kayak. Tsukwani’s father Hemasaka, his face weathered from fifty years of wresting a living from these waters, raises a hand in greeting.

  “I’m glad Tsukwani found you, dolphin girl. There’s the calf behind its mother.”

  A small whale breaks the surface, thrashing wildly. I wince. A black net is wrapped completely around its head and flippers.

  “The net must be caught on the bottom.” Hemasaka speaks quickly. “The calf has to fight to reach the surface to breathe. I don’t think it has much time left before it drowns.”

  “How many whales are there?”

  “There are four mothers and three calves swimming about beside the one that’s entangled. We tried to get in close to cut that net, but every time we paddled near the calf, the mother got aggressive. She almost smashed our boats last time.”

  As I study the churning waves created by the distressed whales, my mouth goes dry. “We’ll do what we can. Let’s hope the dolphins can convince them that we’re here to help.”

  I nod to Hemasaka and slip under the water again. At least the visibility on this protected side of the island is better than it was out in the strait. I can see twenty feet ahead of me now.

  :a young female is caught in the net,: Sokya reports in, her mental voice filled with worry. :a cable from the net is snagged on a rock on the bottom. the little one is very tired. soon she will drown if we do not free her.: