The Neptune Promise

by Polly Holyoke

  “This salvage mission would be impossible for regular divers, yes,” Dad says quietly. He looks at me, and then I understand.

  “You’re planning to use some of us to salvage Idaine’s ship!” I jump to my feet and begin to pace. “That’s why you started conducting deep-water tests on the older Neptune kids three months ago. You knew then we might have brought back the wrong strain. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me. I can’t believe you didn’t tell us.”

  “Sweetling, I didn’t want to tell you until we were sure. Infiltrating Atlantea was hard on you and your team, and I didn’t want you to think your mission was a failure. It wasn’t. You freed Bria and Robry, and you brought back Idaine’s notes which I believe are going to help us produce the right strain of c-plankton at last.”

  “I just wish you’d trusted me with the truth.” I cross my arms and scowl at him. “I can handle it, you know. Kids in your Neptune Project have to grow up fast.” I certainly had to. Few kids back home had it easy living under the corrupt government of the Western Collective, but at least they didn’t have to give up their life on land to live in the dangerous sea. Dad looks away first.

  “When are you going to try to salvage the Storm Petrel?” James asks, trying to ease the tension between us.

  “Next month,” Dad replies. “In August the days will still be long and the weather as good as it gets in these parts.”

  “Which kids are you considering for the salvage team? Dai’s the most comfortable of any of us in deeper water.”

  My father clears his throat again. “I’m glad you mentioned Dai. We’d rather he didn’t know about this mission.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding.” I stare at my father as I sit on the edge of his bed again. “You think you can keep something like this from one of the strongest telepaths at Safety Harbor?”

  “Good luck with that.” James shakes his head.

  “We have to keep it from Dai and all the other kids who came back with you from Atlantea. Thanks to Robry, we’ve broken part of the communication code Kuron’s people use. From the radio chatter we’ve been picking up, it’s pretty clear someone is reporting to them regularly from inside Safety Harbor.”

  “And you think that person is Dai?” I ask incredulously.

  My father shrugs. “I don’t know who it is. It’s hard to believe it’s him after all he risked to save you and this colony, but it’s also hard to believe that Sunny, Rad, Ocho or Shadow would betray us, either.”

  I picture the four kids who, like Dai, chose to leave Atlantea to build new lives at Safety Harbor. “They’ve all tried hard to become useful members of our colony. Each of them hated Kuron so much, I can’t believe they’d help him for any reason.”

  I rub my chest as I finish speaking. My lungs are getting dry and itchy, which means I have to return to the water soon.

  “I can’t believe it, either,” Dad says, “but somehow Kuron’s people know an awful lot about our schedules, projects and plans.”

  “Maybe they have some surface spies watching us again,” James suggests.

  “Maybe,” my father says, but he looks skeptical.

  Something else occurs to me as I get to my feet.

  “You haven’t had me tested yet for my deep-water functioning, and none of my friends from the Southern Sector have been tested either.”

  “I know,” Dad says with another sigh. “You’re all scheduled to start testing by the end of this week. Honestly, I hope you don’t do well on the pressure tests. You and your friends have already done enough for Safety Harbor.”

  “But Idaine’s c-plankton is more important than our colony. If I do well on the tests, I have to help salvage the Storm Petrel.”

  My father smiles resignedly before he hugs me goodnight and kisses my forehead. “I knew you’d feel that way.” When he steps back, he looks more worried than ever.

  ~~~

  Two days later, Ree, Kalli, Penn, Thom, Tobin, Lena and I all report to Safety Harbor’s underwater transport hub for the start of our deep-water testing. Topside, the hub consists of a dock built in the center of a sheltered cove covered with camouflage nets that hide our small fleet of surface boats and inflatable zodiacs. Forty feet beneath the end of that dock is a platform where we tie the underwater tows and skimmers we use on longer journeys.

  My friends laugh and joke as they take their places around a powerful tow tied to the lower platform. Clearly they aren’t too concerned about the tests. When we aren’t assigned to chores, classes, or patrols, we often have to complete weird assessments by Neptune scientists who want to study how well we’re adapting to the sea. Only I know how important the results of these particular tests will be.

  I grab hold of a loop on the big group tow we nicknamed, “the Bus.” Janni, a strong, direct girl I’ve come to know well through the Sea Rangers, will be piloting it today. She powers up the Bus and soon we’re being towed through the water almost as fast as the dolphins can pull us.

  :Coming up on the bubble wall,: Janni announces, and a moment later, all I can see is silvery bubbles. Soon after we cross the wall, Mariah and her family swoop and swirl around us.

  :We don’t need your help today,: I say to her, :but you’re welcome to come along and watch the tests.:

  :we want to come, but I do not want you to swim deep to find that wreck. it is dangerous down in the dark.:

  :I don’t want to dive down to Idaine’s sunken vessel either, but if I can handle the pressure down there well, I’ll volunteer.: I’ve already explained climate change to Mariah, Sokya and Densil and told them how the c-plankton could help our warming oceans.

  A chicken part of me hopes that I’ll flunk these pressure tests, but I don’t send that thought to Mariah.

  An hour later we reach the Carly Sue, a battered old fishing trawler the helper staff has anchored over the test site. They picked a sheltered spot behind a nameless island where the water is very deep and there’s little boat traffic. We surface and gather around the back of the Carly Sue to hear Doc Iharu’s briefing.

  “For the next few days,” Doc Iharu tells us, “we will test how each of you functions in deeper water where the pressure is much greater than it is here near the surface. We still don’t know why most people black out or lose their ability to think when experiencing greater pressure. We just know they do. But one or two people out of a hundred seem to be able to function fine in high-pressure environments.”

  “Are we going so deep today that we might pass out?” Ree asks, suddenly looking sober.

  “It’s possible, but unlikely. Rohan is going to give you sensors that will monitor your heartrate and blood pressure. If we see signs that you’re in distress, we’ll have you ascend to shallower water immediately. For every thirty-three feet you descend, your body will experience another atmosphere of pressure. So at two hundred feet, your body will experience roughly six times the pressure you’re experiencing now. By the end of these tests three days from now, we hope a few of you will be descending to a thousand feet below the surface where the pressure is thirty times what it is here.”

  “We won’t have to worry about getting the bends on the way back up, will we?” Lena asks as Rohan starts handing out sensor bracelets that we clip on our wrists.

  “No,” Doc Iharu replies, “the bends, or decompression sickness as it’s more properly called, isn’t a problem for any of you Neptune kids because you don’t breathe air when you’re under water like scuba divers do. You’re more like fish in this respect than marine mammals.”

  I don’t dare look at Lena. She really doesn’t like to be reminded that we all have some fish genes in our DNA.

  “The fact that you don’t breathe air,” Doc Iharu continues, “also means it’s easier for you to dive deeper than your dolphin friends, who have to expel much of the air in their lungs before they go deep. If they didn’t, the greater pressure outside their bodies on the less dense air inside their lungs would crush them.”

  I start chewing my
lip. Going deep is sounding scarier by the moment, although Dai has taken me down into the Twilight Zone several times. I wish he were with us today. He actually seems to relish the dark.

  For the first phase of our testing, Doc Iharu wants us to swim down the boat’s anchor chain to one hundred feet. When no one else seems to want to go first, I start kicking my way downward. Because there’s a fairly strong surface current, I save my energy by holding on to the chain, and the others follow my example.

  We’ve descended twenty feet when a school of shrimp drifts by, and the water fills with their noisy crackling. Tobin shakes his head and smiles at me. :Before I lived in the sea, I had no idea shrimp could be so loud.:

  :I didn’t either. I’ll be happy when this current carries them someplace else.:

  :Hey, maybe you can net some,: Thom calls out to Janni who is waiting with the Bus. :I’d rather eat ’em than listen to the noisy little suckers.:

  :I’m already on it, Bigfoot,: Janni replies.

  Thom’s Safety Harbor nickname makes me grin. He is a big kid, and his feet are huge.

  My friends stop chattering when we start losing light at fifty feet, and by eighty, we’re about to leave the Sunlit Zone. Below us the water is totally black, and it’s way too easy to imagine I see creatures down there that would like to eat us.

  :Hey, look, it’s the cavalry.: Ree grins, and seconds later, all the members of Mariah’s pod dip and dart around us. Everyone brightens as we greet our dolphin partners.

  :Um, Sokya, you don’t sense anything dangerous below us, do you?: I ask.

  :the waters beneath you are clear for now,: she reassures me, and I relay that information to my human friends because I can sense their rising nervousness.

  Especially at times like this, I envy the dolphins’ ability to echolocate. We descend to a yellow flag on the chain that marks one hundred feet. The water here is so dim that, even with my genetically engineered eyesight, I see only about fifteen feet in any direction. The dolphins return to the surface while we answer a series of questions on our wrist computers. Fortunately, there’s much less current at this depth, so we can hover instead of wrapping our arms around the chain while we key in our answers.

  :I feel like I’m back in school again,: Penn complains.

  :Or Atlantea,: Ree adds, looking somber. While captives in Kuron’s undersea base, we spent much of our days there being tested and studying on computers.

  :They’re just trying to establish a baseline for our cognitive functions before we go deeper,: Kalli says, her mental tone cheerful as always. A true scientist, Kalli is actually excited about these tests.

  :My cognitive functions aren’t so great to begin with,: Thom mutters. :I like to do things, not think about them.:

  After we’ve all finished our mental tests, we perform a series of coordination tests with our dive partner recording the results. We have to do everything from executing a somersault to touching our noses with our index fingers.

  :That is one of the worst somersaults I’ve ever seen,: Penn kids Thom. :You look like a spastic humpback whale trying to do a flip.:

  :I didn’t have a lot of time to work on my gymnastics when I was little. I was trying too hard to keep up with Kyel’s dad and his guerilla fighters up in the mountains,: Thom grumbles good-naturedly.

  I often think of Kyel, a boy who died during our long journey to Safety Harbor from the Southern Sector. He was Thom’s best friend, and I wish he’d had a chance to be a part of our new community. Thanks to his military experience, Thom has risen rapidly to the rank of captain in the Sea Rangers, and Kyel would have done the same.

  When we finish our coordination tests, Doc Iharu tells us to descend to two hundred feet.

  :Load your spear guns now, and do not turn on your dive lights unless absolutely necessary,: Janni orders us from above.

  She didn’t need to add that last command. We all know that down in the vast, black depths of the sea, lights can attract unwanted visitors such as large sharks and squid. Carefully we load our spear guns and sling them across our backs.

  :Next stop… the Twilight Zone,: Thom says trying to make us laugh, but I hear the tension in his tone.

  This time Tobin insists on going first, and after our talk at dinner a few nights ago about my taking too many risks, I let him. The water turns darker and colder as we work our way down the anchor line. By the time we reach a luminescent flag at two hundred feet, the sea is inky black all around us and the glowing screens of our dive computers seem incredibly bright.

  :Everyone doing okay?: I ask even though we’re not on patrol and I’m no one’s leader today. :Hold your wrist computers up by your faces while you check on your partner.:

  :Th-the surface sure feels like it’s a long ways away,: Lena says.

  :The good news is, we can be back up there in just a minute or two,: Kalli reassures her. The dark doesn’t seem to be bothering her much. :We don’t have to stop and decompress like divers do since we aren’t breathing air.:

  Tobin’s my dive partner today. His face looks pale in the gray wash of light from his wrist computer.

  :This brings back a few memories,: he says with a crooked smile. He’s probably remembering the awful time back at Atlantea when Wasp shut us in a tiny, dark sensory-deprivation room, and we had to use the light from our dive computers to see each other. Although I used to be terribly claustrophobic, I can handle being in dark, close places now because Tobin helped me fight my phobia.

  :At least we don’t have to stay down here for the next two days.: But I can’t help wondering how long the kids who are picked for the salvage mission will have to stay down in the Storm Petrel.

  When we’ve all checked our buddies, we start on our next set of computer tests. I’m on the fifth question when Thom stiffens beside me and grabs his spear gun.

  :We’ve got company!: he warns everyone.

  I look up just in time to see a big sevengill shark appear out of the blackness.

  chapter five

  My heart is in my throat as I reach for my spear gun. The shark is only ten feet away and getting closer by the second. After a moment’s hesitation, I switch on my dive light. I need to see the shark clearly.

  :Stay as still as you can,: I tell the others, :and no one shoot unless it charges. I think it’s just curious about us.: I hope I’m right.

  I shine my light on the massive shark. The beam plays across the creature’s expressionless black eyes and the unusual seven gills in its neck. The shark’s large, undercut jaw is studded with dozens of sharp teeth. The sevengill turns and glides past our group. We hold our spear guns at the ready, but we don’t shoot as it swims a slow, silent circle around us.

  :Whoa, that is one big boy,: Thom says. :It’s gotta be at least ten feet long.:

  :I’m thinking he’s probably a she,: Kalli says, :because she’s so large.:

  :Whether it’s a he or she, it still has muy big teeth,: Ree mutters.

  :Are you all right, Penn?: I ask him on a private send. Right after their Neptune transformation, Penn and his girlfriend were attacked by sharks.

  :I-I’m okay,: Penn says, but obviously he’s struggling to control his fear.

  “What’s going on down there?” Doc Iharu asks us through our earbuds.

  :I bet our sensors all just went crazy,: Tobin says.

  :My heartrate probably tripled,: Lena confesses.

  And I know I’m not going to take my eyes off that shark to key a reply to Doc Iharu. After circling us a second time, the sevengill disappears into the dark.

  :Maybe that big girl just isn’t hungry today,: Thom says hopefully

  :Or maybe we don’t look like food to her,: Kalli says.

  I keep scanning the black water all around us. Suddenly, a gray shape barrels down at me from out of the midnight gloom. I jerk my spear gun higher. The shark must have decided she was hungry after all.

  An instant before I press the trigger, I realize it’s… Densil!

  :DON’T
SHOOT!: I shout to the others. Then I yell at my dolphin friend, :WHAT ARE YOU DOING DOWN HERE? You just scared me more than the shark did.:

  He sidles up to me, looking as apologetic as a dolphin can look. :I sensed you were frightened. I came to see if you needed help.:

  Densil and I grew up together, and he’s always been able to tell when I’m scared or sad.

  :Thank you,: I say, lowering my spear gun, my pulse still racing, :but next time please warn me first. I almost shot you.: I reach out and give him a quick rub to show I’m sorry for yelling at him.

  :I will warn you next time. I forgot that you would not be able to see me.:

  :Well, as long as you’re down here, can you tell us if the shark is gone?:

  :she still swims away from you,: he reassures me. :she is not hunting. I must return to the surface now.:

  :Thank you for wanting to help.:

  :I am glad you did not shoot me,: comes his practical response.

  :Someone had better contact the doc. He’s getting a little worked up topside,: Thom says. Doc Iharu is shouting at us all now through our ear pieces.

  :We’re fine down here,: I tell Janni while Kalli keys a similar message to the testing staff. :A big sevengill just came by to check us out, and then Densil decided to pay us a surprise visit.:

  :That shark looked like she was from another time,: Tobin says, looking after the sevengill.

  :In a sense, she is,: Kalli says. :Sharks have been on this planet for over a hundred million years.:

  We take turns keeping watch with a dive torch set on dim while the rest start our tests. As I work my way through the questions, I don’t think the pressure is affecting my thinking, but I can’t be sure. The shark doesn’t return, and when we finish our mental and coordination tests, Doc Iharu lets us come back to the surface.

  That night at dinner we find out that Lena and Penn have been excused from further testing, but Thom, Ree, Tobin and Kalli and I all have to report to the transport hub at 6 AM.