The Neptune Promise

by Polly Holyoke

  He closes his eyes as if he’s steeling himself, and then he starts to talk. His voice is toneless, like he’s recounting the plot of a movie he’s seen or a story he’s read.

  :It was my birthing day, the day I turned ten,: he begins, and already I want to cry for him. :Mom got up early and cooked my favorite pancakes before she went to check some of her experiments with her runabout. I stayed back on the ship because she’d given me an old-time graphic novel about super heroes that I was dying to read.:

  :So, she started that day in her cabin,: I say, trying to get everything straight in my mind, :and then she spent some time in the galley. Her first mate told my dad the runabout didn’t sink with the ship.:

  :That’s right. Early in our search, I wondered if her computer might have been left in her runabout, but my dad said he used it to carry her…body,: he stumbles over the word, but then he forges on, his tone colder than ever, :and me away from the sinking ship. He said that her computer definitely wasn’t in the runabout then. She usually used a smaller hydro-pad to record her field results and sent them to the main computer she kept aboard ship. My father’s not always reliable, but I think we can trust him on this. He wants to find her computer as much as you do.:

  :Was your father on the Storm Petrel the morning of your birthday?:

  :He hadn’t been for months. Maia had died a year earlier, and my mother couldn’t forgive him for that. Although the venom in Wasp’s tentacles actually killed Maia, my mother blamed my father for deviating so far from the original Neptune plan.:

  :You mean, the way he got so creative with the DNA he spliced into you guys?:

  :Yeah, Mom thought he’d engineered kids that were way too unstable because he’d used genes from some of the most dangerous creatures in the sea. So whenever my parents were together after Maia died, they mostly fought. Even back then, my dad was wound pretty tight. I think she was starting to worry that he might be losing it, and I know she’d asked her crew to keep an eye out and to give her some warning before he came aboard.:

  Dai takes a deep breath before he continues. :I remember the last time they argued. It was a particularly nasty fight, and at the end of it, my dad went storming off her ship. After he left, though, he sent me a message promising he’d be back on my birthday, with an amazing present.:

  :I know he must have come back to the ship on your birthing day, but when exactly did he come back?:

  :He came on board that morning while she was still out on the runabout,: Dai replies. :I was so excited to see him, I ran up and asked if I could have the amazing present he’d promised me, but all he was carrying was a small metal briefcase.:

  Dai’s eyes go distant. :He took me down to her lab and took a syringe out of that case he’d brought. I remember feeling so confused. I couldn’t believe my present was some sort of shot. I started to back away from him, and he got angry.:

  A chill skitters down my back. I think I know where this is going now.

  :He told me not to be a coward and said the shot would give me super powers. That sounded cool, and I trusted him, and I didn’t want to make him angry. So I let him pull up my sleeve and give me the shot.:

  I suck in a breath. So much pain and anger is pulsing through Dai right now. I hate making him relive this.

  :My mother walked into the lab a moment later, and I’ll never forget the terrified look on her face. She guessed at once that he’d begun my Neptune transformation. Then she got angry and turned on him. I remember her shouting, ‘He’s too young. Ran, he won’t survive!’ But my father just looked excited and eager.

  :Almost at once, I felt so strange. My body tingled all over, and then it began to hurt. I started to cry, and that made my parents argue even more. Then my chest tightened, and I couldn’t get enough air into my lungs.:

  :I remember that stage in the transformation. It was terrifying,: I say quietly.

  :The problem was that they’d never put a kid through the transformation before. I was their first human lab rat. Knowing Mom, I think she would have planned carefully for that moment and made it as easy for me as she could. But my dad surprised her by giving me that shot years ahead of schedule. Anyway, when she realized I couldn’t breathe well anymore, my mom grabbed an oxygen tank and put a mask over my face. The oxygen helped at first, but it couldn’t ease the pain, and it was bad.:

  :My mom gave me meds that knocked me out for the painful part,: I say, grateful now that my mother had tried to make my terrifying Neptune transformation at least a little easier.

  :I didn’t have any pain meds in me, and I hurt. I hurt all over, and it felt like my chest was about to explode as the gill filaments in my lungs began to swell. Suddenly, I saw Mom coming toward me with another syringe. She probably wanted to give me something for the pain or to knock me out, like your mother did. All I knew then, though, was that I didn’t want anyone getting near me with another shot.:

  Dai pauses for a moment and looks down at his hands. :I was so frightened that I hit out at her, and she stumbled back from me, and I don’t remember anything more after that. I must have passed out from lack of oxygen. But my father told me that she fell and struck her head against a table and died almost instantly. So, now you know the truth.:

  Dai raises tormented eyes to mine. :I killed my own mother.:

  I’m quiet while I try to absorb his confession. Could he have done such a terrible thing, even by accident? I study his face for a long moment. Dai can be angry and brooding, but that’s because he cares too much sometimes.

  :I don’t believe it,: I declare, and I don’t. From everything he’s told me about her, Dai adored his mother. And for all the anger in him, he’s not a violent person. :Maybe you did hit her. I wanted to hit my mother when I was going through the transformation, but I don’t believe you struck your mother hard enough to kill her.:

  :Nere, even when I was ten, I was freakishly strong because of all the shark genes my father spliced into me, and I couldn’t control myself. I was dangerous then, and I’m dangerous now. That’s why it’s just as well I’m back with my father, Whitey, Sham and Wasp.:

  :You’re wrong about yourself. You are one of the bravest, most principled guys I know, and you totally belong with us at Safety Harbor.: I want to reach out and touch him, but I’m afraid he’s still too furious with me to want my sympathy.

  :If I truly belonged at Safety Harbor,: he says, his jaw tight, :you would have told me about your big plan to salvage my mother’s ship. But even after I betrayed my own father and tried living your way for a whole year, you and your dad still wouldn’t trust me. This conversation is over, and I need to lock you in your sleeping compartment before I go talk to my dad.:

  As I follow Dai into the passageway, I catch a glimpse of Wasp ducking into her own sleeping compartment. Did she listen in on our whole conversation? She’s a strong enough telepath that she could have, even though Dai and I were trying to communicate privately. Did Dai know she was listening? His expression is unreadable as I swim past him into the tiny berth. The door closes behind me, and the bolt thuds shut. Tiredly, I climb into the hammock.

  The moment I shut my eyes, I picture Dai’s face as he told me about the awful day his mother died. I bury my face in the rough pillow and burst into tears. It’s so wrong that he’s had to carry such a dreadful burden all this time. I know he didn’t kill his mother. Ran Kuron must be lying to his son about this just as he’s lied about so many other things.

  Dai may not care about me anymore, but I care about him, more than ever. Somehow before I escape, I have to prove to Dai that he’s wrong about himself.

  chapter fifteen

  In the morning after Dai unlocks my door, I slip out of my sleeping chamber, hoping to explore more of the sub. I still want to figure out a way to escape. I’m not sure how I’ll get past the shredders, but first I have to find a way off the Ophion. Dai and Wasp look into a retinal scanner each time we enter the main waterlock, which makes me think that if I tried to operate it by myself
, I’d probably trigger some alarms.

  As I swim forward, I’m surprised to see Dai and Whitey floating together in Whitey’s sleeping compartment. Whitey holds his face in his hands, and Dai has a hand on his shoulder.

  :Bro, you gotta tell him that working in the dark and the cold, with sharkheads everywhere, is getting to us,: Whitey is saying. When he drops his hands from his face, his eyes are wild. :They’ll just keep trying to kill us. Maybe it’s because of my shark genes, but I can feel their hatred. They despise us because we’re like them but we’re more human.:

  :I know. I keep trying to tell him that searching the wreck is hard on us, but he doesn’t care.:

  :I-I don’t know how much longer I can keep doing it,: Whitey says, his mental voice so raw that I slip away, ashamed of eavesdropping on such a personal moment. Whitey always seems so cold and hard. It’s weird to think he hates searching the wreck just as much as Wasp and I do.

  Dai and Whitey come to the mess a few minutes later, their expressions guarded. Wordlessly we chow down on old tuna again.

  Whitey, Dai and Sham check the entire wreck to make sure there are no shredders lurking inside it before they let Wasp and me swim across and join them. While the shredder patrol sweeps the area right around the wreck, Sham and Whitey take lengths of chain and lock shut all the exterior hatches except the big one in the center of the top deck. Their efforts will make us safer, but they’re also making it much harder for me to escape from the Storm Petrel.

  Dai says little to me all morning, but my talk with him must have had some impact, because he sends Wasp and me to search the galley while he searches his mother’s cabin. Slowly and carefully I look through silt-covered pots and pans and cooking utensils. Maybe Idaine set her computer aside and left it here the morning she got up early to cook birthday pancakes for her son.

  As I search, I try to imagine that day from her perspective. Did she know her husband might be coming back for Dai’s birthing day? Would she have been worried about his return? Dai said she was starting to fear for his father’s sanity. If she had discovered something important and potentially of great value to his investors, would she have tried to hide it from him?

  The more I consider that notion, the more it makes sense to me.

  :I have another idea about our search,: I say to Dai as we eat lunch in the wreck’s mess. This time Sham shot a halibut, which also tastes way better than old tuna.

  :Make it quick,: he says while the others listen in. :I’m getting tired of your not-so-brilliant ideas.:

  I swallow a retort that might make them all mad at me. :Last night you said your mother was worried that your father might be losing it. We know she discovered the c-plankton in the months before she died. We also know that she asked the crew to warn her before your father came aboard. What if she was afraid that he’d try to sell her research to his investors?:

  Dai watches me intently. :You’re thinking she may have purposely hidden her research from him?:

  :That would explain why she gave her crew orders to warn her when they spotted his ship approaching. What if that day her crew did call her back, but before she came down to her lab, she hid her computer someplace your father would never think to look for it?:

  For a moment, Dai’s eyes narrow, as if my words have made him think of something. But then he shrugs carelessly. :I guess it’s possible,: he says, :but I don’t know where she liked to hide her stuff. If I did, we would have looked there days ago. All right, everyone, let’s get back to it.:

  We spend several more cold, frustrating hours searching the Storm Petrel before we head back to the Ophion and eat dinner. It’s hard for me to fall asleep, even though I’m exhausted. Spending so many hours in the dark wreck has messed up my internal clock that tells my brain when I should fall asleep.

  Around two in the morning, I wonder if Dai and Wasp have finally fallen asleep. When I try contacting my friends at the surface, Wasp’s dampening cloud doesn’t stop me. I hope the Carly Sue is still nearby, but there’s a chance the Marine Guard or a Canadian naval ship may have chased them away.

  :Tobin? Robry? Are you guys there?:

  :N-nere?: Robry asks. He must have been sleeping, but he wakes up fast.

  :Are you all right?: Tobin asks quickly.

  I’m so happy to link with their minds again. I just wish a thousand feet of black ocean didn’t separate us.

  :I’m okay,: I say. :Where are you?:

  :We’re still here,: Tobin reassures me. :The Carly Sue is anchored behind a small island about a quarter mile from the wreck. Your dad has been in contact with Kuron every day, trying to negotiate your release.:

  :I’m trying to find a way to escape, but they’re watching me pretty carefully. We’re staying on some sort of old naval sub buried in the muck next to the Storm Petrel. Nine of Kuron’s shredders have gone rogue, and they’re hanging out around the sub and the wreck. That’s not going to make it easy for me to reach you.:

  :If you can find a safe way to escape,: Tobin says, :we have a dozen Sea Rangers ready and waiting to help. Mariah and her pod are all here, and you know they’ll help, too.:

  :Don’t forget to keep track of the tides,: Robry breaks in anxiously.

  :When is the next slack tide?: I ask.

  :Two hours from now.:

  :’Kay, I’ll try to keep track of the tides from now on. Thanks, you guys. It’s so good to hear your voices.:

  :It’s good to hear yours, too. You be careful down there,: Tobin says.

  :Gotta sign off,: I say hastily as my door swings open. :Someone’s coming.:

  I close my eyes and my whole body tenses. I let go a sigh of relief when I sense it’s Dai. If Wasp had caught me talking with my friends, she might have stung me to death.

  :Nere, I know you’re pretending to be asleep,: Dai says dryly, :and I’m actually glad to hear the Carly Sue is still around.:

  My heart skips a beat. He must have been listening in on my conversation with Tobin and Robry. :Huh?: I say, raising my head and staring at him.

  :Come on, we’ve got to hurry to the waterlock. We don’t have much time, and I’ll explain everything to you in there. Try to shield your mind and don’t think about anything until we’re off the Ophion.:

  :That’s easier said than done,: I mutter as I climb out of my hammock and follow Dai. It’s hard to think about nothing when my mind is racing with questions.

  In the equipment compartment, he starts pulling on his heavy seasuit and motions that I should pull on mine. He helps me plug in my heating pack, and I’m stunned when he hands me my spear gun and the rest of my gear.

  :I know you’d probably like to shoot me,: he says with a glimmer of his old humor as he leads me into the waterlock, :but I’d rather you got ready to shoot shredders instead.:

  The moment the door closes behind us, I sputter, :What is going on?:

  :I only went back to my father because I knew you wouldn’t give up on finding my mother’s research, and I knew he and the others would be waiting for you the moment you entered the wreck. Joining them again was the only way I could give you a chance of surviving.:

  I cross my arms and stare at him. :So, you want me to believe that going back to your father was all an act?:

  :Well, it wasn’t entirely an act,: he says as he loads his spear gun. :I’m still furious that you guys wouldn’t trust me and that you wouldn’t listen. I told you my dad would never let you take her research. But what you said today did make me remember something. I think I know where my mother hid her computer.:

  I suck in a breath. :Where do you think it is?:

  :After Maia’s death, we all avoided her cabin, but in the month before my birthday, I saw my mom enter it several times with her computer. I thought she was going in there to grieve for Maia, but now I’m not so sure.:

  :You think she was hiding her computer in Maia’s cabin?:

  :I think it’s a good possibility. So, we’re heading for the wreck, and if we find the computer, I’m going t
o take you and the computer topside to your father. Now, would you please load your spear gun?:

  :You’re right. I do want to shoot you,: I say, placing a dart in my weapon. :You’ve been horrible to me from the moment you guys ambushed us.:

  :Yeah, you probably hate my guts now, but you’re still alive, and I’ll take that as a win.:

  :I don’t hate your guts,: I protest. :I could never hate you. In fact—:

  At that moment, the control light turns to green.

  :We don’t have time to talk now,: Dai says tersely. :Whitey could wake up any time. I’ll go first and look for shredders. You stay behind me when this door opens.:

  :Right,: I say, but I raise my spear gun, ready to help Dai if he needs me. As tough and strong as he is, one of those mutates could tear him apart. My blood thunders in my ears as the waterlock door slides open and Dai slips outside. I stay right behind him, but I can’t see a thing because Dai isn’t using his dive torch.

  :I don’t sense any shredders nearby,: he says. :Let’s go.:

  He takes my hand and pulls me through the black water to the wreck. Even through my glove, I can feel his warmth. When we reach the central hatch, he unlocks it and locks it behind us. Using his own dive torch, he leads me forward through the dark wreck to Maia’s small cabin.

  While Dai searches it, I hover just inside looking over his shoulder. The cabin contains a bunk, desk and built-in bureau. Over the bunk several starfish sculptures still hang on the wall.

  :She must have loved starfish,: I say, my eyes prickling with tears for the little girl who never had a chance to grow up.

  :They were her favorite sea creature,: Dai says, sounding distracted as he hurriedly checks all the desk and bureau drawers. I slip inside and check the bunk.

  :It’s not here,: he says, looking discouraged.

  :Are you sure she didn’t have some sort of secret place? Most little girls do,: I suggest, remembering the metal box under my bed where I hid my own small treasures.