The Neptune Challenge

by Polly Holyoke

  :You know Dai’s doing this just to keep Sham from hurting Tobin,: Shadow says, giving me a serious look.

  :I figured as much.:

  :He does care about you. He cares about all of you.:

  :Then he shouldn’t have lied to us about who he was.:

  :You would have done what he did, if you faced his choices,: Shadow persists. :You and Dai are more alike than you realize. He leads us reluctantly, just as you lead your friends.:

  :I never would have lied to people I cared about, not the way he did.:

  :He had no other option.:

  :Mako told me that, too, and I still don’t believe it,: I say. :Anyway, I don’t really want to talk about Dai right now.:

  But when I see Dai’s wrist begin to bend at a painful angle, I can’t help asking Shadow, :Will the keepers stop this before Dai gets hurt?:

  :Since Sham and Dai aren’t going to hurt anyone except each other, the keepers probably won’t do anything,: she says, resentment back in her tone.

  I glance at the com-screen. Two keepers are watching us now, and they’re grinning over the Power Match, but not in a nice way. One guy is holding a fist full of money in his hand, and my stomach lurches when I realize they’re betting on the outcome.

  Angrily, I turn away from the screen and focus on the match. Sham’s face is as red as a boiled lobster now. Dai’s is cool and focused, but he is breathing harder and his arm is starting to shake. An endless minute later, Dai’s hand finally hits the table. Whitey calls the match, much to my relief. Sham grins and grabs Dai in a rough hug, and then turns away to receive slaps and punches of congratulations from Whitey, Mako, and Ocho. Dai receives just as many, even though he lost.

  :You gotta give Ice credit. He is one stubborn sucker,: I overhear Sham say to Whitey.

  :I can’t believe Dai held on as long as he did,: Kalli says to Rad.

  :And Sham’s even stronger than Whitey,: Rad says, shaking his head.

  Dai’s challenge has completely changed the atmosphere. A keeper finally arrives with breakfast, and both groups talk easily as they eat. Dai jokes with everyone, but he doesn’t use his right arm to eat, and I know he’s right-handed.

  :We’ve gotta head to school now,: Ocho says when we finish breakfast.

  :But we’ve got permission to take you outside after lunch today,: Rad says. :The bossman wants each of you to have your own skimmer. We’ll teach you how to ride them.:

  In the computer lab, we face another round of tests, but this time my questions are mostly about marine biology and oceanography. When I get an answer wrong, the program takes me to a lesson that teaches me the correct answer. As I work, I wonder if Robry could use the computer to generate a list of labs we should search. We need a plan for finding the c-plankton in this huge place. I’m also very aware that Dai uses only his left hand to type.

  We come face-to-face as we file out of the school room to head to lunch.

  :Is your wrist going to be okay?: I can’t help blurting.

  :Worrying about me again?: Dai lifts an eyebrow at me.

  My cheeks burn. :Yeah, that was dumb. I forgot you have a bunch of really sweet friends like Wasp to look after you.:

  :Actually, some of us do look after one another,: he says. :I did strain my wrist, but I heal quickly. It feels better already.: There’s almost a smile in his eyes as he looks at me.

  :Thanks for keeping Sham away from Tobin.:

  :You’re welcome,: Dai says, his gaze turning cool. :I know you like him.:

  :I like everyone on my team,: I reply, and I don’t speak to Dai again during lunch.

  Even though I’m annoyed with him, I am relieved and grateful to Dai that Sham doesn’t try to pick another fight with Tobin. After we finish eating and the others file out of the mess hall, I pull Robry and Tobin aside.

  :Could you stay,: I ask Robry, :and hit the computer to look for a map of the fortress? We need to make a list of labs to narrow our search for the c-plankton, and then we can check them off after we’ve searched them.:

  :Sure.: Robry nods. :And I’ll look for a way to disable these collars. But I’m gonna miss driving one of those skimmers.:

  :I bet you’ll get another shot.: I smile at Robry.

  :I’ll stay with him,: Tobin offers. :After my run-in with Sham, we should probably avoid being alone around here whenever we can.:

  :Thanks, guys, and good luck.:

  I hurry after the others to the entry bay. We watch as, one by one, Kuron’s kids communicate with a surly keeper, making sure their collars are reset to allow them to go outside. Then our own are reset as well.

  :Today we can range five miles from base,: Ocho tells us.

  :What happens if we go farther than five miles?: Ree asks.

  :You’ll get one warning zap, and then you’d better turn around,: he says so gravely that I doubt any of us will go beyond that five-mile limit.

  :What if we don’t want to get that warning shock?: Kalli asks.

  :The skimmers have directional systems that will let you know exactly how far away you are from Atlantea,: Rad replies this time. :So if you pay attention, you don’t have to worry about getting zapped.:

  :What are those guys going to do?: I ask, watching Whitey, Sham, Mako, Wasp, and Ocho as they take powerful spearguns down from racks.

  :They’re going hunting again,: Shadow says.

  :But Ocho doesn’t seem the type to like killing things,: I say.

  :He’s not, but he likes to look out for Wasp,: Sunny replies.

  :She doesn’t seem like she needs anyone looking out for her.:

  :I know, but Ocho’s had a crush on Wasp ever since they were little.:

  I stare at Sunny. :Does she like him back?:

  Sunny looks at me like I’m crazy. :Nah, can’t you tell? She’s way gone on Dai. That’s why she hates your guts. Well, she hates just about everyone anyway, but that’s why she hates your guts in particular.:

  :Um, thanks for letting me know…I think,: I say.

  :Nere.: Shadow contacts me on a private send the moment the other group speeds off. :Sometimes Sham and Whitey hunt dolphins. Bria told me about your dolphin, the one that followed her here. If any more of your pod are near—:

  I ignore the rest of Shadow’s send and close my eyes, reaching out to Sokya and Densil before it’s too late.

  :SOKYA, DENSIL, stay far away from here until tonight.: I send an urgent call to my friends. :Some of the kids here are going hunting, and they kill dolphins.:

  :we will stay away,: Densil assures me. The weakness of his mental touch tells me that he’s nowhere near us right now.

  I open my eyes again. I probably just made it way too clear to Shadow that some of our pod is still in the area. :Thanks for the warning,: I say stiffly.

  :You’re welcome, Nere Hanson. Some of us would never hurt dolphins,: she says, giving me one of her long, unblinking looks, and then she glides away to her own skimmer.

  I look after Shadow. I’m still not sure we should trust any of these kids, but I’m definitely grateful for her warning.

  With great enthusiasm, Rad and Sunny start teaching us how to drive our new skimmers. The controls are simple. Twist the grips backward, the skimmers go faster. Shove the right grip forward, the skimmers turn to the left, and vice versa.

  Soon we’re outside the fortress, making careful loops around its network of massive metal supports and startling the hundreds of fish that hide inside them. Well, I’m making careful loops. In about a minute, Ree and Kalli take their skimmers up to full speed and fly over and around the supports like dolphins with orcas on their tails.

  Dai, I’m irritated to see, is quietly following me, so I crank up the speed, and soon I’m driving as fast as the others.

  The skimmers are really cool. But I still think it’s a bigger rush to be pulled by a dolphin. Pointing my skimmer away from the fortress, I head off to study the terrain around Atlantea. We might need to know some good places to hide during our escape.

 
Ton, the big Pacific white-sided dolphin who accompanied Dai on our journey, appears and keeps pace beside my skimmer. I wave and smile, trying to project how happy I am to see him again. Even though Ton doesn’t understand human speech, he flips his head at me and performs a very nice barrel roll around my skimmer.

  Shortly after Ton joins us, Dai brings his skimmer up even with mine. :Nere, we need to talk.:

  :Yeah,: I admit with a sigh. A part of me never wants to talk to Dai again, but I know I have to. While Wasp is off hunting with the shark crew, this is a chance for Dai and me to finally have a conversation without her listening in.

  I park my skimmer on an open patch of sand and Dai does the same.

  :So, talk.: I swim up to Dai, cross my arms, and glare at him.

  Dai watches me for a long moment, his expression wary. :Look, my dad wanted to find out what you Neptune kids were like, how smart you were, and how quickly you would adapt to the ocean. So he sent me down the coast to find a group of you to spy on, and that’s what I did. I was just following his orders.:

  :But you did more than that,: I say, struggling to keep my mental voice calm. :You helped us and you fought with us. We thought you were a part of our team. Then we found out you weren’t really part of the Neptune Project, and your friends took Bria and Robry.:

  Dai tugs on the end of one of his braids. :I was working on a way to get Bria and Robry back to you. You’ve got to believe me.:

  :How can I believe anything you say now? It was all a big lie, everything you said to us—and me.:

  :But it wasn’t all a lie, Nere. I never wanted to hurt you and I never meant for any of you to risk your lives or your freedom by coming here.:

  :Then you should have told us the truth.:

  :I wanted to. I almost did the night after we first ran into Wasp, but then you guys acted like Wasp and the rest of my friends were complete freaks.:

  :Well, yeah. About one minute after we ran into them, they threatened to kill us, and then they wanted to eat one of our dolphins. That’s not exactly normal.:

  :We haven’t exactly been raised in a normal environment. But you and your friends showed me there’s a different way we could live. I wanted to come back here and show the others we could be different.:

  :Good luck with that,: I murmur, picturing the way Whitey, Mako, and Sham tore into their breakfast this morning and how close Sham came to tearing Tobin apart. I wonder if we should tell him why we’re really here. I’m starting to trust Shadow and Ocho, but I just don’t know if I can trust Dai ever again.

  :So, I get it. You can forgive and trust everyone else but me,: Dai says.

  I draw in a breath. Dai’s a strong hereditary telepath like me. Unless I shield carefully, he can pick up my thoughts just the way Wasp can.

  :You know how I feel about you reading my mind. This discussion is over,: I say tightly and swim over to my skimmer.

  Dai darts in front of it and grips my handlebars to keep me from driving away. :No, it isn’t, not yet. There’s one more thing. If Mako asks you to go anywhere with him alone, you’ve got to say no.:

  :I don’t understand why you’re so worried about him. He seems really sweet.:

  :I’m not sure any of us would call Mako sweet, and he’s not the most stable kid.:

  :So he’s wound a little tightly. I’m sure he’d never hurt me.:

  :Nere, you don’t really know anything about any of us. Mako’s best friend, Kimi, was killed two years ago when the keepers ‘accidentally’ turned the sharkheads loose on us, and her death got to him. He blames himself because he used his speed to get away and didn’t stay to help Kimi fight them off. He’s been getting more anxious and weird since then. He injured a keeper so badly nine months ago that they had to amputate the guy’s arm. Right now Mako’s on serious probation.:

  :Mako bit off someone’s arm? Y-you’re not saying this just to scare me?:

  :Why do you think there are only nine of us left in this great big fortress?:

  :I d-don’t know.: From Dai’s bleak expression, I have a hunch I don’t want to hear what he’s going to say next.

  :We’re all that’s left. There were more than fifty of us when we were little.:

  :What happened to the others?:

  :Let’s just say my father is a big believer in natural selection.:

  :I don’t understand.:

  :My father left us without much supervision when we were younger, and over time, we killed one another off. Most of us didn’t really mean to hurt anyone, but kids like Mako have so much shark spliced into them that they can’t control themselves.:

  :Didn’t your father know what was happening?:

  :He was off doing research and raising money. What I told you about myself is mostly true. Part of the time he kept me with him as he sailed around the world, and the rest I spent with the other kids at a large research facility in the Philippines. When I turned twelve, this place was finished, and he and I came to live here. That’s when Shadow and Ocho asked me to talk to him. I made my father see we needed more supervision, or he wouldn’t have any subjects left in his big experiment.:

  Dai pauses and tugs on one of his braids again. :But I’m not sure I should have said anything to him.:

  :Why?:

  :Because his solution, the collars and the security cameras, was almost worse than the problem.:

  :But you had to do something.:

  :Now I’m not so sure. You see, the survivors had already made some very effective alliances. Rad, Sunny, Shadow, and Ocho look out for one another, and Sham and Whitey are a team.:

  :What about Mako?:

  :I look out for Mako, and Wasp doesn’t need anyone to protect her.:

  Dai floats there, looking so alone. :Who looks out for you?: I ask.

  :My father, I guess. He considers me his greatest achievement.: Dai’s mouth twists in a sarcastic smile. :He spent years trying to create the perfect human to rule the seas, and he’s sure I’m it. The other kids know he’d have them killed if they seriously hurt me.:

  I shudder at the matter-of-fact way Dai speaks of life and death. He once told me things were different in the world he came from. Now I’m starting to understand what he meant.

  :I’m sorry,: I say, and I am. His dad seems so ruthless, and Dai must have lost so many friends over the years.

  :The last thing I want is for you to feel sorry for me,: Dai says, his dark brows drawing together. He spins away and drives off on his skimmer, Ton following him.

  I stare at the marks his skimmer left in the sand. After the way Dai lied to me—and to us all—I can’t still like him. So why do I want to burst into tears?

  As soon as we return to Atlantea, I go to Robry’s room to see if he and Tobin have made any progress hacking into Kuron’s computer system.

  :Yeah, I’m in,: Robry says, looking smug. :I even got access to some of Kuron’s personal files.:

  :How’d you pull that off?:

  :He figured out that Kuron’s password is ‘Poseidon,’ plus the first four digits of pi, in about ten minutes.: Tobin shakes his head.

  :The guy has to be into his Greek and Roman mythology, based on the fact that his sub is named ‘Triton’ and this fortress is named ‘Atlantea,’: Robry says, his eyes dancing. :I bet he even helped to name the Neptune Project. And he’s such a perfectionist, his use of pi is evident throughout his design of Atlantea.:

  :Sometimes I have no idea what you’re talking about.: I roll my eyes at Robry. :Guess I’ll have to take your word for it. So, what’d you find out?: I ask.

  Robry’s expression sobers. :I haven’t found a way to disable our collars yet, but I did discover that Kuron has been watching Safety Harbor closely. In his notes, he writes stuff like, ‘Neptune subjects appear to be more emotionally stable and better socially adjusted than my own.’:

  :If he’s talking about Sham, Wasp, and Whitey, I have to agree with him,: Tobin says.

  :Some of the time, Kuron sounds like a brilliant scientist who truly cares a
bout the future of the world,: Robry plunges on. :Then he goes off on these crazy rants about how he wants to build a new and better civilization under the waves, a civilization that only he is fit to rule. But this is the scariest part. I found all kinds of photos and maps of Safety Harbor in his personal files. Looks like Kuron’s been spying on our home base even more carefully than Dr. Hanson’s observers have been spying on him.:

  I gaze at Robry’s computer screen, my belly tightening in fear. Someone has created a perfect chart of Safety Harbor, including its caves and depths, and the bubble wall and tidal generators.

  :This isn’t good,: I say.

  :I doubt he’s planning to stop by for a friendly visit,: Tobin adds grimly.

  :Robry, keep looking through Kuron’s files when you can,: I say, :and if you find any evidence he’s actually planning an attack on Safety Harbor, we’ll send one of the dolphins back to warn them right away.:

  I can’t bear to think of what might happen if Kuron turns his shredders loose on Safety Harbor.

  We tell Kalli and Ree what Robry found in Kuron’s computer and divide up the list that Robry made of the most likely hiding spots. When we’re not in the school room, we constantly search for the c-plankton. We know cameras follow our movements, so we do our best to look like we aren’t looking for something, which isn’t easy.

  :Kuron’s so into his labeling, we’re probably going to find a drawer labeled ‘c-plankton cultures,’: Tobin says one afternoon when the five of us have a rare moment together while Wasp is off hunting.

  :The problem is finding the right drawer,: Kalli says, shaking her head. :This place is mongo, and it has a ton of labs, cabinets, and drawers. And too many of them are behind doors marked ‘Prohibited Area.’:

  :So what happens to us if we’re caught in one of those areas?: Ree asks, a gleam in her eye.

  :Best guess, we get a scary lecture and a zap from the bossman,: Tobin says.

  I swallow and try not to think of the nasty zap the keepers gave me when I touched the shredders’ tank. :I’ve been wondering if we should ask some of Kuron’s kids to help us,: I say. :I’m afraid Safety Harbor may be running out of time.: