by Ali Vali
“You guys ready?” the roughneck on deck called out. “Or you want me to wait until you make out?”
“Lose the attitude with the lady or I’ll kick your ass,” she said, but slapped the guy’s back anyway after shaking his hand.
“Took you long enough.” The guy kept his hand on her shoulder. “Thought you got lost.”
“Vivien, this is Trout Guidry.” She pointed to Trout. “He’s one of Antoine’s boys.”
“That’s a great operation you and your family have going,” Vivien said, as if making small talk was necessary for the ride up to the deck.
It didn’t take them long to deploy their submersible and start checking the parts of their operation that were underwater, and even less time to find the same placement of metal boxes. Kai joined one of their divers and dislodged another three so they could be photographed to share with the other rigs in both deep and shallow water.
“What the hell?” Vivien asked as they made their way back.
“I wish I could say for sure, but I really don’t know.” In her head she plotted the locations of the other outer-shelf rigs, and what it meant if all of them had the same communicators.
“You don’t have any clue?” Vivien’s hand was wrapped around her shell.
“No,” and for the moment that was true.
*
By the time they’d reached Triton it was being evacuated again, only this time more than ten coast-guard cutters surrounded the facility. This evac didn’t seem voluntary. Winston’s voice on the radio broke the silence, and Vivien answered him as Kai scoured the horizon as if looking for someone or something.
“What now?” Vivien asked her father as she pointed to one of their crew boats leaving a berth.
“The OSHA guy took one look at the green shit that came out of that thing and shut the entire Gulf down.”
“They can do that?” She threw the crewman a line and waited for Kai to finish. “We’re on our way up,” she said before her father could answer, figuring it wasn’t a conversation they should have over the air.
The new people on the rig were more than OSHA and coast guard, and they were carrying DVDs and files from their offices and from the submersible command module. The fact her father stood by and let them meant that wasn’t voluntary either. If these guys were part of some federal alphabet soup, it surprised her how quickly they’d arrived. The unknown boxes had been out of the water less than a day.
“Are we in danger?” she asked her father when they reached him. “We inhaled whatever that was when we opened it.”
“They said the hazmat guys are suited up for precautionary reasons, but their preliminary field tests were negative for any airborne pathogens.” Winston put his arm around Vivien’s shoulder and kissed her temple. “The problem, though, is they have no idea what this is. At least the one guy I knew on the team told me that.”
“So why shut down the whole Gulf?” Kai asked.
“If all these things are some kind of explosive devices, it could be terrorism, so the Washington honchos want to play it safe.” Winston’s voice wasn’t loud, but Vivien could tell by his clipped tone that he was angry. “I can’t blame them, but boy, is this going to put us behind.”
“Do we have to leave?” she asked, her eyes never leaving Kai’s. “They can’t evict us from our own rig, can they?”
“We haven’t gotten that far yet, but they’re going to have to carry my ass off here.” Winston let go of her when a man in a coast-guard uniform approached them.
“Sir, we appreciate your cooperation so far, and I hope that continues. From what we can tell from your records, we’ve got a tick over a hundred of these things down there.” The guy stood at parade rest with his hands behind his back and completely ignored her and Kai. “Until it’s cleared by the agencies involved, we’re going to have to ask you and everyone else to leave this facility.”
“For how long?” she asked.
“For however long it takes to assure this isn’t a safety concern,” the man said with a bit of sarcasm.
“You’re talking about thousands of people losing their jobs,” Kai said, and Vivien enjoyed how the condescending asshole had to cock his head back to look Kai in the eye. “I believe Mr. Palmer and his employees deserve a timeline so they can plan accordingly. The operation he runs isn’t exactly small.”
“I’m sure someone will get back to you on that.”
“Not good enough,” Kai said, crossing her arms over her chest. “If you don’t have the authority to give him an answer, then we’d like to speak to someone who does.”
“Is that a threat?”
“No, it’s a promise that a representative from Palmer will accept every interview opportunity offered where we’ll describe in detail the draconian actions you’ve taken here today.”
“She’s right about that,” Winston said. “And if this turns out to be some environmental nut job, I’ll be happy to tell the world at large how much the hit to the economy rests on your shoulders.”
“In a PR battle, I believe the side of caution will have the upper hand,” the man said with a smug smile.
“Are you finished in the submersible module?” Kai asked, confusing Vivien. “I left some gear in there, and I’d like to take it before you kick us off.”
“You all have an hour to vacate the premises.” The guy walked away with the swagger of someone who’d gotten his way.
“Draconian actions?” Vivien asked shaking her head. “That’s as good as nefarious, but it didn’t do any good.”
“She’s right. You sure give in easy,” Winston said.
“There’s one more thing I’d like to check out before you brand me a weenie.”
“What?” Vivien asked but followed Kai anyway, her father not far behind. “We’ve seen the boxes and can’t prove it since they took our files. Do you think they’ll start singing and dancing when you see them again?”
“Allow me to satisfy the conspiracy theorist in me.” Kai sat and powered everything up, leading the sub from its berth toward the coast-guard cutters docked below.
“How’d you know,” Winston said as he stared at the screen. “Goddamn good call.”
Each of the three cutters had five of the same boxes attached to its hull well below the waterline. It was a hunch on Kai’s part, born from the hours she’d spent studying strategy with her mother Hadley. If you wanted to plan an invasion or even consider one, information was central to your success. By attaching sensors to ships allowed everywhere, including military facilities, it was easy to take note of the enemy’s potential to fight and work countermeasures to assure victory.
As she maneuvered to the next vessel, the door swung open and the officer who’d spoken to them, along with three others, had their guns drawn. “Take your hands off the console and place them behind your head,” he ordered, and she complied after pressing one last button. “What the hell are you doing?”
The sub was still moving closer to the next cutter, and they had a few seconds before they collided. “Do you mind if I cut the engines? I don’t want to get charged if I wreck your vessel.”
“Go ahead, but don’t try anything funny. We saw the lights in the water, so answer my question. What are you doing?” He kept his weapon pointed at what seemed the center of her chest.
“I’d like to know why you’re evacuating us while having the same devices attached to your vessels. Either they’re dangerous or not, but you can’t have it both ways.” She stopped the sub at the cutter’s center hull and focused the camera.
“What the shit is that?” the man said loudly. “Get down there and do your job,” he said to the guy next to him. “If you just put those on my ship, I’m going to drop you in a black hole where you’ll pray to die.”
“Watch the recording from the beginning to now. I didn’t put those there. You brought them with you. Convince me you didn’t put all the rest on this rig.” She placed the sub on autopilot to keep it in place so she could fully turn
around and watch him.
“Are you sick in the head? Why would we put those things on your rig?”
“You just accused me of the same thing,” she said, and Winston laughed. “We’ve got a problem, but you have an even bigger problem.”
“Yeah,” the guy said as he holstered his side arm. “What’s my bigger problem?”
“Our security out here revolves around safety. We want to send our guys home in the same condition they arrived in. Companies like Palmer, though, aren’t patrolling the waters under every facility constantly, so if something like this happens, we can’t be sure of who or when.” She spread her hands out, and he nodded quickly, as if understanding her point so far. “You’re the United States Coast Guard, though, and I don’t think you’re docking those snazzy boats down there just anywhere. Our lapse in security is easier to explain than yours, so you’ve got the bigger problem.”
She waved to the seat next to her and scanned the next two boats, finding the same thing on both. “You opened one of the damn things—you’ve got no idea what it is?” the guy said, calmer and now talking strictly to her.
“If your lab people give me a rundown of the ingredients of the green goop, I could make an educated guess maybe, but right now I have no idea.”
“Let me make a call.” He stood and took a deep breath. “If I can, I’ll try to clear a skeleton crew from your outfit to stay aboard while we do the extractions.”
“I should give myself a raise for hiring you,” Winston said as he slapped her on the back. “That was brilliant.”
“Lucky guess, sir, but I had to chance it. If we’re not close by while they do whatever it is they’re going to do on Triton, we’ll never get any answers.”
“The only thing left to decide is the skeleton crew, aside from me and Kai,” Winston said.
“The three of us should do fine, and the bonus is Frankie can show you his stuff while you’re stuck out here with me,” Vivien said, staring at Winston as if daring him to contradict her.
“Think you can manage without me for a few days? I want to report to the board and sit with your brother as to what comes next.” Winston placed his hand on Vivien’s shoulder and sounded sincere.
“You promise to give him a chance?” Vivien asked just as sincerely.
“You’ve got my word.”
They watched him leave for the office on the upper deck, and Vivien finally took her hand. “Thank you.”
“What are you thanking me for?” she asked, aware of how good Vivien’s warm hand felt in hers.
“I don’t think he really noticed me until today, and my gut says you’re responsible for that.”
“I appreciate the endorsement, but you did that all on your own. We’re sometimes blind to the things and, more importantly, the people closest to us.”
“What do you think changes that?”
She sandwiched Vivien’s hand between her own. “Sometimes a blow to the head, or one to the heart. If I had to guess, your father has seen Triton only from a helicopter or from pictures. Today was the first time he’s walked its decks and stared up at this beast from water level.”
“That’s true, but what does that have to do with anything?” Vivien asked her in a way that reminded her of the child she’d met years before.
“How can you not be in awe of a woman who’s given him so much more than he asked for? Today, here,” she released one hand and pointed around them, “Winston Palmer finally saw you in an element of your life you’re passionate about, and perhaps it changed his perspective.”
“I agree that he should give himself a raise for hiring you, and thanks for saying all that.”
“Maybe that should be the happy ending to the book I’m planning now that I’ve scrapped the article idea.” She laughed when Vivien slapped her arm.
“Happy endings work only in romances.”
“True, but we’d have to find a stand-in for Steve,” she said, and Vivien simply squeezed her hand and peered up at her with an open expression, as if daring her to come up with a name.
The day had been interesting for more reasons than their mystery boxes.
Chapter Twenty
Galen sat and watched Hadley put on her uniform, trying to arrange her thoughts so they made sense. One of the team members Hadley had sent to the area had removed a box from one of the coast-guard cutters. Judging by the report Kai sent, it resembled one of their early communication pods, but with some differences. Either they had a traitor or visitors, and neither scenario was something to celebrate.
“I won’t be long, so cheer up,” Hadley said as she put the intercom around her neck that allowed her to speak underwater. “It’s not safe to examine whatever this is here. The remote lab was built for precisely this reason. We knew one day it’d be indispensable.”
“I’m going to miss you no matter how long you’re gone, but I was thinking about what Kai said. None of the advisors disagreed with her assessment, and neither do you.” She didn’t want to be the first queen in years to have a trial for treason against the throne.
Because of the competitive nature all her subjects had, including herself, in their history there had been challenges to the throne. Some queens had faced their opponents and others had champions stand in their place, but both options were deemed fair and honorable. None of the recorded challenges had been won, so that in all the generations they’d been on Earth a descendant of Queen Nessa had ruled and been loved by a majority of their people. Galen didn’t delude herself that everyone loved or agreed with her in all things.
Hadley finished and sat next to her so she could put her arm around her. “I can’t stop you from worrying, but try to save it for when we know what this is. If it’s an attempt by a dying planet for control, we’ll deal with it, and if it’s an attempt to dethrone you, I’ll gladly face them in the arena.”
“I know you would, and I love you for it and for so many more reasons,” she said and couldn’t hold back the emotion that brought tears.
“What’s this about?” Hadley picked her up and set her on her lap.
“Do you know why I’m so grateful to the gods no queen has ever lost a challenge?”
Hadley shook her head and wiped her face with her fingertips.
“Because if they loved as deeply as I love you, the loss of the throne was minor compared to losing your heart. The power to rule means nothing without you. Those women who lost left behind more than their lives and blood on the arena ground—they left broken hearts and partners behind.”
“Don’t put weapons in my hands yet, my love. I need to know what we’re facing, but I also believe it’s important to keep this as quiet as we can until we do.” Hadley kissed her and held her for a long moment. “For now I’m only allowing Mari, my mother Brook, and Yara into the lab.”
“You’re going there alone? What if it’s a trap?” Her head and chest physically hurt and tightened from the overwhelming sense of dread.
“You know what a prima donna I am,” Hadley said and turned her head quickly, as if to flick her hair back had it been longer. “We’re going in the big macha cruiser full of bad-ass warriors wanting to prove themselves. Don’t fuss, baby. We’re taking an entourage.”
“Make sure to tell them all that I’m the jealous type,” she said as she ran her fingers along Hadley’s dark eyebrows. “I know you’ll insist on silence on all communications until you get back, so please be careful.”
“And you too,” Hadley said, hugging her again. “I really don’t want to be away from you right now, so please cancel anything that doesn’t have to do with security.”
“You’d probably wrap me in bubbles if you could.”
“That’s true for more than keeping you safe. I’m the jealous type too.”
*
By nightfall Kai and Vivien were two of only five people left on Triton, and with the machinery off it seemed like a ghost ship adrift in a sea of black ink. One of the cooks had volunteered to stay, so their skeleton crew
was gathered in the kitchen enjoying a meal. Kai and Vivien had joined them, but Kai had left early for the solitude of the now incredibly dark helipad.
She didn’t think she’d be alone long, and from the sound of the footsteps on the metal stairs she’d guessed right. “I realize you’re losing a butt-load of money, but it’s beautiful out here,” she said, not getting up. She’d brought up a blanket and two pillows so they could enjoy the stars, since the sky was completely clear.
“Expecting me?” Vivien asked as she put the dessert and coffee she’d brought down and lay down in the opposite direction so their heads would be close.
“More like I was hoping for you,” she said, turning her head slightly to make eye contact. “You’re better company than Barney.”
“Barney’s a nice guy and a great number two to have, so don’t make fun of him.”
“Should I go get him so you can be alone?” she said and smiled when Vivien glared at her. “Look up, Miss Palmer. Believe me, it’s a much more attractive sight.”
Vivien didn’t move her head but did reach over for her shell. It took concentration to not allow a link to form, exposing her thoughts to Vivien’s. She didn’t need someone like Oba or her mothers to lecture her about how easy that would be when the attraction was this strong. If she allowed it she’d have no secrets from Vivien, and no one in the realm would forgive her easily for that.
“Why didn’t you tell me you had one of these with the same markings?” Vivien held the shell, and Kai had no problem reading Vivien’s thoughts, which at the moment centered around questions about her feelings. For once in her life, Vivien Palmer seemed to be confused as to what came next.
“Tell me why it’s so important to you.” She shook her head and rolled so she could face Vivien. “Scratch that. What secrets do you think the markings hold? And why do you think they’re buried in water?”
“Do you promise not to think I’m crazy if I’m honest?” Vivien released the shell but left her hand on Kai’s chest.