by Chris Howard
Captain Wilraven frowned at her. She didn’t look at all as if she had been in the sea moments before.
He limped past her, went to the main cabin, showered quickly, dressed, and was in the lounge ten minutes later. Adista leaned casually back from the table, smoothly opening the fingers of one hand, a gesture that finally prompted him to say something.
The captain glanced around as if the Alexis was suddenly full of spies. He kept his voice low, looking down at his watch, tapping on the face. “Saw it with my own eyes. We were down there forty-six minutes.”
His voice trailed off and he looked as if he was in pain, struggling with the thoughts rising in his head.
Adista was sympathetic. “Just breathe, Captain Wilraven. You know what you saw under the waves. Say it out loud.”
“The pressure. The temperature doesn’t affect you. And you can breathe underwater?”
She made some flapping fin motions with her hands. “Like a fish.” She watched him for another minute, and when it was clear he didn’t know what else to say, she reached out and put a hand on his arm. “This is where you tell me, ‘I really need someone on the Marcene with capabilities like that.’” She smiled. “And you offer me the soon-to-be-open first officer’s post.”
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Salvage is the first of a new series and, as such, leaves considerable mystery about who or what characters like Adista, Ty, and Laeina are. If you’ve read my other books—the trilogy Saltwater Witch, Seaborn, and Sea Throne—the standalone novel Nanowhere, and related stories, you know a great deal about the seaborn. If this is your first introduction, I hope you are intrigued, will want to know more, and look forward to forthcoming novels. However, you can always find out more about the world I’ve created through my other writings and on the Saltwater Witch website: www.saltwaterwitch.com.
Chris Howard