"What we need is those statues."
"Yep."
"Sorry, I don't understand the language." Partridge's gaze moved between them, his look reproachful.
"We're just saying the notes are interesting." Morgan displayed the tattered photo superimposed over the statues in the Krystor temple. "This is what we need."
"One more thing I can show you." Partridge pulled out another pad.
Ravindra's eyes narrowed. "Now isn't that interesting?"
Morgan peered around him at yellowed paper protected by film. It was a line drawing, economical in its sparseness but unmistakable. The statues they were looking for. "Let's take a ride in that submarine."
Chapter 16
Ravindra followed Morgan down the steps into the hull, the dull ache of jealousy eating into his gut. She seemed more comfortable with these two humans than she was with him. If she didn't apologize soon, he'd begin to think she wanted to stay here. But that was not going to happen. He'd made his promise to Partridge to help him and Eastly, and the sooner he could get them to Torreno, and be rid of them, the better. Still, he couldn't afford discord in this situation. He needed her, and he needed Partridge and his friend.
Inside the cabin harsh light illuminated the instrument panels, the sealed hatches, the non-slip flooring. The side screens were darkened, indicating the sensors were not yet switched on. Yes, this environment had much in common with a small spaceship. In fact, the first training of starship personnel was done in vessels much like these in water. That way a raw recruit had a better chance of surviving a panic attack. Even so, he'd rather have a vacuum outside the hull than the pressures of meters of water.
"Brent's the captain." Partridge spoke to Morgan, who was gazing at the screens.
"That's fine. Brent, I'm going to disconnect the satellite navigation system."
"What?" Brent squeaked.
"If you leave it on, we can be tracked very easily," Morgan said. "The sub's got other systems, surely. Sonar, maritime charts?"
"Yes, but… they're for emergencies."
"Let's treat this as an emergency, then. I'll navigate, you drive. Deal?"
She was so easy with them, all smiles and cooperation. And both of them almost fawned over her. Ravindra's stomach churned. Ravindra had felt these pangs of jealousy too often of late.
"Over to you, Captain. Get us out of here while I chart a course." Morgan bent over the console.
"The IS does most if it," Eastly mumbled.
Morgan grinned. "Yep, same as in a space ship."
"Ajax, take us out," Brent said.
"Aye aye, captain," replied the IS. The voice was soft and female, as you'd expect on this planet.
The side screens flashed on, showing the shadowy shape of the wharf on each side. Ravindra noticed the mooring lines reeling back, like dark snakes in the darker water.
"Might as well sit down," Partridge said, patting the bench next to him.
"You are not married?" Ravindra asked as he sank down on the bench. It gave beneath his weight, molding to fit his body.
The question seemed to embarrass Partridge. He coughed, covered his mouth with his hand. "It doesn't work that way here."
"How does it work?"
The sea gate had risen enough for the sub to exit.
"Engines engaged. Departure imminent."
Ravindra felt the vibration through his feet, the soft flow of air through the converters. A final clunk signaled that the hatches had sealed, then the sub began to move.
"A woman picks a man. For as long as she wants him."
It was all Ravindra could do to stop his jaw from dropping. "And then what? He is discarded?"
"Oh, she has to provide for him if he doesn't have means. It's only rich, powerful women like Seabright who churn through men like cooked breakfasts. It was eight at last count."
"What about children?"
"If a couple wants children, they apply to the birthing clinics which approve a match and grow the embryo for them."
Grown? He couldn't believe it. "So children are not conceived in the usual way?"
The other man chuckled. "Through sex? No. Sex is just for fun. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?"
"No. I suppose not."
They must have passed under the sea gate. The waves increased, tossing the sub. The water, cobalt in the side screens while in the cavern, lightened to aqua. Morgan was watching the sonar, keeping track of the depth of the ocean floor. Knowing her, the IS was now under her control. That suited him. She sat, relaxed and lovely, in the navigator's station next to Eastly's captain's chair and made a show of feeding in coordinates to the IS. The bluish light bounced off the hint of red in her dark hair, making it look even more lustrous. Would she have chosen him, had they been on this world? Some time soon he'd have to find out. But not yet. Back to Partridge and this weird world.
"I don't really understand. You can trace your antecedents back through this house, but you're male. Does inheritance not follow the female line?"
Partridge lifted a shoulder. "No. The house goes to the oldest child, be that male or female. I didn't have a sister."
"Your family name is your mother's name?"
"That's right," the archaeologist said, nodding.
"Going down, people," Eastly said.
"Diving."
The ship's rocking motion ceased as the hull angled down. The color of the water deepened. Ravindra caught a glimpse of a sea creature undulating its way through the depths. "How deep will we be going?" he asked.
Morgan answered him. "Not all that deep. Two hundred meters at most. This part is relatively shallow. Soon you'll start to see the remains of buildings. Keep an eye on the forward screens."
Even through the murk in the water Ravindra could see the ocean teemed with life. Weird, gnarly branches thrust upward, sharing space with spiky shapes, and the sleek, shadowy forms of cruising animals. A shoal of small creatures turned in unison with a communal flash of silver.
Partridge grabbed his arm, pointed. "See? A wall."
Indeed. A wall. Nature rarely used straight lines and regular angles. Crumbling, uneven, the structure was quite clearly a stone wall.
"It's a house." Partridge's voice quivered with excitement. "This is the edges of a village we've called Nova.
"You've been here before?"
"Of course. The site has been excavated and anything of any real value removed years ago. But it's always exciting. Don't you think?"
To each his own. Ravindra would rather see a new planet, but at least he could understand the man's response. "But this place we're going to, it has NOT been excavated?"
"No. There was nothing to excavate. Or so the experts here said." Partridge stared at Morgan's back. "I don't know how she managed to see something there."
"Neither do I," Ravindra said. "Some of it is instinct and she's rarely wrong."
The sea floor sloped down. The sub followed the topography. Ravindra felt himself sliding forward and straightened his back. Outside, the water became darker, the slanting rays of sunlight disappeared. Ravindra followed the sub's progress on the chart, a black cylinder moving through an ever-changing 3-D display above the control console, which showed the immediate environment. A second display showed progress at a larger scale, where the submarine was little more than a moving dot. Down here, he could see the islands were clearly the tops of mountains protruding above the water.
Ravindra walked to where Morgan sat and took hold of her chairback. She turned her head to look up at him. "Where is this Temple in relation to where we want to go?" He spoke in Manesai.
"It should be okay." She highlighted a mountain/island a few klicks away. "I hope. That red sphere on the map is their exclusion zone. Our canyon is just outside."
'Just' was the right word, a mere hair's breadth on the map.
"They will not detect our presence?"
"I've set up shields a little like our cloaking devices. That's what I was doing for most of yest
erday. It won't hide us from visual detection but we're safe from sensors."
Normally Morgan would have tossed off some smart-mouthed remark but she remained strictly formal, a technician talking to an admiral. Ravindra's stomach fluttered. He would not lose her. He would not. "Where is the section you think is shielded?"
A gap between two islands flashed green on the display. "From what I can work out, this has always been underwater, except, of course, not so deep."
She'd spoken in Standard, glancing at Eastly, who said, "That's right."
"We're approaching our destination," the ship's IS said. "Should I turn on lights?"
"No," Morgan said.
Eastly's eyebrows rose. "Much easier to get a sense of where we are with lights."
"Much easier to be detected, too."
Eastly pulled a face. "I suppose."
"You're worried?" Partridge asked.
Morgan leaned back in the chair, considered for a moment before she replied. "Let's just say, if my admiral feels uneasy, so do I. And he does."
Partridge and Eastly exchanged surprised glances. Ravindra suppressed a smile. It was the nicest thing she'd said all day.
Morgan increased the size of the 3-D proximity display, zooming in to exclude unwanted detail. The canyon appeared, a deep defile between two islands. Eastly throttled back the sub's engines. While the other men watched the screen, Ravindra watched Morgan's face. Her gaze was fixed on the data port and she had that strange, surreal expression he associated with her when she was in her 'machine' mode. He wondered what she could see, how she saw. Like the displays on the ship's navigation screens? Much, much more?
Cliffs towered on both sides. Both towered high above the water but that was only apparent from the charts. Eastly brought the ship along the starboard side, where Morgan had sensed the anomaly. Long strands of seaweed waved with the current. For a moment one caught on the sensor, obscuring the view until it tore away revealing rock surfaces covered in multi-colored growth. Small fish moved through the seaweed or peeped from caves, and larger creatures approached the sub's sensors, attracted by the strange visitor. The whole environment made Ravindra's gut churn. Too many shapes and shadows, too many places for enemies to hide.
"Stop."
Morgan's command made Ravindra jump.
"See that?" She pointed to a section of the wall on the display.
Partridge and Eastly joined him, staring at the screen.
"Look carefully. Something has fallen away, or been cut away, from that section of the cliff."
Yes, she might be right. Ravindra could just discern what could be gouges, now softened by sea life.
Partridge said what he'd been thinking. "So?"
Pretending to use the controls, she rotated the lower sensors, scanning the bottom at the base of the cliff. "There. And before you ask, I'll show you what I'm seeing." Her voice snapped with irritation.
She'd selected a shapeless mass of stone and displayed it in 3-D. Then she filled out the mass, smoothing lines, extrapolating features.
Partridge gasped. "It's a torso."
"Well picked. Let me find another one."
Ravindra could almost hear himself breathe, they were all so silent. Not even Morgan moved. Another stone appeared on the screen, a lump covered in weed and debris. Morgan modified the image, this time revealing two legs and a bag on a piece of base.
Eastly and Partridge both sighed, leaning toward the display as if mesmerized.
Morgan swiveled the chair around. "That's your statues. Something broke them off. My guess is they were deliberately removed. This part of the wall would have been above water thousands of years ago."
Partridge nodded. "Now you mention it, that makes sense. Ushas's founders tended to destroy anything that didn't fit their belief system. A pantheon of men wouldn't have fit."
She smiled. "Right. This is also the area where the data anomaly is strongest. So let's take a closer look at the scenery."
Ravindra sat down on the couch. The atmosphere in the sub had shifted. Partridge, sitting beside him, gripped his fingers on the edge of the couch, his muscles tensed. Eastly's eyes sparkled with excitement. And something else. Anger, Suspicion?
"Whoah! That's a big one!"
Ravindra jerked out of his assessment at the sound of Eastly's voice, just in time to catch a glimpse of something enormous passing the outside window screen. The sensors swiveled to follow the creature, receding in a swirl of wake.
"Is it dangerous?" Morgan asked. "Because there's another one out there." She jerked her head at the display where another creature rose out of the murk at the base of the cliff.
Ravindra's heart thundered. A huge head tapered down to a much narrower tail. Pectoral fins extended like short wings on an atmosphere-capable flying craft. The creature had looked like part of the rubble, its hide superbly camouflaged to match its surroundings in color and in texture.
"Shit. The other one's coming around the other side." Partridge's voice cracked with panic.
"They're usually safe enough, Derryn," Eastly said.
"You've said that before. Have you seen those teeth?" Partridge's finger, pointing at the screen, trembled.
The creature's mouth had opened. Gods. Triple rows of triangular fangs. And the things must be as long as this sub. The hull jolted. Ravindra staggered, reaching out for the back of Morgan's chair. Partridge stumbled to his knees.
"It's attacking," Partridge hissed as he struggled to his feet.
"Just a nudge." Eastly's hands gripped the console, his white knuckles at odds with the calmness of his words. "Damage report."
"Minor external scratches. The cardoplasts are in all likelihood protecting a nest."
"Brent, get us the hell out of here." Partridge had scrambled back to his seat on the bench, his eyes round with fear. "The other one's coming."
The second beast, the one in front, had lunged forward and made a threat display. Ravindra had seen similar behavior often enough on hunting trips. Now, the creature stayed in place, a hulking shape in the gloom.
"Get us out," Eastly said.
"Aye, aye."
"Hang on a minute." Morgan came out of her machine trance. "There's something behind that wall."
Eastly shook his head. "We'll never get near it. They'll destroy the sub."
Already, the ship was coming to a halt.
"Wait. Stop. Look at this." Morgan showed a piece of the canyon wall, all rocks and sparse weed. She followed barely visible shapes, drawing a line on the screen. "It's an arch. I'll bet a year's pay that's a sea gate like the one you have at your house. I just need a few minutes to see if I can trigger the mechanism."
The sub jolted. Morgan lurched, barely saving herself. This time an alarm started, strident ululation in time with a flashing red light on the console. "A minor leak," the IS intoned. "Dealing…"
Morgan focused on the data port.
"Why aren't we moving, Brent? Get us the fuck out of here," Partridge screeched.
Eastly thumped the panel with a clenched fist, the lines in his face taut with tension. "I'm trying. It's not responding. Ship!"
Ravindra forced himself to breathe deeply. In… out. The red light stopped flashing and the alarm ceased. Morgan had taken over, he was sure of it. He hoped she wasn't making a huge mistake. Finding out where his ancestors came from was one thing, but he had no wish to join them in oblivion. "Morgan?"
"Nearly, Ashkar. It's old." She didn't look at him.
The ship shuddered. Metal screeched.
"Sealing bulk heads to front compartments."
"We've sprung a fucking leak. Brent," howled Partridge.
"Ah." Morgan leaned back.
A cloud of silt and particles erupted into the dark water. Ravindra heaved a sigh of relief. The sea gate was lifting, inching up into the mountain. The movement must have alarmed the cardoplasts. The one guarding the nest backed away, displaying three rows of teeth.
The sea gate stopped.
"
Fuck." Morgan frowned. "The bloody thing is stuck. I could use a torpedo or a laser canon about now."
"We're not going to need it. The cardoplast will sink us first." Partridge pointed at the rear-facing screen, where the huge beast's mouth filled the display.
Chapter 17
Pure terror raced up Morgan's spine. As if in slow motion, the creature came on, its jaws wide. She could have counted every triangular tooth in the cardoplast's mouth. She put on power, and at the same time, drove hard to starboard. The gaping maw disappeared.
"It's gone over the top," Partridge said, relief dripping from every word.
A blast of water smashed the sub sideways. Morgan rode the systems, checking for leaks and stabilizing, while dragging in data from the screens. The beast had hit the wall, where the half-open sea gate hung. Debris drifted in the water, but the gate was rising again. The cardoplast had retreated, ready for a second run. Was the gate high enough? She hoped so. She swung the sub around, ignoring complaints from the passengers and the groans of the hull. The beast struck again. The water swirled, full of silt and detritus that rattled like a storm on a metal roof. As the creature backed off, Morgan shot the sub through the gap, then instructed the gate to drop.
The sub was going too fast. If she couldn't stop it quickly, they'd hit something. She engaged full reverse thrust. The engines roared, slammed from one motion to another. Ravindra looked positively green, his hands clenched into fists, his lips a line. Partridge's face was pale, his eyes round.
They were rising, following a sloping passage, which gave her time to slow down but even so the end approached, a dark mass dead ahead. I can't do any more. Let's hope it's enough. A rolling boom filled the compartment. The ship slewed sideways, then rocked and swayed.
"We have minor damage to the bow and the leading sensor has been destroyed," the IS said. "All compartments are watertight."
Morgan wasn't the only one who sighed with relief. The collision was less than she'd feared.
"What happened out there?" Eastly asked.
Morgan's Return Page 14