by Finn Black
With special thanks to Brandon Robshaw and David Shephard, along with Steven Wendland and Marty Kossoff.
With additional thanks to Alison Warner, Pam Kunick-Cohen, Avrill Stark, Robert Chandler, Tom Taylor, James Brouwer, Wolfgang Bylsma, Trent Carlson, Kirsten Newlands, Anne Loi, Rob Spindley, Logan McPherson, Sophie Bloomfield, and John Lomas-Bullivant.
With special thanks to Speckled Pen
CONTENTS
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
The Deep: Dragon Rider
Prologue
Chapter One
PROLOGUE
A tall, burly man walked with a rolling gait to the edge of the harbour. The brass buttons on his pea coat glittered in the rays of the setting sun. Waves broke gently against the sea wall, and a fishing boat bobbed in the water next to a landing stage.
Two people in overalls were crouched over the boat. One was attaching some sort of device to the front of the vessel. The other wore a welder’s mask and was soldering two large metal plates together. A shower of sparks flew from the torch.
‘Ahoy there!’ called the burly man.
The figure in the mask straightened up and looked round sharply. A hand went up to raise the mask, revealing the face of a young woman with flushed cheeks, short dark hair and intense green eyes.
‘Captain Hammerhead. About time.’ The young woman climbed a set of iron steps to where the pirate stood. He gazed down at the boat. The other worker was still busily fixing some piece of tech to the prow. ‘Making some improvements, Edwina?’
Edwina shrugged. ‘When you don’t have the Worldwide Oceanic Authority behind you, you have to be resourceful, right?’
Captain Hammerhead gave a hoarse, guttural laugh. ‘You said it. Ducking and diving, that’s us.’ His laughter stopped as quickly as it had begun and he fixed her with a level stare. ‘Got the necessary?’
Edwina delved into her pocket and brought out a grubby envelope. Captain Hammerhead snatched it and ripped it open, riffling his thumb through the notes of money inside. ‘Seems to be all there,’ he grunted.
‘Now hand over the goods,’ said Edwina. ‘And this better be worth it.’
The Dark Orca’s captain laughed. ‘Oh, it’s worth it, all right.’ He took a small electronic tablet from inside his coat, touched the screen and showed her the display.
There was an image of a tarnished brown orb, small enough to fit perfectly in the palm of her hand. Around its centre was a protruding ring covered in mysterious symbols. It looked indescribably old.
Edwina snatched the tablet and stared. ‘The Esgis! I thought it was lost forever!’
‘Well, it ain’t. It was aboard my sub not long ago. But I never got my hands on it.’
Edwina looked up at him, eyes burning. ‘Who has it, then?’
‘The Nektons. They’ve got it on board the Aronnax. You’re the only one who knows, apart from me.’
Edwina handed back the tablet and called down to the man who was still working on the boat. ‘Hurry up and finish installing that, d’you hear? I need that boat, and fast.’ She turned back to the captain. ‘Where are the Nektons now?’
Captain Hammerhead held out a hand. ‘Extra information costs money.’
Edwina narrowed her eyes. ‘You’ve had everything you’re getting.’
He grinned, revealing pearly white teeth. ‘Can’t blame a pirate for trying. All right, we intercepted their signal. They’re headed for the Arafura Sea.’
Edwina gave a sudden high-pitched laugh. ‘Good – not too far from here. I hear there’s a cyclone heading that way. I can use it to my advantage.’ She took out a tablet of her own and keyed in a code, her fingers a blur. Then, with an air of triumph, she held out the screen to the captain. He saw the WOA logo and underneath it the words: SATELLITE FEED TO ARONNAX – STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL.
‘I’ve hacked into the WOA feed – now I can intercept their messages. The Nektons won’t be getting any warnings about the cyclone!’
‘So they’re heading straight into the storm?’
‘And I’m going after them,’ Edwina said, gazing out to sea.
Captain Hammerhead gave a low, appreciative whistle. ‘Ain’t no stoppin’ you, is there?’
‘I’d do anything to get hold of the Esgis,’ she said, leaping down to the boat. ‘Anything!’
CHAPTER ONE
Ant peeled the wrapping from the fortune cookie and snapped it open. A shower of crumbs fell on the table as he pulled out the slip of paper.
‘“Today is the day to show someone you care,”’ he read out loud. ‘Yeah, maybe there’s something in that. Maybe I should show my feelings more.’
He began to walk towards his big sister, Fontaine, arms spread wide, mouth puckered up for a kiss.
‘No way – urgh!’ Fontaine scampered round to the other side of the table. ‘Keep away from me!’
Ant carried on walking straight past her and picked up the Jorange – the portable tank that his pet fish, Jeffrey, swam around in. He planted a kiss on the side of the fish tank, and Jeffrey swam up, and appeared to press his tiny lips to the glass.
‘Thank goodness for that!’ said Fontaine. ‘Like, narrow escape.’
‘It wasn’t that narrow,’ Ant assured her.
‘Ha ha, very funny,’ said Fontaine, folding her arms. ‘Anyway, the fortune cookie said show someone you care. Jeffrey isn’t a person, he’s just ... well, just a fish!”
Ant clamped his hands to the sides of the tank. ‘Hey, watch what you’re saying, Jeffrey has feelings, you know! He’s not just anything – he’s the best fish in the whole wide ocean!’ He gazed down at his tiny friend. ‘Aren’t you, Jeffrey?’
‘He’s not in the ocean, he’s in your homemade aquarium,’ said Fontaine. ‘He may be the best fish in there. Just about.’
Ant glared at Fontaine as his parents, Will and Kaiko, exchanged a smile. The Nekton family were gathered on the bridge of the Aronnax as it powered its way through the ocean. Kaiko had steered it down to a depth of a thousand metres, heading towards the Arafura Sea. They had stopped off at Hong Kong to refuel and replenish their supplies, and Ant had taken the opportunity to stock up on fortune cookies. Big time. The table was littered with cookie crumbs and empty wrappers, and there was still a sizeable pyramid of unopened cookies, containing slivers of paper waiting to tell their fortunes.
‘Go on, your turn,’ Ant said.
‘Oh, all right.’ Fontaine unwrapped another cookie, broke it apart and unfolded the message. ‘“Life’s journey is always an adventure,”’ she read aloud.
‘They got that right!’ said Kaiko, looking up from the screen on her console. ‘I don’t know how or why this happened but – our satellite connection is down!’
‘I don’t call that an adventure!’ Ant said. ‘An adventure should have, like, sharks and dragons and pirates and sea monsters!’
‘Maybe they’ll put in an appearance later,’ said Kaiko. ‘But right now this is quite enough to deal with.’
‘Is it such a big deal though?’ Will asked in a reassuring voice. He leaned over her to take a look at the screen. ‘We can still manage – we have the charts, and you’re a great pilot, Kaiko.’
A soft bleeping noise, like someone hitting a xylophone with a padded stick, rang through the bridge. ‘Ah, that means we’ve entered a new area. We’re in the Celebes Sea now,’ Kaiko said.
Will pored over one of his charts on the map table. ‘Just under five hundred kilometres till we hit the Arafura Sea.’
‘Araf
ura,’ Ant said dreamily. ‘Isn’t that a great name? “Child of the Mountain”, that’s what it means.’
‘Yeah, but what does that mean?’ said Fontaine. ‘Does anybody know?’
Will looked up, a curious frown on his face.
‘I don’t know yet,’ said Ant. ‘But I’ll find out. Mysteries are made to be solved!’
He went over to the display stand on the map table, where the Ephemychron lived. Once a navigational tool of the ancient Lemurian people, it was a greenish copper orb covered with mysterious symbols. Beside the Ephemychron stood another, smaller orb of tarnished brown. The Circlotron. Together, they looked like a planet and its moon, thought Ant. The Circlotron had a ring around its middle, covered in more Lemurian etchings. Ant had discovered it during a dive in a kelp forest, and had lovingly restored it.
He’d found a way of switching on the Circlotron so that it shot a beam of light into the night sky, picking out the celestial equator. The first time it had happened was so cool! Admittedly, Ant still wasn’t quite sure what the device was actually for, but he had an idea that it was tracing a route. A route that the Nektons were supposed to follow. To where ... ? It was Ant’s mission to find out.
He carefully took the Circlotron from its holder on the map table. It was the size of a cricket ball – small enough to balance in the palm of his hand. He often placed it inside his Jorange, so he could take it on his travels if needed. Plus Jeffrey was a great guard-fish.
Now he held the Circlotron in his hands. He was the only person who could control it and when he held it, a beam of light would shoot out. There were other times when some of the etchings on the rim had lit up. The etching of the dragon had taken them to a lair where Ant had found a hidden cave. There, another symbol had lit up on the Circlotron – of a child and mountain. It matched a symbol carved into the cave and Ant felt certain the Circlotron was guiding them along the equator towards the Arafura Sea, named after the Child of the Mountain.
‘Not now, Ant!’ said his mother, as if she had eyes in the back of her head. ‘I’m trying to navigate and I don’t want beams of light shooting all over the bridge, thank you very much!’ She peered more closely at the screen in front of her. ‘Something funny’s going on here. Looks like there’s an object – what is it, a fish? – moving about under the hull.’
Will came to stand beside her. ‘Pretty big fish,’ he commented.
‘Oh wow, d’you think it’s a great white shark?’ said Ant excitedly. ‘Or a giant oarfish? Or ... or ... ?’
‘Calm down, Ant,’ Kaiko said. ‘I can’t get a proper look at it. It’s too close to the hull.’
Ant came running over to the console and squeezed in beside his mother. Fontaine followed. A dark, blurred shape was moving on the screen. It grew bigger and the next moment there was a bump that rocked the Aronnax.
‘It hit us!’ said Fontaine.
‘Whatever creature’s down there, it’s a bold one,’ Will said.
‘Maybe it’s a sea serpent!’ Ant said. He just couldn’t stop imagining sea creatures. ‘Or ... or ... a sea goat!’
‘A what?’ said Fontaine, giving him a withering glance.
‘A sea goat – I’ve been studying the stars. Did you know there’s a whole constellation named after the sea goat – Capricornus!’
‘Yes, Ant, but it’s not an actual creature,’ Fontaine said patiently. ‘I suppose you’ll be saying there’s a giant scorpion in the sea next, just because there’s a constellation named after that.’
‘Who knows what’s down there in the deep?’ Ant challenged her. ‘We didn’t expect to find a dragon – until we found one.’
‘It was an evolved plesiosaur, not a dragon,’ said Fontaine.
‘Well, we didn’t expect to find a plesiosaur!’ They’d encountered the ancient creature living in a cave at the blue hole in the South China Sea. Ant had even ridden on its back. He was so excited, he’d christened the ancient creature – um – Brian.
‘Anyway, we didn’t expect to find Brian, but we did!’ he reminded his sister. She wasn’t going to win this argument!
Before Fontaine could reply there was another bump. The ship lurched more violently than before. Kaiko and Will exchanged a concerned look.
‘Do you think we should go out and chase it away, whatever it is?’ said Will.
‘I’m sure it doesn’t mean to harm us,’ Kaiko said, sounding less than one hundred per cent sure. Then she brightened. ‘Anyway, look, it’s going!’
Sure enough, the shape on the screen was getting smaller.
Ant ran to the window and peered out into the ocean, hoping to catch a glimpse of the creature. He thought he saw a black, streamlined shape moving swiftly away from the Aronnax – but before he could focus on it properly, it had disappeared.
‘Whew,’ said Will. ‘Alarm over.’
Kaiko shook out her shoulders and stretched her neck. ‘You guys can take a break if you like. We’re on course, and everything’s under control now.’
‘Sure?’
‘I know you’ve been dying to go to your library and consult your books, ever since Fontaine asked Ant why the Arafura Sea is called Child of the Mountain!’
Will grinned. ‘Am I really that transparent?’ He was already walking towards the library.
Ant and Fontaine followed. Ant wondered what idea had occurred to his dad. Perhaps he’d suddenly remembered something buried in one of his old books, another clue that would guide them in their quest to understand the mysteries of the ancient Lemurians!
CHAPTER TWO
The library aboard the Aronnax looked like it belonged either in a university or a museum. It was a strange mix of the old and the ultra-modern. There were bookcases full of ancient leather-bound books and maps and atlases. There was a painted wooden globe, fashioned in the seventeenth century, which showed the continents with slightly different outlines from the ones Ant knew, and different place names, like Siam instead of Thailand and Cathay instead of China. But there were also computers and monitors, an electronic catalogue and a high-definition screen that showed the Aronnax’s swift progress across a 3-D map of the ocean.
Will settled at his desk and put his glasses on. He reached up to a shelf above the desk and pulled down a large scroll wound around a stone cylinder.
‘Do you think the answer will be in The Chronicle of the Deep, Dad?’ asked Ant.
‘I often find this is the best place to uncover ancient secrets, apart from the Deep itself,’ Will murmured.
He opened the protective plates, unfurled the scroll inside and flattened it on the desk. The scroll was covered in pictures, diagrams, symbols and incomprehensible script in faded greys and greens and yellows. Ant and Fontaine waited patiently until their dad found what he was looking for.
‘Ah! Look!’ He jabbed his finger at a central symbol. It was the same image Ant had seen on the Circlotron, the stick-figure child beside the mountain. Underneath was some writing – Lemurian, Ant knew, although he couldn’t read it.
‘What does it say?’ he asked, his foot tapping with excitement.
Will scratched his jaw, and said in his slow, deep voice, ‘King Batu.’
‘Who was he?’ said Ant.
Will shook his head. ‘I don’t know.’
‘So we’re none the wiser!’ said Fontaine.
‘Not yet,’ Will said, ‘but –’
The muffled bleep rang out again, and looking up at the big screen Ant saw the shape of the Aronnax nosing into an area of lighter green on the map, marked ARAFURA SEA. At the same time, Kaiko’s voice called out, ‘We’ve arrived!’
‘Ah,’ said Will. ‘Let’s go and see what’s what.’ He replaced the scroll on the shelf as Ant and Fontaine raced back to the bridge.
*
All four of the Nektons stood in front of the main window. The ocean was the colour of jade, a paler green than they were used to – the Celebes Sea had been almost black.
‘How come the water’s so much lighter?’
asked Ant.
‘We’re not as deep as we were,’ Will said. ‘The Arafura is a shallow sea.’
‘I guess that means there’s less sea to search,’ Fontaine said. ‘But what are we looking for?’
They’d come here, following a sign from the Circlotron. They’d decided that the etching of the stick-figure child beside the mountain meant that they should come to the Arafura Sea – especially after the beam of light had arced west in the night sky, pointing to a spot above the ocean right here. They had to be in the right place, Ant felt sure of that. Still, he had to admit Fontaine had a point. They didn’t know exactly what they were searching for.
‘We’ll know when we find it,’ Will said.
‘Yeah,’ said Ant, determined to stay positive. This was one of the most exciting things to happen to him, ever. He wasn’t going to let a small detail like the Nektons having No Actual Plan put him off. ‘This is where the Circlotron led us – so there’s got to be something here.’
A high-pitched keening sound suddenly burst out, making Ant and Fontaine jump.
Fontaine put her hands to her ears. ‘What’s that horrible noise?’
‘Sounds a like a seagull that’s stubbed its toe really badly!’ said Ant.
‘It’s the distress signal,’ said Kaiko, whirling round. ‘Someone’s in trouble!’
‘Can’t you turn it down?’ said Fontaine, her hands still over her ears.
Will moved over to one of the computers. He touched the monitor screen and a set of coordinates appeared, along with the letters SOS repeated over and over again. ‘It’s coming from a boat on the surface, not too far from here.’
‘Sounds like a job for the Nektons!’ said Ant.
‘I’ll take us up,’ said Kaiko. She pressed a button on the console in front of her.
‘Please, Dad!’ said Fontaine. ‘I have sensitive ears!’
‘Oh yes, sorry.’ Will grinned as he turned off the distress signal. Silence descended once more on the bridge of the Aronnax – or not quite, as there was now a rushing sound as water was pumped from the ballast tanks. As the Aronnax began to rise, the sea grew paler.