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I had the gist of everything they knew so far in fifteen minutes, but I pored through every ephemeral piece of documentation I was given afterwards for the next several hours, scans done by remotely controlled vehicles, infrared, sonar, core samples near the freakin’ thing. Donna brought in my dinner for me, and I only grunted at her, so lost in what I was reading.
“Wait!” I called out, just before she left. “Donna—can I get some paper?”
“Sure,” she said. “But we only have pencils, not pens.”
That made sense—the pressure change to get here would cause ink to leak.
“And don’t go crazy,” she said, returning with both for me. “We don’t get another shipment of supplies until next week, and that’s when we send out the out-going requisition forms. So if you run out, you won’t get it till the week after that.”
“Got it,” I said, then went back to my desk to stop the footage repeatedly and try writing out the “words” to start a rudimentary cryptanalysis, based on image repetition and frequency.
I could’ve probably figured out how to have the tablet help me, but I liked to get into my work. It was the rubbings I’d made of the avian tongue that helped me solve it. And I was glad my suit was tactimetal—it’d give me a limited amount of feeling, so I could “touch” the words myself, tomorrow.
But before then—oh God—I remembered something else was going to have to touch me.
I pulled back to the tablet’s main screen and looked around for a Bonding-with-a-Kraken Manual, then considered doing a search for it, only to realize that there was no Google down here at the bottom of the deep. I got up to stretch my legs and started pacing back and forth in my narrow quarters.
Had the structure been made by ancient krakens? Was that why there was a kraken assigned to the project?
I didn’t even know if krakens had any technology. In fact, I didn’t know much about them past their obscene strength and telepathy. They kept to themselves, and humans generally avoided them. I’d never given a shit about them because they were a living species.
But they must have had some way to pass along information from one generation to the next. Was this structure something they’d lost? Did it pre-date them, or was it part of their mythology?
Six hours later, when my body was telling me I needed to sleep even though I disagreed, I bothered to take a few bites of my now-cold food, and when I was done, I went to go look out the window.
This whole situation was perfect. It was the kind of work I could throw myself into for the next few months—hell, decades, depending on what we found. With Arcus Industrial at the wheel, I’d never have to beg for grants or wonder when the money would run out.
And if I had my druthers, I’d never resurface again. Grant could just forge my signature on the divorce papers for all I cared.
But thinking of him—I realized I still had my wedding ring on my left hand. It was a simple gold band, the only jewelry I wore. My diamond solitaire engagement ring was safe in a jewelry box at home, because I never wanted to take anything fancy out to worksites—maybe Grant could give it to his new baby momma when he found her.
I imagined him bouncing all the children he could have without me on his knees.
Fair, I spat in my mind, just how he’d said to me.
I twisted it off my ring-finger and then came to a sudden decision, walking out of my room and back down to the dock.
The square of ocean there was every bit as mesmerizing as it had been earlier, rippling just behind the magical forcefield that kept us safe. I walked until I was six feet in front of it and hurled my ring at it without a second thought.
It plunked into the water and then tumbled almost straight down inside.
I’d been hoping it’d go further, but I couldn’t see it now, and that was good enough.
Whether I liked it or not, I was free.
chapter 9
CEPHARIUS
What had she thrown into the water?
I’d been following the new human ever since a submersible had decanted her into the laboratory earlier in the day.
I’d been surprised at the sophistication of the structure I’d found on the sea floor two days prior—and even more so that I could see into it. I’d seen humans swimming before and seen them float by in their boats and submarines, but I’d never had the opportunity to watch them live their lives. I knew humans had “aquariums” where they sometimes kept oceanic creatures, but this was the first time I’d encountered the reverse, where they were trapped for me.
They were fascinating, but also pathetic. So small and so uncoordinated. They could only move in two dimensions and were only able to grasp with their hands. I would’ve felt sorry for them if I didn’t know how horrible they could be as a species.
But I hoped that she’d be different. I couldn’t tell just from looking at her—she was possibly more serious than the other woman also trapped inside, but their interactions with one another all seemed normal.
