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I saw the gleam in Myles eyes when I explained about volcanoes, the same he had expressed when he held the coin in his hands. I had even watched him clean the dagger he had taken from the bottom of the ocean, he was as much invested at digging out the secrets of this world as I. No, I didn't think he would go back on his word and that excited me, made me even like him.
Never had I imagined that a vissigroth and I could have something in coming.
Now I burned to get back home and back to my books, but Myles had something even better for me.
After our return to our dome, he handed me a palmtop. "This is one of the new models that the Cosmic Coalition gave us during their last visit. It is loaded with any knowledge humans have ever acquired as well as anything Leander historians have added since they were first given to us a hundred rotations ago."
Impressed I took the palmtop carefully into my hands. It was different from the one I had inherited from my father. Definitely lighter and more sensitive.
Myles showed me how to use it and that was our last interaction for several hours until he called me saying it was dinnertime. I hadn't notice how many hours had gone by, too engrossed in this new world he had opened up to me.
"Well did you find anything interesting?" Myles asked handing me a plate he had once again insisted on filling for me.
Most of my time researching I had spent on reading up on volcanoes. "I did some more digging about volcanoes, but Myles, you have to keep in mind, that those are Earth volcanoes. Yours might be entirely different."
"I have taken that into consideration. Any mention about it in our archives?" He reached for a dried fruit to pair it with a chunk of meat before he took a healthy bite.
Fascinated I stared at his massive jaws as they worked. For some reason, he was becoming more attractive to me the more time I spent with him.
"I haven't found anything about Oceanus' volcano, but that doesn't mean it's not there." I hedged, daintily parting a dollug and taking a bite. "I need more time."
"What do you think?" He put his food aside, staring at me.
"From what I've read about Earth volcanoes, they can erupt within an hour or thousands of years. There are machines that might predict activity, or an imminent eruption, but we don't have those here."
"What do you call them?"
"Well, there are seismographs, that read earthquakes, or," I shrugged, since we weren't on Earth, "groundquakes?" I tried and he rewarded me with a small smile. "From what I learned they can be quite specific if an eruption is coming."
"Seismograph," he repeated.
"Yes, and machines that measure and analyze the ground to see if magma is rising it. Then there are machines to measure the gases coming from a volcano and something called radar detection, but you'd need a satellite for that."
"I will request those machines," Myles agreed and I stared at him.
"The Cosmic Coalition is very interested in us becoming part of them. In exchange for taking in more humans they're willing to cater to us for the time being," He explained a bit smugly.
"That would help," I agreed. "But you'd also need people who are able to read those machines."
"Noted," he took his food back up.
"Are you ready to go back diving tomorrow?" He asked next.
My excitement grew, "Are we going back?"
His eyes sparkled. "I will have my warriors train fighting underwater, if you promise not to drift off too far, you may explore your ruins more."
"Oh," my heart beat faster in excitement. "That would be wonderful."
I rose, "I better go charge the equipment and make sure it's ready."
He waved me back down, "Eat first, then I'll go with you and find some apprentices for you to train, so you don't have to do all this by yourself."
Somewhat perplexed I stared at him. He was surprising me more each day we spent together and I was starting to think that his whole hostage situation might not be as bad as I initially thought.
That's how the next few days passed. Myles' Leandars were impressive at how quickly they picked up what they needed to know to keep the tanks filled and the other equipment clean and pliable.
I caught glimpses of Myles and the dragoons practicing their fighting skills underwater, which from what he told me was a hell of a lot different than in the city. First the water added a certain amount of resistance, that made fighting with swords nearly impossible and slowed the impact of a knife. Second, even hand to hand combat was an entirely new experience for them, since they rolled in zero gravity and still had to compete with the water resistance when delivering what normally would have been an incapacitating blow. Since I had no experience with fighting, I took his word for it and watched hypnotized as the giant men fought each other, so they could battle the sirens if it came to that.
