Page 4 of Music of the Ocean

If he wanted to make captain one day, he couldn’t have panic attacks on his record.

In the lull, the world around them seemed to push in. The sky was an intense, dazzling blue. The oppressive, sticky heat made him sweat profusely. Fuck, his throat was starting to sting when he swallowed.

And he was thirsty. Pulling out his personal canteen, he uncapped it and took a long swallow. The water tasted off. Like it was missing something. Although, he had no idea what water could possibly be missing. It certainly didn’t help with his thirst.

The air, despite the clarity of the readings, carried a faint sharpness that he hadn’t noticed before. He swore it was the taste of ozone or maybe the bitter tang that came with wires fraying.

He wanted to get this over with and get back on the ship, running diagnostics in the comfort of metal and vacuum-sealed air. But no, here he was, stomping through a tropical jungle on a foreign shore with a field kit and a gnawing sense that the water was watching him.

“Let’s move to the next site,” Saxby said. Was his voice steady? It sounded steady. “Abe, you’re up front. Kira, you’ve got the rear.”

Abe grunted assent, slinging the sample pack across his chest and leading the way inland, away from the water, and Saxby fell in behind him.

The sand gave underfoot, coarse and gritty, not at all like the stuff back home. It was too clean, too uniform. Every snap of a twig or rustle of a leaf sent his nerves scrambling.

At least the tree line offered relief from the sun. The air was cooler but alive with the hum of insects deep in the jungle’s dense shadows.

Leaves as wide as his hand slapped his arms as he followed Abe. A sharp and unfamiliar scent hung in the gloom. It was like fresh fish, lemon, and seaweed mashed together. Why the hell did that smell kind of good?

Saxby checked the motion detector clipped to his belt. Nothing. No movement, but he kept his hand near his phaser anyway.

“Anything interesting?” Saxby asked to fill the silence.

Abe didn’t look back. “Plant life’s all hyperefficient. Photosynthesis off the charts. Some of these trees are growing three feet a month, if I’m reading this right.”

“If only our government was that hyperefficient,” Kira joked.

“That’s not going to happen in this lifetime or the next,” Vance replied.

Saxby tried to grin, but the effort caught in his throat. His whole body felt weirdly light, as if he’d been running for hours. He squeezed his fist until it turned white. Damned thing felt odd. Hell, he felt odd.

He flexed his hand and gave the signal to move. The jungle closed in around them, vines knotted overhead, roots snaking across the ground as they pushed inland.

“DO WE have enough samples?” Saxby asked, after they’d hiked for what seemed like endless hours. Surely, they had enough. They’d taken samples of every plant, every speck of dirt, and every small insect they’d run across.

Oddly enough, they hadn’t seen any streams or pools of water inland. There had to be something there, but they found nothing, and quite frankly, they didn’t have the equipment to dig to see if there were underground streams.

“I believe we do,” Abe answered.

“Good. Let’s return to the shuttle,” Saxby said. “I’m ready to get off this planet.”

“Same,” Kira muttered. “It has an odd vibe.”

“Place comes across as paradise,” Vance said, glancing around as if he, too, expected a predator to jump out at them.

“Yeah, but what’s it trying to cover up?” Saxby asked, wiping the sweat off his face as they hiked back toward the shuttle.

Vance slowly nodded. “Right? If it’s too good to be true—”

“It usually is,” Kira finished.

Chapter Two

SOMETHING TOOK notice in the ocean’s inky depths, cocooned in the darkness that was its home.

Its senses were attuned to the currents and rhythms of its vast oceans. Patience was not just a virtue. It was a way of life. Nothing had disturbed its boundaries for years.

Until now.