Page 22 of Whispers of the Deep

It was pretty. The natural motion of the sea turned into soft, undulating waves. Barely noticeable unless she stared at the water. Then she could see the flickering sparkles that drifted left to right. It lulled her senses, setting her mind into something almost like a trance.

“You are safe,” she murmured to herself. “You are alive. You are not dead yet.”

Over and over, she repeated the words until some of the tension in her body had eased. Her heart eased upon the hammering in her ribs like an insistent child. I will relax, it seemed to say. But soon we need to run again.

And run where? She was only feet from the icy water, and the ground wasn’t entirely warm against her toes. Not cold, but definitely not warm.

“You have to get up and do something,” Mira told herself. So she stood.

Maybe she stayed frozen there for a little while longer. Her stomach twisted as she thought about drowning herself. It would serve that undine right to return and find that she’d done the work for him. If he’d wanted to kill her, he could have at least fought her.

Starvation was a horrible way to go.

Finally, though, she tore her eyes away from the glimmering lights and turned her attention to the cave itself. Maybe this would give her a little more details on where she was. She couldn’t be on the surface, no undine would bring her there. Besides, wouldn’t she be hearing a lot more thunder from the storms that never abated?

She had to still be underwater. He must have brought her to a cave system that... that...

“Is that a crate?” she asked.

It was more than just a crate.

There was an entire computer system here. All set up in the back of the cave. She’d recognize the look of that anywhere. The hardware was similar to the ones in the engineering section of Beta. Old, but not impossible to turn on.

Taking a staggering step forward, she paused and then scrubbed her eyes hard to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating.

“You can’t have nitrogen poisoning,” she muttered. “You weren’t breathing gas.”

But it sure seemed like she was hallucinating.

She took another step forward. Then another. Her body started moving of its own accord as she lunged toward the equipment. A few clicks here, a swift kick to the side there, and three bangs of her fist on the top of the old generator and voila. She was in luck.

Apparently, the energy was derived from the water. She heard a soft churn before lights flickered on above her head. There weren’t many, most of them were on their own stand and a few of the bulbs were broken.

But she had three lights. Three white lights that weren’t coming out of the ocean.

And an entire computer system at her disposal.

“Oh, you stupid undine,” she muttered as she grabbed onto the side of the computer. “Messaging system, turn on. On.”

There were two words on the screen, and they crushed what little hope she’d had to send a message.

Systems Offline.

So, she wouldn’t be able to tell anyone that she was still alive. But at the very least, she had lights. She had crates of stuff to look through, although most of them appeared to be empty. And there was a cot in the corner with a very moldy blanket that had sunk into the mattress itself. She’d have to get rid of that.

It wasn’t the worst place she’d stayed by far. Neither would this be a very comfortable stay. But maybe if she tried her best, she could get that computer working. The signal would be weak, and it would be really hard for her to do much other than send a single message repeatedly, but it was a start.

It was hope.

The sound of rippling water caught her attention. Mira turned and shrieked when she saw the undine floating behind her in the pool. Just the top of his head and his eyes showed, watching her with that black gaze that somehow was more unnerving out of the water than in it.

She hadn’t realized he had so many gills on the sides of his face. Maybe they’d been flat to his skull the few times she’d seen him, but now they stood out. Sharp spikes with webs, rounded curves and edges, all blue and veiny and really gross.

How some people in Beta thought the undines looked humanoid, she would never understand. They were monsters. They were terrible beasts who kidnapped people who were just trying to do their job.

“What are you doing back here?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest and keeping a large distance between them. Could he get out of the water?

She thought he’d survive it. He’d been in the hallway with her just fine, and then he’d done that strange vomiting movement that had expelled water out of his gills. So he must be able to live for a while outside of the water.

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