Page 65 of Whispers of the Deep

Down here? She would die all too quickly.

Byte shuffled a little closer to her, those metal arms pinging against the stone as it dragged itself a little closer with every movement. “You know, there are better ways to prove that you’re strong.”

“I don’t need a lecture.”

“Well, it seems like you might.” Byte settled beside her, watching her with those unblinking eyes as she put her feet into the yellow glow of the water and swished her toes there. “If you keep doing that, your toes will rot off.”

“No, they won’t,” she replied with a chuckle, surprised it could make her smile so easily. “They’ll be fine. I know everything has been a little damp lately, but at least I can dry out in this cave.”

“Where all the other undines know you are. It’s a risk for us to stay here too long. You’ll be wet again soon enough.”

“I don’t really mind it,” she said quietly. “I like the ocean. Swimming is something that I’ve always enjoyed, even though we were only allowed to do so in the moon pool where there were a hundred cameras underneath to make sure nothing would come close to us. Even the engineering wing had a small section of the ocean we could dip our toes into.”

She swished her feet in the water, watching delicate foam rise from her movements, and it captivated her. Just as it had when she was a little girl.

Byte made a little clunking noise that sounded rather like a huff. “Humans have always been so interested in the ocean. Even when I was made, lifetimes ago for you, you all had a fascination with the sea. It’s always the depths that you couldn’t understand and the creatures far beneath it.”

“You remember?” She turned to look at Byte, noticing the rust gathering on its edges. “How much do you remember?”

“Everything.” Byte picked at one of those rusty pieces. “I told you, I was meant to be a record keeper. I remember everything that happened in those old days. The beginning of our journey underneath the sea. The first construction of Alpha and the secondary constructions of others.”

“How?” She pulled her feet out of the water and gently picked Byte up. “How do you remember all that if you were mapping the sea floor?”

“Transmissions. Even underwater, there are ways for droids to keep in touch with each other. I have many memories of those early times.” It tapped the side of its box, and the little projector appeared off the top of it. “Would you like to see?”

A glimpse into a world long gone? She would be honored to see what the droid had archived, but even more than that, she just wanted to see how people used to live.

“Why don’t you show me while I clean off some of this rust? There were a few chemicals in the back that haven’t degraded yet. I think I should be able to get you shining so the rust doesn’t get any worse.”

She placed Byte on top of the computer console and gathered her things to clean it while the droid settled in. She watched as it flicked through memories, speeding through some and then dismissing others. But eventually, it settled on images to project that immediately captivated her.

Memories from above.

Together, they watched a beautiful landscape unfold before them. A young woman with blonde sparkling hair and a smile that showed far too large teeth. She was so full of life, though, bubbling with laughter as she raced after an older gentleman. They were running on bright green grass, endless blades weaving around their knees. Not inside a pod or inside the cities, but above ground.

“What is that?” Mira asked, pointing at the bottom of the memory as the image suddenly left the grassy plain.

“That was a rock formation that was found often above the surface. They called it lava flow, and it was cooled lava from the volcanoes up above. The land there was difficult to live on. That’s why humans turned their attention to beneath the surface. It’s very warm. And sometimes the lava would get into homes and towns, and kill people.” Byte zoomed in on the background of the memory, showing what looked like a tall peak of land. “That’s one of the volcanoes.”

“It looks very tall.”

“They all were. Are. Likely, there are plenty of them out there, but the drones that humans built to fly above us were long ago destroyed. Unfortunately, all the robots they left on land stopped broadcasting one by one.”

A wave of sadness rushed through her as she started polishing Byte’s sides. “Do you miss them?”

“The humans?”

“The robots that were left on land.”

“Ah.” A few gears whirred and clicked before Byte sighed again. “I have not heard from them in one hundred and sixteen years. It has been a long time, and I know they are gone. But some part of me hopes that perhaps they are simply waiting for someone to find them. As I was.”

Oh, if that didn’t break her heart. Mira winced before continuing to clean Byte’s sides, picking off rust with her nails as she worked. “Who were the people in the memory, then?”

“Ah! Miss Alys Fairweather and her father, Professor Norbert Fairweather. They were two of the most intriguing adventurers I ever met in my life.” Byte flicked to another memory, one of the two people getting into what looked like a submarine, though the model was clearly old. It was little more than a round ball that floated in the ocean.

Professor Fairweather got in first. His white hair waved in the sea breeze, and there was a faint sheen of sweat on his face. Perhaps because it was so warm above the water. He lifted a hand and waved, the older style clothing he wore billowing with his movement. He likely should have been wearing a suit jacket, but then again, she didn’t expect to see him wearing that, considering the heat.

His daughter stepped in after him, standing on top of the round submarine with her eyes cast out to sea. She wore a pretty yellow dress with a wide leather belt around her waist. And as the breeze moved her dress, Mira could see that she was also wearing a pair of immaculate knee-high boots beneath.

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