Page 28 of Daughter of the Deep

I’m pretty sure I know the answer. Dolphins excel at navigation. I can read nautical maps just fine. But Ester’s command of hard maths is better than mine. She can juggle more variables.

‘Maintaining top cruising speed,’ she says, ‘in a straight line? Seventy-two hours. That’s assuming favourable weather, no mechanical problems and no more attacks by LI’s varsity commandos. Also, there’s nothing marked on the chart at that location. Nothing even close. If we don’t find a base, we’ll be in the middle of nowhere with no supplies. We’ll die.’

Well … no sugar-coating.

But three days is not as bad as I feared. We’re provisioned for a weekend. If we ration carefully, we might make it with the supplies we have on board. My suspicious mind wonders if Hewett planned it this way. Hesaidhe didn’t know the location of the base. Nevertheless, we have exactly three days of supplies for a three-day trip. That’s quite a coincidence.

On the other hand, I don’t think Hewett is faking his coma. I doubt he would knowingly risk his life to lure us to a secret base and betray its location to LI.

Also … I hate to admit it, but I love treasure hunts. Secret maps.Xmarks the spot. Nobody at Harding-Pencroftdoesn’tlove that stuff, and all I’ve ever wanted to do with my life is explore the world, solving its puzzles. Whether this is a trap or not, it’s hard to resist.

A lot of things could go wrong. We’re only twelve hours out from San Alejandro. The responsible thing would be to turn around, but who on the mainland could help us?

Our class has trained, suffered and worked for two years. The goal has been to graduate from Harding-Pencroft as the best marine scientists, naval warriors, navigators and underwater explorers in the world.

We owe it to our lost schoolmates to find out what’s at the other end of that glowing line. I want to know why my parents sacrificed their lives, and why Dev is … gone, too. But I can’t make this call on my own, no matter what Hewett said about following my orders.

‘Assemble the crew,’ I tell my friends. ‘We’ll make this decision together.’

I’ve never liked oral reports.

Put me in a group project, and I will volunteer to do the research. I will draw the maps. I will write the essay and create the multimedia slides. I prefer to leave the presenting to somebody else.

This time, though, it has to be me who delivers the news.

Everyone assembles on the main deck. They line up by house, the way we did yesterday at the docks in San Alejandro. I don’t tell them to do this, it’s just our custom. The only people absent are Linzi, who is attending to Dr Hewett in the sickbay, and my fellow Dolphin Virgil Esparza, who has the bridge. I’ve already filled them in personally.

It’s mid-morning. The ocean is ash grey with light swells. Clouds hang low and heavy, promising rain. Not the most auspicious weather for making a major decision.

Gemini Twain stands on my right. I guess I appreciate the backup, but I’m still not used to having a heavily armed Shark breathing down my neck. I half expect him to push me out of the way and say,So, now that I’m in charge …

The worst part is, I’m not sure I would object. I didn’t askfor leadership. I don’t like everyone staring at me, waiting for answers.

‘Here’s the situation,’ I begin.

I know there may be spies among us. Somebody betrayed our school to LI and sabotaged our security from the inside. That somebody may be on this deck. But I can’t let that paralyse me. My classmates and I have been through a lot together over the last two years, and the last twenty-four hours. I’ll keep trusting them until one of them gives me a solid reason not to.

Besides, we’re observing radio silence now. Hewett confiscated all our cell phones after Tia checked them for tracking chips, and even if the phonesweren’tlocked in a box in the captain’s quarters there’s no way anyone could get a signal this far out at sea. We’ve activated sonar and radar blocking and dynamic camouflage. We’ve swept the ship for secret transmitters. No one on board should be able to share our location or our plans with the outside world. At least in theory …

I tell the crew everything. Surprise, I’m descended from Captain Nemo. No, not the cartoon fish. Our zappy guns and other gold-level toys are based on Nemo’s tech. Land Institute and Harding-Pencroft have been fighting a cold war over said tech for 150 years. Now that cold war has been turned up to a full boil. The mother lode of alt-tech, including the wreck of Nemo’s sub, is supposedly at a secret HP base three days from our current position. If LI’s sub, theAronnax, finds us in the meantime, we’re fish food. Oh, and, by the way, Dr Hewett is in a coma in the sickbay and needs immediate treatment.

‘The way I see it,’ I say, ‘we have two options. We find this base, warn our people there and maybe get help against LI. That’s what Hewett wanted. Or we turn back to California, report everything to the authorities and hope they can handle it. Questions?’

The group shifts uncomfortably. Everybody looks at everybody else, wondering who’s going to speak first.

Kiya Jensen raises her hand. ‘So, you’re in charge now, Ana?’ She glances at Gem. ‘And we’re okay with that?’

I try not to take this personally. Sharks are trained for command. According to school tradition, Gem should be calling the shots, not me.

I wonder if he will call for a vote on the matter. I imagine he’d win, and honestly I would be kind of relieved. Gemini Twain is competent and reliable. He’s annoying that way.

He gives Kiya a curt nod. ‘The professor’s orders were clear: find this base, no matter what. Ana’s got good intuition, and her Nemo genes let her operate things we can’t touch. I agree with Dr Hewett. She’s our best shot.’

I face our classmates with what I hope is a calmI totally knew Gem would support meexpression.

Rhys Morrow holds up an index finger. ‘You’re assuming the base even exists. If Hewett was lying, we’ll find ourselves in the middle of the Pacific with no supplies. He worked at LI, right? He could be our spy, sending us to our deaths.’

Always a sunbeam of optimism, that girl. But she raises valid points.

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