Page 37 of Lover from the Waves

As Kathryn continued through the recordings, Luke spoke more and more of the kraken and less and less about anything else—and the female he’d mentioned came up with increasing frequency. His adoration for the unnamed female grew each time he mentioned her, evident in his body language, expression, and tone even though he seemed to be very careful regarding his choice of words whenever he talked about her. Those blossoming emotions sparked a gradually strengthening tightness in Kat’s chest and built the tension in her limbs.

Even if she wasn’t familiar with kraken history, Kathryn knew what the fate of the humans who’d lived and worked at the Facility had been. Her heart broke a little, but she held back the flood of emotion threatening to overcome her; she didn’t know how Luke’s story had ended yet. There was a distinct possibility that she would never truly know, though finding this device out here, days away from any town Kat was aware of, gave her at least a little hope.

“She has a name now,” Luke said in one of the recordings—one of the few in which his face was not dominated by obvious worry. He chuckled and smiled wide. The happiness in his expression transformed him into a new person. “Hera. Queen of the gods. If she were human, I’d laugh at the audacity of taking a name like that, but there’s no ego involved here. And I guess if I were a little sappier, I would’ve suggested Helen or Aphrodite…because her beauty is unrivaled.”

His smile shifted to something softer, something made impossibly affectionate by the light in his eyes. “But Hera…it suits her. It’s perfect. I think the goddess Hera was all about family and childbirth. I don’t know, it’s been a long time since I was in school, and I don’t remember much about all that. All I do know is that Hera’s people—myHera’s people—were made to have trouble reproducing to keep their numbers controlled. So taking that name speaks of such…hopefulnessto me.”

Luke leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling. Wistfully, he said, “Hera…”

Kathryn’s heart ached, and it steadily climbed into her throat as she progressed through the logs. Luke described something akin to an awakening of Hera and her people as they took names for themselves and seemed to organize, and their displeasure with their situation grew with each passing day. For the first time, Luke also referred to them as kraken—a name which they had selected for themselves.

According to the young soldier, the typical response from most of the staff was increased cruelty. He seemed much less conflicted now; he was angry and upset, and before long, was unable to hold still for more than a few seconds at a time during the recordings.

As one such log began, Luke stalked away from the recording device, hands clenched in trembling fists at his sides. His shoulders rose and fell with deep, harsh breaths, and his lips were peeled back to reveal gritted teeth. He moved around the room like an agitated predator; if he’d had fur, it would’ve been bristling.

“There was anincidenttoday,” he finally said after what must’ve been a full minute of pacing. “I knocked another soldier on his ass, and he’s damn lucky that’s all I did. The kraken weren’t moving quick enough for him on their way to their holding quarters. He decided to use his fucking prod, and he hit Hera with it.MyHera. And I just…”

Luke finally paused. He lifted a hand to squeeze his temples between forefinger and thumb, blocking his eyes from view.

“I told him to stop. He didn’t. So, I just snapped. I punched him. Hard. I fuckingmadehim stop. My official report reflects the necessity of my action—the way the kraken were looking at him, I swear they were about to attack. And in close quarters… They’re built bigger, stronger, and faster than us. Against a couple of them, a rifle would help, but against a dozen? The idiot was going to start a riot and get himself torn to shreds.

“I’m sure I’ll be disciplined, but the officers know what’s going on here. You could be deaf and blind and still feel the tension in this place. The pressure’s building, and if they keep going like this… One of my comrades is going to start something that won’t end until a whole lot of blood has been spilled.”

When the recording ended, Kathryn remained still, staring unseeing at the list of icons that again appeared on the projection. The sounds of wind and sea rushed in to fill the heavy silence. She was suddenly aware of the chill that had built on the air. Kat fed another chunk of wood into the fire and shifted a little closer to Ector’s body heat.

He responded by slipping an arm around Kathryn and drawing her against him. Several of his tentacles slid over her legs as he tucked her into the shelter of his body, shielding her from the wind and chasing away the cold that the fire could not combat. She gratefully snuggled into his warmth.

“I long expected that not all the humans were our enemies,” Ector said softly. “My first encounter with Macy was more than enough to instill that doubt.”

“Most things are far less simple than they seem on the surface,” Kathryn said.

“There is great truth in that. It is unfortunate that it took hundreds of years to learn that lesson.”

Kathryn rested a hand on one of his tentacles and gave it a gentle squeeze. She still couldn’t understand how the muscle beneath his skin could be simultaneously spongy and firm—as flexible as rubber but as strong as steel. “Your people did the best they could, and my people had no idea you even existed. Really…it’s for the best things worked out the way they did. It’s not perfect, but humans and kraken are living together peacefully now. Who can say we would’ve ever reached this point if things had gone differently?”

Ector brushed the back of a finger down her cheek. “You are right. There is much to be thankful for here and now.”

Her stomach fluttered with heady anticipation, but this wasn’t the time to give in. There was more to explore first, more to learn.

“Shall we continue?” she asked.

“Yes. We have been able to access many records in the Facility thanks to Theodora and Kane, but none have been so…”

“Personal?”

Ector nodded, smiling softly. “Most of the others are what Theodora referred to asofficial. More concerned with documenting occurrences, with protocol and form, than the emotions this Luke has displayed in his recordings.”

Luke’s tone over the next several recordings was just as dire. He was angry and frustrated—especially when he reported that one of the consequences he’d faced had been temporary removal from the posting that put him in direct contact with the kraken. His only consolations—which Kat agreed were scant comfort—were that Hera was unharmed and the other soldier had also been suspended from duties that brought him face to face with the kraken.

But the separation from Hera seemed to make Luke more distraught as time progressed.

“I think knocking that bastard on his ass definitely cooled things down a bit,” he said in one log, “but it’s still in the air. All I did—inadvertently—was delay the inevitable. This is going to reach a head soon. The kraken aren’t broken, they aren’t…animalsto be tamed. Eventually, they are going to retaliate, and they know a hell of a lot more about this facility and the way we operate than anyone wants to admit.”

His words—and the certainty with which he’d spoken them—rattled Kathryn and roused a sourness in her stomach that only intensified as she continued through the logs. The tightness in her chest grew along with her nausea; even from many kilometers and several centuries away, she felt the doom closing in on Luke and the facility in which he’d lived and worked. Thanks to the arrival of the kraken in The Watch a couple years ago, she knew of the kraken revolt, but only as a vague story about a time and place she’d never seen.

But these recordings made it real. It was a real place, they’d been real people, and these events had happened. The ocean of time that had separated Kathryn from those people and their lives had dwindled into a puddle; she was, at least for this little while, right there with Luke.

One recording opened with Luke sitting in his chair, leaned forward with shoulders hunched and elbows on his knees. He hung his head, drew in a deep breath, and released it in a heavy sigh. “I saw her today. Face to face. It was only for a second, but our eyes met, and…” He laughed; the sound was somehow joyous and bitter at once. “I don’t understand how a moment of eye contact can feel so good and hurt so much. I’m still a little shaky.”

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