Page 24 of Shinji Takahashi: Into the Heart of the Storm

years ago, one of our alchemical physicists was working on something called a time bomb. It was another device that blended tech and magic; you really can’t develop anything time-oriented without using magic. Unfortunately, the person working on it just…vanished one day, in his own workshop. No one knows what happened to him, and the project was declared too unstable to continue. Which is really bad. If even Hightower decides to abandon something, then, well, it’s gotta be super dangerous.”

“A time bomb?” said Mano, looking ill. He fumbled across his desk for the saltshaker, poured a liberal amount of salt into his palm, and tossed a large pinch over his left shoulder. Then his right one. Then the left one again. “How is that even possible?”

“I’m not sure how it works exactly,” Lucy continued, “but I think the device is supposed to cause a blip in time, like a hiccup, that sort of freezes everything it touches in a stasis bubble. Outside the bubble, the world continues and time goes on. But inside, it’s like no time has passed at all. Eventually, it bursts, and everything goes back to normal.”

“Thank goodness that it did,” Phoebe added. “Time is not something one can play around with safely. We’re lucky we’re here and not hurtling through a rift into the unknown. Although…” She paused, a somewhat dreamy look crossing her face. “I would love to see fourteenth-century Japan.…”

“Except we’re now two days behind,” Mano said, slapping his hand onto a table with a resounding whack. “Curse that Hightower! There’s no way we’re getting to that wreck before them now.”

Shinji clenched his jaw. As cool and unbelievable as the time bomb was, it still meant Hightower was ahead of them. “They cheated,” he declared furiously. “They couldn’t beat us in a fair race, so they rigged the contest. Isn’t there some kind of rule against playing dirty?”

“Not for Hightower.” Oliver sighed and stuck his phone into his coat pocket. “And there’s nothing we can do about it now,” he said practically. “We’ll just have to get to the wreck and see if they left anything behind. Two days is still not a lot of time for underwater extractions. Maybe there will still be something that can tell us more about the Natia people. The least we can do is go down and look. We didn’t come all this way to leave empty-handed.”

“Yeah,” Mano agreed, and gave a gusty sigh as well. “I’ll inform the team of what happened. If you hear yelling, that’s probably the doc chewing me out and cursing Hightower.”

“Um, sorry.” Roux, who had been silent until now, raised his hand. “Can I just ask something quickly?” he said. “Is this real, or did I somehow hit my head really hard and I ended up in Wonderland?”

“Hey, you wanted to sneak aboard the ship.” Shinji clapped Roux on the shoulder. On the one hand, he got it.

When he’d first met the members of the Society, he had felt the same way: overwhelmed and incredulous. On the other hand, Roux had brought this on himself. “Welcome to the Society of Explorers and Adventurers. It’s not exactly normal around here.”

Shinji’s heart pounded. Staring out a round window of—he hoped—extremely thick glass, he listened to the groan of a metal crane as it swung theSeabeetleout over the water.

After the incident with Hightower and the time bomb, they had raced to the shipwreck as quickly as they could. But when they reached the site, it was as they feared; Hightower was gone, and from the stuff bobbing on the ocean waves—wooden planks, plastic chunks, and other debris—the corporation had already plundered the wreck and snatched what they could. Still, after some discussion with Mano and Dr. Grant, they decided to take theSeabeetledown anyway,

to see if Hightower had missed anything. TheSeabeetleonly had room for four passengers and the pilot, and after much begging by Lucy, and much assurance from Hayley Frye about how perfectly safe theSeabeetlewas, Oliver had consented to take Lucy along for the ride. Then Phoebe had chimed in, arguing that this might be the perfect opportunity to awaken Shinji’s inner magic, and suddenly Shinji and his new sidekick, Roux, had been signed on for the journey.

Now, gazing out the window at the roiling waves below him, Shinji felt his stomach starting to creep up to his throat, the same feeling he got when he was on a roller coaster, slowly climbing up the highest drop on the ride.

“All systems normal, Mr. Ocean,” said Dr. Grant’s tinny voice from the speaker overhead. “Once theBeetleis clear, we’ll detach the sub, and you can take over the controls from there.”

“Roger that,” Oliver replied. “Waiting on your signal.”

Shinji took a deep breath. The interior of theSeabeetlewas small and cramped, with himself, Oliver, Lucy, Roux, and Phoebe sitting in a tiny space surrounded by curved metal walls and numerous blinking lights. Beyond the glass was the vast, sunless ocean, and whatever lurked in its depths.

Phoebe suddenly gave a high-pitched squeak that made him jump. “Oh, this is so exciting!” she exclaimed, her voice bouncing off the walls of the tiny chamber. “Aren’t you excited, Shinji?”

“Excited, terrified; it’s the same thing, right?”

With a mechanical hum, the crane began lowering them into the water. Waves sloshed against the sides of theSeabeetle, splashing over the glass. Shinji watched as they sank below the surface, blue sky being replaced with the blue-green haze of the ocean.

“This is amazing,” Lucy whispered, eyes bright as she watched theSeabeetlesink lower into the water. “I’m so glad I actually get to see theBeetlein action. Even though Hightower probably took everything that wasn’t nailed down, I’m happy we decided to go see the wreck anyway.”

“Yeah,” Shinji agreed. “I just wish we had gotten there first. There’s not going to be much left now that Hightower has come through.”

But Oliver chuckled. “Don’t get too gloom and doom yet, kids,” he said, glancing back at them. “It’s only been two days, and this isn’t a tiny fishing boat we’re talking about. Trust me, Hightower didn’t have the time they’d need to grab everything from a ship this size. My guess is they snagged the most valuable pieces first—artifacts worth the most cold, hard cash—and got the heck out before we arrived. Statues, coins, weapons, things like that. But that’s not what we’re looking for.”

“True,” Phoebe chimed in. “We’re looking for items of cultural importance. Things that would tell us more about the Natia and their lost civilization. I doubt Hightower would consider an old bowl or a cracked plate important.

I’m sure they left some pieces behind in their rush to loot the ship.”

Lucy nodded, and Shinji felt a ripple of both relief and hope. Maybe this mission hadn’t been for nothing after all. But Roux, sitting across from Lucy, looked disappointed. Shinji was sure he was hoping they would find treasure like gold and jewels, and didn’t consider a cracked plate very valuable.

“We’re about to detach the sub,” said Dr. Grant over the speaker. “Is everyone ready?”

“Ready,” Oliver confirmed.

“DetachingSeabeetle. In three…two…”

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