Shadow of War, page 11
She sighed. “I can’t lie. I don’t know the precise coordinates. Just the general region.”
I glanced knowingly at Meg. “And how big is the completed weapon, once you connect all components?”
“The four together are the size of a small seacar. Six meters or so in length; two across.”
“And the one here?”
“Larger than, say, several connected couches.”
“Weight?”
Her features screwed up as she thought. “The one here is five hundred pounds. It’s the largest.”
I swore. I had hoped that one person could sling it across his back and just walk out with it. I wondered exactly what the hell this weapon was. But this first component was huge. We’d need a large trolley to cart it out. Or a crane.
“Can it get wet?”
She looked horrified. “No way. It’s delicate electronics!”
“And the other three parts?”
“They vary in size. One is small.”
I swore again. She wasn’t making it easy. I stared at the ceiling and tried to work out the puzzle. The timing was an issue too. The one great thing we had going for us was that we had a lot of help, and a specific day to make it happen.
At least for the mysterious first component.
“Grab a bag, Alyssna, if you want to work with us.”
She stared at me, her eyes wide. She wasn’t blinking. “You accept my terms?”
“Of course. I keep hearing that you are a brilliant scientist. That alone is enough for me to want you to live with us at Trieste. This weapon of yours, which I’m still skeptical about, is an added bonus. We’re going to steal it, if you’ll help.”
“And I’ll get to work with it, once it’s back at Trieste?”
“To connect the components and make it operational, yes. And make more, I hope.” If it works, I wanted to add. It was a dark thought. We were going to steal four components to create a working weapon. But I realized that there were already working models out there . . . one of which was in the Indian Ocean.
“Then I accept,” she said with a grin. She thrust her hand out. “It’s a deal!”
Meg and Richard also shook hands, with smiles all around.
“And we’re going now?” she asked, surprised.
“We’re in a hurry. Time is an issue.”
“Are we bringing Chalam back too?” Meg hissed at me from the corner of her mouth as Alyssna grabbed her belongings.
I shook my head. That would not be a good idea, just yet, but eventually they would have to meet, because only he knew the exact coordinates of the facility in the Indian Ocean.
The facility where two of the weapon components were locked securely away.
Chapter Nine
Within an hour we were on our way back to Trieste. We’d originally planned on staying overnight, but now there was an urgency to our decisions and an impetus to our movements. I needed to brief the entire team about the happenings at Churchill Sands, about Alyssna and the weapon and the proof that it did indeed seem to work. I would involve Chalam at a later date, if we were successful with the first component on 17 March.
Alyssna’s bag was small—she didn’t have a lot of possessions, and didn’t feel tied down to Churchill at all—and there was a grin on her face as we boarded SC-1. Despite the bitterness she felt about the weapon and how others had taken it from her, she was thrilled that there was a plan brewing that involved not only her getting possession of it again, but also working with it, improving it, and even putting more of them to use at some point in the future. I wondered to whom she was allegiant, but I was sure I’d find out at some point. She’d mentioned Africa and tensions with her dad, and also England and tensions there with her superiors. If I could show her anything at Trieste, it would be a place that would support and honor her, embrace her, and offer her a home that she could work and fight for. I knew it would thrill her, as it had our other science staff in our research labs.
As we pulled away from the colony, I brought us close to the Living Modules. We soared past, banking to port and toward the south. The lights on each were bright, but the dark and thick water scattered and dispersed each greatly. The blue light at the top of the Commerce Module was especially bright, however. Alyssna, standing behind me and watching over my shoulder, said, “That’s close to the wavelength that best penetrates water.”
“I beg your pardon?” I adjusted the ballast to keep us close to the seafloor as I increased speed. The floor dropped away below us, but I maintained the thirty-meter depth.
“Light blue. Well,” she said, “cyan or green, really. A wavelength of about 520 nanometers penetrates best, though it depends on the salinity, dissolved gas content, and temperature.”
“Better than white?”
She snorted. “White is every color combined. It doesn’t really have a wavelength.”
“I guess you’d know.” I looked back at her. “You said you studied at Cambridge?”
“Particle beam physics.”
I pursed my lips.
“It’s not a laser,” she said again, anticipating my comment. “Well, not really.”
“When will you tell me?”
“Soon. When I know you’re serious.”
So, she wanted to ensure that I was actually going to go through with this. She was keeping her cards close to her chest, but I thought I had a way to start getting her to trust me.
“You know, revenge isn’t a great driving force,” I said. “It is powerful, but it causes . . . problems.”
She hesitated for a long moment. “Why the hell would you say that to me?”
I shrugged, though I was sitting in the pilot’s chair and she may not have noticed. “I’ve had a great deal of experience with it. My entire family has. Revenge is sweet, but it also has a price.” I thought about Rico Ruiz and his obsession with finding and killing the German. Or Meg and what she’d been through after murdering Admiral Benning. The torture . . . prison . . .
I shuddered.
“You don’t know what I’ve been through.”
“I can tell,” I said. “I want to welcome you to Trieste. You’re free to work there. We’ll fully fund your lab. But sometimes it’s better to forgive and move on. Just start a new life.”
“Forgive who, exactly?” she snapped.
“The BSF in charge of your project,” I replied. Your dad, I wanted to add, but didn’t. I felt that it would trigger a massive emotional response, which I wanted to avoid.
“How much do you know about Trieste?” I asked.
“I’ve been isolated a bit for the past few years. We didn’t get a lot of news at The Vault.”
I blinked at that but didn’t say anything. I filed it away for future use. “I think you will be happy with us.”
“I guess we’ll see,” she murmured.
I opened the panel using my thumb print and triggered the reactor. A rumble reverberated through the seacar.
She glanced around. “Is everything okay?”
“Perfectly.” I pushed the throttle forward and the noise grew to a dull roar. I felt myself pressed backward, and vibrations moved up my legs. “I’d sit down if I were you.” I gestured at the chair next to me, which was empty. Richard and Meg were both in the back, getting ready to sleep, I assumed.
Alyssna pushed between the chairs and sat down, staring out the canopy. Bubbles were churning from the bow and flowing backward; a film was growing and moving slowly past the transparent material.
“Holy shit,” she gasped. “Is everything working okay? That’s a lot of cavitation. The bow of your seacar—”
“Is designed to do this,” I finished for her. “And the rumble you hear is a fusion reactor in our engine room.”
She shot a look at me. “What the hell are you saying?”
“You’ve been away for several years?”
“Two. A bit more.”
I grinned. “Alyssna, you’re about to experience something few others have, but more and more nations are building them right now as we’re speaking.”
She continued to stare out the canopy, leaning forward to watch the distorted view. She was fighting acceleration though, and I pointed at the readout. Her jaw dropped. “That can’t be right.”
We were pushing past 300 kph and steadily climbing toward 400. The bottom had dropped away from us, and I lowered our depth to 1,000 meters, to take advantage of the cold-water Atlantic gyre that flowed southward from the North Sea. It was essentially an underwater river. At surface, the water moved northward. If we’d stayed there, it’d be like fighting a headwind. “Trieste has numerous advances in technology, Alyssna. This is just one. I hope we can add your discovery to the list.”
“On your quest for independence?”
“You got it.”
She remained silent and simply stared in amazement.
—••—
“I guess I’ve been away for too long,” she muttered after a while. The sound of the fusion drive had faded into the background, along with the ballast and life support systems meant to maintain course and keep us alive—it was all white noise. She’d been staring at the blurry image before us, the twisting and swirling and ephemeral nature of the SCAV bubble that lowered friction with water to nearly nothing, and sighed. “I wonder what other revelations I’ll realize I’ve missed.”
I grinned. “There are a few.”
“I’m sure I’ll learn.”
“I hope.” I filled her in about our research labs and the other scientists who worked there. I didn’t provide detail about the other inventions we’d been using, like the Isomer Bomb. Eventually I found myself talking about the past, while Meg and Richard slept in the recessed bunks behind the pilot’s cabin and before I knew it, I was telling her about Dad and his struggles and how the authorities had murdered him to prevent further violence in the underwater colony. I told her about my own pain trying to deal with the heartache of a shattered family and lives torn to pieces.
She listened in silence as the ocean whirled past us and the rumble of the SCAV drive comforted us with its powerful presence. Then, after thirty minutes of me talking nonstop, and a few more of silence, she said, “And you wanted to follow your dad’s path, like so many sons.” She nodded to herself. “It makes sense.”
“Actually, no. I didn’t want anything to do with his plans or goals.”
“What do you mean? I thought you embraced it. You’re fighting for independence now, aren’t you?”
“Yes, but it took me a long, long time. I hated him for bringing pain on us. My mom never recovered. Meg ran away to Blue Downs when we turned eighteen. The assassination destroyed the family. I resented him for years.”
I could tell from the corner of my eyes that she was staring at me. I knew that her own tensions with her dad had led her on the path she was on now, the same as me. She had done it to prove him wrong though . . . to prove that women were just as smart and as powerful as men. I wanted to know where her dad was now, but decided not to ask.
She said, “So you didn’t want anything to do with independence?”
“Nothing. I knew it would cause more pain and hardship. Cause death. Not just for me and Meg, but for all of Trieste. We’re so vulnerable, living where we do. A small explosion or torpedo could end it all for so many people in a split second.”
“And what were you doing?”
“I was working for the city,” I said. “In intelligence. I ended up captured by the Chinese and tortured for months. Then after, I worked the kelp farms just to contribute. Eventually I did find myself back in TCI and espionage, after seven years of farming, and then it all changed for me.”
“You mean about your dad?”
“When I learned the truth about the SCAV drive. I knew it would be the trigger point. With it we could drive the colonies to the future. It was a watershed moment. It would give us the edge, and give me a massive advantage over our enemies.” I snorted. “And that’s where we are now.”
“Fighting for independence.”
I’d come to terms with my father now and how he had lived his life. And then when I’d come across his killer—Admiral Benning—I had even spared his life.
Though Meg hadn’t had the same ideas. She murdered him in her cabin, and we’d all had to deal with the violent aftermath.
It had angered me at the time, though I understood Meg’s rage. Our entire lives had shifted in 2099, the year Dad had died. It had been a monumental event in our journeys, but since reconnecting in Trieste, and starting on the path he’d started, Meg and I had found peace with the events, finally.
Doctor Alyssna Sonstraal would have to somehow find the same peace with her dad and their history, if she was ever going to find happiness in life.
—••—
Eighteen hours after departing Churchill, we pulled into Trieste. The SCAV was off and we were under conventional thrusters only. The waters were light and clear, and myriad fish swirled about the many modules. Seacars approached or departed, their navigation lights blinking, and scuba divers swam close to the seafloor. Some of them disappeared under the city modules and swam up into moonpools, and others appeared as they dove into the water and emerged from under them. The modules were all maintaining four atms of pressure, matching the surroundings, so the water didn’t flow up into the module and the air didn’t rush out. It was a perfect balance, at all times. Moonpools were open areas of water at the seafloor level of each module. Alyssna watched the scene with wide eyes.
“I’ve seen images like this on the news or in movies. But this is beautiful.”
“Churchill is darker. The water isn’t as clear, and the currents in the Channel are stronger.”
She continued to stare in fascination as we powered into the Docking Module, rose into the moonpool, and moored in the large open area. I’d been communicating with Grant Bell in Sea Traffic Control the entire time to ensure there were no collisions.
“It’s like a postcard. Or a travel poster. It seems like paradise.”
I turned to her. “Welcome home.”
—••—
A few hours later, after getting Alyssna settled in a living cubicle and asking my assistant, Kristen Canvel, to arrange a research lab space, I was at Renée’s cubicle to see how she was doing. She was awake and bright-eyed, thrilled to see me, and seemed nearly recovered. We kissed like we’d been apart for weeks, although it had only been four days.
“Later,” she whispered, her breath hot on my neck. “I have missed you so much.”
I held her face between my hands and stared into her eyes. I was so happy to see her again. “You won’t believe what’s happened,” I said, as I continued to kiss her.
“Tell me.”
I told her about Sahar Noor, Alyssna Sonstraal, Commodore Clarke, and what Churchill had been like. Then I mentioned the weapon.
She pulled back and eyed me, shocked. “You’re serious.”
“Absolutely.”
“And you want to steal it.”
“We have to steal it. We don’t have a choice.”
She glanced away as she processed it. “Do you believe it?”
I shrugged. “Doctor Sonstraal is here. She claims it works. I’ve spoken to someone who experienced it firsthand. It didn’t end well for him.”
A frown. “What do you mean?”
“His brother died. And two other women.”
“So it works. Amazing.” She shook her head. “I never would have imagined it.” She turned to me and said, “Do you know what I’d love to do right now?”
I tilted my head and gave her a lopsided smile. “I thought you said—”
She laughed. “Not that, Mac. I want to swim. I haven’t been outside in days.” She gestured to her bunk angrily. “I’ve been here recovering. I feel better, but I also feel locked up in here. I’m frustrated. I need to get outside.”
“Are you okay to swim?”
“Of course. No dizziness. No headache. No pain. I feel nearly back to normal.” She stood and reached out to me. “Care to go for a walk outside, lover?”
—••—
I had one item on my agenda before I could go out with her, so I quickly took care of it. Laura Sukovski led the Mining Division, located in the Mining Interests Module. Her face soured when she noticed me approach, and inwardly, it made me smile. I knew what it was like to be in her position, with a team of people depending on her and a quota to hit every week. Malfunctioning equipment or a lack of labor affected their output, and it was a constant stress.
And it didn’t help that I was always asking for new minerals.
“Mac,” she said with a scowl. “You’re back.”
I chuckled. “Hello, Laura. How are things in the mines?” We had claimed mineral deposits scattered all over the gulf and the Atlantic, and workers were currently at the sites, living and working the claims.
“Fine.” Her response was curt, to the point.
“Anything interesting happen?”
“You mean, injuries?”
I saw the injury reports each week, so I already knew the answer. “No. I mean in terms of ore prospecting. Have you found anything . . . big?”
Her face brightened as she realized I might not be there to demand something. “We did find a large aluminum deposit. We’d already been mining it, but it’s much larger than we’d expected.”
“Excellent.” She continued to stare at me, not volunteering any other information. I continued, “Uh, Laura, I’m wondering about the explosives you use here.”
Realization spread across her features. “Chief Sim was already here, investigating. Only approved people get their hands on ammonium nitrate, Mac. The construction contractors were here too, because they’re still finishing up the underwater shelters that they’ve been building now for a while. Richard was asking about this too, you know.”
