“Yeah, sorry about that,” Talina told him. “But then, guess it didn’t bother you to walk from my place to here.”

“Where are we going?”

“Back to my dome. Then, tomorrow, after I put a pack together, we’re headed out to Two Falls Gap.”

“What’s there?”

“A place where you can’t take anyone with you on your way to hell.”

“Hell?”

“You don’t know it yet, but it’s the only way back to sanity. Just hope your version of it isn’t as terrifying as mine.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I’ve been there, and hell sucks.”

27

Jaim Elvridge was in her late thirties, had ash-blond hair and gray eyes. The woman topped out at five foot nine, with the thin frame so common to the recovering survivors of Ashanti’s long journey. Kalico sat to the side and studied the woman as she leaned over the schematics displayed on the light panel. On the screen were the technical readouts for the two submarines. Jaim, Kel Carruthers, and Michaela Hailwood were poring over the diagrams in search of a way to add to their security.

The HVAC system booted up, circulating cool air through the work bay. This was a water-level storage and repair area adjacent to the seatruck dock where both water and aircraft could be serviced and stored. One of the bright-yellow Seascape Model 15 submarines had been transitioned from the Underwater Bay, winched up on tracks, and now gleamed under the shop’s bright lights.

To Kalico’s eyes, the thing looked like an oversized propane tank covered with ungainly blisters. Four large fins on the thing’s rear ended in gimbled-and-caged propellers that gave the machine maneuverability. They were supplemented by jets positioned laterally and forward that allowed fine adjustments to the craft’s position. Ballast tanks were positioned radially around the hull, and lights, com pod, and cameras added to the thing’s alien look. So did the two retractable arms with their finger-like extensions that allowed the operator to manipulate various tools, including scoops, cutters, shovels, and saws. These were for the collection of geological and biological samples. The only thing that marred the alien look was the transparent nose made of vacuum-baked clear ceramic. Through it, Kalico could see the piggyback operator’s and observer’s chairs with their manual and pedal controls, the heads-up display, and rows of monitors and computers on the solid walls behind the transparency. The hatch was located on the top.

The topic was how to protect the Seascape from something as potentially dangerous as Kevina’s BMT. If the creature truly had a twenty-meter-wide mouth, it could potentially swallow the fifteen-meter-long submarine in one gulp.

“It can’t chew the sub.” Jaim tapped a finger on the schematic. “The hull can take five hundred atmospheres. Nothing organic has the musculature or mechanical advantage to compromise that.”