“We’ve lost the UB to the algae,” Michaela told them dully. “As to how? Dik and I have reviewed the recordings. The algae, as we all know, has been building up on the underside of the Pod and Underwater Bay. Tobi had been hosing it back into the water as it crept up and onto the bay floor. None of us thought much of it. But, in the wake of Bill Martin’s death, no one went down to wash it back into the sea. It managed to gain a foothold in the UB, and like a giant organism, it flowed down from the bottom of the Pod, down the pilings and tube, around the UB and into the bay itself.”

She took a breath, willing herself to get through this. Trying to be cold and rational as a Director should. “When Tobi got back to the UB this morning, the algae was in the process of covering the bay floor. It had crept up onto the UUVs and sub. The hose wouldn’t dislodge it. The stuff was thick. It . . .” She swallowed. “It sort of . . . I mean . . . Listen. He got stuck in the biomass, panicked. Fell . . .”

Every expression in the room had gone to flint. Casey Stoner’s lips were trembling, tears welling in her eyes. Jym Odinga had wrapped his arm around her, his own demeanor on the verge of breaking.

“When Tobi didn’t check in, Bryan went down to see if he was all right. When he stepped out of the hatch, he was so surprised, that he forgot to close it behind him. The slime was better this time, more efficient, as if it had learned from Tobi. It trapped him before he could get a body length from the hatch.”

Iso was sobbing softly. Eyes down.

“So now what?” Yosh asked, his brown eyes casting from face to face. “I think we had better face it. We’re running out of options here. Unless one of us swims down, braves the slime, and closes that hatch door, we’ve lost the Underwater Bay, the sub, the UUVs, and the equipment there. All we have left are two seatrucks and the launch.”

“What if something happens to them?” Kel asked. “If it does, we’re stuck here.”

“The Supervisor can pull out us with her A-7,” Michaela replied. “Wouldn’t matter if the extraction damaged the landing pad in the process, not if we’re abandoning the Pod.”

“Scary,” Kevina said from where she sat, partially isolated at the end of the table. “We’d have to rope the kids together with that down blast. Even then, I watched that day, it’s a miracle the Supervisor wasn’t blown off the pad.”