Shit on a shoe, she wanted to kill something. Stamp her feet. Scream her rage and frustration at the universe. And all she had to look forward to was Shig Mosadek, waiting patiently at the man-gate. He’d been aboard the PA shuttle, had left as soon as it was apparent that there was nothing but disaster out at the Maritime Unit site.

Kalico knotted a scarred fist, wished she could strangle the universe with it.

The memory would stick with her, how the Pod looked, resting below the reef’s transparent surface, maybe twenty meters down, at the edge of the drop-off to deepwater. A big, white, elongated oval splotched by patches of blue-green algae. What Vik Lawrence called “the organism.” Above it, those weird glowing cones had floated, tentacles dangling, and around them, seaskimmers, their sails flashing in a riot of colors, had circled. So, too, had a flock of four-winged, polka-dot fliers.

Not a trace remained of the original location. Not even the pilings protruded from the water.

And worse, all those computers, microscopes, PCR machines, spectrometers, the diving equipment, the scanners and sonar, the com, all that wealth of technology, gone. Submerged. Ruined beyond repair.

As if we could even get to it. If the stories Vik Lawrence told were true, giant three-sided lobsters, plastic-eating slime, and murderous green children with gills who could survive underwater guarded it. Not to mention that the slime considered the Pod to be a safe haven. The predators that hovered and floated overhead notwithstanding, recovery might be forever impossible.

At the gate, Shig had that benevolent smile on his thin lips. “Might I stand you to a whiskey?”

Kalico stared down at her scarred hands, that sucking feeling of defeat draining her. “Not sure that I’m up to Inga’s. Think I’ll just retreat to my dome. Call it a day. Try and get a good night’s sleep before I head back to the mine to see what misfortune tomorrow is going to bring.” She paused. “I’ve got a bottle of that rye. If you’ll walk with me, I’ll share a shot before I send you on your way.”

“I’d like that.”

Sure he would. This was Shig, who rarely finished a half-glass of wine.

She nodded at Ko Lang who was standing guard at the gate and walked through into PA, her feet crunching on the gravel.

Ambling at her side, Shig said, “This is a most unpleasant setback. We had really hoped that the Maritime Unit would open new horizons on Donovan. Who could have anticipated that we would be so ill-prepared?”