“What the hell?” Shinwua cried. He was jockeying with his joystick.

Kalico stared at the sonar, seeing the elongated shape, maybe thirty meters of it, flash through where the meter-long UUV had been.

She ran to the starboard window, pushed it open, and stared down.

Through the crystal water, she could see it. Patterns of color ran down the tapering body; what looked like lines of stubby wings, but were probably fins, ran the dorsal length of the body, but remained indistinct through the surface distortion.

The plants in the immediate vicinity had faded, as if they’d lost their color. The water’s surface around the seatruck was roiling; tubes actually jetted out of the water, sailing for several meters before splashing back, only to jet again. So did several other, larger creatures, including one with four wings that sailed for quite some distance.

Down below the monster turned, and with a flip and twist, it shot back toward the depths and vanished.

“I’ve got nothing,” Shinwua said from the control panel. “The drone’s dead. What the hell could do that?”

On the other side of the seatruck, Yoshimura had opened the door. Leaning out, he extended one of his cameras so that the lens was underwater. “Shin, I’ve got bad news for you. I’ve got a piece of your drone here. Looks like it was sheered in two. I mean, whatever that thing was, it cut through the plastic hull like it was cheese. Sliced the wires, everything.”

“It happened so fast,” Shinwua muttered in wonder. “I tell you, nothing on earth can do that.”

“What makes you think you’re still on Earth?” Kalico called, closing her window. “Dr. Yoshimura, I think the UUVs are going to take some rethinking before we send them out again.”

He nodded, pulled in his camera, and closed the door. “Take us ashore, Shin. At least we can get a look at the beach. If we don’t come back with sand samples for Lara, she’ll just have to make another trip and do it herself. Not to mention that we’ll have to put up with the look.”

“What look?” Talina asked.

Yoshimura gave her a knowing grin. “It’s her ‘you’re-a-real-piece-of-work’ look. The one she gives you when she thinks a five-year-old could have done a better job.”

“You don’t want her giving you that look,” Shinwua agreed. “It’s really humbling.”

Kalico muttered, “Well, I guess I’d better not get myself in a position where I’m compared to a five-year-old. I get humbled enough as it is.”

“That thing is just hovering out there, like it’s watching us.” Yoshimura stared pensively at the sonar screen. “Maybe it’s afraid of Lara, too.”