They swam into darkness, slow enough for the white line of the cliff edge to creep closer, giving her trepidation time to return. She didn’t trust the deep. The beings did. She tried to relax, not to panic, unbidden thoughts of cold, pressure and the void making her body stiffen. The female curved to face Ray, though she kept swimming, albeit slower, caressing Ray’s hand, trying to soothe her. While she appreciated the obvious concern, all of her knowledge and training told Ray she would die if she attempted to scale the ridge. There were twenty, possibly twenty-five metres before they hit recreational diving limits. The three-hundred-metre record wasn’t reassuring, as neither she nor Fari had ever gone deeper than forty. If the beings breathed without regulators they were undoubtedly used to distances way beyond those meagre depths. More worrying perhaps was the issue of air. Her gauge said she had ten minutes. Depending how far their destination was, or if the humanoids weren’t as friendly as they seemed, there was every possibility they wouldn’t return.

She tried to indicate this by tugging the female’s fingers. When she curved to face Ray again, Ray tapped the gauge, showing her. The female nodded, bubbles spilling from her lips and ears. Close up she looked younger than she’d first appeared, less human. Her skin tinged green, her eyes elongated and the colourless fur more apparent. A tiny flap of skin below each cheekbone. Gills? She peered at Ray’s watch while Ray stared, nodding with frantic, docile enthusiasm. Gave her thumbs up and pointed at the ridge with her free hand, turning the thumb upside down. Ray’s head spun light. She didn’t know what to make of that gesture, or even whether she’d been understood.

Fari drifted past, towed easily by his male counterpart. He placed one hand on her shoulder, shrugged lightly and allowed himself to be led into the gloom. Her anger flared. Always so trusting. Trust had got them into this situation.

The male pulsed two strong kicks and was over the ridge. Fari relaxed, looking back, gesturing. Come. Come. The female stared into Ray’s face, eyes narrowed. Sympathy? Or her own simple, human interpretation? She seemed to acknowledge Ray’s upset, stroking her brow and her arm, emitting a mewl that might have been crooning. Gently pulling. Her boyfriend was a dark smear, shrouded in darkness. Soon he would be gone. Tears slipped into Ray’s mask. She had to follow. She let herself be led.