“Engineering?” I try again. This time, there’s no Voice of God echo.

“Oh, yeah,” Nelinha says. I can hear the smile in her voice. “We’re all awake down here now.”

I try to remember my commands and operation procedures. I really wish I had paid more attention to Colonel Apesh’s one lecture on submarine protocol last fall.

“Helm?”

“Aye,” says Halimah.

“Dive?”

“Aye,” says Lee-Ann.

“Comm?”

“Aye, Captain.” Virgil uses the title without a trace of irony.

“Weapons?” I ask Gem.

“Uh…” He stares at his console. “I mean…aye? Short-range Leyden guns, maybe. And this button apparently electrifies the outer hull, but whether it works or not—”

The panel sparks, shocking his fingers. “Ow! Okay, sorry, Nautilus. Weapons, aye.”

“Right.” I can’t believe I’m doing this. “Lines free. Hatches sealed…Helm, take us out. Ahead slow.”

“Ahead slow, aye,” Halimah says.

The floor shudders. A wake swells over the great domed windows. We begin to move.

“Yes!” Virgil cheers.

Halimah and Lee-Ann give each other a fist bump.

I can’t celebrate quite so easily. I’m afraid my next command will expose thousands of leaks in the sub and get us all drowned.

“Engine room,” I say, “rig for dive.”

“Engine room,” Nelinha responds, “rig for dive, aye.”

“Weapons room,” Dru Cardenas reports. “We are secured, Captain.”

“LIBRARY,” Ester’s voice announces. “DITTO.”

“Library?” I look around, realizing for the first time that Ester is not on the bridge. I guess I just assumed she would follow me.

“Well, I have to be somewhere,” Ester says. “Besides, Jupiter brought maple scones.”

Top barks, rattling the speakers. He’s probably saying, Yay for orangutans!

“Ester, to the bridge, please,” I say. “I need your help reading the ship.”

“Aye, Captain.” She sighs.

“And bring me a scone?”

“Me, too, please,” says Virgil.

Halimah, Lee-Ann, Jack, and Gem all raise their hands.

“Six scones,” I say.

“Six scones, aye,” Ester says. “Would you like any espresso drinks with that today?”

I can’t tell if she’s kidding. “We’re good, thanks.”

Though a café au lait would be…No.

Wait. What am I doing?

“Dive control.” I take a deep breath, then turn to Lee-Ann. “Set depth to ten meters. Here goes nothing.”

Lee-Ann grins. “Aye, Captain. Here goes nothing.”

The water rises outside, engulfing the bow windows. The Nautilus submerges. For the first time in a century and a half, she sails out under her own power.

And then we hit something.

The sub shudders and screeches.

“All stop!” I yell.

The screeching continues like nails on a chalkboard until we lose our forward momentum. I take a shaky breath, wondering if we’ve just ruined the world’s most important invention.

“What was that?” I ask.

“Ah, that’s on me.” Halimah grimaces. “The LOCUS was set for long-range scans….”

She toggles a switch. Her console’s holosphere expands to the size of a medicine ball. A glowing purple dot still marks our position in the center, but now I can see our immediate surroundings. Lacey nets of green light define the cavern walls. Rising from the lake bottom are half a dozen spires of rock. The tip of one is right underneath us—a poke-y finger of death touching the Nautilus’s belly.