I recognize that voice. It’s our old friend/interrogation subject Caleb South.

“How is this guy back?” Gem grumbles. “I thought Land Institute punished failure.”

“He must have come up with a really good lie,” Lee-Ann speculates. “Maybe put all the blame on his classmates.”

“Bah,” Gem says. “I should’ve poked holes in his pink-ducky water wings.”

“YOU’RE MOTIONLESS AND DEFENSELESS IN THAT PIECE OF JUNK,” Caleb continues. “GIVE UP NOW, AND WE’LL SPARE YOUR BASE.”

The Nautilus shudders. I don’t think she likes being called junk.

“Can we turn off his voice?” I ask. “How is he even broadcasting over our comm?”

“I—I’m looking,” Virgil says, frantically turning dials.

Caleb’s tirade continues at a lower volume: “All we want is the Nautilus and Ana Dakkar. None of you will be harmed. We’ll treat you better than you treated me.”

“They’re closing,” Gem tells me. “One kilometer out now.”

The island’s defenses continue to fire, trying to draw the Aronnax’s attention. Our enemy ignores the barrage. They are locked on us, almost as if…

A cramp hits my gut, folding my insides into various origami shapes.

“They were never tracking the Varuna,” I realize. “They were tracking me.”

“How?” asks Lee-Ann. “Is your DNA radioactive or something?”

Over the comm, Nelinha says, “Captain, we’ve got an idea. You’re going to hate it, but—”

“If you don’t trust me,” Caleb South interrupts, “listen to our captain.”

I shoot to my feet. “Shut off that stupid transmission!” I yell at Virgil.

Then the enemy captain’s voice comes over the intercom and knocks me right back into my chair.

“Hey, sis,” says Dev. “You did a great job. But now it’s time to give up.”

I remember the first time I got nitrogen narcosis.

My instructor took me below a hundred feet with regular air tanks, just to show me what “rapture of the deep” felt like. My vision started to tunnel. I couldn’t do simple calculations on my dive computer. I was filled with a strange mixture of euphoria and terror. I knew the beautiful blue void would kill me if I swam any deeper, but that’s exactly what I wanted to do.

Hearing Dev’s voice makes me feel the same way.

My thoughts turn to syrup. My brother is alive. My brother is a traitor.

I’m relieved. I’m horrified. I’m spiraling into a blue abyss.

“This is impossible,” I say.

The bridge crew stares back at me. They look shocked, confused…hurt. They need answers. Once again, I have none.

“It—it has to be a fake,” I say. “A voice synthesizer—”

“That’s his voice, Ana.” Ester frowns at the floor. “He’s alive.”

“But—”

“NAUTILUS,” Dev says. “Ana, you’re out of time. I need to hear that you surrender. Otherwise, we fire.”

“He wouldn’t,” says Lee-Ann.

“He did,” Halimah counters. “He’s the one who destroyed HP.”

No, I think. Not my brother.

Then I remember what Dev said on our last day, when he gave me my early birthday present. You’re leaving for your freshman trials today.