“I didn’t see any inflammation,” she says. “Still, I’m using equipment and medicine I don’t really understand.”

I get it. She wants me to rest, which is the main thing I can’t do.

I turn to Nelinha. “Damage report?”

She spreads her hands. “I mean…we’re in one piece? Propulsion is down. The cav-drive blew a fuse or something. We’re still digging ourselves out from the Great Goo Explosion. On the other hand, we have internal power. We have air. Our depth is stable at twenty meters. The hull is intact. So we’re okay. We just won’t be going anywhere for a while.”

“What’s our position?”

She laughs. “You won’t believe it. We’re in the Philippine Sea, roughly four hundred miles east of Davao.”

I blink, trying to process that. “You mean one punch of the cav-drive shot us—”

“About five thousand miles,” she confirms. “It took a couple of hours, mind you. You were unconscious for the whole thing, but still…”

“That would take—what, twelve hours in a commercial flight? Six days by sea?”

“I said you wouldn’t believe it.”

The problem is, I do believe it. I add super-cavitation drive to the list of reasons why Land Institute wants this “piece of junk” submarine so badly. That kind of proprietary technology could turn the world upside down.

“The Aronnax,” I remember, my nerves crackling. “Any sign of them?”

“None,” Nelinha says. “Our course and bearing were pretty obvious. If the Aronnax has a cav-drive, they should have been able to follow us. Since they haven’t shown up yet, I think we can assume we have the advantage there.”

I exhale. We need all the advantages we can get.

On the other hand, we’ve left Lincoln Base at the mercy of the Aronnax. We’re stuck in the middle of the ocean with no propulsion, no allies, and no friendly ports.

At least, I assume so….

I remember asking the Nautilus to take us somewhere safe. Did she pick this spot to drop out of cav-drive on purpose, or did she simply run out of steam?

“Is there anything close to us?” I ask.

Nelinha shrugs. “No secret bases that we can detect, if that’s what you mean. The Palau Trench is right underneath us—six thousand meters straight down. I wouldn’t want to lose dive control here.”

I feel like I already have. My brain is developing stress fractures. Why here? What now? How can I face my crew when my brother is the cause of all our problems and I led him right to us at Lincoln Base?

My knees give out. Ester grabs my arm to keep me from falling.

“Ana, you have to sit down, at least,” she insists.

“I will,” I promise. “In the main dining room.” I look at Nelinha. “Gather the crew, will you? And, Ester, I’d appreciate some super-alt-tech aspirin if you’ve got any. This is going to be a tough conversation.”

A tough conversation, and also the world’s strangest brunch.