Gem’s smile makes me glad he’s on my side. “I thought you’d never ask.”

Gem packs light.

He only brings his regular sidearms, a Leyden pistol, a Leyden rifle, and a bandolier of high-tech grenades he found who-knows-where. No flamethrower, and he hasn’t dismantled the forward cannon to lug it along, either. For him, this shows great restraint.

I bring only a Leyden pistol and my dive knife. Still, the skiff is a snug fit, especially since we’re wearing dive suits and helmets. We’re not sure what we’ll be facing. The skiff has no weapons or defenses. We may need to ditch it at a moment’s notice. I suppose we could take the top off and make it a convertible, but this doesn’t seem like the right occasion for a joyride.

Strapped in and sealed up, we flood the docking bay. The floor irises open and we drop into the blue. I ease forward on the throttle. The skiff responds like a Maserati. (Full disclosure: I have never driven a Maserati.) We zip toward Lincoln Base, following the LOCUS sphere’s guidance system.

“They’ve had a week to set up new defenses,” Gem muses. “Could be contact mines in the tunnel. Lasers.”

“Maybe,” I say. “But at the speed Dev raced through it—”

“Yeah,” Gem agrees. “Dev tends to play an offensive game. Let’s keep our eyes peeled anyway.”

I glance over. I forget that Dev was Gem’s house captain. Over the last two years, they’ve probably spent more time together than Dev and I have.

On the side of Gem’s face, the trickle of blood has dried in a grim serpentine design. In the faint glow of his fishbowl helmet, his countenance reminds me of the bronze Shiva statue my dad used to keep in our family shrine: serene and vigilant, ready to smite evildoers by any means necessary. Maybe I can see some similarity between Gem, Dev, and Dr. Hewett after all—they all have the same aura of latent ferocity.

“When we get there,” I say, “our first priority is saving the hostages.”

“If they’re alive.”

“They will be.” I force myself to believe it. “Otherwise, Dev wouldn’t be racing back to the base. We do whatever’s needed to free them, but we don’t use lethal force unless we have to.”

Gem scowls. “Define ‘have to.’”

“Gem…”

“I’m kidding. Mostly.”

We plunge into the mouth of the cave.

I wish I had time to appreciate how well the skiff handles. The adventures I could have in this thing! I wonder what Socrates would think if I showed up in the skiff to give him dance lessons and squid.

The thought of my dolphin friend brings me back to the present. Socrates is probably in the least danger of anyone at Lincoln Base. Still…I roll forward on the control sphere, pushing us faster through the tunnel.

As soon as we emerge from the lava tube, our LOCUS display flickers back to life.