BooksBarbecue
Back The Abyss Surrounds Us Save as PDF
Chapters (37)
  1. Dedication
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. 9
  11. 10
  12. 11
  13. 12
  14. 13
  15. 14
  16. 15
  17. 16
  18. 17
  19. 18
  20. 19
  21. 20
  22. 21
  23. 22
  24. 23
  25. 24
  26. 25
  27. 26
  28. 27
  29. 28
  30. 29
  31. 30
  32. 31
  33. 32
  34. 33
  35. 34
  36. Acknowledgments
  37. About the Author

The biggest of the beasts is a cetoid. Its jointed flippers are tipped with vestigial claws that carve through the water as it leads the pack, plunging ahead with powerful strokes of its flukes. A cephalopoid follows close in its wake, tentacles rippling through the darkening waves, and a serpentoid brings up the rear. Its sinuous body dips underneath its companion ship, coiling against it before pushing off again. There’s a part of me that cries out at the sight of the other beasts, of the animals that I’ve spent my whole life raising.

There’s another part of me that reaches out to crush it.

Like Varma said, they’re focused on the Minnow. They’re expecting any signal to come from its decks. They won’t see me coming. Trainers have conducted battles from decks, from shattered hulls, and in their most desperate moments, from the sea. No one’s ever dared to fight from the back of the beast they’re directing.

No one has ever needed to.

Heavy pulses ring through the water, and flashes of light up above mark where the opening shells have struck. Santa Elena’s drawing them on, triggering the Reckoners’ responses. The three beasts lunge ahead, leaving their companion vessels defenseless in their wake.

“Cas,” Varma says in my ear. “Now.”

32

32

The lasers blast from my wrists, and Bao’s head wrenches up, forcing me flat against the plating. I’m lost against the surge, the line at my waist the only thing keeping me attached to his head. My ears swell and pop viciously—I can’t equalize in time. A scream bubbles out of me, and we break the surface like a geyser.

There’s no time for hesitation, no time for second thoughts. I point my wrist at the rearmost ship, whose guns are still trained on the Minnow’s retreating aft, and twist the setting to charge. Bao obeys with a roar, lunging forward so ferociously that I lose my grip and tumble back against his neck.

It’s too late for the people on the deck to do anything. They’re powerless as Bao comes crashing over them like a hurricane, his claws sinking into the ship’s rear as he closes his beak around the aft gun mounts.

Then their eyes shift to me, and they recognize who’s commanding the beast. Me in my mirrored goggles. Me in my respirator and armor. Me with the Otachi on my wrists, tied to the back of the monster raining hell on them, fighting on the wrong side of the war.