Lavu patted the outer surface of the sub as Waela moved up beside him. She had been listening to the undertones in the conversation between Thomas and Lavu.

What drives Thomas? she wondered.

She had only the barest details about him. Out of hyb and into command of this project. Ship’s doing, he said.

Why?

“She’s heavier than any of the others,” Lavu said, thinking that the question in Waela’s mind. “I defy any Pandoran monster to break it.”

“Did you solve the problem of filling the LTA?” Thomas asked.

“You’ll have to get your final inflation outside,” Lavu said, “I’ve laid on extra perimeter guards because the skydoors’ll be open longer’n I like.”

“The sub itself?” Waela asked.

“We’ve rigged guide cables up through the doors. That’s it.”

Instinctively, Thomas glanced up at the iris closure of the skydoors.

“She’ll be ready by oh-six hundred at the latest,” Lavu said. “You’ll have a full nightside of rest before going out. Who’s to ride with y’?”

“Not you, Hap,” Thomas said.

“But I . . .”

“A new fellow named Panille is to go with us,” Thomas said.

“So I’ve heard. Untrained. A poet? Is that the truth?”

“An expert in communication,” Thomas said.

“Well, then, let’s run the tank test,” Lavu said. He turned and waved a hand signal at an aide.

“We’ll ride it with you,” Thomas said. “What pressure will you take it to?”

“Five hundred meters.”

Thomas glanced at Waela. She gave the barest inclination of her head to indicate agreement, then returned her attention to the sub. It curved over her, more than three times her height at the thickest part of the teardrop near its bow. The outer carrier concealed all but the upper bubble of the plaz gondola within it. The induction propeller at the stern had been shielded in a complex baffle and screening system which reduced its effectiveness, but guarded it against kelp fouling.

Workers ran a ladder up the side of the hull now, cushioned it with a foam blanket to keep the exterior signal lights clean, and steadied it while Lavu mounted. He spoke as he climbed.

“We’ve installed the manual override to insure that no random signal opens your hatch. You’ll have to undog it by hand every time y’open it.”

No surprises there, Thomas thought. That had been Waela’s idea. There were suspicions that the kelp could control signals in a wide scanning spectrum and that some of the lost subs had merely been opened underwater by scanner-activation of their hatch motors.