“Sure,” Murphy said, “she only asks me that when I got my suit on.”

“Lower,” she told Hubbs.

The winch gradually dropped the divers into the pool. Their helmets disappeared and there were a few bubbles, then nothing. The winch claw released them below and they swam off, powered by the hardsuit jets, making for the SDV tethered to one of the Neptune’s legs.

“Well,” Hubbs said when the winch claw was up out of the water, “now the fun begins.”

“What do you mean by that?”

He secured the winch with the toggle control, killed the power to it. He laughed. “What do I mean, she asks. We’re down at the bottom of a lake beneath a fucking glacier in Antarctica and she wants to know what I mean.” He folded his arms. “What do you think I mean? Those boys are going out to an alien city, Javy. And I get the feeling that city ain’t as dead as we might like it to be.”

“There’s no evidence of that.”

“I got all the evidence I need.”

She sighed. “Please share it.”

“C’mon, Javy. Stop being so damn naïve. You feel that place same as I do. It’s not dead. It’s far from dead. And the things that built it are still there, watching us.”

She rolled her eyes. “Unfortunately, your assessment of the situation is somewhat lacking. There’s not one scrap of evidence that the bogies are still active or that they mean us any harm.”

Hubbs offered her a twisted grin. “I’m not talking about the Old Ones or Elder Things or whatever the hell you want to call them. I’m talking about something else.”

“What?”

“I’m not sure,” he said, swallowing. “The city itself. It’s not dead. Not the way it should be. There’s…I don’t know…a sort of life to it. I’ve felt it and so have you.”

“That’s crazy.”

“Is it? C’mon, Javy. Quit with the bullshit. That city is not just a city. It’s something more and you know it. It watches us all the time. I think it can get into our minds, into our dreams.”

“Now you’re guessing.” Though she never would have admitted it, what he said unnerved her because she’d thought the same thing herself. And more than once.

He shrugged. “You’ve felt it, Javy. I know you have.”

“I haven’t felt anything.”

It was Hubbs’ turn to roll his eyes. “Don’t be such a fucking Pollyanna, okay?”

“I’m not a Pollyanna.”

“Sure thing, Pollyanna.”

She glared at him. “I don’t appreciate being called that.”