Moving to the bow, I struggled to push the Barracuda backward down the shoreline and into the water. I made it halfway to the waterline before I had to rest.

Leaning against the sub, I looked back and saw the bear-dogs. The adult was sniffing and pawing at the blood-drenched snow, her offspring following the trail toward the sub.

I gripped the bow and pushed.

I could see the charging adult in my peripheral vision as my boots hit water. Another shove and I climbed inside, my feet straddling Ben as the animal struck the sub.

The bow spun in the water.

I fell into the middle seat and managed to seal the dome as the predator stood up on its hind legs and pawed at the acrylic, pushing us into deeper water.

I tried the engine.

No power.

For a second, I panicked; then remembered Vostok Command had us on their override.

The radio crackled. “Vostok Mobile Command to Barracuda. Colonel Vacendak here. Report.”

“Wallace here. Captain Hintzmann’s seriously wounded, and Dr. Liao’s in bad shape. We’re all suffering from exhaustion and hypothermia. Start the engine so I can crank up the heat.”

The sub powered on, sending a rush of cold air pouring out of my vent.

“Dr. Wallace, what happened to the sensory devices? We’re registering Dr. Liao’s and your devices, but Captain Hintzmann’s was never activated.”

“I’ll ask him about it when he comes to. Right now you need to get us to the extraction point before he bleeds to death.”

A moment’s pause. “Dr. Wallace, I’m going to turn you over to Captain Eric Schager. He will pilot you into the northern basin. We’ll have a medical team waiting for you back in the dome.”

“Thank you.” I laid my head back, then peeled off my gloves. Raising my dripping wet left boot, I attempted to unbuckle the straps with my half-frozen fingers.

“Dr. Wallace, this is Captain Schager. I’m tracking your position using our SAT feed, but there are going to be biologics along the way that I can’t see. I’m going to take you out of the bay at five knots just to make sure that whale’s moved on, but don’t go active on sonar.”

“Acknowledged.” I struggled to remove my climbing boots so I could warm my feet, hoping the pain of their thawing out wouldn’t affect my piloting.

The Barracuda submerged, moving at a slow pace through the black sea.

Rotating my seat around, I leaned over the aft console to check on Ming. Her breaths were shallow, her lips violet-blue.

Climbing back with her, I stripped off her coat. Searching through the storage compartment, I located a wool blanket and wrapped it around her, then used the aft compartment’s microwave to heat some water for tea.

“Ming, sip this.” I held the cup’s built-in straw to her lips, but she was unresponsive.