The Neptune Project Read online

  “Hang in there, Nere,” Penn whispers behind me. “We’ll be back in the water before you know it.”

  As soon as we’re beyond the reach of the solar floodlights, I slip into the sea and submerge, letting the seawater flow into my dry, hot lungs. Penn and Ree do the same. Once we’ve caught our breath, we start back to the cave.

  After we make it safely there, we use a rope from Penn’s seapack to anchor the S.S. Neptune to an old truck lying on the sea floor nearby.

  ~ ~ ~

  The next morning Dai insists that I call a meeting.

  :Any number of things could go wrong when Ree heads back to that scrounger town,: he tells me curtly. :You should have a plan in place in case Crab decides to tip off the Collective about you. There’s a large Marine Guard base in San Francisco Bay. Ten boats could be after us in ten minutes.:

  Even though I liked Crab, I can see the sense in what Dai is saying. I call everyone together, and we spend most of the morning talking about what we should do if we run into trouble.

  In the end, we adopt a plan made up of ideas contributed mostly by Dai and Robry. Our current sea cave is an ideal hiding place because its mouth is so small and hard to see. If the Marine Guard comes after us, the main group will head straight back for the cave, but two teams of our fastest swimmers—Dai, Kalli, Robry, and me—will try to lay a false trail by heading south. We hope to give our slowest swimmers a better chance of reaching safety, and we may fool the Marine Guard into thinking we aren’t traveling north. Midday, we will go out and find two smaller caves, where our decoy “foxes” will go to ground.

  :Hopefully after we hide, their ships will range on ahead of us. Then we should be able to slip back to the main cave, and we’ll head on north together,: Robry concludes.

  :One final thing—I don’t think Nere should go in with Ree and Penn this time,: Dai proposes.

  :Agreed,: Tobin says quickly.

  I start to protest, but Robry, of all people, cuts me off. :Nere, think about it. Ree and Penn function better out of water, and you can still use your telepathy to get a reading on Crab if you’re in the water beside the raft. There’s no reason to risk any more lives than we absolutely have to.:

  I can tell from their expressions that everyone agrees with Robry, so I give in.

  I feel the tension rising in our group as the sun sets. We force ourselves to eat a light dinner and then head for the scrounger colony with our spearguns loaded. As Penn and Ree paddle the raft in, the rest of us swim along in a tight formation right beneath it. I’m so anxious, I’m afraid I’m going to throw up the five bites of halibut I managed to choke down an hour ago.

  Now I can see a dozen different ways our plan could go wrong. Maybe Dai was right all along about trading with scroungers.

  :I can see the old guy. He’s definitely on the lookout for us,: Ree reports as she and Penn approach Crab’s boat. I risk popping my head out of the water on the seaward side of the raft, where Crab can’t see me. I focus my senses and try to read his surface mind.

  :Can you get anything from him, Nere?: Ree asks me.

  :The old guy’s got some naturally tight mental shields. All I can tell you is that he’s very tense right now and excited. Maybe this is a really good deal for him.:

  I close my eyes and let my mind range outward. I do sense that the scroungers near us are on edge. :Everyone seems too nervous,: I tell the others. :Let’s make this deal fast and get out of here.:

  The moment Ree steps onto his boat, Crab asks her and Penn to sit and eat dinner with him.

  “Thanks, but we need to get going. Do you have the darts?”

  “Are yeh sure yeh don’t want to be staying? I made a pot of fish chowder, and no one makes fish chowder better than old Crab.”

  “I bet your chowder is great, but we need to go,” Ree says impatiently.

  “Well, then, here are your spear darts. Thirty, just as yeh wanted,” Crab says slowly.

  :He’s stalling!: Penn says.

  I see Ree quickly hand him the three discn. Then she looks down at the three heavy bundles of darts he just handed her.

  :Dios mio! He’s wrapped a flyer around the darts, and it has our pictures all over it!:

  Just then, I pick up an image in Crab’s mind of four rough-looking smugglers coming to his boat, and his feeling of sharp regret.

  :Ree, get out of there!: I yell at her. :It’s a trap!:

  Moments later, two burly men burst out of Crab’s cabin. Before they can grab Ree, she jumps into the water, holding the spear darts. A second later, Penn dives off the raft.

  :Help!: Ree cries as she sinks past us toward the bottom. :These suckers are heavy.:

  :Give one bundle to Thom and one to Tobin,: I say, :and let’s get out of here!:

  I hear the bass thrum of powerful boat engines in the distance as Tobin and Thom flash down to the bottom and take two bundles of spear darts from Ree. Bria helps Ree scramble into her fins, and Lena helps Penn with his.

  :two boats come from around the point,: Densil warns me.

  They must have been waiting to ambush us.

  We sprint as fast as we can away from the scrounger colony. As soon as we’re beyond the lights I call the dolphins, and they tow us out to sea.

  :Main group, head back to the cave NOW,: I order. The four of us who are going to lead a false trail head south, swimming right at the surface so we’re easy to spot.

  I wait for a long thirty seconds while Sokya tows me through the water, and then I contact Mariah. :Which way are those boats heading?:

  :they follow you fast,: she says, sounding very worried.

  :They’ve taken the bait,: I tell everyone. :Main group, stay in that cave until we can get back to you. Foxes, let’s dive now and get to our holes as quickly as we can.:

  The dolphins take a final breath at the surface and then they pull us down under the waves. The sound of engines grows louder much faster than I expected. My heart lurches when I realize these smugglers have sent small, fast speedboats to track us.

  In no time, the two boats catch up to us. Dai swears when both boats slow down, right over our heads. Someone’s definitely tracking us on sonar.

  I swear to myself, but I try not to broadcast my worry to the others. Our whole plan was based on getting a good head start on big, lumbering Marine Guard vessels, not small smuggler speedboats.

  :Let’s split up and see if we can lose them,: I say, trying to sound more positive than I feel.

  :two big boats come fast from the south,: Mariah warns me, and I tell the others.

  :We’re in deep trouble now,: Dai says, :and we have no mines left.:

  Our small group’s spear-dart supply is dangerously low, too. We may be fighting hand-to-hand with more divers in a few minutes, but I only have two spear darts left in my quiver. Some commander I make. I just sent our new supply back to the main cave!

  Suddenly, Sokya begins clicking and sawing. I bite my lip. The last thing we need right now is to run into a shark or a squid.

  :friends come!: she tells me excitedly.

  Moments later, the water around us fills with a large school of wild bottlenose dolphins. Over fifty of them swim and swoop around us.

  :It’s the cavalry!: Robry shouts in elation.

  :Mariah, I love you!: I yell as I realize what my clever friend has done. Somehow she has coaxed a wild school of dolphins to swim with us, which may give us just enough time to reach our hiding spots.

  :Let those landlivers try to figure this one out on their sonar scopes,: Dai says with relish.

  We sprint for our caves while the big school of dolphins splits into swirls and eddies, darting every which way and confusing our sonar signature. Suddenly, the smaller boat that was tracking Robry and me races off to the west, chasing a group of four wild dolphins.

  Two minutes later, Robry and I reach our small cave. We duck inside, gasping and panting. Sokya and Nika rush off to play with the wild dolphins.

  :Kalli, Dai, are you safe?: I cal
l to our other pair of decoys.

  :Yeah, we just made it to our cave,: Kalli reports in. :And the boat that was following us headed south a minute ago. Those wild dolphins really saved our butts.:

  I reach out my senses farther and contact Mariah. :How did you get them to swim with us?:

  :are you safe?: she asks me first, sounding remarkably like my mother.

  :We’re tucked away in a nice little cave where their sonar will never find us.:

  :good. the wild ones were curious about why we were swimming with so many humans. I made them understand that the boats were hunting you, and they could help by swimming with you.:

  :They probably just saved our lives.:

  :I am glad. the wild ones are leaving. they do not like the feel of the water here.:

  :I can’t blame them. Now that we’re safe, please take your own family to cleaner waters. I will call you when we start traveling north again. Good hunting.:

  :rest well,: Mariah says, and then she breaks off the contact.

  :Did Mariah send that wild school to help us?: Dai asks me curiously.

  :It was her idea, start to finish.:

  :I can’t believe she showed so much initiative. She’s a remarkable animal,: Dai says. I know he means to be complimentary, but his tone is still annoying. The dolphins will always be more than “animals” to me.

  :Mariah’s my hero.: Robry grins.

  I reach out and tell everyone in the main cave what happened. We stay in our caves and doze on and off until two a.m. Then Robry and I slip outside and listen carefully. When we decide there are no boats nearby, we sprint back to the main cave. Kalli and Dai arrive right behind us.

  We find Tobin on sentry duty. His face relaxes when he spots me. He starts in my direction, and I think he wants to give me a hug, but then he realizes Robry, Dai, and Kalli are right behind me and he stops short.

  :Welcome back,: he says, a smile lighting his green eyes. :Sounds like you guys had a close call there.:

  :Mariah really saved the day,: I tell him.

  :I’m glad you’re all okay,: Tobin says to everyone, but his gaze is focused on me. :Mariah is amazing. The more I talk to her, the more she seems like a real person to me.:

  :She is amazing, and smarter than many humans I know,: I say with a pointed glance at Dai. I’m tempted to stick my tongue out at him, but that doesn’t seem like a very leader-like thing to do.

  :Can I see that flyer Crab slipped to us along with the spear darts?: I ask Tobin instead.

  His smile fades. :Yeah. Lena left it under a rock for you, next to the pile of our seapacks.:

  I swim into the cave and find the laminated flyer just where Tobin said it would be. A cold dread creeps across my skin as I pick up the flyer and study it. I realize I’m looking at a wanted poster with pictures of every one of us except Dai. The Western Collective is offering a thousand dollarns for each of us, or any information leading to our capture.

  EVEN THOUGH I ACHE all over from swimming hard, it takes me a long time to fall asleep. The Western Collective must want us badly to offer that kind of money. No wonder the smugglers wanted to catch us. If Mariah hadn’t called those wild dolphins, some of us might be dead or prisoners right now.

  At last my tired body wins out over my racing brain. When I wake up the next morning, everyone except Dai is sacked out in their hammocks. Since it’s not a travel day, I let people rest. After we’re all up and we’ve eaten, I call a meeting to discuss the flyer Crab managed to slip to us along with the spear darts.

  :This is like the posters they used to send around when they wanted to catch Kyel’s dad and his fighters,: Thom says, looking much more somber than usual. :Only this one claims we’re all members of a dangerous mutant gang dedicated to bringing down the Western Collective.:

  :I like the part where it claims we’re terrorists and a danger to law and public order.: Kalli shakes her head. :Robry and Bria sure look like dangerous terrorists to me.:

  Bria grins at Kalli, but then her big eyes grow serious. :I don’t think I’ve ever broken a law. I did shoot that diver in the leg, but that’s because he shot Kyel. It isn’t very nice of them to tell everyone that we’re bad people.:

  :We’re not bad people.: Tobin slips an arm around her shoulders. :It’s our government that isn’t very nice or truthful.:

  :I wonder why that old man gave this to us,: Robry muses.

  :I think he was trying to warn me,: Ree says as she studies the flyer.

  :I do too. I felt his regret as he handed you those spear darts,: I tell her. :Maybe one of the other scroungers ratted us out, or the smugglers threatened him.:

  :Whether or not that old scrounger sold us out doesn’t matter anyway,: Dai says with a scowl. :What does matter is that we now know that every smuggler, scrounger, and black-market fisherman between here and Vancouver Island is going to be on the lookout for us.:

  :Actually, they’re going to be on the lookout for us, not you. I think it’s interesting that your mug shot isn’t on here with the rest of ours,: Lena points out sharply.

  :Since Dai hasn’t lived on land since he was ten, I don’t think that’s much of a surprise. He may not even be in the Western Collective’s databases,: I say quickly, trying to head off a fight. :What I want to know is why are they making such a huge effort to catch us?:

  :They could want to use us. I know the Collective sometimes interrogates prisoners with telepaths,: Thom offers. :They’re pretty quiet about it, since telepaths aren’t supposed to exist in the first place.:

  :Yeah, maybe they seized a computer that belonged to a Neptune Project scientist, and they found out that we’re all telepaths,: Robry suggests.

  :It might be about control, too,: Penn says bitterly. :The Western Collective may be threatened by the idea that a new force could grow in the ocean that might turn against them someday.:

  :There are so many pictures here of kids we don’t even know. Maybe we’ll meet up with them along the way,: Bria says as she pores over the poster.

  :I’m afraid some of them may already be dead,: Kalli tells her gently. :There’s a picture of my cousin Ter.:

  I wince when I see her point to the picture of a handsome smiling boy who looks just like her. :He never even made it out of Oxnay Harbor,: she says, grief coloring her tone.

  :These are just the kids from the south,: Bria says hopefully. :There could be a bunch more heading for Dr. Hanson’s colony from the northern sector.:

  I smile at Bria. :You’re right. There is some good news in this flyer, and I’m going to concentrate on that.:

  Our meeting breaks up, and the next morning, as soon as the sea starts to lighten, we head north again.

  ~ ~ ~

  After we leave San Francisco, the dolphins give us plenty of warning when we need to change course to avoid smuggler, Marine Guard, or fishing vessels. As our group grows fitter, we often make thirty miles a day.

  After ten travel days, we leave the southern sector behind. The northern sector coastline is more craggy and rocky. Boat traffic actually increases because the Western Collective has been moving its population north as temperatures soar in the south.

  I’m glad to see that our group seems to be getting along better. Everyone teases Robry and Penn about their huge appetites. Thom and Kalli crack us up with their jokes. People even appear more comfortable around Dai, who’s always trying to get us to eat more kinds of seafood. We liked the eel, scallops, and oysters he coaxed us into sampling, but his sea cucumber and sea urchins didn’t go over so well.

  I grin when I remember Kalli’s reaction to his sea cucumber. :Dai, I know you mean well, but why would I want to eat something that looks like a giant orange caterpillar, eats sludge all day, and can vomit up its own intestines?:

  After that description, Lena looked like she was ready to vomit up her own intestines while Dai ate his sea cucumber with enthusiasm.

  Dai gives me good advice about our course each day, which makes me wonder just how many times he’s travel
ed these waters. Tobin always seems to know how people in the group are feeling and what their problems are. Kalli is good at nagging us to eat plenty of sea plants along with the fish we spear.

  Thom is the first to volunteer for any chore, including the nastiest ones. We start calling Penn “The Fixer” because he’s so great at fixing broken spearguns and fins. Lena and Ree keep our seasuits patched up and become two of our most successful hunters. Because Robry’s always thinking about the big picture, I often talk to him about our long-term problems. The dolphins love Bria, and more and more I trust them to relay their scouting reports through her.

  As the days and weeks wear on and we have no further fights with the Marine Guard or run-ins with nets and giant squid, I begin to relax a little. I think we all are becoming more comfortable in our new world. Farther north, the sea is cooler and healthier. We see more seals, bigger game fish, and thicker kelp forests.

  One afternoon, we even come across a pod of rare humpback whales.

  :Please-oh-please-oh-please, Nere, can we swim near them for a while?: Bria begs me.

  :As long as we don’t get too close. They’re usually gentle, but they could crush us when they breach.:

  We swim a little nearer, and with the dolphins’ help, we keep pace with the whales as they head north, their massive tails driving them through the water.

  :Man, these suckers are huge.: Thom shakes his head.

  :The big one is bigger than two of our houses back home,: Bria says, her eyes wide.

  :Check out all the barnacles they have growing on their skin!: Robry exclaims.

  :Are those smaller ones babies?: Lena asks as she points to the two calves.

  :Yeah,: I reply. :They were probably born four months ago down in the warm waters off the western coast of the Southern Republic.:

  :Those are some big babies,: Ree says.

  The calves are shy at first and peek at us from behind their mothers, but after a while their curiosity wins out and they swim closer and closer to our group.