“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” Aria groaned for the umpteenth time. The twenty-seventh time, to be precise. Lorel had decided to keep count after the 5th.
“But you did,” he responded, suppressing the urge to roll his eyes. “And unless you’ve got a time machine stashed away somewhere, there’s no going back to change it. So we might as well make the most of it.”
He paused, half-expecting her to say that she did, in fact, have a time machine. When she didn’t respond, Lorel continued. “You could’ve gone without me, too, y’know. I’m really the only one they wanted.”
She fixed him with a dour glare. “And then mom and dad would be angry at me instead.”
“Exactly,” he nodded. “So stop worrying about it. What’s done is done. We might as well make the most of it.”
Aria audibly sighed. “You’re right… just don’t expect me to stick up for you.”
“I would never,” Lorel replied, voice filled with mock outrage. His sister just sighed again and turned back to the controls. “So? Where are we going this time?” That question, of course, brought her glare right back.
“Seriously? You dodged the Tideguard, and you don’t even know where we’re going?”
He shrugged. “I never know where we’re going. And what difference does it make?”
“You’re incorrigible,” Aria half-growled.
“Thank you!”
“That wasn’t a compliment… never mind.” She shook her head. “We’re going to sector seven.”
“What’s in sector seven?”
“Coral… and Svyke.”
“Ah. Something to do with your secret project?”
His sister’s face darkened. “Yes. But,” she added looking back at the controls, “best not to talk about it. Not so close.”
“Fair enough. How far are we? I assume he’s on his floating laboratory.”
Aria nodded. “Not far. We’ll be there soon.” She lapsed into silence, and though her hands continued to fly across the interface, Lorel knew her mind was elsewhere.
“You’re thinking about those two,” he said quietly.
His sister’s head jerked halfway up, as it did whenever she was caught off guard. “How’d you know?”
“I’m your brother,” Lorel snorted. “And besides,” he added quietly. “You’ve always been easy to read.”
Aria’s hands stopped moving. “Really?”
“Really.”
She sighed again, kicking up a tuft of her hot-pink hair. “He was wearing a military uniform.”
“Yeah.
“The girl wasn’t.”
“She wasn’t?”
“... You saved them, and you don’t even remember what they look like?”
Lorel shrugged. “I saved them because it was the right thing to do. That’s it. And I remember what the guy looks like.”
“... Why one and not the other?”
“He tried to pull a gun on me.”
Her head whipped back around at that. “You didn’t tell me that.”
“Not like we had time,” he pointed out. “And besides, it was just one soldier. And we were surrounded by water. I’d have to be a pretty poor excuse of a Tidal to let him beat me.”
“I guess that’s true,” Aria muttered. “But still…”
“It seems like you’re more interested in the girl, though,” Lorel interjected, not wanting to dwell on the topic.
“I am,” Aria mused, more to herself than anything. “She was wearing some sort of jumpsuit. And she looked young… but she was the pilot? That doesn’t make much sense.”
“I’m literally a teenage soldier,” Lorel said dryly. “Are you really surprised?”
“Yes.”
“About what?”
“I don’t know,” his sister said, a note of frustration creeping into her voice. “Just… something about it bothers me.”
“Let me know when you figure it out.”
“Okay.”
The submarine beeped, as if it had been waiting for the two to finish their conversation.
“We’re here.” Aria made an odd gesture with her hands, and the craft tilted up ever so slightly. Being just barely below the waters surface, it only took them seconds to break it.
“Even if I tell you to stay here, you won’t– right?”
Lorel answered immediately. “Absolutely not.” For all their banter– and as much as he annoyed his sister– she was precious to him. Far too precious to let her meet someone like Svyke alone.
“Alright.” She readily acquiesced. And then added, in a smaller tone, “thank you.”
He smiled. “Any time, my dear sister.”
“And there you go again.” Aria pushed past him with a sigh, pushing the hatch up and to the side. “Just let me do the talking.”
“Sure thing.”
Lorel pulled himself up once Aria was clear. Now that the dark of night had truly fallen, it took his eyes a moment to adjust to the Coral’s bright. They had stopped just in front of a floating structure, roughly the size of a house of old.
Though, truthfully, it looked like little more than a floating box set atop a floating ring, he knew it was filled with scientific equipment– and too many documents to count. And physical ones, at that. Svyke claimed it was for security, but Lorel just thought him half-mad.
Or completely mad. It depended on the day, really.
He followed Aria onto the submarine’s curved wing. It bobbed once as they reached its tip, then righted itself as they stepped off.
His sister hopped from submarine to floating structure, and as Lorel followed, a portion of the cube’s wall fell away, revealing Svyke.
The old, wizened spy seemed even worse for wear than usual. His bone-white hair, aged beyond his years, fell down his scalp in an uneven wave. Similarly-colored stubble, interlaced with its former black spotted his chin and lower cheeks. His faded military uniform had once been dark blue, but now it was a pale, ice-blue.
“Aria. Good to see you again.”
“It’s good to see you too,” she said, her tone uncommonly brisk. “Do you have them?”
Svyke laughed, completely unoffended. “Business as usual, I see. Good, good.” One wizened hand dipped beneath the fabric of his uniform, reappearing moments later with two envelopes. “The first is for your father. The second is for you. And for the boy…” his other hand reached into his pant pocket, withdrawing a handful of small glass rods. “A new compression algorithm, taken straight from the ICC.” The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
He handed the letters to Aria and tossed the glass tubes to Lorel. He panicked for a moment before realizing they were bound by a rubber band.
“Got you, didn’t I?” Svyke said with a sly grin.
Lorel sighed. “Enough of your games, old man. Is this all?” He asked, inspecting the small bundle. They were roughly the length of his pointer finger, but less than half the width.
“Yup,” the spy nodded. “They’ll carry more than the last load put together, I can promise you that.”
“If you say so.” He pocketed them with a shrug. They were really just an added bonus. “If that’s everything, we’ll be on our way.”
Aria nodded and jumped back onto her craft. As Lorel turned to follow, Svyke called out to him.
“Lorel.”
That was enough to make him pause. The spy never referred to him by name– only ever “boy,” or “Augmented.” Sometimes “boy.”
He really hated that last one.
The surprise on his face must have been evident– or perhaps not, given Svyke’s occupation– because the spy laughed gleefully upon seeing his expression. “I heard you rescued a damsel in distress… and someone dressed in an ICC military uniform.”
Lorel scowled. “How did you know that? It happened an hour ago. At most.”
“I’m a spy, boy. Information is my trade. Do you think I’d miss something happening right under my nose?”
“... No.”
“Then quit wasting my time.” The spy’s jovial attitude disappeared. “That girl you saved– Tala. I have a feeling you’ll be seeing her again. You should take advantage of that while you can.”
“You said that information is your trade.”
“That it is.”
“Then it’s not much of a feeling, is it?”
Svyke grinned crookedly. “Always knew you were a smart one. Despite how you act. Don’t be mistaken, boy. I give this information freely because your grand rescue puts you in a unique position. Befriend her, and maybe you can change our future– even if only slightly.”
Lorel bristled. “I saved them because it was the right thing to do,” he spat. “Not because I expected or wanted something in return. Unlike you, I’m not willing to use and lie to people to serve my own goals.”
The spy tilted his head. “Even if doing so could save the lives of many more?”
He had no answer to that.
Svyke''s expression suddenly became very tired. “I understand. You have a stronger sense of morals than most. I admire that. I shouldn’t try to tarnish it. But you should consider my words.”
“Do I even need to point out the contradiction there?”
“No,” he said, his tone amused. “But humans are contradictory beings, wouldn’t you say?”
Lorel, once again, had no answer for that.
“Enough,” Svyke said, waving his hand. “You should get going. Spending time like around an old fogey like me doesn’t suit either of you.”
Lorel wanted to point out that he was the one who continued the conversation, but he knew it was pointless. He turned to follow his sister– and then stopped, struck by a sudden thought. “Did Loch come to you recently?”
“See? Smart.”
The floating platform shook as Lorel’s anger spilled into the ocean below. “If you ever hurt either of them, I''ll make sure you forget what it feels like to breathe air.”
“Believe me, boy, I have no intention of crossing you. I’m a spy. The shadows are our lifeline.”
The sub tilted slightly as he stepped after Aria. She had already opened the first letter, and was reading its contents, completely enraptured.
“This is it,” she murmured. “What I needed.”
“... Do you trust Svyke that much?”
“Not at all. But his information has always been good.”
“That’s true,” he admitted, looking down at the glass rods in his hand. They seemed so small, but the spy had never been wrong before. And these were likely to be experimental, stolen from some secret ICC compound.
“You don’t have to do this, you know,” Lorel said quietly.
“Yes I do.” His sister didn’t even look up. “You’re playing your part. I have to play mine.”
“That’s different,” he growled. “My part doesn’t involve taking information from a spy.”
Aria raised her face at that, pointedly looking at the glass rods in his hand.
“I’ll toss these overboard if it helps prove my point.”
“You have your talents. I have mine. How can I just stand by and watch?”
Lorel sighed and pocketed them. As much as he wanted to argue it, he knew there was no point. “Fine. Just promise me you won’t stick your neck out too far.”
She agreed readily. “I promise.”
Satisfied with that, he climbed down after her. “So. Sector seven. What are we after there?”
“Same thing as always. I want to measure the Coral density and take some samples. It’ll be a useful data point, even if nothing else comes of it.”
Lorel understood the words, but little else. It was like his sister said– they each had their talents. The submarine thrummed to life again as Aria brought up the holo-terminal.
“How deep?”
“A little more than twenty-five hundred meters.”
He raised an eyebrow at that. “Twenty-five hundred? Did you get permission to take this thing so deep?”
Aria huffed. “Of course I did. Not everyone is as reckless as you.”
“Hey. I take offense to that.”
She smirked. “Because it’s true?”
“... Maybe. Probably. Definitely, actually.”
“You really just don’t care, do you?”
“I do care,” Lorel said seriously. “That’s why I asked.” But he’d known it was a baseless question. They both took safety seriously. It was something their parents drilled into them from a young age– and the only reason they were allowed to go on these excursions.
“How far are we from sector seven?”
“Another two hours.” She turned to look back at him. “You want out?”
“Yeah.”
“Already?”
“Yeah. I want to practice something.” And today’s events, combined with Svyke’s ominous words had left him rattled.
Aria shrugged. “Suit yourself. Here.” She handed him an earpiece and then paused, further words clearly on the tip of her tongue. “You shouldn’t listen to Svyke.”
“... Weren’t you the one who said his intel has always been good?”
She grimaced. “That’s not what I mean.”
“Then what do you mean?”
Her frow furrowed, as it always did when she was thinking hard about something. “I like you the way you are. Even if you’re annoying. If you did what he said, I don’t think you would be you anymore.”
Lorel sighed. “Why are you both acting like I saved them as some part of a scheme to steal her heart?”
His sister shrugged again. “She was pretty.”
“Was she?” Lorel asked dryly. “Like I said. I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Uh huh,” she said, clearly unconvinced.
“Unlike you and Loch, I don’t daydream about my one true love.”
Aria’s face instantly turned bright red. “You–!”
Lorel chuckled and pulled himself out of the hatch. Svyke’s lodging was still within reach, but the old spy was nowhere to be seen.
Just as well.
He lodged the small communications device into his ear canal, wincing as the cold metal stung his fragile flesh. He tapped it once to turn it. “Can you hear me?”
His sister’s voice came through as if she were still standing next to him. “Loud and clear.”
Lorel smirked. “I can just hear how red your face is. Seriously, can you two just get together already? Watching the two of you is painful.”
“Enough. If you don’t hop off soon, I’ll throw you off.”
He knew it was an empty threat– safety first, after all– but obliged anyways, stepping back down onto the vehicle’s wing. Letting his will seep into the ocean below, he took a tentative step onto the water’s surface.
It held his weight.
Taking a deep breath, he placed his other foot in front of the last.
Again, it held his weight.
Lorel stood there for a moment, reveling in his connection to the waters of his home. This had always calmed him. Even as a child, he’d always found the ocean’s calm soothing, and that feeling only grew as he aged.
“You should go ahead. There’s a good chance I’ll just fall flat on my face.”
“Thanks for letting me know. I’ll be sure to record now.”
“I aim to please.”
He waited until Aria’s craft submerged, then willed the water underneath his feet to flow forward. Not quickly– a mere fraction of what he’d used against Loch– but it still threw him off balance.
“Whoa.” Lorel stumbled forward, catching himself on one foot– only to stumble again. Growling in frustration, he forced it to a halt. Why is this so difficult, dammit? Taking another deep breath, he stepped forward, this time willing the water to flow as his foot touched down.
He nearly lost his balance again. But it was easier like this; not unlike walking on a treadmill.
Just a very slippery one.
Lorel made it five more paces before faceplanting– just as he’d predicted. He tore his will back as he fell into the water, so that he simply sank instead of striking a solid surface. The sound of Aria’s laughter came through the earpiece.
“Not as spectacular as I’d hoped.”
“Oh, shut up,” he growled, finding purchase on the ocean’s surface once more. “You want to see something spectacular?”
“Should I be worried?”
“Worried? About little old me?”
“About myself. Your experiments tend to be destructive.”
Lorel grinned, though he knew Aria couldn’t see it. “You know me so well.” Bunching his knees, he forced the water underneath his feet to erupt, sending him flying into the air; just like in the facility. But now, with more water at his disposal, he could take it a step further.
As he landed, he forced the shock of the impact through the water under his feet, causing it to cave in– and then come crashing back up a split second later.
The resulting jet of water flung him even further into the air.
Too far.
“Crap.”
Svyke’s dwelling was little more than a large box against the blue-green light below. Lorel counted– it took him nearly ten seconds to land. A flurry of bubbles stormed around him as he plunged beneath the surface, and summoned current brought him back to the surface.
“What the fuck was that?”
“I dunno. I saw a video. Thought it might be fun to try.”
“You’re insane.”
“Maybe. I don’t think I’ll be trying that again, though.”
“You better fucking not. You’ll break your neck!”
“No I won’t.”
“You don’t know that!”
“Yes I do. But you’re right. I won’t try that again. For now, anyway.”
“For now?!”
“What, you don’t think it might be useful?”
No response.
“You didn’t feel it down there, did you?” Aria’s sub was some ways below now, making the massive craft look smaller than usual.
“No. It would take a lot more force than that.”
“I see.”
“Is this why you didn’t bring a skimmer along this time?”
“Yeah. Like I said, I wanted to practice.”
“As long as you’re not practicing… whatever the hell that was.”
“I dunno… I am pretty reckless, after all.”
Aria sighed.
“I’m kidding.”
“I know. Let’s get going.”
The water’s surface swelled ever so slightly as the underwater vehicle began its slow crawl forward. That was one of the problems with submarines: they were terribly slow compared to their surface-dwelling counterparts. For now, though, that worked in his favor, granting ample time to practice.
Lorel took a step forward, this time adjusting his posture to account for the movement below. He still staggered– unsurprising, considering how unnatural this was– but didn’t fall or stumble.
Down below, Aria stayed silent, no doubt taking the opportunity to collect as much data as possible. Still, he could feel the water that her vehicle displaced.
“When are you going to name that thing, anyways?”
“Whenever it’s complete.”
“And how long is that going to take?”
“A long time. I want to make sure everything works flawlessly.”
“Uh huh.”
“You could at least try to sound interested.”