Shadow Zone (6 page)

“Some restoration work needs to be done, but it’s fairly intact,” Hannah said.

Whump.

Another dolphin hit, this time from the rear.

“Shit!” Josh yelled. “More coming!”

Hannah whirled around. Ten to twelve dolphins were fast approaching from the left. Hannah raised the mechanical arm and repelled them with a blast of compressed air.

“Look fast. I don’t mean to rush you, Melis, but things are getting intense down here.”

“Just another few seconds, Hannah.”

“No more than that.”

Melis was silent for a moment. Hannah imagined she was leaning forward at her console, lips slightly moving as she read the ancient writings.

“I’ll be damned,” Melis murmured.

“Melis?”

“It’s a gravesite. There was someone buried here.”

Matthew exchanged a look with Hannah. “I thought you said this was a school.”

“It was,” Melis said. “But the historian, the one who is telling the story of Marinth here, was a high-ranking offcial. He may have even been the top man. The dean, if you will. It was a sign of great respect, a tribute, for people to be buried at institutions they had founded. You guys photographed markers at the central marketplace and the courthouse, remember?”

“I remember,” Hannah said. “What else does this mosaic tell us?”

“I’ll need you to bring it up. There are just enough broken crystals to obscure the key parts of the story. But there’s a specific reference to a massive shadow descending over these waters, laying waste the people of Marinth.”

Josh shook his head. “A massive shadow . . . Great. Is this a ghost story?”

“I don’t think so,” Melis said. “The Marinthians weren’t particularly superstitious. There’s something here we aren’t getting. Look around for his funeral marker. Educators were often denoted with a circle motif, maybe a ring of circles. See anything like that?”

“Not yet.” Hannah pushed
Conner Two
’s exterior lights on high, then swung the spots to illuminate the surrounding area.

Dolphins.

Everywhere she looked, there were sleek gray creatures darting about, taking positions around the submersible. Great dark eyes and that menacing snapping of the jaws. Her heart was starting to pound. “Help us, Melis. You’re better at spotting this stuff than we are, and those dolphins aren’t making it easy.”

“I’m looking, but so far I don’t—Wait. Move your starboard spotlight back a few feet, where it was a second ago.”

Hannah slowly swung the spotlight back. There was now a wall of dolphins blocking all visibility. She called out to Matthew and Josh. “Move through the dolphins, guys. Slowly. We don’t want to hurt them.”

They backed up slightly and pushed through the mass while Hannah hit the dolphins with low-pressure blasts from the compressed-air jets. This time, however, they were much slower to move out of the way.

“Uh-oh,” she said. “The air nozzles aren’t working so well any longer. They must have figured out that the air won’t hurt them.”

“Any sign of a marker?” Melis asked.

“Not yet. So far, just a lot of—That might be it!” She directed a camera toward a circular outline on the ocean floor. “See that, Melis?”

“Yes. How big is it?”

“About eight feet in diameter.”

“Dust it off, will you?”

Matthew piloted the minisub toward the circle and hovered in place while Hannah blasted away the silt. The wheel-shaped stone was carved with hundreds of detailed figures, different than the writings she had seen elsewhere in the city.

“Is this what you’re looking for, Melis?”

“Yes, it’s definitely a grave marker. I can’t read everything there, but that isn’t unusual. All the grave markers we found have been written in a different style than their normal written language. It may be an older dialect, or maybe even their version of poetry.” Melis paused. “I guess there’s no way you can bring that up.”

“Sorry, doll,” Matthew said. “Not now. We probably couldn’t swing it even if we had both Conners in service. We’ll do well just to get that trellis up.”

“I knew the answer,” Melis said. “Sorry I asked.”

Josh positioned the exterior cameras over and around the marker. “But we’ll have some spectacular 3-D video for you. Next best thing to being there.”

Whump.

Jarring force.

Whump.

The submersible skittered to the side.

Whump.

Three more dolphin hits, each more forcible than the one before.

Another hit!

Hannah tried the compressed air again, but this time the dolphins did not even hesitate to body-slam
Conner Two.

“We’re out of time,” Hannah said. “Let’s put that trellis into the sled and get the hell out of here.”

Josh and Matthew piloted the vessel back to the trellis, struggling to keep it steady against the crush of pounding, circling dolphins.

Hannah pushed a button, and the sled’s protective cover slid open.

First hurdle overcome. Kyle had struggled to coax the larger cover to open and close properly using a hydraulic system that had been designed for a much lighter sled.

Using every bit of the mechanical arms’ articulation and sensitivity, Hannah gently picked up the trellis and swung it toward the sled. Before she could lower it, she saw a dark cloud racing toward the artifact.

Dolphins. Dozens of them.

“No!” she said through clenched teeth. “Don’t you dare. It’s
mine
!”

The dolphins pounded the trellis, the sled, and the mechanical arms.

The trellis flipped out of her grasp, and chunks of colored glass floated downward. Before the trellis could hit the ocean floor Hannah managed to swing the arms underneath and guide it down gently.

“Great catch!” Matthew said. “But you gotta work fast. Our friends are coming back for another blitz.”

Hannah looked up. There was an even larger shadow advancing on them this time, building speed with each passing second.

No time to spare.

She spun the trellis around and quickly attempted to gauge how best to lower it into the sled. Normally she would have spent several minutes making adjustments to the position, but today she didn’t have that luxury.

She held her breath and let go of the trellis.

As the gray cloud loomed ever larger, the trellis, riding the current, eased into the sled.

Matthew and Josh whooped, but she wasn’t ready to celebrate yet. She hit the switch and watched as the cover slid shut in jerky fits and starts.

Just a little bit more . . .

Success!

“Move!” she yelled. “Get us out of here!”

Conner Two
raced from the site as hundreds of dolphins pounded the submersible and sled from every direction.

It was crazy, Hannah thought desperately. This couldn’t be happening.

“They’re following us up,” Josh said in disbelief.

And how much more pummeling could the sub take? Hannah held tight as the submersible pitched from side to side. “Don’t go up yet. Follow the ridge along the ocean floor.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

Conner Two
changed direction. The onslaught of the dolphins lessened almost immediately.

“It’s working!” Matthew said.

Hannah glanced back at the sled. “Keep moving. We’re not out of this yet.”

As they left Marinth behind, the dolphins thinned considerably. After another few minutes, there were none to be seen.

Matthew turned to her. “How did you know?”

“I didn’t. It was a crapshoot. But they were so concentrated in Marinth, I thought they might not want to venture away.” Hannah pulled the bandanna from around her neck and wiped away a layer of perspiration that had collected on her brow. “Okay, guys. Let’s get topside.”

CHAPTER
3

“Are you okay?” Melis asked Hannah as she exited the minisub. “That was completely weird. For a little while I didn’t think you’d make it.”

“For a little while, I didn’t either. When we went down before, we had no trouble with the dolphins. It was as if that accident we had that uncovered the trellis triggered something. Crazy.” She nodded at the sled, now resting on the deck. “But I know you can’t wait to get a close look at the trellis. Go for it.”

Melis hesitated.

“Go ahead.” Hannah grinned. “You’ve been properly concerned and caring, now go see what your Marinthians have to say.”

Melis made a face. “I do care.” She started to unfasten the sled containing the trellis. “But I’ve waited a long time for this. And it may be only the beginning. I wish you could have spent more time down there.”

“Blame your beloved dolphins. They weren’t willing to have us down there.” Hannah fell to her knees beside her. “Let me do it. Your hands are shaking.”

“You’re damn right they are.” Melis’s face was glowing. “I have a right. This could be the bonanza, Hannah. You saw it down there. Now I want to see it, touch it.”

Hannah nodded, smiling. “I can see that you do. Just give me a minute.” She carefully opened the sled and sat back on her heels, watching Melis’s expression. It wasn’t often that she’d been privileged to be present at the realization of a dream. It was a rare and special moment. “It’s dirty. There’s a lot of silt floating around down there.”

“That doesn’t matter.” Melis stared at the intricate pattern on the glass. “It’s beautiful.”

“Yes, it is.”

Melis glanced at her. “You’re not impressed?”

“I guess I’m more excited about how things work than the actual physical beauty of an object. Conner used to shake his head and tell me I had no soul.”

“You have a soul. Your focus is just different.” She looked back at the trellis. “When I first started exploring Marinth, I couldn’t understand why my husband, Jed, could be so excited about the artifacts that the crew brought up from the depths. I was only interested in the huge dolphin population that lived down there in the ruins.”

“You were a marine biologist.”

She nodded. “But that changed one day. I reached out and touched one of the goblets they had brought up on deck. It might have been warmed by the sun, but it felt oddly . . . alive. As if it had just been set down by some young Marinthian before he strolled away. I began to think of those men, women, and children who had lived and studied and loved all those thousands of years ago. I felt a connection and then I felt . . .” She reached out and touched the panes of glass with gossamer gentleness. “Wonder.”

Hannah’s throat tightened. She knew about wonder. Wonder was when she had stood with Conner by the bedside of his sleeping children. Children were wonder. Connecting with someone you loved was wonder. As she had told Melis, her life had been more involved with machines than human interaction but she knew that truth. “I guess I don’t have your sensitivity.”

Melis laughed. “Heaven save me from the gentle souls who tell you how sensitive they are. We’re all different. We all have our own priorities. I’ll take you anytime over them. Particularly when you risked your pod to keep from hurting my dolphins.”

“It came close,” Hannah said ruefully. “It was pretty scary down there. Dolphins can be intimidating, and there were so many. I can handle Pete and Susie, but those dolphins reminded me of those Foo dogs that guard Chinese temples. Very fierce.” She looked down at the trellis. “Were they protecting this artifact, Melis?”

“I don’t know. You can’t make the mistake of thinking all dolphins are like Pete and Susie. They’re not; they can be as lethal as sharks in some situations. Something triggered that ferocity. We’ll have to think about it.” Melis began to set up her camera. “But right now I want to study and photograph and not worry about the dolphins.”

“Can I help?”

She shook her head. “Just keep Ebersole out of my hair until I finish.” She nodded at the AquaCorp executive on the bridge. “He’s been salivating to examine the trellis, and I’ve told the crew they’re not to let him near it.”

Hannah could see that he’d pose a problem. He was frowning, and he looked as if he were pulling at an invisible leash. “No problem.” Hannah made a face. “Well, actually I’d rather take arsenic than have him cross-examine me about the retrieval. How long?”

“Three hours. Then I’ll have the crew stand guard while I arrange transport for it. I need to ship it to the museum. My lab isn’t equipped for this kind of restoration. You can bring him to view it then . . . at a distance.”

Hannah nodded and turned away. “I’ll go do my duty right after I change.”

“Hannah.”

She looked over her shoulder.

Melis smiled. “Thank you.”

“I just did my job.”

She shook her head. “You took that extra step. You retrieved my trellis, and you protected my dolphins. That qualifies as damn terrific.”

Hannah grinned. “I guess it does. But the hardest task is yet to come. Just get that trellis off the ship and out of Ebersole’s view.” She strolled down the deck toward the steps that led to her quarters.

“Hannah,” Ebersole roared. “I need to talk to you.”

She sighed, then forced a smile. “Right away. Just let me change first.” She started down the steps, then heard the familiar chirping off starboard. She glanced out to sea and saw Pete arc high out of the water. Susie followed only seconds later.

Beautiful. Splendid creatures.

Mysterious creatures.

And what had happened today down in the ruins of Marinth had been full of mystery.

And wonder?

Perhaps. If she had been able to stay here longer, then she might also have been able to reach out and touch the wonder . . .