The Bones of the Sea

  * * * *

  A dull boom gently rocked the ship, the vibration shivering through her body as she waited for the airlock to finish cycling from water to air.

  Damn, what the hell was that? It can’t have been the charges already.

  “Myasi!”

  Hell. Maybe it was.

  There was certainly plenty of accusation in Tyet’s voice.

  “Yes, sir?” She kept her tone serious. This didn’t sound like the right time to be teasing him.

  “One of the charges blew. Care to explain?”

  How the hell would I know?

  Her webbed feet touched down onto the hard surface of the floor as the airlock evacuated the remaining water. The sensation left her feeling naked, as though more than water had been stripped from her skin, but it was unease rather than the cold of the returning air that stole the last shreds of warmth from her body. “Are you getting any readings?”

  “Should I be? Apart from the massive shockwave that just hit us?”

  “Like which and how many charges went off? What might have caused it?”

  A grudging silence. Then, “Just the central one. The others are still stable.”

  Myasi peeled the aqua mask from her face and sucked in a deep breath of recycled air. So much cleaner than what she had to breathe through the gills. “Want me to go back out and check?” she ventured, dreading the answer.

  “Er, what do you think?” Sarcasm speared through her earpiece.

  I think you should go… Myasi pressed the thought back down into the pit of her mind where it belonged. Better that than allowing the words to slip from her mouth and earn her a charge of verbal abuse on top of professional misconduct. “Yes, sir.”

  With a sigh, she replaced the aqua mask and touched the wrist console to reverse the airlock.