The Neptune Project (17 page)

I LEAVE THE
ALICANTE
to talk to my brother right before ten o'clock. James is waiting for me in the water by the stern of the
Kestrel
. I hug him as soon as I surface, and he actually hugs me back.

“So, what's it like, breathing water and living in the sea?” he asks as we tread water side by side. His gray eyes are alight with excitement. His voice sounds rusty, like maybe he hasn't used it in a long time. His face and arms are deeply tanned, and his long brown hair is sun-bleached. His face looks thinner than I remember, and the beard makes him look much older.

“I've been so busy trying to stay alive, I haven't had much time to think about it. So far, it's mostly been hard and dangerous.”

“I know it will get easier, and you have such amazing adventures ahead of you. Humans have barely begun to explore the depths of the sea. Think of all the places you can go now.”

“James, there's something I need to tell you, and you're not making this any easier.”

His smile fades. My throat starts to close up. Still, somehow I manage to blurt, “Gillian's dead. She was killed helping Lena, Robry, and me get away.”

James's eyes widen in surprise, and then he bows his head. They didn't always get along, but I know he loved her.

“How did it happen?” he asks, and I tell him about our transformation, the soldiers who came, and how she stepped in front of solar fire to save me. All the while, James looks at the water and cries silently, and I cry with him.

“That sounds like her. She was never afraid of anything,” James says, his voice gone tight and rough.

“At least I can give you some good news. Dad's still alive.”

James looks up at me at last. “I already knew that,” he says, impatiently wiping his tears away.

“You did?”

“I found out when I came across a coded computer message he sent to her. That was one of the reasons Gillian and I argued so much. I thought she should have trusted both of us with the truth.”

It takes me a moment to absorb his words. Then I explode. “I
can't
believe you knew that Dad was alive and you didn't tell me!”

“Gillian convinced me it wouldn't be safe for you to know. You're my little sis. I couldn't put you in danger.”

“You still should have told me,” I tell him fiercely. “You know I cried my eyes out for weeks and weeks after we lost Dad.” I glare at him, but he doesn't look away. Finally my curiosity gets the better of me. “Have you heard anything from him since?”

“A trader I trust brought me a message from him three months ago. At that time, anyway, Dad was still alive.”

Despite my anger at my father, I feel relieved. “So, I guess we really will have to try to get to his colony.”

“It's not going to be an easy voyage. You'll have to cross a thousand miles of ocean.”

“I know. I wish you could come with us.”

“I do too, but the
Kestrel
might attract too much notice. I'd much rather swim under the waves with you, but that's not going to happen now.” His expression turns bleak.

“Why didn't the transformation work for you?” I ask quietly.

“Gene splicing isn't an exact science, and Gillian and Dad were still learning when they worked on me. I'm like their flawed prototype. They managed to give me many of the traits I assume you have. My eyes see amazingly well underwater. My telepathy is strong enough to hear the thoughts of others, across short distances, anyway. But when Gillian injected me with the virus, the gill filaments in my lungs wouldn't activate. I'm lucky that I can still breathe air.”

“You're right about that.” I tell him the story of the boy who suffocated when his lungs didn't transform completely. “So the geneticists in the Project still made mistakes years after our parents worked on you.”

James smiles crookedly. “So, little sis, you're still trying to keep the peace and make me feel better. Some things never change.” Then his smile fades. “You should probably know there's something else that went wrong with me.”

“What?” I ask, getting goose bumps from the seriousness of his tone.

“It has to do with my telepathy. My range is pretty limited, but I can hear every thought in every mind near me. In fact, I can't shut those thoughts out—at all. I don't seem to have the natural ability to shield that most telepaths have, which keeps them from going insane.”

I draw in a breath when I realize what he's saying. “So when you're around people…”

“It gets incredibly painful after a while. That's why I'm better off out here, where there's almost no one to bombard me with their thoughts. There's another twist our parents didn't expect. Remember, Gillian was an incredibly powerful telepath. Somehow they magnified and mutated her abilities in me, and I became a controller.”

I shudder at his words. During the Eugenics Wars, geneticists accidentally produced a handful of telepaths who could implant ideas and control thoughts in others. Those “controllers,” as they came to be known, wreaked havoc until the nations of the world had them all hunted down and killed.

“That's what Mom and I fought about. I kept doing stupid stuff like forcing my teachers to let me skip assignments. Mom was scared someone would figure out what I was doing.”

“Are you sure you're a controller?”

James looks at me steadily, and my nose itches. Then, suddenly, I
have
to scratch it. I raise my hand, and the compulsion disappears.

My mouth goes dry. “Was that you?”

James just nods his head.

“Don't
ever
do that to me again.”

“I swear I won't, but now you see why I have to live out here on my own.”

It would be so tempting to make people do things. “You could end up controlling our whole government, but…maybe you'd be a good leader.”

“But we can't be sure. I might become a power-hungry dictator,” he says with a twisted smile, “and no one could stop me. That's why it's just safer for everyone that I stay away from people.”

“There's got to be some way to switch off your telepathy. You shouldn't have to live out here by yourself forever.” My eyes burn with tears.

“Yeah, maybe if I was willing to let someone perform brain surgery on me, but I'm not that desperate. Believe me, Nere, I can think of a lot worse places to end up. I've always loved these islands.”

“Are you still angry with our parents?”

James sighs and shakes his head. “I was at first. But I know they did their best.”

I stare at him in surprise. “You're not mad that they tried to alter you in the first place?”

“Nere, all I've ever wanted to do is live in the ocean,” he admits, his gray gaze tormented. “Now the best I can do is live on it and dive in it every day.”

Why did I end up with the life my brother desperately wanted? “I'd trade places with you in a heartbeat if I could.”

“You're crazy.” James shakes his head. “Down there, you can live free of the Western Collective, the Marine Guard, and all the wars, famines, and diseases humans keep inflicting on themselves. You can build something better, and someday you might even find a way to help the sea or save the whole planet.”

“Right now we're having a hard enough time just staying alive.” Quickly I tell him everything that's happened to us since we left land.

“There's been a Marine Guard vessel anchored at Diablo Cove for a week now,” he warns me.

“We know. Mariah and the rest of the pod have been keeping an eye on it for us.”

“How is the old girl?”

“She's still going strong, and very proud of Tisi, her latest calf. But she misses Gillian.”

I'm starting to get short of breath. I'm about to tell James that I need to duck under the water when Dai's mental shout breaks in on my thoughts.

:NERE, Penn's missing! And so is one of the mines.:


:Someone's got to stop him. If he sinks the
Defender
he's going to bring every Marine Guard vessel within fifty miles down on us!:


:I know. Ton and I are on our way, but if we don't catch that sponge-brain, we're going to need to leave the Channel Islands fast. Kyel wants you back down here right away.:


:I'm coming. And Dai, be careful.:


:There you go, worrying about me again.:


:Don't be so full of yourself. I just want someone else around who can tell a mako from a great white.:


I break off the contact to tell James what's happening. His eyes widen as I talk.

“That idiot's brought you and me a world of hurt,” James says angrily. “I need to get the
Kestrel
back to the cove where I usually hide her. I'm toast if I don't make it there in time. The Marine Guard will seize and sink her in a heartbeat when they realize she's not properly registered.”

“I'm sorry.”

“I'm sorry, too. I don't want to leave you, but the
Kestrel
is how I survive out here. Listen, Nere, we've got to talk more about the Neptune Project. I'm not sure Gillian told you everything. Before you go swimming off to find Dad, there's more you need to know.”

“Okay, I have to go now, but I promise that I'll come back up here as soon as we're ready to leave. And maybe this is all a false alarm.” Although in my heart, I know it isn't.

“Hurry. I can't afford to lose more than a few minutes.”

I want to give James another hug, but he's already scrambling up the stern ladder on his sailboat. Fighting back tears, I dive under the water and head down to the
Alicante.
There, I find everyone is hurriedly packing up gear and getting ready to leave. I do the same, although I don't have much to pack except my hammock.

After I'm organized and ready to head up to see James again, Kyel calls me. I find him in the wheelhouse poring over charts. I'm surprised when he looks relieved to see me.

:I wanted to ask your opinion on our best route out of these islands,:
he says.
:I read topo maps back in the mountains all the time, but I don't want to risk our lives by misreading these.:


Studying the charts, I realize it probably wasn't easy for Kyel to admit he needed help.
:We're too apt to run into rescue vessels if we head directly west,:
I tell him.
:We'll still have plenty of sea room to dodge Marine Guard ships if we head north and then west.:


:North and west it is,:
Kyel says with a nod.
:On our way here from San Diego we averaged twenty miles a day. If your dolphins can find us good currents, I think we can count on covering thirty miles each travel day. Which means we should be able to reach your father's colony in five weeks or so.:


:If we don't run into more trouble,:
I say, thinking of all the dangers we may encounter between here and there.

:If we don't run into more trouble,:
Kyel agrees soberly.
:I'm more worried about what's going to happen to us if Penn sinks that boat. For what it's worth, I think you were right. There are too few of us to mount any sort of effective resistance against the Marine Guard. For now, I've decided that survival should be our primary objective.:


:I'm glad to hear that,:
I say awkwardly, and try not to stare at the red scar on his cheek. I wonder if Kyel will always talk and think like a guerrilla.

I'm just turning away when Dai contacts me.

:Penn's gone and mined the ship,:
he reports with disgust.
:Ton and I almost caught him, but we were too late. The vessel is sinking now, and this moron and I are on our way back to the
Alicante
. Tell Kyel I'm willing to execute him for disobeying the group's orders.:


I think he's kidding, but he's furious enough with Penn that I can't be sure. Quickly, I relay Dai's news and offer to Kyel.

:Tell Dai not to kill him,:
Kyel tells me.
:But we'll have to decide what to do with Penn later if we can get away from here safely.:


:We could head out now and let Dai and Penn catch up to us,:
I suggest to Kyel after I relay his orders. My stomach clenches when I think of the Marine Guard vessels that will probably be converging on Santa Cruz in a few hours.

:No,:
Kyel says firmly.
:We're safer if we travel in a single group, especially at night.:


I want to argue with him, but I can tell from his set expression that his mind is made up.
:We'll have to use the dolphins carefully,:
I say instead.
:They could help us out of a tough spot, but they could also lead the Marine Guard straight to us.:


:We'll be careful, but Nere, I hope I don't need to remind you that humans are more important than dolphins.: