Aurora Dawson's Arc

Chapter 4 of 7

At dawn Aurora and Dominic walked back to the ocean beach. The shuttle pilot, Cole Davis, flew low above them and circled once. He kept watch from the air on every exploration run, ready to pull them out if things went wrong. His voice crackled from the radio clipped to Aurora's belt. "Water's flat today. I'll be overhead if you need me." Aurora waved him off. She had no time for caution now. They climbed out to the far rocks and waited. Aurora didn't know how deep the sea creatures dove, or how long, or how they found their way in the dark water. She only knew she wanted to go down with them. The waves slapped the stone. Then the surface broke. A glidefin rose, forty feet long, its dark back gleaming. A clear pod bulged along its spine, big enough for two. The creature turned one eye toward them and held still, waiting. Dominic gripped the rock. "That's our ride," he said. "You sure?" Aurora was already moving. She slid into the pod and Dominic followed. The clear shell sealed above them with a soft hiss. Air stayed trapped inside, dry and cool. The glidefin dove. Water rushed past the shell. Aurora watched the light shrink to a green glow, then to almost nothing. Her heart pounded, but she grinned the whole way down. The creature slowed inside a cave. It surfaced in a pocket of air under a rock ceiling. The pod opened. Aurora and Dominic climbed out onto wet stone. The cave glowed faintly. They walked toward the light, boots sliding on slick rock. On a low ledge sat a jewel the size of a fist. It glowed jade green. Its shape was strange and familiar at once. Aurora stared. "Dom," she said. "That's the ocean. The shape of it from above." She had seen the coastline from the shuttle. The jewel matched it, curve for curve. She reached for it. The air shifted. A shape formed above the ledge, pale and shimmering, half there and half not. A voice spoke inside her head, without sound. *You came far to touch this.* Aurora froze, hand still out. Dominic stepped back. "Did you hear that?" he whispered. "In your head?" Aurora nodded slowly. The shape hung between them and the jewel. Aurora couldn't tell if it meant to help or to stop them. Its glow pulsed once. *Why do you want what belongs to the deep?* the voice asked. It was not angry. It was not kind. It simply waited. Aurora lowered her hand. She met the shimmer where its eyes might be. "I want to understand this place," she said out loud. The entity pulsed again, brighter. It did not vanish. It did not let her pass. Whatever it was, it now knew her face, and it had a question she could not yet answer.