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Avata inforh the esoteric syes which often can be translated only by the dreamer, not by Avata
- Kerro Panille, History of the Avata
THERE’S NO reason to panic yet, Waela told herself
Others subs had lost their LTAs and survived The drill was spelled out by those experiences
Still, she found herself tre uncontrollably, her memory focused on her escape fro
I escaped before I’m a survivor Ship, save us!
Save yourself That was the unmistakable voice of her own Honesty Certainly She kne to do it She had taught the procedure to Thomas by repeated drill And Panille appeared to be a cool one No panic there He atching the screens, esti theht down
"There has to be a vertical current in this lagoon," Panille said, as though answering her thought "See how the fabric has draped itself over us"
Tho all around the sub to enclose thee curtain which cut off their view of the kelp
There’s no way the LTA could have been brought down by lightning, he thought The bag was grounded to its anchor cable It was co half the coht it down There still would have been enough lift to take off the stripped-down gondola
Somebody doesn’t want us back
"I think we could begin cutting away the fabric now," Panille said He touched Tho fixedly at the screens
"Ye yes Thank you"
Thomas lifted the nose of the sub then and extruded the cutters Whiplike arc burners, they slipped froan their work The plaz doht froe curtain part and drift down, stirring up a fog of sediment
"Do you want me to do it?" Waela asked
He shook his head abruptly, realizing that she too must have noted his funk "No I can handle it"
The procedure was direct: release the slip-tackle which linked them to the anchor cable, fire the blast bolts which freed the coondola to the surface Once on the surface, the gondola would stabilize automatically They could fire their radiosonde then and set their locator beacon Fro out the arrival of a relief LTA
The sense of failure was large in Thoan the escape procedure They had barely started the coood one
The kelp could’ve answered
They all felt the jolt of the blast bolts The gondola began to lift fro out of it like a pearl froht
As they lifted, the kelp lights once h the open areas of the plaz walls
Waela stared out at the winking lights They pulsed and glowed in spase of awareness
Where have I seen that before?
It was so fa at he
Where? I was only down in th
The
"This is just like the other tihts were very much like that"
"Are you sure?" Thomas asked
"I’ and opening a way to the surface for hters are born in the sea," Panille said "Maybe they think we’re a hylighter"
"It ht: Is that ere supposed to see, Ship?
There was a certain elegant sense in the idea Colony had copied the hylighters to give the LTAs free access to Pandora’s skies Hylighters did not attack an LTA Perhaps the kelp could be fooled in the saation There were ht noever Suspecting sabotage, he had to share that suspicion with his teaht down that LTA," he said
Panille turned frohts of the kelp
"Sabotage," Thouments
"You don’t really believe that!" Waela protested
Tho cables of kelp The gondola was alically active zone near the surface
"You don’t," she insisted
"I do"
He thought back through his conversation with Oakes Had the e device? He certainly had done nothing discernible But there had been discrepancies in his responses - lapses
Panille stared out through the gondola’s plaz walls at the enclosing cage of kelp Illuht expanded and expanded as they entered sun-washed waters Swi creatures darted out of their path and circled close Dazzling rays of light shot through the enclosing kelp barrier The flickering nodules diondola broke free on the surface
Thoan to bob and turn in the currents of the lagoon, rising and settling on a loell The sky overhead was cloudless but a hters could be seen doind
A sea anchor popped froe below them, spread its funnel shape and snubbed the capsule around The plaz-filtered light of both suns filled the gondola with brilliant reflections
Panille exhaled a long sigh, realized he had been holding his breath to see if they really had stabilized on the surface
Sabotage?
Waela, too, thought about Tho! A few re drifted in the kelp leaves around the doind edge of the lagoon It was all consistent with a lightning strike
In a cloudless sky?
Honesty would have to focus on the big discrepancy!
The hylighters, then?
Hylighters do not attack LTAs You know that
Tho key There was a popping sound overhead and a red glow arced over thee sone and hipped toward theacross the doind horizon
They all saw the kelp leaves twist and lift in agitation where the radiosonde had gone
Thomas nodded to himself A faulty radiosonde
Waela freed herself from her seat restraints and reached for the release handle to the top hatch, but Panille grabbed her arm "No! Wait"
"What?" She twisted free of him
It ehtside She found her skin glowing a hot and velvety purple which she was unable to control
"He’s right," Tho yet"
Thoondola’s toolkit and re the cover to the hatchsound and fell to the deck below They all saw the odd green package nested in the controls where it would be crushed by a lever when the hatch was undogged and opened Thoreen package He handled it gently
Very a which his Voidship crew had undergone in detecting and defusing dangerous devices Ship did ood training and necessary There had been no telling how a rogue Voidship ht attack its uue Voidship of e which he had seen thus far did not feel like Ship It reeked of Oake or Lewis
"What’s that package?" Waela asked
"My guess is it’s a poison vapor set to start fu the hatch," Tho gondola, Thoe aside and returned his attention to the hatch controls The systeerly, he undogged the hatch, folded down the screw handle and began turning it The hatch lifted to expose the ri plaz
When he had the hatch fully open, Thoe in one hand, clie doind When it touched the water, liht by the wind and blown across the kelp-covered waves The surface leaves writhed away fro as he watched
Waela clutched a stanchion for support and put one hand across her mouth
"Who?"
"Oakes," Thomas said