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She sat back, folded her ar shape that was barely visible at the edge of the searchlight beam

“Might be a fish or whale,” she said, “but soht”

Austin asked the operator to enlarge the ie It broke apart as it was blown up, but Austin nonetheless detected a vague e, and to play back the final transmission from the bathysphere

The operator ran off a printout, then reduced the shadow iht-hand corner of the screen, which now displayed a picture of Kane He was rattling off an excited description of the lu around the bathysphere when suddenly he stopped short and pressed his face against the

“What was that?” Kane said

The voice-activated camera switched to Zavala

“You see a mermaid, Doc?”

Back to Kane

“I’!”

Austin snatched up the printout and headed for the aft deck The big double doors on the garage ide open, and the Hardsuit had been wheeled out under the crane that would lift it off the deck

Austin showed Gannon the ROV printout

“This object was nosing around the B3 when both cables were cut,” he said

The captain shook his head “What is that thing?”

“Got lanced at his watch “What I do know is that the B3 will soon run short of power and air”

“We’ll be ready in a few minutes,” the captain said “Did you contact the Navy?”