Echo-1 The Whale

40: On the Sea of Ice

I left them behind to see how it would play out. Faye took my hand and led me to the seats behind Abednego. He ignored us and piloted the craft expertly, taking us to the other side of the Banga.

A great deal of air pressure built up inside the scout. With a growing hole in the nose and no vent, it made a kind of strange sounds at high speeds like someone continually blowing into the end of an empty bottle.

I sat down next to Faye.

"Half the sea is drained. Are they hiding in the water ring?" she asked.

I looked at her, then at the nose of the ship. We weren't going underwater anytime soon.

"What of all these passengers?" She projected a schematic of the Banga. "What is in the natural habitats?"

"It's just vegetation. If you stopped the interference I might be able to contact Jonas directly."

"That won't be necessary," she said.

She sat for a moment, her hands folded in her lap with the de rigueur of a princess. She was looking over the Banga. She scrunched up her nose and winced her eyes. The image changed and displayed life forms. Billions of them. It wasn't helping her. There was a great deal of life aboard.

"Why don't you scan for larger life forms?" I suggested.

She shot me a glance and snarled her lip. "Why don't you tell me where they are? Take me to your leader."

I laughed. She didn't understand. How could I explain that?

She was sad, angry, scared even. Her sisters were dead. Her ship crippled. Even the diamond scout I had given her was rendered useless. She was grasping at straws wanting to see Jonas. They failed to take the control room and wouldn't get a second chance. Manipulating Jonas was her only hope. I raised my hand and pointed to the large suite of empty storage in the back of the ship.

She increased her scan. No life forms.

"Why aren't you telling me?" She looked at me with a cross, almost pouty expression.

She looked beautiful. My heart sunk in my chest.

"They're there." I pointed again to the empty storage space. "It's cold, frozen. The ice is probably masking the life forms. We can get in through the cave's entrance here." I pointed a third time.

She passed the image to Abednego and he altered course and increased the speed.

"We'd be better off taking a land vehicle."

She wasn't interested in my travel suggestions. Faye slid closer to me and touched my side.

"I feel I can trust you, but you have some resistance to me. Why?"

I wanted to let her all the way in. "I don't trust you. You play havoc with the world. I think you're using me. I know what you are."

She looked surprised and a little bit hurt. For a second she flashed her true shape. A dark purple squid ink-filled tentacled slimy creature with protruding eyes and a hard sharp bone-colored beak. She instantly turned back into a beautiful woman. Honestly, I didn't care if she was a squid or cuttlefish or a giraffe. I loved her anyway. I'd do whatever she wanted and I wouldn't betray her. I was helpless and it made me happy. I'd never been filled with so much emotion caused by any one person before.

"How does Abednego see you?" I asked.

She smiled and turned, for a brief second, into a fabulous golden-haired she-wolf; the wolf mother. Even in that form, she had such a softness in her eyes. She was irresistible.