The Tides That Bind Us [AfroFuturism]

The Last Time

"Okay." Zaharah hit the button to open the line, and only static came through. "Hello? Hurakan are you there?"

No answer.

Her stomach dropped, and she swallowed the bile pooling in her mouth. "Dad? Quelle? Anyone?"

No answer.

What if they... She shook the thought from her mind before it could finish. No, they were fine. Quelle knew what she was doing. She'd get them out. They were probably somewhere out in the water, and they had survival suits.

"Jade and I are all right," she continued. "We washed up near some place called Denden Isle. We're at latitude 23.86 north and longitude 74.58 west. Just... let us know if y'all are okay."

Zaharah leaned back in her seat and let the silence flood in. Her leg shook as she watched the horizon, a line of black water topped with a starry, moonless sky. Were this a normal night, she would've gone up to the deck with her sketchbook and draw under the stars like a sad, starving artist.

She looked away from the smoke to the east. They'd drifted closer to the island, to Denden. The wall of metal stood meters away from them, and shipping containers peeked from the top.

Maybe people too? People who could help? Or loan them a better boat to go back. Or..."I can't take this. We're going back." Zaharah closed the lid and started the propellers again.

"Zaharah, please." Skorpi said. "We need to be smart about this. If there's a third explosion, it could damage the pod and we'll all be in trouble."

"What if they need our help? We need to go..." Her words trailed off when harsh white light cut through the window of the pod. She squinted and put a hand up to block out the harsh light before peering out Jade's window. Up on the metal wall was a robot, a bit like Skorpi if he was a thousand times his size. A spider, or a mantis, she couldn't quite tell with the glare of the light in her eyes. But what she took note of, were the guns mounted on its back.

Zaharah eased the throttle forward and the pod chugged away. Slow, as not to spook the robot. "The fuck is that thing?"

"A military robot. Model CR3-3PR," Skorpi said.

"A creeper? Here?" She had caught glimpses of them when they were in development, but they weren't supposed to be released into service for another six months.

The creeper's gun swivelled to face them, the barrel glaring like a sinister eye. Zaharah's heart leapt into her throat and she shoved the throttle. The vessel shot forward, but not fast enough to avoid getting a few bullet holes in its rear.

"Shit!" Skorpi yelled, his posh accent and manners going out the window. He jumped into Zaharah's lap and crawled into the pocket of her jacket. "Why is it shooting at us?"

"How the fuck should I know?" She glimpsed the rear camera and caught the creeper, crawling along the metal wall, hot on their heels. Another bullet slammed into the back and the pod slowed. Lights flared to life on the console, and a cacophony of beeps filled the carriage.

Damn thing took out one propeller and shot a hole in a battery. She needed to make a power move, or that monster would load them full of lead.

Zaharah pulled back the throttle and cut the power. The pod skipped on the waves before coming to a halt. Water climbed up the glass as they sunk into the Atlantic.

Skorpi popped his head out from her pocket. "What are you doing? If we sink below thirty feet we won't be able to get back up."

"I know." Zaharah said. She held her hand poised and ready to start the pod back up, while keeping her eyes on the pressure and depth monitor. They just needed to play possum long enough to convince the creeper it'd sunk their pod.