(Abigail's POV)
I sat up the next morning and realized just how much better my sleep had been in my luxurious bed in my quarters, as contrasted with the hard prison cot. My pleasure soon vanished though, as two unpleasant thoughts crossed my mind.
First, I realized that I was beginning the eighteenth day of my separation from Baird. I wiped a tear from my eye as I realized how much I missed hearing him rattle on and on about the newest chapter in one of his projects, or endlessly complimenting me on my awful performances in some of my earlier movies. Baird wasn't at all the dream man most girls desired, but he checked all my boxes.
Or, most of them, I mused.
When my mind moved on from Baird, I realized how much of a contrast there must've been between my restful sleep in this comfortable bed, and Wendy's night, still on that prison cot. If only I had any good ideas for how I could get her out of there. Unlike my new blonde friend, my strengths didn't lie in the physical realm at all. But could I outsmart Pietrovo and the guards? Possibly, but unlikely.
I suppose my...feminine charms could be used as a weapon of sorts against them, but then again, that would make me super uncomfortable, and could easily go wrong. The men around here would certainly take it way too far. Baird certainly wouldn't be proud of me, either.
Then my idea hit me.
The man who'd directed The Clumsy Gang was the type of director who wanted to make everything as realistic as possible, despite the fantastical nature of the cast themselves. That being so, I'd had to learn actual lock-picking for my role in a certain heist scene where the police had to draw the criminals in by pretending to be on their side. At any rate, some more rehearsal for A Brighter Path had been scheduled in an hour, and I was sure the hairdresser would have plenty of bobby pins and such I could swipe.
The only other difficulty was getting the guards away, as my real-life fighting skills were abysmal. Only knowing Baird would've taught you that word, I told myself, the thought somehow comforting and saddening.
Anyhow, I thought as I stepped into my bathroom and prepared to take a shower, I'll have to play all this by ear, but as long as I've got an outline of a plan, the details can practically fill themselves out.
********************
(Baird's POV)
It was 9 in the morning when Aaron slowed the Sand Dollar to a stop over the raging waters below. The moment had finally come for us to plunge into the depths and enter Unterstat. As before, he summoned us all to the cockpit.
When we had all arrived, he gave us each a reassuring grin. Actually, Jedrek was left out of the encouragement, even Sila being offered a smile instead of him. "Well guys," he began, "this is it. We've got two detachable submarine pods on the bottom of the vessel. They've got four seats each, so we need to decide how to divide that up, first."
I did some quick mental math. "That means one pod will have four inside, and the other will have three."
"I don't care who I'm with, as long as this abomination doesn't share a pod with me." Keira declared, jerking a thumb at Jedrek and purposefully jabbing his shoulder in the process.
Aaron nodded. "That sounds reasonable. I'll keep an eye on him, so Urban, you're coming with me."
Jedrek muttered something I believe was affirmative, but in the end, I didn't fully hear. At any rate, resignedly or not, his spot had been decided for him.
"Master." Sila said mechanically, drawing a raised eyebrow from me.
Aaron grinned at his robot. "Yeah, of course you're coming with me, Sila! I need some positive company!"
"Speakin' of positive company," Hannah began with a smile, "Why dont'cha count me in?"
"Sounds good to me, if you guys wouldn't miss her too much." Aaron replied, glancing over Keira, Khemera, and I.
"No, that's perfectly fine." I remarked.
"Alright then." Aaron said, stepping toward the door of the cockpit. "The controls are pretty simple and self-explanatory. The person in the front on the left side controls movement and other navigation, while the person on the right controls any auxiliary function, like weapons, sonar, and radar scans."
I made a thumbs-up. "Sounds good. You'll lead the way, I assume?"
Aaron nodded. "That's probably best, yes. Let's get moving."
Sila stepped over to one of the control panels and flipped a switch, causing the Sand Dollar to slowly descend until it was hovering just above the water, according to a view screen on the wall. Then we followed Aaron out the door.
We traversed several of the familiar hallways, until we came to a foreign ladder, which we all descended in turn. Anticipation was rising in my chest, along with my accelerating heartbeat, but I was feeling confident.
We came to a two-way fork in the path, where we split into our previously-determined groups. Our footsteps echoed loudly in the metallic corridor, but somehow, the sound was oddly therapeutic. Finally, we reached the end of the hall, where a pair of switches were mounted over a circular hatch in the floor.
Keira flipped the first switch, which opened the hatch, revealing a three-foot cylindrical tube that ended in yet another hatch. When she flipped the second switch, that hatch opened as well. She nodded at Khemera and I, cueing us to hop down one at a time.
Keira stumbled upon her landing and used me for support before letting go and flipping a matching pair of switches on the pod's wall. The two hatches closed above us, and the interior of the vessel darkened.
"I'll take the wheel." I declared, though I was entirely unsure why I'd taken that initiative, given my lack of knowledge of the operation of Aaron's technology.
Keira nodded nonetheless. "Okay! I'll be your copilot, then."
"Sounds like a plan."
Khemera chuckled. "You two are wise to keep this old man out of the high-tech stuff."
I laughed as well, while I threaded my way around the back seats and into the pilot's chair. "What can I say? Your wisdom is contagious, Khemera." I remarked humorously. Ever since our stop in Kemaria, I'd begun to have much warmer feelings toward my companions, which was quite enjoyable.
Keira smirked, her eyes darting between Khemera and myself before she slipped into the copilot's seat.
I sighed as I dropped down into the pilot's chair. "So...I'm assuming since this switch is in the same spot as a car's ignition key...it does the same thing?"
Keira nodded. "Yeah! Like Aaron said, this thing's pretty intuitive. Press the blue button beside the switch first, though. That'll unlatch us from the Sand Dollar. It's best if you flip the switch once we're fully submerged."
I nodded. "That would make sense."
I inhaled and pressed the button she had indicated. I heard some clicks behind us, and then we lurched downward, splashing into the water seconds later. I flipped the switch, and the engine roared to life, in sync with the headlights. I glanced to my right and pleasantly realized that Aaron's pod had just entered the water as well and had undergone the same motions.
As we slowly moved forward, I beheld the beautiful sights of the underwater ecosystem we'd suddenly entered. In the distance, as far as my eye could see, the black outline of an underwater city astonished me, with high and low points together forming one aesthetically pleasing whole.
My eyes were snatched back to our more immediate surroundings when a school of thirty sharks sped by the front of our pod. I shivered at the fearsome sight of them. They were grey in color, the dull hue broken up here and there by black speckles. When they opened their mouths, a scarlet color flashed out at me, causing me some uncertainty whether the natural color of their palates had just been revealed to me, or if they had recently devoured some hapless creature.
Keira shivered as one of the sharks glanced sharply at our pod and altered its course to investigate us. I joined her in the frightful motion as he got closer and closer.
Khemera reached between us and flipped a switch, turning the headlights off, and confusing the carnivorous creature. It spun to rejoin its companions, and I was finally allowed to breathe freely.
"If you didn't notice," Khemera remarked calmly, "that thing had far too small a mouth to bite around our pod anyway, so your fear was almost entirely unwarranted."
"I guess you're right." I conceded, pushing the speed throttle a little bit once the sharks passed.
A large shadow then passed over us, obstructing the shimmering light from above. As it came closer to the front of our vessel, I realized it was a baleen whale of massive proportions. Its size was so large, in fact, that despite its peaceful manner, the sharks hurried along in the opposite direction, apparently feeling threatened themselves.
Soon enough, the whale had also exited our view, and Aaron led the way at a slightly accelerated speed. We cruised past several varieties of pretty fish and other creatures as we went, and it made the experience all the more enjoyable. First, we passed a school of beautiful clownfish, who darted into a sea anemone as we sped by. Then, a reddish brown squid darted out of a hole in the shallow sea floor below and gripped onto the window with a tentacle. I was somewhat startled by the motion, but logic kicked in and I realized his ability to do any harm was limited. It raced away just as quickly as it had come when a tiger shark emerged from a patch of seaweed.
After a minute of somewhat less eventful traveling, another school of fish floated nearby, these ones bearing a pure, white hue and a perfectly circular form. They reminded me of so many snowballs floating through the water. Their apparent innocence was instantly lost to me as they all opened their mouths, unsheathed dagger-like teeth, and dove to attack a massive flounder lying on the sea floor. The water would've reddened from its wounds, but the fish devoured him too quickly for that to become a reality.
Next, a green eel bearing bright yellow stripes, raced through the water and passed close by the side of our pod. It made an abrupt turn upon sighting the ferocious white fish, apparently frightened by their communal, carnivorous presence. Quite cleverly, in my book, it curled its body into a tight coil and transformed its color to match their chalky appearances, tricking them into thinking it was one of their own. With that, the eel slowly, but safely, floated on.
The eel's escape hadn't yet concluded, though, as an octopus lying down in a forest of seaweed noticed the color-changing creature and with an aroused appetite, swam out of its resting place and began pursuit. The eel unfolded itself, turned beige, and plummeted to the sandy floor where it could hide itself. By the time the slow octopus reached the spot, it was unable to find its intended prey.
My attention was snatched away from the colorful aquatic flora and fauna as Aaron's pod doubled speed and darted for a dark cave mouth. Keira raised an eyebrow while I moved to mimic his maneuver. She tilted a microphone to her lips and flipped a yellow switch.
"Hey, Aaron, what'd you see? You look like you're avoiding something." she spoke into the recording device with urgency.
"Suspicious activity on my sonar scan." Aaron's voice crackled over a speaker. "I'm not getting a visual, but it seems there's some kinda cloaked patrol vessel around here somewhere."
"Have you done a heat scan?" Keira inquired.
"I have, but nothing shows up. It might use cold fuel for greater stealth."
"Maybe so. Let's just see where this cavern leads, I guess?"
"Might as well. We can always turn back." Aaron replied.
With that, we followed Aaron's pod through the dark, winding passageway of the cavern. We kept our lights to a minimum, only enough to navigate by. It took us about five minutes to pass through it all, and when we emerged, I gasped. Waiting at the mouth of the cavern floated a trio of strange, rectangular vessels that resembled shields. Two patrol pods also de-cloaked behind us, leaving us trapped, with no way of escape.
********************
A/N: 😱 is the emoji that best sums up how you feel right now, no doubt. I mean, it certainly was how I felt when I wrote the end of that chapter, so I can only hope that carried over into the text itself. 😆
Anyhow, if you enjoyed this chapter, please remember to vote and comment!
Now, that whole submarine sequence, cruising through the water and seeing all the sea life, that was one of the first "set pieces", if you will, that I envisioned for this book. (I mean, go figure, but yeah.) So how'd you like that part?
I feel like these notes are getting shorter and shorter, and I'm entirely unsure whether that's a good thing or not. But at any rate, it's time for our random question of the day: If you could obtain the powers of any one superhero for one day, to somehow solve your life's biggest current problem, which one would you choose?
(Wow, I don't even know. My biggest "problem" currently is unemployment because I don't have a driver's license yet. I'm working on it, but reading fast and retaining fast are completely different things. I'd have to go with someone smart like Batman, because if I remember right, he has mad reading skills, like basically able to read a whole page in a few seconds, and I could use that right now. Plus, he drives his Batmobile pretty well, so that works for me too. 😂)
Well, have a great day! I'll see you tomorrow, hopefully, in our next update!