"What's happening?" Norman said.
"We're a thousand feet down," Beth said. "It takes a while for the balloon to get to the surface."
Then the screen changed, and they got a readout of surface conditions. Wind was down to fifteen knots. Waves were running six feet. Barometric pressure was 20.9. Sunlight was recorded.
"Good news," Beth said. "The surface is okay."
Norman was staring at the screen, thinking about the fact that sunlight was recorded. He had never longed for sunlight before. It was funny, what you took for granted. Now the thought of seeing sunlight struck him as unbelievably pleasurable. He could imagine no greater joy than to see sun and clouds, and blue sky.
"What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking I can't wait to get out of here."
"Me, too," Beth said. "But it won't be long now."
Pong! pong! pong! pong!
Norman was checking Harry, and he spun at the sound. "What is it, Beth?"
Pong! pong! pong! pong!
"Take it easy," Beth said, at the console. "I'm just figuring out how to work this thing."
Pong! pong! pong! pong!
"Work what?"
"The side-scanning sonar. False-aperture sonar. I don't know why they call it 'false-aperture.' Do you know what that refers to, 'false-aperture'?"
Pong! pong! pong! pong!
"No, I don't," Norman said. "Turn it off, please." The sound was unnerving.
"It's marked 'FAS,' which I think stands for 'false-aperture sonar,' but it also says 'side- scanning.' It's very confusing."
"Beth, turn it off!"
Pong! pong! pong! pong!
"Sure, of course," Beth said.
"Why do you want to know how to work that, anyway?" Norman said. He felt irritable, as if she'd intentionally annoyed him with that sound.
"Just in case," Beth said.
"In case what, for Christ's sake? You said yourself that Harry's unconscious. There aren't going to be any more attacks."
"Take it easy, Norman," Beth said. "I want to be prepared, that's all."
0720 HOURS
He couldn't talk her out of it. She insisted on going outside and wiring the explosives around the ship. It was an absolutely fixed idea in her mind.
"But why, Beth?" he kept saying.
"Because I'll feel better after I do it," she said.
"But there isn't any reason to do it."
"I'll feel better if I do," she insisted, and in the end he couldn't stop her.
He saw her now, a small figure with a single glowing light from her helmet, moving from one crate of explosives to another. She opened each crate and removed large yellow cones which looked rather like the cones that highway repair trucks used. These cones were wired together, and when the wiring was completed a small red light glowed at the tip.
He saw small red lights all up and down the length of the ship. It made him uneasy.
When she left, he had said to her, "But you won't wire up the explosives near the habitat."
"No, Norman. I won't."
"Promise me."
"I told you, I won't. If it's going to upset you, I won't."
"It's going to upset me."
"Okay, okay."
Now the red lights were strung along the length of the ship, starting at the dimly visible tail, which rose out of the coral bottom. Beth moved farther north, toward the rest of the unopened crates.
Norman looked at Harry, who snored loudly but who remained unconscious. He paced back and forth in D Cyl, and then went to the monitors.
The screen blinked.
I AM COMING.
Oh God, he thought. And in the next moment he thought, How can this be happening? It can't be happening. Harry was still out cold. How could it be happening?
I AM COMING FOR YOU.
"Beth!"
Her voice sounded tinny on the intercom.
"Yes, Norman."
"Get the hell out of there."
DO NOT BE AFRAID
, the screen said.
"What is it, Norman?" she said.
"I'm getting something on the screen."
"Check Harry. He must be waking up."
"He's not. Get back here, Beth."
I AM COMING NOW.
"All right, Norman, I'm heading back," she said.
"Fast, Beth."
But he didn't need to say that; already he could see her light bouncing as she ran across the bottom. She was at least a hundred yards from the habitat. He heard her breathing hard on the intercom.
"Can you see anything, Norman?"
"No, nothing." He was straining to look toward the horizon, where the squid had always appeared. The first thing had always been a green glow on the horizon. But he saw no glow now.
Beth was panting.
"I can feel something, Norman. I feel the water ... surging ... strong. ..."
The screen flashed:
I WILL KILL YOU.
"Don't you see anything out here?" Beth said.
"No. I don't see anything at all." He saw Beth, alone on the muddy bottom. Her light the solitary focus of his attention.
"I can feel it, Norman. It's close. Jesus God. What about the alarms?"
"Nothing, Beth."
"Jesus." Her breath came in hissing gasps as she ran. Beth was in good shape, but she couldn't exert herself like that in this atmosphere. Not for long, he thought. Already he could see she was moving more slowly, the helmet lamp bobbing more slowly.
"Norman?"
"Yes, Beth. I'm here."
"Norman, I don't know if I can make it."
"Beth, you can make it. Slow down."
"It's here, I can feel it."