“I can see why the Baobab-thing might excrete chemicals that kill off the surrounding microbial life—but how would it stop the action of pressure and salt?”
“That’s the mystery.”
Silence fell. They remained at the railing. Alex was so close to him her arm was brushing his. She had turned her head toward him, and he in turn swiveled to look at her. Their faces were very close. He resisted the impulse to lean in and kiss her.
Instead, she kissed him. Her lips were soft and warm. The kiss lingered for a long, slow moment, and then her lips parted and their tongues touched. He reached up and stroked her hair, pulling her toward him in a deep, long embrace.
She withdrew, smiling. Gideon was so out of breath he couldn’t speak.
He leaned in to kiss her again but she stopped him with her finger. “Not where we might be seen.”
“Right.” He wondered where this was going; why she’d changed her mind about shipboard romances. He knew this was probably not a good idea for either of them, but at the moment he really, truly didn’t care.
“We haven’t done any magic tricks together,” she said in a low voice.
“I’m not sure I can teach you anything.”
“Oh, I don’t know. There are always new tricks.” She paused. “Do you still have that bottle of Veuve Clicquot?”
“I’ve been saving it.”
She took his arm. “Let’s go enjoy it.”
He looked at her a long time. He couldn’t believe this was happening. “All right.”
They walked back into the Batavia’s interior, arm in arm. It was almost midnight and most of the ship, except for the bridge and the night watch, had gone to bed. Down through the corridors and passageways they walked, and into his stateroom. To his relief they met nobody along the way.
He closed the door behind them with his foot. Silently they came together and kissed again. She began unbuttoning his shirt, slowly, and he did the same with her blouse. He resisted the impulse to tear off all her clothes.
She pulled the shirt over his head and ran her fingernails lightly along his chest. “Mmm, I like this.”
He tossed her blouse aside, unhooked her bra, and released her breasts, cupping them in his hands. He lightly ran his fingers around her nipples, feeling them stiffen at his touch. He could hear her breath quicken.
Her hand crept down his stomach and slid under his belt buckle. “Want to teach me some magic?”
“Yes,” was all he could manage to say.
They made love slow, deep, and hard.
Afterward, he lay collapsed on top of her, kissing her lazily. Then he propped himself up, looking down at her lips, her nose, her hair disheveled over the pillow, her eyes looking into his.
“We forgot the champagne,” she said.
“It’s still there, waiting for us.”
They looked at each other for a long time. “What about your…you know, rule about no romance on board ship?” Gideon asked at last.
“Oh, well.” She shrugged. “I just couldn’t stop myself.”
“You mean, this isn’t just a moment of weakness, never to be repeated?”
“I’ve been thinking about doing this for thirty-two days,” she said. “I’m afraid I’m hooked. There’s no going back now.”
“For thirty-two days? I had no idea.”
“Come on! All those backgammon games? All the time we spent together? You men just don’t have a clue, do you?”
“But why now?”
“It was when you went down alone this morning—insisted on it, said there was no point in arguing, told me to fuck off. It sure made me mad, but oddly enough it also made you irresistible. I didn’t expect you to be so…forceful. Knowing how afraid you are of the deep.”
He shook his head. “It was Eli’s idea, to be honest.”
“Well, he admitted that when I escalated the issue, complained to him. But you did it.”
A silence. “So…is this…for real?”
“I hope so.”
“Are we going to hide it?”
She laughed. “On board ship? Impossible. But as long as we’re discreet, I doubt anyone will object.”
“Eli might.”
“Are you kidding? With all his psychological profiling, I imagine he expected this. Maybe he even engineered it to happen, which is why he suggested you lead the recon. He’s the world’s most skillful manipulator. But in this case it was a good manipulation.”
“Speaking of manipulation…” He looked down at her naked body, still unable to believe what had just happened; how suddenly his fortunes had changed.
“Uh-oh,” she said. “Is something happening down there again—so soon?”
14
THREE DSVS HAD been removed from the hangar deck and now rested on the fantail, casting long shadows in the golden light of morning. Gideon arrived a few minutes before the scheduled briefing, cup of coffee in hand, pleasantly exhausted by the long night of lovemaking. Alex was already there, dressed in a sleek black leotard-like outfit, as if channeling The Avengers’ Emma Peel. She looked well rested—intimidatingly so, he thought, all things considered. Manuel Garza had arrived as well and was chatting with Alex. To Gideon’s surprise, he appeared to be dressed for a dive.
“Hello, Gideon,” said Garza, offering his hand.
Gideon took it. He thought Garza looked a little nervous, but maybe that was wishful thinking. “So you’re piloting a DSV, too?”
“Assigned to George. You’re going down in John.”
“And I’m in Paul,” said Alex, sauntering over.
Gideon tried to maintain a nonchalant look and avoid staring. He glanced around at the others in view: a few DSV techs and the ship’s second engineer, Greg Masterson, a powerfully built man who was on hand to look over the DSVs’ engines and give the dive a green light. Did they know? But there weren’t any knowing glances; just an air of professional gravity.
“Coffee before a dive?” Alex asked, arching her eyebrows. “That’s brave.”
“How so?”
“Coffee’s a diuretic.”
Gideon hadn’t thought of that—although he had already been down twice. “Um, what happens if you have to pee?”
“In your pants.”
Gideon set his coffee cup aside.
A deck door opened and Glinn emerged, limping ever so slightly, carrying an iPad and blinking in the bright sunlight. He clasped his hands behind his back and bestowed on them a cool smile of welcome.
“Nice day for a dive,” he said. “We’ve been lucky in the weather.”
Nods of agreement.
“You’ve all studied the mission plan, but I’m going to run through the main points briefly and see if there are any questions.”
He paused. Gideon glanced surreptitiously at Alex. Her eyes were on Glinn. With an effort, he turned back to the briefing.
“First, a word about communications. Unlike yesterday, all of you will be in communication with mission control via your UQC underwater phones. The UQC is an acoustical modem that operates at a speed of twelve hundred baud maximum—very slow. It can carry voice communications and minimal data, but almost all the heavy data has to be archived for downloading once you surface. We’ll deploy special sonobuoys above where you’re working to pick up the signals and relay them to mission control. But because of the minuscule throughput, there will be a time delay before we’ll actually be able to view them on the surface. Also, because these are acoustical signals, they’re easily blocked. Gideon, when you’re inside the Rolvaag, your communications will be temporarily cut off—not just from mission control, but from the other DSVs.”