Ophelia shakes her head. ‘No, Ana. The school was trying to protect itself.’
‘And you went along with it.’
Gem clears his throat, a subtle warning that my tone is getting aggressive. I’m not sure why I’m so angry at Luca and Ophelia. I barely know them. They’ve been kind to us so far, aside from the threats of annihilation.
With a sigh, Luca dips a biscotto in his espresso. ‘Ana, when your parents died … Ophelia and I were here with them. We were part of their team.’
I look down at my own coffee and cookie. I want to smash the biscotto into a million pieces, but I’m pretty sure Jupiter baked it from scratch and I don’t want to offend the orangutan.
‘What happened?’ I manage to ask.
Luca’s jaw muscles ripple under his dark skin. ‘The truth? We are still not sure. We should have been more careful. You understand, after four generations of Dakkars searching, your father finally found this place. Your mother and he were determined to move forward.’
‘You mean to explore the wreck of the sub,’ I say.
Luca hesitates long enough for the coffee to soak halfway up his biscotto. ‘We tried to urge caution. Ophelia did, mostly … But this was like telling someone who had just found the Holy Grail not to drink from it. Your parents were sure they could handle the dive. And after … after the accident …’
Luca lowers his head.
Nelinha understands before I do. ‘You blame yourselves,’ she says. ‘You were friends.’
Ophelia puts her hand on her husband’s shoulder. ‘The four of us graduated together from Harding-Pencroft.’ She turns to me. ‘When Tarun and Sita died, some of the faculty at HP wanted to bring you and your brother here immediately … for safekeeping. Theodosius Hewett was one of those.’
‘We did not agree,’ Luca says. ‘We thought it was too dangerous. It is still too dangerous. We wished you both to have more training, more years of life on the mainland before you had to face the legacy of Nemo. We didn’t think Land Institute would ever risk such a brazen attack and put you and Dev at risk. You were simply too important. But now that your brother …’ Luca’s voice cracks. ‘It seems we were wrong. I am so sorry.’
My head buzzes, and it’s not just from the caffeine.
I try to imagine what it would have been like if Dev and I had spent the last two years on this island. I never would have met Nelinha or Ester. I wouldn’t be a Dolphin prefect. I would’ve had more time with Dev, but we would have spent it in this subterranean base, in the middle of nowhere, where our parents died.
I can’t blame Luca and Ophelia for not wanting that. Still, a fist-size lump of anger burns in my chest. Dev and I weren’t given the choice. If this base is our family’s inheritance, if the alt-tech is ours, what right did Harding-Pencroft have to hide it from us? Why do they get to control our lives?
I remember what Caleb South said about Harding-Pencroft keeping secrets: How many world problems could you cowards have solved if you just shared?
I wonder if Caleb had a point. Is Harding-Pencroft really so much better than Land Institute?
Ophelia seems to read my thoughts. ‘You have no reason to trust us, but we will trust you, Ana. You are the last Dakkar. Theodosius clearly thought you were capable, and you did manage to bring your crew safely to Lincoln Base.’
Luca gives his wife a troubled glance. ‘Are you suggesting …？’
‘Yes,’ Ophelia says. ‘We will show Ana everything. Let her decide.’
Gem’s chair creaks as he sits forward. ‘What exactly is everything?’
He does a pretty good job keeping the excitement out of his voice. Still, like any good Shark, he is probably dreaming of shiny new weapons.
Ophelia’s gaze stays on me. ‘You understand that the alt-tech devices you have seen so far – the Leyden guns, the dynamic camouflage – are only pale imitations of Nemo’s technology. Over the last century and a half, both HP and Land Institute have tried to re-create what Nemo did. We’ve had a few other successes: the microwave, fibre-optics, lasers, nuclear fission.’
‘The microwave?’ Nelinha looks stunned. I can’t imagine her surviving without the microwave oven in our rec room at HP. She does love her popcorn.
Ophelia musters a faint smile. ‘Yes. One of Nemo’s less dangerous inventions. By the late 1940s, we felt it was safe to leak that technology to the general public.’
‘Hold on,’ Gem says. ‘Nuclear fission? You’re telling us Captain Nemo had atomic bombs?’