‘I see nothing,’ he announces.
‘Check again,’ Ophelia says. ‘Set the LOCUS to maximum radius.’
‘Of course I have set the LOCUS to …’ Luca falters. He adjusts a dial on the control console. ‘There. I have set the LOCUS to maximum radius. Still nothing.’
‘We’re in the middle of a mountain,’ Gem says. ‘That’s got to affect the Nautilus’s sensors.’
Luca smiles thinly. ‘Not as much as you might think. Even through hundreds of metres of solid rock, these instruments are still more sensitive than anything else in the base.’
‘But if the Aronnax has dynamic camouflage,’ I say, ‘which it probably does –’
‘We should see thermal variations, nevertheless.’ Ophelia frowns. ‘But perhaps not until it gets closer. Too close. Tia, are the drones online yet? You should be able to check with the nav console.’
‘Uh …’ Tia fiddles with a few knobs. She spins the LOCUS sphere. Even for a brilliant Cephalopod, it takes a few seconds to learn a new interface. ‘I don’t … Wait.’
She hits a toggle. A swarm of purple dots appears on the holosphere. ‘Yeah. They’re fanning out in a search perimeter. But, if the Aronnax is out there, won’t the drones give away our position?’
‘If the Aronnax is out there,’ Luca says grimly, ‘they already know we’re here, and we have much bigger problems.’
I clench my fists. I hate the idea that we might have led our enemies to this sanctuary. ‘How could they have tracked us? We swept the Varuna. We were camouflaged and silent. We did everything Dr Hewett told us …’
Even as I say that, my conviction evaporates. Hewett could’ve been working for Land Institute after all and set us up to fail. Or maybe somebody else on board was the traitor, and they sent a communication we didn’t detect. Just thinking about it makes me nauseated.
‘We can’t know,’ Luca says. ‘Clearly, LI has managed to keep a lot of their advances secret. Theodosius warned us of his designs for the Aronnax when he first came to HP. He claimed his sub would rival the Nautilus, but he didn’t believe LI would actually be able to build it for at least another decade or two. If they’ve done it so quickly, without us even being aware …’
Gem shoulders his collection of rifles. ‘But Lincoln Base is well defended, right? We saw the turrets on the way in.’
‘We have defences, yes,’ Ophelia says. ‘We can fend off almost anything a regular navy could throw at us. But we can’t be sure what the Aronnax’s capabilities are. We have to assume the worst.’
Franklin laces his fingers nervously. The blue streak in his hair has turned violet in the glow of the bridge lights. ‘We saw what the Aronnax did to HP. What happens if one of those warheads hits this island?’
‘Wait,’ Tia says. ‘Drones six and seven just went dark.’
Ophelia hurries to her side. ‘Did you try rerouting –？’
‘Yeah. Sending drones five and eight to sweep that grid … Now they’ve gone dark, too.’
‘EMP weapon, maybe?’ Gem asks.
‘Perhaps,’ Luca says. ‘Four drones malfunctioning at once is unlikely. Something in that grid does not wish to be seen.’
‘Relative location?’ I ask.
‘Roughly three kilometres north by northwest,’ Tia reports.
‘That gives us minutes at best,’ Ophelia says.
She and Luca lock eyes. They seem to come to a silent agreement.
‘Ana,’ Luca says, ‘you have to take the Nautilus away from here, out to open sea. She cannot fall into LI’s possession.’
Gem steps back as if pushed. ‘Hold on. We don’t even know if the sub will move.’
‘You were just lecturing us on taking things slowly!’ Franklin agrees.
‘And now we have no time,’ Ophelia says, her voice strained. ‘If the Aronnax put a tracker on the Varuna, they will be focused on Lincoln Base, not the Nautilus herself. We have enough defences to keep them occupied while you escape.’
‘We can help you fight them off!’ I say. ‘Why take the risk of leaving?’
I know my real motive for saying this. It’s not about the sub.
I left Dev and HP collapsed around him. I can’t watch the same thing happen to Lincoln Base. I can’t run away and again watch people I care about die.
‘My dear,’ Luca says, ‘the greatest risk is that Land Institute acquires this submarine. That is a risk to the entire world. The Nautilus will listen to you. I am confident in her seaworthiness. She should have basic propulsion. Her camouflage is operational.’