The Skeleton.

"Are we really going to be living on that ship, Father?"

Dakkar smiled down at his daughter. For the last few years, he had arranged for the women of the colony he and his people had established on this island, in this remote corner of the Pacific Ocean to care for his daughter while he concentrated on the work. Using various disguises, Dakkar had worked on gathering supplies, materials, and parts for his submarine vessel, while he had promised Janni she would one day see the ship being built.

When the rebellion failed in India after he had found the remains of his family, Prince Dakkar gathered his followers and their families, and anybody who was willing to come with him while he gathered his notes, his plans, and what remained of his family's fortune while he made sure his precious daughter was cared for.

Finding a ship, they sailed to the Pacific Ocean, knowing it was littered with uninhabited islands and likely uncharted ones, too. Dakkar was not planning on being dependent solely on an uncharted and remote island in the middle of nowhere. He was prepared to give up and find a remote corner of Brazil or Australia, and work there if he needed to, but fortunately, they had found a large enough island for them to begin work.

They had built a colony in the islands' interior. Quickly using the supplies and huts they had brought with them when they had learnt of the prince's plans, the people quickly established themselves on the island. But Dakkar had made it clear they would be building a submarine vessel at some point. A year after their arrival, he kept his word.

Taking the ship away they had travelled to his contacts and using his disguises, Dakkar gathered metal and glass for the hull. He had decided to experiment with glass, knowing it was strong when refined and even more durable than steel or iron, but he had arranged for both metals in the construction of the submarine. In New York, they had gathered the mathematical instruments and even some spares among other supplies.

High and long, and shaped like a giant metal shark, or predatory fish, the submarine vessel was taking shape.

"Yes, my dear, we are," Dakkar was smiling down at his daughter and at his submarine vessel.

"It's so big," Janni's eyes were wide. "Are we all going onboard the ship, Father?"

Dakkar frowned curiously at his daughter. "What do you mean, Janni?"

Janni rolled her eyes in that way only children could manage when getting a stupid reply from a parent. "I mean is everyone here going to be on the ship when it's finished?"

"Do you mean everyone on this island?" Dakkar asked.

"Yes."

Dakkar knew many people living on the island would prefer to stay rather than come with them, but he was not sure how to tell his daughter that. "I am not sure, my daughter," he said at last. "The ship is designed to carry many people."

"Oh. Why is it shaped like a fish?"

Dakkar smiled at his daughter's inquisitiveness, but it faded a little as sadness entered his soul as he recalled himself asking his father many questions about the world. "What better way of existing beneath the seas, my daughter?"

Dakkar had known for a long time if he were to win against the British, then they would need to think of ways of keeping them from coming back. The solution was obvious. India would need to build machines, weapons of greater power than anything the British could muster. Electricity instead of steam. Submarines instead of ships. Torpedoes mines and rockets instead of cannons, shells and gunpowder. India's industrial base would need time to build, but Dakkar had planned to have several submarines built as a starting point.

Dakkar had seen many species of sharks, especially off the coast of Africa. He had seen how they had formed packs and then hunted down seals as they tried to feed. When he had come to design the shape of his submarine vessel, Dakkar had wanted his vessels to exist beneath the seas instead of designing simple cylinders.

Dakkar had chosen a shark as the starting point. From there he had finished the design of his submarine vessel. The inner hull of the ship was a glass ovoid made up of different sections assembled separately before they'd been fitted together and surrounded by the glass shell before work had begun on the second hull. And even though she was far from finished, the submarine was many times larger than the largest seagoing ship afloat today. She was fitted with rockets which would be fired from the top of the pressure hull, and would small submarine vessels and diving bells for deep sea exploration and defence and attack, with the added size needed for the whole population of the island.

As he stood there with his daughter, whom he'd promised for weeks for a chance to see the submarine boat, Dakkar was looking forward to the day when the submarine would prove to be their salvation.