Waves crashed upon a rock with the rhythm of a heartbeat, seemingly doing nothing to the impervious surface, but in fact, the patient sea was in the long process of carving. In time, the sharp edges would be round, and the coarse surface made smooth. Years upon years, the waters would have its way and reshape the old into something new.
Quaritch awoke from his dream feeling better than he ever did. His stress not only melted away in his nap, but he felt restored of all vitality like his body had been left to soak in a hot spring. It was nice, he thought, but his cogitations were interrupted when he took note of the subtle hum that vacillated in strength like the above lights. Quaritch observed the phenomenon, thinking the electricals were going "screwy," but then he noticed his bioluminescence—it was doing the same thing. He held out his arm for study. The optical effect appeared like waves were rolling across his forearm towards his chest, as stripping his shirt soon revealed. When he tracked the luminous rings closing in on his most vital organ, the unsettled man reacted by hastily redonning his tank. Quaritch sought to get to the bottom of the mystery. He stood in silence to trace the source. After discovering the hum was coming through the very wall he had been resting against, he set his ear upon it, but all he could discern was the creaking of metal—then his fingers began drumming on their own accord. Immediately, the Marine retracted. The wall was succumbing to some unseen force that warped and rattled the bulwark like foil. Quaritch shuffled so far back, with arms guarding his face in preparation for whatever might come bursting through, that he hit the opposite end. With nowhere to retreat and disaster imminent, the prisoner made himself small in preparation. In his scrunched position, he grabbed his head when the undulating infrastructure gave way in a plangent nightmare.
Only when the last clang reverberated into nothingness and the dominant electric hum reigned again did Quaritch unfold. Now, before him, was a gaping rupture, blown inward and revealing the contents of another cell. It was a sight that held him frozen. Glowing inside was a sphere of blue distortion, rippling with light. He squinted his eyes and detected a form at its center.
"What…the…hell…?"
Intrigue beckoned him closer to the Kiri girl, meditating like Buddha and thrumming her songcord—an action that seemed mechanical, as if her body was left on autopilot while she went off to dream. Around her, floating over the surface of the sphere, were objects of various shape and size. He leaned forward, squinting hard at the weightless wonders, which turned out to be captured bits of metal debris. Suddenly, an invisible hand snatched something around his neck and yanked. He was slammed against what remained of his wall, fingers gripping and dragging over serrated metal as he fought the pull. The culprit emerged from his shirt—his dog tags. The whole beaded chain was suspended in animation and taut in her direction. He growled from sheer pain and threw his head down last minute, letting the necklace slip off his head before it could decapitate him. It instantly flew towards her, where it was captured by the orb and lulled into a relaxed swim.
Quaritch slumped down behind the jagged crescent of his former wall. He went to work stripping himself of anything metal: his watch, his belt, even his boots—just to be safe. Down to his shirt and pants, he remerged before the sphinx with deliberation. He assessed the phenomena with staunch practicality: her forcefield was compromising the structure's integrity. Even if she had the potential god powers to atomize him, Quaritch had to get her to stop somehow. He tried shouting—no effect; it was like she was shut off from the world. By fate's cruel irony, he had to do the last thing that he wanted: get closer. He arched a leg over the rubble and let his bare toe connect with the ground—a surge of power rushed through him. He frantically slapped and stroked his arm until the sensation dissipated. Quaritch cupped his maw and pinched his lips in thought—another foreboding rumble; he had no time to hesitate. He bent low, ignoring the consequences, and proceeded, ever cautiously, to side-crawl towards the conjurer, ducking his head to avoid the speeding shrapnel careening for the sphere—little bits, here and there, streaking his skin as they ricocheted off his arm but found home again in her orbit. His foot slid onto the next tile, and the sphere reacted to his presence with a defence of a brighter light. Miles winced from the intensity of her aura—an aura so puissant it disturbed his innermost being and awoke the deepest fears inside his breast. Every memory, every emotion, every aspect of his character—all his impurities were stirred up and swirling around in the well of his soul, making him nauseous, yet he was compelled forward.
He was now as close as he could bring himself. Hesitantly, he moved his hand to reach her, but the sphere violently repelled his attempt. He clutched his wrist in pain, for her halo burned an icy hot. The ominous, alarming sounds of creaking only grew worse. The light became hotter and brighter. Then, the final nail in the coffin: a seam in the floor manifested. Thousands of metal shards shot out from the rupture and hovered in mid-air, completely still, like the pause button had been hit on an earthquake, but the play button would be hit with vengeance.
Everything went dark as Kiri suddenly awoke to the ground giving way beneath her. By a force stronger than the pull on his ID tags, something possessed Quaritch's body and threw him forward to snatch her wrist. Gut instinct? Knee-jerk reaction? Divine intervention? All the colonel knew was he was now holding onto an adolescent Na'vi as she dangled over an abyss.
Kiri gaped up at her rescuer.
A panel previously propped against the sphere had fallen across the narrow chasm, preventing Quaritch from proceeding, so with his other arm and a loud grunt, he shoved aside the four-hundred-pound slab to bring up the feathery-light girl.
Kiri staggered across the surface after being thrust from Quaritch's abrupt release. She came to a wobbly stand, still shocked that he was even in there with her, to say nothing of the cataclysmic state of her now dark cell. She felt the draft from the ruptured wall that she stood next to as Vrrtepeyktan came to his feet in the back corner in what was left of the floor.
The colonel had to give himself a moment to return to his senses, for his mind was everywhere and his heart, very unsteady. He felt her eyes on him; he didn't look up; instead, he rubbed his temple as if he was trying to find some proverbial button and reset his directive: escape the cellblocks. Opposite of him was the sliding door of her cell, warped and slanted from the damage with the possibility of it being pried open; the only problem was accessing it. The ravine now barred half the room, and the girl was standing in his way. He started pacing in his corner, the result of him trying to brainstorm and doing everything in his mental power to block out his new cellmate.
Kiri observed his circling with a curious stare. Here was the Chief of Demons—the legendary enemy of the Omatikaya—purposely ignoring her and keeping his distance. For some reason, his whole body language spoke avoidance. Could it be? Could it be that Vrrtepeyktan was afraid of her? The animal whisperer had to test this hypothesis. When he made his first attempt to pass, she stepped directly in front of him. The large, muscular man doubled back. A few seconds later, he tried again, this time moving to his left, so she did the same. Again, the threat retreated—Kiri couldn't believe it.
Quaritch stopped when he realized this wasn't working. With a sudden burst of determination, he swivelled to face her, only to throw down his hand in helpless frustration and pace again. He thought maybe he could muster himself to just shove her aside, but every time he was one step before her, there he was, pivoting on his heel—he wanted to scream. What was going on with him?
Kiri picked up on his rising anger. She was playing a dangerous game and knew it. The vicious enemy rolled to his full height. His expression contorted, and, hurling his fist, unleashed a roar. She shut her eyes and did not flinch as a cacophonous "boom" shook the small space. When her lids raised, she beheld his sinister form, looming an inch above her, with his fist deep in the wall. In the lull of his heavy breathing, he dared challenge her with eye contact, which he quickly regretted. Instantly, Kiri was charging at him with a roar of her own, and he slammed against his confines with a start. The Marine, completely humiliated, blinked in succession at the impudent girl now laughing at him.
Dominance had been established.
"What the hell are you?!" he shouted, hands still clutching the back wall.
With a mischievousness that all teenagers express when they realize they have the reins, Kiri gave him the most conceited pout as she tapped two fingers to her lips.
"You're mute?"
She twitched a shoulder.
"Right. I forgot," he said, slacking his arms. He kept looking at her to a minimum as the atheist was finally acknowledging that some sort of bewitchment was being done. No matter how much he may have wanted to punt her into the ravine, there was no possible way he could bring up his boot. She had him muzzled. "Is this some kind of mind control? Is that it?" he asked at an angle that was semi-facing away.
What is he talking about?
"How are you doing this?"
Doing what?
The two were at a stalemate. What was the point of questions if she couldn't talk? Quaritch was back to pacing and aggressively running his hands through his chopped hair. Catching her break out into a giggle only flustered the colonel even more. "Oh, you think it's funny, is that it?"
She nodded with smug satisfaction.
"Glad you find it hilarious! Ngh! Magic my ass… Must be this damn chimaera brain. It's reacting to Pandora. Some kind of effec—" He froze, then backed away like he had seen a ghost. "Son of a b****..." he whispered. He turned away to palm the wall while his other rested off his hip. Going forward, Quaritch knew he had to get through this despite his compromised state. "Okay… fairy, listen up! We need to get out, so let me pass."
Kiri wasn't having it.
"You're gonna keep me cornered?!"
She shrugged her "Maybe."
"You little s***!"
Oh, that'll work. Definitely. Her head bobbled.
Quaritch went white when a rumbling drone infiltrated their cell. Bubbling up from the rupture rose a dark pool. His wild eyes beseeched hers. "Let me pass!"
The maiden still kept her arms folded.
"You bats*** son of a b****—the cell's flooding!"
Her head leaned in, and she cocked a brow.
"You—! Damn, bloody…" His eyes were bloodshot, and the water was rising fast. With each second passing, he lost valuable time to find his team. He threw his hands up. "Please!"
She politely stepped aside.
Quaritch had to recover from that one. The moment he finally scooted past her, he sped for the slanted acrylic door, trying to see if the gap was wide enough to shimmy through, but it was barely big enough for his arms. He thrust his shoulder against the sheet, but it wouldn't budge. As Kiri watched his struggle, she shifted her attention to the hole between their cells. Meanwhile, Quaritch clutched the top rim of the frame and did a pull-up to throw a kick—still no effect. After several useless attempts, his feet splashed down into the swirling water when he noticed Kiri standing outside in the hall.
"How did—"
The impish teenager twiddled her fingers, then thumbed over to his cell. He scrambled through the torn wall, leaping the rubble, where he saw his perfectly intact door, slid all the way open. He nudged it a few times before his chimaera brain understood it was due to the power outage. Quaritch slapped himself, then marched right out, feeling like a complete jackass.
As the recombinant leader was quick to get a move on, Kiri tailed him, breaking into skips to keep up with his hurried strides.
Miles kept turning dark corners in search of his team. He stopped to give himself time to take mental notes of his location, growing worried as the threat of flooding water intensified. "Where are they?" he asked himself.
Is he trying to find the others? I know where they are! But…it's…Vrrtepeyktan…
Quaritch looked over his shoulder, and Kiri chanced to see the concern in his eyes. He briefly stared at her like he was mentally battling the thought of asking for help. Without prompt, she recalled the Anurai friendship necklace and the effort made to stop her from being taken away. Kiri weighed those images against the scene at the Tawkami village. A moral battle waged within her until she remembered her training. The cycle of life was made up of all things—dangerous and docile, insightful and blind. Whether the rekoms deserved help or not didn't factor; what mattered was who she would choose to be, and her decision was to be like her Great Mother, who did not pick sides.
Quaritch's distracted hand was tapped, and he pivoted only to see the girl waving at him to follow. He wasn't sure what she was doing but allowed her to take the lead, chasing after a faint hope that somehow, in her strange way, she sensed where they were—he wasn't about to put it past her.
Kiri weaved the network of wet halls, skirting corners until she found a set of stairs leading to a lower level. Down the narrow space, the roar of gushing water reverberated all around them.
"Are they down there?" he shouted over the turbulence. His guide trembled her head and beckoned him to trail after. He jumped the tiny human steps but lost his footing and slid, splashing against the wall. When they reached ground level, little streams cascaded from the ceiling and fell upon them.
"Which way?" he shouted, whisking off droplets from his drenched scalp.
Kiri swung her head, but it was difficult to tell one section from the next. She held up two index fingers and divided them, pointing her left hand down one hall and her right down another.
"You want to split up? How will I know if you find them?"
Thinking on her toes, Kiri brought up her clay whistle and blew with all her strength.
He was as surprised by the shrill as she was, evident by the way she briefly studied her little instrument. "Alright then." Obeying the order, Quaritch set down the directed hall, kicking up sprays as he hunted for his team. His search brought him into a wide bay, utterly black, but his night vision pierced the shadows, where he deduced the outlines of something familiar. An oppressive emotion assailed the man as he stood in silence before two AMP suits; he was only allowed a respite from the bitter memory that came to resurface. His darkening mind merged with the room when a faint whistle made his ears swivel. Quaritch doubled back with fervour. He ploughed the waters, desperately chasing the girl's signal until, at last, he found her stationed next to a chamber.
He jogged to a stop before a sealed transparent door, where, swirling around on the other side was his team, barely visible in the dark water. Their cell had been breached, and a waterfall was coming in through the rupture. He rammed his fingers into the door's frame, but the pressure was so strong he could not break the seal; he needed a tool. He assessed the hall, trying to find something he could use, but nothing came to him. Quaritch pounded the glass in anger and surveyed his surroundings once more—that's when he saw the girl and her appropriately-sized build. His eyes alternated between her and the direction he had just come. "I have an idea…" he breathed. Throwing out his fears, he set his crouched back to her and thumbed his intent. "Get on!"
Surprised and disgusted, Kiri instinctively took a step opposite.
"Please," he begged.
Kiri reluctantly complied. I can't believe I'm doing this. I can't believe I'm doing this.
The commander jerked up to settle her position, then signed "One minute" to his team to reassure them, even if they couldn't see it, before making haste.
The water was up to his hip as Quaritch waded through the deluge, fighting with each laboured stride to reach the bay. Jostling on his back, Kiri had to routinely wipe away her soaking bangs and clear her eyes, but on the last wipe, she thought her vision was playing tricks on her. Were those yokxtìranyu she saw?
With the girl still clung to him like a rucksack, Miles leapt onto the leg of the four-metre-tall AMP suit, balanced on the hip joint and raised the cockpit window. He plopped his passenger into the small cavity, directing her to set her feet into the straps below. She was still gaping at him as he fished up the operator's gloves and placed them on her hands; it was a very tight fit, but she had the correct amount of fingers. From there, he hit the emergency button that jettisoned the useless window. With more room to operate, he leaned in and activated the interface. His fingers flew deftly over the controls, a setup he knew better than the back of his own hand. Once it was calibrated, he flipped a switch and a roar of flames issued from the rear thrusters. He couldn't help but savour the nostalgic scent. "Good stuff. Okay, kid, listen up."
Kiri winced at him.
"This, here, is your stabilizer. That will right your position, but pay attention if it goes yellow. Now, your controls are here." He gripped her glove. "Try taking a swing."
She kept staring at him dumbly.
"Well, go on. Take a swing!"
Without any idea what she was doing, she threw out her arm, and suddenly the whole machine lurched forward. Kiri gasped at the crater she had formed on the opposite wall. The move trapped Quaritch against the cockpit, and he had to pry himself free. "Okay…" he wheezed, climbing to the safety of the backrest. "Just do exactly what I tell you. This here's a very dangerous piece of machinery, so don't—hngh!"
Kiri attempted walking forward, but it was more like a drunk stumbling through the dark. Her metal palms kept streaking against walls as the great suit plodded down the hall. It staggered from side to side, each time with a towering slosh until nothing in the cabin was dry. Quaritch's tail flailed, and his knuckles paled as he struggled with every muscle to hold on.
Up ahead, in the almost full chamber, the recombinants had only an inch to breathe. They were gasping and losing hope, with their eyes already exchanging their final goodbyes.
"I hear something!" Prager announced.
"I hear it too."
"Is it an earthquake?"
A terrible boom dithered the water and smacked every head against the ceiling.
"You missed!" Quaritch shouted. "Pull back more!"
I'm trying, you big, stupid jerk! Kiri snarled and pried her hand out of the wall. She readied her next swing when her control was seized. Hey!
Quaritch clutched Kiri's fist, much to her annoyance, and with tongue between his teeth, positioned the AMP's suit arm exactly where he wanted; he couldn't chance another miss and thrust it forward. The five-fingered wreaking ball smote the acrylic door, leaving the releasing water pressure to do the rest. The whole cell burst open from the torrent, dragging with it all its captives. Eager to see if they were okay, Quaritch quickly shut down the walking powerhouse as a precaution, then leapt off.
"Well, don't y'all look like a bunch of drowned rats."
The heads spun and beheld their colonel with amazement.
Mansk sloshed over with arms out. "I love you, sir." Quaritch blinked as he reciprocated the man-hug.
"You saved us just in the nick of time."
"I think he could've done it a bit sooner."
Quaritch scanned the relieved faces when he noticed, in the back, Fike helping someone up. With a stupified look, he nudged the others aside till he stood directly before Lyle. In lieu of words, he laughed and set his arms around him. He then shook the idiot's shoulders. "Shoulda known better than to think they could've killed you!"
"Would've just been recombinated all over again, sir."
"Shut your mouth." He peered down at the shirt wrapped across his chest, serving as a bandage. "So, how did—?"
"It was the girl."
Quaritch removed his hands. "Excuse me?" He tried to smile, but it was growing unsettled.
"I don't know, either, but she was in our cell, and I… I don't know. I just felt this need to reach out. I ended up grabbing her ankle, and I felt something, you know?"
As Kiri listened to the man's testimony, she stared at her palms.
Quaritch nodded incredulously and patted the addled head. "Think you took a bit more than just external damage there, son."
"No!" Lyle pulled back and pointed a finger at Brown. "You saw it. You told me, yourself, my bleeding stopped. Tell him," he demanded.
"His bleeding did stop, sir. But I doubt the girl had anything to do with it. I— I don't see how." He gave his honest opinion but found, as his eyes trailed back to Lyle, they retreated in shame.
"I'm telling you it was her," he insisted. "I know it sounds crazy, but I swear that girl is why I'm still standin'."
Quaritch knew very well there was something different about her—he bore witness to it—but the idea of testifying put him at risk of sounding like a madman too. He had his role—as a level-headed commander—to think about. "Okay, Lyle, okay. What are you fixin' to do then?"
"We have to find her! I can't just leave her after she saved my life. But I don't know where they took her."
"Taken care of." He tossed a thumb.
Kiri had already released herself from the harness and was climbing down when Walker waded over to help. "Hey," Bridgette tapped the girl's ankle to get her attention. "Climb onto my shoulders. I'll carry ya." Kiri smiled and took the offer.
"You already saved her?" Sean asked incredulously.
"I didn't save her! She followed me."
"They moved her to your cell?"
"No! For some reason, she was in the one next to mine."
"Then, why did you let her out?"
Booming moans ceased their questions.
"Unless y'all fancy this place for your tomb, cut the chatter and follow me!" With the dire situation taking precedence and their commander speaking sense, the Deja Blu team tailed after their navigator. Quaritch led his squad to the stairwell. Each one, he oversaw up the steps before heading up himself. Back on the level he started from, it was clear the state of the complex was only growing worse with now gallons of water pouring out of the ceiling. Light came only from their own bodies, and the few signs scattered throughout.
"Where now, sir?"
As Quaritch was busy looking around, Walker was buckling from the strengthening undertow and trying to hold up Kiri at the same time. Seeing her struggle, Mansk took over. "Give her to me, Petunia."
"Thanks, Sasha."
Quaritch spotted the outlines of an elevator. "Over there, c'mon." He shoved his fingers in a vertical seam. "We need to wedge it open." Alexander and Warren trudged forward to help. By combining their strength, and with great exertion, they pried back the doors. Lopez's legs ripped out from under him as water rushed to cascade down the empty shaft, but Brown saved him by the hand. Angel hovered over the deep drop, speeding water filling his lungs before Prager moved in and latched on to Brown's waist. Whoever was closest helped pull the train until everyone was back on two feet. Angel bent over to cough, and Walker assisted by giving the man two hearty pats. Quaritch carefully leaned to view the shaft rapidly filling with tons of water by the second. "We can climb up those girders. Walker, ladies first."
"How gallant," she grumbled as she took his hand. Quaritch helped lift her over to the first section, where she gripped a support.
"Lyle. You're next."
"If it's alright with you, sir, I want to go last."
"No, it's not alright with me. Git!" He rudely snatched Lyle and swung him in. "Okay, Sasha. Come up."
The recombinated man readjusted his hold on his charge, then, minding the torrent, carefully worked past his colonel.
Quaritch had everyone on the move and was the last to climb up, with all the recombinants scaling the precarious chamber to outrace the flood. Trickles raining down on them increased into waterfalls, spurting over the gasping men, determined to escalate while ominous sounds of contorting metal and random booms warned them just how much the underground world was breaking apart.
"Sasha? How's the girl?" Walker called down.
Mansk strained his neck. "You okay, Rybka?" From his peripheral vision, he saw her nod, albeit shaky from chill. "She's okay."
The team kept climbing when Lyle perceived a strange sound and harkened everyone to notice. Over the white noise, the recombinants honed in on a rhythmic echo—deep, haunting and beautiful.
"It's like a choir of angels," murmured Lopez.
"Dosen't sound like anything breaking..."
Johnny kept listening. "Wait up. That sounds like a humpback whale."
"How the hell would you know that?"
"I watched a documentary once."
"Holy Christ," groaned Walker. "How far underground are we?"
Kiri was the most enwrapped of all; her eyes focused on nothing as she devoted all her attention to the strangely familiar song. When Mansk lifted himself past another set of sealed doors, Kiri patted his shoulder.
"Huh? What is it?"
"Sasha, why did you stop?" shouted Quaritch from the bottom of the chain.
"It's the girl, sir. She's taken an interest in the door. I think she wants to go through it."
Lyle looked over as well. "Can we open it?"
"Forget it!" Quaritch overruled. "Look how much water's seeping through. It's flooded on the other side."
Mansk had to break it to Kiri. "Sorry, kid. It can't be opened due to the imbalance of pressure. You'd have to wait for this shaft to be submerged."
Quaritch waggled his head.
"Here's one that's open!" Walker announced. It was on the opposite wall with no water descending from it. She lifted herself over the ledge and helped the others up. One by one, the recombinants emerged from the shaft and onto the victory of dry ground. Their commander didn't want to waste time and ordered them all to keep moving, but Kiri was still looking back in the direction of the angelic song that was rapidly growing fainter by the minute. She had to do something. She unlatched herself and sprung off Mansk, pulling up her whistle for a third time. The commotion caused the others to turn around.
"Now what?"
Kiri swiftly mimed prying open a door, then fervently pointed to where she meant, to which Lyle translated, "She wants us to go back."
"I don't believe this," grumbled the colonel. "We're wasting time! Get moving!" He was already turning away when Kiri suddenly raced ahead and stood before him with arms out. He stumbled to a stop. "No! You're not doing this again!"
Kiri sneered, stomped her foot, and acted out spastic gesticulations that were all gibberish to the recombinant. Listen to me! We have to go back! There's a way out, just over there! I hear someone, and they're saying they can take us to the surface!
"You damned freak of nature! There's no one back there!"
There is someone back there! Someone who wants to help!
"Look. You want to stay here and die, Augustine Jr? Go ahead! And good riddance." He made to walk past her, but once again, Kiri's sudden block had the colonel stepping back. His whole team was at a loss for words as they watched the inexplicable dance of their powerful leader trying to get around the side-skipping girl.
The colonel straight up bellowed a hideous snarl.
You want your team to die? Turn back and get that door open!
"I'm not opening that damn door! Now, get out of my way!"
"Uh, sir?"
"What?" he barked at Walker.
"Is she…talking to you?" She tapped her temple. "In here…?"
All at once, Quaritch went still. Now, it was he who was reduced to muteness and, with the most bewildered eyes, gaped down at Kiri. She was speaking directly into his mind, not in words he could perceive, but her intentions bypassed all his defences and sounded off in his brain. He never felt so weak nor so foolish. "What did you do to me?" he whispered, subtle hints of fear and rancour dropping in his tone.
Kiri rolled her head in disgust. I've had enough of this. Will you or will you not go back?
"I'm not going back!" he made absolutely clear, recovering from the disturbing reality that she had such power. "I'm not some animal you can command."
Lyle stepped forward. "Are you saying she's controlling you?"
He was flustered. "Absolutely not! I just can't move past her."
"Why not?"
He bunched his lips and moved out his arm. "I don't know. You try doing it!"
Wainfleet assessed her and walked around as easy as pie.
"Oh, sure. Let him pass!"
The medic saw he was needed. "No offence, sir. But you don't sound right… In the head, I mean."
"You lookin' to be reincarnated again, there, Brown?"
The other teammates shuttered their eyes and gave their commander dubious looks. Quaritch could hear their thoughts questioning his sanity. His mad eyes attacked Kiri. "You're doing this on purpose—making my team think I'm going crazy! I'm on to you!"
"I think you better sit down, sir."
Quaritch shoved him back with a reprimand, "You don't talk to your superior in that way!"
"Hold on, Tyler. I don't think he's going crazy." Everyone turned their attention to the corporal. "Look, Bridgehead wanted this girl for a reason, right? Maybe one of her powers is…ESP?"
"So what do we do?" asked Fike.
"I say we…go back and try and open that door."
Quaritch was disgusted. "Are you—? Are you out of your goddamn mind?! You don't go towards the flooding!"
"Look at her! She's insisting on that path for a reason. Correct me if I'm wrong, sir, but I don't think she wants to die either."
Quaritch wasn't looking at Kiri to see the exasperated hand she raised in concurrence to Lyle; he was too busy pinching the bridge of his nose. "You know, Lyle, I've tolerated your little friendship necklace. I've tolerated your Na'vi girlfriend. I've tolerated your sneaking out and making for yourself a blue family. But I've had just about enough. You wanna go and follow a Na'vi girl to certain death? You go right ahead."
"Sir, I—"
"No, no! I get it. I get it… Your loyalty can only go so far. Why listen to reason when your instincts are saying, 'Jump off a cliff'? Go on. We'll just regroup in hell."
Kiri stepped aside, and Quaritch brushed past them all to trek down the dark chambers.
Lyle was anxious and hurriedly said to the others, "Alright, let's move!" before bounding off in the opposite direction. They returned to the opening. Water had already reached floor level and was pooling over. "We go down, get the door open, and see what's on the other side. Okay?"
Kiri was relieved to see this turn of events and slipped into the pool.
"Wainfleet, this is insane," Walker felt the need to say.
"So why are you here?"
"You know the reason," she declared with a smirk, then pushed him aside to take the plunge. Each one did the same till Lyle was the last one standing. He drew in all his breath, then dove for the depths.
The swimmers pushed through the murky darkness and reunited with the blocked passage where the ethereal voice was still emanating. Hands were ready to apply as much force as possible, but with the area submerged, as Mansk said, the panels only needed a slight budge before they gave way with ease. The instant a gap emerged, a rush of light illuminated the darkness and danced around them: it was a school of bioluminescent fish. Their six elongated fins swayed in the water like angel hair as they orbited Kiri. The recombinants marvelled at the underwater ballet until the performers flitted off from whence they came, shedding their beacon of light across a sunken laboratory. Kiri was the first to go through and explore the new area. She moved with such grace that her limbs became fins, and her feet united into a tail. She was a fish among fishes, at home in a world where gravity did not have a say and communication transcended speech.
The Marines swam after her, guided by light and inspirited by aria, until Kiri signalled them to stop. The fish swirled in place, and the song of the deep concluded. Then, without warning, came the bass of a tremor, and its rattle agitated the water, ushering in a massive current that twirled and tossed every recombinant. When they righted their positions, the school stretched into a streak of light, shooting for a cluster of stars sparkling in the depths. The constellation animated, and nine pairs of yellow eyes immediately dilated with wonder. Swimming into view came a mighty king, who lowered his ancient crown to the girl; and she, too, bowed her head, in respect to the monarch. Kiri signed to him her appreciation; and, like a drawbridge, his jaw slowly descended open, revealing another cosmos secreted within. Kiri hovered at the living gate, then waved at them to board.