The New Humans

Chapter 35

Crane grabbed Ash in one arm. He knelt and jumped up fifteen feet, grabbing a blade of the waste shredder with his other arm and hoisting them up. He used the blade as a bridge until he set foot on the ground, whereupon he released Ash.

The sea moved with the gusts of the cooling wind. The water was like ink punctuated by the white foam of waves. In the distance, the tunnel to the city of savants was barely visible. They had chosen the perfect place to take Ash and his friends hostage: near the tunnel, where nobody could find or hear them, and from which it was impossible to escape.

Ten other men including Adam had joined them in the meantime. Ash looked down to the bottom of the pit. Two men stayed with Rachel, Owen, and Herbert, but he lost sight of them as a man near the control panel reconnected all the wires and the blades began to rotate again.

"What should we do now?" said Crane.

Ash approached the coast. Twenty yards ahead appeared on the ball.

"We have to enter the water and go straight ahead," said Ash.

"You first," said Crane.

He put his foot into the water. He took small steps, careful not to lose his balance on the rocky seabed, jumping a little each time the cold water hit him. He walked until the water was at chest height. When he stumbled on a rock, Crane grabbed him before he fell. Ash got up again and went forward, with Crane not letting go of him. After twenty yards he couldn't touch the bottom any longer. He began to dog paddle to stay afloat, though with Crane holding his left arm he had to do everything with his right.

"I have to look at the instructions," he said to Crane. "I don't know how to get there otherwise."

Crane reluctantly let go so Ash could check the ball: Swim left for forty yards, it said.

As soon as Ash had checked, Crane grabbed his arm again. Crane took only two steps before he fell into a drop in the seabed. Ash had not taken in any air in preparation and was dragged down with him to the bottom. He tried to swim to the surface but was held back by the weight of Crane and his suit. He opened his eyes; although he couldn't see clearly because of the dark, he could sense the other men walking on the seabed. Ash tried to rise to the surface once more, but Crane pulled him back down. He concentrated then. He had to remain in apnea. He didn't have to be afraid; if he wanted, he could.

They stayed underwater until they came to the rocks with the pole of rusty metal stuck in the middle. Ash pulled it toward himself like a lever; the water immediately began to move around them in a vortex, and the seabed under their feet trembled like an earthquake.

A chasm between the rocks opened. The water around it funneled together until it assumed the shape of a human skull. The men aimed their rifles at the shape which then spoke in a hiss.

"I have three lives. Gentle enough to soothe the skin, hard enough to break the rocks, light enough to caress the sky: who am I?"

The water. Ash spat the last ounce of air he had left in his lungs to pronounce it, and the skull bowed forward in sign of consent.

"I appear every morning to lie at your feet. I will follow you all day, no matter how you might run, though I nearly perish in the midday sun."

What lies at your feet and follows you all day? Ash couldn't think; his lungs were burning. He tried to take a few strokes to get up for some air, but he didn't move. He had to reply, but what was the question? He couldn't remember it now.

Just when Ash didn't think he could last another second, Crane said, "A shadow."

The skull of water disintegrated, and they were all were sucked into the gap between the rocks. They slid along the wet chute for hundreds of feet until they landed in the bunker where the elevator departed to reach the city of savants.