“Long story,” I answered. “I’ll tell you later.”
“You’d better. Hobey-ho!”
With that, my head sank below and we were under way. Spader had given me skimmer lessons before, so I was familiar with how it operated. But this was way different. Rather than stand up, I held on to the steering handles and my body floated parallel to the deck.
“You okay?” asked Spader.
“I think,” was my answer.
“Then let’s hit it!”
He cranked his throttle, dipped the nose of his skimmer, and immediately shot down to the ocean floor. I did the same, and we were off. This was a lot like using the water sleds, except they were much more powerful. I was too heavy on the throttle at first and the skimmer nearly pulled out of my grasp. I followed behind Spader but made sure to stay out of his wake because when I got too close, the jets from his skimmer’s pontoons hit me like turbulence. It took me a few minutes, but I eventually got the knack of controlling the vehicle and staying clear of Spader. Now all I had to do was worry about the killers we were sneaking up on.
Spader hugged the sandy bottom. That was smart. The deeper we were, the less chance there was of us being spotted. Remember, the water was very clear on Cloral. Visibility had to be at least a hundred feet. I really hoped that from the deck of thePursuit, we just looked like big fish.
In no time I could look up and see the dark shape of the cruiser floating above us. Everything looks bigger underwater, but even accounting for that, this ship looked immense. It was like a giant black cloud that blocked out the sun. Spader set his skimmer down in the sand directly beneath the massive ship, right in its shadow.
“I’ll go up first,” he said while taking out a wrench-looking tool from his back pocket. I’ll pull off the intake covers, then come back for you. Get the water sleds ready to go.”
I nodded and gave the “okay” sign. I still wasn’t used to talking underwater. Spader took off swimming up to thePursuit, and I swam to his skimmer to get the water sleds. So far so good, but time was running out. I didn’t have my watch (since I wasn’t allowed to have a Second Earth watch on another territory), but I guessed that we were getting close to the end of the twenty-minute time limit.
I got both water sleds and rested them down in the sand between our skimmers. A few moments later, Spader joined me.
“It was snappy-do,” he announced. “Covers came right off. All that’s left is for us to drop off our gifts.”
“Tell me exactly what to do,” I said.
Spader pointed up at the hull. “Right near the stern you’ll see a big round opening. I left the cover hanging from it so you wouldn’t miss. There’s two of ‘em. I’ll take the one on the far side of the keel. All you have to do is bring the skimmer right up to the mouth, hit the throttle, and let her go. Soon as it’s on the way, meet me right back here. I’ll set off the flare, and we’ll have a leisurely water sled ride back to Grallion while Press and Yenza start the natty-do topside.”
“Got it,” I said. It didn’t sound all that hard.
“Then let’s be heroes,” said Spader, and hit the throttle of his skimmer.
He didn’t speed to the surface; he traveled with more caution. Now was not the time to get cocky and make a mistake. I powered up and ascended just as cautiously. I kept looking up at the dark hull as I grew closer, expecting some alarm to sound and to have the raiders start firing their water cannons down at us. As long as we stayed directly under, we stood a good chance of pulling this off.
It only took a few seconds for us to reach the ship. A steady hum came from its engines. I glanced to Spader. He pointed up at the hull. I looked, and sure enough, there it was. There was a round opening about six feet in diameter with a metal cover hanging below it. The intake port wasn’t flush with the hull, it was perpendicular to it. The metal cover that hung from the opening had narrow slits to let water in and debris out. Now that the cover was off, anything could get stuck inside and we were riding two very big pieces of debris. I was beginning to think this would work.
Spader and I now had to separate. He gave me a thumbs up sign — a Second Earth gesture he picked up from me — and glided his skimmer across the keel to the far side of the ship and the other intake port.
Now came the most critical part of the operation. I carefully guided my skimmer up toward the open port. The opening wasn’t much bigger than the width of the skimmer, pontoon to pontoon, so I had to make sure the whole vehicle got inside. I also didn’t want to bang the skimmer against the hull because that might alert someone that predators were lurking below. I carefully used the throttle to maneuver the craft into position. I had to bring it right up under the hull, then move parallel with the hull into the intake port. It was tricky, but I soon had the entire skimmer resting inside the port. The hard part was over. I was almost there. All I had to do was hit the throttle.
But I never got the chance.
That’s because the ship came to life. The engines that had been idling quietly suddenly roared. I guessed the twenty minutes were over. The raiders were getting ready to fire on Grallion. The noise grew deafening, but worse than that, I felt a rush of water and realized with horror that I was being sucked into the intake port! ThePursuitwas drawing in water for power and ammunition — and I was well within sucking range! The force of the intake pulled me into the opening. In seconds I would be splatter. There was nothing to grab on to. I was going in.
That’s when a strange thing happened that I still can’t explain. Even as I think back to what happened, it doesn’t make sense. It felt like someone seized me by the hand and pulled me out far enough to grab on to the edge of the intake port. I wrapped my fingers around the lip then struggled to bring my other hand forward and grab on as well. I looked up, expecting to see Spader there, but he wasn’t there. Whoever had saved me was gone.
Did I say saved? I wasn’t saved yet. I held on to the lip of the intake port with the tips of my fingers. My entire body was still inside the tube leading into the ship. The force of the water grew stronger. I didn’t have the strength to pull myself forward. I tried to find something with my feet to push off of, but the inside of the tube was smooth. I wasn’t going to last much longer.
That’s when I realized that the force of the intake pump wasn’t just pulling on me, it was pulling at my skimmer, too. There was still hope! If I could hold on long enough, the skimmer would be sucked into the engine and jam it up just as if I had sent it in myself. All I had to do was hang on. But I didn’t know how long I would last. It was torture. The only thing keeping me from being hamburger were the tips of my fingers. I watched as the skimmer slowly moved past me, headed deeper into the ship. It was taking too long. I wasn’t going to be able to hang on much longer. The force of the water grew stronger, and the skimmer moved faster. But that meant it was even tougher to hold on. I screamed. Why not? Nobody could hear me over the roar of the engines.
My fingers had gone numb. I was done. Like a fiendish hungry beast, the intake pump finally won the battle. I lost my grip. I flew in toward the engine, knowing I was seconds away from death. I could only hope that it wouldn’t hurt too much.
But an instant later I heard a horrifying grinding sound, and the pull of water stopped. The skimmer had been sucked into the engine! Spader’s plan worked. Yes! I instantly kicked my fins and swam out of that hole as fast as I possibly could. I blasted out into open water and shot down toward the bottom, kicking for all I was worth.
Spader was already there, waiting for me. I was totally out of breath and probably looked as terrified as I felt.
“What kept you?” asked Spader calmly.
I wanted to scream that I was nearly sucked into the engine, but figured it could wait until later.
“Did you do it?” I yelled.