Oceans embrace, p.1
Ocean's Embrace, page 1
Ocean's Embrace
An Underwater Novel
By Regina Sage
Contents
Ocean's Embrace
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Epilogue
Teaser from Sand's Caress
Copyright
Acknowledgements
About Regina Sage
Part I
Chapter One
The portal closed soundlessly around Sven, making him shudder. While convenient, arriving on this world in a crushing blackness always made him queasy. But what was a little anxiety, a little nausea, to a Hunter like him? Nothing, especially not with the payout.
Sven leaned to the edge of the control panel in front of him, flipping the switches to turn on the infrared headlamps on his ship, and closely monitored the pressure gauges. He knew he wouldn’t be crushed; his ship was built for the vacuum of space. The pressure of water around him, even this deep, could not touch him. But he didn’t have a reputation for being a paranoid bastard for no reason.
Satisfied with the numbers, if only grudgingly, Sven settled back in the captain’s chair. The old thing needed to be replaced, or reupholstered, because the synthetic liner was cracked, and the springs were digging into his lower back. He shifted again as he pulled up the weather outlook on his peripheral visor.
The grainy radar on the plastic panel displayed a section of Earth’s Caribbean Ocean, the section he had just Jumped to, through the portal. This had previously been one of the more frequently used interstellar arrival points, but the rise in Earth’s global temperatures made it more hazardous, and fewer would risk it. Case in point, he was staring at a vast, swirling mass of color, positioned just west of his location above the surface of the water. An off-season hurricane. Just my luck.
Now he would have to wait to surface, leaving him in the pitch dark of the deep ocean for hours, possibly another day. With all the time spent in space looking at nothing but black emptiness out of the portholes of his ship, he shouldn’t be troubled by the same view here in the water. But somehow the water always felt oppressive and claustrophobic, making the scales on the back of his neck itch, and sending a ruffle down the textured skin of his arms, making his fringe shiver.
Disgusted, Sven switched the view from weather radar to his ship’s radar, scanning for debris in his area. The storms always kicked up crazy things in this region, another reason why most travelers avoided the area. Since the storm had been raging for at least a day, he would have to be mindful of colliding with anything. At least here, as compared with space, it would be a softer collision. He had some hydraulic navigation to work with, instead of the rocket pumps and huge asteroids he normally had to handle.
Talk about a lame attempt at optimism.
The radar pinged, the light from the panel reflecting briefly over his scales. Shit. Already he was going to have to do some fancy footwork. He should just drop lower, and cast the alert beacons high above him, so he could have some decent warning, then maybe he could catch some shut eye while the storm blew itself out…
What was that? More pings were going off, splashing light across the navigation deck and the myriad of buttons and knobs, reflecting off his suit and the buckles of his harness. Forty or so small dots were amassed around two large pieces—likely another ship—and were floating in the abyss before him and just above. Was it maybe another ship that came in behind him? Perhaps they had set the portal too high and caught interference from the storm.
Cursing, he smashed the buttons before him, and swiveled the control stick built into the command seat. He wouldn’t be able to take many survivors aboard, if there were any, but he could take a few, and signal the rescue crews to send more aid. First, he’d check it out, and maybe move into a different location to avoid any other wrecks.
The blackness was thick and heavy around the ship as he neared, and he silenced the radar’s incessant pinging. The silence was almost as weighty as the blackness, and he felt his scales shift on his forearms with unease. Sven flicked a switch, and the wall behind the control panel became transparent, to show him a view of the inky spread before him. The sight increased his uneasiness.
In a matter of moments, the blank blackness was interrupted by small shapes. The infrared beams ghosted over small items, creating an eerie display. A shoe, a cap… something that looked like a paperback book. A humanoid shape entered his view, a male with light hair, smooth skin, and a grimace of horror and pain stretching his young features. Human indeed. An Earth accident, then.
Sven knew he wouldn’t be saving any of these people. Their physiology couldn’t withstand the beatings that a hurricane or the depths of the ocean here would dish out. He wouldn’t find any survivors. Sven could see the wreck just to the side, a massive chunk of what looked like a cruise ship, separated from the whole and smashed to pieces. Debris floated from the exposed rooms into the black salty void, and he said a brief blessing for those who faced the darkness and died alone. He continued to survey the scene, as more individuals floated out from the gloom among the personal belongings and furniture spilling from the ship. Vacationers, clearly, and the crew, all lost. How many, he wondered, and how long before they were found by their people. Too many, and too long. Dozens of forms drifted by, sinking down deeper into the blackness. A young girl, and another man in a crisp white uniform. A woman in a flowing dress that billowed out around her in the darkness like a jellyfish.
Movement caught his attention as he gently propelled his ship by the woman. Probably just the water from the jets he used to avoid the sun chaise drifting by. But no… it couldn’t be… That was the wrong direction of flow…
Sven jerked the ship around and flicked on another set of lights, casting about for the motion again. There.
The woman in the dress moved again, just a bit. Her hair, glossy in the lights against the pitch backdrop around her, spread and twisted as she jerked her head to the side. Her arms flailed weakly, and her eyes fluttered. Sven’s gaze fell on her smooth leg and identified some kind of binding that had tangled her ankles, wrapped her legs. She had bare moments before she would be drowned.
He leapt for the hatch and his pressure gear, barely getting his harness buckle undone. Jamming his legs into the boots, he yanked the outer suit up to his waist. As he snatched the helmet from the hook, he flicked his switch for voice commands, and swiftly barked commands for the ship to hold position, to depressurize the side hatch, to warm-up the medbay machines.
Sven had no idea what had come over him, he just knew he had to get to the woman, to save her, before it was too late.
Chapter Two
The crashing of the storm no longer filled her ears. Instead, a crushing pressure deafened her. Her chest felt tight, her eyes were being pressed into her head. All heat had left her, and she knew her teeth would chatter if she wasn’t immobilized under such weight, being squeezed to death. To death… A scream escaped her mouth, but the only sound she heard was the crushing blackness which was her doom.
When warmth tingled up her arms again, she didn’t move. Keeping her eyes closed, she held still, and felt relief that the pressure was gone. She wasn’t being constricted anymore. She took a breath into her lungs, shallowly at first, and then deeply, glorying in the movement of her ribs. She was painfully bruised, but she could move. After a few more glorious inhalations, she became aware of unusual noises. Not familiar, not like her cabin…
She sat bolt upright, gasping in pain and surprise, eyes flying wide and stinging in the brightness of the overhead lights. Flailing around for a railing, a handhold, anything to keep her upright, she was caught by rough fingers, and a cool, slick arm snaked around her shoulders. A deep rumbling and a series of whistles went off to one side, and she struggled to regain her balance while shielding her eyes. A hand brushed her hair off her face, snagging it on rough knuckles.
Blinking furiously, she shook herself, focusing through her pain and disorientation on the shape of the person holding her. And gasped.
The face in front of her was broad, with high cheekbones. Bristling blond hair caught the slightly green light, and perfect cerulean eyes peered at her from under matching brows. Thin, bowed lips under a narrow nose parted, and the rumbling and whistling repeated. The firm jaw was peppered with some kind of dirt, rather than stu
Realizing her mouth was open, she snapped her teeth closed, and gripped his arm harder, pulling herself to better face him. He leaned to the side, and as the edge of the cot she was sitting on popped up, he gently propped her against it, placing a small pillow under her neck. Oh, how her ribs ached, but leaning back was better than laying down or holding herself up. Kneeling beside her, the man whistled again, low this time, and soft. Like he was soothing her.
“I’m—” Hoarse, painful coughing. Obviously her voice box wasn’t up to snuff yet. Suddenly she was incredibly thirsty.
The blond man held a small box with a straw for her, and she sipped greedily. A sweet, cool fluid, a soothing taste she’d never known before filled her mouth. Almost fruity, but smooth.
Before she could finish the contents, the man rumbled and pulled the straw from her mouth.
A few more breaths, another test swallow, and she tried to speak again. “I don’t understand you.”
A frown creased the man’s forehead, and his startlingly blue eyes seemed to pierce her with their gaze. An upward swing in pitch for the next whistle.
She shook her head, “I’m sorry.” She held out her hands, to display her helplessness… not that she wasn’t obviously helpless, weak and injured on the cot.
He reached his finger to her chest, and she saw that the dirt was present on his hands too… no, not dirt. Too regular. A tattoo?
His next rumble brought her eyes back to his, and she felt the vibration of his voice from his finger disperse into her sternum. She shivered, not from cold, but in some strange, deep, response to that vibration. Rubbing her arms, she shook her head again.
“Sorry,” she repeated lamely.
The man removed his finger from her chest, but held his hand palm out and flat, as if to tell her to stay there. Yeah, like she’d get far if she tried to go anywhere. He handed her the box with the straw and stepped out of the small room into a hallway beyond, leaving the sliding door ajar.
Sipping her juice more slowly she finally looked around. This wasn’t her cruise ship…
Flashes of lightning, the howl of wind, and a crushing blackness came back to her in a rush, and she cried out, clutching her chest in fear. The storm! The ship! Was she on a rescue vessel?
She glanced around the tiny space, looking for anything familiar. The sparse room looked only vaguely like any of the medical facilities she’d been in, which surprised her. Buttons adorned one slanted panel near her cot, and a screen with a lighted display was positioned over the head of the cot. She couldn’t make out any of the information on it from the angle at which she sat, so she gave up. No IVs, no biohazard buckets or sharps containers. A red button might have been a nurse call button. The lights overhead were the most familiar thing, like fluorescent tube lights but… pulsing, faintly.
In the corner, her braces lay in a tangled heap. Damn, that would be expensive to replace. But she wasn’t at the bottom of the ocean, so she supposed twisted and mangled braces were a fair exchange.
At that moment, the blond came back into the room. Now that she’d had a moment to compose herself… she lost all her composure again, noticing for the first time exactly how big he was. He leaned to the side to place a small package next to the bed, and pulled a tablet out of one of his many pockets. She swallowed reflexively but couldn’t tear her eyes away from the man.
The beauty in the medbay continued to stare at him. He’d never seen anything like her, with her chestnut hair and dark gold skin. After he got her in the ship, he’d ripped off the tangled bindings on her legs, bending the metal in his desperation to get her hooked into the med systems. Her injuries had been severe, and the night had stretched forever as the computer had worked for several hours to flush her lungs and repair the damage. He’d worried, around dawn, if saving her was even a possibility. But the red lights had gone green moments later, and the system announced with its clear chime that she was repaired and would wake soon, outlining hydration and sustenance requirements based on her human physiology.
Without the fear of her imminent death hanging over him, Sven should have begun to worry about the next steps. Instead, he was enamored by the golden sheen of her skin under the lights.
He brushed his free hand over the skin of her leg. Humans were always weird to him, before now. No scales, no fur, no other form of protection over this soft membrane that held their shape. Such a soft, tender, delicate physiological form… and warm. Warmer than the ocean from which they sprang so long ago.
“It does not hurt?” he asked again, because if not, he wanted to keep touching her skin.
She only stared at him.
Of course. She wouldn’t be able to understand him. So, he made a fool of himself and twisted his face up in agony, held his leg, shook his head. Then he gave her raised eyebrows.
Her eyes were wary and dark, but she seemed to understand. She repeated his expression and shook her head. Sven brushed his fingers over the slender joint of her ankle, over the graceful arch of her foot to the tips of her clawless toes.
Her voice was clear, but he couldn’t understand what she said. She touched her side, winced. Then her throat, grimacing. Her eyes were still intent on him.
“Your injuries were severe. You have been unconscious for the night. You will have discomfort, from the water in your lungs, and the bruising, and there may be pain in your legs.” He squeezed her ankle gently. The scarring around it was deep, and the medical program had indicated she would have lasting damage there.
She huffed, spoke in her native tongue, and looked around for something.
Bending, he handed her the bundle of clothes he’d found for her. She was still in the dress she’d been wearing when he pulled her from the water, and the salt had made the material stiff as it dried. She tentatively accepted it with a word, and a nod. She looked around again.
Sven’s tablet dinged, having connected to the translation database he’d accessed. He pulled up the list and held it in front of her. She looked surprised but reached a tentative hand out to take the tablet. When she made eye contact with him, he nodded and let her have it. She scrolled for a while, before handing the tablet back to him. She’d selected the American flag from the list. English, then.
He tapped the command that would send the translation software to his implant, so he could at least understand her. It would take time but should be done by the time she was clean and dressed.
He smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring way. Gods, that she would be damaged permanently made his stomach clench. But he was prepared to help her as best he could. She deserved nothing less.
All the color she had regained since he brought her into the medbay left her face suddenly, and her eyes grew wide. Then they rolled back into her head, and she went limp, collapsing back to the cot awkwardly.
Sven scanned the displays above the cot. Heart rate was a little odd, but he wasn’t a great judge of these things, given she was a human. Everything else seemed to be normal. What had happened?
He reached up to rub his face, then froze. Damn. she had seen his teeth. She had realized he wasn’t like her. She had been frightened… Frightened so much by his appearance, that she passed out.
Shame filled him, and vivid self-loathing made the fringe on his head stand up. What was he thinking, rescuing a human? He had no business doing this. She was not one of his people. She was not supposed to even know about his people.
Leaning over her, Sven tried to settle her more comfortably. No warning chimes from the med program, so he had to assume she would wake eventually. Returning to his position beside the cot, he waited.
When finally the beauty stirred, Sven stepped to the doorway. Holding his hands with his palms out, in the universal/interstellar don’t-be-scared-I-won’t-eat-you position, he kept his eyes soft and his posture as non-threatening as he could. Hard to do, in the tiny room. His broad shoulders filled the doorway, and he probably looked like he consumed all the empty space besides.
When she opened her eyes, they widened again when they found him. Hopefully the translation software would function well enough…
