The Monster Missions Read online

  The minutes stretched on, and the officers around us shifted uncomfortably, casting nervous glances from the Britannica to the deserted deck and back again. The sun was just starting to turn the horizon to a hazy pink when the two captains reemerged. I searched Captain Brown’s face for some clue about what exactly was going on, but his stern expression didn’t give anything away.

  “Change of plans,” he told the officers surrounding us. “These two will not be going to the work ship after all. Captain Reese has asked to bring them on as part of her crew.”

  “But their debt,” one of the officers protested.

  “Will be repaid by the Britannica,” Captain Reese said, turning to face us. “That is, if you two agree to join us.” Garth garbled a reply around his gag that was far from being understandable, and Captain Brown motioned for the officers to take off our gags.

  “What exactly does the Britannica do?” Garth said.

  “We unfortunately don’t have time to discuss that,” Captain Brown said sharply. “You either agree to go with Captain Reese and get your explanations later, or we will continue with our plan to turn you over to the work ship. You need to decide now.”

  His words hung in the cool morning air, and I glanced over at Garth, who appeared just as confused and shell-shocked as I felt. I looked from this strange new captain to the officers on either side of me and back again and realized I was being given a choice. Granted, it wasn’t an exceptionally good choice, but for the very first time, I was going to get to have a say in what direction my life took.

  I flexed my hands against the hard metal of the cuffs as I felt fear and uncertainty give my heart a painful squeeze. It was the exact same feeling I always got right before I jumped off the Atlas into the endless blue of the ocean on a dive. Maybe leaping into the unknown always felt like that, I reasoned as I lifted my chin to look Captain Reese in the eye. Neither of my options allowed me to stay with my family, but even though I had no idea what the Britannica did, it had to be better than a work ship.

  “I’ll go,” I said, glancing over at Garth, who nodded.

  “Very good,” Captain Reese said, motioning for us to head for the ladder. “Let’s be off, then. I’d like to disembark before the rest of the ship wakes up, and I know Captain Brown is anxious for us to be on our way as well.” I felt the loosening of the cuffs as they were unlocked, and I rubbed at the raw skin around my wrists.

  “Are we really doing this?” Garth whispered in my ear.

  “Do you really want to go to a work ship?” I whispered back.

  “Not even a little bit,” he admitted. The red-haired girl headed down the ladder first, and Garth followed. I hesitated a second to look back across the deck of the Atlas at the small cluster of officers and Captain Brown, who were all watching us with wary and slightly confused expressions, and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm myself. Ever since that monster had emerged yesterday, my life had felt like it was in free fall, and somehow descending the ladder into the unknown felt like the biggest plunge yet. Captain Reese smiled reassuringly and motioned for me to get on with it, so I did, moving hand over hand down the thick rope ladder.

  The girl reached out to grab my elbow to steady me as my feet hit the rock-hard surface of the submarine, and I turned to see Garth already disappearing down the circular hatch in the center of the sub. Captain Reese touched down a moment later, and the ladder was quickly zipped back up into the Atlas. A moment later the ship lurched, and I heard the faint call of Captain Brown ordering the men to pull this sail and that rigging to get the ship moving. I felt a gentle hand between my shoulder blades and allowed Captain Reese to guide me over to the hatch. I glanced down, surprised to see a narrow spiral staircase where I’d expected a ladder, and, with one last glance at the Atlas, I headed down.

  I made it to the bottom of the stairs and watched numbly as two adult crew members worked to secure the circular entrance. For half a second, I debated racing back up the stairs and telling them to let me out, that I’d changed my mind, but I knew that wasn’t an option. I caught one last glimpse of the sunrise-pink sky before it was wedged out by the thick metal hatch, and we were ready to dive.

  “Take a deep breath,” said a voice to my right, and I turned to see the redheaded girl smiling brightly at us. “People panic less when they remember to breathe,” she said. I made an effort to wipe away the tears I hadn’t even realized were running down my cheeks, but she swatted my hand away and offered us each a small towel to mop our faces with. “Sorry,” the girl said, stepping forward to shake my hand and then Garth’s so hard and enthusiastically I felt my knuckles pop. “I’m Kate,” she said. I nodded, noting for the first time what she was wearing. While Garth and I were still sporting the patched and faded wet suits we’d dived in the day before, Kate was wearing tight-fitting black pants with aqua rubber boots that went up to her knees and matched the Britannica’s color perfectly. On top she was wearing a loose-fitting white shirt that accentuated a face that was so pale I could see the veins crisscrossing beneath it like thin blue spiderwebs. The only bright spot of color on her besides her boots were her eyes, which were emerald green and a tad too large for her face.

  “I’m Berkley,” I said automatically. “This is Garth.”

  “Good, you’ve met Kate already,” Captain Reese said, coming up to clap a welcoming hand on each of our shoulders. “She’s part of your training unit.”

  “Training unit?” I said. “Training unit for what?”

  Captain Reese smiled reassuringly. “All will be explained soon, I promise. I know this is sudden and a lot to take in.”

  “Don’t worry,” Kate said. “Everyone is a mess when they come aboard for the first time. Why wouldn’t you be? Most people just cry, but there are the special few who puke, too.”

  “What she’s failing to mention is that she’s one of the special few who puked,” said a voice behind us, and we turned to see a boy come around the corner.

  “Thanks,” Kate said, making a face at him. “They could have lived without that particular bit of information.”

  “They could have,” the boy agreed, “but why would they want to?” He turned to face us, his movements somewhat jerky and stilted.

  “And this,” Captain Reese said, “is Max. He’s a second-year recruit from the Iberian.” Max stepped forward and held out a hand for us to shake. He had dark brown hair, which he wore slicked to the side, and light brown skin with a sallow look to it, like he hadn’t seen the sun in years. Which, I realized, he might not have. The thought was jarring, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Garth’s face twitch.

  “You two take charge of the new recruits while we get submerged,” Captain Reese ordered. “Captain Brown was very clear that we need to be out of sight as quickly as possible.” She turned to us. “Don’t worry, you’re in good hands.” With that she turned and disappeared around the corner. Max looked us up and down, and I noticed that he’d lost the easy smile he’d given us just moments before. His face seemed harder now as his dark eyes studied us. He sniffed. “I bet these two don’t last a week.”

  Kate rolled her eyes at Max. “Ignore him,” she advised. “I do. You’ll definitely make it at least two. Now follow me. Captain Reese lets new recruits sit front and center on their first submersion, and you’re not going to want to miss it.” She whirled and headed after Captain Reese.

  “Was she joking?” Garth whispered in my ear.

  “I hope so,” I said, and hurried to follow Kate. We rounded the corner, and I stopped so fast that Garth collided with my back.

  “Whoa,” he said, peering around me as we caught our first glimpse of the Britannica. I’d expected the interior of the submarine to feel claustrophobic, with walls pressing in on all sides and nothing but narrow hallways. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The inside of the Britannica was huge and almost airy, with a wide-open chamber surrounded by three curved walls of glass that looked directly out into the ocean. The top foot or so of the glas
s was above sea level, and between the constant roll of the waves I could just make out the retreating outline of the Atlas. The sight made my stomach flop sickeningly, and I forced myself to look away. Situated around the rest of the space were different control centers, most of which displayed computer screens full of data I couldn’t hope to understand.

  “You might want to close your mouths,” Max said as he maneuvered himself around where we stood frozen in slack-jawed amazement. “Everyone knows you’re the newbies, but you don’t have to advertise it by walking around like a whale shark trying to trap plankton.”

  “Solid point,” Garth said, his jaw coming together with an audible click.

  “This is the main hub of the Britannica,” Kate said. “It’s where we not only steer the sub but also conduct most of our research.”

  “What kind of research?” I asked.

  “These two don’t even know what we do here?” Max said, his eyebrows shooting up in amazement. “Forget a week—these guys will be crying to go back to their ship in a day.”

  Kate shot him a look and then turned to us. “We research lots of things,” she said.

  “Sea monsters,” Max said. “The Britannica hunts and researches sea monsters.”

  “Smooth,” Kate said, rolling her eyes in exasperation.

  “I’m not trying to be smooth,” Max said. “I’m trying to be honest. They should know what they’re getting into while they still have the chance to turn back. If they swim for it, they could make it back to that rust bucket of a ship.”

  “Sea monsters,” I repeated, turning to look at Kate to make sure that Max wasn’t just messing with us.

  She shrugged almost apologetically. “It’s kind of weird that you didn’t know the details before you signed on. I mean, when I was recruited, I got the whole spiel from Captain Reese, and then my parents and I made the decision together, but from the, um, circumstances we found you guys in, I’m guessing there wasn’t time for that.”

  “What circumstances?” Max said.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Kate said, arching an eyebrow at him.

  “Whatever,” Max said, turning away from us. “Get them in their seats. We’re about to submerge.”

  “Is it too late to choose the work ship?” Garth whispered in my ear, and I swallowed hard.

  “I think so,” I said as I looked at the Britannica with fresh eyes. Sea monsters, this thing was designed to hunt sea monsters, and I’d apparently just signed up to be part of its crew. A large school of fish chose that moment to swim so close to the glass that a few of them brushed up against it.

  “Glass doesn’t seem like, um, a safe choice,” I said, momentarily distracted.

  “That is no ordinary glass,” Kate said with evident pride. “It’s built to withstand impacts higher than any metal, and pressure up to a thousand feet. It’s safer than most metals too, especially with the way salt wears away at things.”

  “We know all about the damage salt can do,” I said dryly. That wear and tear was what my dad and brother battled day in and day out as they worked to keep the Atlas running despite the ocean’s attempt to destroy it.

  “Gosh, Kate,” Max said, rolling his eyes. “You sound like a walking, talking instruction manual, only more chipper and obnoxious.”

  “Thanks,” Kate said, flashing him a grin that showed all her teeth. Max groaned and shouldered past us into the room. He jerked his head hello to a few of the people who were busy at the various workstations, and for the first time my attention focused on the crew members. Most of them were adults, but there were a few teenagers in the group who looked about Wallace’s age. We were by far the youngest of the lot, and I noticed that while the crew varied in age and skin color, they all had the same sallow cast to their skin that made it clear that most of their time was spent away from the sun. A few of them turned to inspect us, but for the most part we were ignored as they prepared the submarine to dive.

  Thinking of my sixteen-year-old brother made me focus more on the handful of teenagers working alongside the adult crew. Like Wallace, they were all pretty lean and muscular, but on the whole they were about six inches shorter than my gangly sibling, and I had the disconcerting thought that humans might be a lot like plants, and didn’t grow very well without the sun.

  Kate noticed my glance and flapped a hand dismissively at the crew. “No worries,” she said. “You’ll meet the gang eventually. There are only about twenty-five crew members on board, including the recruits, and we are kind of like a very odd, mismatched family. You’ll learn to love it.”

  “So,” Garth said, glancing around, “there are no actual families on board?”

  Kate shook her head. “Nope. Life on a submarine, especially one like ours, isn’t exactly a great fit for normal family life. The Britannica recruits individuals who show a certain . . . let’s say knack for what we do, and asks them to join. You two are actually kind of rare. I can’t remember if we’ve ever taken two people from the same ship before. But come on—we need to go snag a seat or someone will give us a lecture.”

  With that she grabbed us by the arms and guided us over to a long, narrow bench located along the back wall of the hub. Max was already seated, one foot propped up on the bench. He moved it reluctantly, and I sat down next to him with an equal amount of reluctance. If Kate was an overly chipper instruction manual, this kid was the human equivalent of a door slamming in your face. If there really were only twenty-five other crew members, though, I was going to have to figure out how to get along with him. I made a mental note to ask Kate why he already hated us and sat with my back against the cool metal of the sub to watch the Britannica’s swirl of activity.

  The crew was bustling here and there, flipping switches and calling out commands and bits of information as they went about the business of submerging.

  “You’ll eventually learn how to orchestrate a submersion,” Kate said in my ear. “It’s part of your training.” I nodded numbly, still not quite sure how I felt about all this. Max was wrong: Garth and I couldn’t turn back. I wondered if this whole thing would feel so unsettling if like Kate I’d been able to talk over the decision with my dad. Would my heart still feel like it was stuck somewhere in the back of my throat if I’d had a chance to hug him and Wallace goodbye?

  I took a deep breath and pushed the thought away as I reminded myself that I hadn’t had the option to say goodbye. I’d been stuck between a rock and a hard place, and I’d chosen the unknown hard place instead of the known rock. Now I was going to have to make the best of it. It was what my dad would have told me to do, and I owed it to Garth to put on a brave face. It was kind of my fault he was in this mess, after all.

  Despite my mental pep talk, it still felt like I’d left a part of my heart on board the Atlas. I kept that thought to myself, my lips pressed tightly together, as I watched. I found my eyes drawn to Captain Reese. She was standing in the middle of things like the calm in the center of a hurricane. She gave an order here, or adjusted something there, and she did it all with an easy smile on her face.

  Kate must have noticed my gaze, because she leaned in again. “Captain Reese is the real deal,” she said. “She’s one of the only female submarine captains in the world, and she’s the best. When Captain Harrison stepped down, the vote was unanimous to elect Captain Reese as his successor. She’s a super-skilled diver, too, almost always takes the lead on sea-monster research expeditions, and she single-handedly saved half the crew from a jörmungandr about three months back.”

  “A jörmungandr?” I said, turning to look at her. “What’s that?”

  Kate shuddered and shook her head. “You really don’t want to know. But you’ll find out soon enough once they show you the monster map.”

  “The monster map?” I realized that all I’d done since boarding the Britannica was repeat what Kate said like a half-wit. Kate didn’t seem to mind or notice, but just nodded and leaned around me to where Max slouched, his arms crossed over his chest.

>   “Max,” she called. “The monster map is Weaver’s first lesson for recruits, right?”

  He nodded, not even bothering to look our direction.

  “Don’t mind him,” Kate said, noticing my worried glance. “He’s not a fan of new recruits.”

  Max snorted and pushed to his feet to walk over to one of the teenagers standing behind a large control panel. We watched him walk away, and I noticed that he had a very distinctive limp, like his right leg didn’t quite work right.

  “Why doesn’t he like recruits?” Garth said.

  “He just doesn’t,” Kate said, a hair too quickly. She wasn’t telling us something, and that thought gave me an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.

  “Who’s Weaver?” Garth asked.

  “He’s one of the researchers, and the professor for us recruits. You’re going to love him,” Kate said. “Weaver’s weird. But in the best possible way.”

  “I like weird,” Garth said.

  “That’s good,” said Kate. Something suddenly landed in my lap with a heavy thud, and I jumped in surprise, barely stifling a scream. The fat, furry something was doing very uncoordinated circles on top of my legs in an apparent attempt to get comfortable. Its body was small and stocky, with legs that bowed out a bit, and it had a smashed-in, wrinkled face and large ears that stood straight up.

  “Is that a pig?” Garth said, leaning over to get a closer look at the thing.

  “How should I know?” I said as I held my hands up and leaned as far back as I could in the confined space. The thing was making an odd snuffling sound, and I was worried that it might bite.

  “That’s just Tank,” Kate said.

  “What’s a tank?” Garth asked.

  “Tank is a dog,” Kate said with a snort. “A French bulldog, actually, and he’s kind of a mascot on board the Britannica.”