Chapter 21

Twenty-One

Mira

They moved through a lot of different caverns in the next week or so. Byte had been very helpful in that. Mira had fixed its projector with parts from one of the caves, so the droid could then use the projection mapping to show all the other caves that were nearby. It had taken a few tweaks and fiddles, but eventually she figured out the old droid system.

Byte did not appreciate her poking or prodding. It took many long hours until they could see the droid’s journey projected onto the surrounding stone walls. And then they would move once they found the next cave that should be open.

They were always difficult to find, of course. Byte didn’t like to show them the ones that were closest, apparently because of the dangers that it kept repeating.

“Not that one,” Byte would say, flicking through its memory with a very annoyed clank. “It’s too deep. Too far. Too dangerous.”

Even Mira was ready to throw the damn thing into the water by the end of it. But Arges remained a never ending well of patience. He asked the robot questions, even though it couldn’t really understand him. But she had noticed that the robot was beginning to speak back to him. Or at the very least, respond like it knew what he was asking.

At least, mostly. They muttered with each other by the end of the week, leaving her out of the conversation that would lead them to the next place.

She wasn’t a diver. And she certainly wasn’t a scientist who had led expeditions or knew the ocean floor like the back of her hand. But she was the one who had made Byte capable of even showing them where it had been. So clearly, she should be part of these conversations.

Finally, she’d had enough. In the fourth cavern, one that was little more than rock rubble and only two feet of space beside the water, she’d had enough.

“Byte, there has to be a better spot than just the caves.” Mira tapped her foot against the ground, looking at the water, then the walls of rock between them and the surface. “There were expedition pods in the old days, weren’t there?”

“They’ve all been destroyed by the undines.”

“That’s impossible. There were hundreds sent out into the ocean. There have to be more of them.”

“None.” Byte flicked to another cavern it thought might be habitable. This one looked even worse than the one they were standing in. “This one you could put your feet up out of the water, but that would be all the room available.”

“It has not escaped my notice, droid, that these caverns are getting smaller and smaller.” Mira planted her hands on her hips and glared down at the little box. “I assume you have some ulterior motive for these choices.”

“None at all.” Its little metallic arms came around and pressed against the box like it was holding a belly. “I just want you to remember that there are very limited options. We could, perhaps, return to the original cave and then continue in the same order.”

Arges made some song-like noise, which clearly Byte understood. The undine floated in the water much closer to them than usual. His eyes followed her movements a little too much, aware of her in every area of this cave.

Byte chittered, some gears grinding deep inside its belly before it sighed. “I understand the other undines know where those caverns are. But you are supposed to be learning about the humans, are you not? Surely there is only the one who wants to attack Mira. And one is very easy to defend against.”

“Wait a minute.” Mira held up her hand for silence, even though both the droid and undine staunchly refused to look at her. “What do you mean, he’s supposed to be learning from me?”

Neither of them replied. But she knew that look on Arges’s face. He wanted to punt the little droid into the ocean and get rid of it for good.

“Arges,” she said, waiting for him to look at her. “What does Byte mean? What information do you need from me?”

He just glared at the droid like it was the problem. Obviously he wanted something from her. That wasn’t hard to guess. After all, he hadn’t kidnapped her because he wanted to have a human friend, even though she wouldn’t mind if that was the real story.

But she’d forgotten about it. Maybe she’d just tricked herself into thinking that he wanted her to be around him. Just because she was... Mira.

Not that anyone had ever wanted that before. It wasn’t surprising that an undine felt the same. She was just one person in a very large group of people who had been living underneath the ocean for far too long.

The flare of disappointment made her hands tingle again. Rotating her wrists to get rid of the feelings, she winced as pain flared at the movement. She’d been awfully creaky lately. Even her joints ached if she got too cold, but she wasn’t necessarily feeling like she was getting ill. She just... wasn’t herself. That was all.

Maybe it was the fear of what might happen under the ocean. She was so close to the water now, even the slightest wave made her jolt awake, certain that something was reaching for her.

They’d even swum by a giant squid who had an eye the size of a dinner plate. She refused to see one of those on her own without Arges to bare his teeth at it and watch as it slowly drifted away.

Byte noticed her movements. It clicked, shifting the box to look at her a little more clearly. “Are you feeling all right?”

Now they were both staring at her again, and god damn it. This wasn’t about her! She was fine, just a little sore from all the moving around, and they would not change the subject.

“I’m fine,” she snapped, pointing at the droid, then the undine. “You know far more than you’re letting on. And you are not telling me everything which I don’t appreciate. I should be allowed to help with these decisions! We wouldn’t even be able to see what Byte has seen without me.”

Arges said something, and that made her even more frustrated. She wanted to understand him. She didn’t want to feel like this delicate little pet he had to keep moving around the ocean because he didn’t know where she would be best suited to live.

“This is ridiculous,” she snarled. “Everything about this is ridiculous! Why don’t the two of you pick where we’re going, then? Just like always. And I’ll stand here, staring at the wall to give you privacy.”

She stomped the two steps away from them that she could, crossed her arms over her chest, and stared at the stones.

Yes, it was childish.

She knew she was overreacting, and they had every right to laugh at her antics. But for fuck’s sake, she was a grown ass woman, and she just wanted to be alone for a few seconds. But she couldn’t get away from these two for even enough time to pee by herself!

Cheeks flaming, heart racing in her chest with anxiety and anger, she bit her lip and tried very hard not to cry. This was hard. That was the thought she eventually landed on. All of this was really hard.

She was hungry. Exhausted. Needed something other than fucking fish to eat, because she was so god damned tired of fish and mussels. Her stomach constantly clenched for something fibrous, and that had made even more embarrassing moments between herself, the undine, and the droid that she couldn’t avoid.

She missed her bed, and not feeling wet all the time, and not having her fingers and toes peeling because she spent so much time in the water. She wanted a fucking hairbrush.

Anything that would remind her she wasn’t totally buried underneath the sea and that she wasn’t supposed to be here.

It just... sucked.

Everything about this sucked right now, and she was so fucking tired.

“Mira?” Byte asked. “Would this suffice?”

“I’m sure it’s fine,” she bit out, before grumbling, “Everything so far has been just fine.”

Why was she acting like this? She wanted to get ahold of herself and be better than this. Nothing was going her way, and that was okay. She would make it. She would survive this like she had survived everything else, because that was what she did. Survived. No matter what the cost.

A cold, wet hand slid around her ankle and gave it a little squeeze.

Even though she had to bite the inside of her lip hard so she didn’t cry, she still looked down at Arges.

He lifted a hand to his mouth, as if he thought she was angry because she was hungry. Wasn’t that just like a man to think food would fix her bad mood? Like it had nothing to do with him stealing her away from her home and then sticking her in cold, damp caves for weeks on end? She was going to die like this.

But she nodded, so she didn’t have to say any of that. So he wouldn’t think she was losing her mind in the darkness, like she was. And maybe a little because she wasn’t ready to talk about it yet.

He sank underneath the water, and the blue light of his body disappeared out of sight. He’d taken to lighting up every time he saw her, probably so she could see him easier in the water and she knew that was for her benefit, but still it...

“Ugh,” she muttered, sinking onto her bottom and sitting on the ground finally. “This sucks.”

Byte muttered something before saying, “Please do not take this the wrong way, Miss Mira. But when was the last time you had your menstrual cycle?”

Fucking... No, the droid wasn’t masculine in any nature. It wasn’t feminine either. The droid was merely stating the obvious, rather than insulting her emotional state because she was female.

Her brain stuttered, and she thought maybe this was the right time. Roughly. “I don’t even know how long I’ve been missing.”

“Perhaps you should check.”

“Exactly how do you expect me to do that? Do you want me to shove my hand down the wetsuit and show you the blood?”

Byte rocked side to side. “I don’t need to see it, thank you very much. My function is not in healing.”

Muttering under her breath how all droids must have been created by men, and it was very clear how inappropriate that was, she shoved her hand underneath her wetsuit. Maybe if she embarrassed the small droid, it would leave her alone. Because this was inappropriate to even ask someone to... to...

Her fingers came out coated with blood.

“Fuck me,” she hissed. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

She had literally no options here. Sitting in a bubble of her own blood that was just... pushed around through her wetsuit wasn’t an option. But there was nothing else for her to wear. There was a blanket in the original cave, but they weren’t anywhere near that as far as she knew. So that meant she had to sit in her own blood until Arges came back, and who knew when he was going to get back?

This sucked.

This royally. Fucking. Sucked.

“Mira?” Byte inquired.

“I’m fine,” she said, which apparently was her mantra these days. “Just bleeding out of my vagina and into my wetsuit. It’s fine.”

She leaned forward to wash her hands off, only to freeze when Byte shrieked, “Don’t do that!”

“Why?”

“We are very near the disphotic zone. You are lucky to even withstand the pressure down here, but there are plenty of sea creatures who will smell that blood and there is nowhere for you to hide. If a giant squid, or whale, or shark decides they are interested in the scent of your blood, where will you go?” Byte rattled again, very upset about this. “Do not let that drip into the water.”

Right. She had a feeling this might be one of its dramatic moments, but also didn’t want to risk it. So. Shit.

Holding her hand away from her body, she stared at the blood and tried hard not to cry now. “So what do I do?”

“Just let it dry and then wipe it off. I don’t know how humans work.”

So she was just supposed to... sit here? With period blood on her fingers and... “Nothing could make this day better,” she muttered, flopping awkwardly onto her back with her hand in the air.

“Well, I am pleased to report the dialect of the People of Water is at seventy-two percent.”

Seventy... She sat straight up, ignoring her hand now. “Seventy two?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll take my damn chances with that.” She staggered to her feet and then walked over to Byte. She grabbed the small robot with her clean hand and set it on a much higher rock. “Give me the translation chip.”

“There are a lot of their conversations that you will not understand. Particularly the nuances of their languages, their gods, and many other uncertainties. It is best if I continue to listen and provide you with a complete translator first before I⁠—”

“Nope,” Mira interrupted. “I can’t stand not understanding him anymore. This would all be so much easier if we could just talk. I fully understand the risks of implanting a translation chip that does not have the complete language, but languages are always growing and evolving. I’m sure there are things I’ve even said to you that you don’t understand.”

Byte grumbled. A little tinny noise echoed inside its box before it muttered, “There have been a few things, but I have updated my database accordingly and now I understand the language fully again.”

“Then you will continue to update your database the more we are around the undine. But for now, I want that chip in my head so I can at the very least understand where he is taking us and why.” She held out her hand expectantly. “Don’t make me use protocol, Byte. I will order you to do it.”

It grumbled again, but this time, she heard the slight whine of a translator chip being created. It might be the last one that the robot had, in which case, she would be stuck not knowing the entire language for the rest of her life. But still.

Seventy-two percent was a lot of a language to know.

The little drawer on the side popped open and there it was. Her salvation and perhaps the end of how she saw everything. It didn’t matter. Now she could talk to him. She could understand what the fuck was going on.

And that would have to be enough.

She wasted no time tapping it against the side of her head. The blinding pain seared through her skull. Simultaneously the worst headache she’d ever had mixed with the sensation of someone taking a fork to her brain and twirling. But it didn’t matter. She’d endured this before.

Mira opened her eyes a few moments later. She’d fallen onto her knees, clutching her head between her hands as if trying to contain the feelings rolling around in there.

It was over.

“Really,” Byte muttered. “You humans and your dramatics.”

“It’s not exactly comfortable, you know.”

“Endure it. You’re learning a new language in seconds. Of course your brain is going to complain.”

She could have argued. She could have wallowed in the shitty feeling of her period and the knowledge that she was going to keep bleeding into her wetsuit for the foreseeable future.

Instead, she laid down on her back and stared up at the ceiling, knowing that she’d be able to understand him for the first time. It wouldn’t sound like a song when he popped his head back up. She could know what he was saying in response to literally everything she said.

And damn. That felt good.