Eighth Fire (9 page)

LeOmi said, “That’s it. How’re we going to
do this?”

“We can try to nudge the sub free with the
car. What’s the water temperature here?”

The car said, “Water temperature is
seven-three point six degrees Fahrenheit.”

Mark continued, “If that doesn’t work, I
have an oxy-cap, I can give you half and we can go out and try to
clear the hatch enough to get him out.”

“Exit function not available.”

“Well, then what’s the surface water
temperature?”

“Surface water temperature is one-two-four
point nine degrees Fahrenheit.”

“We can fill our pockets with rocks and dive
down. The really hot water is probably just near the surface.”

LeOmi said, “That’s doable. Let’s go.”

“There is another option. I know it’s not
something you’re willing to do, but we could just wait.”

“Are you flippin’ crazy? I’m going to do
what I can to save him.”

“What if he doesn’t need our help? Think
about it. This is a testing day. Maybe this is a test for him and
we’re just interfering. I can’t believe nobody knows he’s
here.”

“You’re stupid. There may be just a one in a
gazillion chance we’re his only hope, but I’m here and I’m able. I
can and I will act. Now you think about this: if we were his only
hope and chose to just sit around and watch him die; could you live
with that? I couldn’t.”

Mark remembered exactly how he felt when he
had refused to let Benrah tell him something and Mr. Diefenderfer
and Mr. Young had been savagely eviscerated as a result.

“I see what you mean. Let’s do it.” He spoke
toward the dashboard. “Is there a manual control for this
vehicle?”

“Manual function available. State
authorization.”

“I don’t have an authorization. This is an
emergency and I need manual control.”

A moment passed before the car said,
“Emergency authorization confirmed.” An arm with two joysticks
emerged from beneath the dash. “Manual control active.”

Mark took the right stick, eased it forward
ever so slightly and the vehicle moved backwards. “This is going to
take a bit to get used to.” He tried nudging the control to the
right and left, getting a feel for how the car responded. Moving
the left joystick backwards and forward controlled the pitch of the
vehicle, roll was controlled by left-right movements and yaw was
controlled by twisting the handle. A thumb wheel controlled the
depth.

“I’ve got it now, let’s give it a try.” He
moved the car toward the nose of the sub.

Ten feet from the sub, an alarm sounded.
“Collision alert! Collision alert! Collision alert!”

Mark said, “Turn that alarm off! I’m doing
this on purpose. This is an emergency.”

The car veered to the right just five feet
before contact.

“Hey! What’s going on? I need to push that
sub.”

“Collision avoidance function active.”

“Disable it!”

“Unable to negate collision avoidance
function.”

LeOmi hit the dash. “What good are you
then?”

Mark said, “Go back to normal control and
take us back to shore.”

“Manual function disabled. Ascending.”

Back on shore, Mark was the first one out.
“Put about twenty pounds of rocks in your pockets and get back in
the car.”

The potato sized stones were plentiful and
hot. Mark had to hold his cloak away from his body to keep from
being burnt. LeOmi didn’t seem to mind how hot the rocks were. She
beat Mark back to the car and looked impatient when he got back
in.

Mark said, “I’m driving. I want to be right
over top of that submarine, but not in the water.”

The car moved out over the water and
stopped. Mark split his oxy-cap with his utility tool and handed
LeOmi her half. “That’ll let us breathe underwater for about twenty
minutes, twenty-five minutes max. Just keep it under your tongue.”
He turned to the dashboard. “Car, I want you to stay right here
until we get back. Do not move for at least an hour. Can you do
that?”

“Standby function active. Timer set for
sixty minutes.”

He turned back to LeOmi and said, “Let’s do
this,” opened his door and was out with a splash.

The first ten feet of descent were extremely
hot, but the water cooled quickly after that. Mark and LeOmi
reached the sub at about the same time and made their way to its
center access area. Small boulders were piled over about ten feet
of the back end of the sub tapering off toward the boat’s
midsection. The conning tower on the overturned sub was completely
surrounded by the rocks. The good news was all they had to do was
roll the rocks away and let them fall down the side of the hill.
Still, Mark didn’t think they could clear enough away in twenty
minutes to make much of a difference.

He felt an overpowering desire to get busy
moving the rocks and to disregard everything else. He wondered why
he felt this way; it didn’t make sense. This wasn’t the way he had
ever felt in any critical situation he could remember in his entire
lifetime.

He moved into position next to LeOmi. They
both started rolling the smaller rocks away and worked together on
the larger ones. It took ten minutes, half their air supply, before
they cleared one side of the inverted tower. They still needed to
clear out enough rubble to be able to reach the hatch, and Mark
thought they might have a chance at making it in time. Neither of
them noticed the larger submarine floating sixty feet behind and
ten feet above them.

Ten minutes later it was obvious to them the
oxy-caps were running out. They had barely cleared a space large
enough to get at the hatch. Mark turned the wheel until it wouldn’t
move anymore. He tried to open it and it wouldn’t budge. He slid
out of the hole they’d made in the rocks and immediately LeOmi went
in. Mark’s oxygen supply was completely exhausted now and he didn’t
know how much longer he could hold his breath. He knew LeOmi had to
be in the same predicament.

He grabbed one of her legs and pulled her
partially out of the hole. As soon as he let go, she pulled herself
back in. He brought to the front of his mind himself holding his
hands at his throat and then swimming for the surface. He knew
she’d pick up his thoughts. He also knew she’d hold out until the
last possible second, or more. She was almost as stubborn as Cap’n
Ben.

Mark started to take his cloak off to shed
the weight in the pockets that held him submerged when a hand on
his shoulder startled him. He turned and saw Gerod wearing a face
mask, grinning at him and holding out an oxy-cap. Mark took the
capsule and Gerod went to LeOmi, tapped her leg and shoved his arm
into the hole with her. Mark felt a wave of relief. A moment later
she backed out and started shoving more rocks away from the
hole.

Gerod grabbed her shoulder and spun her
around to face him. He waved his index finger back and forth in
front of her face while mouthing the word ‘no’ and then pointed to
the other submarine. He motioned for them to follow and started
swimming for the sub’s belly. They shed their cloaks so they could
swim.

The larger sub had an open hatch on the
bottom that opened into a small pool in the bottom of the boat.
Gerod removed his goggles and fins, tossed them onto the deck and
used the built-in ladder to climb out. Mark and LeOmi followed.

Gerod, still grinning, nodded and said,
“Congratulations. You guys did a good job at proving yourselves
worthy to join the rescue team.”

Mark felt a wave of anger and hostility wash
over him. He thought it very strange that he was feeling these
particular emotions; there was no logical reason for it. He knew
this probably had been some kind of test or something and he’d done
well. At least he thought he had. He didn’t answer Gerod.

LeOmi yelled, “How could you do such a
thing! What kind of man are you?”

Gerod rebuked, “Young lady, you need to get
a hold of your emotions. We didn’t cause that accident, the student
in that sub did. We were standing by just in case he couldn’t deal
with the situation. As far as you two go, we were notified to
expect you just after you left The Oasis. Neither of you were ever
in any real danger, although, for a moment there, we thought
somebody was going to have to intervene. LeOmi, you were a bit
reckless. You need to control your emotions a little better and
reason things out a little more. Getting yourself injured or killed
doesn’t do anyone any good.”

The anger Mark felt increased, and then just
left. It felt as if it hadn’t been there at all. He asked, “What
just happened?”

Gerod said, “Just about every year we get a
natural rescuer. It’s unusual to get two, but it’s not unheard of.
They’re usually identified on their first day as a sophomore during
orientation simply because of all the testing going on. There’s
ample opportunity for students to get into situations they perceive
as life threatening, and usually at least one manages to do just
that. We don’t tell students that except in the case of natural
rescuers. Rescue teams are stationed in key areas and students are
closely watched.

“Now, as natural rescuers you’ll be given
tools and equipment you’ll likely need in the future; some of which
you’d have found very useful today.”

Mark said, “I don’t mean that. I mean I just
felt angry enough to fight and it just went away, like turning off
a light bulb.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t discuss that.”

That was an odd answer. It meant Gerod knew
exactly what Mark was talking about and it didn’t take much
thinking for Mark to realize what was going on. Last year he had
wanted to keep some of his abilities secret and Mrs. Shadowitz had
agreed to it. He glanced at LeOmi and saw she was frowning at him.
He hadn’t been guarding his thoughts and he knew everyone in the
sub was reading the thoughts in the front of his mind. He thought
back to last year’s Choosing Event and how the Emerald Captain had
walked up to meet her before she had even entered the gate. Today,
when they had come out of the mountain, two horses were waiting for
them. That confirmed it. LeOmi had been pre-chosen too, and she had
the ability to project her emotions. He looked back at LeOmi and
now she was scowling at him. He thought,
Don’t worry. I won’t
tell anyone, and I’ll try not to think about it.

After a moment Gerod said, “Well, that was
an interesting aside. Now back to what I was saying. Rescuers can
elect to take formal training classes, which are highly
recommended, if for nothing more than just the basics. If you want
to continue in this line of study, advanced classes include things
like jump school, dive school and combat medicine. Accelerated
communications classes are now mandatory for both of you.

“I want both of you to report to the north
balcony on the seventh floor tomorrow at noon to pick up your basic
equipment.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Revenge Stinks

It was approaching noon before Mark and
LeOmi made it back to The Oasis. Most students had finished the
test, but several students were seated here and there, still
marking their booklets. Nick, Chenoa nor Jamal were anywhere to be
seen.

Mark glanced to his right to say goodbye to
LeOmi, but she was walking off toward a booth and without so much
as a see-ya, thanks or drop dead. Mark went to where he had been
sitting to finish the test and his booklet was gone. No one was on
the stage and there were no counselors around.

He went to the nearest student and asked,
“Where is everyone?”

The guy shrugged and kept checking off
answers on his test.

That was essentially what Mark wanted to
know; no other task was scheduled that he was supposed to attend,
but it didn’t give him any idea where his friends might be.

The booth they usually used was empty. He
slid in and rested his elbows on the table. He didn’t realize how
tired he was until he sat down to relax and he was acutely aware of
the scolding such a breach of manners would bring from either of
his parents had they been here, but they weren’t. He folded his
arms on the table and placed his head on them. He was asleep a few
seconds later. A few minutes later Ralph Lawrence and Keith
Richards slid into the booth across from him.

His dream opened with an aerial view
watching the warrior Xocotli come into the area Mark had identified
as some place in the western United States. As usual, the warrior
came in carrying a large sack on his back and a sword shaped
metallic-looking rod in his hand. He departed traveling toward the
east with only the sack on his back.

He awoke to someone shaking his arm and
turned to see Jeremy. He glanced around the booth and saw he was
still alone. He sat back and stretched.

Jeremy grinned and then chuckled. “Sorry, I
couldn’t get to you sooner, and you know you’re not supposed to
sleep in here, right?” He sat a glass of lemonade on the table in
front of Mark.

“I didn’t mean to fall asleep. Do you know
where Chenoa, Jamal and Nick are?”

“I can’t answer questions or give advice
today, remember. I want you to remember that, okay?” He chuckled
again and nodded. “It’s a steadfast rule. Even as much as I might
want to say something, I can’t. Now, would you like to order
something?”

“I think I’ll wait for my friends.”

“They left about an hour and a half
ago.”

“Do you have any idea where they went?”

“I can’t–”

“Answer questions. I know.” Mark thought
they were probably out looking for him since they thought he was
just going for aspirin and he didn’t have a chance to tell them
different. If there were only some way he could communicate with
them. The power to project his thoughts had a range of about fifty
yards and he didn’t have a cell phone, not that they would work
here. It suddenly dawned on him: the present Nick had given
everyone last year.