Read Online The Diving Bundle: Six Diving Universe Novellas by Kristine Kathryn Rusch - Free Book Online Page B

Things have to be piled pretty high to get them stuck in zero-G.
    I’ll wager the Business that Junior’s not stuck, not in the literal, gravitational sense. His suit’s hung up on an edge. He’s losing—he’s lost—environment and oxygen, and he’s probably been dead longer than his father’s been on the skip.
    “Get him out.” Jypé’s voice is so hoarse it sounds like a whisper.
    I look at his face. More blood.
    “I’ll get him,” I say.
    Jypé smiles. Or tries to. And then he closes his eyes, and I fight the urge to slam my fist against his chest. He’s dead and I know it, but some small part of me won’t believe it until Squishy declares him.
    “I’ll get him,” I say again, and this time, it’s not a lie.
     
    ***
     
    Squishy declared him the moment she arrived on the skip. Not that it was hard. He’d already sunken in on himself, and the blood—it wasn’t something I wanted to think about.
    She flew us back. Turtle was in the other skip, and she never came in, just flew back on her own.
    I stayed on the floor, expecting Jypé to rise up and curse me for not going back to the wreck, for not trying, even though we all knew—even though he probably had known—that Junior was dead.
    When we got back to the Business , Squishy took his body to her little medical suite. She’s going to make sure he died from suit failure or lack of oxygen or something that keeps the regulators away from us.
    Who knows what the hell he actually died of. Panic? Fear? Stupidity?—or maybe that’s what I’m doomed for. Hell, I let a man dive with his son, even though I’d ordered all of my teams to abandon a downed man.
    Who can abandon his own kid anyway?
    And who listens to me?
    Not even me.
    My quarters seem too small, the Business seems too big, and I don’t want to go anywhere because everyone’ll look at me, with an I-told-you-so followed by a let’s-hang-it-up.
    And I don’t really blame them. Death’s the hardest part. It’s what we flirt with in deep-dives.
    We claim that flirting is partly love.
    I close my eyes and lean back on my bunk but all I see are digital readouts. Seconds moving so slowly they seem like days. The spaces between time. If only we can capture that—the space between moments.
    If only.
    I shake my head, wondering how I can pretend I have no regrets.
     
    ***
     
    When I come out of my quarters, Turtle and Karl are already watching the vids from Jypé’s suit. They’re sitting in the lounge, their faces serious.
    As I step inside, Turtle says, “They found the heart.”
    It takes me a minute to understand her, then I remember what Jypé said. They were in the cockpit, the heart, the place we might find the stealth tech.
    He was stuck there. Like the probe?
    I shudder in spite of myself.
    “Is the event on the vid?” I ask.
    “Haven’t got that far.” Turtle shuts off the screens. “Squishy’s gone.”
    “Gone?” I shake my head just a little. Words aren’t processing well. I’m having a reaction. I recognize it: I’ve had it before when I’ve lost crew.
    “She took the second skip, and left. We didn’t even notice until I went to find her.” Turtle sighs. “She’s gone.”
    “Jypé too?” I ask.
    She nods.
    I close my eyes. The mission ends, then. Squishy’ll go to the authorities and report us. She’s gonna tell them about the wreck and the accident and Junior’s death. She’s gonna show them Jypé, whom I haven’t reported yet because I didn’t want anyone to find our position, and the authorities’ll come here—whatever authorities have jurisdiction over this area—and confiscate the wreck.
    At best, we’ll get a slap, and I’ll have a citation on my record.
    At worst, I’ll—maybe we’ll—face charges for some form of reckless homicide.
    “We can leave,” Karl says.
    I nod. “She’ll report the Business . They’ll know who to look for.”
    “If you sell the ship—”
    “And what?” I ask. “Not buy another? That’ll keep us