Page 154 of Tides of Fire
January 24, 5:38P.M.NZDT
Six miles under the Pacific Ocean
An hour after entering the fissure, theQianliyanneared the top.
Daiyu sweated profusely. The humidity in the sphere had grown severe. She had dumped most of her batteries to hasten her ascent. To conserve what was left, she had shut down circulation, utilizing only the CO2scrubbers.
The space also reeked from Yang’s body, tainting the heavy air. She tasted his bile on her tongue. It filled her nose. She longed for fresh air.
Through the acoustic phones, she listened as the grinding of rock slowly ebbed. The cliffs had closed to within a meter of either side. Much of her perspiration was not due to the humidity, but from her anxious attempts to keep her ascent fixed between those walls. She had to constantly tweak the thrusters to guide her climb, avoiding outcroppings and falling boulders.
She risked a glance down to check her sonar screen.
Almost there.
A harder tremor shook theQianliyan. The walls surged toward her, closing half the distance.
She grimaced and swore.
I will not die down here, she promised herself for the hundredth time.
She concentrated on the cliffs. The sonar screen showed a clear ride to the top. She prayed for more speed, trying to will it so.
Only a hundred meters to go.
She stared up, hoping to see the exit. But the seas remained dark. Somewhere up there was a glowing forest of coral. To her, it was a mirror of the aurora borealis that heralded her bright future. She searched for any telltale sign of it.
The grumbling of the earth dimmed in her phones. She prayed it meant the quake was finally coming to an end.
As she strained to listen, a new noise rose. It was a low-frequency roaring, a steady hum that sounded angry. She squinted upward, trying to discern where it was coming from, what it could be.
The perpetual blackness above slowly brightened to a lighter gray. She swore she could see swirling hues at the edges.
My aurora...
Anxious to confirm this, she switched off theQianliyan’s exterior lamps. The world closed around the vehicle as it swept upward.
I was right.
She smiled as the halo of brilliance grew.
I’m coming.
Then the earth shook with another violent tremor. TheQianliyanjolted hard, striking one of the cliffs. She was thrown to the side. She switched the exterior lamps back on.
The walls were pinched tighter now.
The vehicle rebounded off the opposite wall. She fought the thrusters, but theQianliyanrattled back and forth. She was tossed about in her seat. Something got damaged. The exterior lamps snuffed out, leaving only the interior lights. The CO2scrubbers died with a sharp grinding whine.
A moment of claustrophobic panic flushed through her.
She held her breath until the tremor settled. She stared up at the aurora borealis shining even brighter now.
Less than five meters away.
TheQianliyanswept upward.
Four...