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The two structures are gigantic, much larger than other agricultural domes. One is partially flooded, for aquatic mammals. The other is a land-based one. Through the side of the glass, I can see some sort of poultry pecking at a small school of sardines that have gotten too close to the glass.
Nico pushes at me. “Move your arm.”
“Here.” Eros hands me two bags containing the personal cloaking devices. At least we know the chances of someone else having a set of discs are minimal. Not when we have three sets and Atlas has one of the discs of the fourth, making it impossible for it to function. I pass a bag back to Nico, moving my elbow. That didn’t have to be sitting in his ribcage, after all.
“Ready?” Eros asks. He’s a shimmer in the seat next to us.
“Stealth is good, but I want him to know who is killing him.”
I glance down, and Nico is still visible. “Yes, but think of the terror he will have when you turn off the cloaking device before you do it.”
Eros turns his cloaking off. “This is a mission. You’re both going to leave emotion out of it. We’re here to find out what Jupiter knows. He might not have anything to do with Alder’s attack. Being the brother of a murderer doesn’t make you a murderer.” Eros looks in my direction, and his eyebrows are raised. “And just so we understand how things are going to go in there, I’m the commander now. This is my wheelhouse. What I’ve done for a decade. We’re not just going in there and blowing shit up.”
I feel Nico twitch under me.
“If we don’t have leadership, someone is going to get hurt and Sunshine is going to be mad. So I need you two to agree with me. I’m in charge.”
“We know what we’re doing,” I say.
“No, you fucking don’t. You know how to blow Vikings out of the water. This is different. Eros is in charge. Say it with me now.”
“I’m not repeating after you,” Nico grunts.
“Then I’m going to turn this solo right around.”
“You’re in charge,” I say, pushing my elbow back into Nico’s stomach.
“You’re in charge.” Nico snaps his cloaking device on.
“Okay, now we’re ready. We’ll scout around the outside of the domes. I’ll take the land mammal one. Holter, you’ve got the sea mammal, and Nico, take the shark cages. We’ll meet back here in ten. No telepathy or communication unless it’s an emergency.”
“Copy,” Nico and I say, and Eros opens the top of the solo, letting us shift and swim out. He uses a remote to close it, and the solo vanishes into the shadows.
I swim between the two domes. As soon as I do, a pod of dolphins inside one dome come over to me. I’m not invisible to them at all, not with their echolocation. In fact, I think they’re more interested in me because they can’t see me. I kick harder, going around the structure, leaving the land mammal one behind. The dolphins trail behind me, so I stop, getting close to the glass before the dolphins catch up, and peer inside. It’s a training ring. There are targets and hoops. But no Jupiter or other trainers. I clear around the other side, back to near where we left the solo. The one thing we all have in common is the ability to completely shut our minds from leaking thoughts out around us. Without a signal, I’ll have no idea that any of them are back. But then I see a shimmer by the land building.
I head for it, keeping my hands in front of my body to keep from swimming into whomever it is. My hand lands on one of them. A single click lets me know it’s Nico. It’s one of the codes we used against the Vikings. I click back.
The door to the airlock on the side of the dome opens. I swim to it, keeping my hands out in front of me. Still, I bump into Nico’s fluke twice and he bumps back. Maybe cloaking wouldn’t be great for military purposes. You have to swim a lot slower to keep from running into those around you.
The airlock closes behind us, and a hand lands on my chest. Definitely Eros. Nico doesn’t touch anyone willingly—anyone but Belle, of course. We shift out of fluke and step into the next airlock and then out into the land dome. There’s a small fence holding back the livestock from the airlock area. There’s also a large pile of manure on the concrete. I’d forgotten how different it is in here, how the smells are overpowering, both the clean scent of grass and dirt and the deep scent of land animals.
There’s a shack off to the side, an actual shack made from pallets, scrap wood wrapped in canvas bags. Eros flicks his device off and uses sign language to tell us to move to either side of the door. He turns it back on. The door opens, and a blast comes through the opening. There’s no thud, no shimmer on the ground. I’ve got my long-handled trident in my hand. It’s got blast capabilities, but I prefer using it in hand-to-hand combat. I can only see half of the little space. It’s dark but full of rubble. The end of a cot pokes into the side of my vision. There’s another blast, this time from either Nico or Eros, and a male goes flying onto the cot. It breaks. His trident flies to the side of the room. I don’t see any signs of injury on him. Eros must have used an air blast.
“Poseidon, help me, what’s going on?” He’s older, a long gray braid down his back, hair randomly sticking out of it. His crossbody sack is caught up around his neck. Eros hits his cloaking device, and the strap of the satchel isn’t caught around the male’s neck, it’s being held around his neck. He’s wearing a tunic and nothing else, like someone who shifts a lot during the day.
“Do you have any other weapons on you?” Nico barks.
“No.” His voice has a slight tremble. “What do you want?”
Eros lifts the side of the male’s tunic and runs his hand down his calf. He pulls out a sheathed knife hidden there. “And what’s this?” Eros tosses it into the corner of the room.
The gray-haired male’s eyes follow it.
“Turn.”
The male glares at Eros. Eros holds the strap around the old male’s neck with one hand.
“Turn.” Eros tightens the strap.
