But then she remembered that she was just a doll. This was an experiment, like all the other experiments she'd been a part of. If she didn't do this, then wasn't she failing him?
At any point, Proteus could open her pod and let the ocean swarm inside her only safe place. Even open, the pod would continue to try to heal her while she died. It would run out of energy trying to stop her from drowning.
Swallowing hard, she finally nodded. "All right. Pilot, let's give it a try."
He felt like a spider crawling up her body all the way to her face. Every footstep as he climbed her torso made her skin crawl, but she would not fall apart. This was what she had been made for. It was her duty. Her job to do what she was told to do.
The droid wrapped his legs around her face, and his body landed against her mouth. A panel in his belly opened up, and she could feel a tube pressing against her lips.
"It's mostly oxygen," Pilot said, as though that was reassuring. "Now, I'm going to close off your nose."
She had to whisper in her own mind not to panic as something pinched her nose shut. He was breathing for her, though. She could take a deep breath through her mouth, and it didn't feel all that different. She was still getting oxygen into her lungs. She could still feel them expanding.
That had to count for something.
"I only have fifteen minutes worth of breathable air before there's nothing left," Pilot said, but she had a feeling he wasn't talking to her. "Open the pod up and let's get going."
Get going? But she didn't even know the direction she was supposed to be swimming in! Hell, she didn't know how to swim!
A faint hissing noise filled her ears before Proteus ripped the door off her pod. Icy cold water rushed in, pinning her against the back for a moment before she was floating. She could feel her limbs lifting on their own, moving without her permission as the ocean held her in its grip.
She wanted to speak. Wanted to tell him that he needed to close the pod back up after she left. It was designed to handle leaks, or even something like this, as long as the seal was fixed again. It could drain the water once she wasn’t inside it.
But there was no way for her to tell him to save what had kept her safe for so many years. Proteus pulled her out, holding onto her while the pod fell to the sea floor below them. It hit the ground with a dull thud, dust exploding around it as the two pieces landed far apart from each other.
Her home. Her safety.
Gone.
It felt like a hole had opened up in her chest. Sure, she hadn't been thrilled with the idea of ever going back to that unreal world that only existed in her own mind. But that had been the safe option. If the real world ever got too much, she had always had the option of returning to that place.
Now, she couldn't. The only place she could live was right here. With a monster holding her by the waist and his cold claws digging into her hips. Her reality was only what was right in front of her, and as terrifying as that was... it was also thrilling.
She looked up at him, blinking the saltwater into her eyes until she could see clearly.
"Go," he said, nudging her in the direction of the rocks.
She still didn't know where she was going. Ellie turned and looked over the rock formation, trying to remember exactly where the drone had gone.
The rocks in the footage had been very distinct. A pale white rock, visible above all the others, had set it apart from the rest. But now that she was in the water, it was harder to tell them apart.
Until she saw it.
The rock was so obvious, she wasn't sure how she hadn't noticed it sooner. Pale with striations through it, she was almost certain that the stone was part of an old building. It was crumbling apart like the rest of it, but it was so obviously different. Almost manufactured.
Breathing in deeply, she held her breath as she kicked herself toward the opening… and fell through the water all the way to the bottom of the sea.
How did people swim? She was flailing her limbs, but she wasn't moving at all. Proteus reached down, grabbed her arm, and propelled her toward the stones, where he deposited her in front of the crevice.
"You will learn to swim," he said. "But for now, get to where you can breathe."
There was air where she was going? She had to assume there was, or he wouldn't have relied on Pilot to breathe for her.
The crevice between the stones was big enough to maneuver through. She twisted, wriggling her way through the stones until she was fully inside them. Entombed within rock.
She'd thought she would be terrified with the press of stones all around her, threatening a cave-in that could crush her between the sharp edges. But there was something comforting about this space. She trusted that the stones would remain where they were. Logic stated they'd been here for quite some time, after all. A little movement from her would not make them all tumble down.
Still, as she reached for one of the rocks to pull herself forward, she was careful not to tug too hard.
