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I wish I could promise that I could make it happen. But I hate empty words, and I won’t give them to her. Even for her happiness. “It will be hard. But we can see if we can make it happen.”
“Maybe Keppler can use me in the lab?”
“The kraken? I think he will be going back out with theCentauri.”
“Maybe I could go?”
I see the moment she figures it out, that it isn’t something she can do. Being on a ship full of mostly single males with her mermaid hormones raging and no mate on board? No, it wouldn’t end well for the productivity of the sub or her safety. There’s no amount of gold that could save her from that.
I widen my eyes at her, and she cocks a smile that tells me she knows. What she said was not even close to being an option. “The pod room is pretty large. Maybe I could turn it into a lab.”
“Maybe. What sort of things would you need?”
She shrugs. “The things for my dissertation. Spectrometer. All my samples, my notes.”
I nod.
“Microscope.”
“The equipment we could get is more advanced than anything you could imagine. But your notes and samples will be more of a challenge.” I run through the agents I know we left in Boston and wonder if they would be willing to break into Belle’s lab. “Your notes are digital, by any chance?”
“Some. And some are in my notebooks in my room.”
“I’ll never understand humans’ fascination with paper. It’s so fragile.” I take my block and access her files. We already have her digital footprint. I load up the tablet and pass it to her.
Belle’s eyes widen and then close. A furrow appears between her eyes. “This is my research. In my secure... Oh, I suppose there’s nothing really secure with your technology?”
“No.”
“I mean, I guess I’m glad. It’s all here. Well, everything I’ve entered. But I do keep a lot in my notebook.” She glances at me. “So just paper is really secure here.” She slowly flicks through her data on my block. “This would be enough to get me started. But I really would need the rest of my samples. And, you know, my own block.”
It guts me because that’s not something I’ll be able to bring to her. Either of them. I firm my lip. This isn’t the first time she’s asked for her own block. “How about we go shopping?”
“For lab supplies?”
“For more apartment supplies.”
“We have enough things, don’t you think?”
I ignore the “we.” “We can stop by Rockney’s and see if he—”
“—has any more sticks?” She hands me my block and jumps off my lap. I miss the warmth of her touch and want to shake Castor and his ideas.
Then I remember what day it is. Fuck. “You’ll need to change. You need to wear blue and gold today.”
She looks down at her outfit while I look down at my own clothes. I’ll have to change too.
“Sure, but why?
“It’s the Vividaria Festival, our national celebration of our domes, all domes. Each dome has its own holiday where everyone celebrates that one dome. But today is the day we all wear our own colors.”
“I’ve got lots of gold and blue. In fact, that’s pretty much all I have.”
“Good. It wouldn’t be good to have you wearing anything but.” In the spare room, I put on my team jersey from the academy, obstacle racing, but then think about the water. I text Castor to let him know we’re borrowing hissoloagain.
“Oh. You look so handsome.” She tugs on the bottom of my jersey.
* * *
