Free The Gossamer Crown: Book One of The Gossamer Sphere by Melissa Conway Page A

young, aren’t they?” he asked.
    “Youth has advantages.”
    He glanced at Kevin and shook his head.  “He was there the whole time.”
    “I warned you, and now look what you’ve set in motion.”
    “We got a sample, though.  A little deeper and we could have gotten enough to make you a new crown.”
    “You must not aggravate the sphere any further.”
     Bill’s eyebrows went up and he waved a handful of papers in Caitlin’s face.  “Don’t have much choice.  Idiotic authorities have quarantined the ship.”
    “Brilliant.”  Caitlin spun on her heel and walked away.  Zach and Kevin moved to flank her and Lizbeth scrambled to catch up.  She took one last look over her shoulder at Bill Masters and caught his eye.  He wasn’t nearly as handsome with that calculating look on his face.
    Caitlin might be small, but she walked fast.  Zach, with his long legs, had no trouble keeping up, but Lizbeth and Kevin were almost forced to break into a trot. 
    They reached the SUV and Caitlin beeped the locks.  After they got in, Kevin cleared his throat.  “Is Bill…like us?”
    Caitlin started the engine and shifted into reverse.  “He’d like to be,” she muttered.
     “How do you know him?” Kevin asked.
    She didn’t respond right away, ostensibly in order to navigate a narrow section of road, but Lizbeth suspected she needed a moment to think.
    “The information Zach found out about Titanic was correct,” she finally said.  “Brian Griffey recovered the crown from Shackleton.  In fact, he was on his way to return it to me in America when Titanic sank.  Unfortunately, many decades passed before technology advanced enough to plumb the depths to reach Titanic.  When I first approached William, he was in charge of a deep-sea salvage vessel.  I convinced him to take on the project.”
    Nothing in Caitlin’s voice indicated the manner in which she’d convinced him, but given the way they’d looked at each other on the dock, Lizbeth suspected she’d used the age-old enticement of feminine wiles.
    “But you didn’t find the crown,” Lizbeth said.
    “No.  The litigation began and we received an order from the courts to desist.  Even that wouldn’t have stopped me, but I learned about The Gossamer when the news reported the deaths of the crew.  It was obvious what killed those people, obvious the crown had been found.  I investigated, but the trail was cold.  By then Bill had knowledge of the crown’s existence and became very – interested – in the properties of the biometal.”
    “He’s acting like those scientists on his ship have the flu, but he knows they’re going to die, doesn’t he?”  Lizbeth heard contempt in Kevin’s voice.  “That’s what he meant when he said I was there the whole time.  If he knew I was descended from a shapeshifter, he could have had me handle the iridium the drill ship recovered without anyone getting sick.”
    “There is no guarantee you would survive,” Caitlin responded severely.  “And do not judge him too harshly.  If I thought his method would have succeeded, I, too, would have risked my life and that of those scientists to stop the sphere.  Many more will die before this is done.”
    Lizbeth looked askance at Caitlin’s profile, thinking about Bill Masters’ motivation.  Caitlin was beautiful and intelligent, powerful, and virtually immortal.  Lizbeth doubted there were many men who wouldn’t want a woman like that, or many who wouldn’t want to have that power and immortality for themselves.
    “Why didn’t you just change into a dolphin, swim down to Titanic and get the crown yourself?”  Zach asked.
    “Dolphins can only dive to 300 meters.  Titanic is much deeper.”
    “So, change into a deep-water fish or something,” Zach said.
    “We are oxygen breathers and are thus limited to the forms we can take.  We may not change size, and we cannot become inanimate objects.”
    Lizbeth looked out the window where the sun