Free The Neptune Project by Polly Holyoke Page B

twenty-six hours. I wonder if my body is still recovering from its transformation.
    Robry is cutting up a lobster and methodically sucking the meat from its legs. I sit up in my hammock, and he smiles at me.
    :Are you ready for some breakfast?:
    To my surprise, I realize I’m so hungry, even raw lobster sounds good.
    :In a minute, maybe. I’m still half asleep. Is Lena awake?:
    :I am now, thanks to you thinking so loudly,:
Lena says grumpily.
:And I am NOT going to eat raw lobster. Don’t we have some sort of food bars in our packs?:
    I glance over to see Lena is sitting up in her hammock, glaring at both of us balefully. Her long hair floats around her in a tangled cloud.
    :Yes,:
I tell her.
:But you’re going to have to get used to eating raw fish. Those food bars will run out eventually.:
    :I’ll wait for eventually, thank you very much.:
Lena glances around the cave and rubs her eyes.
:Where’s my seapack, anyway?:
    :I wedged it in that crack over there. You’ve got to tie your stuff down when you go to sleep, or it could drift away.:
    :Do I look like I want to hear a lecture right now?:
    Do I look like I want to deal with your attitude right now?
:Lena, if you want to survive in the sea, you’ve got to look after your own equipment.:
    Her face tightens, but I’m relieved when she doesn’t keep arguing with me. I take the dead lobster that Robry hands me and start picking the raw meat from its tail with my dive knife.
    Lena gets out of her hammock and fetches her pack.
:So what’s our plan?:
    I glance over at Robry.
:We do need to start figuring out a plan.:
    :I’ve been looking through our seapacks,:
he says slowly.
:Your mother left each of us a packet of instructions. I…I think maybe she guessed we might have trouble getting away, and that something might happen to her.:
    :So what do her instructions say?:
I ask, fighting to keep my mental voice steady.
    :I haven’t had a chance to read them carefully yet, but she planned for us to hide in that old freighter that sank off the north coast of Santa Cruz Island. She knew we’d need time to adjust to living in the sea, and the Alicante was the safest place she could think of.:
    Robry looks down at his hands.
:That’s also where the rest of us are supposed to rendezvous,:
he adds after a moment.
    :The rest of us?:
Lena asks quickly.
    :There are at least fifty more kids like us, from villages and towns up and down the coast of the southern sector, who were…altered like we were. If there was a government crackdown, their mentors were supposed to complete these kids’ transformations and send them to this wreck for training. Then, when we’re all fit and ready, we’re to travel to the colony up north that Dr. Hanson has been building for us. The first generation of the Neptune Project.:
    The idea that we’re all part of some kind of giant science experiment makes me want to slam the dead lobster against the cave wall. I can tell from Lena’s expression that she feels the same way.
    :I don’t think we can stay here for long,:
I admit when my anger recedes a little.
:Too many Marine Guard boats cruise these waters.:
    :I agree,:
Robry says.
:Maybe we should head out to the Channel Islands. Mostly just smugglers sail that way, and there’ll probably be fewer fishing boats there now.:
    I sense his pain at the thought of what has happened to his family before he closes his mind to us.
    :But what are we going to do after that?:
Lena asks.
:Are we really going to try to swim the length of the Western Collective to find some colony we don’t even know exists?:
    :I think getting to Santa Cruz will be enough of a challenge for now,:
I reply. Twenty-five miles of sea lie between us and the Channel Islands.
:Later we can decide if we want to try to find my father.:
    I take a minute to check in with the dolphins.
    :Densil, Sokya, are you near here?:
    :I watch your cave,:
Densil replies