The Neptune Project by Polly Holyoke Read Free Book Online

glands are shutting down permanently. Your vision is changing, too. You will be more comfortable if you put your dark glasses back on. We altered your eyes so that you could see better in an underwater environment, where much of the surface light is lost.”
    Stop talking about how you designed and altered us. You’re making me feel like an experiment, I want to shout at her.
    Suddenly, my mother’s voice is in my mind.
:Of course you are more than an experiment to me, sweetling.:
    I look at her in astonishment. My parents have always forbidden me to use my telepathy to communicate with people. They told me again and again that the secret police would take me away if they found out I was telepathic.
    :Telepathy between humans is no longer forbidden for you, Nere,:
she assures me.
:In fact, all of you should start exploring your telepathy because you are going to use it to communicate in the water. The virus should have switched on Lena’s and Robry’s latent telepathic capabilities by now.:
    Robry and Lena exchange startled glances.
    :I think you’ll find you can send or broadcast thoughts you want to communicate as easily as talking. If you want to talk privately with a single person, you will direct your thoughts to that individual only. Instinctively, your mind will shield itself from ‘hearing’ the surface thoughts of others and keep from broadcasting your own private thoughts. All three of you should have path ratings of five or higher, which means you should have no problems understanding one another, even across two or three miles of ocean.:
    Lena and I look at each other. Without using telepathy, I know we’re thinking the same thing. Of course Lena and I will have problems understanding each other.
    Robry, on the other hand, has always understood me and my moods almost as well as Cam does, without using any telepathy.
    :Robry?:
I reach out carefully with my mind.
    :I can ‘hear’ you fine,:
he replies quickly.
    Robry’s mental voice is cheerful and sweet, but I can feel the fear he’s trying to hide.
    :Lena?:
I reach out to her.
    :Stay out of my brain, Fish Girl!:
    :You’re one to talk. Your lungs are changing just as fast as mine.:
    :I’m not talking, if you haven’t noticed, thanks to the highly illegal gene splicing your parents must have performed on me before I was even born, and I haven’t spent most of my life swimming around with a bunch of dolphins.:
    :No, but you used to swim with them all the time. Mariah still misses you.:
    I feel Lena’s sudden confusion and sadness, and instinctively she closes her mind to me. I sense I could push deeper into her thoughts, but I don’t really want to know what Lena’s thinking right now.
    :Very good, Nere.:
My mother breaks in on my thoughts.
:You’re right. You could reach deeper into Lena’s mind. You were born such a strong telepath, you can push past others’ natural shields the way I just did with your own. But you must never invade another person’s privacy unless you absolutely have to. It’s wrong, and trust me, you’ll be happier if you don’t know too much about what the people around you are thinking.:
    :So, what happens next?:
I ask. As strange as it feels to talk to her with my mind, I decide to keep using telepathy. I need that oxygen flowing through my mask.
    :We wait for your oxygen levels to drop, and then we send you into the water.:
    :I mean, if this crazy experiment of yours actually works and we start breathing water, what happens to us after that?:
    :We head out to the Channel Islands. You’ll swim there with the dolphins, and I’ll come by boat when I can. There I’ll help you with your transition to your new life in the sea, and then you’ll travel north to join your father. He’s been building an undersea colony for you called Safety Harbor in the Queen Charlotte Strait.:
    She doesn’t say that she’s going to