The Sea Is Ours by Jaymee Goh Read Free Book Online

who’d survived in a nation of explosions using her mind and physicality. She almost belonged on the airship as a volcano chaser, and it made Caliso begin to think that the price Cebu City had on Mixa’s capture was too damn low. The end of the trip would be unpleasant at the least, with a tasteless betrayal coming soon to the talented young princess.
    She stiffened. Since when had she begun thinking of her impending action as a tasteless betrayal?
    â€œA pity then that we still use the
accepted
method,” Caliso said drily. She waved to the crew at the top of the cliff. “But Gogg is more than happy to implement new upgrades, should you choose to want to divulge any designs.”
    Her crew had secured themselves on parts of the wall, either planting their feet safely on jutting rock, or strapping their waists upon the wires that held them together. When the crew member at the top saw her hand signal, he waved back, and two more people came close to the cliffs, lowering the tube and the water siphon.
    The tube snaked its way from the edge of the rock wall, led quickly down by the crew members pulling on the metal rungs attached to the sides. The top-most engineers used a harness to send down the siphon needle, which—unlike the one they’d used at Bulkang Mayon—was a system of two glass vials, one closed at an end, the other open. The vials were connected to each other by a small passage in the middle. At the ends were two tubes, both made out of clear malambaso, more malleable than the vials, and certainly more movable.
    Caliso’s footing wobbled at the vibrating ground, and she steadied herself with the use of her wire. Before the siphon touched the floor, she reached for the tubes and began to move it towards the water.
    By then another series of
pop pop pop
s began, culminating in a splash so high that the water made it to the landing where Mixa and Caliso stood. Caliso had gotten out of the way, but Mixa took the hit of water, and she yelped.
    â€œYou hurt?” Caliso said.
    â€œI—no,” Mixa admitted. “Slight surprise, that’s all.” She grabbed the end rung of the siphon tube and pulled it closer to Caliso. She crouched low, easing the open end of the tube onto the glass siphons, making sure only the open vial was connected to the retractable tubing.
    Across from them, there was a cry as more water began to splash upon Esta’s group. Someone stumbled from their position upon the rock wall, and it took over a minute for another to help the fallen regain his footing.
    The ground rumbled beneath Caliso, so hard and fast that she almost toppled over into the water. Thankfully, she had been grasping at the tubes, which kept her in her place. Caliso let out a series of curses, then shoved one of the malambaso tubes into the water. She nodded at Mixa, who flipped a switch just to the side of the siphon tube.
    That was when the underwater volcano exploded.
    ~*~
    The force of the water sent Caliso flying toward the bottom of the rock wall. The tubes followed her, and it took all of Caliso’s energy to maneuver herself so that she got in between the glass vials and the falling rocks. A chunk of the solid landing had been pushed out by the force of water and gas. Caliso saw the debris scatter up and down, a threatening precipitation of rock. She rolled over to cover the glass vials, and had done it just in time to get struck by the large rocks. She groaned in agony and knew she would be sore later.
    Mixa was no longer clinging onto the tube rung. There was a scream and frantic splashing, alerting her exactly where Mixa had gone.
    Caliso felt the aching in her arms as she dragged the tubing with her, noting that it continued to suck in air. She struggled for a moment, then pushed one malambaso tube back into the water. She found that one of her engineers leapt from his position to hold onto the rungs to keep the tubes from flying out again. With a brief thanks,