Waterborne by Katherine Irons Read Free Book Online Page A

the common tongue. “You’ve put me in an uncomfortable place, Atlantean. Do I honor my post or turn traitor to my own kind and keep the promise I made to you years ago?”
    “Saving your life was a gift. There’s no need for you to feel beholden to me.”
    Anuata laughed wryly. “And if our roles were reversed? Would you betray Atlantis for me?”
    “I can’t answer that,” he said. “What I can do is offer you a place fitting your rank among my troops. If you’re willing?”
    “Later. Let’s see if we can get out of here with skin intact, shall we?”
    “Why should I trust you?”
    “You shouldn’t.” Anuata laughed again. “But what choice do you have?”
     
    “Good. Sleep make healing.”
    Ree opened her eyes to see the now familiar octopus. She was reclining on a bed of thick moss beside one of the bubbles. Her first thought was that only a few moments had passed since she’d last seen the healer leave by the doorway, but when she glanced down, she found that she was wearing a different garment from the one she remembered putting on. Then, before she could pose a question, her stomach growled, and she realized that she was ravenous. “I must have dozed off,” she said.
    The octopus produced a sound that could only be an amused twitter. “Not to have alarm,” the voice in Ree’s head said. “Rest and nourishment aids recovery.”
    Suspicion curled in the far corners of her mind. “How long were you gone?” she asked.
    Her physician waved a tentacle. “Our time has not yours. Worry not.”
    “How long did I sleep?”
    The octopus shrugged. “Your injuries terrible. Your heart, especially, needed time to heal.”
    “My heart?”
    “From missile? Shooting weapon?” The physician spread two tentacles in a human-like gesture. “Pee-stall?”
    “Pistol?”
    “Yes. Pistol missile.” The octopus shook its round head. “Heart beyond saving. Time it takes to regrow from cells.”
    “You’re telling me that my heart was destroyed and you replaced it?”
    “Your own biology.” Again the shake of the head. “Human heart have you still. A pity. Not so strong as Lemorian or even Atlantean. But adequate.”
    Ree stretched and stood up. “I feel fine. Wonderful.”
    “Have you hunger?”
    She nodded. “I’m starving.”
    “Good. Nourishment you shall have. No more need you me. Time only. With time you stronger grow.” The octopus patted her arm with a long tentacle. “Pleased am I to treat your kind. Never before a human. Other species, but not human. Much you add to my knowledge.” The healer swam effortlessly toward the doorway. “Be of peace. Food I order for you.”
    “If it’s more seafood, could I have it cooked?” Ree asked. “I love sushi, but a steady diet of raw fish ...”
    The physician chuckled. “Strange are ways of humans, but see I will what preparers can find.”
    “Thank you, and thank you for the ... the new heart.”
    A final wave of a tentacle and the healer swam away.
    Ree counted to two hundred before trying the opening that the octopus had exited. It was an arched doorway leading to a hall. It should have been no problem for her to pass through. Nothing barred the way but a spray of bubbles, but when she tried to go through, an invisible barrier sealed the space from floor to ceiling. The material was warmer than the surrounding water and smooth. It even gave a little under Ree’s touch, but when she tried to force her way through, the substance was impenetrable.
    Suddenly, she felt more prisoner than patient, and she didn’t like the feeling at all. Deciding that there had to be multiple entrances, Ree began a quick examination of the walls. The possibility that this was a dream tugged at her, but she brushed it aside. She’d spent a lifetime trying to separate reality from the intangible, and she’d learned to take every situation deadly serious until it proved otherwise.
    It bothered her that she couldn’t remember what had happened just before