PYRA AND THE TEKTITES

by Rebecca Melanie Sunquist

Part 7: Sharks!

The massive sphere of water drew closer to Pyra and the porpoise. Inside it, the three dark shapes arched in anticipation.

"Sharks," breathed Pyra. She looked up at the hatch. It was still too far away for her to reach. In zero gravity she was unable to move quickly. "Oh, what are we going to do?"

The sphere of water was almost upon them. Although the three sharks inside it were smaller than Pyra, they all had rows of gleaming teeth. And they were hungry. Once more Pyra reached up for the hatch, but the porpoise rolled under her, knocking her loose. She floated in air and water droplets as the porpoise drove into the sphere of water, shattering it, and began to bump its nose into the sharks, and bash at them with its tail flukes. One shark flew completely across the docking chamber, bent in half, and smacked wetly against the far side. For a moment it seemed to go limp, but then it writhed away, as if looking for another meal.

Pyra screamed. Sam the porpoise had batted a shark directly at her. She kicked against the side of the chamber, and pushed herself down, just as the shark struck above her. Its teeth flashed, pink and red in the dim light, narrowly missing her ankle.

"Sam!"

Rough shark scales rubbed against her leg, abrading the skin, and she cried out and grabbed at the wounded area. The porpoise turned toward her.

"Sam, help!"

Above Pyra, the shark gathered itself, once more intent on lunch. Its dead black eyes stared down at her. In its open mouth she counted rows of sharp teeth. A glob of water splashed over the shark, momentarily knocking against the side of the chamber. But it remained focused on its purpose. Its dark gray body shot downward...

Pyra screamed...

And Sam the porpoise smashed into the shark, pinning it against the side of the chamber. The shark thrashed, to no avail. Pyra grabbed one of Sam's flukes and the porpoise flipped her upwards toward the hatch. She grabbed at the handle, missed, and finally caught it. Below her, the shark slipped free, and both it and Sam once again began to float among the globes of water in the docking chamber. Sam clicked at her, a warning or a good-bye, as Pyra tugged on the handle.

The hatch fell open, and a flood of water gushed over Pyra and filled the air. She released the handle and slowly fell toward the bottom of the chamber...and the sharks tumbled alongside her!

Suddenly Pyra began to fall faster. Water splashed all around her and formed huge puddles below her. The artificial gravity generator was working again. On the other side of the docking chamber, Sam spilled into the water. It seemed to be raining tiny fish that Pyra had not noticed earlier, gold ones and silver, and blue, and orange, all shiny and wriggly.

Pyra hit the water in a belly flop. The slap! stung like the salt water on her scraped leg. She sank, and tried to stand, but already the water was over her head. And where were the sharks?

As if in answer, a large warm body swam between her knees and lifted. Again Sam had come to her rescue. Pyra sputtered as her head broke through the water's surface, and she wrapped both arms around Sam's dorsal fin. They were swimming now for the side of the chamber below the open hatch. The flood of water had stopped, and only a trickle remained. She looked around...if she could reach the Mockingbird, it might afford her some safety while she waited for rescue.

Between her and the bobbing schooner Pyra spotted two dorsal fins splitting the water, closing very fast.

"Don't they feed you around here?" she yelled at them.

A mechanical whirr began to fill the chamber with vibrations. Some machine had started up. Pyra hoped it wasn't the airlock. If both locks opened, she and Sam and the sharks and thousands of liters of water would be sucked out into space.

"Pyra! Up here!"

She looked up. Through the hatch protruded Flanagan's upper body. From his hands dangled a white nylon rope with a rung tied to the end of it, and several knots for handholds. Just behind Flanagan, Pyra caught a glimpse of a red-haired woman...Ichthia.

"Grab the rope," called Flanagan.

Pyra tugged at Sam's dorsal fin and dug her heels into his flanks, trying to turn him. But the porpoise twisted around and prepared to confront the two onrushing sharks. She dug again with her heels, and leaned in the direction she wanted to go, and leaned down to what she guessed were his ears. "Sam, we have to go this way. They're trying to rescue me."

The sharks were five meters away, then four...

"K-kk-k-ktch!" said Sam, and bobbed his head once, and Pyra almost fell off as they accelerated toward the rope.

"Careful!" hissed Pyra. "I can't swim."

And Pyra heard...or thought she heard, Now you tell me.

Pyra's mouth fell open as she stared at the porpoise. Then a splash of water struck her, and she sputtered.

"Grab that rope, Skinny!" yelled Flanagan.

"It's Pyra!" she called back, and obeyed, pulling herself up from Sam until she could stand on the rung. Up through the chamber she rose toward Flanagan. Behind him she caught glimpses of movement, as if others were drawing the rope into the hatch.

As Flanagan reached down for her arm, Pyra glanced back at Sam. He bobbed his head in the water. Beside him floated two limp, dark masses.

"K-k-k-k-k-kkk!"

Pyra clucked back at him. She hoped it was loud enough for him to hear, and that she hadn't said any naughty porpoise words.

Flanagan pulled her inside, and sealed the hatch. "Have a nice swim?" he asked, as he looked her over.

Air cycled into the corridor, blowing against Pyra's wet clothes, and she began to shiver. "What's going to happen to him?"

"He has a transport assignment," answered Ichthia. She was still wearing the lime green outsuit, darker now where it had gotten wet. "I'm outfitting him with a small vessel, and he'll do a job for me. And," she added, with a dark look at Flanagan, "if he succeeds, we'll be quits."

Pyra was crestfallen. "I meant Sam."

"And who is Sam?" asked Flanagan.

Pyra tisked impatiently. "The porpoise who saved me from the sharks. What's going to happen to him?"

"In the first place," said Ichthia, as they walked along the corridor, "it's a 'she.' In the second, we'll finish pumping the water back to where we can reuse it, and save as many of the fish as we can, and your Sam will go back into her tank."

"Will I be able to talk with her?"

Ichthia snorted. "Talk? You mean cluck?"

Flanagan shook his head. "I've arranged for you to accompany me, Skinny. I can use another pair of hands on this trip."

"But---"

"There's some fresh clothes aboard the Ventussa," Flanagan said sharply. "You can change there."

"But...where are we going? What are we going to do?"

"We're going to find the Unicorn Stone, and bring it back here."

Don’t Miss PYRA AND THE TEKTITES, PART 8: 'THE MAN WITH THE IRON NOSE' appearing on this site on 15 January 2003.

PYRA AND THE TEKTITES appears EXCLUSIVELY on the AOIFE’S KISS/KISSES FOR KIDS sites courtesy of prize-winning writer Rebecca Melanie Sunquist.