Naima knew Janey was thinking the same. To return with a piece of the stone, even a little one, would have made it all worth it.
It was the lifestone, she knew it. Naima had no idea how she did, but it was calling for her, and she was certain with the kind of conviction she thought was reserved for only feeling right from wrong.
The mouth of the cave wasn't actually that small, just blocked. Looking up to where Naima knew the surface was, she figured that Doug and Gordon were about to lose their minds.
With their claws, Naima and Janey started throwing the rocks out of the way and digging the hole a little bigger for themselves.
It didn't help. The cave mouth was nothing more than a crack in the cliff that was actually the island itself. The claws were meant for softer materials, definitely not to cut open a land mass. They weren't going to reach far enough.
Janey's eyes went wide when Naima shrugged out of the equipment frame.
It took a little while to get free, but eventually she pushed the frame away, careful not to cut the wire connecting her to the Nautica. She prayed that Doug wouldn't pull her up just yet for her antics.
Of all the things, only the oxygen mask remained, but that was connected to a tank on her back. She tried to squeeze herself into the cave, but it was in the way.
I have to get it.
It was like something was taking over her body, thinking for her almost. Making her do things that she as a seasoned, experienced diver would never do in the depths of a damn unknown, potentially deadly ocean.
Another sacrifice seemed entirely reasonable when she couldn't go back without whatever it was that glowed there.
She considered her options, but ultimately it wasn't a choice at all. This time, though, Janey interfered, trying to grab her hands. The girl shook her head furiously, signaling "fool".
Naima knew Janey was right, but she couldn't back down. Not when the goal of their mission was at her fingertips.
She made sure she had a reinforced knife in her hand and took the oxygen mask off. Janey, with disapproval plain in her eyes, took the mask, glaring.
If I put it back on after a minute, I’ll be fine. I can try a few times, Naima told herself, her whole body seeming to vibrate with anticipation.
After all the training, all the work, panic still set in the moment the mask came off. Naima was too deep in an unknown alien ocean to feel safe without the chance to breathe, but there was no going back.
Gripping the rock-cutting knife as hard as she could, she pressed herself tightly against the cave and nearly gave a victorious cry when she squeezed in. It was almost impossible to fit and the possibility of getting stuck didn't help with the panic, but she fought against it with everything she had.
No longer having the camera or the lights, it should have been dark around her. But the glow was so incredibly bright on its own that it illuminated the deep depths of the narrow cave. It completely mesmerized her.
Almost there.
She could see it. The stone. It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever witnessed and for a moment, it didn’t even matter that she didn’t have oxygen. She’d lost the capability to breathe anyway.
Naima struck the glowing stone with the knife, feeling it get caught there. A surge of joy went through her as she began to slam the knife down on the rock, trying to get a piece to break off. She could feel Janey tug on her leg, telling her it was beyond time to get out.
Holding her breath was getting to be difficult. Naima knew she didn't have much time. She needed to go, now. Nothing she was doing was playing it by the book.
There was a tug on the chord, Doug trying to get her up to the surface, but she was wedged in so tight in the cave that it didn’t do a thing. That was fine by her, but there was a chance Doug would pull Janey up without her.
I don't want to die here, the idea sped through her mind, sudden and cold as the hand of death.
Naima struck the stone one last, desperate time and felt it give out. She saw a piece of the stone fall, still glowing.
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A cry escaped her lips along with bubbles of air from her lungs as she caught it, trying to push herself out of the cave with sheer stubbornness.
It didn't help. She was stuck, firmly, but Naima wasn't worried about her body getting torn in two. It was her mind.
Naima's world slipped away. Distantly, she felt Janey pull her with strength she didn't know the slight girl possessed. Her fingernails dug into Naima's leg but there was nothing to be done as Naima was seconds from drowning.
The scream came to her lips now unbidden. Her fingers had brushed against the stone before jamming it into her suit pocket. The contact had been so brief it was barely a second, but it felt like she'd seen the entire galaxy. It was impossible, yet so… real.
Images flashed by Naima's eyes as she struggled and thrashed, more real than the world around her. It was like she had been flung through space and time itself, only to end up right where she’d started.
… She saw lifestone, so much more of it. Huge repositories, shining like beacons in the endless night of space. Some were far beyond the union 's borders, so deep in space no living being had ever been so far.
… A terrible touch of evil, flickering out of existence as soon as Naima saw it. For a second, the creature turned its gaze to her and it took the last of her breath away, emptying her lungs. Her entire being was overrun by an existence that wasn't hers. Horrible, unstoppable hunger and will to live threatened to tear her mind to pieces.
Just as suddenly as it had appeared, it was gone.
… And a woman with long silvery hair, looking right at her from an impossible distance. Naima didn't know how it was possible, but she glimpsed her soul too. A fierce, proud spirit stared at her, the connection feeling as if it were from the past and yet so present and in the moment that the two women could hold hands.
Naima got the feeling the woman wanted to say something, wanted her to hear a warning, but reality came rushing back the second she let go of the stone in her pocket.
She couldn't hold her breath anymore. There was nothing to hold in.
The ocean rushed in between her lips as Janey ripped her out of the cave, the sharp stones gashing through her suit and skin. Blood rushed from Naima's wounds as Janey caught her. Naima could feel the painful lines of her nails on her legs, signs of how hard she'd been stuck.
The last thing she knew was the rush of oxygen as Janey put her mask back on and Naima lost consciousness.
She dreamed she was flying through space, but it was really Doug, pulling them both up slowly like Janey had signaled. Going up too fast would only exasperate the situation, even considering the fact that Naima was far from lucid.
The impact with the Nautica's deck brought Naima back to reality only for a moment before the darkness fell again.
3
Naima
The nightmares were the worst.
It felt weird to state something so obvious, but Naima was pretty certain no one experienced the terror she saw in her dreams. Well, except for perhaps the mystery woman she’d seen in that flash at the bottom of the ocean. Naima got the feeling that she knew what it was like.
In a matter of what could only be seconds as she grabbed the stone, it was like she’d been put through ten lifetimes of nightmares. The worst part was, they continued even after she got out of the water.
It just felt so real.
The creature she had seen was pure evil for the lack of a better term. Naima didn't believe in any living thing being that black or white, but the monster she'd seen... it was the opposite of everything good.
When her fingers had brushed against the lifestone, Naima had felt the monster's gaze turn to her. She couldn't remember being that afraid in her life, as though the beast could step right through her mind's eye and bite her in half.
And then, just as abruptly, it was gone, as if wiped from existence.
With its death, Naima had found the strength to stick the little piece of lifestone into her pocket and Doug had pulled them up, barely alive.
The whole crew had fretted for hours, but Naima had no idea until she woke up and they told her. In the panic for her life, none of them had searched her suit and found the stone. Janey had told them something had happened in the ocean and that it was better to wait for Naima to come back to them, but it seemed she hadn’t noticed Naima getting hold of the stone.
"Don't touch it," were Naima's first words when she regained consciousness.
"Touch what?" Doug asked, looking more worried than Naima had ever seen him. "What happened down there? You're pale as a ghost."#p#分页标题#e#
"The stone..." Naima panted. "We found it...You–"
Her mouth clamped shut as her mind reeled. That announcement was met with both silence and questions. Janey had already shared the news of their hopeful find of the lifestone, clearly, but everyone was talking over each other, wanting to know more.
Only Captain Gordon and Doug remained silent, waiting for Naima to speak. It took a few moments until the crew settled enough for her to speak.
"In my pocket," she managed to whisper. "Do not touch it."
Naima knew she was being cryptic and not giving them much, but that was all her mind and tongue could bend to say at the moment. She was infinitely grateful for Doug's unquestionable trust in her.
“Okay, Naima. Take your time,” Doug said, his voice steady and calm.
After a bit more time to regain her footing, already feeling the aftershocks of coming up from the depths fast, Naima guided the crew through the task of safely removing the stone shard from her pocket. They retrieved it with care, using gloves and pinchers to move it into a magnetic field, suspending it in air.