Waterborne Read Online Free PDF Page B

arm, and her hip. She remembered the shock of the bullets striking her hard, like blows from a hammer. There must have been pain, but that blurred into blackness. Things got hazy after that.
    The blue man ... Just before Varenkov appeared on deck, one of the guards had assaulted her and ... Shit! There had definitely been a blue man. What had happened to the blue man?
    She’d been born with extraordinary mental gifts and had spent years improving her abilities. But now, she was totally at a loss. If she’d taken that many bullets to her belly, she should be dead or mortally wounded. Taking a deep breath, she looked down at her midsection, expecting to see a gaping wound, but there was nothing but pink scar tissue. Likewise, her arm, chest, hip, and thigh seemed to bear faint scars but no shattered bone and flesh. The fact that she was stark naked registered, but didn’t seem important at the moment.
    “Am I dead?” she asked. There was the distinct titter of laughter from her fishy companion.
    “Not. Living, you are. Feel you dead?”
    Ree shook her head again. “This is a little overwhelming. You say I’m in a temple of healing ... a hospital of sorts. Where exactly?”
    “In the sea, of course.”
    “Of course.” She looked around again. The room seemed immense with rows of clear bubbles. Things were floating in the bubbles, but she wasn’t ready to consider what kinds of things they might be.
    The walls and ceiling, if they were walls, were luminous, shimmering with a rainbow of colors. The light was soft, rather than glaring. “This doesn’t look much like Tahiti, which is where I was the last time I checked.”
    “Lemoria, the mother of all cities.”
    Her host’s speech flowed more smoothly now, or perhaps Ree had simply tuned her reception to a more powerful frequency. “In the Pacific Ocean?”
    “The Lemorian Sea, yes. Some species call it the Pacific.”
    “Was I ... was there someone with me? A man?”
    “Rest now. All your questions must be satisfied when you meet with the great one. If you have need of sustenance, I can be arranging that.”
    Ree made a stab at the obvious. After all, if you hear hoofbeats on the bridge, look for a horse, not a zebra. “You say I’m alive and not dead. Is this a drug induced dream?”
    Again, the gentle laughter. “Awake and lucid you be. Strange it must seem for you, but all you see is real. You humans are not alone on this Earth, you know. Older races share this planet.”
    That much, at least, Ree knew to be true. Still, she wasn’t one for trusting, least of all a talking octopus that she’d just met under dubious circumstances. “Am I in danger?”
    “Not. Not. Suspicious you have, but be at peace. Consider. Easy to let you die. Not so easy to work the healing. Taken an oath, have I. No harm do I. Be welcome here. I will send food.” An arm extended. At the end of the tentacle was a bundle. “I have belief that your kind garbs themselves in lengths of material.” With that, her host swam away, disappearing through a small opening that appeared along one wall.
    Ree looked around. The other bubbles gave off a low hum, and somewhere, she had the distinct feeling that she could hear water flowing, but she didn’t sense any immediate danger. Cautiously, she examined the garment the octopus had given her. Ree wasn’t familiar with the material, but it consisted of rows of tiny scales, was silver colored, and soft to the touch. Not knowing how it was supposed to be worn, she wrapped it sari-style around her hips and draped the remaining length over one shoulder and tucked it in. The cloth molded to her body, almost as if it were alive. A strip of similar material, sewn with pearls, floated to the floor. Ree retrieved it and used it to secure her hair into a single braid.
    She rubbed her eyes and massaged her forehead. Under the sea? Was it possible? Somehow, it didn’t seem any stranger than being alive after being nearly murdered by Varenkov or