Zeph laughed. “Sure, it could if the guy really wanted to kill himself and take the boat with them. Like Montihan said, he could've been drunk. It could've been a storm. Fuck, the man could've brought a bomb on board, drove the ship straight through the jetty walls and then blasted himself to all the high heavens. Maybe he pissed off the broodmother of some beast in the ocean.”
“No, I helped set up the oceanic seawall many years ago. We made sure that it was set so the largest monsters couldn't come within five hundred miles of the shoreline, and we used planetary sensors to help drive the creatures out into the ocean. The noise it projects reconfigures to drive the worst ones away. It worked.”
“I don't understand? We see large creatures out in the ocean often enough. Wouldn't a wall disrupt their habitat?”
“No,” Zeph answered before he could.
Netto shook his head. “No, it wouldn't. The barrier emits the noise through a shield, it's invisible to the naked eye, but there are gaps that smaller creatures can easily get through. Creatures not deemed aggressive in nature by the scanners.”
Zeph rubbed his lips, and Netto knew the other Cyborg was weighing the likelihood of his suggestion. He knew the Croc would agree with his rationalization eventually. He looked at Rylie; her face had gone ashen, sallow despite her bronzed skin. The whites of her eyes were startling and her lips parted slightly on a shallow breath. Montihan was looking at his eldest daughter as well.
“Rylie...” Her dad placed his hand on her shoulder.
She licked her lips and shook her head, her gaze unfocused. Netto stepped forward and threaded his fingers through her hair. “It's okay,” he said. “It's okay to be scared.”
“There are bigger sea creatures out there?”
“There are always bigger creatures out there, Rylie. We have no idea what's out there. What's one leviathan to another?” Janet choked out with not a little bit of fear of her own.
Netto’s nostrils flared as the breeze quieted to a whisper and the smell of the ocean and dead fish were replaced with the rusting metal of the wreck. Zeph joined their group, his attention on Janet.
Netto focused on Rylie. “You didn't know there was a wall?”
“No,” she whispered.
“I told them that nothing could come close to shore and that they were safe. Not that there was a wall out there with monsters behind it. There is no point frightening my children when the wall was promised to last well beyond their lifetimes,” Montihan said with a hint of rising anger.
“So, therearebigger monsters out there?” Rylie looked out toward the ocean. Tiny wisps of her hair—dried by the elements—curled around her face. Netto wanted to pull her against him, hide her eyes from the water, and erase the blank fear. But it wasn't his place.
“Yes,” he said. “Much bigger than anything you might've seen.” Her dad shot him a look that could kill. Netto ignored him. “But I could be wrong as Zeph said. The ship could have incurred its damage elsewhere. But the grooves...” He stopped as she looked up at him, and pursed her lips. Her color came back slowly and the fear diminished in her eyes.
“So what's the plan now?” She turned away. Netto and Zeph shared a look, then Zeph spoke up.
“We’ll investigate the oceanic wall. The sooner we fix it, the sooner the creatures will be locked away.”
“Yes, we’ll head there after we drop you guys off at the homestead.”
“Like hell, you will!” Janet took a step toward him, her finger out and pointing at his face. “You're not leaving us behind.”
Rylie responded with grim determination. “There is no way I'll allow you to take one of our waterships without us.”
“Montihan will be with us.” Zeph shrugged then walked back toward the rocky bend and the anchored boat. “It'll be dangerous and you'll be a distraction,” he said before he disappeared around the corner.
“He's right,” their dad interjected. “I'll take them out. You guys should stay at the homestead and run the shop.”
“No.” Rylie shocked them all, the one word filled with authority. “It would take us hours to get back to the homestead and you wouldn't be able to make it to the outer wall if it's past the farthest lots until nightfall.”
Netto wanted her; he breathed in her scent and filtered out everything else. He could taste her on his lips, he could feel the silk of her hair over his body, and the burn of her kiss against his cheek. The preserved memory of it was now in the forefront of his thoughts. It made him harden.
He stepped back and turned away. If his erection sprang forward, there would be no way to hide it. The plates throughout his body, back, chest, and legs shifted and expanded as his muscles grew under the immediate need.
Control. I command control. I command it now. He ran the codes through his systems, close to putting himself into temporary lockdown.
Rylie sucked in a breath and continued. He hoped that she hadn't noticed the change in his demeanor.
“If we leave now, without making a detour we can at least get back to the far lots before this evening. And like Da said, the likelihood of another attack has to be minimal. We don't even know if this barrier is broken. The watership is mine and although my Da owns the business, this boat goes nowhere without me on it. We’re not going back to the homestead. We’re not going to lose that time. Let's figure out if this is an issue, and if it isn't, we can go back and you can interview the other farmers—but you won't take my ship without me.” She shot her dad a look. “And my ship is the best one we have.”
Rylie stormed past him and followed after Zeph.
