A blast of air, goddamn you . He thought this to Hap, to his friend who had left him for dead, who had promised to come back for him, to save him. Well, Palmer would get out of there and he would find Hap, would return to him like a vengeful ghost. He would kill that motherfucker. Thats what he would do. And this gave him the courage to go. To go. Palmer fumbled for the webbing straps and the buckles that held the tanks in place. He removed the two empties, shoved them aside with clanks and bangs, set them off to roll into invisible
furniture and warn away the ghosts.
He slipped his arms through the webbing straps on the harness, the single tank lopsided on his back. His visor wouldnt be able to interface with the regulator and tell him how much air he had, but that didnt matter, did it? There was enough or there wasnt. The dead diver wouldve turned back if he had gotten too low. Palmer told himself this. He told himself this. Pulling his visor down and powering both it and his suit on, he bit down on someone elses regulator, took a long pull of someone elses air, and he crawled up that slope of drift. He told his suit to vibrate outward against the world, against the hard pack, shiver it until it moved like water, and then he sank down, was enveloped by the deep dunes, the purples becoming oranges and reds, and he could see again.
25 The Risk of Believing
You heading out alone? she asked.
Marco turned from his sarfer and smiled. He moved his goggles up to his forehead. Thought you needed a nap.
Naw. When I need beauty rest, I just blink. She batted her eyes to demonstrate.
Prettier by the moment. He helped her with her gear bag and lashed it down with the tanks. So I thought wed head south. One of the rumors floating around is that Danvar is in a line with Springston and Low-Pub. A lot of people are going west where the sand isnt so deep. I think thats a mistake.
I think we need to go north, Vic said.
You would. Marco studied the wind generator at the aft end of the sarfer. It howled as it spun in the breeze. He checked the charge on the batteries. If Id said north, you wouldve told me we needed to go south.
No, I think we need to find my brother.
Palm? To cut him in on this? Shouldnt we find the joint first?
Vic followed Marco to the boom and helped him tug the slip knots loose. I didnt get a nap because a couple of assholes barged into my place as soon as I got there. Paulie and some other guy.
Paulie? Is he back in town?
Yeah. Looking for Palm.
Marco shook his head. You gotta tell your brother to stay away from those guys.
I have.
Marco lowered his goggles and unwrapped the dock lines from the hitching post. The sarfer rocked in the breeze, felt eager to get moving. The wind generator whirred. He lowered the rudder against the sand and tested the tiller. How about we shoot south just to see if anyones found something, and then we go look for your brother? He nodded toward the mast. If you raise the main, Ill pull us out of here.
Vic stepped back toward the cockpit instead. She raised her hand and steadied the boom as it moved in a gust of wind. I dont want to find Palmer to take him diving with us, she said.
Good. Lets get going.
We need to find Palmer because She wasnt sure how to say this. Goddamnit, Marco, I think he might be the one who found Danvar.
26 A Long Way Up
His mortality was suddenly everywhere at once. Never before had it registered with him that this was the moment. Now. Right now. Here was where he would die and where his bones would lie, never to see the stars again.
With half a lungful, he turned skyward in desperation. He only knew which way was up by leaving the tall building behind. Fighting against the squeeze, fighting against all that pressure,
he struggled to flow the sand and at the same time to breathe. But still he could not pry the hands of those deep dunes from around his neck. He had a tank of air strapped to his back, but he couldnt draw on the regulator, couldnt force his chest to expand, needed to go up in order to win a breath.
Palmer kicked and flowed the miserable sand. He should be around three hundred meters. There was no depth reading in his visor. Go by feel. Move fifty meters. That should be enough to get a breath. Battery in his beacon must be dead. Didnt matterjust kick. The depth would show when it sensed the surface. Shouldve been able to breathe but couldnt. Too weak. Too exhausted. Too hungry and thirsty and terrified.
The sun does this every day , he heard his sister say. Palmer felt consciousness slip through his fingers. He was back on a dune with Vic, learning to dive in the loosest of sand, afraid he wouldnt have the knack, that he wouldnt have the special talent that made diving possible, was afraid all of his dads skill had gone to his sister.
Look at the sun , she told him. The sun was just coming up. Hed been in her too-big dive suit for hours and hadnt been able to so much as slide a hand into a dune. He was growing frustrated. He didnt want to hear another lecture from his older sister.