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Em woke, and there was a smile on her lips. He had kissed her good night. She touched her mouth in remembrance as her parents started to move around in the main living area.

“Em, are you awake?”

She cleared her throat. “Yes. I will be down in a minute.”

Em grabbed one of her swimsuits and tugged it on before slipping into a shapeless jumpsuit. If she was going to be in and out of the water all day, she wanted to make it easier.

She joined everyone in the kitchen and was unsurprised to see Weelar there, working on breakfast. He flipped, cracked and whisked his way through the morning supplies until the moment when he said, “Morro has set the table. We can join him in the dining room.”

That was the hint to each to grab a platter and carry it in to the dining room where the table had, indeed, been set.

Morro was standing next to Rivvin, and they were in deep discussion about something when everyone trooped in on them. They parted, but Morro was scowling intently at the member of the Water Folk.

Em set the platter of scrambled something or other on the table and took her seat. Rivvin sat across the table from her and her mother sat on her right.

Weelar proudly went through a description of the breakfast foods, and with her determination screwed into place, Emharo took some and passed the first platter to Rivvin.

Their move started everyone reaching for the platters, passing them around and starting the meal.

Em shrugged as she ate her way through the fish and all the other options. “Weelar, I am guessing that you like fish.”

He grinned. “It has been a few months since the last one was consumed on the ship. I have been looking forward to this trip more than you can imagine.”

“No, I can imagine the excitement of the familiar being all around you again, even if it is a food ingredient. Not having it makes it the entire focus of your consciousness.”

She smiled and took a huge sip of tea to wash down the scrambled eggs and squid.

Morro and Rivvin were eating with enthusiasm, and between the three men of the Nine, the meal gradually ended in empty platters and full bellies.

Harold asked the other men, “So, what are your plans for today?”

Morro inclined his head. “I would like to look into your laboratory procedures and findings to see if I can assist in any way.”

Rivvin said, “I will need to take a boat into deeper water to tag some shoals of fish. Do you have a vessel or will I need to request a shuttle from the embassy?”

Emaline looked at Em and smiled, “You can take the Nitka out.”

Em nodded to Rivvin. “We have a vessel. I will take you out.”

Morro frowned, “Out where?”

“Deep sea over a warm current that hosts hundreds of species. I can show you the maps after we tidy up.”

She turned to Weelar, “If you have a shopping list, we can pick up just about any aquatic species on our way back.”

Rivvin shook his head. “Weelar will just have to deal with any samples we bring back. I promise to bring back enough for dinner, aside from that, you are on your own.”

Weelar frowned, “I could come with you.”

Em smiled. “Sure. There is plenty of room.”

Rivvin grimaced. “That will be appropriate. When do we leave?”

Em lifted her plate. “As soon as all the dishes are in the washer.”

The men got to their feet, and Em and her mother watched the miracle of four men doing all the dishes. Even Harold held his own with the scarier men of the Nine around.

Em quickly loaded her dishes into the washer and went to the tech room of the lab to get the remote for the Nitka as well as some tanks for her own use.

Her arms were full as she left the lab, and she waddled to the weapons shed at the base of the dock.

Weelar was squirming like a small mammal and rubbing his hands together in delight. Rivvin looked a little irritated.

“Are you ready?”

Emharo kept her voice pleasant.

Rivvin nodded. “Where is the vessel?”

“I have to call it.”

“It’s alive?”

“No, but we don’t like to keep it too close to the lab, just in case.”

She raised her arm and pointed the remote at the headland.

A dark shape rose out of the water and sped toward them, riding high on the water.

“That is a Tokkel ship.”

Weelar’s voice was nervous.

“Not anymore. It has been rewired to my genetic key. The Nitka crashed in the ocean, and my cousin Neeka and I worked to reprogram it and make it suitable for our work.”

Rivvin watched the huge, open-topped vessel approach. “How did you know how to reprogram it?”

“Um, we had a friend who helped us figure it out. Techs are not thick on the ground here, but she managed to give us a schematic after she worked things out.”

“What is her name?”

“Ularica. She’s on a retreat right now. She is trying to still her mind.”

“Ah, I thought it might have been the Potential.”

Rivvin smiled.

“Nope. Signy isn’t mechanically inclined. She can understand stuff but not repurpose it. Ula agreed that if we had the vessel, it would be more useful than leaving it in the water, so she helped us design the changes. It took us the better part of the year, but we got the Nitka up and running.”

Emharo watched the beast of a ship come to the dock and settle in the water, the gangplank descending with a smooth move.

“So, you and your cousin rebuilt the brain of this ship?”

Weelar swallowed nervously.

“No, we built a brain for this ship. There wasn’t one. The whole front compartment was ripped wide open by your ships. We used the engines and the framework. The rest was shaped one panel at a time.”

She heaved the tanks onto her shoulder, lifted the bag of items she had collected and walked toward her pride and joy.

Rivvin had a bag of his own with him, but he grabbed her tanks from her without a word. Weelar was hanging back as if afraid to get too close to the Tokkel construction.

Her boots thudded on the plank as she headed onto the deck of the Nitka. She caressed the side of the ship, “Hello, sweetie.”

Rivvin looked at her with an amused expression, and Weelar rushed onto the deck, relaxing by inches.

“Are we ready? Do we need anything?”

Rivvin gave her a challenging look. “Do we have water and food aboard?”

Em lifted her bag. “Dry rations and well water, but it will do.”

Weelar swallowed, “If we find likely species, we can have something for lunch.”

She chuckled and went to the controls, withdrawing the plank and placing her hands on the flat screen for identification. A halo emerged from the ship, and with a smooth move, she settled it on her head.

“What is that, Emharo?”

“The controls. Take a seat, we are on our way.”

With no other warning, the ship lifted in the water and headed out to sea.