‘What!? But I checked it!’ Triss exclaimed.

‘Yeah, so did I, but look, I thought I’d grabbed 32% oxygen, but it clearly states 36%.’ Nico shifted his body so Triss could see.

‘How did that happen?'

Odessa could hear the confusion and fear in Triss’s thoughts.

‘Hold on.’ Rhys jumped in. ‘It says 32% on this side. You’ve got a tank with conflicting labels. You should probably start ascending.’

‘How did we miss that?!’ Triss exclaimed.

For Rhys it was expected, but Triss sounded much more distressed than Odessa thought she needed to be given she’d been pretty calm and level-headed so far. ‘Wait, we’re only at 30m. That’s the max depth for a 40% mix, so you should be fine,’ Odessa thought at them.

‘Assuming one of those labels is correct,’ Rhys replied.

Trust him to be negative.

‘Well, it’s not like it’s likely to be 50%.’

‘Is that for 1.4 or 1.6 bar?’ Triss asked.

‘Err, 1.6 I think.’ Odessa wasn’t sure but she figured it was probably the worst case one that she’d memorised. ‘Anyway, it’s easy to work out. You gain 1 bar for every 10 metres of depth...’

‘In seawater,’ Nico corrected. He was already a few metres up, beginning his ascent.

‘Yeah, well, seawater is the less conservative option.’

‘Since when are you conservative?’ Rhys queried.

‘Since it gives round numbers. Anyway—’

‘We can do the calculation at the top,’ Rhys told her.

But Odessa’s mind had been presented with a problem and it wouldn’t let go until she’d solved it. Plus, she was pretty sure they were all overreacting. She followed them upward anyway, continuing her calculation and explanation as she went. ‘So, 1 bar for every 10 metres starting with 1 at 0 metres, which means at 30 metres we have an pressure of 4. Absolute pressure is partial pressure divided by percent oxygen. Since 30 metres is the max depth for 40%—‘

‘Minus 1.’

‘What?’

Odessa stopped swimming. Whose voice was that in her head?

Something grabbed her foot and tugged downward.

Odessa nearly spat out her rebreather. She kicked out at whatever it was. Her heart rate monitor made a shrill beeping sound.

‘Hey, watch it!’

Chaser suddenly emerged beside her.

She took a few moments to get her breathing back to normal all the while thinking at him, ‘Chaser, what the fuck?’

‘There’s a minus 1 in the equation,’ he repeated.

‘Frig. Did you have to jump out at me? Where did you go?’

‘Sorry, didn’t expect you to get such a fright.’

‘I was distracted. I didn’t expect something to grab my foot.’

‘You weren’t supposed to go in the tunnels,’ chided Rhys.

‘I didn’t go through anything tight. Oh you should see it. There’s all these vertical shafts. A whole bunch that run parallel to this one. Lots of connections between them. It’s almost like an underground cathedral.’

‘Where’s the minus 1?’ Odessa asked, her mind already back on the math.

‘We don’t need to go all the way up yet,’ Chaser thought to the others as he caught up to them at the first decompression stop. ‘You’ll be out of the range for oxygen toxicity now for sure.’ To Odessa he replied, ‘ I dunno, I just know there was a minus 1 somewhere.’

‘I want to get the oxygen analyzer on all the tanks, make sure we’ve got the air we think we do,’ Triss told him. ‘We should recheck all the gear.’

‘I agree,’ Rhys replied.

‘Okay, so 1.6 divided by 0.4 is 4 which puts us right on a max depth of 30 metres. See, that sounds about right. I don’t think there is a minus 1,’ Odessa told Chaser.

‘Nah, I remember there being a minus 1.’

‘There’s no minus 1.’

‘Can you guys argue about it at the surface?’ Triss asked.

‘Oh, we’re just having a friendly debate,’ Odessa told her. She thought Triss still sounded a little too stressed.

‘We just discovered that our gas tanks aren’t labeled correctly,’ Triss thought back at her. ‘You should be more stressed.’

Damn, it seemed like Triss could hear more than Odessa had assumed. She hadn’t intended that thought to be public.

‘It’s okay, Triss, I’m fine,’ Nico told her. ‘The minus 1 is taken off the absolute pressure if you work out the atmospheric pressure as being the depth divided by 10.’

‘But she did that,’ replied Chaser.

‘No, she started at 1, which is what it is, so she already accounted for it.’

‘So, if he’s got 36% oxygen then we got 1.6 divided by 0.36—‘

‘1.6 is just for brief periods. You should do 1.4 if you’re going to work it out,’ Triss told her.

‘Brief as in 45 minutes, which is much longer than we were down there, but sure, okay, 1.4 divided by 0.36 is... 3 times 36 is 18 plus 90 which is 108... which leaves 2 and 30, 32 divided by 36 is oh, I guess that is slightly less than 4...’

‘No shit,’ Triss told her.

‘Well we weren’t down there that long. 4 times 36 is 138 plus 6 which is 144 which is less than 160 so that’s more than 30 metres for max operating depth at an absolute pressure of 1.6.’

‘Yeah, we were probably sitting at about the limits,’ Chaser agreed.

‘Which is not where you want to be,’ Rhys replied.

‘But it’s better than over them.’

‘That’s some good math,’ Nico thought at her. He at least sounded calm and happy again.

Triss was silent.

‘Oh, I forget, I can do this on my watch!’ Rhys replied.

‘Really Rhys? You remember that now?’ Odessa teased. ‘Also, shit, that is a fancy watch. Can it do video too?’

‘I don’t know. I don’t think so. It can record and save heart rate and other biometrics though. Okay, so calculating MOD for 1.4 PO2 ATA at 36% is 29 metres. Only a metre off really.’

‘A metre off in the wrong direction,’ Triss thought at them.

‘For a worst case absolute pressure,’ Odessa thought back grumpily, but something felt different this time, as if there were an echo in her own head, something bouncing things back.

Then she heard Chaser’s voice in that tone that said he was just talking to her again. ‘Leave it for the surface, Odie. She’s right about not arguing under the water. We may have been bantering but you two aren’t.’

‘Fine,’ she thought back. Other friends called her that nickname all the time in play but Chaser only ever called her Odie when he wanted her serious attention.

Odessa turned her focus to studying her surroundings once more. They were up near where the plants were now and the water was so still and the moon so bright that they switched off their lights and watched the plants gently swaying like a thousand shadowy hands reaching out of the walls.

‘We’re almost up,’ she thought to Bob as they got closer, but there was no reply.

Odessa climbed out of the pool expecting to find Donny filming their grand emergence from the mouth of the abyss but he was nowhere to be seen. Instead it was Hoots that greeted them.

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“Did you have a good dive?” she inquired.

“Excellent!” Chaser removed his mask and rebreather and shook his half-purple-tinged mullet like a dog, spraying everyone with water. “Good work everyone,” he said as he clapped his hands together once.

Triss sat the skull she’d found in the hole, down on a rock, and then walked past Chaser without a word and her lips pressed tightly together.

Nico exhaled loudly, looked up at the sky, and then laughed. “A little bit of adventure, but everyone’s alright. Seems, somebody mislabeled the tanks?” His question was aimed at Hoots and he spun his tank to show her. Although, he sent a brief and slightly worried look in Triss’s direction before looking back at Hoots with that oversized smile again.

“Oh dear.” Hoots squinted closely. She pointed at the larger number which had been handwritten on in clear black. “But that says 32% which is what it is. I saw which rack Kevin grabbed them from.”

“Yeah, but this says 36% on this side.” Nico turned it and pointed at the smaller, more official label. He smiled cheerfully, as if he were just debating what spread to put on his sandwiches, not something serious, like whether or not it was going to rain later or the amount of oxygen in his gas tank.

Hoots shook her head. “I’m afraid I can’t read that sonny. That’s too small for me.”

“You can’t read that?” Rhys gave her a look of disbelief and then a meaningful look at Nico.

But Nico kept his smile. “That’s fine,” he told Hoots reassuringly. “But you’re sure it was 32%?”

“Oh, yes, positive. I’m sorry if that’s caused some kerfuffle. I’ll let Kevin know. We refill them ourselves you see. He must have missed removing the extra label on this one. They’re definitely all 32% though.”

“Okay, well that’s good then. You hear that Triss? They’re all 32%”

“I’m still checking them with the gas analyzer. It’s good practice. We should have done it anyway.” Triss was already getting started on it.

“Where’s Donny and Bob?” Odessa asked. They still hadn’t appeared.

“Yeah,” Chaser agreed. “I expected a camera in my face already.”

“Kevin took your friend to see a healer he knows. He should be able to mend that broken leg up in no time. The other young man went with him for company. They should be back late tomorrow afternoon or possibly the day after that. ” Hoots told them.

“Oh.” Chaser ran one hand through his hair. “That’s weird they didn’t wait for us to resurface first.”

“Well, he said it was quite sore.”

Odessa frowned. “Sore? It must have been quite bad. It’s not like them to leave us hanging. I once saw Bob do two whole belays with a broken nose.”

“Yeah, he probably shouldn’t have done that though. The second belay I mean.” Chaser rubbed his face.

“Well, I did tell them I’d be happy to do surface support,” Hoots replied. “I have dived many times before.”

“Maybe we should go along, check they’re alright,” Odessa suggested.

Hoots replied before anyone else could. “Oh, I’m sorry dear. Kevin’s only capable of a couple jumps a day. He’s already done quite a few bringing the gear in. I don’t think it would be wise for him to jump you all, and those roads at night... I doubt they’d be much you could do anyway. The healer is very good. Top tier really. They’ll be back in no time.”

“What about his mindwalking infusement?” Chaser asked.

Hoots paused and for a moment she looked confused. “He must have taken it with him I believe.” She shook her head. “I’ve never been much of one for infusements. Did he... did he not mention anything to you?” She looked worried.

Chaser shook his head. “Nah, I think we reached the distance limits.”

“Oh, well,” she smiled, “I guess it wasn’t that much use anyway then. You came back faster than I expected you would, though.”

“Yeah,” Odessa replied with a sigh and half a glance Triss’s way. “The whole air thing. We would have been fine just going a little higher though. We didn’t need to resurface completely.”

Triss looked up from where she’d been attaching an gas analyzer to one of the tanks and put her hands on her hips. “Things weren’t as we expected. When things don’t go as expected then it’s good to back off and reassess.”

Odessa splayed her hands, palms up. “Things never go as expected. That’s like the law of nature or something. A good diver adapts, they don’t bail out completely.”

Triss took a step toward Odessa and opened her mouth to reply.

It was Hoots that interrupted them. “Say, what’s that?” She squinted toward the rock that Triss had put the skull they’d found on.

It was enough of a gap that Triss reconsidered her current plan of arguing wtih Odessa, and instead returned quietly back to analyzing the gas, leaving the others to answer Hoot’s question.

“That’s Jimmi,” Rhys eventually replied.

“Jimmi?” Odessa queried.

Rhys shrugged. “Until we know his real name, I figure he can be Jimmi.”

“Why not Juliet?” Triss asked in a more casual tone.

“Because it’s more likely he’s a Jimmi.

“Says who?” At least she sounded a little less serious now.

Triss and Rhys swapped quips back and forth, while Nico explained to Hoots everything that had happened in the hole, including the dead diver they’d found.

Odessa ignored them and went to get changed. When she came back out of her tent someone had gotten a nice fire going. At the sight of the flames she briefly wondered at how Bob was doing. At least he had Donny for company. Chaser was sitting on a lawn chair on one side of fire, sipping a beer. He’d put on some pants and not much else.

“Heads!” He tossed a can at Odessa as she approached, and remarked, “Nice catch,” when she managed not to drop it.

She took the seat next to him. Across the other side of the fire, Hoots was trying to convince Nico to let her do the cooking but Nico was having none of it.

“Lady, trust me. It’ll be the best food you’ve ever tired. Nobody can make this like I can.”

Rhys had disappeared into his own tent. Triss was still busy analyzing the content of the gas tanks. She hadn’t even gotten out of her wetsuit yet, which was a little concerning, but Odessa didn’t want to start another argument with her. Instead she teased Chaser about his love for an evening beer. “So, back to dehydrating then?”

He snorted and then he smiled. “I’ll be rehydrated by morning.”

They watched the fire in comfortable silence for a few minutes.

Eventually Chaser remarked, “You, need to work on your masking.”

“My what?”

“Hiding your thoughts. With enough practice a person should be able to conceal all but their surface level thoughts from someone using a mindwalking infusement. Although, I’m not sure if it might just be a witch thing but you were wide open for reading.”

At the look she gave him, he held up his hands defensively. “Hey, hey, hey, I did say I would try and keep out, it’s just, when you think that loudly it’s hard not to overhear. I did at least mask most of them from the others okay, and maybe we don’t use the charms tomorrow if you don’t want to. I just figured you should know.”

Odessa, after getting over her initial shock of being easy to mind read and the slightly invasive feeling that went with that, considered what he had said. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad as long as it was just Chaser. She did trust him with her life on an almost daily basis, after all. “Mmm, it was useful though.”

Chaser nodded and sipped his beer. They stared at the fire a little longer until Chaser said, “So, you think Nico is hot, huh?”

Odessa went pale, then bright red, then she hit Chaser in shoulder.

Chaser laughed and nearly spat out a mouthful of beer.

“Are you reading my mind right now?” Odessa demanded.

“What?!” He actually looked surprised and then he got serious. “No, no way. I swear. I put it in my pocket, see.” He pulled the infusement out of his pocket and showed her. “No skin contact.”

Odessa snorted and replied, “I know how many holes there are in your pockets.” But she believed him and she gave him a smile to show it.

Chaser grinned back and then stared through the fire to the other side, where Nico was cooking. “Anyway, I don’t need to read your mind to see what you were looking at.”

Her cheeks reddened again. “You’re an ass. I was just observing the cooking.”

“Uh huh. Hey, what about that guy you were climbing with before this trip, Silas? I thought you were into him?”

“We’re just friends.”

“Uh huh.”

“I don’t think he likes me back. I mean, I dunno, it’s hard to tell with him.”

“Hmm. What happened to that other chick, the one you brought with you on that white-water trip we did?”

“Tasia?”

“Yeah? She seemed cool.”

Odessa shrugged. “She was nice, and damn fit too,” Odessa smiled at the memory of her. “But gods she was so slow. She didn’t know how to walk through bush and she hated camping. Basically, she was a total beach babe who was not made for the wilderness. I need someone who can keep up with me anywhere I go.”

“What about Triss?” He nodded over to where Triss was still checking the tanks. “I thought girls were more your thing anyway?”

Odessa didn’t even follow his gaze. “Yeah they are, but I like em muscly. Triss looks like a preying mantis, and she’s kind of uptight anyway. I don’t think she likes me much either.”

“Mmm, a pretty preying mantis, though.”

“Now who’s staring a little too hard, eh?”

Chaser chuckled and reached for another beer before handing her one as well. “You ain’t wrong about her being a little uptight though. She’s probably more Rhys’s type. Nico, on the other hand...”

“Oi! Hands off.”

Chaser laughed.

Rhys joined them, “What’s so funny?”

Odessa was in the middle of a large gulp of beer so it was Chaser who replied, with a grin and a giggle, “Oh, we were just talking about how you and Triss probably have a similar number of pineapples shoved up your arse.”

Rhys gave him a disapproving look. “Very funny.” Then he glanced over at Triss. “She’s gonna get cold. Surely that can wait until the morning?”

Odessa looked at Chaser. Chaser looked at Odessa. And then the pair of them burst out laughing.

Rhys scowled at them, then he noticed the nearly empty 6 pack of cans beside Chaser. “You two are drunk.”

“I’ve only had one beer,” Odessa complained.

“One and a half,” Chaser corrected.

‘Yeah, well, you’ve had...” She peered around him to see how many were left in the pack. “...three?”

“Two. I just started this one.”

“I’ve seen you drunk on one beer. You’re a lightweight,” Rhys told Odessa. “And neither of you have eaten dinner yet or finished off-gassing. This is gonna be like Moon Bay all over again.”

Odessa put down her beer and held up her hands. “Alright, alright, no more beer until after food.”

“I figure the earlier you start the earlier the recovery,” Chaser argued. But at Rhys’s raised eyebrow he put his beer down. “...but beer does go better with food and I’ve only got so many cans.”

Odessa frowned. “I thought there were more in the car?”

Chaser gave her a look. “Yeah but cripes, Dess, you don’t want to drink all that in one night or Rhys’s right and it will be like Moon Bay. I do want to do some diving tomorrow.”

She laughed. Then she watched as Rhys approached Triss.

They couldn’t hear what was being said but Triss was frowning and looked like she was arguing with him. Whatever was being said caused Nico to get up from his pot. At some point, while they’d been chatting, Hoots had wandered off, possibly to her own tent which was somewhere in the trees. Nico looked around and then called across the fire, “Hey, can one of you stir this for a bit?”

Chaser jumped up to help.

Odessa took the opportunity to go and find a spot in the bush to pee.

She didn’t have to wander in too far. The trees were pretty thick. Many of them were wrapped in vines, some thick with hardly any leaves, others thin and bushy.

Odessa found a secluded spot, close to camp, and then stripped her shorts and underwear off completely. Chaser was right, peeing with your butt out was a much more enjoyable experience. Plus it had the added benefit of there being far less risk of her accidentally peeing on her shorts. Guys were lucky they didn’t have to worry about that. There was something primal and freeing about peeing in nature too and in marking things as your own. It was probably a good thing she didn’t have the male equipment that would let her just pee anywhere she wanted.

She shook herself mostly dry, used some leaves for the last of it, and then reached for her shorts. As her hand reached out, her fingers brushed something smooth among the ferns and dirt. At first she thought it was just a smooth rock, except one edge felt harder and more clearly defined as if it had been intentionally shaped that way.

She peered closer and was confused to find what looked like a jade necklace just lying in the dirt. One exactly like the mindwalking infusements they had used earlier. She picked it up and had no doubt that’s what it was. But what was it doing here?

It wasn’t Chaser’s. She’d seen his just a moment before, and Triss hadn’t left the campsite since they’d returned from their dive. That left only one person because she didn’t think the chances of her finding an exact replica just lying here in the bush was that likely. But how had Bob’s mindwalking infusement ended up here?

“What are you doing there, dearie?” an old voice asked from a few metres away.