LOGINEach of the five military bases had its own mission. The southern base was tasked with preserving the seeds of civilization, while the eastern base was responsible for building a new home.They spent years developing materials and equipment tough enough for offshore construction and assembling a vast naval fleet. When the tectonic plates collided, that fleet fought to stay afloat through the resulting tsunamis.Many of their best people died, but the core construction team survived.They crossed the vast ocean, working day and night through wind and waves to survey potential sites and run tests. At last, they found a stretch of solid bedrock suitable for building a settlement at sea.Once completed, the offshore base would house roughly 100 thousand people. Construction was already underway.The pilot's mission was to find their fellow citizens. Military personnel, government officials, ordinary survivors, anyone who shared their heritage was welcome to help build their new home.
Nicole looked up. A fighter jet approached, trailing thick black smoke.The light gray aircraft rolled, revealing the familiar insignia of the national air force.Back home, she might not have given it a second thought. But out here, drifting aimlessly across the ocean, the sight made her chest tighten.The jet flew dangerously low, smoke billowing from its tail. Something was badly wrong.Below it lay nothing but ocean. There was nowhere to land.As she watched, the pilot ejected and dropped through the air. A moment later, his parachute opened.The jet kept tumbling, leaving curls of black smoke in its wake before plunging into the distant sea.Nicole raised her binoculars. It struck nose-first, the impact driving it deep into the water. Less than two minutes later, the tail slipped beneath the surface.She turned her binoculars back toward the sky, searching for the pilot.Of course. He was drifting straight toward her cruise ship.He wore an air force uniform, but she dre
As the wind picked up, Poppy and Cola stretched and exercised on deck. Neither forgot how cramped the escape pod felt, and they made the most of the chance to move around."A bat!" Poppy cried as an enormous creature burst out of the water.Zeph looked over. A sea creature with a white belly and black back glided just above the distant waves. "That's a manta ray," he told her. "The big ones can weigh several thousand pounds. Their ancestors go back millions of years..."Poppy quickly pulled out her phone to take pictures.Nicole scanned the ocean through her binoculars and spotted a fleet of sailboats about three nautical miles away.Sailboat was a generous description. Each was a raft made from a dozen or so huge logs lashed together, with a wooden mast and a cloth sail. Makeshift shelters stood among piles of supplies.The men aboard had very dark skin, but they were too far away for Nicole to make out much else or guess where they came from.There were several dozen of them
Nicole checked Cola from head to tail, turning him this way and that.Fortunately, he had backed off in time. She couldn't find a scratch on him, though the fish's sharp fins and serrated teeth could easily have cut him.One bite or cut might have exposed him to a virus. Maybe nothing would happen, but she wasn't taking that chance.Cola wasn't hurt, but his pride took a beating. Nicole quickly reassured him. "You're a smart boy, Cola. Those fish are poisonous. Even touching one could kill you. If you see them again, stay far away, okay?"Cola lay down and hid his face under his paws.Poppy was fine, too. All four of them escaped with nothing worse than a scare.The fish on deck could thrash around as much as they liked. They would die out of the water eventually, and Nicole was happy to let them wear themselves out.Sometimes, backing off was the smart thing to do.They locked every door and window. Whatever was happening outside could stay there.No one was hurt, but they
Outside the window, countless creatures burst from the sea and hurled themselves at the yacht.Another slammed into the glass. Its slender body and broad, papery fins stayed pressed against the window for several seconds before it dropped away.Nicole finally got a good look at it. Flying fish!They filled the ocean as far as she could see, leaping into the faint dawn light and spreading their winglike fins to glide through the air.Nicole saw footage of this on TV before. It was spectacular, the sort of sight that made people marvel at the wonders of the ocean.In person, it made her skin crawl.She and Zeph scrambled out of bed and rushed toward the deck.The door was still closed, and Cola clawed frantically at it.Poppy beat them there. She stood with a gun in her hands, tense and alert, unsure what was happening."They're flying fish," Zeph told her.Poppy never saw anything like this before. Her face lit up at the thought of fish that could fly.Cola wrestled the door
Worried a shark might've dragged Zeph off, Nicole changed into comfortable clothes and headed out onto the deck.Zeph was still there, and apparently, he caught something.Curious, she walked over and bent down to look in the bucket.Zeph didn't expect her to lean in so suddenly. He was pulling back on the rod, fighting another fish, and barely managed to shout, "Careful!"Too late. A fish shot out of the bucket, snapping at Nicole's nose.Everything she survived left her with quick reflexes. She instinctively stepped back twice, dodging it.The fish dropped back into the bucket, splashing water across the deck.Nicole stared at it. "What did you catch?"The fish on Zeph's line fought hard, and his momentary distraction gave it a chance to escape. He reeled in the slack. "A croaker."A croaker? Since when were those things out for blood?Nicole pulled out some mesh, fastened it over the bucket, and leaned in for another look.That wasn't a croaker. That was a piranha!An
Just after midnight, the timer refreshed. One hundred thirty minutes remaining.That meant time could stack.Nicole nearly laughed out loud. Seconds mattered. During crucial moments, even a minute could mean the difference between living and dying.She decided that unless it was absolutely necess
Nicole jolted, then immediately checked with her mind.The storage space was still there. The supplies were still there, too. She tested it; she thought of an item, and a coal briquette appeared in her hand.Sweeping the space again, she noticed the glowing timer had reset to zero.That was when
Nicole never expected the new resident of 1801 to be the same young man who had helped her at the courier station.He looked mildly surprised, too. He nodded once at her, then went back to work.Up close, he was striking in a cold, sharp way. He was tall and lean, with broad shoulders and clean li
Two miles was nothing. The Hummer reached the entrance to the complex in just a few minutes.Nicole handed the man 400 dollars, thanking him for saving her and for ignoring traffic rules.His voice stayed cool. "No need. I was heading this way, anyway."Seeing he wouldn't take it, she didn't push







