to needle him into reacting—except, of course, he wouldn’t. He was Psy.
On the entryway, the maligned Trev gave them a grinning salute, then shut the door, spinning the lock. The submersible was now sealed for the duration. It would take them some time to reach the surface—they didn’t have to worry about decompression sickness, since both Alaris and the sub were at a regulated pressure, but there was no getting around the fact that they were on the ocean floor, far, far beneath the surface.
Andres, of course, could have gone up on his own. Sea changelings were built to transition from ocean to land without issue.
“One day,” he said, as if he’d read her thoughts, “I’m going to swim up and surprise everyone.”
Tazia raised an eyebrow. “You’re too lazy to swim that far.” His self-professed favorite thing to do in his snake form was to curl up and nap; even when he went out of the station through the special exits built for sea changeling staff, he’d told her he mostly just lazed about in the water while the others “got all acrobatic.”
“True,” he admitted. “That’s why it would be a surprise.” Putting on his headphones with an unrepentant wink, he started making final corrections on a piece of work he needed to complete.
Tazia had intended to read a book, as Stefan was now doing. Had she been in this same situation even two months ago, she’d have given him the space and quiet he so plainly wanted, but since he’d continually invaded her own space in the preceding weeks, she decided he’d lost all right to her forbearance.
“You could’ve teleported upside,” she said. By some quirk of telekinetic power, a ’port caused no issues with pressure, regardless of the to and from locations.
“My assistance has been requested at the site of a major earthquake and teleporting to the surface takes energy.” Dark gray eyes looking into her, seeing too much. “I decided it would be better to arrive a few hours later but at full strength than otherwise.”
Tazia saw his point: he’d make up for the delay by shifting twice as much twice as fast. “I wouldn’t have thought the medics would permit you to take on the work.” Tazia herself was under strict instructions to relax and recuperate, and she was only the engineer.
Stefan, in contrast, was undoubtedly the most financially valuable member of the Alaris team. Given the scarcity of Tks as powerful as Stefan, the short-term replacements Alaris brought in to cover for him during his absences had to cost them double what he did on his permanent contract. No way would they want him out of commission for any longer than strictly necessary.
Stefan took so much time to reply that she thought he was simply going to ignore her implied question, but then the stone gray of his eyes met her own and he said, “I’m listed as a volunteer Tk with International Search and Rescue.”
She blinked, having assumed that he was being called in to assist a commercial enterprise of some kind. Beside her, Andres—who’d taken off his headphones because he couldn’t bear to miss out on any discussions in his vicinity—was more vocal in his surprise. “Say what?”
Tazia could understand her friend’s befuddled response. There was no money in search and rescue. As such, the Psy Council would never authorize the “waste” of resources. Not unless there was a political angle. “Is it a Psy enclave?” she asked, wondering if the Council was trying to curry favor with its populace due to the recent unrest.
“No. Human.”
Andres shook his head. “No offense, Stefan, but Psy don’t step in to help humans, and they definitely don’t send in high-powered telekinetics.”
“Incorrect, since I am both Psy and a Tk.”
“You know what I mean.”
“No.” His tone made it clear the discussion was over.
Chapter 3
Disembarking upside at last, the trip having passed both too slowly and too fast, Tazia blinked at the tropical sunlight, had to admit it felt good on her skin. Part of her would always miss the desert sands of home, though it had never been her place, the place where she could put down her roots. “See you in a month,” she said to Andres as he grinned and waved at the gaggle of relatives who’d come to claim him.
Standing impatiently behind the glass wall of the waiting area, they were so proud of him it was a joyous brightness. Small, excited children pressed their hands to the glass, an older woman cried happy