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which she totally anticipated, blasting up from the ground at a remarkable rate. If I wasn't getting the cheap shot, then I was going for gold. I shot up in Anino's direction. The suit cut through the air so easily that I felt like I was in space.
    I caught a glimpse of him flying behind a large cluster of video displays.
    Track Anino's vector on HUD.
    "Foot-tag rules preclude use of automated tracking," my AI informed me.
    That was fine by me. I could catch him no matter how we went about it. I zipped around the front of the video panels fully expecting to intercept him, only to find that he'd used the sight-blocking displays to change direction and was now accelerating straight up toward the domed ceiling, twenty meters above.
    "Careful, Anino. You're going too fast," I said.
    "Don't chicken out now! You'll miss the big splash," he said.
    The kid was certifiably nuts, but I wasn't about to be outdone by crazy, so I pushed the suit hard, closing the distance between us. I marveled at how quickly the suit responded to my directives and hoped I wasn't about to wind up as ceiling paste. As we closed on the ceiling, my HUD displayed a circular outline a meter in diameter, directly ahead. The AI was detecting a port or hatch. I pushed harder, stretched, and finally slapped Anino's foot with my outstretched arm. At the same moment, the hatch popped open, revealing an energy barrier.
    I followed Anino through and almost came to a complete stop. Instead of popping into space, we'd entered into a viscous, nearly pitch-black material, dropping from thirty meters per second to five instantaneously. My spine should have been crushed by the rapid deceleration, but other than being disoriented, I felt fine.
    "What the frak?" Tabby's excited voice called over the comm, no doubt she'd followed us through.
    I swung my head around trying to gain my equilibrium and saw a faint blue glow in the distance. It was then that things became clear to me. "We're underwater?"
    "Took you long enough," Anino chirped. "And, TAG, you're it, Masters."
    My HUD outlined Tabby's wriggling form in bright orange. Anino's pronouncement snapped her from her struggles and she straightened with one arm reaching for me.
    "Oh no you don't," I said. I wasn't about to be tagged again and stretched toward the blue above us.
    Water rushed past and I discovered that arm position made a difference in controlling direction. I'd spent a lifetime training my AI with a series of subtle gestures to work with arc-jets. In water however, every maneuver was encumbered, causing me to fight the medium. My best path was straight up, so I tucked my arms to my sides and pointed my toes. The blue glow above widened and in a few seconds I broke the surface of Curie's Radium Sea.
    "Where are you?" Ada's worried voice came through the comm.
    "Look for a blue splotch and head toward it," I said.
    "But there's a huge monster here," she said. "I don't want to move."
    "How big?" Anino asked.
    "Ten meters, glowy fins, big mouth," she said.
    End game , Anino commanded immediately. "Don't move, Chen. It doesn't see that well, but feels things moving in the water."
    "What is it, Anino?" I asked.
    "Likely a Sephelodon, but I can't be sure. Chen, your suit should protect you - not completely sure of the bite pressure, though. It might be close. They also have electroreceptors along their sides that are super sensitive to movement in the water."
    Tactical display of all friendlies and Sephelodon , I instructed my AI as I flipped over in mid-air and dove into the water.
    "Nick, Marny, suit up. We've got a problem," I said.
    Marny's voice was clipped. "Aye, Cap, already on it."
    "Ada, I'm coming in hot. Tabs, take the tail. Diagram shows electroreceptors along its side," I said.
    "It's circling," Ada said. "I need to move…"
    "Don't do it, Chen," Anino said.
    For the second time in only a few minutes my eyes had to adjust to a radical change in illumination. Fortunately, the light change in the dive