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downward was less abrupt than when we'd exited Anino's underwater lair into the inky depths of the sea.
    My HUD displayed the Sephelodon and it was indeed circling Ada. Anino was closer, but I hoped he'd stay back. I was far from an expert at swimming with a grav-suit, but I also knew that I could trust Tabby and Ada to work with me as a team. The last thing I needed was to have to worry about Anino.
    "Liaaaaam," Ada's voice grew louder as her nerve was tested by the direct approach of the Sephelodon.
    "Ada, take a close pass on me and give me a completely negative delta-v. On my mark," I said. In spacer pilot speak, I'd told her to sail past me and keep going.
    "Roger that," she said. I could hear the tension in her voice.
    "Go!"
    Ada shot directly up and at me. As I'd both predicted and feared, the big shark-looking thing flicked its large tail, accelerating at an incredible rate.
    Highlight electroreceptors on Sephelo .
    My HUD superimposed a delicate series of thin geometric swirls clustered around its mouth and gills. The lines narrowed and stretched along the creature's center line, fading out a meter before the start of the tail.
    As Ada whooshed past, and just before impact, I curled into a ball and slammed into the top of the monster's great head. At the last moment, it anticipated my approach and opened its great maw. Fortunately, my speed had been sufficient that I skipped off the top of its jaw, narrowly missing becoming its next meal.
    The impact should have been crushing as I'd been moving at fifteen meters per second. The suit, however, absorbed most of the energy and I rolled off and straightened out.
    The Sephelodon, only stunned, forgot about Ada. I barely had time to move out of its way as it recovered and charged with mouth wide open. Its agility in the water was both fantastic and terrifying, but there wasn't time for panic. I shot away with all the speed I could muster. Ada was free, but I'd jumped into hot water to make that happen.
    Light amplification .
    The HUD within the grav-suit displayed a rich overlay onto the dark landscape in front of me. Indistinct shapes snapped into sharp focus and hidden details were revealed. The HUD also displayed the Sephelo's trajectory and delta-v. I was losing ground and contact was imminent. Worse, I wasn't close to cover.
    "On me, Cap." Marny's alto voice cut through my search for a solution. A throbbing light glowed at the bottom of my vision, letting me know that her location was behind and below me.
    "No good. I lose speed on turns. It doesn't," I said.
    "I'm going to try to give you a distraction, be ready," Tabby said.
    My HUD had been showing an outline version of me and the Sephelo. It was the same strategic display I used in ship to ship combat. Listening to the conversation, my AI expanded to include Tabby and Marny. Tabby was indeed on an intercept course with the Sephelo's tail.
    "How are you getting that speed?" I asked.
    "Stay focused, Cap," Marny said. Someday I'd learn and she wouldn't have to remind me. Today was not that day.
    Tabby's body struck the beast two-thirds aft on its starboard side. The impact didn't push it far off course, but the beast instinctively turned toward the contact. Tabby neatly, albeit in slow motion, tumbled around its tail, straightened out and shot away.
    I used her distraction to peel away from my original trajectory and curve back towards Marny. My concern was that now the Sephelo would shift its pursuit to Tabby. Relief, however, wasn't exactly the feeling I experienced when I recognized it was once again closing on me. Tabby had given me room to move and it was up to me to make something of it.
    I calculated the distance to Marny and then to the entrance to the Anino's dome. I might be able to make it to Marny, but I certainly wasn't going to make the dome.
    "Close pass above me, Cap. Closer the better," she said.
    "We've got company," Ada said. "Two at twenty meters, more further out."
    "Everyone inside," Marny said.