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Cloral was all about water, so I guessed these clothes would be perfect for swimming and would dry fast. The colors were bright, too. All were on the cool end of the spectrum, blue, green, and purple. I knew from the times that Uncle Press had taken me scuba diving that the best colors to use underwater were in the blue family—they showed up best. Colors like red and yellow were quickly filtered away underwater so they ended up looking gray, but blue still looked like blue underwater. So did purple and green.
    I had the feeling that there would be more opportunities for my scuba diving experience to come in handy here on this water territory. Uncle Press had taken me to diving classes last year and I got my open-water diver’s certification. Uncle Press then took me on a great trip to Florida where we dove in the ocean and explored some of the fresh water springs. That was fantastic. We swam with schools of fish and hitched rides on turtles.
    Uncle Press and I had done a lot of great things like that. I was beginning to think that maybe those adventures weren’t so much about having fun as they were about preparing me for some of the challenges I would face as a Traveler. I guess I should be grateful—except maybe for the time he took me sky diving. It was a blast, but I really didn’t want to think about what he may have been preparing me for with that little episode. Yikes.
    I grabbed a light blue shirt and pair of pants that lookedsort of like the same color. Nobody knew me here, but I didn’t want to look like a clashing, colorblind geek. I picked out some blue shorts, too. I wasn’t sure if they were the right size, but when I put them on, it was like they were made for me! There weren’t any zippers or buttons, either. I dumped my Second Earth clothes and stepped into the shorts and pants, then pulled the shirt down over my head. The stretchy clothes molded to my body perfectly. They weren’t too tight, but were still formfitting enough that nothing would twist and get in the way in the water. There were even soft boots with hard rubber souls that slipped on easily and fit like they were custom-made. It was all very Star Trek.
    â€œPut on a belt, too,” said Uncle Press, and handed me a thin, soft strap.
    â€œThat’s okay,” I replied. “I’m not a belt kind of guy.”
    â€œIt’s not about fashion,” he said. “It’s a BC.”
    Cool. Going back to my scuba experience, I knew that BC stood for buoyancy compensator. Scuba divers have to wear a weight belt underwater or they’d float back to the surface. A BC is a vest that you fill with air from your scuba tank to help you adjust your buoyancy so you won’t sink to the bottom, or shoot up to the surface. When everything is perfect, it’s called “neutrally buoyant.” It makes swimming feel like flying. But I wasn’t sure how this little belt was going to keep anybody neutrally buoyant.
    â€œIt’s automatic,” Uncle Press explained. I think he was reading my mind again. “It takes on water for weight, or creates oxygen for lift, depending on what you need. I told you, these guys are pretty advanced.”
    I took his word for it and threaded the strap through the belt loops on my new pants. I was really eager to get in the water and try out these new toys. This was like old times withUncle Press, only better. Yes, so far I really liked Cloral. It was a major improvement over Denduron. It was warm, the clothes didn’t suck, the local fruit was pretty tasty, and from what Uncle Press told me, this was a territory that wasn’t at war with anybody and had advanced enough to create some pretty nifty gadgets. I was actually jazzed about getting out of the cavern and starting to explore.
    That is, until I saw Uncle Press doing something odd. As soon as he finished dressing in his local outfit, he took one of the extra pairs of Cloral pants and tied a