When he thought he was passing out, he broke into air. A shower of water rose with him, and his surge in speed left him gasping and laughing and, when he finally could, crying out in relief. Arrowing up, he raised both arms, trying to pick up more speed, thinking about Jayme and Bobbie Ray back in that death trap.

He was going so fast that the opening approached before realized it. Braking, he hit the ceiling and bounced down, managing to twist in midair so he would land on the floor of the access entrance.

Still panting and gasping, almost hysterical with his near miss, he rolled over in the dirt, trying to wipe away the muddy dust that settled on his face and eyes. When he could finally see, Starsa, Moll Enor, and Nev Reoh were several meters away, standing in the access room and staring at him.

“What happened to you?” Moll Enor demanded.

“What are you doing here?” Titus said at the same time.

Starsa raised one hand slightly, blinking in amazement at his dramatic appearance. “I listened outside your door the other night, and I heard you planning to come down to the caves without me–”

“You what!” Titus interrupted.

“I followed you,” Starsa admitted, “but then the hole started filling with water, and you didn’t come out.”

“We beamed over when she called us because we were afraid you were in trouble,” Moll Enor added.

“Jayme and Bobbie Ray!” Titus forgot about Starsa’s gross invasion of privacy–just one of many. “They’re trapped in a cavern. We’ve got to beam them out fast–”

“I already tried that!” Starsa interrupted. “You went below the network of seismic regulators. The active energy field is interfering with the sensor locks on the transporter.”

“That’s why we brought the sonic cutter,” Reoh agreed as Titus clutched at his hair.

“Where?” Titus demanded. He grabbed the cylindrical unit, practically ripping it from Reoh’s back. Leaving the others to follow as best they could, he turned his jet‑boots on and jumped into the shaft, hardly breaking his fall toward the rising water.

Jayme and Bobbie Ray were treading water, barely six feet over the original opening into the cave. “It’s easy,” Jayme told him. “Just dive and when your boots are pointed up, hit the jets.”

Bobbie Ray nodded glumly, more concerned with keeping his chin out of the water than judging the angle of the hole. Jayme reached up, but she couldn’t touch the low‑hanging ceiling.

“We’re running out of time. You have to try it,” she told him.

The Rex took a few deep breaths, then a few more, hyperventilating to get enough oxygen in his system. With a thumbs up, he splashed awkwardly under the water. Jayme peered through the brackish water, ready to cheer as he dove through the hole. But even before his hindquarters went through, he was pushing back out and paddling frantically up for air.

He grabbed onto her, almost pulling her under as he sprayed her with water. “Let go!” she shouted, trying to pry his fingers off her. She gulped air just before going under. Then her instincts kicked in and she was more concerned with getting away from him than helping.

“I’m sorry!” was the first thing she heard. “I’m sorry!”

Jayme tried to catch her breath, treading water out of his tremendous reach. She knew Titus had brought then down here because he wanted to get one over on Bobbie Ray. She had agreed to come along became, secretly, she also wanted to see the dashing know‑it‑all brought down a few notches. It seemed like all the girls in the Academy–except for her and Starsa–thought Bobbie Ray was the hottest thing in a uniform. She couldn’t get over the fact that all her friends were drooling over that smug, self‑satisfied grin. Now his whiskers hung almost straight down, dragged by the water at his chin. If only Titus could see him now.

But they hadn’t counted on this.

The water was rising. She could almost touch the ceiling. But she couldn’t desert Bobbie Ray. “Now what do I do?” she moaned.

“Right there,” Titus ordered, positioning himself at the top of the talus slope.

Nev Reoh nearly knocked over the sonic cutter as he and Starsa hung on to stabilize it. Titus swore under his breath at the Bajoran. He had tried, but the cutter was too powerful for him to stabilize it himself. And it took too long for the others to climb down and join him.

Water poured into the first cavern and coursed through the crevice just below the ledge they had to use to get to the next cavern. Titus practically ran to the rear of the second cave, working on the assumption that the top of the talus slope was the narrowest point of the barrier leading into the next cavern.

Moll Enor adjusted her safety glasses. “Are you sure about this?”

Titus took hold of the handles of the sonic cutter, snapping to Reoh, “Get it locked, will you! We’re running out of time.”

With more brute force than was usually necessary, Titus aimed the cutter at the rubble near the ceiling of the cave. Dust and bits of rock were flung back and caught in the stasis field, hanging in mid‑air until he shut off the cutter for a moment to see his progress.

Reoh clambered up peering under his arm. “How far?”

“You think I know?” he demanded, taking hold of the cutter once more.

With another everlasting flurry of stones and the straining whine of the cutter, Titus kept the beam pointed at the rocks long after he should have paused and checked his progress. “Come on!” he muttered through gritted teeth. “Give!”

“Wait?” Moll Enor yelled through the rumble of cut rock. “I see–”

Titus was suddenly pulled forward as the sonic cutter broke through the rock. Leaving the beam on short intensity, he swiped around at the rock to widen the gap.

As soon as the cutter was deactivated, Moll Enor ducked through the hole ahead of him. “Bobbie Ray! Jayme! You okay?”

Titus pushed her through and with one pass of his handlight, he knew. “It’s not the right one.”

Moll Enor splashed down into the water. “Jayme! Bobbie Ray!” Her dark skin made it difficult to see her in the dim light.

Nev Reoh poked his head through. “Are you sure they aren’t there?”

“Pass that cutter in,” Titus ordered. He had been afraid they weren’t in the next cavern–it was even lower than this one. “It’s the next cave.”

As he set up the sonic cutter, he didn’t add the words that rang through his head– I hope it’s the next one.

“The water is rising in here,” Moll Enor murmured behind him.

“Yeah, and every cave is lower than the next one,” Titus explained.

“Why are you going through this part?” Reoh asked, even as he helped.

“The ceiling’s collapsed in the next cave. We’ve got to aim lower or we’ll just bore through rock over the top of it.”

“Oh.” Reoh looked frightened, standing knee‑deep in water. Starsa clutched him, practically pulling him off balance to keep herself from falling into the water. Reoh steadied her and aimed the tricorder at the wall. “I don’t read any lifesigns. Do you think they’re okay?”

“I don’t know,” Titus said as he opened up the power on the cutter again.

“You better try it,” Bobbie Ray told her, gasping in the depleted oxygen. Their faces were bobbing near the ceiling now. “Before we run out of air.”

“We would have already suffocated if there weren’t air seeping in,” she countered.

“The point is,” Bobbie Ray reminded her, “you can’t breathe underwater.”

“What about you?” she asked.

“I’ll take my chances.”

Numbly she looked at him, those big golden eyes, the orange fur plastered to his face. “I can’t leave you here!”

“You have to try to get out.”

Desperately she glanced down at the hole, nearly ten feet below them now. “I don’t know if I can make it.”

“You have to try,” he insisted.

“I’ll try only if you follow me.”

For a moment Bobbie Ray seemed about to refuse, then he suddenly nodded. “Sure. Maybe I can make it if I follow you.”