Chapter 26

At first, they sat motionless on the sinking mounts, hoping that perhaps this was just some bad dream. Once the mounts were completely underwater, Bartz broke the silence.

“Looks like we swim from here,” he said.

“Speak for yourself,” Falca said. “I’m flying.”

Bartz reached back to grab the still unconscious Nata. “I’ll take Nata,” he said, untangling the rope around her.

“Ah, we have a problem,” Tomas said.

“Of course we have a problem,” Falca said. “These horse things were made to government specs.”

“No, we have another problem. I sink like the horses, only worse,” Tomas said meekly.

Bartz gave Tomas a look of disbelief. “You can’t swim?”

Tomas gave Bartz a lost puppy dog look. “I spent a lot of time with my studies. Swimming just never seemed that important.”

“TechnoLot’s got the best beach on Aqua, for crying out loud!” Bartz said. If the situation weren’t so life-threatening, it would have been quite funny.

“I am also