“It’s no big deal.”

He grimaced, apparently uncertain what she’d said, but she shrugged and spoke into her mask radio. “It won’t be bad once I get down a couple of meters.”

He nodded and mouthed the word dumb again.

She tugged on her flippers, connected the jets to her belt, strapped a lamp on her wrist, and pulled her converter over her shoulders.

He gave her a pained expression. “Good luck.”

She returned a smile that was meant to be reassuring, pulled the mask in place, and slipped into the river. “It’s not that bad,” she told Solly.

“The slab’s breaking it up. That won’t last.”

She ducked under, heard the converter kick in and begin extracting oxygen from the water. Competing currents pushed at her, carrying her first one way and then another. She ran a radio check. Solly responded, she turned on the lamp, and started down, feeling her way along the smooth face of the slab. The water was murky and she couldn’t see. She kept descending until she felt bottom. It was thick with mud and rock.

“Straight ahead,” said Solly. “About twelve meters, looks like.”

At first the water was relatively calm. She moved out away from the wall, trying to keep contact with the bottom. She worked her way past debris, drowned trees, pieces of machinery, concrete chunks. The rush of water pushed her one way and then another, then bore down on her until she lost all track of direction.

But it didn’t matter. Solly had both the diver and the target blip on his screen. “Drifting right,” he told her.

The current kept getting stronger. She had to use a burst from the jets to compensate. Dangerous, that, when she couldn’t see.

“Drifting right again. Eight meters dead ahead.”

Another burst carried her forward. The river tore at her, tried to carry her away. She anchored herself to an engine housing and caught her breath.

“How’s your visibility, Kim?”

“A half meter.”

“Okay. You should be right on top of it.”

The lamp was no more than a soggy glow. “I don’t see anything.”

“It’s right there.”

“It could be buried.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me. Why don’t you come up? We’ll get a team and the right equipment and come back tomorrow.”

The light reflected against something. Off to her right. Reluctantly, she dug in her heels, let go of the shrubbery, and crawled forward.

It was a piece of plastic. Sticking out of the muck. “We might have something, Solly.”

“What is it? What do you see?”

Inside the plastic. “A shoe.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

She pulled at it. “Solly, it’s a foot.”

“Okay. Go easy.”

“It’s somebody.”

“You can see a corpse?”

“I think so.”

“Man or woman?”

“Are you serious? I’ve got a leg. That’s all.”

“Okay. You all right?”

She knew what he was thinking. “I’m fine.”

“What’s it look like?” All business again.

“It’s small. I guess it is a woman. Or a child.” She removed a line from her belt to fasten it to the plastic. But she lost her balance and the river caught her and sent her tumbling.

Solly’s voice stayed calm. “Status, Kim? What’s going on?”

She crashed against something hard, but found a handhold.

“Kim?”

“Current caught me.” She was hanging onto a tree branch.

“You want me to come down?”

“No,” she said. “My God, no.”

The current tried to jerk her mask off. She grabbed hold of it, got it back in place, and listened to herself breathe.

“I think this would be a good time to come up, Kim. We can alert the authorities in the morning and let them do the rest.”

“Which way’s up?” she demanded. The question wasn’t entirely facetious. She needed guidance getting back so she didn’t pop out of the water at the wrong place and get sucked through the dam.

“You need to go about six meters right. Do that and you’ll come up directly in front of me. Calmest water in the area.”

Which wasn’t saying much.

But it was hard to follow directions in the river. And she was getting tired. How long had she been down?

She used the jets to move right.

“Hold it,” said Solly, alarmed. “You’re going the wrong way.”

But the river caught her. She seized something, a piece of iron, and hung on. “What’s happening, Kim?”

She knew immediately. Communication breakdown: her right wasn’t his right.

“I’m sorry,” he said, figuring it out. “My fault. You okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t have to worry about going anywhere you don’t want to. I’ve got the line.”

Her shoulders ached. She’d drifted into an eddy and she took advantage of it to rest for a moment and let the river carry her forward. The current seemed to be getting stronger and suddenly she was tumbling and being swept along. She banged into something. Lights flashed behind her eyes and the tether yanked at her hip. The river rushed past her, dragged her mask up onto her forehead. She swallowed water and slammed into a tangle of branches. Pieces of iron or wood stabbed at her belly and the river tried to drag her clear but she hung on.

The torrent roared in her ears. It pounded her and pressed the breath out of her.

She got the mask back on and used the purge valve to clear the water. But it wasn’t happening fast enough so she blew it out herself. The mask immediately began to fill up again.

“Kim!” Solly sounded far away. “Are you okay?”

She tried to answer but only swallowed more water. The purge valve didn’t seem to be doing anything and the river was pouring in around the lens.

“Kim, what’s happening?”

She cleared out her mask again, tried to push off from the tree. But the tether brought her back.

The tether. It was fouled.

And the river had become too strong, or she too tired. She couldn’t fight it, couldn’t even think about making headway.

“—stuck—” Solly was saying. “If you can hear me, I’m on my way. Hang—”

She wanted to talk to Solly, tell him to send for help, to stay away. But she couldn’t get the water out of her mask, couldn’t talk, couldn’t even scream.

She tore it off, disconnected the hose, bit down on the mouthpiece, and sucked in a lungful of air. It allowed her to retreat inside her head, away from the rushing river—

Can’t stay here.

She tried to free the tether, get clear of the branches, but every movement was fighting the torrent.

Solly would be following the tether down. But he’d no more be able to survive this than she was.

Something crashed into her ankle. The current dragged at her, and her shoulders hurt, and she almost lost the mouthpiece. She kept one hand clamped down on her belt, holding the tether lest it be torn away; the other held the mouthpiece in place.

Theoretically she could last for days. As long as the converter kept working she could just wait for Solly to bring help. But Solly wasn’t bringing help; he was coming himself.

If she did nothing, they would both die down here. Or at least, she would.

Her lamp went out.

She tried to untangle the tether from the tree, but it was hopelessly snarled. She made her decision, undipped it, and let it go. Then she pushed clear.

She rose in the torrent for a brief moment, and it slammed her into a wall. Her mouthpiece was torn away. The wall had openings, culverts, and she was dragged into one. It squeezed down on her, scraped her converter, wedged her into a narrow space. She felt around frantically for the mouthpiece.

She was jammed in headfirst and the mouthpiece should be in front of her, had to be in front of her, but she couldn’t find it.

It was a sluice. A spillway. But it was partially blocked with debris. The converter, which was mounted on her back, was caught against mud and concrete.

She found the mouthpiece, gratefully put it between her lips, and took a deep breath. The air tasted very good. But she was fighting panic.