. . better. Calmer. Steadier. I shouldn’t have, not at all. I was operating on threads, and yet suddenly I felt assured, in control, and powerful. The containment was leaking. Leaking badly. I was starting to turn around again, and I needed to do what I’d come to do before that happened. I wasn’t totally blind. Earth Wardens can sense heat, shapes, all kinds of frequencies not usually accessible to other regular folks (or Wardens), and with my night vision, I could see the hallway, the cool shapes of closed doors, and a long empty stretch. The hallway ended in a blind T-shaped intersection, and I turned left as Aldonza instructed. At the end was a big double-sized watertight door with all kinds of warnings and crew restrictions blazoned next to it. I spun the wheel and pulled. The air on the other side felt heavy and thick, unpleasantly stale. No fire, at least. And no ocean flooding in, which made me wonder why we were sitting so low in the water. The hold was massive, a cave of treasures that would have taken months to map and explore.
