Tina Chan - imperfect

She wanted to stay down longer, but she was running out of oxygen. She broke through the waterline to replenish her lungs. The others were still busy looking beneath the benches.

“It has to be here,” Troop muttered. “Nick wouldn’t lie to us.”

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

A group of people marched by, obviously not attempting to hide their presence. Finn and Troop simultaneously hid behind a bench. Chelsa nonchalantly played with her fingernails with her back turned to the group of Searchers.

“It’s not fair we don’t have the droid-dogs,” a Searcher whined from the back of the group.

Kristi submerged herself until only her eyes were above the water.

“Will you shut up?” a senior officer said.

“We’ll never find the Accidents if we don’t have the droid-dogs. They could be anywhere!”

“I swear, if you don’t shut your mouth in a minute I will personally see you kicked off the squad. I honestly can’t figure out why I agreed to take you on.” The officer stopped in his tracks, right in front of Chelsa.

Kristi completely dove underwater, praying no one would think to search for a fugitive hiding in a koi-pond. She waited beneath the surface until her ribs ached for air and stars swam before her eyes. As seamlessly as she could, Kristi pierced the surface of the pond for a quick inhale. The Searchers were still talking to Chelsa when Kristi submerged herself again.

She waited and waited. Every time she went to the surface for air, she risked being caught. Just leave, Kristi directed her thoughts at the Searchers. Just go away and never come back. A gold droid-koi zipped by in front of her eyes. Kristi reached out her hand to touch it, but the fish darted beyond reach.

She leaned her head back and looked up. Although the water blurred her vision, she could still make out the outlines of the Searchers.

Great, now I can’t come up for air because the Searchers will definitely notice me. She swam to the possible location of the trapdoor. Once she felt the metal handle, she grasped it with her hands and pulled on it with all her might. It refused to budge an inch. What was worse, though, was that the exertion had depleted her oxygen levels dangerously low. Dumb, Kristi. That was really dumb. Why do you never think your plans through?

She began to propel herself to back to the surface. Something big and heavy sailed through the air and smashed through water, narrowly missing her head. She splashed up and saw the disappearing backs of the Searchers. A Searcher whirled around, catching the sound of the disturbed water caused by Kristi.

Kristi sank below once more, but not before she heard Chelsa call out, “Probably just a surprised koi.”

She allowed a minute to slip past then deemed it safe to reemerge from the pond.

“We have to hurry,” Chelsa said.

Both Troop and Finn had come out from their hiding places. Kristi’s wet hair plastered against her back.

“A second group of Searchers will be passing through shortly,” said Chelsa. “And they have the Sniffers.”

Sniffers were droid-dogs with a sole purpose: to track down people by scent.

“I’ve found the trapdoor,” Kristi said. “But I can’t get it open.”

“Who would put a trapdoor in the middle of a pond?” Troop asked. “You wouldn’t be able to enter the room without letting all of the water from the pond flood it.”

“I’ve found the entrance. Check it out if you don’t believe me.”

“Sniffers,” Chelsa reminded everyone. “We don’t have time to waste.”

After a brief pause, Troop kicked off his sneakers and said, “Alright, I’ll go look at the ‘trapdoor’. Chelsa, can you walk around a bit and try to make a trail that will throw the Sniffer’s off track? Finn, keep a lookout for other Searchers. If you see someone approaching, slap the surface of the pond to warn me and Kristi.”

Troop followed Kristi back into the body of water. Kristi doggy-paddled to the deepest part of the pond and said, “The trapdoor should be directly below us.”

Without a word, Troop dove to the location Kristi was pointing to. She followed him. By the time she reached him, Troop was already tugging at the trapdoor’s handle. A cloud of silt exploded in front of their faces as the trapdoor suddenly sprung up. Troop slammed the door shut and motioned for them to go back up to talk.

“Did you find it?” Finn asked.

Troop nodded, sending a spray of water everywhere.

“Good,” Finn said. “Because I think a second group of Searchers are coming this way. Listen.”

Kristi strained her ears; she could make out the sounds of barks and yips.

A person crashed through the undergrowth. It was Chelsa, wiping sweat off her forehead and breathing heavily.

“Searchers,” she gasped. “And Sniffers. I’m not sure if they caught sight of me or not.”

Troop snatched up his sneakers and threw them as far away as he could. “It’s to mislead the Sniffers,” he explained.

Everyone else copied him and they all splashed into the water. Kristi stopped when she was knee-deep though, and said, “Finn, where did you leave your crutch?”

“Oh snap, I forgot about it,” he said. “It’s beneath the bench by the dragon statue.”

“I’ll go get rid of it,” Kristi said. “Troop, you remember where the trapdoor is, right?”

“Of course.”

Troop located the trapdoor and heaved it open. Then he came up and led Chelsa and Finn to the entrance of the safe place. When he passed through the trapdoor, he broke through some type of gel-like membrane. Then he dropped like a rock and landed hard. Luckily, his backpack cushioned the worst of his fall. Chelsa and Finn followed through.

“This is so weird,” Chelsa said. “How come the water isn’t entering through opening?”

Although they were still soaked through, they were standing on dry grounds. If he hadn’t known better, Troop would’ve thought they were simply inside an underground hideout instead of beneath a pond. From the looks of his surrounding, they were in an old subway tunnel.

“I think it’s because of this.” Finn pointed to a large metal cylinder with various tubes attached to it. There was a small screen implanted in the cylinder with blinking numbers and symbols Troop didn’t recognize. “It’s an air pressure controller.”

“So?” Troop said. “What does that do?”

“It manipulates the air pressure so that it nullifies the water pressure from above. Essentially, air is pressing against the membrane we passed through and keeping the water out of here.”

Troop unzipped his (thankfully) waterproof backpack and removed his electro-slate from it. The slate was still set on the GN channel, but Troop’s video was being played instead of whatever broadcast the government had planned to air.

He wondered if his film was being played a second time, since the entire clip wasn’t much longer than twelve minutes and he was sure it had been at least twenty minutes since Nick and Jane first overrode the channel.

Troop tried to change the channel, wanting to see what other news stations were making of the GN override. But no matter which station he turned to, the results were the same: the film he made was being played. He grinned inwardly; Nick and Jane had really outdone themselves.

“Hey, can I see your slate?” Chelsa asked. “I haven’t watched the completed video yet.”

“Yeah.” Troop handed it over to her.

Finn and Chelsa found a spot on the floor a few yards away from him and turned up the volume of the electro-slate. Troop paced beneath the trapdoor, expecting Kristi to come crashing through any moment. He counted the concrete tiles beneath his feet to pass time. I shouldn’t have left Kristi on her own, he thought. I know she’s prone to make hasty choices when under pressure.