Oceania: The Underwater City by Eliza Taye (novels for teenagers .TXT) 📕

“Dylan’s parents are on holovid. They’d like to talk with you.”

“Oh, okay.” Gran fixed some loose strands that had escaped from her tight bun. “Patch them through.”

I pressed the button on my omniphone to initiate the holorecording Dylan had made for me earlier to appear on the screen in the living room.

“Hello, you must be Allie’s grandmother.” Based on my limited view of Dylan’s mother, the woman who had just spoken was not her; this person’s hair was long, reaching halfway down her back. The quality of the holograph wasn’t good enough to tell if her hair was blonde like Dylan’s or simply a light brown. She was dressed simply, wearing a blue and white-striped shirt and tan-colored dress pants.

“Yes, I am.”

“I’ll let the two of you talk in private.” Without waiting for a reply from Gran, I slipped through the crack in my door and gently closed it shut.

Our devious plan had worked. It looked like Dylan and I would be able to go to San Francisco together—that is if he could escape Oceania.

. . .

I drew a circle around myself lazily in the sand. It was finally Saturday and I was waiting for Dylan at six a.m. like we had agreed, but he wasn’t here quite yet. The hologram had worked perfectly just as Dylan had said. Gran didn’t have any problems believing Dylan’s parents had actually called with the communicator instead of them merely being a projection. Gran isn’t usually a gullible person, but then again, the replica was very convincing.

“Hey, Allie.” Dylan strode up to me dressed in his typical blue outfit with a small bag slung over his shoulder. “How did the hologram work?”

I sprang up to my feet with a smile. “It worked perfectly! Gran believes she has your parents’ permission to go to San Francisco with us for the weekend.”

Dylan clapped his hands once and gave me a thumbs up. “Then I guess we’re good to go. Let’s get back to the house before she wakes up.”

“Wait.” I held up a hand. “First you need to change into these. Your clothes are a dead giveaway that you aren’t from around here.” I handed over one of the modern beach boy outfits that I’d bought in town yesterday in preparation for this weekend.

“Good thinking, Allie.” Dylan took the clothes, inspecting them like they were from outer space. “Thanks.”

“You can change over there behind those rocks. No one can see you from the road there.” I pointed to the area where I had changed clothes many times, nestled at the corner of two leaning boulders.

“Okay,” muttered Dylan as he walked over there.

While I waited for him to change, I asked, “So, Dylan, how did you get away from Oceania?”

“Oh, well, I just convinced Dr. Wilcox to explain to the Master Coders that he needed my assistance on a long-term assignment through the abyss that would take the whole weekend. After some extended explanations on why he needed my help and how it would be more of a punishment to tag along with him taking down boring data points instead of sitting around at home, the Master Coders agreed to let me out.”

“So, Dr. Wilcox is floating around in a submersible for the whole weekend?”

“Not exactly. He’s also using this opportunity to do tests on the SCUBAPS.”

After he finished changing, I showed Dylan to the rabbit hole, sliding under first and allowing him to follow.

Dylan paused when we got to the road and asked me what it was. Puzzled, I stared at him and said, “What do you mean what is it? You have roads in Oceania.”

“Yes, of course we have roads, but I’m talking about the material. It looks so different.” Dylan reached a hand down and smoothed it over the black, dotted surface.

“It’s just asphalt. They melt tar mixed with gravel and then it hardens and creates asphalt. I’ve heard it has an awful smell when being laid.”

“Okay, then.” Dylan stood up but continued to stare at the asphalt as if he were analyzing a chemical substance.

“Oh, no.” I glanced down at my one bike and realized that we might not be able to make it back in time. I was sure Dylan didn’t know how to ride one since they didn’t have them in Oceania and I couldn’t pedal it all the way home with both of us on it.

“What? What is the problem?” Dylan came over and stood gazing down at my bike.

“I only have the one bike and I don’t know if we’ll be back in time if we have to walk.”

“Don’t worry. I’m sure I can figure out how to do this and we can both ride it back.” Dylan took the bike from me and examined it. “Can you show me how to ride it?”

“Yeah, it’s easy. You just put your feet on the pedals and push them to make the bike go. You use the handlebars to steer. The trickiest thing is learning how to keep your balance on it as you ride.”

“Is it anything like riding a motorcycle?”

I gawked at Dylan as if he were from Mars. “You’ve ridden a motorcycle, but never a bike?”

Dylan peered at me through slit eyes. “I’ve heard of a bike, but I’ve never ridden one…unless motocross bikes or motorcycles count. There are virtual video games like that in Oceania, so that’s how I’ve been exposed to it. Here, let me give it a try.”

Dylan swung his leg over it and started pedaling. He was wobbly at first, but it didn’t take him more than thirty seconds to get the hang of it. After about a couple minutes of trying, he was riding as if he’d been doing it since he was a kid.

Confident he could ride my bike instead of me, Dylan tried