Rising Tide

Chapter One

“It is better for you if you do not know something, because the truth is more painful than not knowing.” I’ve always heard that saying throughout my life, and I never understood the meaning until now. Oh, how true it is!

“Xander! How’s the swimming coming along?” asked a familiar voice.

It was a woman’s voice. It had a tone of sweetness, yet behind the sweetness was great strength. It was clearly an Eranian woman, but the neural transmitter had not captured the nuance of the voice, so I had no idea who it was. The coldness and density of the suspension gel that surrounded me did not help much either; there was no way that I could make out a distinctive voice, much less hear it clearly, through the gel.

“It is going well. I understand now why babies cry when they are born; they have to endure nine months of this!” I replied, my neural transmitter quickly zapping my thoughts back to the woman.