Uni's Unicorn

Chapter 11 - The Spa

Locking himself in one of the few unmanned rooms with computers, Tyson was able to cloak his work from a disc he entered into the computer, creating his own secret file from which to work.

He designed a life-like hologram for his sister. Clothing colours could be changed but all the clones would need to start as though wearing the clothes that he had photographed while standing above the deck.

Making a mental note that he must tell Uni to wear the same style of clothing as she had on when he saw her, he finalised his prototype. With it finished and having removed the disc to insert it into a place in his helmet, he tried to communicate with her, but had no reply. Now, he felt worried.

How could he know that Gillian, with the assistance of a nurse-aid who hadn't read the instructions properly, had helped Uni drink an energy elixir, then undressed her, assisted her into a white two-piece swimsuit, and now watched her as she jumped into the huge Barassic spa-pool? How could he know that this would cause some of Uni's unique gifts to be revealed to their father's enemies as well as show Uni and himself, some of what she was capable of?

*****

"Stay at this end of the pool," the aid commanded. 

Uni asked, "Why? What's down the other end?"

"It's just that it's too deep at the other end. It goes way down, then out into the sea. It keeps the water fresh and aerated. Stay this end, girl, where I can see you and you'll still be able to keep your feet on the floor at the bottom."

"The pool goes around the corner?"

"Yes. It's very deep, as I said; much too deep for you. What are you? —Five foot?"

"I'm already a hundred and fifty-seven centimetres, that's more than five-two. And I swim really well, thank you. Are there others swimming around there?"

"Not at this hour, but later, some of the men will come down to soak; some exercise in the water."

"What's in it? —The water?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"It's buoyant and smells nice. But, I'm like my family, my father; I like to know what's in stuff. It seems this water's more than just sea-water."

"You're right, I'm studying a tutorial here that lists the kinds of minerals that feed your body when you're immersed in this pool. It also says one shouldn't be in the mineral spa for more than forty minutes."

"Oh, good, so I've got another half an hour at least," Uni said.

"At the most. I've set the timer on my iCom."

Enjoying the feel of the mineral water, the warmth of it, Uni ducked down beneath the surface, turned and swum around the corner under the water. The pool widened and became very deep. Humidity in the chamber, created mist and combined with the water in her ears, deadened her hearing. 

Uni had no idea Tyson spoke to her, calling her, asking her to reply; she couldn't him. Diving down further, searching for the outlet, Uni saw metal clips on her side that would open the round grill over the hole. Realising that the bikini she wore wasn't something she wanted to arrive home in, she pushed herself back the way she'd swum. 

Emerging close to where the aide sat alone, six feet from the edge of the pool, Uni moved right to the edge. The aide leaned her back on the wall, listening to her tutorial, tapping notes into an iPad using two touch-pens, one in each hand. 

"Hey!" Uni called, lifting her hands up, waving them. There was no response. Pushing herself  back a bit from the edge,  Uni flicked water out of the pond to land on the aid's legs and feet. The woman pulled out her air-pods, frowning. 

"Please pass me that wrap-around towel I wore from the dressing room," Uni asked, innocently, pointing to the dark-blue towel on a rail near where the aid sat.

"Why? —You said you wanted to stay in."

"What do I call you?" Uni replied in as sweet a voice as she could muster, adding, "You have such pretty green eyes..." she batted her eyelids and raised her brows, smiling her most innocent smile. 

"If you weren't in that spa, I'd think you were up to something, Miss Eunice. You can call me 'Aidie' for the need of a pretty name, like my eyes."

Smiling, Uni said, "Please, call me 'Uni' and I shall call you 'Emerald'." Turning her head on its side, she said, "I have water in my ears and I really do need the towel. Please, Pretty Lady Emerald, you must know how funny it feels..."

Fetching the towel and bending to pass it to Uni, the aid waited.

Pulling at least half of the towel towards her and at the same time pushing back a bit more from the pool edge, Uni wrapped her forefinger into the towel and blotted her ears, one at a time. Looking up at her watcher, wanting, needing to keep the towel as well as gain some time, Uni clenched it in both hands, holding it out, knowing she would need to keep a firm grip. She remembered a voice telling her, 'You're stronger than you look, Uni, and need to be careful around people, especially at school.'  It had been her Grandad's voice...

Well, right now, she believed, she needed all the strength she could muster.

Holding the towel up, Uni kept her grip on it. As soon as the aid took hold and began to pull, Uni tugged the towel while kicking her feet on the tiled wall of the pool, pushing as hard as she could. While she, herself, ploughed out into the pool, the aide flew right over her, plummeting face down into the water.

Turning quickly to push herself under the water to see whereabouts in the water the aide was, she saw the young woman struggling. 

Two much water had been swallowed and her body contorted as she tried to gain control over it. She writhed a little before going still. 

Abandoning the towel, Uni swam under her, dragging her by both arms, across to the far side of the pool where the path was narrow. Lifting her under the arms, she pushed her right out of the pool. Pulling herself up beside her, she lifted her the rest of the way, turning her over on her side, then to lie on her back. Pressing, carefully on the middle of her chest, Uni counted, then shared her breath with her. Within seconds, the aid coughed up water.

Turning the woman on her side and arranging her legs into recovery position, Uni said, "You'll be fine, Aidie. Sorry about it, but I have to leave you now. Rest awhile. They'll come for you, for sure..."

Uni turned her head back to scan the chamber, looking for any sign of cameras. "Good." She said. "At least people in the spa get to have some privacy, and for me, well, let them wonder."

Swimming to retrieve the floating towel, Uni saw the aid struggling to sit. "I have to move fast," she told herself. Looking back she said, "I should have taken her shirt."

Wrapping the soaking wet towel around her body, Uni snapped the top edges together so it would stay firmly fixed. "It's something at least."

She allowed herself to sink, down, down, before turning and heading the other way, around the corner and back down to the outlet pipe, sure that she would fit inside it to swim out from here.

Uni pulled a lever on one of the clips outwards. There were eight of them. One by one she opened them before pulling the center handle, removing the grate from the outlet pipe. Leaving it to lie on the tiled floor of the pool, she pushed herself into the round pipe and found herself moving rapidly with the out-flow. She wondered where the inlet pipe was and then told herself to stop thinking about trivia and concentrate on getting as far away from this Barassic sea vessel as she could, as fast as she could.