THE GREAT WHITE RED ALERT

After carefully checking each other’s gear, the twins rolled off the diving platform, sliding into the blue-green silence. Tyler was slightly below and behind Alena, guiding the high-definition camera and lights on a small power-sled. Alena checked her mask displays. The readouts told her the depth and distance to the Sea Worthy, her GPS location to within a meter anywhere on Earth, the amount of time she had been down, and air remaining in her scuba tank. All readouts were normal.

Alena spoke into the wi-pad microphone. “Don’t get separated." Tyler had designed the team’s wireless, personnel audio devices, and the underwater communication system sounded as good as her MP3 player. “And keep a lookout for sharks.” Not that Tyler needed the reminder: the water between Castle Rock and Point Bennet wasn’t called Shark Park for nothing, and the twins had seen shortfin makos, blues, and even great whites on many dives. They loved the animals; their beauty and grace were thrilling to watch—from a cautious distance.

Alena was swimming toward the edge of a forest of giant kelp when it happened. The seaweed was weaving gently back and forth, like folds in a tall curtain. The sunlight above made dramatic streamers of light and shadow through the thick leaves. Then, presto-change-o, just like magic, the shadows shifted and Alena found herself face to face with a great white shark!

She stopped swimming, watching the shark, its powerful tail slowly moving from side to side. She wasn’t afraid. Sharks don’t usually pay much attention to divers unless provoked or threatened, and this one wasn’t paying attention to her at all.

Until the emergency alert went off.

The inside of her mask began pulsing with a bright red glow at the same time a computerized voice sounded in her ear buds. “AI Code Red. This is not a drill. Repeat. This is not a drill. This is an AI Code Red.”

One of the S.O.S. satellites had picked up a signal from somewhere in the world and relayed it to the Sea Worthy. Brutus, who was very smart and well trained, had immediately pawed a switch on the ship’s console to forward the signal to the twins.

He did exactly the right thing. At exactly the wrong time.

Fumbling for a button on her wrist, Alena quickly turned off the alert. Too late—the shark was looking straight at her. She could see rows of razor-edged teeth. She had to fight the natural urge to move backwards knowing this could very well trigger the action she wanted to avoid. Trying hard to stay vertical in the water since anything horizontal would look like most of the shark’s prey, she made sure not to be mistaken for a large seal. That would not be good.

She kept her eyes fixated on the 1000-kilo predator less than three meters away from her. Now two meters away. Now one. Now…

After what seemed like an eternity to the girl, but was really no more than a few seconds, the white seemed to shrug off the momentary irritation. It flicked its long tail, the surge pushing Alena away. Within moments it was a dim shape in the distance.

“Wow,” Tyler’s voice sounded in her ear. “I got it. I got all of it. That was way cool. Wait’ll I post that on the website!”

“Way cool. Yeah.” Alena let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “Glad we could put on a show for you, little brother.” Then, a moment later, she said, “Come on. We have to check out the alert.”

They began swimming to the surface. What neither of them men¬tioned, but both were thinking was will we respond to the alert in time? Too many times the A.I. Team had arrived too late to do anything but help clean up another mess. Would this time be different?