It was a long, tiring swim. At last they floated just below the surface.
"Can you find the colony?" Barry asked.
"We go to the nearest shore, near Last City," Xintel corrected. "We are not safe here over deep water."
They swam again, this time horizontally, guided once more by Xintel's compass sense. Once Barry raised his head, but all he could see was a narrow circle of rippled water upon which the ever-present mists pressed heavily. A slight rosy glow overhead, dim and diffuse, was the only indication of the sun.
Finally the girl stopped. "We are almost to the edge of the Above," she said.
Barry put his head up again but still could see nothing but water and mist. They swam a few strokes more, and then he and the girl lowered their feet to a bottom of soft mud.
When he stood up in the neck-deep water and emptied his lungs there was an interval of wracking coughing and gasping. But then he found with elation that he was breathing without too much difficulty. His practice sessions in the cavern were paying off.