Daughter Of The Deep Summary
Daughter Of The Deep starts with Ana Dakkar, the main character, and Dev, Ana’s brother, outside their highschool, Harding Pencroft Academy. Dev gives Ana their deceased mother’s black pearl necklace. Their mother died along with their father while entering the Nautilus. The black pearl secretly hides a tracker that will send information to Land Institute, Harding Pencroft’s main enemy. Dev is also secretly working with Land Institute, but that is revealed later.
About 3 hours later, Harding Pencroft is demolished by three torpedoes fired from Land Institute's submarine, the Aronnax. Luckily, Ana Dakkar and the rest of the Harding Pencroft freshman class are on a bus to their Freshman trials.
After some mourning of the other students and teachers who perished in the explosion, the freshmen board Harding Pencroft's boat, the Varuna to escape Land Institute. This class includes, most notably, Ana Dakkar, who is a descendant of Nemo, Gemini Twain, who has been ordered to guard Ana Dakkar, and Ester Harding, a descendant of Cyrus Harding, one of the founders of Harding Pencroft.
After about a day on Varuna, Theodosius Hewett, the only adult accompanying the HP student's on the Varuna, goes comatose due to pancreatic cancer. He was the only one on the boat who had knowledge about any of the tech that was on the boat. The freshmen decide to continue on to Lincoln Base, the only safe haven left for the freshmen.
After a few more days of travel, the Varuna finally makes it to Lincoln Base. In Lincoln Base is not only the Nautilus, Captain Nemo's submarine, but also Luca Barsanti and Ophelia Artemesia, who are former HP students, and Jupiter, an orangutan who enjoys (for no apparent reason) watching cooking shows. The freshmen start settling in at Lincoln Base, setting up Hewett in the infirmary.
The next day, Ana Dakkar and the other freshmen explore the Nautilus, cleaning it along the way. The Nautilus appears to be an early form of A.I. that is angry at the Dakkars because Nemo left it at the bottom of the ocean. Ana effectively talks to the Nautilus using a pipe organ on the bridge section of the vessel. It seems that the Nautilus forgives the Dakkars and is up to working with Ana to take out the Aronnax. Different freshmen are assigned to different jobs, with two staying at Lincoln Base to care for Dr. Hewett along with Ophelia, Luca, and Jupiter.
Another day later, the Aronnax manages to track down not only Lincoln Base but also the Nautilus and Ana Dakkar as the freshmen are taking the Nautilus for a test drive. The Aronnax fires the same type of torpedoes that destroyed Harding Pencroft at Lincoln Base, completely removing a football field sized section from the island. The Nautilus is barely able to escape using its cav drive, allowing it to go at incredible speeds using supercavitation. Supercavitation is explained in the timeline.
After a few days of repairs, Ana Dakkar and Gemini Twain are repairing the Nautilus's electric shields used to electrify the hull of the vessel. While testing the shields, the Nautilus suddenly shines light in every direction. This eventually attracts the attention of Romeo, an incredibly large octopus, about the size of the Nautilus itself. It is unclear why the octopus is called Romeo. The Nautilus seems to befriend the giant octopus with electrical impulses from the newly fixed electric shield. Ester Harding, who is an amazing empath, especially with animals, comes out to communicate with the octopus even more.
After another week of the repairs, the freshmen on the Nautilus use the cav drive to get back to Lincoln Base. Now at Lincoln Base, they confront the Aronnax. Somehow, Romeo has traveled with the Nautilus. How this is done is not revealed. The Aronnax now gets the upper hand of the battle by disabling the cold fusion reactor that powers the Nautilus. Luckily, the Nautilus still has a coal engine but this doesn't provide as much power as the cold fusion. In the middle of the fight, Romeo emerges from below and grabs the Aronnax. In an attempt to deter Romeo, the Aronnax electrifies their hull. This only encourages Romeo and he manages to break the Aronnax in half. Secretly, Dev and two other high level officers on the Aronnax go to the Varuna, taking Dr. Hewett with them. Ana Dakkar and Gemini Twain rush to Lincoln Base to save the other 4 people left at Lincoln Base : Ophelia, Luca, and the 2 freshmen. They are saved after a flash bang knocks two guards unconscious and Ana and Gem cut the ziptie bonds.
About an hour later into the fight, Ana Dakkar and Gemini Twain board the now enemy occupied Varuna, hoping to save Hewett. Dev sneaks up behind Gem and knocks him out with a wrench. Ana has one of Gem's pistols, which only has rubber bullets. Ana tricks Dev into thinking the gun has real bullets. Dev knows Ana wouldn’t kill her brother and thinks she wouldn’t use the gun. When it seems Dev has won, Ana shoots him in the head three times, knocking him out. As Ana and the newly woken Gem go below the decks, they find Ester Harding already there, waiting for them with two unconscious Land Institute students at her feet. They retrieve Hewett and set the remaining Land Institute students free, except for Dev.
After consoling Dev Dakkar and setting him free, Ana Dakkar makes plans for a new Harding Pencroft to be built using the treasure from the Nautilus. This could mean another book, but it is not a sure thing.
Comments