"Of course I'm staying! It wouldn't make sense to go out now." Really, Ibtisam would never leave a wingmate, but it's practical too. And better not to think about swimming out in the middle levels of the water by herself.

Anyway, operating the hatch would create a sound that would travel and alert anything particularly close to them. Better to seem like a random chunk of debris. "This was a twelve-hour night cycle, wasn't it?"