Fathomless

by Greig Beck

  “I understand it is a huge body of water. Do you think it is a dead sea?” It was if Dmitry had just read her mind. He waited, his grin still firmly in place.

  “Dead? No.” She thought for a moment or two, choosing her words carefully. “No, I don’t think it will be a dead body of water. But as for fully understanding and classifying the life forms, if there are any life forms, will be one of the tasks we will undertake while we are mapping the hydro-geology.”

  Cate felt Abby and Greg’s eyes on her.

  “If there are any life forms?” He leant forward, his eyes going briefly to Mironov, and his voice dropping to a conspiratorial level. “Did you know we now have the ability to direct an extra strong electrical discharge pulse over the skin of the submersible? Was done at Mr Mironov’s request.” He bobbed his head. “So, I also think it is not a dead sea. I also think maybe not everything down there is friendly.” He leant back his voice returning to its normal timbre. “But maybe we don’t need it then.”

  Cate could feel him assessing her. She just shrugged. The pulse was news to her, and she turned to Mironov, who just smiled, obviously enjoying allowing her to do all the work. She spoke while keeping her eyes on the Russian billionaire. “I guess Valery just likes to be careful and prepared for anything.” She raised her eyebrows and Mironov nodded in return.

  “Good.” Dmitry sighed. “Sorry, I have so many questions. I’m excited about our trip.” Dmitry spun back to his console for a few moments before half turning. “But must be something down there.” He frowned as though wrestling with a thorny problem. “Because, you have one geologist, but two biologists and a marine shark specialist. Plus Mr Mironov, who is interested in ancient living things. So maybe you expect something down there, yes? Something big.” His brows came together. “One more thing; if something down there, how did it get there?”

  It was a good question and one she sought answers to herself. “If there are life forms.” Cate exhaled slowly. “Well, maybe there was an opening to the ocean a long way back. The creatures entered, and then an earth movement sealed them all in and cut them off from the outside world. Many times in the past, the ocean levels were much higher than they were today. Pretty much all of the coast, from Alaska down to California was submerged for twenty to fifty miles inland. It was nothing but shallow seas and coastal swamps. When the water receded, maybe some of the deeper pockets remained, and then somehow became landlocked.” She shrugged. “It’s one theory.”

  “But living in darkness?” Dmitry tilted his head. “I know of cave lakes in Ural Mountains; but things there are little.” He made his finger inch along in front of her.

  Cate remembered the image of the tooth – Jack had said it was hard to judge size. Somehow, she didn’t think it was some sort of tiny blind eel down in those depths. She looked back to Dmitry. “Well, that’s what we hope to find out.” She spun back to her console, gripping it again as she heard a metallic clunk, the groan of steel and then the submersible swung slightly in its cradle.

  Jack put a hand to his head, pressing the microphone cup in tighter for a second or two, before turning in his seat.

  “Get ready, ladies and gentlemen, the drop is about to commence. Next stop Seatopia.”

  “Seatopia?” Greg chuckled. “I like it.”

  Abby stopped making notes for a moment, and turned to Cate, grimacing. “I’m nervous.” She held up a hand; it shook slightly.

  Cate wanted to hug the younger woman, but held up her own hand. The fingers also trembled. “I wouldn’t worry about it if I was you.”

  There came a jolt, and then nothing. Cate knew the crane was now lowering the vessel. They would descend at about four miles per hour – little more than walking speed. It would take a full hour to drop all the way down to the inky black sea, where the hydraulics would slow, easing them gently into the water like an old man easing into a hot bath. It was then up to Dmitry to climb up and detach the tethers that would remain dangling in place. They’d all get to say one last goodbye and then they’d submerge and head east towards the vast body of the underground sea.

  Cate drew in a deep breath, momentarily feeling overwhelmed by the millions of tons of rock pressing down on top of her. She guessed there’d be air pockets along the way that they could surface into if need be, and some of them would be huge dry caverns, perhaps with dark rocky beaches lapping at stygian bays. As the oxygen content of the water was high she had to assume that any air pockets they came across would be breathable. They had more than enough air for the trip, but it might be nice to take a breath of something other than canned air.

  Cate closed her eyes, and listened to her heartbeat. In what seemed just another few minutes she felt a settling of weight in her body, and knew that meant they were being eased into the water. She turned and saw Jack listening to a voice high overhead, or perhaps they were sitting back in some comfortable office somewhere.

  “Okay Base, we’re down.” He turned. “Dmitry, unhook us.”

  “Yes, Captain.” Dmitry swung in his seat, and headed to the laddered hatch, spinning the airtight seal, and climbing to then open the next.

  Cate leant back as a draft of warm, wet air billowed into the cabin.

  Jack spun in his seat. “We need to run a final check on the equipment, so we all get a few minutes to say farewell to the surface, and say hello to our new home for the next twenty-four hours. Then it’s bon voyage.” He looked to Cate. “So who’s first?”

  Cate unbuckled her belt. “That’d be me.” She crossed to the ladder and waited at its base. The conning tower was small, little more than the width of the hatch. It was designed to facilitate entry and exit of personnel, and if need be, to allow docking of another submersible in the event of underwater transfers.

  Dmitry slid down and nodded to her, and turned to Jack. “Tether uncoupled, Captain.”

  “Good work.” Jack turned to Cate, and motioned to the ladder. “Enjoy. You’ve got three minutes.”

  Cate went straight up the rungs and as soon as her head lifted above the rim of the tower she inhaled deeply and was assailed by the humidity and amazing smells of the monstrous cavern.

  She shut her eyes, just using her other senses to take in the ambiance. She felt a giddy excitement as her mind created mental images of mossy rocks, beaches, drying kelp, sponges and sea grasses. She tried to blank out the small sounds coming from below and concentrate on the dark. Slowly it came – first there was the plink of dripping water, followed by its corresponding tiny echoes. Minute scratching came from some rock surface hidden away in the darkness that may have been some sort of crustacean feeding on lichen. The humidity against her skin was salty, pleasant, and like a balmy tropical evening.

  She felt the Prusalka submersible rise gently on a swell. She was initially confused, but the scientist in her kind of expected it – even though there was no pull of the moon to create tidal surges, and there was no weather to whip up waves, the deeper water was probably warmer than the surface water. That would mean there would be a constant upwelling and circulation of warm to cooler water, resulting in a current. It would have also generated an oxygenation effect, making the water more habitable and hospitable to life. It all stacks up, she thought excitedly.

  Cate opened her eyes and looked skyward. Above here there was a near microscopic dot of light, the cut-hole they had been dropped into. Two cables dangled nearby, rising up into a dark infinity, and for one crazy moment, she imagined herself climbing up one towards the surface, and the safety of the sunlight.

  “Is it my turn yet?”

  Cate grinned and looked down. Greg’s red-lit face stared up at her.

  “Sure.” She carefully eased herself back down. “Just think of it as a moonless night over a tropical sea.” She quickly looked back up at the glowing dot in the cave roof. “No, in fact, if you look up, you might just see a moon after all.”

  “Sounds romantic, but, I wish I packed my fishing rod.” Greg shinnied up the ladder, and Cate conti
nued to stare up after him, already missing the open air.

  “Cate.” Jack called her up front, and Yegor stood out of his seat for her.

  “I also would like to go up to top.” He eased around her to get in line.

  Cate sat. “So that was the boring bit out of the way,” she said, smiling. “Now for the interesting stuff.”

  He grinned. “Sure, boring, but probably the most dangerous. If we had dropped, even from a hundred feet up, the sub would have been fine, but we would have been plastered all over its insides.” Jack waved it away. He then pointed to a screen in front showing a sonar map of their environment. There were cliff walls behind them to the west, but for the other quadrants, it ran on for miles.

  There was a course plotted already on his screen. “We follow this route, and hopefully as we travel, the sonar will give us more terrain as the signals bounce back to our onboard computer for it to map and record our findings.” Jack traced the map with his finger. “Here, the cavern roof seems to drop right down to the water line. So, from that point, we dive deep. Might not be any low stalactites, but best not to take any chances.”

  “Works for me. We should get some great readings along the way.” Cate felt the ball of excitement and trepidation in her gut bounce a few times. “And then we dive deep.” She couldn’t take her eyes from the screen.

  CHAPTER 8

  Brogidan Yusoff, head of the Resources and Agriculture Ministry, read the transcript from their field agent – they were in the subterranean lake and proceeding. Everything was going to plan.

  He nodded, satisfied, but wished he had thought to have some sort of video link established from inside the submarine; he would pay a million dollars just to see the look on Mironov’s face when the man realized what was happening.

  He rubbed stubby hands together and then opened the link given to him by his second in charge, Uli Stroyev. On the screen it now showed a satellite image of the Baranof Island landscape. A red dot was centered just on the Western coast – a bullseye, he thought. He knew that as they moved deeper he would lose the signal. It didn’t matter; Mironov was nearly in his hands, and everyone else onboard the submarine was already dead and soon to be buried, as far as he was concerned.

  “A ghost ship.” Yusoff pushed the screen away and clapped his hands. “Good… a good day.”

  CHAPTER 9

  “Rig for diving.” Jack Monroe, checked dials and flicked switches. Cate, like the rest of the crew, now wore headsets. Even though they were only a dozen feet from the pilots, it was critical that commands and instructions were heard fast and clearly – in an extreme environment like a deep-sea submersible, reacting correctly could be the difference between life and death.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, everyone to their positions, please.” Jack flexed his hands and then grabbed one of the u-shaped steering wheels.

  Beside Jack, Yegor Gryzlov’s hands also worked furiously. Cate could hear Dmitry working at his own console, and everywhere she looked, walls of technical equipment sprung to life.

  “Bridge is clear, all crew to their positions, Captain,” Yegor responded in his Russian baritone.

  “All valves, hatches, intakes to close,” Jack said mechanically.

  Yegor would repeat the instruction when the order was confirmed.

  Jack continued down his checklist, his voice calm and professional. For some reason, Cate felt a flush of pride, and wished it were she that had decided to bring him in.

  “Pressure in the boat,” Jack intoned.

  Once the submarine had been fully sealed, Yegor released air pressure into the hull, and Cate felt her ears pop. The hull-opening indicator board showed all green lights, indicating the pressure levels were steady and the craft was airtight.

  “Hull is secure. Pressure maintained.” Yegor turned to Jack.

  Jack nodded. “Okay then, open main vents.”

  A gushing, gurgling could be heard from underneath their feet as the ballast tank vents were opened, allowing them to fill with water.

  Dmitry leant back, speaking over his shoulder. “Air in the banks, shit in the tanks, ready to dive, comrades.” He giggled.

  Greg laughed, Cate groaned, and Abby stuck her tongue out in distaste.

  “Increase diving speed, Mr Gryzlov; take us down to forty-five feet and level off.”

  “Yes, Captain.” Yegor pushed his own wheel forward, and Cate knew from her own homework, that the tiny bow planes, which were kept folded up against the superstructure to prevent damage while surfaced, were extended, and angled for full dive. The stern planes, close to the huge angled propeller, would also be tilting to control the boat's angle.

  Cate turned from her own view screen to look past Jack, and out the front-view window. She saw the dark water begin to rush up and over the convex glass as the last bubbles were left behind.

  “Dmitry, give me some external readings,” Jack said.

  “Aye, Captain.” The Russian grinned into his phosphor green screen. “External temperature at seventy-five degrees. Chemical content…” he bobbed his head for a moment. “…a little high in calcium and organic material, but okay.” His head jerked back a notch. “Oh, interesting… external radiation at eighty miliseverts.”

  “That’s high,” Greg said.

  Cate nodded. “Yes. Normal background is about two miliseverts.”

  “Dangerous?” Jack swung to look at Cate.

  Cate shook her head. “No, and we should expect it the deeper we go. The Earth’s skin is a great barrier against radiation – both atmospheric from above, and deeper down, the rock gives back radiation from heavy metal impregnation. The count will probably get higher the deeper we go. Won’t be a problem as long as it’s below five hundred miliseverts.”

  “Good.” Jack turned back to the curved window. “Dmitry, keep a watch on the count.”

  “At forty-five feet, Captain,” Yegor intoned.

  “Close vents, reduce speed.” Jack took the earphones off his head and swung in his seat. “Ladies and gentlemen, we are now at cruising speed, and steady as she goes. Take over Yegor.”

  Cate grinned. “We’re underway.” She felt a little giddy excitement.

  Jack unstrapped his belt. “Feel free to move around… but stay off the jogging track.” He rose, but couldn’t quite straighten in the cramped compartment. “Cate, not much to see, but want to sit up front as we head in?” He stepped aside.

  “You bet.” Cate slipped out of her seat, and burrowed forward, sitting down and swiveling frontward. Jack leaned over her shoulder.

  There was near complete darkness. However from time to time, small specks of light drifted past, or larger flashes pinged from out of the darkness.

  “Bioluminescence,” Cate breathed.

  “That’s right. This will be exactly like a deep-sea environment. The things down here will have seen no sunlight so use the bio-light to attract prey, or a mate, or even as a sign of distress.”

  Cate looked down at the controls. “Does the sub... Prusalka, have any external lights?”

  Greg and Abby crowded up behind them, causing Yegor to momentarily turn, his huge brows coming down like a might bushy shelf over his eyes. “Give room, please.”

  “Ouch.” Cate hunched her shoulders, as bodies crushed in on her. It seemed no one was prepared to give up an inch of viewing space.

  “Lights won’t do much down here,” Greg said. “Too much dark depths, and without any points of reference or solid objects to illuminate, you’ll get nothing but black on black.”

  Yegor snorted. “Maybe with American lights. Prusalka has most advanced LED technology on planet with titanium housing for long-term immersion durability.” He turned to Greg. “Tested to full trench-depth at twenty-six thousand feet.” His big brows went up.

  “LEDs? I thought they were tiny things used in desk lamps,” Greg said, crowding closer.

  “Not these babies.” Jack kept his eyes on the curved window. “New LED technology is far better able to tolerate
depths by having an internal oil pressure compensation system.” Jack turned to Greg. “Added to that, a conventional incandescent light bulb emits around fifteen Watts of light, and standard fluorescent lights emit up to a hundred Watts. But, these Russian LEDs can give us up to three hundred Watts plus we have a spot light that can throw out a beam of over five hundred.” He shrugged. “But that generates a little too much heat to run for too long.” Jack turned to Yegor. “Sound about right, big guy?”

  Yegor grinned in return. “You do homework. Good.” He nodded. “Like I said; Russian lights best in world.”

  “Well, then…” Abby gripped Cate’s shoulder. “…let’s see what we’ve got down here.”

  Cate felt Mironov sidle up behind them and lean his long frame forward to see over her shoulder. She turned from Jack to Yegor.

  “Let’s do it.”

  The big man’s hand reached for a bank of switches on the panel before him, flicking them up one after the other. Immediately a ring of high power LED lights around the outside of the convex glass window burst into life, opening a broad white path before them.

  Cate slumped back into the seat. “Oh my god.”

  CHAPTER 10

  In Valery Mironov’s outer office, Sonya Borashev read the CIA report, and ground her teeth. She dropped it to the desk. Svoloch! She had warned Valery that this might happen. Their CIA contact had intercepted communication chatter between Kodiak Island, near Baranof Island, and the Russian mainland.

  She had immediately dispatched a covert team to Kodiak Island, and they had found a body – murdered. There’d been a switch, and one of those Russian crewmen was not who he said he was.

  Sonya looked at the bank of clocks on the wall, showing the time zone for every major city on earth. The submersible had dived and gone dark by now – she was too late to do anything about it.