Hungry Darkness: A Deep Sea Thriller

by Gabino Iglesias

  Hungry Darkness

  Gabino Iglesias

  Copyright 2015 by Gabino Iglesias

  Chapter One

  Nick Ayres placed his hands on top of a huge, grey camera crate and pressed down on it to test its sturdiness. The thick plastic gave a little, but it felt like it could take his weight. He turned around and carefully sat on it, still a bit afraid of crushing the crate’s contents. He didn’t know how the stuff inside worked, but he knew it was worth more than some people’s cars. The crate took his weight and seemed to cradle his behind.

  Sure that the plastic wasn’t going to snap and drop his ass on top of a bunch of lenses, Nick breathed a sigh of relief and looked out at the shiny 44-foot boat bobbing up and down at the end of the pier. He hated poetry, but the word majestic came to mind. The sun was coming up and its reflection on the water, which looked like a trillion dancing worms made of blinding light, made the boat’s white paint stand out even more. Looking at it, and thinking about the place it would take them, was enough to put a smile on Nick’s face despite the fact that it was unreasonably early and he hadn’t had his coffee yet.

  Getting a boat this big had been a pain and a hard hit on the budget, but now that most of the equipment was on board, and it was obvious there was still plenty of space to move around, Nick was glad he’d gone through the hassle. It was all National Geographic’s money anyway, so no harm there. Traveling in style is much easier when someone with deep pockets is taking care of your bills.

  The Albin 45 Command Bridge was perfect for Nick and the team. Its design delivered a 360-degree view of the water to those in the cockpit, and if he was going to be responsible for the safety of a few divers, that visibility was something he considered priceless. The interior featured teak and holly sole throughout, and the galley included a full sized refrigerator, a deluxe sink that at least one or two people would surely be vomiting into at some point, a three burner stove, a little microwave, a coffee maker, which Nick would be using as soon as everyone was onboard, and a lot of cupboard space. Despite the unusual amount of cupboard space, it was already called for, and everyone knew it would serve a single purpose: keeping all the crap Sheryl, one of the producers, had insisted on bringing.

  Nick couldn’t help smiling every time he stepped onboard. The boat was a real beauty, and with the two powerful motors they’d slapped on the back of it, the thing could do 30 knots with ease. Nick was eager to try it out.

  “Mind getting up? We need to put all the gear together so there’s no need to look around for things once we’re at the hole.”

  Nick turned around and found David Perry, the lead cameraman, pushing his thick, black glasses up his nose. The appendage had the reddish color typical of those with very white skin after too many hours under the sun.

  “Sure, Dave. You guys have everything you need?”

  “James got hold of a few extra batteries, so we’re good to go,” said Dave, his voice a far more nasal version of Kermit the Frog’s.

  “That’s what I like to hear,” said Nick, watching as Dave struggled to lift the protective crate and carry it to the boat.

  Everyone had been working nonstop since their last meeting, and Nick was grateful for that, but he felt antsy, nervous in a way he hadn’t felt in a very long time. A lot was riding on this expedition, and he wanted to be doing much more than waiting for others to finish up packing their stuff. What he wanted was to be in the water already, his body slowly descending into the mouth of Giant Cave, the largest marine cave in the world. He’d dived there countless times, but this series of dives mattered more than anything else he had ever done. It mattered more than any set of dives anyone had ever done in there. Paul Heinerth and Chuck Hattel, the men who first dived into the gaping darkness, were names only those interested in the history of Giant Cave knew about, but Nick wanted to explore deeper than anyone else before, and he had convinced National Geographic to give him the cash to buy everything and hire everyone he needed to pull it off. That there would be a film made of his historic dives, and discoveries was just the icing on the cake.

  Chapter Two

  The team was sitting on the large U-shaped sofa that took up most of the dining area. They had reached Tarpon View which is what most locals called the spot above the entrance to Giant Cave, a bit ahead of schedule thanks to a nice breeze, and Nick wanted to go over their plans and safety once more before hitting the water.

  Dave, James, and Sebastian would be the only ones going down with him, and they were all divers with plenty of cave diving trips under their belts, but Nick knew that his entire future was riding on this, and he wanted everything to be perfect. He had selected Dave and James as his camera crew not only because both were experienced cave divers who had worked with nature documentary crews before, but also because they were incredibly easy to get along with and had a strange artistic flare that affected their work in a very positive way. They knew how to get footage that would awe viewers, stuff that would transport people to that other world not only beneath the waves but under the floor that was beneath those waves.

  The third man going down with Nick was Sebastian Vazquez, one of the most experienced cave divers in Belize. Sebastian owned a diving business that took tourists on fishing and diving trips to the reef, and he’d had to save more than one inexperienced diver who got him or herself in a precarious situation. He was also easy to get along with, but mainly because he was incredibly quiet and seemed not to care about anything or anyone that didn’t directly affect what he was doing.

  The three Nick would be taking with him knew what they were doing and had vast experience with the equipment they would be diving with, but they would hopefully be going into new territory, and getting distracted or having a panic attack deep in the cave could be fatal for everyone involved. What Nick wanted was for everyone to be so sure of their plans, so clear on what they would be doing and how they would be doing it, that there would be no surprises. He really believed he could repeat things so many times that they would somehow end up tattooed on their brains.

  With all eyes on him, Nick started talking.

  “I know we’ve gone over all of this before, but I want to make sure that everyone is clear on safety protocols and what we’re going to try to achieve today when we get down there. Any questions before we get going?”

  Sheryl raised her right hand like a kid in a classroom. Her left eyebrow was riding half an inch higher on her forehead than her left. She looked both annoyed and like someone who knew they were being lied to and wanted to give the liar a piece of her mind. It was pretty much the same look and attitude she’d had since the first meeting.

  “Sheryl?” Nick said, looking at her.

  “What are we supposed to do while you guys are down there?”

  Nick took a deep breath before replying. Sheryl was the most irritating woman he’d met in a very long time, but she was great at what she did as demonstrated by the quickness with which she’d had the boat prepped and delivered. She had come highly recommended by the folks at NatGeo, so he had decided to put up with her attitude. Also, she was part of a team, and the second producer, Jessica, was not only nice enough to make him forget about Sheryl but also attractive enough to earn a living as a bikini model if the producing gig ever turned sour.

  “That’s up to you, Sheryl,” Nick said after his pause. “Just because you’re not going in the water doesn’t mean you can’t participate. We’ll have a live feed from both cameras going at all times, so you can watch and take notes. Also, I’m sure Gary could use some help with communications. Keeping track of four people can’t be easy. If none of that suits you, just join the captain up top. It’s a beautiful
day to work on your tan.”

  Nick tried his best to smile at her, to appear cordial, but her face still looked like she had something rancid stuck to the back of her tongue.

  “Considering I have no interest in walking away from this job with skin cancer, what you’re saying is that I can either sit down and watch what you guys are seeing, or help Mike ask you if you’re all okay every minute and a half, right?”

  Nick nodded.

  “Oh, those are both such exciting options I really don’t know what to do!”

  Sheryl’s false enthusiasm was so full of cynicism even Dave, probably the mellowest person on team, shook his head.

  “Okay, if you don’t like any of those, you can always…produce something. Yeah, just stay in here and do whatever producers do when no one’s looking.”

  It was meant as a joke, but humor and Sheryl mixed as well as oil and water.

  “You got it, Nick, I’ll produce something.”

  Sheryl’s sarcasm was getting old, but Nick knew that getting into an argument with her would only be a waste of time. Instead, he looked at Jessica. She rolled her eyes and smiled. That gave Nick the strength he needed to keep talking.

  “We’re more or less at the entrance of the cave now. As you know, we’re not that far from shore, so the water’s not too deep here. Once we get in the water, we’ll dive down to the ocean floor and enter a narrow crack. Believe it or not, once we’re in there, we’ll be technically inside Giant Cave. Now, this crack goes on for a bit as Sebastian already knows, and, like I mentioned, it’s not a wide space, so I’ll lead, and you guys will follow me single file. Sebastian will be coming in behind you, keeping an eye on things. We’re going to make our way through the narrow passage slowly because we don’t want to damage the equipment, so being cautious is all you two have to worry about it. After about 75 feet or so, we’ll reach a second entrance. This one goes down about twenty feet. There’s a rope in there to help guide you in the darkness during the descent, especially because your eyes can take some time to adapt once we move into the dark. It’s easy to grab that rope and try to get through the passageway as quickly as possible, but we need to be extremely careful because the space in there is even narrower than the crack. If you think squeezing your way through with the all the gear will be an issue, just hand it over to Sebastian or me, and we’ll take care of it. The passage can be a little scary your first time through. Once we’ve made our way down to the bottom of that small horizontal tunnel, we’ll reach the entrance of a huge room. That’s when we’ll be forced to turn our lights on and is the place where I want you two to start filming. This spot we’ll be entering is probably the largest underwater chamber in the world, and it’s kind of spooky with its greenish water and crazy shadows caused by lights. Trust me, the ghostly, otherworldly atmosphere there makes for great shooting. You guys are gonna dig it. That being said, we’re going to try to keep our time there to a minimum. The idea is to get some footage, maybe a few fish or a lobster, and get out of there quickly because we don’t want to waste too much oxygen. It might take us up to half an hour to cross the chamber, but we should be fine. The diving conditions are in our favor. The water here hovers around the 77-degree mark, the average depth for most of the dive is not really something to be concerned about, and there are no strong currents in the cave. The reason I want to make our way quickly…”

  Dave’s right hand shot up. Nick felt like a kindergarten teacher.

  “What’s up, Dave?”

  “Yeah, you said depth is not something we need to be concerned about for most of the dive. What do you mean by that? What about the part of the dive we need to be worried about? Are we gonna have to worry about decompression on the way back?”

  “Well, Heinerth and Hattel only explored the first 3,000 feet of the cave. We know what’s there, so we’re hurrying through. The plan is to reach a portion of the cave that hasn’t been explored yet. We believe the cave keeps going horizontally because that’s what all experts have told us, but there’s always a chance it dips, and if it does, I plan on following it at least for a few hundred feet. With the double 20-liter tank setup we’ll be diving with, oxygen won’t be a problem. We’ll head in for two hours and turn around. We should reach the boat with an hour of oxygen to spare. I’ll be keeping my eye on the depth gage. If we start dropping down to triple digits, I’ll turn around, and we’ll head back up. We don’t need a decompression stop if we stay on the safe side of 100 feet. Any other questions?”

  Despite the fact that they were all seasoned divers who had spent countless hours in deep, dark caves, Nick could see apprehension and regret battling for position in Dave and James’ faces. This was a new hole for them, and new things are always scary. He hoped all of that would vanish the second they hit the water. A scared diver is a liability, an accident waiting to happen, and he wanted none of that in the cave. If one of them died because they made a silly mistake and ruined his chance at glory, he’d find a way to bring him back from the dead just for the pleasure of killing him with his own hands.

  “So, are we ready to do this?”

  Their collective mumble was far short of the excitement Nick was feeling. He felt like the dumb friend who’s already screaming about one more bar and one more drink when everyone is obviously tired and ready to go home.

  Nick pushed that awkward feeling aside and sent them off to get ready. Between the hands shooting up in the air and their reluctant faces, the whole thing felt like he was sending a bunch of kids to do their homework, but he didn’t care. He was the leader of this expedition, and his name would be the one plastered in newspapers and magazines across the globe. He had gotten the money, contacted the right people, brought all the details together successfully, and even sent two divers in ahead of time to make sure that this recorded dive would be officially recognized as the longest in the history of Giant Cave.

  Unofficially, a few divers had gone beyond the 3,000-foot mark. In fact, Nick knew at least two of them. However, that was not something he was going to tell his crew. Giant Cave was controlled by the Department of Archeology and the Environment from whom Nick had received a permit for exploratory diving only because National Geographic was involved. All the divers before him who were not directly linked to Belize Dive Services went in illegally. That meant that they only shared their experience with a few close friends, and boasting a record-breaking exploration could lead to hard time. What Nick had learned from them was that there was a point where the cave became too narrow a few hundred feet past the 3,000-feet mark. Widening the passage was out of the question because it would entail damaging the cave, but that was not something Nick cared about. The folks who had discovered the place had used barrels to remove a huge rock from the entrance, thus altering the cave’s natural state. What Nick had done was somewhat similar, except it involved sending a couple of guys in with underwater explosives to take care of things. It was both illegal and dangerous, but it was all done in the name of science, and that’s what mattered.

  Nick had called a friend of his who lived in Florida and worked as an underwater demolitionist. The man was worried about collapsing the cave, hurting the divers, and the damage the explosion would do to the cave’s ecosystem. Luckily for Nick, as soon as he offered to put the man down as a professional consultant and send him a check, the man told him what he needed to get and only asked him to stick to his instructions.

  Now Nick was eager to get down there and use the newly opened space to swim through, cameras in tow, and get his name into a few books.

  Chapter Three

  The dive down was uneventful. Dave and James looked comfortable with their equipment, and Sebastian was doing a good job of keeping Gary, the tiny communications guy who was up in the boat and down here in their ears, happy with occasional updates on their progress. They were all wearing full-face masks with communication kits, something that at a thousand bucks a pop was another treat they had to thank National Geographic for.

  The open
ing to the cave was uninviting. It looked like a dark hole to nowhere surrounded by slightly greenish water that was plagued with chunks of dead algae this time of year. However, if the nasty look affected any of the divers, they kept their cool about it. The waters around Caye Caulker have gorgeous reefs to offer divers, but this spot was not as colorful as that, and besides tarpons and a few other fish, was mostly devoid of the colorful marine life that made Caye Caulker such a popular destination for divers.

  After slowly entering the hole and carefully maneuvering the cameras through the uncomfortably constricted passage, the four divers finally wiggled through the entrance to the big room and found themselves looking out an the enormous darkness around them. Dave couldn’t help letting a “Holy shit!” escape into the communications system. The two words put a smile on Nick’s face.

  The beams of yellowish light emanating from their heads were powerful enough to create acute triangles in front of every diver. In that light, small fish crisscrossed in and out of the darkness carelessly, and random biological matter floated around like giant dust particles caught in the shafts of sunlight streaming through a window.

  Huge stalactites and stalagmites were everywhere. Some stood straight like prehistoric trees with no tops while others came down from the darkness like the giant green teeth of a prehistoric behemoth. Some of the mineral formations were broken and laid toppled at various angles while others met, forming gigantic columns that reminded James of the megalithic cities described in the work of H.P. Lovecraft, which he’d been a fan of since his early teens. The eerie atmosphere was there when they were still, but it was made worse whenever the divers’ headlights moved across it which made strange shadows dance behind the columns and magnified the shadows of small pieces of drifting debris that passed closed to their lights. While their silence was eloquent to Nick, he didn’t want everyone’s first impression to have an impact on their time management, so he spoke to them to pull them out of their reverie.