KETTY'S SUBDIVISION Wattys2017

Chapter 4-Part II

The sensors, made to penetrate deep space, were capable of navigating the turbid waters, which lit up in a light blue under the false imaging. Dead ahead was the calculated location of the crash site, if that's what it could be called. Now Kato noticed an orange glow that gave him an uneasy feeling just as Astrid took over the controls. A few red lights illuminated on a panel off to the side, causing Astrid to make a drastic course correction away from the ocean floor.

They were running parallel to the surface at five miles' depth. The flight computer spit out a soft warning. "Unknown energy source, recommend evasive maneuvers." She had the overrides set to manual so they remained on course, otherwise the flight AI would have punched them free of danger before they could blink. Kato noticed the other ships had cleared the area and they remained alone at depth. Then the view screen exploded in a rainbow of orange and brown. He started to yell, but Astrid was bent to the controls. She had caught a glimpse of something a few miles to the South and now she tried to steer the ship in that direction. She had her necklace plugged into the control stalk as her hands flew across sensor arrays, eyes wide with excitement. He found it odd, they were about to die and his sister was taking pictures. The blast wave slammed into the ship, and he felt something probing his mind as they tumbled out of control.

Technology had allowed him to live in the confidence that starships were impervious to outside forces. Now he realized there was a crushing depth of water above him and the integrity of the ship was failing.

But how?

He could feel his stomach churning as the ship tumbled out of control, a sure sign the inertial damping system had failed. The computer droned its warning in an incessant tone.

"Shields at twenty percent, hull integrity failing."

Impossible, but something probed his mind again. Then he felt his sister's hands on his neck, dragging him towards the back of the ship. She slapped a belt into his hands.

"Put this on, hurry." Emergency lights showed water penetrating the seams of the hull, and just as he buckled the belt, a wall of water slammed his face. The safety suit engaged a microsecond too late and his lungs imploded with water, suffocating him like he had never felt before.

This is what it was like to be starved of precious air. He could see the entire structure of the ship implode through the clear gel of the suit as water consumed them in the blink of an eye. Then the life support kicked in and his lungs cleared of water. It was only a cup full, but it was as close to death as he had ever come. Now he felt himself floating free then somehow Astrid was there, pulling him down further with a tiny jet pack that pushed them towards the bottom.

The water was dark, and it felt as if his mind had been stripped of knowledge. He couldn't quite put a finger on what it was, but something knew him, and he didn't like it. Astrid was operating on dead reckoning since the small light penetrated about two feet. It was lonely down here as they descended even deeper, an eerie calm that amplified the beating of Kato's heart.
Was he scared?

They bumped head long into the structure, before it came into view. A dull thump, hollow, yet non-metallic. Astrid fumbled down the side, struggling to get underneath, where a chamber would allow them access inside. But that time never came.

Astrid was well aware of the reality surrounding her, so when the small conning tower, that point that protrudes above a submarine appeared, she was truly surprised. It was too early, too absurd. The small portal in the fabric of reality protruded into her view at an odd angle, upside down and sideways. There was a woman there, with her gloved hand outstretched towards Astrid, a strained expression on her face like every second meant life or death. Georgiana tried to scream to get her butt over here, but sound didn't travel at the speed of the time rift formed between the Quantum Submarine and Ketty's Subdivision. Still, Georgiana's hand held out told Astrid all she needed to know. She reached out and took hold. There was no way to see the surprise on Kato's face as she slipped into another dimension and vanished. No one had ever seen it happen under water, and to Kato, it seemed like a bad dream he never could have imagined.

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So what do you think of Kato now. Does he have any good qualities? Will he let Ketty down?