O2

Arrival

  Krys' POV

  I woke up screaming.

  I woke up screaming and tossed my quilt onto the floor. The couch was uncomfortable, my back ached, and I had had an awful dream. A dream where I was insane. A dream where I had too much self-confidence. I remembered. I remembered how I lost it all, too.

  They stared.

  The others stared, but not for long. They had gotten used to me, I guess. Maybe they had evem become friendly towards me! They just went back to chatting excitedly, sometimes squealing. They were happy; even the blindest person could see that. M's grin was the brightest. I could tell that we had accomplished something. Finally, most of us had gotten into our suits like she had told us to. Nobody usually listens to her unless it's utterly important.

  The submarine had landed!

  The submarine had landed, and everyone was prepared. Except for me. I snapped my fingers, just like M does sometimes, and Itsname brought me the AUTODRESSER200 Swim! Edition. With the press of a button, I was ready to take on anything. I tapped M on the shoulder. She didn't respond. Too busy fantasizing about this possible discovery, I thought.

  Nothing could be seen outside. We were surrounded by complete darkness, as if trapped in a large, pitch black cage; on the inside, the only thing lighting the room was M's bright, flashing control panel.

  Quincy gently nudged my arm. "Hi there," she said. Her glasses were gone, and she never wore contacts. The poor kid must have been blind.

  "Hey," I mumbled awkwardly.

  "I've been thinking about what you said, you know?" Her voice was quiet and hoarse, like she had just been socked in the stomach. "Too close to home."

  "Yeah, I bet that took you a while. It's a pretty outdated term."

  "And it wasn't even applied in the right sense," Quincy added.

  "Yeah, that's because it was literal."

  "Really? I didn't realize that. I thought it just meant that it affected you personally."

  "More so on a spiritual level. What I mean is that I felt that something would remind me of when I was little and living in my own home. It was right by the woods. And you know how they say dreams predict the future?"

  "Totally. I actually contributed towards that theory." She put her hands on her hips and beamed with pride.

  "Well, I think that's exactly what's happening. If M is right and we can build a civilization down here, it might go into flames just like the previous one did."

  "You should tell M."

  "Not just yet." I glanced at out leader. "She's so caught up in her studies right now. I'd hate to shoot her down . . ."

  "I think that's a good idea," Quincy replied, frowning happily. I didn't know people could do that, but I guess Quincy could.

~&~

  The door opened and we strolled out.

  But we were surrounded by water. Everywhere was water. No breathable oxygen. And for the first time, I realized that maybe M was a total goon after all. Everyone was crying through the vocal receiver channel we shared.

  "I don't understand," M wept. "I calculated everything . . . there should have been . . ." She sobbed into the microphone.

  "There there, Sara. It will be okay," Napoleon offered. "We don't have to go back up to the surface. Take a look at Mr. Qiao!"

  Mr. Qiao was spearing fish. "TAKE THAT!" He screamed into the microphone. "AND THIS. AND THAT. AND ALL OF THIS." His wet suit was covered in filth, and it was perfect deep-sea fishing bait.

  "Shut up!" Everyone groaned at once. Then Mr. Qiao got chased away by an angler fish. Quincy was pretty entertained by that.

  "I'm trying to draw." Lian whined. Her paper dissolved into little fibers, which a giant isopod then devoured.

  This area of the ocean was really quite beautiful if one looked close enough: it wasn't really part of any ocean layer, but a new one on its own that consisted of terrifying sea-beasts but also gentle Hyper Sea Dragons, Sea Stars, Blossom Sea Slugs, and even the occasional Salt Water Fighting Fish. All of their relatives could be found at other points in the ocean, but these ones were specially adapted to live under high water pressure. Kind of like our suits, I thought. And our submarine. Maybe even us.

  But it wasn't what we were looking for in these past few weeks. We were looking for an area with breathable oxygen at the bottom of this ocean. We were looking for one last chance to live. We were looking for a way out of the world's end. But now M's theory was out of the window, and our whole trip was pointless. I couldn't imagine going up to the surface with nothing. It was simply impossible.

  "What's that glowing thing?" Andy's voice asked, suddenly coming out of my speaker and breaking my train of thought. I shined my flashlight at him: he was pointing to a bright blue crystal about the size of the average basketball player lying down. That is, if we still had basketball.

  "I-- I don't know." The gem was polished and looked so smooth. I ran a hand over it, and my fingers stuck right through. "A hologram," I growled. "Let's get out of here, Andy."

  "But how would a hologram get down here?"

  "I don't know, but--"

  Suddenly, Itsname was running at us, in a diving suit, full-charge. She pounced on a shiny sea urchin curiously moving across the projection, lifted her paw in a hurt gesture, and disappeared.

  Andy and I gasped. "Well," he said, "what are we waiting for?" He jumped onto the rock and slid into... wherever he was going.

  Now everyone was lined up behind me. I was somewhat reluctant to go, so I kept telling them, "You go first, I'll catch up." But when it was only me left, I wasn't sure I wanted to leave. The scenery here, under the sea, was gorgeous. And what if that crystal lead to our doom? What if we could never come back?

  A hand stuck out of the crystal.

  "Come on in," Quincy said. At least someone was alive. "Here, grab my hand."

  I held my breath, prayed for my own safety as well as my friends, and grabbed her hand.

  I was pulled into a series of twisting metal tubes that took sharp turns every which way. I slid down them with ease, and didn't get hurt. But the light at the end of the tunnel was what took my breath away.