Everlast, TX

The Thick of It

Colt thumped the hydrogen fuel cell gauge. The needle twitched but held steady at three-quarters charge. “How much further to the platform? And any site of the tanker yet?” He swiveled in his chair to face Gideon.

“Four hundred meters, but I can’t confirm the tanker. The sonographic is cloudy due to all the silt. I’m getting crazy readings. I think something’s screwed up with this thing.”

Maddox said, “I’d pilot closer to the surface if it wasn’t for the storm.”

Gideon fiddled with the sonographic’s sensitivity, then gasped. “Forget the storm! Climb now!”

Maddox jerked back on the controls. “What is it?”

“Hard to port, full thrust!”

“I can’t!” Maddox strained at the controls with both hands.

Colt unbuckled himself and slammed the engines into full thrust before adding his weight to Maddox’s. Together, the two of them tugged the craft steadily toward the surface, still some two hundred and fifty meters overhead.

Shasta dialed through a series of onboard, digital maps. “There’s nothing permanent out here. What did you see?”

Gideon pinged the water around their vessel and waited for the computer to process the incoming sonar. He swore.

“What?” Maddox shouted.

“Hold on!”

The sub struck something solid and lurched into a port spiral.

Colt clung to Maddox’s waist as the craft rolled upside down.

Gideon switched the holoscreen from sonographic to external camera just as a snatch of bold lettering flashed past their view. It read, Batillus. “I think we found the tanker.”

They struck hard a second time, and the camera went to static.

Colt lost his grip on Maddox and dropped the short distance to the ceiling.

“Colt!”

He grunted as the vessel continued to roll. “Just get us out of here.”

Maddox gritted her teeth. “Gideon, heading, now.”

Gideon buried his face into the navigational view finder. “It’s a debris field, and we’re neck deep in it.”

“Make the call.” Maddox lowered her voice. “You can do it.”

“Full dive, 38 degrees starboard. Slow to half thrust.”

“On it.” Maddox set the new course as the sub righted itself.

Colt climbed into his chair and fastened his buckle. “Remind me not to do that again.”

“New heading, port 18 degrees.” Gideon said.

Maddox tugged on the controls. They didn’t respond. “Something’s wrong.”

“New heading, port 25 degrees. Now.”

“I can’t. Something’s jamming the controls.”

“Full reverse!”

Maddox slammed the turbines roughly into reverse. The craft shuddered. The turbines powered down their forward thrust. Instead of powering up in reverse, they failed completely.

“What happened?” Shasta cried.

“I don’t know.” Maddox tried to restart the engines. “We’re dead in the water.”

“Hold on.” Gideon removed his face from the view finder. “This is going to be worse than the first.”

Colt clenched his cheeks, and gripped his armrests for an impossibly long two seconds. When the sub struck, the impact lifted him against his restraints. He felt temporarily weightless, like the moment a roller coaster tops a hill and begins its descent. “Was that it?”

Gideon checked the view finder. “No more debris in our direct path. At least for now, there’s nothing but 300 meters of water between us and the ocean floor.”

Colt was about to exhale a sigh of relief when a water droplet struck his nose. He searched the ceiling above him for a leak. It could simply be condensation. “Ah crap.”

Maddox covered her face with her hand. “What now?”

“We’re taking on water.” He pointed out the small rivulet of ocean water seeping through a hairline fracture in the sub’s pressure hull.

Maddox palmed her forehead. “This is my fault.”

Colt nodded. “Now that we’ve got the blame assigned, anyone got any ideas on what to do next? Preferably before we drown.”

Gideon raised his hand, then lowered it. “Oh, before we drown. That scuttles my idea.”

“Can we not joke right now?” Shasta shot the boys dirty looks.

Colt held up his hands in surrender. “M, what does the manual call for on occasion of an engine failure?”

Maddox nodded and started flicking switches. “There, that should reset polarization. There’s a chance the magnets in the turbines shifted unexpected when I slammed into reverse.”

Colt raised his brows. “And the restart?”

“I’m getting to that.” Maddox snapped. She stabbed the engine start button.

All four friends sighed simultaneously when nothing happened.

Maddox tried it again with the same result.

Colt cracked his knuckles and turned to Gideon. “How fast are we descending?”

Gideon consulted the view finder. “I suppose the important number is 218. That’s how many seconds until impact.”

“Okay,” Colt ran his hand through his hair, “that gives us three and a half minutes until we’re buried several meters in silt and invisible to most forms of detection.”

“Not to mention, the impact could split us open.” Gideon mused.

Maddox added, “In which case the pressure would crush us before we could drown.”

“Now you’re thinking positive.” Colt smiled.

Maddox rolled her eyes.

“What about the ballast tanks?” Shasta asked.

“It could be ballast water we’re taking on.” Colt shrugged. “But we should be able to blow it out gently enough to avoid making the leak worse.”

“Then the only problems are the storm, the platform and whatever other debris might be floating on the surface.” Maddox said.

Gideon checked the view finder. “We’ve got less than 60 seconds to decide and reverse our descent.”

Colt held out his fist, thumb sideways. “What’s it gonna be, crew? Up or down?”

What Happens Next?

Whether the crew heads up or down, who knows what they could encounter next? You do! Use the wild cards on the right hand side and share your inspiration via the comments. (And don't forget to click the star button to vote. 10 votes triggers the next episode!)