Submerged, p.3
Submerged, page 3
5
The laser cut away section of the cave wall dropped to the ocean floor as the team peered through the windshield of the submarine. A massive cloud of sand flooded their view and Jamal held his breath as they impatiently waited for it to clear enough that Charlie could navigate them through the opening into the cave.
Her hands were white knuckled on the control sticks, and as soon as the sediment settled she eased them forward, the entire group inside of the sub holding a collective breath. Theo had moved up from his place at the back of the space—unable to restrain himself from joining his fellow crew members—muscling his way between them to lean on Charlie’s chair.
Jamal had spent enough time at sea with the older man that he instinctively stepped to the side and pulled Ria with him—an arm tight around her frail shoulders. Her wide sunken eyes broke away from the riveting view in front of them to glance up, catching the flash of green out of the corner of his eye and wrenching his own gaze away to look down at her. He pulled her tight against his body—aghast at how small she was—fervently hoping that beyond this cave lay their salvation. If not for all of humanity, at least for her.
The craft jerked forward and their attention was drawn at once back to Charlie’s HUD and the viewscreen beyond. The dirt kicked up by the falling rock had begun to settle and fish swam by their eyes. Huge schools, larger than any of them had seen in life. Jamal stifled a gasp with a hand over his open mouth. In all his time studying aquatic life—and all his time on the open ocean with Theo—he had never seen schools like this.
The craft came to a stop, and even Charlie—hardened and world weary as she was—seemed taken aback by the beauty. After a moment she regained herself and moved them forward. From Jamal’s perspective it seemed to take forever to get through the gap they had created in the rock face. In reality it probably only took ten minutes or so of agonizingly slow movement, and then they were through.
The other side was a fantastical world the likes of which all of them had only read about in books, maybe seen pictures of in children’s stories. Even Theo was silent in awe of the view. Great swaths of kelp and other underwater fauna that Jamal couldn’t identify—but he was sure Ria could and he was anxious to ask her about it—flowed to and fro before them. Fish and squid and crustaceans and more marine life than he could count on one hand moved in and around the plant life.
The cave system bent and twisted, so they had no way to know where it ended without venturing forward. Jamal was already regretting their decision to open up this underwater paradise to the devastation outside these walls, it was too late however for regrets so he leaned forward and placed his hand on Charlie’s shoulder.
“How far can we go?” he asked.
“Let’s find out shall we?” she replied, pushing the steering column forward and guiding the submarine through the first twists and turns they had uncovered.
With Jamal’s urging, Charlie steered the craft into the cave system, amazed at what she was seeing through the window. Animals she had only seen in pictures and some she didn’t recognize at all. But the plant life wafting before them in the grip of the ocean currents was what amazed her most. In all her twenty-nine years she had never seen so much green in one place outside a hydroponics lab, and even that was all contained within growing pots and trays. Nothing like this wild, untamed growth before them.
The opening they had created led them into a large oval space but it quickly narrowed at the back into a tunnel that led deeper. She eased the craft into the space, careful to avoid the encroaching walls of rock. She made their way through the wide but twisting corridor until they reached the next large opening, what looked like another chamber in what now appeared to be a huge network of them.
“Can we set down somewhere Charlie?” Jamal asked from close behind her.
“Sure thing,” she replied, peering through the screen to find the place least likely to crush a pile of plant life. She was loathe to kill anything—plant or animal—that might lead to their salvation. She circled the space in search of the most opportune place and settled on the center of the cave where the rocky base was covered with moss but not much else. Charlie punched some buttons on the dash that controlled the anchoring gear, attaching them to where they sat, before she released the controls and spun in her chair.
“Alright book people,” she said, facing Jamal and Ria, “what now?”
Ria’s face flushed red and Jamal took her hand in his.
“Well, I think we should take a look around, start cataloging,” he said, pulling Ria with him to grab a pair of tablets from her nook in the back corner of the craft.
“We should send up a beacon,” Theo boomed, taking advantage of Jamal and Ria’s temporary absence to place himself at the center of the group, separating Callum and Charlie from the other two with his ample frame.
“I think it’s a little early for that,” Cal replied, crossing his arms, an uncharacteristic frown crossed his blonde brow.
“What do you mean early? We’ve found obvious evidence of plant and animal life, isn’t that what we’re here for?” Theo demanded in return.
“Yes Theodore, and if you send up a beacon now that exact plant and animal life will be harvested within days. Shouldn’t we find out why it’s growing here first?” Charlie shot back, her cheeks flushed with anger at Theo’s presumption.
“Who cares? We’re looking for food, here’s food!” he shouted.
“Theo, seriously?” Callum cut in, uncrossing his arms and raising himself up to his full height, as Ria and Jamal rejoined the group, tablet computers in hand.
“I think we should take a moment,” Jamal said, placing a hand on Theo’s bulging bicep, “and do some investigation before we make any hasty decisions. We’ve come all this way.”
Theo turned to his younger companion, his face visibly relaxing in Jamal’s presence, for which Charlie was eternally grateful. She pivoted away from the rest of the group as they continued the discussion in much quieter tones, sliding back into her pilot’s seat, prepared to wait out the conversation. A flash through the cockpit windscreen caught her eye and she looked up just in time to see several bodies converging on the front of the craft, disturbingly human shaped bodies, with spears and tridents.
6
1.5 years earlier…
Theo stormed through the corridors of the United Governing Council chambers, stalking towards the meeting room where Anna Kershov held court. He wished they were in a proper government building, not this repurposed broken down university where they shared space with any number of others, including his insolent niece and the rest of the upstarts he was forced to work with.
He was well aware however that wishes were useless in this day and age, and he had no choice but to make do with what hand he was dealt. He had already lost out on the lead governing position to Anna, but he was loathe to let her make all the choices and had become well practiced at making his voice heard.
“Hey, Theodore!” He rolled his eyes and heaved a sigh before turning to face his pursuer.
“What is it now Charlie?” he spat, contempt dripping from his voice.
“Well, you know we have this whole ‘save the world’ thing going on over in the dorms and the rest of the team are starting to wonder where you’ve been,” she said as she caught up with him.
“I’ve been busy,” he replied.
“Uh huh, busy eh? Posturing for the UGC?” she asked with one eyebrow cocked and a hand on her hip. “Are you heading to the meeting then?”
“Meeting?” he asked, feigning ignorance.
“The UGC meeting,” she replied, “you know the one you didn’t want the rest of us to know about? I’m not a moron, uncle.”
“Indeed you are not,” he mumbled under his breath. “Yes I’m heading to the meeting, there’s no need for you to come too.”
“I disagree,” she said, squeezing past him in the tight space and heading towards the meeting room.
Theo bit his tongue. Twenty-nine years had taught him that arguing with Charlie wasn’t worth the wasted breath—even though sometimes he couldn’t help himself—and instead he focused his attention this time on surpassing her as she made her way down the hall and opening the door into the conference room first.
He shot a smug smile over his shoulder as he entered the room, holding the door for her to follow him. Charlie glowered at him as she followed, quickly taking up her usual position leaning against the wall, arms folded firmly across her chest.
Anna Kershov swept into the room, her frayed gray trench coat flowing behind her, and took her customary seat at the head of the table. She clasped her hands on the table and looked at Theo expectantly. “Any news to report Theodore?” she asked. “How’s the project coming?”
“It’s all going quite well,” he replied, puffing out his chest importantly.
“Uhm, no it’s not,” Charlie piped up from behind him. Theo rolled his eyes and heaved a sigh before turning in his chair to glare at his young niece.
“What’s that, Ms. McIntyre?” Anna asked politely, a sharp contrast to Theo’s barely contained ire.
“Cal and I are still having serious acceleration issues, causing massive compression of the hull upon diving,” Charlie replied, shooting a nasty look at her uncle.
“Is that so?” Anna replied, one eyebrow raised as she turned her attention back to Theo across the table from her.
“Oh well,” he blustered, “that’s not new is it? I was referring to there being nothing new to report.” He plastered an ingratiating smile across his lined face, quietly gritting his teeth in annoyance. He should’ve been the one sitting at the head of the table superciliously looking down at everyone else.
Privately, he thought that the vote had been rigged. There was simply no way he’d lost by that much to a Russian, and a woman no less. Yes yes, they were all supposed to be beyond such distinctions, working together for the safety of the humankind, but Theo knew better. He knew those lines would always remain, old rivalries that would never completely fade into the background.
And so he sat through every meeting, quietly seething and waiting for his next opportunity, for the next vote. Then this opportunity had arisen, and he’d been planning to spearhead the mission anyways, he told himself. He had the most experience and time spent on the ocean, but once his upstart niece had spoken up and offered to pilot the sub he’d had no choice then but to take control. He couldn’t have that arrogant child running the final mission to save the planet.
“Whatever uncle,” Charlie spoke up from behind him again, her footsteps echoing on the cracked tile as she crossed the room behind him. At the door she turned to face the table once more. “If you’re interested in an actual status report Anna, you know from someone who’s been working on the project? Swing by the dorms where the rest of the team are camped out, we’ll give you all the info you could want,” she said and then turned on her scuffed heel and strode through the door.
Theo scoffed and turned his attention back to Kershov, and was frustrated to see her eyes narrowed in irritation. “There’s no point in taking these meetings if you’re not going to be honest with me Mr. Harris,” she said, pushing back from the table herself. “Perhaps I will take Charlie up on her invitation.” Anna swept away from the table and paused at the doorway, just as Charlie had done. “Aren’t you coming?” she asked, her eyebrow raised once again in a perfectly neutral expression that also somehow radiated annoyance.
“Yes, of course,” he replied, shoving his chair back and following her out of the room. As they headed down the hall he struggled to keep his mounting temper under control after having been outwitted once again by the ever persistent thorn in his side, Charlie McIntyre.
Callum was consulting with a pair of engineers—explaining the hull compression issue he and Charlie were having in the simulator and trying to troubleshoot some sort of solution—when Anna made her way down the rickety staircase to where the subshell was being assembled.
Charlie was close behind her with a thunderous looking Theo bringing up the rear. Oh Char what have you done now? he thought, watching their odd procession.
“Mr. Bennett, what are you and your colleagues working on?” Anna asked after taking a loop around the platform. Cal glanced briefly at Charlie for confirmation that she had reported their issues already—he certainly didn’t want to be the one to do it. Her nod and quick smile were enough to set his mind at ease.
“Well ma’am, we’re currently troubleshooting the hull stability issues that Char told you about. In layman’s terms, we’re trying to figure out how to shore up the outer walls so they don’t buckle and kill us all when we take this thing down.”
Theo scoffed in the background and was summarily ignored by the rest of them, Cal watched with amusement as the older man’s face turned an interesting shade of purple.
“And what solutions have you come up with so far?” Anna asked, swiveling her attention between Cal and the two engineers standing just behind him. He imagined the guys were slightly nervous about being pressed for information by the President of the UGC.
“Madam Kershov, this is Matias and Camila Rodriguez. They are the best engineers on this side of the planet,” he said by way of introduction, hoping to ease the siblings’ tension so they could answer her question.
“Both Rodriguez? You’re married then?” Anna asked. Matias and Camila burst out laughing. The president looked amused and waited for them to recover themselves and explain the joke.
Cammie caught her breath first. “No ma’am, Matias is my baby brother and he followed in my footsteps.”
“Baby?? I’m four minutes younger than you!” her twin replied.
“Ahh, I see,” Anna said with a nod.
“And I’ll have you know I wanted to be an engineer way before you did!”
“You did not, you read my textbooks and then you got interested.”
“Siblings! Can we focus please?” Charlie tapped one foot dramatically on the metal scaffolding, her hands planted firmly on her hips and an exasperated look on her face.
“Sorry Char,” the twins replied in tandem.
Callum hid his smile behind his hand. Even after six months of working together their way of speaking still cracked him up.
“Madam Kershov, we’re working on several different approaches to the problem,” Matias began.
“Including a salvage mission to the old missile silos in the continental United States,” Camila continued.
“Missile silos?” Anna raised an eyebrow, prompting them to continue. She had a way of inviting people to volunteer what she wanted to know without being too pushy or overt about it. Cal wasn’t surprised that she had won the election and was glad now to have her in their corner.
“Yes, the old nuclear missile silos. Some of them still have ordinances in them and the hull material could be harvested to reinforce the sub and prevent a breach under the intense pressure the team will encounter,” Matias finished the thought for himself and his sister.
“Well that sounds doable,” Anna replied, “can you forward me a list of people who would be well suited for a mission of this kind?”
Another thing Callum liked about Kershov was that she knew exactly who to ask for what, and she wasn’t afraid to defer to people who had more information that she did.
“We can do that ma’am,” Matias said.
“Absolutely, by the end of the day,” his sister agreed.
“I may have some names for you,” Theo interjected.
“I think Mr and Miss Rodriguez can handle this one Theodore,” Anna replied. “Ms. McIntyre, was there anything else you wanted me to see?”
“If you want to come see what Jamal and Ria are up to, I think they’re still ensconced in the library with their books?” Charlie replied, shooting a quick smirk at her uncle. Her joy over seeing him dismissed so abruptly was only going to come back and bite her Cal knew, but he would never deny her the pleasure of getting one up on the old man.
“I think I can wait to read their official report, no need to disturb them.”
“Very good ma’am, thank you for coming,” Charlie said, gesturing towards the stairs back up to the main level and allowing President Kershov to take the lead.
They reached the landing that circled the top half of the submarine shell and stopped to shake hands.
“Thank you for your assistance today Ms. McIntyre, it’s been most illuminating.” The President held out her hand for Charlie to shake and Cal watched Theo shake with rage on the scaffold behind his niece.
“Mr. Harris, I’ll see you at the next meeting of the UGC?” she continued, turning her attention from Charlie.
“Of course Anna,” Theo replied, taking her hand in his own meaty one.
Whoa he recovers quickly, Cal thought.
Theo and Anna left, while Charlie made her way back down the stairs to join him and the engineers.
“Thanks for the backup Cal,” she said. “Uncle Theo tried to make out like everything was peachy down here.” She rolled her eyes as she spoke.
“Are you gonna be able to handle all that time inside the sub with him if we actually get this thing off the ground, or under the water as it were?”
“Nothing and no one is going to keep me from going on this mission Cal, don’t you worry. Not even my cantankerous uncle.”
“Where do you even learn words like that?” he asked, a grin spreading across his features.
“Oh, well, occasionally I read books. In between daring submarine rescue missions,” Charlie replied, bumping him with her hip.
“Of course,” he laughed and threw an arm around her shoulder, pulling her against him for a quick side hug.
“If you two are done flirting can we get back to work?” Matias called from beneath the sub shell.
“Yes sir!” Charlie replied, pulling away from Cal to give Matias a mock salute before dropping down beneath the structure to assist. Callum followed his pilot, pulling out his tablet to make notes with the twins on solving this problem.
