. . .
“We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far."
–H.P. Lovecraft
. . .
“Doctor Origami, so glad you could make it,” one of the commanding officers greeted me as soon as I made it in the office, “…the Submerged sent a distress signal fifteen minutes ago.”
“Why? Isn’t Captain Riley the one manning the crew on that sub? What the hell is going on? It’s chaos back there! The newbies are getting cold feet on me,” Captain Tomes, an older gent I’ve only seen a handful of times around HQ complained as soon as he stormed in behind me.
“Hull breach is the likely reason as far as we know, Captain,” the commanding officer answered, his voice stern, “They went radio silence since then… it is most likely their communications are down by this point, so we are at a loss as you are.”
“What do you need us for, sir?” I asked.
“Considering the urgency and the delicacy of the situation, we have called you both in here to oversee the search and rescue operation, Doctor,” he answered, nodding in my direction, “However, in the worst-case scenario that there are no survivors to be found, assessing the damage on the Submerged will do… and no matter what happens gentlemen, know that your main priority here is to secure the blue baby.”
Captain Tomes spluttered, “Excuse me–?”
“What baby?” I demanded, just as bewildered.
“You’ll know it when you see it, Doctor Origami,” the commanding officer said, not even bothering to clarify, “Suit up as soon as possible, gentlemen. We’ll see you in a few minutes.”
And just like that, we’re dismissed.
“Any idea which depth we’re looking at here?” I asked.
“Captain Riley’s crew was leaning more on a small group of marine biologists like you, Doctor. No more than eight people, not including the Captain. Yesterday, he told me that the Submerged was a brand-new prototype specifically designed to explore the uncharted depths of the Trench… but since his crew was more focused on discovering new life forms beneath the sea, they probably went further than intended,” Captain Tomes explained to me as we turned to walk out of the office, “So… I’d say they are probably somewhere around 12000m.”
“No, they have reached18000m, actually!” the commanding officer shouted behind us just as the door swung close.
“Yeah, sure, whatever he says,” Captain Tomes grunted.
“The bottom has been roughly estimated to be 20000m below the water surface. We have to suit up and get the hell down there quick then,” I surmised, trying to keep my voice light. “Any idea what could have caused them to send a distress signal?”
. . .
“Requesting HQ–this is Submerged over, we have a hull breach. I repeat: A HULL BREACH! HQ, can you hear me? We need back up!”
“Submerged, we hear you, this is HQ over. What is your location?”
“18000m. We are in the southern end of the–” static, there was nothing but pure static for a few seconds, “OH GOD, PLEASE SEND HELP–!”
. . .
The record ended after that.
I frowned after Captain Tomes and I were done listening on the Submerged’s first and final call. Things are definitely not looking good here, especially on their end…
I’ve known and even spoken in Captain Riley from time to time. He has always been a level-headed, grandfatherly-like man from what I can tell… so to hear him losing his composure like that… something awful must have truly happened. To say this was disturbing is the understatement of the century.
“Shouldn’t they send in more people?” I asked.
“We have a built-in tracker in our submersible, Doctor,” Captain Tomes informed me as he finished gearing up, “That should be enough to locate the Submerged. But yes, I suppose you are right. It is a bit odd that they are sending just us two.”
That’s not promising.
Sighing, I followed after him as we got inside our borrowed vessel–the submersible Diamond–not originally meant for a search and rescue mission like what we have on going right now but due to the urgency of the situation, it should be enough to do the job since the back supposedly has a chamber that could attach to any of the other submersibles and should be able to transport the crew safely in and out.
Same with the Submerged, the Diamond’s basically made of the same type but a smaller submersible specifically designed for exploring the Trench and can even go down further than at least 20,000m.
“Captain Tomes, Doctor Origami,” the commanding officer called on the comms before we could settle, “Do your best to keep in touch with communications. We can’t afford enough manpower to make way for another search and rescue operation. Am I clear?”
“Yes, sir,”
“Will do, sir,” Captain Tomes answered.
“Good, now get the hell out of here!”
We closed the hatch.
Captain Tomes and I settled in our seats as we braced ourselves for the dive. Since, the Captain has more experience than I do, his duty was to look out for the Submerged and to operate the vehicle while I’m going to manage the communications and once we locate the survivors, I’m in charge of the back chamber and to oversee them for any injuries.
“Let’s get diving,” Captain Tomes muttered.
I got to say, Captain Tomes really knows what he was doing. The higher-ups certainly didn’t pick him for nothing on the job.
He pressed some of the buttons in front and somewhere above him, one after another, like it was some sort of movement ingrained in the back of his mind. It was fascinating watching him move, practically in his element, especially at hearing the submersible hum and vibrate, thrumming with life and that marks the beginning of our descent.
Screens of different sizes suddenly showed up, glowing in front of us which the captain soon pointed out what they were for when he saw me curiously looking over.
“First time on a sub?” he asks, smiling patiently at me.
“Uh no, not really… wait, am I that obvious?” I chuckled, “I mean I’m usually in a sub just to look over plant life or something. Never had to actually busy myself with the controls, something always come up before I can get to…”
“Until now?”
“Yeah, I’ve always wanted to learn…”
“Well, you’re in luck. Now’s a good time as any to learn some of them! See this? This one shows the depth where we are in as of now,” Captain Tomes patiently gestured to one of the other screens, “That one’s for sonar activity and that one’s shows what Diamond’s current condition, alongside its occupants…”
As the Diamond went further underwater, we both watched as the sunlight coming from above us grew dimmer and dimmer until the front of our submersible shows nothing but a dark blue.
“Going down is always faster than up…” I quietly remarked as the submersible steadily makes its way down. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been in the depths before but it was nothing like this. The deepest I’ve ventured in on a sub was somewhere around at 800-850m–or the usual 100 to 170 whenever we were just using our diving gear while we were tracking and recording marine life.
But it never had us going past 200m.
So cut me some slack if I feel a bit on edge
“Yeah, might take us a while to reach them…” Captain Tomes answered, his brows furrowing with clear worry.
“At least they’re not in the Abyssal Zone.”
He gave me a look, “Doesn’t make the Dysphotic Zone any better.”
I huffed out a small laugh, craning my neck lightly to look over the glass, just in time to see a school of tuna fish turning away in a flurry of silver as the Diamond continued to make its way.
“Oh, come on, you know what I mean,” I said, trying to keep my voice light, “Look, I hate to be in their position right now, stuck somewhere in the bottom of the ocean, with their comms down, nothing but complete darkness and a broken sub to keep them company… so let’s just try to look on the bright side okay? It couldn’t be that bad, Captain.”
Captain Tomes visibly shuddered at my words, “…Uh, the narrative seriously doesn’t make me feel any better, Doctor Origami.”
I snorted, “Wasn’t supposed to. Can’t this thing get down any faster?”
“No, this is as good as it gets,” he sighed, watching a huge sting ray glide past us majestically, “But hey, maybe they’ve already managed to put on their diving suits or something and those researchers are going crazy with their discoveries down there. I heard those things can go way deeper than a sub.”
“Wait, those things are for real? No way!”
“Yes way,” he smirked for a moment, “But who knows? The Submerged is equipped with submersibles like the ones we have right now. Maybe they’re already on their way up to the surface and we’d see them on the way?”
That sounds a whole awful lot like wishful thinking.
I raised an eyebrow, “Their submersibles didn’t have comms?”
“To be fair, those weren’t meant to be used either.”
“Wait, what?”
“Yeah, the submersibles haven’t been properly tested for an actual test… drive…” as though realizing the gravity of his words, Captain Tomes’ words quickly died down as his face blanched.
A short, tensed silence passed us at that.
That… didn’t seem to be any better.
Because being stuck in a submersible that isn’t even properly tested to go around underwater was almost just as good as being dead, especially within the dangers of the Trench. Don’t get me started with just how risky the pressure that can crush you in a second, especially the deeper you go the higher the pressure goes as well and with no way to call for help, for back up when equipment suddenly fails you… and then, there’s the never-ending darkness surrounding you, engulfing you… with things just lurking around that could mistake you as a prey. The ocean was unexplored after all this time for a reason…
And why the hell am I scaring myself?
Just as everything was getting engulfed by pure pitch black, Captain Tomes immediately turned on the headlights which illuminated the path ahead of us (even though there’s still nothing but just watery darkness ahead) as well as the interior of the Diamond.
Staring into the unknown reminds me of a quote I’ve read on a book once: ‘look into the abyss and the abyss shall look back to you’… or something along the lines.
Particles and some floating seaweed danced and flashed across our meager lights and I turned my head away to look over at the depth modulator. We have officially passed 2000m and are well on our way to going at 3000m.
By this point, everything around us looks nothing but a never-ending black even the illuminated waters ahead of us is completely black… like we have been engulfed by the void.
Life doesn’t seem to exist here.
But that may be due to the fact that this place is so deep that the light couldn’t reach here and that the water is significantly colder down here. The freezing temperature could be the main reason why there are so few animals to be found around this depth… and any living animals that have been found to date have specialized adaptations such as what we called ‘bioluminescence’ (or otherwise known as the ability to glow in the dark… or any bodily organs that emits light like glowing photophores which allows them to navigate and survive in the darkness), deep-sea gigantism is completely another thing too.
So yes, the creatures that lurk within the Trench have certainly adapted in order to survive even without the sun but in exchange, they have somehow adopted appearances that make them look like something pulled out from your worst nightmares. Which do reminds me of the first time I’ve seen an anglerfish…
“We just went pass 6000m,” Captain Tomes observed as he looked over the depth modulator then at me, “Should we report to HQ? Let them know where we are?”
“I’m on it, Captain,” I nodded, already reaching over and flicking up the necessary buttons to make do for communications, “HQ, this is Doctor Tetsuya Origami speaking from Diamond, over. We have passed 6200–”
“6500 m.”
I shook my head at him exasperatedly, “Right… we just passed 6500 m right now and well on our way to going 7000 m, over.”
We both waited for a response.
But for a scary moment, there was nothing but static on the other end… Captain Tomes and I shared a worried look at that. “HQ, I repeat, this is Diamond, we are nearing 7000m, over.” still nothing, my eyes narrowed as I raised my voice a bit, “HQ? Do you copy? Hello?”
We went pass 7000m.
…Still no answer from HQ.
“Is there something wrong with the comms? What… didn’t that thing just worked fine earlier?” Captain Tomes demanded, “What the hell is going on back there?”
The rapidly increasing numbers on our depth modulation painfully reminded me of the fact that we were putting more and more distance between ourselves and HQ. I shook my head, feeling just as lost, “I don’t know, Captain… I…”
And as we descended deeper and deeper into the uncharted depths, there was admittedly a part of me that suddenly wanted to ask Captain Tomes to just turn this thing around, get back up to the surface, especially with the horrifying awareness that the only thing that was now literally keeping the two of us safe and very much alive against the crushing pressure was the thick machinations of our vessel. We don’t even know what’s waiting for us down there.
Not to mention, we are getting farther from HQ, the surface, from safety… and I’m getting a bad feeling about the fact that comms literally went down but I don’t want to put our mission at risk.
Other people’s lives are at stake here.
It’s not just us.
Captain Tomes was quiet for a moment.
So, it honestly caught me off guard when he suddenly grabbed me by the shoulder and frantically gestured somewhere on his left, his voice practically rising into a frenzied shout, “Doctor! Doctor, look! Are you seeing this?!”
“What? What is it?”
“Look… OVER THERE!”
I squinted and for a second, I wasn’t really sure what he was pointing at, what I was even looking for… but then I saw it–a very faint light coming from somewhere within the distance, a bluish sort of glow that made me hold my breath.
For a moment, we both stared and watched that unknown glow bobbing and swaying aimlessly until it fades just as quietly as it appears after a few seconds.
“What do you think is that?” Captain Tomes asked.
“Must be an anglerfish?” I wondered out loud.
His eyes bugged out, “…With a glow that huge?!”
“Well, we couldn’t be too sure… some of them could grow into an average human while there are some of them are so small like… say, a fanfish sea devil.” I chuckled, turning away from the view to busy myself with the comms again.
“What a spooky name,” he mused, “So what about them?”
“Haven’t seen one? Well… a fanfish sea devil is a type of an anglerfish. They also have a bioluminescence lure that they used to attract prey and as a ward from becoming prey as well. But see, here’s the catch… they’re actually really tiny–which is seriously a good thing because they look real freaky in person–they only grow about six to eight inches as far as I know.”
“Oh, wow, so they’re like… mini anglerfishes?”
“I guess,” I shrugged, “They have these hairy looking spikes all over their bodies which are used as sensors, kind of a like a cat’s whiskers and… wait a minute Captain, where the hell are we at right now?”
He glanced over at the depth modulator.
“…shit, we just hit 12000 m.”
“Okay, here, we go” I took in a deep breath before trying the comms again, “HQ, this is Doctor Tetsuya Origami speaking from Diamond, over. We have reached 12000 m. Still no signs of the Submerged… I repeat: we have reached 12000 m.”
For a moment, I was certainly expecting no response so when the other end crackled to life, I jolted quite a bit in my seat, causing Captain Tomes to look over sharply at me in surprise.
“This is…” more static, “…Diamond, you… inaudible… repeat…”
“HQ, Diamond has reached 12000m. Over,”
“…Diamond… your audio is… o…”
“HQ, we couldn’t hear you. Repeat, over,”
There was nothing but inaudible words and faint crackling on the other end… and for a few minutes, Captain Tomes and I were silent as we both waited for HQ to get back on us.
The depth modulator reads 13000… 13200… 13500…
“So, we’re fucked,” the Captain surmised rather bluntly.
…Hearing that from an actual Captain sound so sinister.
“Don’t be like that, comms are just down,” I tried to reason out as I idly tapped my fingers on my knee, “Something must be messing up with the signals down here or something...”
He snorts, “Oh yeah, like what?”
“I don’t know–sonar activity maybe?”
“Doctor, we’re close to reaching 14000m. We haven’t detected any sonar activity since we’ve made the dive, this screen would have alerted me about that one real quick and… and still no signs of the Submerged.”
“Look, let’s try to think positive okay?”
“You do that,” he huffs, “I’ll be realistic.”
“Just…” I swallowed uneasily, “Just let me try again, okay?”
I focused on trying to reach to HQ’s comms again.
No dice.
Captain Tomes clenched his jaw, brows furrowing as he nodded sympathetically at my sorry attempts, now looking more worried than irritated, “Forget it. We’re close now, anyway.”
I blinked, “Close?”
“Yeah… we just went past 14000m.”
Sitting up straighter on my seat, I glanced over on the depth modulator as well. 14400… 14700m… “The officer told us Submerged has reached 18000m when they have made the distress signal. That couldn’t be more than 4000m now.”
“Right…” his eyes narrowed, gaze now not moving away from the screen in front of us, “So doesn’t that mean we should be hearing or at the very least seeing them now?”
I bit my lip at that.
He’s right…
Something’s not adding up here.
“HQ, this is Diamond,” I tried again, my gaze now locked upon the screen, “We’ve reached 17000m. HQ, can you hear me? We’ve reached 17000m. Still no signs of the Submerged, over…”
“Just a few more, come on…” Captain Tomes muttered.
A tensed silence engulfed the two of us for a few more minutes as we waited for the Diamond to descend further into 18000m, communications are still down when we finally caught a glimpse of something else other than the dark waters under the sea.
I tried to reach out to HQ once more.
“HQ, this is Doctor Tetsuya Origami speaking,” I began, pointedly ignoring the way my voice shook in the stark silence of the sub, “Diamond has now officially reached 18000m… over.”
Nothing but static answered.
I screwed my eyes shut as I continued:
“…There are no signs of the Submerged.”
There was nothing here.
…Nothing but plain darkness just stretching ahead of us.
“We are so fucked,” Captain Tomes groaned out loud.
I couldn’t agree more.
How the hell could you even lose a submarine?