3.5
Kilometers Under The Sea:
Carl
started anxiously rapping his fingernails on the metal dashboard as his sister
gave him an irritated look.
“What?
Why are you looking at me like that?” Carl folded his hands in his lap. His
sister turned her attention back to the radar.
“You
don’t need to be so worried Carl, you-“
“My
name is Doctor Howser.” Carl interrupted.
“You
don’t need to be so worried, Doctor
Howser, you’ve been in plenty of submarines before. Why does this one have
you so worried?” His sister finished.
“Because
we’ve never been so far down in the ocean before, Katie, we’re exactly 3.5
kilometers below sea level. Plus, this is the oldest, most out dated submarine
I have ever laid my eyes on in my entire life!” Carl finished by burying his
face in his sleeves.
Katie
adjusted her glasses and started typing on the keyboard that was embedded into
the submarine dashboard. “We only have to stay down here for a few more hours.
We’ve already survived for over 10 hours. I still don’t see why you’re so worked
up about this.”
Carl
replied through his arms. “I don’t know, I just have a particularly bad feeling
about this. This is the deepest trench we’ve ever been assigned to explore, and
my ears have popped 20 times in the past 5 minutes. Plus, we’re almost out of
water!”
“Carl,
are you even thirsty?”
“No.”
“Then
forget about the shortage of water. If it will make you feel any better, I can
start a timer counting down to the time when we start to resurface. Until then,
just try to calm yourself down by categorizing any fish that you might see. We
still have our research to do.”
Carl
sat up and pushed his shaggy brown hair out of his eyes. He looked at Katie for
a long time, and he could tell she was trying not to look at him. He would
never be able to understand how she hid her nervousness from him. That is, if
she was even nervous at all.
He
stood up and walked over to the wall filled with book shelves, but only
occupying notebooks and a few books about marine biology, although Carl could
tell anyone everything that was in those book by heart. He picked up a notebook
and a pencil, and he carried them over to a desk next to a window.
Carl
gulped and sat down. He opened his notebook and began to write what he saw,
although the lack of light didn’t provide very good viewing conditions. None
the less, he had 5 pages written after half an hour.
While
he was writing, Carl’s attention was drifting to a high pitched hissing sound.
Soon, he couldn’t bear it any longer and began to look around for the source of
the noise from his chair.
“Katie,
do you hear that?” Carl looked over at his sister, who had her nose buried in a
book about fish.
“Hear
what?”
“That
hissing sound!”
“No.”
“Are
you kidding me right now?”
“No,
Carl, it’s probably just your imagination.”
“I
don’t fantasize about hissing noises.”
“I
don’t’ want to know what you fantasize about, Carl, just get back to your
studies.
Carl
turned back around and decided that his sister was probably right. He continued
to tell himself this until he noticed that his feet suddenly felt icy cold and
wet. Carl looked down to see about an inch of water covering the entire
submarine floor.
“KATIE!
THERE’S WATER EVERYWHERE!” Carl screamed at the top of his lungs.
“Calm
down, Carl. I’m sure someone just spilled water or something.”
“The
water is rising! We didn’t even have this much water left! There’s a leak in
the submarine somewhere! We have to find it! Hurry! Drop everything that you’re
doing and help me find this leak! Grab some duct tape! Get some bandages! We
have to fix this submarine before it implodes!” Carl was hyperventilating, and
Katie just looked at him.
“Well
don’t just stand there! Help me find this leak!” Carl rocketed out of his chair
and started splashing along the perimeter of the submarine.
“You’re
the older brother, so aren’t you supposed to be the calm and collected one?”
Katie sat back in her chair.
“You
make me sick,” Carl gave Katie a sour look. “This is no time to be making
jokes!” Carl bent over and gasped, “I found the leak.”
In
the side of the submarine closest to where Carl was sitting a few moments
before, was a hole about the size of a dime. Water was being squirted through,
and the hole was growing in size by the second. Soon it would be the size of a
tennis ball.
Carl
ran over to the closet full of supplies they might need and snatched out two
astronaut looking suits with air tanks strapped onto the back of them. Carl
threw the smaller one at Katie, and quickly shoved himself into the larger one.
He made sure not to turn the air tanks on while they were still in the
submarine.
Carl
splashed over to where Katie was fumbling around with her suit and started
typing frantically on the keyboard.
“What
are you doing?”
“I’m
contacting the control room. I’m telling them that there’s a breech in out sub.
I’m telling them our coordinates and that they need to send a backup submarine
as soon as possible. Why don’t you have your emergency suit on yet?” Words were
tumbling out of Carl’s mouth like commands but his tone was too scared for them
to be taken like real orders.
“I’m
trying to get it on but it’s just so bulky.”
“Remember
not to activate your air tanks until we get out of the submarine.”
“We’re
leaving the submarine?”
“We
have to. If we don’t leave soon the hole submarine will collapse in on us.”
“Won’t
the pressure of the water crush us out there?”
“Not
if you put of your suit right.”
“You’re
not being serious are you?”
Carl
looked straight at Katie with the most serious and terrified look that he’d
ever wore on his face. “I wish I wasn’t.”
Carl
grabbed Katie’s hand splashed over to the pressure door. Katie squeezed his
hand. Carl took a thick metal bar from the side of his suit and attached it to
Katie’s. Carl turned the wheel on the door three times before the door was
knocked open by highly pressured ocean water.
***
When
Carl finally got worked up the courage to open his eyes, the only thing he
could see through the little bubble of glass in his suit was blackness. That and
Katie, who’s eyes were still closed.
Carl
pushed the green button in the side of his helmet that connected the air tanks
to the rest of the suit. Then he pushed a red button that enabled communication
between the two suits: Carl’s and Katie’s.
“Can
you hear me, Katie?”
“Yes.”
“Good,
now open your eyes.”
“I
don’t want to.”
“You
have to. You’ll die if you don’t.”
“What?
Why?”
“Because
you have to press the green button that releases the air from your air tanks
into your suit.”
“Oh.”
Katie opened her eyes and pressed the green button on the side of her helmet. “I
don’t see anything but blackness.”
“That’s
because we’re so far under water.”
“My
ears are popping more than they were in the submarine.”
“That’s
because now they’re more exposed to the pressure of the water.”
Now
that Carl thought about it, the water pressure was having a lot of effect on
him as well. His ears popped about 15 times a minute, he felt that the water
was trying to squeeze his body into a tiny ball, and every time he took a
breath, his lungs felt like they were going to collapse.
“When
will the backup submarine get here?” Katie looked at Carl with wide eyes.
“How
long did it take our submarine to get down to this coordinate?”
“About
two hours.” Katie stated. Carl sighed with frustration.
“Then
that’s how long from now it will take the backup submarine to get here.”
“So
what you’re telling me is that we have to just float here like this for two
hours?” Katie started to panic.
“Yes.
Or we could try swimming straight up so that it will take less time for the
backup submarine to meet up with us.” Carl tried to reassure her with a backup
plan that he knew probably wouldn’t work. The suits would be so heavy for him
and Katie that by time they had swum up about 10 feet, they’d get so tired that
they would have to stop swimming. That would make them sink back down to where
they started or maybe even further down.
Although,
if they just stayed where they were now, they might sink as well because of the
weight of the suits. For all Carl knew, they could be sinking right now. There were
no landmarks to watch to see if they were getting farther away from them, there
was just blackness.
Despite
all of these facts, Carl decided not to mention anything to Katie.
“I
like that plan better.”
“Okay,
then we should probably start swimming.” Carl started to kick his feet, and
with every movement of his suit, he could feel his muscles screaming for a
break.
“I
don’t know how well this is going to work out for us, Katie.” Carl said after
about 5 minutes of unprogressive thrashing. “In fact, if we’ve accomplished
anything by doing this, it would be to attract a predator.”
When
Carl saw Katie’s eyes widen with fear at that statement, he quickly added, “Not
that anything could get through these suits.” Carl knew it was a lie. He also
knew that Katie knew it was a lie as well. Despite this, Katie looked a tad bit
calmer.
***
It
had been an hour and 45 minutes. Both Carl and Katie’s muscles ached. They’re
stomachs were rumbling. They both longed for some water. They were chilled to
the bone.
Carl
didn’t know how much time had passed by, but he did know that the backup sub
should be arriving soon. He decided he would pass the remaining time by talking
to his sister.
“How’re
you holding up, Katie?” Carl’s voice was filled with genuine concern.
“I’m
fine.” Carl knew Katie didn’t want to talk about their situation.
Five
more minutes passed.
“You
know, the backup submarine should be here soon.” Carl tried to cheer Katie up,
but he could tell by Katie’s lack of response and her facial expression that
she was traumatized.
“I
won’t let anything happen to you, Katie, I promise.” Carl vowed. Katie didn’t
look at him.
10
more minutes passed.
A
bright light coming from above them pierced through the darkness. Both Katie
and Carl looked up. A large submarine was making its way towards them. Carl immediately
started swimming towards the machine but Katie stood frozen. She was paralyzed.
The
huge submarine stopped its decent when it was a few feet away from them. A secured
door opened and two men in suits like Katie and Carl’s started swimming towards
them. One grabbed Katie and started swimming back towards the submarine. The other
came to Carl, and he let the man drag him towards the submarine. Carl was exhausted.
***
Carl
hung his wet suit in the closet of the backup submarine. He walked over to the
chair facing Katie’s. One of the assistants was wrapping her in a blanket.
Katie didn’t move. She really had been traumatized by this.
Carl
stood up and walked over to his sister. He wrapped his arms around her, and as
soon as he did, Katie burst into choked sobs.
“Hey,
it’s alright Katie-Bug.” Carl tried to sooth her.
“I
didn’t think we were going to make it.” Katie could barely talk.
Carl
stroked his sister’s hair. “But we did. We did make it. And now we’re on our
way home. Everything’s alright now.
They
stayed like that for about an hour; brother and sister comforting and
reassuring one another. In about another hour, they would be back on the land,
and Katie would never step into another submarine again.
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