Chapter 25
JD and I hustled out of the compartment, still in our skivvies, and sprinted down the passageway toward the chaos.
"Help!” Elana screamed. “Somebody help!"
With bare feet against the cold deck, we reached her berthing compartment. A jet of water sprayed in from the porthole flange. The high-pressure stream hissed.
Wong entered the compartment with wide eyes.
"I need a brace!” I shouted.
He ducked out of the compartment and returned a moment later. We wedged the brace against the flange. Wong took a wrench and tightened down the flange bolts. Between the two actions, the jet of water slowed to a trickle.
David left and returned a moment later with a self-sealing sheet of a space-age polymer epoxy.
He cut it to size and affixed it around the flange, mashing it down, activating it.
It would cure within seconds. The act of crushing the polymer foam induced the chemical reaction, and the material hardened almost instantly.
Crisis averted.
Elana wiped the sweat from her brow. She looked flustered, her heartbeat through the roof.
All of ours were. The incident had spiked adrenaline, that was for sure.
Nothing like a little reminder that you’re an intruder in the deep.
And the deep didn't like intruders. It actively sought to eliminate them.
Elana took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself down.
"You okay?" I asked.
She nodded, still shaken.
We were all soaking wet with cold seawater. I would not want to be out there for a long time without a suit, that much was certain.
Elana moved to the en suite, grabbed a few towels, and tossed one to each of us.
"Thank you," I said.
"Never a dull moment around here, huh?" she said.
"Seems that way. Is that the first leak you've had on the habitat?"
She nodded again. "And hopefully the last."
"This is why I think it's important we do a full structural evaluation of the habitat tomorrow," Wong said. "Let's all get some rest. We're going to need it," he said before darting out of the compartment.
I said goodbye to Elana as she dried off. We returned to our bunk room, and I took a shower to wash the saltwater away before climbing back into my rack. Flush with adrenaline, it wasn't easy to nod off again.
There were a few more mild tremors throughout the night. I wondered if they were precursors to something bigger.
My alarm went off at 5:00 AM. Looking out the portal, it wasn't all that different from the night before. Just not quite as inky black.
We pulled ourselves out of bed, got dressed, and joined the others for breakfast—rehydrated scrambled eggs, breakfast sausage patties, and flour tortillas.
A little hot sauce kept it from being totally bland.
At this depth with the heliox mix, food didn’t exactly taste its best. It wasn't the most extravagant breakfast, but beggars can't be choosers.
The coffee was pretty bad, and that was being kind.
"You figure out which one of us is the killer?" Marston quipped.
"Not yet, but I will," I said with confidence.
"Sometimes an accident is just an accident," he muttered.
Judy hadn’t joined us for breakfast. I hadn’t seen her since I interviewed her.
Commander Wong told Ross to check on her.
Ross excused himself, left, then returned a moment later and shook his head. "She says she doesn't feel like coming to breakfast.”
Frustration tightened Wong’s face. "I'm not sure her staying down here was such a good idea.”
"She's resilient," Marston said. "Give her a minute. She’ll pull it together.”
"I hope so.”
The tension at the table was palpable. The seed of doubt and suspicion had been planted. At this rate, it wouldn’t take the group long to fragment from lack of trust. There was no cohesion when one of the group was a murderer.
After we ate, Wong said, "Alright, we've got a job to do. Let's do it. Quinn, I want a full systems diagnostic. Ross, I want a status update on the garden. Marston, Trask, I want you to take a mini-sub and do a meticulous inspection of the exterior hull.”
They both nodded.
Wong looked at me. “ Do you have any experience with submersibles?"
I nodded.
"I know you boys have a job to do, but we're short of manpower around here. Go with Flynn in the other sub and survey the habitat as well. It will go faster if we’ve got two teams inspecting.” David looked at Flynn. "You ready for this?”
Flynn grinned. "I was born ready.“
"Give them a crash course of the controls in case of emergency."
"Aye-aye, Commander."
JD quipped, “Are you sure he’s rated on that thing?”
“I’ve put so many hours in the simulator, I could pilot that craft blindfolded,” Flynn said.