Chapter 35
Every time you left the sub at this depth, you were taking your life in your hands, placing faith in the equipment and the environment. A sudden current, a predator, anything could take your day from bad to worse.
I sealed the lockout chamber, and Flynn opened the bottom hatch. Jack plunged into the cold water and hustled toward the Neptune. I shivered, wrapped a thermal blanket, still in my dry suit. There was no point changing out of it. I would have to face the cold again soon.
Flynn and I sat in silence for a moment, only the sound of the ocean against the hull.
"Still glad you came on this adventure?" I asked.
Flynn smiled. "Are you kidding me? I wouldn’t miss this for the world. If this is the way I go out, so be it. Couldn't ask for better company."
"We're not going out. Not today.”
"Amen to that, brother.”
I kept track of the time, estimating how long it should take Jack. With the bailout bottle, he had 10 to 15 minutes, tops.
After 20 minutes had gone by, I started to get a little nervous. What if the autopilot failed and the sub had drifted too far? What if something went wrong?”
Another five minutes went by before I heard the whoosh of propellers and the hum of the electric motor.
I shared a look with Flynn and said, "I think he's here."
"Let's get while the getting's good,” Flynn said.
I grabbed another bailout bottle and attached it. Flynn suited up in the last remaining dry suit, put on his helmet, opened the valve to the bailout bottle, then plunged into the water. I secured my helmet and followed behind, not particularly thrilled about getting back into the cold.
Jack had pulled the Neptune alongside the Triton. We didn't have far to go. We transferred to the mini-sub and were in the lockout chamber in no time. Jack greeted us with a smile.
At this point, we were running low on pony bottles. Another emergency would spell doom. In an environment like this, it was always a good idea to have a redundant system. I felt naked without one.
I told Jack to navigate the Neptune back toward the sunken Chinese submarine where Trask’s body lay.
I wanted to recover his rebreather, mask, and fins, just in case we needed them.
There were two wetsuits remaining aboard the Neptune.
I didn't anticipate we'd need to make an excursion, but I’d been doing this long enough to know it was better to plan ahead.
Jack moved into the control compartment and took the helm. Flynn stayed with me in the lockout chamber as Jack brought the craft around.
Flynn said he’d make the dive and recover the equipment, spare me from another bout of cold exposure. He climbed out through the bottom hatch, recovered the equipment, and returned within a few minutes.
"Well, that's brisk," he said, shaking it off.
With all the gear aboard, we sealed the hatch, opened the hatch to the lockout chamber, then moved forward to join JD at the helm.
I grabbed the mic and keyed it. “Oceanus, this is Neptune, do you copy?”
I waited for a response, but there wasn't one.
I repeated my call.
Still no reply.
A blip on the sonar appeared behind us, drawing close.
We all looked at it with surprise.
"What the hell is that?" Flynn asked.
"I don't know," Jack said, "but it's approaching fast.”
"That can't be another minu-sub,” Flynn said. "Neptune and Triton are the only ones on the habitat.”
I shared an ominous glance with Jack.