Amanda’s death grip on her bunk straps eased as the ocean’s violent turbulence began to subside. She felt weak from the fear, not to mention the intense nausea produced by the sub’s pitching and yawing. It seemed as if it had lasted for hours, but a glance at her chronometer told her that only 30 minutes had passed. She had been in her lab when the warning was announced, “This is the X-O. Navigation has detected some rough waters up ahead, probably due to an undersea current. We will try to steer around it, but we ask that all science teams button up their laboratories and return to their bunks. You will be safer if you are strapped in. If you choose to ignore this warning, you may lose your experiments and there is a risk of injury to yourselves.” Amanda had rolled her eyes but began to comply with the “suggestion.” The XO did not like having non-military scientists on board and he tended to treat them all like children, but she had no desire to see her equipment ruined. She stowed her samples and docked all of her equipment; as the last microscope clicked into its slot she felt the first slow wave hit the sub. It was weird to feel that; usually it was smooth sailing under the surface. This felt almost like being on the ocean and turning into a swell.
As Amanda made her way to the cabin that she shared with Kathy, the sub began to roll side to side and then it pitched forward. She was nearly thrown to the deck by the sudden rolling and the vertigo it produced. She stumbled her way past a few more doors and finally reached her cabin. She undogged the hatch and stepped inside to find Kathy already in her bunk, strapped in and looking green with a barf bag in her hand. Amanda quickly sealed the hatch and fell into her bunk as another violent lurch passed through the sub. Her fingers shook as she fastened her straps, and Kathy moaned, “I thought this wasn’t supposed to happen underwater,” as her head lolled over to look at Amanda. Amanda opened the sliding door of her bunk’s cupboard and pulled out her own barf bag, just in case. These were pretty ingenious, with a valve that could be closed. Vomiting was still an unpleasant thought but at least the high-tech barf bags made it tidier. Amanda was about to say something reassuring when the pitching and spinning of the sub intensified; after that, she hung on to her straps, closed her eyes, and prayed.
As the sub settled down, the XO made another announcement. “Please remain in your cabins and strapped into your bunks. We cannot be certain that we have completely cleared the turbulent area and you will be safer where you are. If you need medical attention, please contact the sick bay. The Captain and I will be touring the sub to check for any damage. Thank you.” Amanda looked over at Kathy, whose barf bag was full but mercifully sealed shut. “Do you want me to call the sick bay for you?” she asked. “You still look really pale.” Kathy was so pale that Amanda was concerned. She had never seen her cabin-mate look this sick before. “Let’s give it a minute,” said Kathy. “If I don’t feel better in the next five minutes, you can go ahead and call.” She closed her eyes and leaned back against her pillows.
Amanda wanted to talk about the unexpected turbulence but sensed that Kathy wasn’t really in the mood, so she sat back and began to relive the last thirty minutes. There was so much that was odd about it; it had seemed to come out of nowhere and grip the sub like a big hand, tossing it around like a child with a toy. At one point it actually felt as if the boat had been spinning. There had been a brief moment of quiet, almost like the eye of a storm, and then the violent motion had returned. Amanda had done a lot of research on submarines before agreeing to this assignment and had been reassured that subs at depth experienced very little turbulence. She might be a marine biologist but did not really like boats, seeing them as necessary evils for accomplishing her work, and had never been on a submarine before. This was day five of a seven day assignment to examine sea life in this area of the ocean, which had been pummeled by two hurricanes last summer. She would be glad to return to land!
The loudspeaker crackled, making Kathy moan and clutch her head. “This is the Captain speaking.” This was new- the captain had not spoken to the scientists since the first day on the boat, when he told them to obey the XO in all matters. “We have finished our preliminary examination of this vessel, which is currently running on emergency battery power. The battery will last for six hours; if we have not restored power before then we will have to surface for air exchange. It seems that our low-frequency antenna, which trails the sub, has been damaged and we are temporarily out of contact with the surface.” Amanda and Kathy exchanged glances; they might not be sub crew but they knew that being out of contact was not a good thing. What if they needed help? The captain continued, “If we cannot restore radio contact, we will surface and raise our antennas. There is absolutely nothing to be alarmed about. The ship is otherwise undamaged and we are confident that we will be able to restart the engines. Please remain in your cabins and do not disturb the sub’s crew, as they will be busy trying to restore power. Thank you.”
Kathy gingerly sat upright and began to undo the bunk straps. “What are you doing?” Kathy replied, “He didn’t say we had to stay strapped into our bunks and I want to dispose of this thing.” She help up the barf bag. Amanda didn’t argue with her; she would feel better when that thing was disposed of, too. Kathy was still shaky but less pale, and she slowly made her way to the disposal unit. Both girls were glad to see that bag go! Kathy then turned to the hatch and began to open it. “Again, Kathy, what are you doing?” “The captain didn’t say we couldn’t open the doors. He said to stay in our cabins and I’m staying in; I just want to peak out and also get some clean air in here.” Amanda knew that the captain would not approve, but he wasn’t used to dealing with scientists who would parse his words and find a way around them. She began to loosen her own bunk straps as Kathy cautiously peeked out the door. Clearly their fellow scientists agreed with Kathy, as Amanda heard other voices in the passageway calling to each other and beginning to exchange stories about the incident. Kathy sat cross-legged by the hatch and added her own voice to the rising babble. Amanda gave up and sat down beside Kathy. She wanted to hear everyone else’s impressions, too.
Rich and Gary were outlined by their hatch across the way. They both looked banged up; when she asked, Richard told Amanda that he and Gary had been tossed down a passageway while they were heading for their cabin. Questions up and down the passageway reassured everyone that other than some bruises and some mal-de-mer, everyone was fine. The 10 scientists could hear thumping and banging in the sub as the crew tried to make repairs and get the engines back on line, but after two hours they were still on battery power and people were beginning to worry. Dr. Marcus, the head of their unit, began to run out of encouraging things to say and he, too, became concerned. He decided to call the XO for a news update, but repeated calls went unanswered. The mood began to change from relieved to concerned to frightened. What was going on?
At the four hour mark, the captain appeared in the passageway. He looked like he was about to lecture the scientists about opening their doors, and then apparently changed his mind. He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry about being out of touch with you. We have not been able to restart the engines and that has been quite concerning to us. We only have two hours of battery power left and have decided to blow the ballast and surface. Please close your hatches and strap into your bunks; we will make every attempt to control the rise to the surface but it might become bumpy.” One of the lab techs asked, “How long will it take to surface?” The captain replied, “If it was necessary, we could surface quickly but that would be hard on our bodies, so we will slowly release ballast and take an hour to rise. Please return to your bunks.” He remained in the passageway until all of the doors were shut, and then returned to the engine room to face his worried crew. The captain had not told the scientists the whole truth, that none of their equipment was functioning and he had no idea where they were. He only hoped that the ballast would release; they were using the manual back-up system and while they had done this in simulation, it was the first time his crew would perform this under real conditions. In addition, he was beginning to be concerned about CO2 levels; the instruments were all dead and he was afraid they were all being slowly poisoned. It seemed to be worse in the engine room, where the crew were reporting that something was knocking on the hull.
Amanda and Kathy strapped themselves back into their bunks and then waited. They were both nervous and started to chatter about their experiments and findings, to take their mind off their circumstances. They could feel the boat tipping up and down a bit and their stomachs lurched a little as the sub began to rise. Amanda said, “I don’t care what Dr. Marcus says; from now on I stay on dry land and study samples that are brought to me!” And she meant it. Kathy agreed, saying, “I don’t like being in a big metal tube without windows. I guess I need to be able to see the sun and sky, and to breathe fresh air.” Both scientists hoped that they would get a chance to go outside on the sub’s bridge. Kathy asked, “What time of day is it?” Amanda had to think about this for a few minutes, but after checking the chronometer she replied, “It should be around midnight. We might get to see the moon instead of the sun!” As the boat slowly rose, they made plans to visit their favorite pub as soon as they returned to port.
“Captain, we are at periscope depth,” the Chief of the Boat announced. The captain raised the periscope and he and the crew looked at the images on the monitors. This boat was equipped with an experimental video system that used cameras rather than lenses. The cameras were controlled with a joystick, and the captain manipulated the ‘stick to get a good view of the stars and moon, in order to get a fix on their position. Unfortunately it was rather cloudy and stars were difficult to see, but the moon… “Chief, go get one of the scientists,” the captain ordered. The rest of the crew remained silent as they looked at the image of the moon, which looked very different from the moon they were accustomed to seeing. This moon was huge and there was a massive crater that was visible in the upper hemisphere. As they continued to stare, a second moon slid onto the screen. This one was smaller and shaped like a potato; it crossed quickly while the enormous moon remained motionless, glaring at them with that enormous crater. “What…what is that?” asked Dr. Marcus as he came in and saw the screen. “Are you watching a movie?” “No, Dr. Marcus,” said the captain. I wish we were because then maybe this would make sense.” “Are we on the surface yet?” The XO explained that they were about ten feet from the surface and that the images on the monitor came from video cameras on a periscope. “Are we still going to surface?” asked Dr. Marcus. “We have to,” replied the captain. “We are almost out of air and we need to save some battery power to extend and use the antenna. Dr. Marcus, we will leave it up to you to discuss this with your people. They can leave their cabins but may not come up here. Take them to the galley and tell the what you wish.” “Captain, where are we?” “Dr. Marcus, that is a fine question, to which I have no answer.” The two men looked at each other and then the captain gave the order to surface. As Dr. Marcus made his way back to his people, he heard a commotion behind him and cries of surprise from the sailors, but he did not turn around. He could not handle another shock.
After the boat surfaced, the crew on the bridge stared for a moment at the image that appeared on the screen and then began shouting in alarm and confusion. The XO ordered silence as they all stared at the creature that was staring back at them through the camera. The crew heard a thumping noise on the hull above them and a couple of them wondered if the creature was…knocking? “Captain, should we open the air vents? What if the air out there isn’t compatible with our bodies?” asked the chief of the boat. The captain had been wondering the same thing; this wasn’t Star Trek and submarines didn’t contain sensor equipment for testing atmosphere. “Chief, I am going to climb up the sail and open the porthole. Be sure to seal the hatch behind me.” “Captain, you can’t do that, it is too risky!” said the XO. “Let me do it.” “No,” said the captain. “I am the captain of this boat and it is my responsibility." The crew watched silently as the captain climbed into the sail and the hatch was dogged behind him, and then they waited.
Donna Wright
March 23, 2015
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