03 Underwater Adventure

by Willard Price

  Roger glowed under the chief’s praise. He felt he had grown up. No longer would they call him a kid and push him off to one side when there was fun afoot. Now he belonged.

  Chapter 8

  The Iron Man

  ‘Today we’ll try deep-sea diving,’ Blake announced on the following morning. ‘We want to get some colour pictures of life a quarter mile down.’

  He smiled at the wide-eyed surprise caused by his words.

  ‘You are aware, I hope,’ said Skink scornfully, ‘that the aqualung cannot be used at a depth of more than three or four hundred feet.’

  ‘Quite aware. We won’t use aqualungs. We’ll use the Iron Man.’

  Blake gave orders to Captain Ike and Omo, who removed the hatch and dropped a steel cable with a hook at the end from the tip of the cargo boom. Then the motor winch was started, the cable began to wind on to the drum, and up out of the hold rose a grotesque monster of steel and glass.

  It had a huge head with four eyes, and a round body that reminded one of the belly of a very fat Santa Qaus. The creature had no legs. But it had two steel arms, five feet long, and at the end of each arm were two steel fingers.

  The monster was swung over and down to the deck. It seemed to be almost too much for the planking which sank a little under its weight.

  ‘It weighs nearly two tons,’ Blake said. ‘The walls are solid steel, two inches thick.’

  ‘Why do they have to be so thick?’ Roger inquired.

  ‘To withstand the tremendous pressure at great depths.’

  Hal studied the monster with intense interest. ‘Would you call it a diving bell?’

  That’s right. But the very newest kind. The diving bell has a long history. Even the Greeks had a primitive one. But the machine had to wait until this century to become really efficient. You may have heard of William Beebe’s descents in the bathysphere, and Otis Barton’s benthoscope, and Professor Piccard’s bathyscope.

  ‘But the trouble with all these devices was that they were just observation chambers. You could get in and go down and look out through the windows, but that was all. If you saw something you wanted you couldn’t reach out and pick it up. If you found a sunken wreck there was nothing you could do about it except observe it through the windows.

  ‘Several attempts were made to fit diving bells with arms and legs but they weren’t too successful. A very clever robot invented by a man named Romano was used by Lieutenant Rieseberg in his search for sunken treasure. With its help he was able to bring up treasure from old wrecks. The machine you see before you is supposed to be the best of all these outfits, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed until we’ve tried it.’

  Hal was examining the steel fingers. They were long and sharp-pointed like the claws of a great bird. ‘How do the arms operate?’

  ‘By electricity. There is a switchboard inside for moving the arms in any direction and for working the claws. Those claws operate like a pair of pincers. They can be brought together so delicately that they will pick up a small coin. Once you get used to them you can do wonders with them. I saw a demonstration in which an expert made the Iron Man’s fingers tie a knot in a cable. And although they can do delicate jobs’ the arms and fingers are very powerful. They can move great beams, or hatches, or trunks full of metal. They are at least twenty times as strong as the strongest human arms.’

  Blake went around behind the monster and opened a heavy steel trapdoor, revealing a round hole about twenty inches across.

  ‘Rather a tight fit, isn’t it?’ wondered Hal.

  ‘Yes, but you can get through if you slip one shoulder in before the other.’

  They peered into the dim interior. In the head were the four round glass windows that, from the outside, looked like four eyes. The occupant would not be able to see up or down, but he could see out in four directions. There was room in this upper dome not only for a man’s head but for a camera, if he wished to take pictures through the windows.

  In the lower dome Dr Blake pointed out the switchboard by which the arms and fingers were controlled, other switches for spotlights to illuminate the dark ocean depths, cylinders that supplied air much on the principle of the aqualung, and the telephone by which the diver could keep constantly in touch with his friends on the ship above. There was even a small electric heater.

  ‘A very necessary gadget,’ commented Blake. ‘It gets pretty cold away down there, beyond the reach of the sun’s rays. Well, let’s go out to deep water and make a trial dive.’

  The Lively Lady sailed out of the lagoon through the western passage and on into die open ocean until the blue-black water beneath the hull told of great depths. There she hove to.

  Dr Blake crawled into the Iron Man. The steel door was closed and bolted. The prisoner began to test the appliances. Hal, with earphones clamped over his head, heard Blake’s voice: Ts the telephone working all right?’ Hal answered, T can hear you perfectly, Dr Blake.’

  The spotlights flashed on and off. The arms began to move. Roger, who was within their reach, was suddenly caught between them and lifted like a feather from the deck, then put down again.

  Then one arm wandered towards Skink and before that startled gentleman could shrink away the fingers snatched a handkerchief that had been tucked into his belt. The other arm descended to the deck and picked up a small nail.

  Blake’s voice over the phone was enthusiastic. ‘It works like a charm. Put me over and lower away.’

  Hal passed on the order to Captain Ike who started the winch. The Iron Man with the flesh-and-blood man inside rose some five feet from the deck, the cargo booms swung slowly out over the sea, and lowered the diving bell until it was just below the surface. The captain stopped the winch.

  ‘Everything all right?’ asked Hal. ‘Any water leaking in?’

  ‘Not a drop,’ came the voice from the sea. ‘Everything is shipshape. Lower away.’

  The winch was started again and the Iron Man sank out of sight. A device attached to the drum measured in fathoms the amount of cable paid out. It ticked off ten fathoms, twenty fathoms, thirty fathoms.

  Hal heard Blake’s voice: ‘She’s riding very smoothly.

  The air pressure remains uniform. We have just passed through a school of mullet. They were very curious about this thing and stopped to look in the windows. One of them spiked himself on a finger but got away. It’s getting dark now. How deep am I?’

  ‘Fifty fathoms. Shall we stop?’

  ‘Keep going to one hundred.’

  At a hundred fathoms Captain Dee stopped the winch.

  ‘You’re at a hundred,’ Hal said. ‘What do you see down there?’

  ‘Not a thing. It’s as black as the inside of a pocket. I’ll turn on the spotlights. Ah, that’s better! There are hundreds of fish around me - not the kinds we see in the top waters. The chamber is getting cold. I’m turning on the electric heater.’ When Blake spoke again there was sudden urgency in his voice. ‘You’d better pull me up. Water is leaking in around the door.’

  ‘Hoist away!’ Hal shouted. He was leaning on the rail looking down anxiously into the depths. Of course he could see nothing, but it seemed to bring him a little closer to the man below.

  The winch had not moved. ‘Hoist away!’ Hal cried again and turned to see what the trouble was.

  Skink was tinkering with the winch. Captain Ike had disappeared.

  ‘The captain had to leave for a moment,’ Skink said, ‘so I took over.’

  ‘All right,’ stormed Hal, ‘but pull him up. The bell is leaking.’

  ‘Well now, that’s just too bad,’ drawled Skink. ‘There may be a slight delay. This thing appears to be a bit out of order.’

  ‘Well, fix it fast!’

  ‘Don’t you suppose I’m trying to?’ whined Skink.

  Hal still suspected nothing. He had too much faith in human nature to believe that Skink would be capable of plotting to drown Dr Blake. True, Skink had predicted that the doctor would have a very bad accide
nt. But that was just a hollow threat, just big talk.

  ‘What’s the matter up there?’ came Blake’s voice over the wire.

  ‘Something wrong with the winch,’ Hal informed him.

  ‘Call Skink. He’s a good mechanic’

  ‘Skink is working on it now.’

  Tell him to hurry. The water is ten inches deep and coming in faster all the time.’

  ‘Get a move on,’ Hal called to Skink. ‘Ten inches deep and gaining. The man will drown.’

  ‘Well, now,’ Skink said easily, ‘we wouldn’t want that to happen, would we? Don’t worry, I’ll have this thing going again in ten minutes.’

  ‘Ten minutes! You might as well say ten hours.’

  Blake, who had evidently heard this remark, said, Ten minutes won’t do me any good. This thing will be full in half that time.’ His voice was quiet and matter-of-fact.

  ‘HeU drown in five minutes,’ Hal informed Skink. The latter was turned away so that Hal could not see his face, but he thought he heard a low chuckle.

  Hal tore off his earphones and gave them to Roger. He drew his knife and leaped to stand behind Skink who was crouched over the winch. He touched Skink’s bare back with the point of his knife.

  ‘Don’t move,’ he warned, ‘or else 111 push this all the way home.’ ‘What the devil …’ ‘I tell you, don’t move! Now, I’ll give you just ten

  seconds to fix that winch. For every extra ten seconds this goes in half an inch.’

  The winch began to run. Skink stood up and faced Hal. ‘You didn’t need to do that, you know,’ he said reproachfully. ‘By a happy coincidence I got it fixed just as you arrived. Don’t flatter yourself that you had anything to do with it.’

  Hal was embarrassed. He still could not believe that Skink had contemplated cold-blooded murder. Rather sheepishly he put away his knife.

  The Iron Man rose above the surface and was landed on the deck. The door was unbolted and opened. A flood of water poured out.

  Hal anxiously peered inside. ‘Dr Blake, are you all right?’

  ‘Fine as silk,’ came a cheerful voice, and Dr Blake thrust out his bead and one arm and shoulder. He didn’t seem able to do more.

  Willing hands seized him and pulled him out. He lay on the deck, pale, but smiling. He didn’t waste any speech on the dramatics of the situation but thought only of its scientific aspect.

  ‘Now that was very interesting,’ he remarked, his voice shaking a little. ‘At one hundred fathoms, six hundred feet, the water pressure was nineteen times what it was on the surface. That would kill a man instantly if he had no protection. But inside the diving bell I was just as comfortable a hundred fathoms down as I was on top - until the water began to come in. The more water that entered, the higher the pressure mounted inside the bell. It gradually made me numb - I suppose I have a mild case of the bends. But it just shows that if we can only keep the water out we ought to be able to go down a quarter mile without any trouble. We’ll put some more packing around that door - then I’ll try it again.’

  ‘No, you won’t/ Hal said. ‘Not today. You’ll take a rest. It’s my turn.’

  Blake tried to get up but couldn’t make it. ‘Perhaps you’re right,’ he admitted. ‘But anyhow you’d better get the water out of that thing. There’s a valve at the bottom.’

  The bell was emptied and dried and new packing was worked in around the door.

  Hal took Captain Ike aside.

  ‘While I’m down, I’d appreciate it if you’d stick to that winch. Don’t trust it to anybody else.’

  The captain understood. ‘So you think there was foul play.’

  ‘I wouldn’t say that - I don’t know. I only know I’d rather have you at that winch.’

  ‘All right, if it will make you feel better. I won’t let anybody else come within ten feet of it.’

  ‘Good.’

  Hal entered the chamber, taking the colour camera with him. As the bell sank below the surface he felt a momentary shiver of fear. But more than the fear was the thrill of entering a new and strange world, safe and snug in a steel cabin. For the next hour this was his home - a home under the sea - and why wouldn’t it be possible some day for larger underwater homes than this to be built and for people actually to live in comfort in cities at the bottom of the ocean? Perhaps it was a fantastic idea, but many fantastic ideas had already come true. The land areas of the world were becoming crowded. Why shouldn’t people move into the sea and make their homes there? With proper protection against water pressure, it could be done.

  The panorama from the windows was fascinating. A big ray lazily swam by, flapping its huge bat-line wings. Brilliant angelfish flashed in the sunlight. One handsome fellow dressed in blazing colours came within four feet of the window. Hal took his picture.

  A five-foot barracuda with all its dagger teeth showing circled the bell curiously. Hal was glad to be protected by two indies of steel plate. The barracuda suddenly made a rush and its jaws closed on a projecting bolt. Those teeth could cut through a wooden hull - but Hal had to laugh when he saw the barracuda’s apparent surprise when those terrible teeth which could pierce anything that swam in the sea made no impression whatever upon this strange monster.

  ‘Fifty fathoms now,’ came Blake’s voice over the phone. ‘How about the leak?’

  ‘Everything dry as a bone,’ Hal reported.

  The water changed from orange to blue, from blue to purple, from purple to black. The bell stopped.

  ‘You’re at a hundred fathoms. Are you still dry?’

  He turned on the light and examined the rim of the door.

  ‘Guess that packing did the trick. There’s no sign of a leak.’

  ‘Do you want to go on down?’

  ‘May as well. This is just as comfortable as sitting on deck.’ Hal turned on the heater.

  A sudden underwater current struck the bell and it began to turn. It went round and round. Hal didn’t like it much. He began to feel strangely alone. Nothing connected him with the world of men but a half-inch steel cable and an electric wire. Where he was now, no one had ever been before since the world began. Perhaps he should not be here. He felt like an intruder surrounded by unknown enemies. The greatest enemy of all was the water pressure. How much would the Iron Man stand before it would collapse like an eggshell? If that happened, death would be quick and painless.

  Something much worse could happen. Suppose the cable snapped. The Iron Man would sink to the bottom and take up permanent residence there. Inside it, the soft man of flesh and nerves would enjoy no swift and painless end but would sit and wait in an agony of hope and fear until his air supply would run out and he would gasp his way into oblivion.

  He idly wondered if the sealed chamber would embalm his body so that it would remain the same for hundreds of years, or whether there would be enough oxygen left in the steel tube to cause decomposition and leave only a skeleton at which some curious stranger would peer in a millennium from now when man should have made his home at the bottom of the sea.

  He laughed off these grim thoughts, turned off the inside light, and looked out through the windows. The black sea was full of strange creatures carrying lanterns. Some hurried here and there, others like the softly glowing Jellyfish waited for food to come to them.

  There were white lamps, red, green, blue, yellow. It was like looking at night upon a city busy with traffic and the flashing of stop-and-go lights.

  Some of the lights were sharp and clear, others were diffused and misty. Certain of the creatures Hal could recognize, having seen them brought up in deep-sea nets. The squids had lights around their eyes and on their tentacles. The shrimp shot out sudden streams of flame. The Venus’ girdle carried a circle of light. One fish had illuminated whiskers. Another had no illumination except on two blazing rows of savage teeth which glowed because of a luminous scum that covered them. Deep-sea dragons carried rows of green and blue lights along their sides. The lantern fish had yellow headlights that he coul
d turn on and off.

  Hal told Blake what he was seeing. ‘You might stop the bell for a moment,’ he said. I’ll try to take a picture.’

  The bell stopped sinking, but it kept turning. The motion of both the bell and the fish made a time exposure impossible, and the creatures did not emit enough light for a snapshot. Hal used a fifth of a second wide open and hoped for the best.

  ‘Wish this thing would stop revolving,’ he said to Dr Blake.

  ‘Sorry, there’s nothing we can do about that. You’re at two hundred fathoms now. Do you want to go deeper?’

  Someone - was it the Iron Man? - told Hal to say, ‘No, take me up.’ But Hal did not say it. 1 don’t know why not,’ he answered. ‘Everything is fine.’

  Down sank the bell. Hal now turned on the spotlights and all the creatures that had spent their lives in eternal night were suddenly thrown into brilliant relief. Some of them showed fright and swam away. Others were curious and crowded up towards the lights. Hal took pictures until his thirty-six exposure roll was used up.

  Hal could hear excited voices on deck, then Blake said: ‘You’ve made it. You’re now a quarter mile under the sea - two hundred and twenty fathoms. Congratulations!’

  ‘You can congratulate the Iron Man, not me. He’s done all the work, and done it well. How about going a little deeper?’

  ‘No, no, young man, you’d better let well enough alone. You’re coming up now.’

  There was a jerk on the cable, and the lights went out. Hal fumbled with the switches. They were quite dead. He did not hear the usual dull hum in the telephone. He called to Dr Blake. He got no answer.

  Never in his life had he known such absolute silence. A quarter mile of insulation shut off all sounds, except what he made himself. His own breathing seemed noisy. He called again and was startled by the sound of his voice in the steel chamber.

  He could guess what had happened - the electric wire had broken. The turning of the bell had twisted it until it snapped. Would the cable itself break next?