The Trench

by Steve Alten

  The tragedy of her life suddenly flashed before her eyes.

  Amid the screams of horror, cloaked within the chaos of darkness, Celeste wept, overwhelmed not by fear, but by the emptiness of her own existence.

  Unable to bite into its prey, the Megalodon twisted its head back and forth, attempting to tear the observation pod free from the hull.

  The edge of a titanium plate loosened—

  For a surreal moment, the mass of the Prometheus seemed to inhale itself within its own center of gravity.

  In an explosion of heavenly light, Celeste’s pain was extinguished forever.

  * * *

  Jonas rocketed blindly toward the unforgiving seafloor. Terrified of smashing headfirst into the Trench, he cut off the liquid oxygen, stifling the hydrogen burn, then yanked back hard on the joystick, pulling the sub out of its nosedive.

  The AG-2 leveled out forty feet from the bottom. In his headlight loomed a towering forest of black smokers.

  Gritting his teeth, Jonas whipped the sub precariously around the smoking stacks of minerals, which seemed to jump out at him from the darkness. He groaned—as the sub sideswiped a towering mountain of rock, the hydrothermal vent’s chimney stack shearing the remaining midwing right off the hull.

  With the remaining wing gone, Jonas regained partial control of his craft. He rolled the Abyss Glider upright, then soared above the bellowing black smokers.

  An imposing shadow loomed ahead behind eerie red lighting, the object too large to be anything but the Benthos.

  The two blips reappeared, moving to intercept him.

  * * *

  Using her teeth, Terry managed to unravel the coil of electrical wire from her wrists. As she stood, a sickening groan of metal filled her ears.

  Along the outer hull of the Benthos, titanium plates began buckling like dominoes, creating indentations and minute cavities of space, allowing the unfathomable pressures of the abyss a toehold.

  With a deafening crunch, level B imploded, flattening beneath 1,160 atmospheres of pressure.

  Terry’s scream was drowned out by another explosion as C deck was crushed into oblivion.

  A nanosecond later, the Benthos’s emergency system activated, its hydraulic compressors slamming twenty tons of titanium plating into place to seal off level D, temporarily preventing the rest of the Benthos from collapsing like a house of cards.

  Terry squeezed her eyes closed and held her breath as frightening sounds of twisting metal echoed all around her. The memory of the mangled bodies of the Epimetheus crew swirling within the flooded docking station overwhelmed her thoughts. Devoid of all hope, she slumped down on the floor and curled up in a ball, waiting to meet her maker.

  * * *

  Jonas circled the Benthos, searching for the hangar entrance. A blue strobe light came into view. He directed the Abyss Glider across the beam, activating the automatic entry system.

  * * *

  Terry leaped to her feet as seawater began pumping up from a series of baffles beneath the floor. Oh, God, I’m going to die—I’m going to die. . . .

  The madness of the moment became overwhelming. She yanked at the chamber door again, screaming at the hopelessness of the gesture, then sloshed through ankle-deep water toward the far end of the hangar.

  She stood there in the rising flood, her entire body trembling in fear, staring at the rows of UNIS robots.

  And then an outlandish thought came to her. She refocused her mind, forcing herself to concentrate.

  The UNIS devices had barrel-shaped titanium hulls designed to protect the sensitive instruments within from the pressures of the deep. If she could open one up and climb inside . . .

  Terry scanned the lid of the first barrel, miserable with the realization that the drill required to loosen the lid’s lug nuts was locked inside the control room.

  Water rose above her knees.

  “Oh, God, please—”

  She ran from barrel to barrel, delirious with fright. Then she noticed the last barrel.

  * * *

  Jonas hovered the AG-2 outside the hangar in darkness, waiting impatiently for the twelve-foot titanium door to open.

  The two blips grew stronger.

  Jonas looked to his left and right, nervously scanning the lead-gray domelike hull of the Benthos, just barely visible in the red light. “Come on, faster, damn it!”

  A sinewy shadow glided along the bottom, directly beneath the lighted belly of the Benthos. Jonas slammed his fist down on the joystick—as the savage head of the adult Kronosaurus shot out from beneath the ship.

  * * *

  Terry cried for joy at the sight of the last UNIS. Whoever had worked on the instrument last had not bothered to secure the lug bolts.

  Waist-deep in seawater, she turned the bulky, manhole-size lid counterclockwise, saying a prayer of thanks to the crewman whose carelessness had given her the slightest chance of survival.

  A putrid smell rose from the barrel.

  She continued twisting, the smell choking her. A dead rat? With both hands, she lifted the sixty-pound lid off its seal, releasing a vile stench that staggered her.

  Terry turned away, took a deep breath, and reached into the UNIS, feeling what appeared to be a heavy burlap bag.

  What in the hell?

  Unable to gain enough leverage to lift the bag from below, Terry slid the titanium lid to one side and climbed on top of the UNIS. Adrenaline pumping, she reached down, using her legs as she forcibly lifted the burlap bag out of the titanium barrel, tossing it into the rising water.

  Her ears popped, the pressure inside the hangar rising fast.

  Jumping down into chest-high water, she emptied the contents of the bag.

  Her bloodcurdling scream was choked off by rising vomit, as the mutilated corpse of Heath Williams tumbled into the water.

  Terry pushed the decapitated body away, then rushed back to the barrel, its opening now only six inches from the rising waters. Hoisting herself up, she squeezed inside, crying out in horror.

  The inside was too small to fold herself into!

  * * *

  Jonas raced the AG-2 around the Benthos, hugging the titanium dome as the enormous pliosaur closed quickly from behind.

  Damn it . . . where’s the other one?

  Unable to maneuver as close to the hull as its smaller prey, the fifty-thousand-pound marine reptile snapped its jaws, attempting to latch onto the sub’s tail fin.

  Jonas stole a quick glance to his right, catching sight of the luminous, reptilian eye. A set of streamlined jaws, longer than his sub, opened to reveal rows of deadly sharp, conical teeth.

  The Kronosaurus lurched its head sideways, snapping again at its fleeing prey.

  Pulling back hard on the joystick, Jonas drove the sub into a vertical climb—seconds before the smaller Kronosaurus came soaring out from around the other side of the Benthos.

  Climbing up and over the flattened dome, Jonas raced for the hangar door.

  * * *

  Jamming her fingers behind the main circuit board, Terry twisted and pulled from within the hollow barrel, using every last ounce of strength to tear the bulky console out of the interior of the unmanned submersible robot.

  Water began pouring into the UNIS.

  Bracing her feet against the insides, she jerked backward, smashing her head as she ripped the equipment from its housing. Terry tossed the circuit board out, then reached up and pulled the titanium cover into position.

  In total darkness, kneeling in agony within the cramped refuge, she desperately began twisting the lid along the titanium threads, knowing that the seal had to be perfect in order to prevent the pressures of the abyss from imploding every cell in her body.

  For several frightening moments, water continued seeping inside.

  Three more revolutions . . . then, mercifully, the flow stopped.

  Terry continued turning the lid as tightly as she could, trying hard not to gag at the putrid smell of decayed flesh still linger
ing within the barrel. Unable to twist the top any farther, she leaned back in absolute darkness, panting in the suffocating confines of what might very well become her coffin.

  A muffled sound of hydraulics rumbled in her ears as the giant hangar doors began opening, allowing the abyss to enter the chamber.

  Terry began hyperventilating. This was it! She held her head in her hands, trembling in the pitch, waiting for her insides to explode.

  The hydraulics stopped.

  Sealed in a barrel, seven miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, Terry Taylor sobbed, realizing that, but for a final desperate act of survival, her life would have been obliterated.

  * * *

  The one-man sub soared up and over the mangled roof of the Benthos, the adult Kronosaur closing from behind. Racing down the opposite side of the hull, Jonas saw a soft glow emanating below to his left.

  The hangar door had opened!

  Still hugging the titanium surface, Jonas was about to execute a sharp turn into the opening when he spotted the smaller Kronosaur flying at him from beneath the Benthos.

  Accelerating the AG-2 away from the hull, Jonas flew directly at the oncoming beast. At the last second, he banked the sub hard into a tight inverted roll and soared into the hangar.

  The Abyss Glider glanced twice off the far wall before Jonas gauged the interior and yanked back on the joystick, spinning the nose cone in a tight circle before slowing to hover.

  Before the hangar doors could close, the smaller Kronosaur darted inside, crashing sideways into the sub, its girth filling the chamber.

  Jonas held on as the AG-2 rolled upside down, smashing into a row of UNIS robots.

  Wedged lengthwise into the tight enclosure, the creature strained to reach its prey as the hangar door sealed shut.

  Jonas, suspended upside down within the body harness, could only watch as the beast lashed at him with its tremendous jaws.

  He gasped as a headless torso floated by.

  With a single bite, the Kronosaur took Heath Williams’s body in its mouth, chomping it to pieces.

  Jonas shut his eyes to the carnage, as blood and chunks of rotted flesh swirled about the hangar.

  The sound of hydraulic pumps caused him to open his eyes.

  The Kronosaur pushed the side of its face against the LEXAN nose cone, its crimson eye peering inside. Jonas struggled to free himself from the body harness, realizing the creature was about to bite into the nose cone.

  Then, something bizarre happened. Instead of biting, the Kronosaurus began rolling over and over, its entire torso quivering in colossal spasms.

  Jonas saw the water level drop.

  The change in pressure!

  Heaving wildly, the Kronosaur gave one final lurch, then collapsed under its own weight, blood seeping from every orifice.

  Jonas dropped out of the harness and crawled to the rear of the pod. He unsealed the hatch and backed his way out of the sub, struggling to stand.

  “Terry!” He continued yelling out his wife’s name, slipping several times on the wet floor as he headed for what appeared to be a control room located on the far side of the chamber. Realizing he couldn’t reach it unless he climbed over the dead animal’s back, he stepped onto the hind flipper, gingerly placing his hands on the scaly slick brown hide.

  * * *

  Trapped within the UNIS, Terry shouted, her muffled screams unheard as she struggled desperately to unscrew the bulky lid in the suffocating darkness. Her chest heaved as she tried sucking in lungfuls of air that no longer existed. A bizarre sensation—as the darkness seemed to whirl around her. And then she slumped forward, unconscious.

  * * *

  Jonas threw his shoulder against the locked control-room door. Giving up, he ran to the watertight door leading into the Benthos, only to find that locked, as well.

  Above his head, the sound of screeching metal echoed throughout the ship.

  A feeling of despair washed over him. His wife nowhere to be found, his own life about to be crushed into oblivion, Jonas scrambled over the dead Kronosaur’s back, hustling to find the gun Harry Moon had given him.

  That’s when he noticed the console torn out from the UNIS.

  Jonas stared at the object, a perturbing thought crossing his mind. Why had Celeste allowed him access into the Benthos if Terry was really alive? What had she meant by saying that his wife would be “dead on his arrival”?

  Celeste wanted me to enter the hangar. Why? To trigger the mechanism. She must have locked Terry inside!

  Jonas searched the chamber, then ran to the rows of UNIS robots. For a long moment he stared at the lug nuts and torn-out console.

  Then it dawned on him.

  “Terry, oh, God, please—”

  He grabbed hold of the UNIS lid, unscrewing it.

  “Terry, can you hear me?”

  Jonas lifted the heavy lid, tossing it aside. Reaching into the UNIS, he grabbed his wife’s limp arms and pulled her out of the barrel, taken aback by the stench of death coming from within.

  “Oh, God—Terry, baby, speak to me.”

  Her face was blue. Tilting her head back, Jonas started mouth to mouth.

  The Benthos began shaking as if caught in an earthquake.

  He checked for a pulse.

  Yes—faint.

  He continued mouth to mouth, tears streaming from his eyes.

  Terry’s complexion changed from blue to red. She gagged, slowly opening her eyes.

  Jonas trembled with relief, smiling, crying, unable to control his emotions. Terry recognized him, and her eyes filled with tears. Jonas lifted her gently as she hugged him around his neck, refusing to let go. “Jonas—Jonas—I love you so much—”

  “I love you, too.”

  For a long moment, they held each other, oblivious of their surroundings.

  A shearing screech of metal screamed somewhere above their heads.

  “Terry, the Benthos is collapsing. How do we get out of here?”

  “Oh, God, we can’t,” she said with sudden realization. “The control room’s locked.” She gasped, seeing the dead monster for the first time. “What happened to it?”

  “Atmospheric pressure didn’t agree with him. Can you operate the hangar doors if we can get inside?”

  “I already tried. It’s impossible.”

  Jonas ran to the AG-2 and crawled inside. Reaching beneath the console, he removed the handgun.

  “Come on.” Jonas helped her over the dead Kronosaur. “I’m going to blow the lock off. Stand back.”

  Jonas fired twice, rupturing the locking mechanism.

  Terry found the iron bar she had used on Sergei. Jonas wedged it in the seal, managing to pry the door open enough to gain a handhold. Together, they pulled back the door enough to allow Terry to slip inside. She scanned the control board, then activated the pressurization sequence.

  Seawater began gushing up from the floor. The Benthos howled at them in protest.

  “We don’t have much time,” she yelled.

  “Help me with the AG-2.”

  Climbing over the beast, they ran in ankle-deep water back to the inverted Abyss Glider. Lifting the nose cone, they rolled it right-side-up.

  “Let’s drag it to the hangar door,” Jonas shouted, noticing the damaged tail fin and engine mount.

  Terry grabbed an edge of the tail assembly and pushed, plodding through the waist-deep water.

  “Terry, there’s something I have to tell you—”

  “Please don’t tell me you slept with that woman.”

  Jonas smiled nervously. “God, no—”

  A deep rumbling replaced the sound of shrieking metal.

  “Jonas, when the hangar door opens, the Benthos will lose what little integrity it has left. It’ll crush us like a—”

  “Get in and crawl all the way up front,” Jonas yelled, opening the hatch for her. Terry scurried into the nose cone, her weight lifting the hatch away from the rising water. Jonas slipped in feetfirst, sealing the pod
behind him.

  Lying side by side, they watched the chamber fill above their heads.

  Jonas started the engines.

  Nothing.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I think that monster crushed the fuselage. Goddamn it, the tank of liquid hydrogen ruptured—”

  “Jonas!”

  The hangar door raised.

  Level D buckled, triggering an instantaneous implosion within each deck below.

  Jonas grabbed the lever to the emergency pod and pulled hard.

  The LEXAN cylinder blasted away from the outer hull assembly and shot out into the darkness—as the Benthos imploded behind them, flattening like a pancake. The collapsing titanium shell momentarily sucked them backward before releasing its death grip.

  The powerless LEXAN pod began rising in total blackness.

  Terry and Jonas hugged each other, breathing heavily in each other’s ears.

  “Jonas, what were you going to tell me?”

  “The Megalodon’s here.”

  “Here? In the Trench? Right now? Oh, God, Jonas—your dreams.”

  Jonas felt his whole body shaking.

  Terry stroked his hair in a motherly way, soothing him. “What happens next?” she whispered.

  Jonas opened his eyes wide, still unable to see her face in the pitch. “Angel will detect us just as we approach the hydrothermal ceiling. In my dreams she follows us up, then rises up through the layer to engulf the pod.”

  “Maybe she won’t see us.”

  “Maybe. Terry, I—I’m so sorry about all this. I ruined our marriage and—”

  She squeezed his hand. “Jonas, you risked your life to rescue me.”

  “I’d rather die with you than live without you.” He leaned over and kissed her.

  * * *

  Angel glided effortlessly just below the hydrothermal ceiling, her bioluminescent glow casting an iridescent reflection against the swirling layer of soot above her body. The massive implosion of the Benthos had temporarily driven the predator away. Now she returned, detecting a solitary object rising up from the seafloor. She moved to intercept.

  * * *

  Jonas leaned out over the navigational console, staring into the blackness of the Trench, waiting for the glow to appear.

  Turning to his right, he saw a moonlike radiance moving below dark clouds, approaching fast. Maybe I’m dreaming again? Wake up!