Fathomless

by Greig Beck

  Jack climbed up to sit beside her. She looked across to his face, sweat slicked and dusty, and she could see his eyes were red-rimmed.

  “I’ve just about had it,” she puffed, trying to smile, but failing miserably.

  He nodded, looking up into the chute momentarily. “I know how you feel – we’ve come a long way. But I promise you this is a good thing. As long as we continue towards the surface, then every damn inch up, means one less inch down someone needs to dig.”

  “Yep.” She tried to spit out cave dust, but there was nothing but sticky dryness in her mouth. She just swallowed it, where the grit travelled a little to then lodge painfully in her throat. She coughed, and spat again.

  “Yeah, I get it, think positive thoughts.”

  Abby climbed back down. “All clear ahead.”

  “Good.” Cate took off her light band and handed it back to the young geologist. “Here, you’re the one who’s blazing the trail; your turn to take it.”

  She looked like she was going to refuse, but Jack nodded to her, and she relented. They all knew she was the only one young and limber enough to scamper ahead and scout for all three of them.

  Abby turned, leapt up onto the next ledge, and was gone. The darkness quickly crowded in. Jack helped her up.

  She stood back. “You go next, I’ll be along in a minute.”

  He looked into her face. “Promise?” He stepped forward to hold her chin up for a moment; she thought he was going to kiss her, but she pulled away before he could see the heavy fatigue in her eyes.

  “Yeah, I promise. Go.”

  He exhaled through compressed lips, chose his next handholds, and then lifted himself up. She watched him ascend for a moment.

  “C’mon girl, you can do it.” She reached up, barely feeling the stone under shredded fingertips. There was nothing but pain and fatigue now. She looked back to the cool stone. It would be so easy just to stay, rest, and maybe sleep. Cate shook her head to clear it, and looked up.

  “I promised.” She stepped up.

  In another thirty minutes she climbed onto a ledge to find Jack and Abby waiting for her. She lay down and turned her head to them.

  “Walk in the park,” she grinned, panting.

  “You’re doing great,” Abby said. “This is a tough climb. We’re just lucky there looks to have been a tumble in here within the last few thousand years… means the rocks are jagged with a lot of handholds.” She shone her light around, and rested it on one section of darker rock that was near smooth as glass. “That’s what it all looked like before the rockslide – water smoothed. Climbing that would be impossible without professional gear.”

  Abby sprang to her feet and walked to the edge of the ledge, shining her light straight up. “Yep, lucky.”

  Cate propped herself up on one elbow and turned to look up at Jack. “We’re lucky.”

  “My middle name.” He winked.

  “How high do you think we’ve come?” Cate eased herself to a sitting position.

  Jack turned, and wiped a forearm up over his face. “Long way. Eight hundred feet, maybe a thousand.” He shrugged, and then leaned in closer, the corners of his mouth lifting. “But I’m guessing what you’re really asking is, how much further to go?”

  She pointed one bleeding finger, gun-like, at his chest. “Bingo.”

  He looked up for a moment. “I think at least another five hundred feet until we get to the absolute bottom of the Heceta Island caves. And then…” He sighed. “Then, if that lucky streak is still with us, we can find a way into them. Or we can contact someone on the other side.” He looked away.

  “If not?” she smiled weakly, but knew it was a dumb question to ask.

  He turned back to her. “If not, then we just sit a while and work out what we do next.” He nudged her. “We always think of something, don’t we? By the way, did I thank you for inviting me?”

  Cate laughed, and then coughed. “Yes, I think you already did. But if you’re after an apology, then sure, I’m sorry about all this, but who knew, huh?”

  “Who knew indeed.” He shook his head. “You know what? Even if I lived to be a thousand years old, I can honestly say that I will never, ever see things like this again.” He reached out to her. “It has been a privilege.”

  She took his hand. “Thank you.”

  He placed a hand over hers, and she noticed his fingers were just as shredded as her own. He continued to watch her. “You know, I didn’t come for the adventure, or the money, or even the chance to see a prehistoric shark… you do know that don’t you?”

  She held his gaze, and nodded. “And I didn’t need you for your expertise. Lord knows there’re a hundred specialists who know more than you do.”

  He threw his head back and laughed for a moment, before she tugged on his arm, pulling him closer. He leaned into her, and she kissed his dry lips. Even in this dark, dismal place she felt desire well up, and his hands quickly found her body.

  She pushed him back. “Save your fluids, Romeo.”

  He laughed softly into her cheek. “Rain check then?”

  “Sheesh, take a guy below the earth once, and he thinks you’re easy. At least buy me dinner first.” She squeezed his arm and leant back, feeling her heart beat fast. She didn’t think it was from the climb this time.

  She lay out flat and closed her eyes. Bad Water, the Nantouk had called the underground sea. Now, she could think of no better name for the place.

  She was suddenly on a tropical beach, and looking down saw her long, tanned legs glistening with suntan oil. Jack was crossing the sand towards her in swim trunks, his muscles working fluidly. In both his hands he held long tall glasses of fruit juice. She smiled, holding out her hand. Perfect timing, handsome, she said around her smile. He handed it towards her.

  Cate felt someone tugging hard on her arm, and her eyes flicked open in and instant. The beautiful dream vanished.

  “Huh?” She sprang forward.

  “Easy.” It was Jack, and also Abby squatting close by. “I let you sleep. You’ve been out for about twenty minutes. How do you feel?”

  “Oh god, my throat,” she croaked. “So thirsty.” She sucked in a deep breath. It hurt. “Glad we’re not still on the water, or this is about where the sailors would start drinking seawater, or something worse.”

  Jack stood, and helped her to her feet. “Okay to go?”

  Cate stood. “Sure, onward and upward.” She tried to smile, but felt her lips crack in the center.

  Abby walked to one wall. “This way. It starts to narrow in a few dozen feet, but its still passable.” She stepped up.

  Jack put his hand on the back of Cate’s neck. “You’re up next, beautiful.”

  She looked upwards, sucked in a deep breath, and then reached up to grab a handhold. She continued her climb, chasing the dying glow of Abby’s light. She wondered whether they would reach the top before the light went out; didn’t matter – they’d climb in the dark if need be. They’d climb until they hit a wall, and then they’d just sit down, and rest awhile. Climbing back down in the dark would be near impossible, she imagined.

  She switched to auto, climbing on, not thinking, following the light, just mechanically lifting one foot, one hand after the other, grabbing the next stone or handhold, and so on. Sometimes the chute narrowed to a few feet, and they had to slither through. Sometimes she became stuck, and Jack would climb up behind her and push.

  ‘You need to dump the helmet,’ Jack had said when she got stuck yet again.

  ‘Never,’ was all she replied, and then made herself fit through the narrow gaps.

  In another hour, the pipe opened up to a shelf of stone and a total blockage – it was the end of the chute, and her worst fear. There was a wall, ribboned with cracks and fissures, and seeping water. Abby felt along it, tapping her wristwatch against the stone and listening. Jack turned left and right, looking for another way – there was none.

  Cate sat, her stomach filling with bitterness. “
Looks like we’ve just hit our peak.”

  “There’s always another way.” Jack also searched the entire length of the wall, tapping with his compass. It sounded as solid and final as death. Eventually, he and Abby sat next to her.

  “Let’s take five.” He rested with his elbows on his knees. “We’ll find another way.”

  Cate snorted softly. “Of course we will.”

  Jack picked up a rock, hefting it, and then turning it around in his hands to examine it closer. He picked off a chunk of matrix, turned it over, and then banged it on the ground, dislodging more of the loose outer material. “Abby, shine your light over here.”

  Abby took it off her head, and handed it to him. He angled it down at the stone and began to laugh softly. He showed it to them; inside was a perfectly preserved tooth, as big as his hand.

  “Ugh, get rid of it.” Abby pushed his hand away.

  “Carcharodon Megalodon.” Cate stared. “Seems these guys have been here for a long time. Maybe they swam in twenty million years ago, like everything else, when it was somehow open to the ocean, and then some sort of rockslide or earthquake sealed this part of the sea off, covered it over or sunk it.” She sighed. “There was so much I wanted to see here, to study.”

  “Yeah…” He nodded. “Yeah, me too.” He broke the tooth from the matrix, and held it in one hand. In the other, he hefted the remaining rock and exhaled loudly through pressed lips. “I just wish…” His jaws tightened. “I wish we…” He looked at the large tooth for another moment before his teeth bared and he swung the stone back behind them. “Fuck it.” The rock pounded into the wall with a deep thump, and then ricocheted off the ledge to then bounce down the chute.

  The echo thumped back in the alcove they had wedged themselves in, fading away, until there was nothing, but their own breathing.

  “Feel better?” Cate asked.

  “A little,” Jack said. “You should try—”

  The thump came back again, twice.

  Jack lifted his head, and half turned. Cate looked up at him, while Abby jumped to her feet. Two more thumps, followed by a soft tapping.

  Cate frowned. “Is it… a rockslide?” She waited, listening. “Maybe we should…”

  Jack also got to his feet, and turned to shush her.

  She rose slowly. Both Jack and Abby stood with eyes round, heads tilted. Jack licked paper-dry lips.

  The tapping came again: dot-dot-dot-dash.

  Dot-dash.

  Dot-dash-dot-dot.

  Dot.

  Dot-dash-dot.

  Dash-dot-dash-dash.

  “That sounds like…” she began.

  Jack waved her to silence again, his eyes closed tight in concentration.

  Dot-dot-dot-dot.

  Dot.

  Dot-dash-dot-dot.

  Dot-dash-dot-dot.

  Dash-dash-dash.

  He turned and clapped once. “Yes, it is, Morse code… goddamn-Morse-fucking-code.” He concentrated. “And it says: Valery, hello, Valery, hello.”

  He rushed to the wall, still holding the massive tooth, and used its hard edge to bang against the stone.

  Dot-dot-dot

  Dash-dash-dash

  Dot-dot-dot

  He waited, and sure enough the dots and dashes repeated. Jack listened, his grin widening. “Okay, we need to stand well back, they’re going to come through.”

  “Who is?” Cate asked.

  Jack grinned. “One of Valery’s teams, I’m guessing. But frankly, I don’t care if it’s Satan himself.”

  Jack herded Cate back behind him at the far end of the ledge as there came the pneumatic staccato of a small jackhammer behind the wall. Abby was beside them, and pointed.

  “Be careful; if the rocks fall this way, they’ll bounce right at us.” She looked over the edge. “And knock us over like tenpins.”

  The hammering stopped, and was then replaced with the whine of a saw, then something unidentifiable that was even softer, until finally a single spike appeared in the center of the wall. It was quickly withdrawn, and then in the dimming glow of their remaining light, they could just make out the tip of a snaking cable that poked in.

  “Camera,” Jack said.

  Cate held up her hand to wave, and the cord pointed towards her, and then moved all about, as if searching. It vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

  More giant needle holes were punched through, and then came the blade of a saw, crossing between each of the holes. After another few seconds of silence, a small section of stone was eased out, revealing a glaring light. More blocks were pulled away, carefully at first, but then quicker.

  “I think these guys are in a hurry,” Abby said backing up.

  The rocks began to be pulled out faster and faster, the last few almost manically. The rest of the wall began to collapse.

  Jack swept an arm in front of Cate. “Get back.”

  The rest of the wall collapsed.

  * * *

  Sonya began to scrabble against the last few rocks, and would have continued to drag them out, even as they fell, except she was grabbed and pulled away. As soon as the collapse finished, she shrugged free, and lunged forward into the swirling rock dust.

  “Valery, are you there?” She spoke in rapid-fire Russian. “Valery, Valery…” She strained to hear.

  “English only.” A male figure stepped forward. “It’s Jack Monroe, Cate Granger and Abigail Burke.”

  The dust began to clear. She changed to English. “Valery… where is Valery Mironov?”

  “Sonya?” Cate coughed and waved away dust. “Sonya Borashev, is that you?”

  “Yes… are there, any more survivors?” Sonya shone her powerful light at their faces, and then along the ledge. “Who else is with you?”

  “Only us three, ” Cate said. “I’m afraid Valery, was… taken.”

  “Taken?” She felt a coil of nausea writhe in her gut. “And where is the crew of the submersible? Dmitry… where is the one named Dmitry?”

  “Gone or dead. He was the one who took Valery.” Cate came closer. “He also killed Yegor. I’m sorry.”

  “Taken by a killer.” Sonya leant forward onto the broken stone, gripping it hard. She couldn’t stop her hands from vibrating as she gripped the stone ever tighter. Like boiling water under pressure, the scream that erupted from deep within her, smashed around the chamber. She stood, with her head back, and fists balled, and screamed a Russian death curse.

  In another second it was over, and she lowered her head. Her team behind her remained in respectful silence, and the three survivors also stood mute. Yusoff has won… for now, she thought.

  Sonya stood straighter, and dimmed her light. “Sorry.” She wiped her mouth. “Cate Granger, I’m glad you made it. We have a chopper waiting to take you all to a hospital.”

  She reached in a hand and Cate stepped forward to take it. Sonya was momentarily shocked by the woman’s appearance. The attractive, strong-looking woman she had met just a few months ago now looked ten years older. Her hands were bloody, as were her lips where they had cracked and split. But it was her eyes that betrayed the horrors she must have had endured – they were sunken, dark and haunted.

  Sonya turned. “Water, quickly.”

  Jack Monroe came next, and then the girl, Abby. They too had that similar look; the same tormented expressions of people who had survived a terrible disaster. But they were lucky; they lived, unlike her Valery.

  “I am very happy for you.” Sonya shook hands, hugged them, and tried to make her face create a smile, but found it impossible. “My team is here to assist you. Hurry now; there’s a helicopter waiting.”

  She almost pushed them up into the higher cave.

  * * *

  Cate let herself be hauled through the opening in the stone, and then be wrapped in a silver thermal blanket. Jack and Abby got the same treatment. Sonya walked just ahead of them, her shoulders rounded. It was obvious she took Valery Mironov’s death badly. Even though Cate felt bone tire
d, she hurried forward to catch her up. Jack followed.

  “Sonya, thank you.”

  The young woman looked at her briefly, and then nodded.

  “Hey, how did you know?” Jack asked. “Heceta Island, this cave; how did you guess we’d be here?”

  Sonya spoke over her shoulder. “No guess; it’s what Valery and I would have done. You too. Survivors never give up, they just look for other ways to survive.”

  “We’re sorry about Valery,” Cate blurted.

  Sonya stopped then, turning to stare into Cate’s face. “Yes, I’m sorry too.” After another moment, she turned away. “Hurry now; we must not attract attention. Already there are too many questions following the explosion.”

  Cate let the woman get ahead of them. Her eyes had seemed almost resentful. Of what? Cate wondered. That they survived, and Valery didn’t?

  Jack placed a hand on her shoulder. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, I guess.” Cate reached up to rub his hand. “I guess we all lost something down in that dark sea.”

  “In that bad water,” Jack said softly.

  The two huge helicopters were perched like giant insects at the entrance to their nest, and their rotors were already turning as the group approached. Sonya was in amongst a group of men, and she seemed to be issuing instructions. She turned briefly to point at one of the helicopters, and then waved – goodbye, Cate expected.

  Cate pulled her blanket a little tighter around her shoulders. She looked back at the cave entrance. It was only about twenty feet wide, and oval shaped, and reminded her of an open mouth. There were lights set up on tripods outside, but deeper inside it was impenetrably dark.

  “Like Jonah and the whale, we’ve just been spat out by the monster,” she said softly. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  “I heard that,” Jack said, and then he, Cate and Abby ran towards the chopper.

  The huge machine lifted off immediately. Cate lent back in her seat, and found Jack’s hand. She squeezed it and looked up at his ruggedly handsome face, now streaked with dirt, the eyes blood-shot, and his lips split and flaking. She felt the tears well up, and she gave him a brief watery smile, before looking away.