Ruby’s eyes glared like a tiger about to attack. ‘Well guess what, princess. So have mine. So have Gerald’s. You’re not the only one with a sob story.’
Sam looked up from where he had been studying a laminated instruction card that was tethered to a joystick control. ‘So much talk. Let’s just do what Gerald said and see what happens.’ Before anyone could stop him, Sam pressed a large green button in the middle of the central console. A bank of floodlights mounted around the docking station flared into life, revealing the submarine was already immersed in water. Gerald’s eyes grew wide as he looked beyond his feet through the transparent bubble to see twin doors retracting in the Archer’s hull, opening to the immense darkness of the ocean below.
‘I don’t think this is a good idea,’ Felicity squeaked. ‘Terribly scary. Very terribly scary.’
The flat-screen panels in front of Sam flickered alive, revealing a digital compass, depth sounder, satellite map and speedometer. The docking doors juddered fully open.
Sam rested a hand on the joystick control and wrapped his forefinger around the trigger. ‘The instructions said you just squeeze this and—’
The submarine dropped through the doors like a bowling ball through tissue paper, into a flurry of air bubbles that enveloped them like soapsuds in a washing machine. Gerald raised his head and saw the keel of the Archer disappear above them. But of course, the Archer wasn’t launching into the night sky like some bizarre aquatic spaceship. They were sinking, and sinking fast.
The only thing going up was the volume of the screams that were filling the submarine to bursting point.
‘What’s happening?!’
‘Do something!’
‘Sam! Drive this stupid thing!’
Sam grasped the joystick with both hands and pulled the trigger again. The submarine shuddered and twin engines whirred into action from behind. The sub was wrapped in darkness, with only the pale green glow of the screens providing any illumination from inside.
‘Okay, you can all calm down now,’ Sam said as he jiggered the controls. ‘If years of computer games have taught me anything, it’s how to manage a joystick.’ He scanned the screens and nodded confidently. ‘We’re heading due east, about two hundred metres below the surface and steady at that level. There’s plenty of space under us so we’re not going to hit anything.’ He smiled and nodded again. ‘This is pretty cool, actually.’
‘When you say plenty of space beneath us,’ Ruby said, ‘how much are we talking?’
Sam pointed to a gauge on the screen. ‘According to this, more than five thousand metres.’
There was a moment of silent contemplation, then Ruby and Felicity chorused at the top of their voices: ‘Five kilometres!’
‘Yeah?’ Sam said. ‘What about it?’
‘Are you saying we’re floating in a glass ball and there’s five thousand metres of nothing between our feet and the ocean floor?’ Ruby said. ‘What happens if we run out of power before we find land, or help? Won’t we sink to the bottom?’
‘We won’t sink to the bottom,’ Sam said.
Felicity breathed out and placed her hand across the base of her throat. ‘That’s good to know,’ she said.
‘Of course we won’t sink to the bottom,’ Sam said. ‘The water pressure will crush us to the size of a tin can before we even get close to the bottom.’
Gerald wriggled around, trying to get comfortable on Felicity’s lap. He shrugged his backpack from his shoulders and dumped it behind him. ‘It’s creepy not being able to see anything,’ he said. All around them was a black wash. ‘Are there some lights or something that you can switch on?’
Sam picked up the instruction card and scanned the controls. ‘This thing is designed so any junior billionaire can drive it. I’ll try this.’ He moved a hand to a panel of switches by his left knee. ‘It should be this one.’ Sam flicked the switch. A ring of spotlights that ran around the circumference of the sub flared alive, just in time to show the gaping jaws of an enormous shark surging out of the inky darkness straight at them.
Again, the sub filled with screams.
‘Shark!’
‘Enormous shark!’
‘Do something!’
Sam’s eyes bulged white as he leaned on the joystick and sent the submarine diving to the right. The gunmetal grey of the shark’s tail swept past to the left, a silent slither of efficiency in motion, kissing the glass as it went. Gerald spun around, trying to see behind them but the monster had disappeared into the black shroud of night. He suddenly felt very tiny, and very cold.
‘Maybe it would be better if we turned the lights off,’ Sam said. He moved his hand towards the switch.
‘Don’t!’ Felicity said. ‘I’d rather see what’s coming.’
Fish darted in and out of the light from the tiny submarine, curious at the unexpected visitor. ‘Is that an octopus?’ Ruby asked as a translucent flash zipped through the periphery of the light, leaving behind a stream of tiny bubbles. A school of silver fish shot across their path. Then, as slow and unstoppable as an oil tanker, another colossal shark hove into view. Its mouth hung open as if it was tasting the water. A nest of teeth inside looked like a box of shattered light bulbs. With a simple sweep of its tail, the beast changed direction, maintaining a prehistoric eye on the four occupants of the submarine.
Gerald, Felicity, Sam and Ruby watched in awe as nature’s perfect hunting machine cruised along beside them.
‘Do you think it can see us?’ Felicity asked in a voice barely above a whisper.
‘We’re lit up like a Christmas tree,’ Sam said. ‘A short-sighted goldfish could see us from a mile away.’
Ruby pressed the palm of her hand flat against the inside of the glass. ‘Isn’t it beautiful?’ she said, her eyes peeled in wonder.
‘Only to another shark,’ Sam said, ‘and only then if that other shark hadn’t been out of the house for a really long time.’
A moment later the creature rounded off to the side, and was gone.
‘Look, this is all very amazing but I can’t imagine this toy submarine is designed to cross the Pacific,’ Felicity said. ‘We need to contact someone so they can send help.’
‘Here’s an idea,’ Ruby said, spinning around to face the back seat. ‘Why don’t you phone your friend Ursus and ask him. You seem to have his number. Or even better, why not go straight to the top and call Mason Green?’
Felicity stared at Ruby through narrowed eyes.
‘Be fair,’ Sam said. ‘It’s not Felicity’s fault.’
Ruby almost knocked the headrest from her seat as she swung around to face her brother. ‘Not her fault? This whole situation is entirely her fault.’
‘But Ursus abducted her parents,’ Gerald said.
‘So she goes to the police,’ Ruby said. ‘Then we wouldn’t be stuck like sitting ducks for a band of Mason Green’s pirates to come calling. The police could have told us to cancel the trip, or laid a trap. Or something. Anything. But now all of our parents have been kidnapped and we’re stuck in a giant glass ping-pong ball in the middle of the bloody ocean.’ Ruby stared hard into Felicity’s eyes. ‘Or is that just me being self-centred?’
Felicity blinked, then buried her face in Gerald’s shoulder.
Ruby’s expression did not change. ‘Terrific,’ she said.
Gerald hated to admit it, but he agreed with every word Ruby had said. He checked his watch. ‘The sun should be coming up soon. It’s probably safe to head to the surface. The Archer should be long gone. We can radio for help.’
‘What if the Archer isn’t gone?’ Sam said. ‘What if Ursus is still up there looking for us?’
‘If we see the bottom of the yacht, we won’t surface,’ Gerald said. ‘But we can’t stay down here forever. We really don’t have any other option.’
Sam pulled back on the joystick and the sub started to climb. The water around them began to lighten, as if colours were being injected into a monochrome world. Finally, in
a flurry of bubbles and wash, the submarine broke through the surface. A low bank of clouds on the eastern horizon was orange-pink as the dawn sun peeked above the waterline. There was no sign of the Archer.
‘Good job, Sam,’ Ruby said. ‘Maybe your video-game addiction isn’t such a bad thing after all.’
‘And we haven’t even seen a zombie yet,’ Sam said. ‘That’s when I’ll really shine.’
Felicity sniffed and wiped the wetness from her eyes. ‘You honestly think there are zombies?’ She looked as if she had just woken from a bad dream.
‘Oh sure,’ Sam said. ‘The remote islands of the Pacific seldom visited by the living are ripe stomping grounds for your undead.’
‘Unless the hordes of the undead suddenly learn to swim, I don’t think we have much to worry about,’ Ruby said. ‘In case you haven’t noticed, we don’t seem to be within a million miles of any dry land. Maybe we should give the radio a try.’ The swell gently raised and lowered them in a pendulous sweep. ‘And hurry up about it,’ Ruby continued. ‘I’m feeling seasick.’
‘If you’re going to be sick, open up a hatch and do it outside,’ Felicity said in a soft voice. ‘I find the smell of vomit terribly—’
‘Sick-making?’ Ruby said. She flashed an angry look towards the back seat. ‘If I’m going to throw up I’ll do it in Gerald’s backpack. I don’t want to attract sharks.’
Gerald blanched at the thought of his backpack being used as a sick bag. He glanced down through the glass bottom of the submarine. ‘I don’t think you need to worry about attracting sharks,’ he said. Fingers of early morning light probed the upper layers of the ocean, and deep beneath the sub a dozen grey ghosts cruised in and out of sight.
‘Do you know what they say when there’s a lot of sharks swimming close together like that?’ Sam said.
‘That you’re near land?’ Felicity replied, a little hopefully.
‘No, that they’ll tear out your throat and feast on your entrails,’ Sam said. ‘Your shark is actually very like your zombie in that regard.’
Ruby clipped her brother over the back of his head. ‘Radio,’ she said. ‘And make it sharp.’
Sam pressed some menu buttons on the display panel until a box marked COMMS lit up on the screen. ‘This must be it,’ he said. He touched the square and a list of items dropped down, including one marked RADIO. ‘Let’s give it a try,’ he said. A soft crackle sounded from speakers set into the front console. He picked up a microphone and thumbed the button. ‘Uh-hello?’ Sam began. ‘Can anyone hear me? We need help. Pirates attacked our ship and now we’re stuck in shark-infested waters somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.’ He released the button and waited.
‘You don’t think that sounds a bit unbelievable?’ Ruby said. ‘You couldn’t just go with “We’re lost and need help”?’
Sam gave his sister an injured look. ‘I thought mentioning pirates would get someone’s attention,’ he said.
Ruby opened her mouth to speak but was cut off when a woman’s voice crackled through the speakers. ‘This is the merchant ship Oso, responding to the distress call from the mini-submarine. What is your location? Over.’
Sam gave a smug smile. ‘See?’ he said. ‘A result.’ He lifted the microphone to his mouth when Felicity flung herself forward from the back seat, squashing Gerald’s face flat against the glass in the process. ‘Wait!’ she cried, grabbing Sam by his wrist. ‘Don’t say anything.’
‘Careful,’ Sam said. ‘You almost dislocated my elbow.’
‘What are you doing?’ Ruby said, her eyes afire. ‘If this is about your mum and dad again—’
Felicity shook her head. ‘It’s not about my parents,’ she said. ‘That voice on the radio, I don’t think you can trust it.’
The radio crackled again. ‘This is the merchant ship Oso, calling the mini-sub in distress. What is your location? Over.’
‘Don’t you see?’ Felicity said. ‘That’s definitely Ursus.’
She was met with blank stares from the others. ‘But that’s a woman on the radio,’ Ruby said.
‘And Ursus had a woman working for him on the Archer,’ Felicity said.
Sam shrugged. ‘What does that tell you?’ Sam asked, trying to pull his arm free from Felicity’s grasp. ‘Ursus is hardly going to say, Hi, I’m calling from the Archer. Can you tell me where you are so I can come kidnap you again.’
‘Don’t be so thick,’ Felicity said. ‘She knew we were in a mini-sub. You didn’t say anything about that when you made your distress call.’
Sam leaned back in his seat and Felicity released her grip on his arm. Water lapped against the sides of the mini-sub as the scale of their predicament struck home.
‘So we can’t radio for help,’ Sam said, ‘because Ursus will most likely be the first one to reach us.’
‘And we’re a zillion miles from anywhere, and the only thing between us and an ocean full of sharks is a giant glass bubble,’ Ruby said.
A few metres away a black shape weaved from the darkness and cruised past with one eye fixed on them, unblinking.
‘Now I know how a dessert trolley feels,’ Sam said.
Gerald looked at each of his friends in turn. ‘So what do we do?’
Ruby frowned and nodded, as if winning a debate with herself. ‘This is what we do,’ she said, and took the microphone from Sam. ‘May Day. May Day. Gunmen working for the fugitive Sir Mason Green have hijacked the ship Archer. The attack took place three days’ sail east of Bora Bora. Please send urgent help. Send—’
A screen in front of Ruby flashed into a fuzzy video image. It took a moment to realise they were looking at a man wearing a black balaclava.
‘That will do, Miss Valentine,’ the man said. He peeled the woollen mask back from his chin and off his head, then stared hard at the four occupants of the submarine. ‘That will most certainly do.’
Chapter 13
Ursus was just as Gerald remembered from the last time they had seen him, in Sir Mason Green’s apartment in San Francisco just before Christmas: slender, with dark hair swept back and an expression that could make a baby cry. For a moment, the shark circling the submarine looked the better option.
‘Sadly for you, Miss Valentine, the radio on that submarine is not set up for long-range communications,’ Ursus said. ‘In fact, it’s a direct link to the bridge of the Archer. So you can give up any idea of contacting the outside world.’
Ruby’s jaw muscles tightened. ‘So the only person who can hear me on this radio is you?’ she asked Ursus.
‘That is correct.’
‘Good,’ Ruby said.
Gerald’s eyes flew wide as Ruby told Ursus exactly what she thought of him, his parents and his career choices. The tirade ended with a detailed description of exactly where Ursus could store his balaclava.
‘Miss Valentine!’ Ursus said. ‘I hardly think that type of language is constructive.’
‘Possibly not,’ Ruby said, ‘but it is incredibly satisfying. Just be glad I’m not there in person or I would most probably vomit all over you.’ She leaned forward and switched off the communications screen.
‘Was that a sensible thing to do, Ruby?’ Felicity asked. ‘He doesn’t seem a good person to get angry.’
‘I don’t need a lecture from you about good sense,’ Ruby snapped. ‘Who knows what tracking capabilities the Archer has on board. The longer we were talking to Ursus the more likely he’d find us. Remember, that’s not part of the plan anymore.’
Felicity did not respond.
‘We’re floating in a plastic bubble in the middle of the Pacific,’ Gerald said, trying to keep the peace. ‘We might need Ursus to rescue us.’
‘Nonsense,’ Ruby said. ‘Come on, Sam. You got us this far. Find some satellite map or something to show us the closest piece of land.’
Sam pressed the panel by his knee and hunted through the options menu. Screens and tabs flashed on and off until finally a map popped open with a small pulsing red dot in the cent
re. ‘I’m guessing the dot is us,’ he said.
‘There’s an awful lot of blue around it,’ Felicity said.
‘I’ll try zooming out,’ Sam said. The red dot shrank until finally a speck of green appeared in the bottom right corner of the map.
‘There!’ Ruby said. ‘Is that land?’
Sam zoomed in on it. ‘It looks hopeful,’ he said. With his fingertip he traced a line between the red dot and the island, then pressed the large green button. The submarine responded with a buzzing whir, and cut its way through the gathering swell. Sam tilted the joystick forward and the nose dipped. In seconds they were cruising a few metres below the surface.
‘That’s better,’ Ruby said. ‘I couldn’t take much more of that bobbing about.’
‘We should go faster underwater,’ Sam said. ‘And the quicker we get to that island, the better.’
‘What’s your hurry?’ Gerald asked, gazing through the glass to the vast blue empire about them. ‘This is pretty awesome.’
‘Because this thing operates on battery power and according to this gauge we’ve got about six hours left.’
‘What happens when the batteries run out?’ Felicity asked.
Sam thought for a moment. ‘I guess we bob around in the ocean like a bottle with a message in it until someone finds us.’ A school of fish flashed around them like a sequined curtain. ‘So we may as well enjoy the show while we can.’
The mini-sub ploughed on, its path tracked on the satellite map by the pulsing red dot. The line between it and the island grew steadily shorter. Gerald discovered a stash of chocolate bars in a storage bin and handed them around.
Felicity tried to get the conversation going to ease her way back into the group. But Ruby was having none of it. ‘Can you please stop talking, Felicity?’ she said. ‘I think we’ve all had enough of your input for one day.’
Felicity turned to look out the side of the submarine. Gerald could see she was struggling to hold back tears.
At one point, a family of bottle-nosed dolphins joined them—three adults and an infant—circling the sub and sweeping up close to the glass to peek inside. The sight of them seemed to brighten Felicity. ‘Oh, look at the baby,’ she said. ‘It’s gorgeous.’
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