“Sea Witch, we’re commencing lowering now.” Tom could hear the concern in Matthew’s otherwise controlled voice. He was glad that Sam had left Matthew in charge of the mission room – not that he was in a position to help them if something went wrong.
The motorized winch crank could be heard gently running out the cable until the Sea Witch reached the moon pool’s surface. The left porthole disappeared under the splashing water, and then the Sea Witch started to float.
Sam turned on each of the propellers, confirming that she was ready to maneuver herself, and then said, “Maria Helena, we’re ready to disengage.”
“Copy, Sea Witch, disengaging now.”
They took one last glance topside through the small porthole, which allowed the submarine’s occupants to observe the attachment of the crane’s cables. Tom saw Veyron, thumbs up, giving the all clear sign.
“Sea Witch, you’re clear. Best of luck.”
Sam arched an eyebrow. “You ready, Tom?”
“Yep, let’s do this.”
Sam flooded the main diving chambers. Immediately the Sea Witch began sinking.
Tom looked at Sam, who was now whistling, as the submarine dived, and said, “So, 50:50 chance we don’t get crushed to death before we exit the escape hatch, hey? How do you feel about those odds?”
Sam grinned and Tom shook his head. Sam was giving him that damn demonic smile, the smile of a madman about to do something stupid and try to get away with it. But in Sam’s case, he usually did.
“Listen here, Tom, and I’ll tell you exactly how we’re going to pull this off.”
*
Michael answered the phone.
“Yes?”
“Mr. Rodriguez, the water has reached mine shaft number two and it’s already starting to overflow into three!” His underground manager sounded out of breath. “Once it reaches number four, there’s nothing we can do for the men below.”
“Reilly’s in the water. They should have the hole blocked within the next 45 minutes…”
“And if they don’t succeed in the next thirty, about 1000 miners are going to die.”
“Understood, Roberto.”
The briefest of smiles curled on Michael’s lips as he reflected on the wonder of human nature.
Fascinating how my underground manager beat the odds and reached the surface, despite sending the rest of the men to work further below the waterline.
*
Sam could see the entrance of the pyramid up ahead on the sonar screen.
Tom, who was now in control of the submarine, slowed to a crawl and asked, “Okay, it’s 40 feet ahead. Are you going to share your plan with me any time soon, Sam?”
Sam attached his dive belt.
“All right. Now’s probably as good a time as any. Basically, the plan, as discussed with Veyron, was that we would take Sea Witch close to the entrance of the pyramid until its massive pull sucks us in towards the main point where the tunnel narrows, just before splitting in two. Thus, we’re going to block the entrance, as a plug would a bathtub.”
“That much I already knew.”
“Good to see you were awake.” Sam handed Tom his new dive helmet. “Veyron’s done the math, and the Sea Witch will survive being used as a giant plug. What he wasn’t certain about was whether or not the sub would then implode after it had been weakened by the initial force of striking the wall as it blocked the entrance to the pyramid.”
“Right… yeah, he said he gave us about a 50:50 chance of implosion.”
“Based on calculations of our hull already being completely airtight, and then we would escape through the escape hatch, return to the diving bell, having achieved our mission…” Sam looked up, and, reassured that Tom was following, said, “But what if the Sea Witch was already flooded?”
“You want to flood the interior of the sub?”
“Sure, why not? It’s going to be wrecked after this anyway.” Sam’s face showed genuine disinterest.
“The power will short out the instant the main chamber becomes flooded, and we won’t be able to maneuver it.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. After all, it’s going to be dragged in by the undercurrent anyway. Then, instead of imploding, it should just lodge itself in the opening. Probably…” Sam mused with a fatalistic grin. “Why, have you got a better idea?”
“No… I don’t. So I guess we’re all out of options.”
Sam turned the dive tanks to on, and locked his dive helmet.
“You ready?”
“No, but we don’t have much choice,” Tom replied, checking his Hydrox intake to his helmet.
“Here we go.”
Sam brought the Sea Witch slowly closer to the main entrance of the pyramid, until he noticed some of the controls were becoming soft and awkward. He still had control over the sub, but needed to exert more pressure to achieve it.
“Okay, that’s it,” Sam said. “We’re committed now.”
“Copy that. Overriding the airlock’s primary hatch.”
The outside hatch remained firmly closed, while the middle hatch, which ordinarily ensured that the sub’s cockpit remained dry, stayed open. There were a number of safety systems in place to avoid just such an event, but Tom had managed to override them.
“Flooding her now,” Tom said.
Water quickly filled both chambers of the Sea Witch.
By the time they reached the entrance to the pyramid, the sub was completely flooded, and the pressure equalized with the outside environment.
Without power, the Sea Witch spun through the turbid waters.
Looking out the tiny porthole, Sam struggled to maintain a sense of direction as they bounced through the large entrance to the pyramid. Unable to determine how far along the tunnel they had reached, the sub suddenly jerked to a standstill and became firmly lodged.
“Are we stuck?” Tom asked.
Sam looked out his porthole. Water appeared to be flowing past it, faster and angrier than ever. “Yeah, we’re stuck all right, but not where we were supposed to be.”
Tom ran his hand over his dive computer. All the instruments were working, and at this depth, he had a little more than an hour’s Hydrox supply – that was something, at least.
“How’s your Hydrox, Sam?”
“I’m good for at least an hour. Let’s open the hatch and get back to the diving bell. See what our next move is.”
“Agreed.”
Tom spun the internal locking wheel of the outer hatch. The green light turned red, indicating that it was no longer water tight.
He then pushed the door outwards.
Nothing happened.
He pushed at it again, without any success. Tom swallowed and his heart rate rocketed. “Sam, we have a big problem…”
*
In the mission room of the Maria Helena, the silent uneasiness was almost tangible. Sam’s last message from the Sea Witch was that they had flooded the cockpit and were now drifting inside the mouth of the pyramid. The last five minutes had passed unbearably slowly, and they had received no messages from below.
The sound of Michael’s cell ringing, broke the silence.
“The water’s still flowing, and it’s passed the safety blocks at mineshaft three!” It was his underground manager.
“Understood. Tell the men that we’re doing our best for them.”
Michael looked at Matthew. “It didn’t work. The water’s still flowing strong.”
Matthew nodded in understanding and then looked at Veyron, “Any ideas?”
“None that can be done in the timeframe, I’m afraid.”
“Veyron,” Michael said. “I noticed you have a second submarine down below. Can you send that to try again?”
“Sure, I can control its mechanical arms and probably reposition the Sea Witch, but we don’t have anyone to pilot her.”
“I think I’ve got a solution for that.”
Chapter Five
Sam turned around so that he could push t
he hatch with his legs, in conjunction with Tom. Despite the pain in his strong thigh muscles, there was no movement.
“Well… that’s going to make our day considerably worse,” Sam said.
Tom moved around the sub, looking out the other portholes, trying to get a better idea of how the Sea Witch was resting. “The hatch must be wedged up against the wall?”
“I suppose so. The question is how are we going to free it?”
“I’ll inform the Maria Helena that we failed, and see what solutions Veyron can come up with. I knew we should have taken that French son of a bitch with us.”
Sam nodded his head and then continued his reconnaissance of the Sea Witch. It appeared to be lying with a 70-degree list to its portside, meaning that the hatch – the only place of exit -- was wedged between the submarine and the granite walls of the pyramid’s tunnel. The seawater had completely shorted all electrical systems inside the sub.
He looked at his dive computer.
It showed 55 minutes of Hydrox remaining.
They were now trapped inside the flooded safest deep sea submarine in existence, with less than an hour remaining of breathable gas, and no means of escape.
“Our luck doesn’t seem to be getting much better,” Tom said.
“Let me guess. We lost the radio transmitter from the top of the sub?”
“Yep,” Tom confirmed. “It’s just that sort of day, isn’t it? So, now we’re trapped, and we have no means of communicating with the Maria Helena. Not that it matters much. They have no one to pilot Rescue One down here in the time we need.”
Sam unlocked the storage locker on the side, which would ordinarily be at the bottom of the sub, pulling out a tool kit. “Okay, so we’re on our own.” His voice appeared content, as though he’d calmly accepted their predicament.
“Seems like it.”
Sam removed several items from the tool kit, discarding them on the floor with disinterest.
“What are you after?” Tom asked.
“A hyperbaric blowtorch.”
“Are you kidding me, Sam? The steel in this sub is eight inches thick. You would most likely starve to death before you managed to burn a hole through it.”
“You’re right,” Sam agreed, and then switched the blowtorch on and off again. “But I’ve no desire to burn my way out.”
“What then?”
“We’re jammed up against the hatch on one side, and the mechanical robot arms on the other side.” Sam looked at Tom, to make sure that he was following. “I’m going to cut the hydraulic lines to those arms.”
“Detaching the wedge, and sending the Sea Witch spiraling down the tunnel again.”
Sam removed the protective cover to the starboard side wall, where he could see the robotic arms were resting firmly on the granite walls of the pyramid’s tunnel. Three hydraulic lines ran along the barren submarine’s inner surface.
“That’s the plan. The question is, where are we going to end up, this time?”
“There’s only one way to find out,” Tom replied.
Sam switched the hyperbaric blowtorch on. Its blue flame hissed out of the end of the nozzle. Cutting the tough hydraulic lines like butter, he started at the top.
“One at a time, Sam. It will give us more of a chance to move just enough to escape.”
“Good idea.”
The first hydraulic strut did nothing.
Out the porthole, Sam could see the limp arm of one of the robots that hadn’t been trapped on the side of the tunnel.
The second one was connected to the largest of the five robotic arms, which appeared to be wedged and responsible for their problem.
Sam cut it and watched a plume of black oil spurt out under pressure.
He then looked out the porthole.
The arm had not moved at all.
Sam looked at his watch. He now had 25 minutes of Hydrox left to breathe. “Any idea why that didn’t take the pressure off that arm?”
“No.”
Sam proceeded to cut the fifth and final hydraulic strut. “Lucky last.”
Nothing happened.
Peering out the porthole, Sam noticed the robotic arm appeared as inflexible as ever.
“Now we’re in trouble,” Tom said.
“I don’t know what’s keeping it rigid. I’ve cut the strut. Look at it, it’s still pissing out oil.”
“Of course!” Tom braced himself against the submarine wall. “The pressure hasn’t fully left the strut–”
The robotic arm retracted with a violent CRASH!
Sam grabbed hold of a bracing bar, just in time for the submarine to start spinning again. They went circling down the tunnel, as though they were being flushed down a toilet bowl.
It rolled nearly a dozen times before finally coming to rest.
Sam stared out the porthole.
The murky water appeared to be slowing down, as though something was impeding its movement. Whatever water was making its way through, it wouldn’t be enough to drown the miners below. On the other side of the submarine, Sam could see Tom taking a long look out the other side.
“The water’s stopped!” Tom said.
Sam looked at the position of the hatch, now below his feet. “That’s great, but I think we’re now resting right on top of the hatch.”
*
At the pilot controls of the submarine, Rescue One, Michael watched the sudden movement of the Sea Witch in horror. Something appeared to have given way, so that the small submarine started tumbling down the tunnel again.
“What the hell happened?” he asked.
“If I had a guess, I’d say Sam just worked out how to cut the hydraulic cables for the robotic arm, freeing the Sea Witch to be drawn further down the tunnel,” Veyron replied.
“That’s great.”
“It may be. And it might not.”
“What do you mean? Why not?”
Veyron adjusted the angle of his sonar, and said, “Unless they had the good fortune to land in such a way that they block the tunnel and also have access to their hatch, we’re going to have to go in there after them.”
“And, did they have good luck?”
“How’s the current? Is Rescue One still pulling towards the entrance?”
“Yes, but it’s not as strong,” Michael confirmed.
Next to him, Veyron pulled away from the sonar screen. “Shit.”
“It’s not where it needs to be?”
“No. As luck would have it, the Sea Witch appears to be lying upside down, which means there’s no possible way they can get out.” Veyron looked at his watch. “And by my calculations, they don’t have much more Hydrox to breathe. You’d better take us in.”
“You want me to navigate Rescue One, in there?” Michael was incredulous.
“I believe it is the only way we can move the Sea Witch so that it blocks the flow of water, and saves your miners – that is, if you have the constitution to keep going?”
“Damn you, Veyron. They’re my men. Of course, I’ll do it!”
“Good man. Now, I’d be most obliged if you were to avoid getting us stuck, too.”
*
Sam’s dive watch made an irritating noise, the kind of grating sound capable of waking the dead. He stared at it, for a moment hoping his vision was playing tricks.
He muttered a soft oath - no such luck.
The timer indicated he was out of Hydrox.
He knew there’d be a few more minutes of residual Hydrox inside his dive helmet, but it was mostly irrelevant now. They had run out of time.
Concealed inside his dive helmet, Sam displayed a broad last smile. The sort he was renowned for, which said, he could have it all.
He and Tom had saved as many as 10,000 people today.
Not a bad way to die.
“Sorry to drag you into this, Tom.”
“Not your fault Sam. Had to be done.”
The Sea Witch jolted. “Can you see what happened?” Sam asked.
Tom moved
towards his nearest porthole. “Well I’ll be! Who would’ve thought, eh?”
“What?” Sam moved toward the porthole and looked out.
“Some idiot just piloted Rescue One into the tunnel!”
Rescue One wasn’t trying to turn them around so that they could escape. It was attempting to push them further into the tunnel, so they could block the entire flow of water.
“We must be missing something,” Sam said. “The water must still be flowing beneath us.”
They moved another few feet towards the narrowest point of the tunnel, and then stopped dead still.
Sam’s Hydrox supply ran out.
“Some rescue team. They should’ve come a couple minutes earlier. We’ve had some fun Tom, but now I’m out. Good luck.”
“I have another five minutes. I’ll buddy up with you, and we’ll get out of here alive.”
“The hell you will. We both know it’s going to take them a lot more than a couple minutes to rescue you.”
“Whatever you like, Sam.” Tom moved above Sam and started to attach his secondary rescue regulator to the back of Sam’s Hydrox tank.
Sam tried to move away, but he suddenly found his body no longer had the strength to fight it.
The darkness came over him. Not the horrifying obscurity that is taught to us since childhood of death. But instead, a warm, comforting darkness, like a blanket. Something to cuddle up to, and die.
Then there was the intense light.
For a moment, Sam thought the glow might be the radiant light of a powerful oxythermic torch, cutting through the thick hull of the submarine.
But it was followed by more darkness.
And then nothing at all.
*
The thick steel fell away from the outside of the submarine. Dumping the oxythermic torch on the ground next to him, Michael peered in through the opened hull. Inside, two bodies floated, their eyes lifeless as a corpse.
We were too late…
“They’re dead,” he said to Veyron.
“Bullshit they’re dead! Let’s get them to the diving bell. It’s got a hyperbaric oxygen chamber inside. If they’ve run out of Hydrox, they’ve only just run out of it!”
Michael grabbed the first body he could reach and dragged it through the new opening. Veyron took the limp diver and said, “I’ve got him. You grab the next one, and I’ll get him in the hyperbaric chamber.”
The Sam Reilly Collection Page 33