Splashdown

Chapter 6

“They must be watching us through that thing.” Dane kept his eyes locked on the remotely operated vehicle as it approached their mini-sub. “It’s time to split. You have the nuke?”

The remote-controlled robot halted its forward progress near the perimeter of Deep Black’s floodlights. It hovered there, looking for all the world like a mechanical sentry who came across an intruder and now awaited instructions on how to proceed.

“Let me get the other arm around it.”

A flash of light pierced the darkness.

“Is that thing taking our picture?” Bones asked.

“Looks like it.” Dane frowned. What was going on?

“Must be the TV people. And I totally forgot to put on my makeup.”

“I don’t know.” Dane watched as the ROV barreled toward them, chewing up the intervening space at a rapid clip. “I think they’re trying to ram us.”

“What the hell would they do that for?” Bones growled.

“I don’t know. Just get a grip on the nuke.”

“I’ve got it! Go!” Bones yanked the joystick back at the same time as Dane kicked the thrusters on full, sending the sub shooting upward.

“Son of a…!” Bones left his phrase unfinished as he let his head slam back into the co-pilot seat’s headrest.

“What is it?”

“The nuke hit the side of the hatch when you put the pedal to the metal. It got knocked loose.” He paused. “I dropped it.”

“Did it land inside or outside the capsule?” Dane would have preferred it landed outside, since that way it had a chance of being covered by silt and overlooked by the Science Channel expedition. Also, it would make for an easier grab when they went back.

Bones leaned forward against the dome, shielding his eyes against the intruder’s piercing spotlight that it leveled at them. “It fell back into the capsule.”

Dane only exhaled sharply in reply.

“At least it didn’t explode, right?”

“Tell that to the Admiral.”

“He’d probably prefer that it exploded.” Bones turned and saw the ROV skirt past the spacecraft and adjust its attitude upward.

“Hey, that spybot’s still chasing us.”

Another white flash invaded their cabin.

“It’s trying to take a picture of our license plate, I guess,” Dane said, aiming their sub almost vertically.

“We could test out the weapons system on it.” Bones eyed the missile pod control assembly, a gleam in his eye.

“Not unless they shoot first or try to disable us in some way.”

“Screw them. Let’s go back down for the nuke and hope they try something. I’m in the mood to kick some ass.”

Dane glanced down at the battery display. “No can do. We took too long searching. We’ll be lucky to get back to the surface within a safe range.”

“Well then I’ve got a Kodak moment for it.” Bones raised both middle fingers in a double salute.

Dane only shook his head as he increased thruster speed to maximum, rocketing them toward the surface. Standard ascent procedure called for the proper amount of sub’s ballast, lead weights, to be jettisoned, causing the craft to float gently to the surface. Dane knew, however, that although the bends, a scuba diver’s malady that arose from ascending too rapidly, was not a concern for them in the mini-sub, that they would run their battery bank down before they reached the surface at this rate. Also, he knew that an ascent from depths such as these could spin out of control as it gained speed and buoyancy when the water became shallower. He had no desire to go end over end before rocketing through the surface out of control, creating a spectacle for whoever happened to be watching topside.

“Wonder how long til E.T. heads home?” Dane said.

Bones shrugged. “Beats the hell out of me. I’m more of an ALF guy.”

Far below them, the ROV had ceased its pursuit and now circled Liberty Bell 7.

Dane eased up on the throttle and leveled the submersible. After a last look below, he dumped the some of the sub’s ballast and they began to rise faster. He eyed the compass and gave the thrusters a burst to set them on a course toward their support vessel.

Bones softly pounded his fist into his hand. “I can’t believe I dropped the freaking thing. Now I’ve got to sit here for two and a half hours and think about it.”

“Things happen.” Dane shared Bones’ frustration. Had he made the right decision? Could they have gotten away with firing on the ROV? Should they have taken one more crack at the nuke before ascending?

A call came through, rocking him out of his dark thoughts.

“Research vessel Ocean Explorer to fishing vessel Atlantic Pride: We require your assistance. Do you copy?”

Dane made eye contact with Bones before picking up the radio transmitter. Did they know what was happening? “Ocean Explorer, this is Atlantic Pride, we copy, over.”

“Roger that, Atlantic Pride. Can you do us a quick favor and tell me if you see any ships off your port bow? You’re blocking our view a little bit, and our radar’s been a bit wonky today.”

Dane talked off-air to Bones. “They want to know if there’s a ship on the other side of us they can’t see that might have deployed a mini-sub.”

“Tell ‘em we saw one but it’s gone now. Throw ‘em off the trail a little.” He grinned mischievously.

Dane raised his eyebrows and spoke into the mic. “Sure thing. There is a vessel maintaining position off our bow but maybe a little bit to port.” Dane mouthed the words treasure hunters to Bones.

“Roger that, Atlantic Pride, we see them. Anybody else, farther away than that?”

“Negative. Not right now. About an hour ago we saw a ship to port but haven’t seen it in a while.” Bones gave him a thumbs up.

“Copy that, thank you, signing off.”

Dane and Bones completed their uneventful return to the surface in silence. When Dane spotted the glimmer of their vessel’s moon pool, he slowed their ascent and they surfaced inside the watery opening.

Bones opened the dome hatch and was about to exit the submersible when they heard the sound of a single person clapping, followed by a deep voice emanating from somewhere within the shadows of the moon pool area.

“Congratulations, you found it!”