The Atlantis Stone

CHAPTER 35

The Sexton's Dream passed through the Straits of Gibraltar. The smooth surface of the Mediterranean gave way to the endless rolling motion of the Atlantic. Selena and Nick stood at the bow. To starboard lay the massive landmark of the rock of Gibraltar. On the port side, Jebel Musa rose in the hazy distance. Ahead lay the vast expanse of the ocean, sparkling with sunlight.

"This is what Plato wrote about in his dialog," Selena said.

"What is?"

She pointed at the rock of Gibraltar and the mountain to the left. "We're passing through the Pillars of Hercules. Gibraltar is one pillar. That mountain over there in Morocco is the other. When Plato wrote about Atlantis he said it was beyond the Pillars of Hercules. It looks like he was right."

"I've never been to the Azores," Nick said.

"It's a beautiful place to visit." Selena brushed away a strand of hair. "There are nine islands, all part of the mid-Atlantic Mountain Range."

"There's a mountain range in the Atlantic?"

"It was formed by tectonic plates moving apart. The Azores are volcanic peaks of the ridge."

"That might explain what happened to Atlantis," Nick said. "What if something they did triggered a volcanic eruption?"

"A volcanic eruption? It would have to be awfully big."

"It's happened before. Like the Minoan civilization."

"Yes, but that's different. There are still plenty of Minoan artifacts to study. Ruins, everyday items, the language. Lots of things."

"Okay, an undersea earthquake then. Big enough to sink the whole civilization. We don't know how big Atlantis was. Maybe it was just an island. Don't the legends mention an island?"

"They do."

"It could've been like the eruption of Krakatoa back in the 1800s. That wiped out a large island and killed thousands of people. Or there could have been an undersea quake. Sexton said the whole area is seismically active. Unstable."

"If we find ruins, there might be something that tells us what happened," Selena said.

Two days later they reached the area pinpointed on the scans. The team crowded onto the bridge. One of Sexton's crew sat at an electronic console watching a large monitor. As the ship moved through the water, changing images in brown and yellow passed across the screen. A scale on the side of the monitor displayed ocean depth in meters. Sexton stood behind him.

"What's your plan?" Nick asked.

Sexton pointed. "You're looking at images from the side-scan sonar system. I've laid out a grid to search, based on the satellite intel you gave me. We'll work our way back and forth across the grid."

He gestured at the screen.

"You can see the variations on the ocean floor. It looks fairly smooth here. If those ruins are down there, we'll find them. There's not much to confuse the image."

"How does it work?" Ronnie asked.

"The scanner trails behind the ship," Sexton said. "The sonar sends down pulses in a fan shape. They bounce back as an acoustic reflection, recorded in slices. The computers piece the slices together and get an image."

An object shaped like a boat's hull appeared, slice by slice, five hundred meters down. It passed out of sight as the ship continued on.

"Probably a fishing boat," Sexton said. "There are a lot of wrecks out here. People have been sailing these waters for a long time."

"How long will it take us to search the grid?" Selena asked.

"The whole thing? A few days, maybe longer. But I don't think we'll have to do that. We're at the edge of the area you identified on those scans, so it might not take long."

"I'm going to check over the diving gear," Lamont said.

"I'll go with you," Selena said.

"I'll help you unpack." Ronnie followed them out as they left the bridge.

Nick stood next to Sexton, looking out through the bridge windows. There was nothing to see except the constant motion of the water. A few white clouds drifted overhead in a clear blue sky.

"How did you hook up with Selena?" Sexton asked Nick.

"It's a long story. Her uncle was murdered. We were asked to look into it."

"We've been friends a long time."

"Selena told me about it."

An image of Selena in bed with Sexton flashed unbidden in Nick's mind. It made him angry. Even though it had been long before Selena came into his life.

"She's special," Sexton said. "You're a lucky man. Me, I've never been able to settle on one woman."

Asshole, Nick thought.

The sonar operator called out.

"I've got images, Skipper."

The two men walked over and looked at the monitor. It showed a long shape on the ocean floor at a depth of eight hundred meters. As the ship moved over the surface regular shapes appeared, far below.

"That's got to be it," Nick said.

"Do you want me to keep searching the grid?"

"No, we'll start here. Get us stopped over what's down there."

As Sexton gave orders to his crew, Nick stepped outside to where the others had laid out the diving gear on the deck. The steady vibration of the engines changed as the boat slowed and stopped.

"Why are we stopping?" Selena asked.

"Sonar shows the ruins of a city below us. Or at least what looks like ruins."

"How far down?" Lamont asked.

"Eight hundred meters, give or take a few."

"We can't dive that," Lamont said. "The deepest anyone has ever gone using gas mixtures is a little over five hundred meters. Even an atmospheric diving suit can't go that far down."

Selena said, "We'll use an ROV to survey the site. If we find something we need to examine, Jeff has a DSV that can reach two thousand meters."

"A Deep Submergence Vehicle? This guy must be rolling in dough."

"I told you he was wealthy," Selena said. "It's a Pisces class, built in British Columbia. The NOAA has two of them."

"Those ruins are twenty-four hundred feet down," Nick said. "I don't like the idea of you going down there. What if something happens?"

"We won't be going deep enough to test the limit."

"Unless something happens."

"It's the only way if something has to be studied."

"I still don't like it," Nick said.

"It might not be necessary. It depends on what we find with the ROV."

"Those ruins are pretty spread out. It's going to take time to search through them."

Lamont looked at his watch. "It's 1600. We're not going to get down there today."

"Let's get the gear squared away," Ronnie said.

"While you do that, I'll go talk to Sexton," Nick said.

He headed back up to the bridge and found Sexton studying the sonar scans.

"Look at this."

Sexton pointed at a progression of shapes on the ocean floor below. The shapes ended in a ragged line. After that there was only blackness.

"Whatever's down there is right on the edge of the abyssal plain," Sexton said. "The depth of the ruins is consistent at about eight hundred meters up to that point. At the edge there's a sharp drop off. After that, it's a long way down."

"Selena says you have a DSV that can go deep."

"That's right. We have a Pisces class two-man submersible that can reach two thousand meters. Are you thinking of going down there?"

"I don't know yet. It depends on what we find tomorrow. I'd like you to send down an ROV so we could take a look. We'll decide what to do after that."

"I've got the perfect unit for the job. Camera, lights and small enough to get into some tight places."

Nick smiled in spite of himself. Sexton's enthusiasm was infectious. Nick saw why Selena had been attracted to him. He was hard not to like.

The thought didn't help much.