Undersea Quest

7 The Letter from the Deeps

When the answer came, it was simply a radiogram:

ACKNOWLEDGE. CHIN UP. LETTER FOLLOWS. STEWART EDEN.

The letter took a week to follow.

I wish it had been forever.

It was an unfamiliar long, blue envelope, and in the upper left hand corner was the name and address of my uncle’s attorney.

When I ripped it open, three things fell out. A check, for an amount that made my eyes bulge. A narrow yellow card, with my uncle’s scrawl in scarlet: “Don’t worry, Jim. I should have expected this; it isn’t your fault. Come to Thetis. I’ll meet you and explain.”

It was a cryptic note; I read it twice, trying to decide what my uncle had meant. Did he mean he expected me to fail the difficult course? But that didn’t square with “it isn’t your fault.”

Bothered, I turned to the last enclosure.

And I at once forgot the others. It was a letter, precisely typed on tough blue cellutane, beneath a letterhead that said “Wallace Faulkner, Attorney at Law”:

Mr. James Eden

Courtesy of United States Sub-Sea Academy

Class Three, Crew Five

Dear Sir:

I regret to inform you that your uncle, Stewart Eden, is dead.

Shortly after writing you the enclosed note he embarked on a cruise to Seven Dome. The route from Thetis to Seven Dome passes over the Eden Deep; while crossing this deep, cruising at four thousand fathoms and on course, your uncle’s ship was heard to transmit what seemed to be the beginning of distress signal. It was cut off in the middle; and no further contact was made.

The local naval authorities of course made every effort to contact your uncle, but without success. I am advised that there is no possibility that he has survived.

I suppose you are aware that you are the sole heir. I must warn you, however, that your uncle was not a very wealthy man.

The bulk of his estate comprises eighty shares of stock in a corporation known as Marine Mines, Ltd. This is a majority interest, since the corporation issued only one hundred shares. The value of these shares is problematical. Their par value is listed at one thousand dollars, but there is no market for them under ordinary conditions.

Some years ago this corporation filed with the government of Marinia a claim for the exploitation of Eden Deep, giving it full and sole surface and mineral rights. This is the major asset of the firm. While it may well be that the bottom underlying Eden Deep contains mineral deposits of great value, the difficulty of working them is apparent, since existing forms of seacars and sub-sea armor have not been used successfully at any such depths. It is possible that your uncle’s death, indeed, may be due to an attempt to extend the downward range of his equipment sufficiently to exploit the bottom of Eden Deep. If so, the attempt was of course unsuccessful.

To put it plainly, the project of mining this claim is visionary and impractical. Apart from the difficulties imposed by the crushing pressure of thousands of fathoms of water, the Deep is inhabited by many dangerous sea creatures, including benthoctopus and the almost unknown animal called K’Wapti. It is even reputed to be the den of the fabulous sea-serpent, though this is of course speculative.

Fortunately for your interests, however, I have among my clients a person who is willing to invest in this property as a speculation, in the faint possibility that new techniques may make it possible to exploit its presumable resources. There are, as you perhaps know, no such new techniques in sight. Moreover, you may be aware that under Marinian maritime law, claims must be proved within eight years or they revert to the public domain. That is, actual mining operations must begin within that period.

The eight-year period ends on February 1st of next year. You will realize that, even should some new techniques be developed, there would not remain sufficient time to put them to use before the claim expired.

For this reason, I earnestly advise you to accept any offer that may be made for this property. I am authorized to offer you four hundred dollars a share for this block of eighty shares of Marine Mines Ltd., making a total of thirty-two thousand dollars.

There is no possibility that this price can be exceeded.

Please inform me by radio of your acceptance of this offer at once. I have already drawn up the necessary contract of sale and will proceed to execute it as soon as I have your authorization. My client may withdraw the offer at any time, so haste is absolutely essential. I assure you that the stock would not command a fraction of this price in the open market.

The remainder of your uncle’s estate comprises the seacar in which he was lost, which is extremely unlikely to be salvaged, and a few personal items, which are being sent you by sub-sea mail.

You may trust me to care for your interests as zealously as I have those of your uncle.

I shall await your radiogram authorizing me to proceed with the sale of the stock.

With deepest solicitude for you in your affliction,

I remain, faithfully your servant,

Wallace Faulkner