PART III: MISSION

Toby Granger

Several months went by after Skipper left. Dr. Richardson recovered fine, his memory was shaky for a few weeks but he was back in the classroom pod teaching us in no time Since I had piloted us back to safety, I was fast tracked to field training in just one month. Arnold had to go through a two month course to get the proper certification and join me

All the things we did were triple checked and all based on a procedure. We had a few drills every now and then.

“No! Turn it left!” I yelled at Arnold

“Hang on!” He jerked the steering stick left and we flipped upside down.

“Ah!” He screamed.

“Give me the contro-“ I was interrupted by the submarine shaking violently briefly.

“Just-“ I flicked a switch next to his controls and passed the controls to my stick.

I veered left and did a loopty loop to get us facing correctly. We sat for a moment, recouping from the embarrassment we had just performed.

“That boys, is why you must-“ We cut him off in unison

“Be aware of the currents.”

“Precisely! Right, back home, Arnold you give it a whirl.” The scariest part of the training was out-of-submarine exploration We had to put on wet suits that were pressurized enough so we wouldn’t explode into a fine red mist. We had to be extremely careful not to cut the suit in any way

“Okay boys, be very careful. Go to the designated objective and grab the target.” Dr. Richardson’s staticky voice said over the radio.

“Okay, Arnold, you hold the clam open and I’ll grab the target ” I commanded.

“Alright.” Arnold replied.

Arnold came up next to me and pried the clam open, his arms shaking as it tried to slam shut.

“Go! Go! Go!” he said quickly.

I reached in and quickly grabbed the red-blue cube that Dr. Richardson had planted there a few days earlier.

Arnold let go and the clam slammed shut

After several months of similar kinds of training missions, field trips and scientific papers, we graduated from apprenticeship. We’d been waiting years for this, as Scientists in Training we would be allowed to pilot submarines, perform or help with deep sea research, do research in a lab capacity, more tediously, we would be taught submarine maintenance, and most excitingly access to one of the many research bases like ours

“Adam Stinley, Arnold Lawson, you are no longer apprentices but now my Assistants.” Dr. Richardson said.

And that was that

Me and Arnold exchanged a quick glance as a pang of disappointment spread across both of us.

“Let’s go, quickly, quickly, there is no time for pomp and circumstance ” Dr. Richardson rushed us along.

We were quickly given lab uniforms, submarine uniforms, experimentation uniforms, formal uniforms, new identification cards for each location,and a slew of 8 digit codes for places we would need to be.

We were even removed from our sleeping pod and taken up a level to the apprentice sleeping pods. It had been empty for years, and we were finally in them.

“You’ve got an hour to get yourselves settled and put your things away Come to my lab when you are ready.” Dr. Richardson instructed us. There were only two sleeping pods in this room. There was a large window overlooking the reef and two desks protruding from the walls next to hanging racks for our many uniforms and clothes.

“This is different.” Arnold said.

“I really thought there would be more to our graduation No ceremony, not even a nice email.” I said.

“Me too… just straight to work like always I guess.” Arnold replied. “Alright, I’ll take the pod and desk on the left if that’s good with you ” I proposed.

“I’m fine with that.”

The hour passed and we were once again in a classroom. We now had to memorize emergency procedures in the event of a sub breach.

“There is no hope if you are in a Guppy ” Dr Richardson said bleakly

“That is why on deep sea missions it is imperative that you wear your deep sea suit at all times.” He finished.

“Okay What if there are Pirates?” I asked “Ah, Pirates. The Anthoids are very hostile towards us humans, this is a well known fact. If possible, attempt to communicate with them before they destroy your submarine Remember, they are intelligent You must use what you were taught as an apprentice and try to make peace and return to base.” Dr. Richardson said.

“And if we’re captured?” Arnold asked “Fight to your last breath.” Dr. Richardson said coldly. We both nodded and took mental note of our instructions.

The day went by like clockwork

As I laid in my pod I kept thinking about the day's events. As I stared at the ceiling through my pod I heard something.

Weeshhhhhhhhh

I’d never heard it before.

Shhhhhhhhhhhh

It kept going.

I got very tired and my eyelids started to fall. I tried to open my pod but it was the designated time to sleep I wasn’t tired at all before but now I could barely think.

Shhhhhh

My arms got heavy and I couldn’t even strain my neck Then I fell asleep.

I woke up the next morning jarred.

My pod cracked open and so did Arnolds

“Did you hear a low whooshing sound last night when you tried to sleep?” I asked.

“Yeah.. it was weird. I fell asleep quickly though.” Arnold shrugged it off.

I found it creepy

“Why do they want us to sleep so urgently?” I asked him.

“I don’t know, but I know that sleep is good for you.” Arnold replied groggily

“Well, yeah sleep is good for you. But is mystery gas that makes you fall asleep good for you?” I asked.

“If it was dangerous would they put it in our pods?” Arnold asked back “Well…” I had no response.

The conversation fizzled and we went to the dining pod for nutrition paste as usual

After ‘breakfast’ we headed to Dr. Richardsons lab. This was our first test of the dozen codes we needed to memorize.

“Okay, let’s see if I can do this first try ” I said “No way..” Arnold replied.

“*-#-6-5-4-8-6-7-9” I recited.

ERRR! INCORRECT PASSCODE. Arnold laughed.

“Move-move I got this ”

“Oh do you now?” I asked.

“*-#6-5-4-8-9-7-6-8!” Arnold recited arrogantly.

ERRRR! INCORRECT PASSCODE

“I gOt thIs.” I mocked Arnold.

“Oh shuddup..” He smirked.

“What about, *#6-5-4-8-9-9-6-8?” I tried

ERRRR! INCORRECT PASSCODE.

DOOR: LOCKED.

PLEASE TRY AGAIN IN 5 MINUTES

“Oh no..” I said.

“Dr Richardson isn’t going to be-”

Sffff

The door opened and we were greeted by Dr. Richardson with a welding mask flapped upwards.

“I was working on my submarine and I heard all this racket..” He said. We both looked down trying not to burst out laughing

“You didn’t forget the code now… did you?” He asked.

“There is a slight chance we may have forgotten the code.” Arnold said. Dr Richardson sighed

“Boys, it’s #-*-6-5-4-8-6-7-9.” He put it into the number pad.

LOCK: OPEN WELCOME, DR RICHARDSON

I smacked my face in embarrassment.

“You flipped the # and * didn’t you?” Dr. Richardson chuckled lightly.

“Alright Move along, we have a mission today ” Dr Richardson said We walked down the hallway into his lab as he explained.

“We have been given orders to go to the deep sea and try and locate a solumus collom There have been several sightings of one and the reports have it located closer and closer to the base each time. Our job is to find it and corrale it away.” Dr. Richardson said.

“And if we can’t?” I asked.

“Then we kill it.” Dr. Richardson said.

*It took a while to get our deep sea diving suits on. They were uncomfortable, warm. air tight latex and rubber stayed glued to us to protect us from the deep pressure environment should our submarine explode.

We got to the docking bay and saw three submarines. Not only was this our first field mission, but our first mission where we were independent of one another in our own submarines.

“Alright. Once the bay opens, meet by the reef.” Dr. Richardson ordered

We nodded.

I walked up to my submarine

There was a large XXIV painted on the side.

“What does this number mean?” I turned around to ask Dr. Richardson. He was already in his submarine.

I pressed a keycard I was given to the door of the sub.

Sffff cracckckc

The air-tight door opened and a small foot ladder deployed. I climbed into the sub and I could tell it had been used before. The seats were covered in rubber patches and the controls had been fried once or twice. I quickly sat down and buckled in.

I turned on the communication server and pressed a button on the side of my helmet

Cracackakrkalllalclarecllacl

I was greeted by radio static.

“Dr Richardson, what does the number on the side mean?” I asked Ckaclkraaccalkcr

B-BEEP

“It’s your call sign while in that submarine ” Dr Richardson replied “Controlman, we are ready to go.” Dr. Richardson said on the radio.

“Beginning air removal.” The controlman replied.

I heard the familiar sound of the pumps turning on and getting ready to fill the room. They turned on and the water burst through the pumps filling the air lock The water grabbed my submarine and threw me around, and I was pushed out of the airlock.

I ran through the steps that we had gone through with Dr. Richardson.

Step 1: Find your bearings

There is an orbital ball in the middle of the control panel that was pointed which way was up.

Step 2: Locate your group

Use comms and the radar panel to find the rest of your group.

Step 3: Stay with your group and carry out the mission

We carried out the steps and were an hour into our mission when things fell apart

We were doing a fanning search of the deep sea where it had been spotted and I strayed into a cave.

“What was that?” Arnold asked over the radio.

“What was what?” I responded.

“24, and 18, use proper call signs ” Dr Richardson chirped in “Oh right, 18, what was your sighting?” I asked.

“24, I saw a blue tail briefly fly by my- clclclclclclclcl”

“18, I lost connection with you, please repeat ” I asked “I-- it-- clclclclc - get- clclclclcl” He was trying to say something.

“24, get-- clclclcllc --NOW!” Dr. Richardson said.

I glanced at the communications indicator and it read:

CONNECTION: LOST

Since the whole sea had been dark and murky I hadn’t noticed where I had slipped into My front lights were on but I couldn't see anything, I turned them up brighter and saw eyes staring back at me.

“AH!” I screamed to myself.

They quickly swam away

I had a look at the on board navigation map and saw I was in a tight cave. I grabbed the sticks to see if I had room to turn around.

Thud.

I hit the side of the cave. All i could do was to keep moving forward and hope there was and hope the cave opened on the other side The last thing I wanted to do was leave the submarine behind and get back home in my deep sea suit.

Suddenly I jerked upwards and slammed into the cave ceiling

Clksclkcsklcsk

I heard scratching.

Thud, thud, thud

Something was banging the back part of the submarine. Emergency damage warnings started appearing.

I tried using an electric burst to deter whatever was attacking me but weapons systems had stopped responding Thud, Thud, THUD!

It got louder. A warning started flashing on the control panel. ENGINE 1 COMPROMISED. Then another ENGINE 2 OFFLINE.

I felt my submarine start rocking, as if someone was shaking it. I quickly double checked the oxygen filtration system and prepared to have to swim out of the cave.

Suddenly my cockpit window was swarmed. Tails, hands, hammers, spears, all jabbing and slamming into it The glass started to crack and I realized the worst. Anthoids.