Part I: The Facility

BY TOBY GRANGER

I woke up to the regular sound of a pleasant ding and my sleep pod cracking open

“Please make your way to the dining pod ” the automated voice said on the intercom This was a regular routine for every member of the grand underwater research center

Its given name was Domus Prime, but we all called it The Facility.

It was a rather large structure, with varying sizes of cylindrical rooms. I was in the far corner of the facility in the bunks Being an apprentice, I was the lowest rank you could be on base

“Morning Boys, let’s get going, we’ve got a lot to do today!” Our Professor and Mentor Dr Richardson told us.

“Coming ” I grumbled

I noticed that Arnold had yet to leave his pod I walked over and opened his pod

“Arnold Arnold!” I opened his pod

“What..” He said flatly.

“It’s breakfast.” I told him.

“Ugh Do I have to get up?” He rolled over and put his pillow over his head

“You know the answer to that ” I sighed and shook him a little bit

“Yeah Yeah, alright…” He got out and we made our way to the meal pod.

Each part of the base was separated into pods. We were in the Sleeping Pods, a large 3 story pod that was on the shallow sea floor Being apprentices, we slept on the 3rd floor of this pod

The dining pod was One hallway away on an elevated bridge. The dining pod was connected to every other pod so it can be accessed easily for meal times.

As we crossed the elevated bridge next to the dining pod, I looked out the long thick glass window and admired the reef we were next to It looked the same every day, but it had a certain beauty to it

“I wish we didn’t eat nutrition-paste everyday.” Arnold complained.

“It’s not like there’s fresh food anymore.” I said.

“Aren’t they trying to synthesize it?” He asked

“Yeah, but they are having a hard time getting it right, besides, people who remember the taste of fresh food are getting too old to be a part of tests ” I sighed

“Oh yeah, did you hear about Skimford?” Arnold asked.

“As in Professor Michale Skimford? The one who designed Domus?” I asked.

“Yeah! He went missing in the deep sea yesterday They think he’s dead ” Arnold said

“Really? The deep sea? Aren’t there pirates out there?” I asked

“Yeah, I’ve heard stories about them They use rocks and bludgeoning tools to crack open the cockpits of exploration submarines, then they discard the corpse and loot the ship.” Arnold explained.

“Terrifying… I hope we never encounter them..” I said, fearfully.

“Well, our training for Deep Sea Survival starts today, hopefully they teach us how to fight ” Arnold grinned

Sfff

The doors opened into the dining pod.

We both grabbed a bag of Nutrition Paste B and a bottle of water to wash it down We sat down with the one other apprentice and sucked down the nutrition paste

“It may be the color of vomit, but it doesn’t taste like it.” Arnold said, slurping up the paste.

“It just has the texture of sand.. Blegh.” Skipper pointed out.

Skipper was the oldest amongst us

“How do you know what sand even tastes like?” I asked

“I’m guessing, obviously, no one can actually touch sand without going out of the ship It just looks grainy, if that makes sense.” Skipper said.

Ding.

“Good morning all, This is Chief Scientist Dr Cho Please finish your meals and head to your appropriate stations in 5 minutes That is all ”

Ding

“Five minutes?!” Arnold exclaimed.

I didn’t bother retorting, I quickly drank my paste, chugged my water, and went on my way.

From the dining pod, we went to the left hallway and down a set of stairs Then, we entered our classrooms Due to the lack of people in the facility, ‘classes’ were really just me, Arnold, and Skipper with Dr Richardson teaching us how to become proper scientists.

“Yes , Yes, good morning you three ” He started

“Today we will not be spending any time in the classroom Today, gentlemen, is your first day Off base!” Dr Richardson proclaimed “What?” I asked.

“Finally!” Arnold was excited.

“Oh boy ” Skipper was hesitant

“Come! Come! To the docking bay we go!” Dr Richardson seemed excited

We walked back up the stairs, through the hallway, and back through the dining pod. We then took the hallway opposite to us, the one designated for Scientists only.

“Now, in class, we have spent the last year going over every minute detail of the Shallow Class Mk 1 Exploration Submarine, otherwise known as the ‘Guppy’. We will be using a Mk1 Guppy that has been refitted to seat all four of us.” Dr. Richardson explained as we walked down a steep staircase and towards the docking bay.

We stopped for a moment and Dr Richardson put his code in Sfff

The doors opened and a blast of salty air hit us. The room was soaking wet, fresh from a recently departed Sub.

“This, boys, is the docking bay ” Dr Richardson said

“On the far wall is a conveyor belt with locking mechanisms This will deposit our submarine on a 4 legged stand We will get inside the submarine From there, we will do all required checks and signal Controlman Lancing that we are ready to depart. Controlman Lancing will begin opening the aqueducts. This will flood the docking bay. Once the submarine is fully submerged, I will retract the legs and the docking bay doors beneath the submarine will open I will then maneuver us out and we will begin our loop of the facility and the Domus Reef Are we clear?” Dr Richardson asked “Yes!” we all said back Rerrrrr.

The convereyer belt creaked and the submarine we were using appeared Just like he said, it was deposited on 4 extended legs

Dr Richardson opened the cockpit and we climbed in I sat up front, right next to Dr Richardson Arnold and Skipper sat behind us Dr Richardson held down a button

“Hello Controlman Lancing, this is a standard Trinocinium Operation, it is a go for departure to begin ”

“Opening aqueducts.” Controlman Lancing replied.

We heard a low rumble then water bursting in.

It shot up like geysers due to the pumps pulling it in, it quickly filled up to the cockpit window and it took even less time to submerge us

“Controlman Lancing, the legs are retracted, it is a go for bay door opening ” Dr Richardson said “Bay doors are being opened.” Controlman Lancing confirmed. Rerrrrrrrr.

Large doors beneath us opened up and Dr Richardson grabbed the steering columns

“Notice how careful I am while departing ” Dr Richardson explained The submarine tipped forward very slowly and he fired off the propeller engines very slightly to get us out of the docking bay. Once we exited, the docking bay doors slammed shut.

“Hold on, the process of dumping water back out is rather turbulent.” Dr. Richardson warned. We heard mechanical whirring and then felt liters of water rushing by It pushed the backend of our sub down and we were now pointing up

“Alright, here we go.” Dr. Richardson murmured.

He jerked the steering down and blasted the engines. We went flying out of the range of the return pumps and were now in common waters outside of the base.

The water was brilliantly clear, as usual, and we began to circle around the facility

All around the facility is the Domus Reef, named so after Domus Prime This reef used to hold a variety of flora and fauna but they disappeared after Domus was built.

“Well, let’s see what you remember from training, Adam.”

Dr Richardson stood up and gestured for me to get into the seat

“Uh what?” I was confused

“Go on, drive!” He was smiling

“I--” I tried to protest.

He pushed me into the driver's seat and I grabbed the steering sticks. There were two red buttons mounted on a Y shaped joystick These buttons controlled the throttle, pushing the joystick forward made the Sub go down and pulling them back pulled it up Moving it side to side made it roll left and right

I carefully settled my hands on the joystick and fired the engines. There was a low rumble from the propellers in the back whirring I took the controls with extreme caution, I didn’t want to flip the submarine and make us sink

“Adam! This is a training vessel, there are stabilizers! You don’t have to be so cautious, just give it a drive!” Dr. Richardson cheered me on.

“Okay..” I was hesitant.

I put my thumbs on the red buttons and pressed them down Verrr

The propellers behind us whirred quickly and we lurched forward It was an amazing feeling, I went up above the reef and circled the dining pod a few times.

“This is great!” I was grinning.

“Arnold Put your seatbelt on ” Dr Richardson commanded

“Fine ” Arnold said reluctantly

“How come yours isn’t on?” He asked

“If something goes wrong, I’ll intervene.” Dr. Richardson explained. He turned to me.

“Okay, slow down now and get back to where we were, we’ll do a swap ”

I nodded

As we were coming into the starting point, I tried to roll but the stabilizers made me stop.

“Alright. Skipper, you next.” Dr. Richardson said. We switched seats and Skipper immediately started

I quickly clicked my seatbelt on but Skipper wasn’t slowing down

“Woo!” He was excited

We whirred all around the facility and even passed a ship that was docking. Skipper was getting cocky, he tried to buzz the coral reef.

“Skipper!” Dr Richardson yelled

The engines, while pumping in water to push us, caught a huge chunk of coral and pushed it right back out Not only were the engines damaged, but we slammed into the coral forest in front of us In the commotion, Dr. Richardson flew out of his seat and smacked his head on the roof. The entire sub shook and we pitched up and spun out.

“Dr Richardson!?” I asked

He was knocked unconscious

“Skipper, grab hold of the controls!” Arnold yelled

“I can’t!” He was trying to stabilize us.

As we were spinning around wildly, I saw huge chunks of black shiny metal.

I couldn’t place what they were, then I realized

“The stabilizers broke off!” I said out loud

The sub slowly stopped spinning and we were now facing upwards

Skipper was petrified, Arnold was panicking, and I made the worst realization of all.

“We’ve just lost our only pilot…”