He allowed himself another two minutes to give his body time to allow its oxygen and CO2 levels to return to normal.
Hyperventilating once again, Sam again dived under the dark water below and tried to find another way out of his tomb. Despite having to hold his breath, he felt himself naturally relaxing after again submerging himself in the icy water. He had spent thousands of hours cave diving over the years, and it felt far from foreign to him.
Sam managed to explore three different tunnels.
Two tunnels were completely submerged and one contained a small pocket of air to support him, but neither tunnel offered a way to reach the outside surface.
At least he had a reasonable supply of breathable air on this side of the tunnel. If nothing else, that gave him enough air in which to exhaust the escape potential of each tunnel.
After four more attempts, Sam became concerned that the carbon dioxide levels inside his cave were probably starting to reach dangerous levels. He needed to find a way out and soon, if he was ever going to have a chance. If he couldn’t make it out, Sam decided that he would rather return to the Magdalena and save Aliana the nightmare of swimming the submerged tunnel only to discover his corpse on the other side.
But could I even make that swim again?
Sam doubted it very much, regardless of his desire.
On his sixth attempt, he decided to try something different.
Sam knew that he needed to swim upwards in order to reach the surface of the lake, but thus far, all he’d discovered on his previous attempts was that each tunnel reaching upward towards the surface had ended in impenetrable rock barriers. Water was constantly flowing into the tunnel, but the surface marks around the perimeter of the underground lake appeared to remain relatively constant.
This meant that the water was obviously leaving the tunnel somewhere.
Instead of swimming upwards, Sam descended all the way to the bottom of the tunnel — guessing that he was at a depth of 30–40 feet. At the bottom, he could feel a gentle pull towards something beneath the largest rock that formed the barrier.
He allowed his body to drift for twenty to thirty seconds until he could be certain, and then swam underneath the rock.
The opening was narrow, and he scraped the skin of his wide shoulders attempting to get through.
The hole seemed to reach even farther down, he discovered.
It was far too narrow to permit him to turn around if it didn’t lead to the lake’s surface, and Sam found himself struggling to quell the terror that accompanied his fear of drowning.
For an instant, he saw his brother’s face on the night that he died.
In a surreal moment, he felt as though his brother was encouraging him. As though, without words, he was telling him he was nearly there. Just keep going.
Sam had no idea how deep he had submerged, but even if he did have room to turn around, he realized that he’d already passed the point of no return. By now, even if he did have a way get back to where he’d begun, the lack of oxygen required to make such an effort would have rendered him unconscious before he made it.
With his lungs burning, he was very close to accepting his fate.
Ahead of him, he suddenly noticed a light on the rock below. It started to flicker, as sunlight would, through the tiny ripples of the lake’s surface.
He began to rapidly kick with his legs, and pushed himself toward it.
Then, using his hands to reach through the opening, he pulled himself out of the hole and looked up. Above him he could see the crystal clear waters of a lake.
His watch indicated that he was under 30 feet of water.
Sam comfortably exhaled during his entire rise to the surface.
When his head finally broke free of the water, Sam took a deep breath of the most deliciously fresh air he’d ever breathed.
Above him, Sam heard the familiar vibrations of a helicopter coming up over the hill.
Oh shit, not now!
He quickly ducked back under the rocky ledge on the side of the lake. Having to hold his breath once more, his lungs burned instantly.
The sound of the helicopter overhead was amplified by the speed of the sound waves in the water.
Sam waited there for as long as he was able, until he was quite certain that the helicopter had passed, and then he resurfaced.
This time, he didn’t wait to see if it was safe — he’d run out of time.
He felt dizzy and disorientated, exhibiting the first signs of cerebral hypoxia, and the muscles in his arms were beginning to cramp from the cold. His arms and legs had stopped shaking, another sure sign that his body was no longer attempting to compensate for the cold, and was now shutting down.
Sam knew that he had to get out of the water immediately, dry himself off and attempt to warm his body.
In the distance, he saw the back of a Robinson 44 helicopter as it hovered. At the back of its tail rotor Sam noticed a small yellow scratch.
Sam recognized that mark.
He’d made it with the yellow dive equipment four days ago, and then it hit him.
That must be Tom — and he was flying away.
Sam reached for a small piece of metal in his right zipper pocket, and used it to reflect the rays of sunlight toward the helicopter. He flicked it multiple times, so that the movement would cause an annoying flicker which the pilot would hopefully notice.
There was no immediate response, but Sam continued to try to catch the pilot’s attention.
Then, he watched as the helicopter turned and started to drop away over the cliff again, and off the mountain.
He was so close to being rescued, and now he’d lost it all.
Chapter Twenty Four
In the underwater lake, Aliana passed the time by taking stock of what worked, what didn’t, and what could be repaired onboard the Magdalena. Sam had pointed out that if they ever wanted to get her off the mountain they would have to re-gas her.
It would be a prolonged process, taking many months, but if the Magdalena was ever to reach her rightful place in a historical museum, she would have to become lighter than air again. After that was achieved, a single helicopter would be capable of towing her.
In truth, Aliana realized that it was highly unlikely the Magdalena would ever escape from her watery confines. Sam probably knew it too, but it was better to try to keep her mind active with a purpose, rather than sitting around, waiting for death.
Starting with the pilot gondola, Aliana reached for the wooden steering wheel, much like that on a yacht, and found it still turned. She was even more surprised to discover, when she looked outside, that the huge rudder at the back of the airship still pivoted in response.
She could easily imagine the spectacular airship sailing through the sky.
It stirred something in her imagination, just as Peter Pan had done when she was just three years old, and she longed to see the old ship in the air again. But, just as with Peter Pan, she knew that it was little more than pure fantasy that it might someday fly again, but it made her happy.
Next, she turned the 14 valves which controlled the air input inside the canopy. To her surprise, they still had some air within them, but both compartments 13 and 14 leaked air out just as quickly as it entered them. She studied the diagram of the air valves, and noted that these represented the two forward compartments.
Aliana wondered if these were the result of the crash, or if they were what caused the crash. Had the Nazi’s bullets damaged the Magdalena’s bow compartments?
Next, she flicked on the helium tank valves.