The briefest of smiles curled on Michael’s lips as he reflected on the wonder of human nature.
Fascinating how my underground manager beat the odds and reached the surface, despite sending the rest of the men to work further below the waterline.
Sam could see the entrance of the pyramid up ahead on the sonar screen.
Tom, who was now in control of the submarine, slowed to a crawl and asked, “Okay, it’s 40 feet ahead. Are you going to share your plan with me any time soon, Sam?”
Sam attached his dive belt.
“All right. Now’s probably as good a time as any. Basically, the plan, as discussed with Veyron, was that we would take Sea Witch close to the entrance of the pyramid until its massive pull sucks us in towards the main point where the tunnel narrows, just before splitting in two. Thus, we’re going to block the entrance, as a plug would a bathtub.”
“That much I already knew.”
“Good to see you were awake.” Sam handed Tom his new dive helmet. “Veyron’s done the math, and the Sea Witch will survive being used as a giant plug. What he wasn’t certain about was whether or not the sub would then implode after it had been weakened by the initial force of striking the wall as it blocked the entrance to the pyramid.”
“Right… yeah, he said he gave us about a 50:50 chance of implosion.”
“Based on calculations of our hull already being completely airtight, and then we would escape through the escape hatch, return to the diving bell, having achieved our mission…” Sam looked up, and, reassured that Tom was following, said, “But what if the Sea Witch was already flooded?”
“You want to flood the interior of the sub?”
“Sure, why not? It’s going to be wrecked after this anyway.” Sam’s face showed genuine disinterest.
“The power will short out the instant the main chamber becomes flooded, and we won’t be able to maneuver it.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. After all, it’s going to be dragged in by the undercurrent anyway. Then, instead of imploding, it should just lodge itself in the opening. Probably…” Sam mused with a fatalistic grin. “Why, have you got a better idea?”
“No… I don’t. So I guess we’re all out of options.”
Sam turned the dive tanks to on, and locked his dive helmet.
“You ready?”
“No, but we don’t have much choice,” Tom replied, checking his Hydrox intake to his helmet.
“Here we go.”
Sam brought the Sea Witch slowly closer to the main entrance of the pyramid, until he noticed some of the controls were becoming soft and awkward. He still had control over the sub, but needed to exert more pressure to achieve it.
“Okay, that’s it,” Sam said. “We’re committed now.”
“Copy that. Overriding the airlock’s primary hatch.”
The outside hatch remained firmly closed, while the middle hatch, which ordinarily ensured that the sub’s cockpit remained dry, stayed opened. There were a number of safety systems in place to avoid just such an event, but Tom had managed to override them.
“Flooding her now,” Tom said.
Water quickly filled both chambers of the Sea Witch.
By the time they reached the entrance to the pyramid, the sub was completely flooded, and the pressure equalized with the outside environment.
Without power, the Sea Witch spun through the turbid waters.
Looking out the tiny porthole, Sam struggled to maintain a sense of direction as they bounced through the large entrance to the pyramid. Unable to determine how far along the tunnel they had reached, the sub suddenly jerked to a standstill and became firmly lodged.
“Are we stuck?” Tom asked.
Sam looked out his porthole. Water appeared to be flowing past it, faster and angrier than ever. “Yeah, we’re stuck all right, but not where we were supposed to be.”
Tom ran his hand over his dive computer. All the instruments were working, and at this depth, he had a little more than an hour’s Hydrox supply — that was something, at least.
“How’s your Hydrox, Sam?”
“I’m good for at least an hour. Let’s open the hatch and get back to the diving bell. See what our next move is.”
“Agreed.”
Tom spun the internal locking wheel of the outer hatch. The green light turned red, indicating that it was no longer water tight.
He then pushed the door outwards.
Nothing happened.
He pushed at it again, without any success. Tom swallowed and his heart rate rocketed. “Sam, we have a big problem…”
In the mission room of the Maria Helena, the silent uneasiness was almost tangible. Sam’s last message from the Sea Witch was that they had flooded the cockpit and were now drifting inside the mouth of the pyramid. The last five minutes had passed unbearably slowly, and they had received no messages from below.
The sound of Michael’s cell ringing, broke the silence.
“The water’s still flowing, and it’s passed the safety blocks at mineshaft three!” It was his underground manager.
“Understood. Tell the men that we’re doing our best for them.”
Michael looked at Matthew. “It didn’t work. The water’s still flowing strong.”
Matthew nodded in understanding and then looked at Veyron, “Any ideas?”
“None that can be done in the timeframe, I’m afraid.”
“Veyron,” Michael said. “I noticed you have a second submarine down below. Can you send that to try again?”
“Sure, I can control its mechanical arms and probably reposition the Sea Witch, but we don’t have anyone to pilot her.”
“I think I’ve got a solution for that.”
Chapter Five
Sam turned around so that he could push the hatch with his legs, in conjunction with Tom. Despite the pain in his strong thigh muscles, there was no movement.
“Well… that’s going to make our day considerably worse,” Sam said.
Tom moved around the sub, looking out the other portholes, trying to get a better idea of how the Sea Witch was resting. “The hatch must be wedged up against the wall?”
“I suppose so. The question is how are we going to free it?”
“I’ll inform the Maria Helena that we failed, and see what solutions Veyron can come up with. I knew we should have taken that French son of a bitch with us.”
Sam nodded his head and then continued his reconnaissance of the Sea Witch. It appeared to be lying with a 70-degree list to its portside, meaning that the hatch — the only place of exit — was wedged between the submarine and the granite walls of the pyramid’s tunnel. The seawater had completely shorted all electrical systems inside the sub.
He looked at his dive computer.
It showed 55 minutes of Hydrox remaining.
They were now trapped inside the flooded safest deep sea submarine in existence, with less than an hour remaining of breathable gas, and no means of escape.
“Our luck doesn’t seem to be getting much better,” Tom said.
“Let me guess. We lost the radio transmitter from the top of the sub?”
“Yep,” Tom confirmed. “It’s just that sort of day, isn’t it? So, now we’re trapped, and we have no means of communicating with the Maria Helena. Not that it matters much. They have no one to pilot Rescue One down here in the time we need.”
Sam unlocked the storage locker on the side, which would ordinarily be at the bottom of the sub, pulling out a tool kit. “Okay, so we’re on our own.” His voice appeared content, as though he’d calmly accepted their predicament.
“Seems like it.”
Sam removed several items from the tool kit, discarding them on the floor with disinterest.
“What are you after?” Tom asked.