The last expedition wasn’t so successful. Apparently, Waves, the submarine disappeared after crossing 1500 meters. Thank heavens it was an unmanned craft. The submarine had stopped responding after it reached near the Mariana trench. 3 days later, HQ considered it destroyed.
Now almost a year has passed since the Waves accident and this time we are ready to send a manned submersible down there to finally discover what the ocean has hidden from us all these years.
When I was chosen to be one of the two people who were going to be a part of this mission, I was on cloud nine. It felt like a dream come true. Now when I am in this death metal crucible thousands of feet under the sea…. it feels less and less like a dream and more and more like a nightmare.
It was supposed to be a 24 hour journey. We would see the trench, check if we can go deeper inside it, collect some soil specimen and return safely to the land. My partner jake said it would be like a road trip but under the sea. He even brought some biscuits and chips to eat on our way. We were provided with 48 hours of oxygen, diving suits and emergency kits and all the necessary equipment in case something went wrong.
Something had gone wrong now but the equipment was useless because despite all our efforts, we couldn’t figure out what was wrong. We lost contact with the HQ at 1500 meters just like Waves. Why?? We couldn’t tell. There was no magnetic interference, no mechanical error, no screws missing. Yet we couldn’t reach HQ.
“Should we go back?”, Jake asked me, his fingers drumming on the handle.
“we’ve come this far”, I shrugged, “ Might as well as see what lies ahead’.
Jake nodded, bit hesitantly though. He was scared. I was scared too. What happened to Waves could happen to us too. But the thing is…. We don’t know what happened to Waves.
We kept going until we could see the trench in the yellow hazy light of our submersible. It looked like a huge crack on the land, a massive wound. The rocks around it were covered by various echinoderms, their spiny antlers and arms creepily moving away as we moved forward.
Inside the trench, the darkness was excruciating and heavy. The light from our submarine was utterly absorbed within.
“What now?”, jake asked.
“I have no idea”.
Just as I was about to suggest to go a bit deeper, the light flickered.
Oh no, I said under my breath as me and jake both watched the light flicker for a while and then ultimately go off. Utter darkness. The fact that we were still breathing proved that our submarine was fully functioning …..except the light. Everything was pitch black. The darkness stretched for infinity. I tried opening my eyes and failed before I realized they were already open. This caliginous void seemed to be stripping apart my consciousness. It felt suffocating. And It seemed that the darkness would never end.
Until I saw a small spot of light. It disappeared as soon as it came.
“did you see it?” I grappled jake’s shoulder in the darkness.
By some miracle just then the light returned. the trench became visible again in the haze.
“Thank god!” jake sighed, “let’s go back before anything else happens”
“but the light?”, I said, “where did it come from? Where did it go?”
Just then, the light appeared again. I saw it this time. From our far left, the light had come, bright and sparkling very unlike the dim, barely illuminating light of our own submarine.
“Turn left”, I said to Jake, “ we will return if there’s nothing”.
He groaned but silently obeyed. We started moving left along the trench, slowly and steadily. Once in a while the light would flash again and each time it filled me with awe.
As we moved closer to it, the light got brighter and brighter and now we were this close that each time the light would appear it would blind our eyes for a few moments.
It took us more than an hour but we found the source. It wasn’t any unusual fish or a new creature. It was…...A lighthouse. A brightly colored tall lighthouse with a bright flashing light going round and a round. A lighthouse on the edge of the Mariana trench. And was that…..was that a person waving at us?
When I was chosen to be one of the two people who were going to be a part of this mission, I was on cloud nine. It felt like a dream come true. Now when I am in this death metal crucible thousands of feet under the sea…. it feels less and less like a dream and more and more like a nightmare.
It was supposed to be a 24 hour journey. We would see the trench, check if we can go deeper inside it, collect some soil specimen and return safely to the land. My partner jake said it would be like a road trip but under the sea. He even brought some biscuits and chips to eat on our way. We were provided with 48 hours of oxygen, diving suits and emergency kits and all the necessary equipment in case something went wrong.
Something had gone wrong now but the equipment was useless because despite all our efforts, we couldn’t figure out what was wrong. We lost contact with the HQ at 1500 meters just like Waves. Why?? We couldn’t tell. There was no magnetic interference, no mechanical error, no screws missing. Yet we couldn’t reach HQ.
“Should we go back?”, Jake asked me, his fingers drumming on the handle.
“we’ve come this far”, I shrugged, “ Might as well as see what lies ahead’.
Jake nodded, bit hesitantly though. He was scared. I was scared too. What happened to Waves could happen to us too. But the thing is…. We don’t know what happened to Waves.
We kept going until we could see the trench in the yellow hazy light of our submersible. It looked like a huge crack on the land, a massive wound. The rocks around it were covered by various echinoderms, their spiny antlers and arms creepily moving away as we moved forward.
Inside the trench, the darkness was excruciating and heavy. The light from our submarine was utterly absorbed within.
“What now?”, jake asked.
“I have no idea”.
Just as I was about to suggest to go a bit deeper, the light flickered.
Oh no, I said under my breath as me and jake both watched the light flicker for a while and then ultimately go off. Utter darkness. The fact that we were still breathing proved that our submarine was fully functioning …..except the light. Everything was pitch black. The darkness stretched for infinity. I tried opening my eyes and failed before I realized they were already open. This caliginous void seemed to be stripping apart my consciousness. It felt suffocating. And It seemed that the darkness would never end.
Until I saw a small spot of light. It disappeared as soon as it came.
“did you see it?” I grappled jake’s shoulder in the darkness.
By some miracle just then the light returned. the trench became visible again in the haze.
“Thank god!” jake sighed, “let’s go back before anything else happens”
“but the light?”, I said, “where did it come from? Where did it go?”
Just then, the light appeared again. I saw it this time. From our far left, the light had come, bright and sparkling very unlike the dim, barely illuminating light of our own submarine.
“Turn left”, I said to Jake, “ we will return if there’s nothing”.
He groaned but silently obeyed. We started moving left along the trench, slowly and steadily. Once in a while the light would flash again and each time it filled me with awe.
As we moved closer to it, the light got brighter and brighter and now we were this close that each time the light would appear it would blind our eyes for a few moments.
It took us more than an hour but we found the source. It wasn’t any unusual fish or a new creature. It was…...A lighthouse. A brightly colored tall lighthouse with a bright flashing light going round and a round. A lighthouse on the edge of the Mariana trench. And was that…..was that a person waving at us?
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