She felt the Prusalka submersible rise gently on a swell. She was initially confused, but the scientist in her kind of expected it – even though there was no pull of the moon to create tidal surges, and there was no weather to whip up waves, the deeper water was probably warmer than the surface water. That would mean there would be a constant upwelling and circulation of warm to cooler water, resulting in a current. It would have also generated an oxygenation effect, making the water more habitable and hospitable to life. It all stacks up, she thought excitedly.

Cate opened her eyes and looked skyward. Above here there was a near microscopic dot of light, the cut-hole they had been dropped into. Two cables dangled nearby, rising up into a dark infinity, and for one crazy moment, she imagined herself climbing up one towards the surface, and the safety of the sunlight.

“Is it my turn yet?”

Cate grinned and looked down. Greg’s red-lit face stared up at her.

“Sure.” She carefully eased herself back down. “Just think of it as a moonless night over a tropical sea.” She quickly looked back up at the glowing dot in the cave roof. “No, in fact, if you look up, you might just see a moon after all.”

“Sounds romantic, but, I wish I packed my fishing rod.” Greg shinnied up the ladder, and Cate continued to stare up after him, already missing the open air.

“Cate.” Jack called her up front, and Yegor stood out of his seat for her.

“I also would like to go up to top.” He eased around her to get in line.

Cate sat. “So that was the boring bit out of the way,” she said, smiling. “Now for the interesting stuff.”

He grinned. “Sure, boring, but probably the most dangerous. If we had dropped, even from a hundred feet up, the sub would have been fine, but we would have been plastered all over its insides.” Jack waved it away. He then pointed to a screen in front showing a sonar map of their environment. There were cliff walls behind them to the west, but for the other quadrants, it ran on for miles.

There was a course plotted already on his screen. “We follow this route, and hopefully as we travel, the sonar will give us more terrain as the signals bounce back to our onboard computer for it to map and record our findings.” Jack traced the map with his finger. “Here, the cavern roof seems to drop right down to the water line. So, from that point, we dive deep. Might not be any low stalactites, but best not to take any chances.”

“Works for me. We should get some great readings along the way.” Cate felt the ball of excitement and trepidation in her gut bounce a few times. “And then we dive deep.” She couldn’t take her eyes from the screen.

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 8