Yegor half turned to Dmitry, speaking ponderously in Russian. Dmitry nodded and rubbed his hands together. He then flicked up a clear cover over an array of switches which he set on, and then calibrated a dial. “Priming charge – half voltage.” He then looked towards the window. “Five-four-three-two-one…” He pressed a single flat button.

The cabin’s lights flickered and then like a magician’s trick, the glass immediately cleared, except for a swirling cloud of dark ink that was quickly left behind as the submersible powered backwards.

“Now that was cool.” Greg clapped his hands, and then rubbed them.

Dmitry smiled. “You see? Even though big one; nothing to worry about. We have encountered squid before in the depths. Like big puppy dog; they are very inquisitive and smart, and more than likely it was curiosity that drove it to cling to us.”

“That was big enough for me,” Cate said. “I’d hate to be anywhere near one of those that was any bigger.”

“They used to grow a lot bigger. Maybe they still do, in the depths.” Mironov returned to his seat. “But like I said, nothing much exists in the fossil record; there are traces – big traces. Battle scars on fossilized whale skin indicate creatures potentially hundreds of feet across.” He turned to Greg. “They’d be your original Kraken.”

“And this place is a living fossil record,” Abby said quietly. “It came from below, so maybe we not go any deeper.”

“I second that,” Greg said.

“We shouldn’t need to go any further down; we’re under the ceiling now,” Jack said.

They glided on, just a gentle thrum beneath their feet, and a slick humidity growing around them. Their own moisture hung in the air, but Cate knew Jack was loathe to use any more cooling power until they knew how much longer they needed to travel.

She was now constantly aware of Dmitry’s body odor – raw and acrid, like old gym clothes that had been left in a bag with a cabbage on a hot day. She ignored it, guessing she wasn’t exactly a rose herself right now.

“We have passed under shelf,” Yegor said. “We can rise now.”

“Good, take her up to one thousand feet. Nice and slow. Dmitry let me know the instant anything decides to take an interest in us,” Jack said.

“How much longer until we get to the Hobart Bay silo?” Cate asked, licking her dry lips.

“Three miles, give or take – we’re nearly there.” He smiled at her. “We’ll find out what happened and make a plan.”