He grabbed up the extinguisher and pointed the nozzle at the heart of the blaze. The purple chemical poured into the heat, smothering some of the fire before the last of it spluttered out, empty before the fire was knocked down. He dropped the canister to the deck and someone shoved another one into his hands. This one made more progress against the blaze. Another one and the fire was starting to give way. The fourth extinguisher killed the last of the flames.

Dmolysti fell to the deck, exhausted, his breath coming in great heaving gasps. Vipr was saved, but the job was not yet done. They still had to remove all the toxic smoke from the sub. Then they would face the daunting task of repairing the damage.

Though his muscles ached and breath was hard to find, he shoved himself erect and stumbled toward the hatch. He yanked it open and stepped out into air that was clean and clear. Once he had removed his air-breathing mask, Dmolysti sucked in great gulps of the smoke-free air. As soon as he found the strength, he stood and hurried toward the control room to report to Vivilav.

The captain stood at the periscope, guiding Vipr to periscope depth. He knew they would have to reach the clean Arctic air to clear the smoke from the engine room. The deck was already rolling and pitching as they headed up to the surface.

Dmolysti wiped the sweat from his face with the remnants of his charred shirt.

“Captain, the fire is out,” Dmolysti reported. “The engine room is filled with smoke. The port main switchboard is destroyed.”

Vivilav nodded and replied, “This will set us back even more. Let’s hope no one is up there to see us while we ventilate.”

Vipr continued to move up from the depths. They passed through the thermocline, the invisible demarcation line between the very cold waters of the deep ocean and the slightly warmer waters near the surface. Above the thermocline, all sound waves were bent upward. Below it, they were reflected down. That meant that below the thermocline, Vipr was shielded from surface ship sonars that might be above her. Once she had climbed above the thermocline, though, she was vulnerable to surface sonars but shielded from any submarine that might be listening from down below.

The sub’s periscope broke the surface. Vivilav looked out on a world of gray. The sea churned, shoving the submarine around like a cork bobbing on the ocean’s surface. They appeared to be alone. Waves tumbled and crashed over the periscope, momentarily blinding the captain.

They would have to come up farther. They couldn’t snorkel at this depth with the waves rolling over the periscope. It would drown the snorkel.