Submerged, page 1
SUBMERGED
EMERALD BAYNTON
WWW.EMERALDSCREATIONS.ORG
Copyright © 2022 by Emerald Baynton
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
Cover Design: P. Stormcrow
Editor: Emily S Hurricane
For Kyle and Connor, without whom this book would still be a half finished manuscript on my laptop. Thanks to you two and many idea bouncing sessions in the kitchen it’s now a reality instead.
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
About the Author
1
Charlie peered through the murky darkness outside the submarine window. The only light came from the powerful headlights on the front of the craft, but this far down even the strongest bulbs could only penetrate so far.
Carefully she steered around rocky outcroppings, excitement fluttering in her chest. This was the kind of stuff she lived for, the more dangerous the better. And the fact that the fate of all that remained of humanity was held—literally—in her hands? That was just a bonus adrenaline rush.
SCREEEE! The sound of metal scraping against rock grabbed her attention, and she jerked the steering column to the left, reorienting the craft away from the underwater cliff she had grazed.
“Hey!” Theo’s loud voice boomed from the back of the sub. “Watch where you’re going would ya’? It’s not too late to go back and get someone competent.”
“Relax old man,” she shot back over her shoulder, her short brown ponytail swinging wildly. She wrenched her attention back to the viewscreen, brushing off Theo’s criticism and focusing on piloting them safely through the treacherous terrain.
Large hands clamped down on her shoulders and gave a gentle squeeze. “Just ignore him,” Callum said, loud enough to be heard by everyone else in the small space. He leaned over her to look out into the depths. A second set of eyes wasn’t going to do anything she couldn’t, though, and soon his weight on her shoulders became uncomfortable.
“Thanks Cal, but I can take it from here,” she said, shrugging him off. “Just keep Theodore in line back there would you? Poor Ria doesn’t need to be spooked anymore than she already is by him.”
“I hear that,” he replied, giving her shoulders one more quick squeeze and releasing her. He made his way towards the back of the craft, shooting a keep your mouth shut look at Theo as he edged past the older man’s larger frame.
He found Ria in her customary spot, a tiny desk tucked into a far back corner. As far from the front and the crowd as she could possibly get, her thin legs pulled up onto the small seat. She hugged her knees to her chest, her pale green eyes wide with fear.
“Hey Ri, we’re cool yeah? Charlie can handle anything that’s out there, and I can handle anything that’s in here,” he said.
“Mhmm, I know,” Ria replied, nodding, her chin firmly on her knees. Her eyebrows eased back down from her hairline though so Callum took that as a good sign.
“Where’s Jamal?” he asked, hoping to distract her while Charlie got them back under control. Most of the ocean they were navigating was pretty open, but as they headed deeper they came across more and more places like this where the ground encroached from every side.
“He’s in the back I think,” she replied, her voice small and quiet. Cal glanced over at the oval metal door that led to the back section of the submarine which housed their cramped sleeping quarters and miniature kitchenette. He decided against heading back there—Jamal liked to be alone. As alone as was possible in a metal tube under hundreds of meters of water.
Theo was still fuming and grousing under his breath when Charlie spun her chair around—the water had opened up enough that she was able to set the computer’s autopilot and take a bathroom break, finally. It had been an intense few hours that she’d spent the entirety of crammed into the pilot’s chair bent over the navigation controls. She stretched her long arms over her head and winced at the audible crack that came from her spine.
“Are you sure you should be walking away from the controls, girly?” Theo growled at her as she made her way to the commode.
“Yes old man,” she fired back, squeezing past him.
“I don’t fancy dying down here cause you’re neglecting your job.”
“You know damn well that the auto nav is perfectly capable of getting us through almost anything,” Charlie replied, irritation seeping through her normally cheerful demeanor. She was getting sick and tired of his constant criticism. Three weeks trapped in a submarine with strangers and they were all starting to grate on each other’s nerves.
“Theo, dude just relax yeah?” Callum came up behind the older man and clapped him on the shoulder. Charlie appreciated the rescue attempt but their three bodies had effectively bottlenecked the center of the craft and she really had to pee.
“Guys, can we continue in about five minutes? Or you know, not at all?” she said as she wedged herself between them. Cal thankfully took the hint and stepped back, into the entire eight inches of clearance he had behind him. But it was enough for Charlie to extricate herself, gasping for air when she reached the other side.
She passed Ria, curled up with her notepad as usual, and gave her a quick nod then cranked the handle to open the heavy metal door to the aft section of the ship. Jamal was sprawled out on his bunk, a tablet computer propped up on his knees with some aquatic animal Charlie didn’t recognize displayed on the screen. He glanced up and waved but didn’t say anything, so she followed his cue and waved back rather than try and start a conversation neither of them wanted to have.
Someone had left their dishes in the tiny sink of the kitchenette—judging by the amount, more than one someone. Charlie rolled her eyes—tensions were running high among their small crew. It was no surprise, when the fate of humanity rested on your shoulders, it was hard not to get grouchy.
2
2 years earlier…
“It’s ridiculous!”
“It’s the only option!”
“There has to be something else we can try.”
“If we do this there will be nothing left, all our eggs in one basket, as they used to say.”
“There’s already nothing left, this is the only basket.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“Is picking apart ancient analogies really the best use of our time?”
Round and round the argument went, as it had a dozen times already. The members of the United Governing Council had discussed this issue many times before. The problem was simple: the Earth was dying, had been for decades, and the countries of the world had ignored the problem for too long. Now there are no countries of the world. There were just those that were left, a few thousand maybe even ten at their peak population, living off what was left of central Canada and a few other pockets around the globe. The coasts had flooded long ago.
“Enough!” Theodore Harris slammed his large meaty fists on the round table. “We have to do something, that much has been decided. Does anyone have a better idea?” He glared around the room at the other leaders. They avoided his gaze, looking away or down at the scarred wood in front of them. Of course no one had any better ideas, there was nothing left on the surface to even formulate a plan around. The ocean was their last hope, the ocean their ancestors had neglected as the temperatures rose and reefs died out. By the time the plankton began to die out it was too late, the world’s oxygen production dropped, slowly at first but then drastically enough that the very air they breathed became poisonous.
“Who, Theo? Who will go on what could very well be a suicide mission, you?” Anna Kershov asked from across the table, her straight gray hair hanging lank at the sides of her face. She had probably been pretty in her youth, but the stress of leading the last of humanity had taken its toll on her, on all of them. Theo opened his mouth to respond.
“I’ll go,” Charlie McIntyre interrupted from behind him.
He turned to her leaning against the wall, arms folded across her chest watching the older people argue in circles. “You?” Theo barked out a laugh. “And what are you going to do, little girl?”
“Just cause I’m not a gray-hair doesn’t make me a child, Theodore,” she shot back, drawing out his name like a taunt. “You think you know so much cause you’ve managed to survive longer than most? Congratu-fucking-lations, I was born into a world that’s already dead, and I have experience
“We’ll need more than just a pilot,” Anna cut in before Theo and Charlie could get into yet another pissing match.
“I’ll go,” Theo ground out, wrenching his attention away from the irritating younger woman and back to the table. “And we’ll put out a call for volunteers, scientists, a botanist maybe?”
“Good idea,” Anna replied, she gave Charlie a pointed look that said drop it and stared her down until the younger woman skulked away back to her corner, arms firmly crossed once again as she slouched against the wall.
Two weeks later, Charlie and Theo were back at the round table situated in the center of the UGC’s main hall. They had deliberately taken seats across from each other, the better to shoot angry glares. Anna took her regular seat and invited the other three people who had followed her in to join them.
“Charlie McIntyre, Theodore Harris, this is Ria Noble, Jamal Morgan and Callum Bennett,” she said, quickly introducing them all with a few hand gestures. Ria and Jamal took seats beside each other and said nothing, Ria especially looked uncomfortable just being in the room.
“Hey y’all,” Callum boomed out, his voice cheerful but very loud. Charlie smiled at him as he took the seat next to her on the right and flashed her a wide grin.
“Alright, we all know why we’re here,” Theo said, clapping his hands together.
“Yes, Theodore if you’ll just wait a moment,” Anna cut him off and held up one wrinkled hand. She shuffled the sheets of paper in front of her. The last thing any of them needed was Theo throwing his weight around and trying to be in charge. “Let’s just go over everything once more shall we?” She glanced down at the first sheet. “Now that we’re all acquainted, Callum, do you have an update on the design and construction for us?”
“Oh yeah, it’s all going great. She’s gonna be a beaut, I can’t wait to get ‘er into some real water,” he said, bouncing in his chair with enthusiasm.
“It’s not supposed to be a party,” Theo grumbled under his breath.
Anna ignored him and quickly continued. “And you Charlie? I know the simulations are a poor substitute for the real thing but it’s all we have until the craft is ready to be taken out.”
“I’m good, I can pilot anything. I’m with Cal, eager to get out there and accomplish something real for a change,” Charlie said, leaning her chin on her hands with her elbows planted firmly on the table.
“Excellent,” Anna said with a sharp nod, turning her attention at last to Theo, “and how is the navigation coming?”
“I’ve mapped out the route to a few places that should be promising. Of course we won’t know anything until we get down there, further than anyone has ever gone. To places no one has ever gone to. We might find nothin’ or we might find sea monsters—”
“Ohmigod we are not going to find sea monsters Theo!” Charlie exclaimed, rolling her eyes.
“No one knows what we’ll find girl, that’s the whole point!” he shot back angrily.
“Yes, thank you Theo. That’s what Ria and Jamal are here for, their expertise in plant and marine life respectively will be of great assistance to you once you reach your destination,” Anna cut in, forcefully wrenching the conversation back on track.
Ria blinked at the praise from Anna, her face even paler than when she had come in, Jamal squeezed her arm reassuringly and spoke for both of them. “Thank you Ms. Kershov, we’ll do everything we can to assist the mission,” he said solemnly.
“Finally someone who’s taking this seriously,” Theo muttered, glaring at Charlie and Callum. Cal shot him a wide smile and drummed his fingers on the table, Charlie grinned, glad to have someone on her side.
“Well,” Anna stood leaning forward on the table to address them all one last time. “I think you’re all as prepared as you’re going to get. There’s not much else we can do now but hope, pray if you believe in that sort of thing, and know that all of our people are counting on you.”
“But no pressure,” Charlie said with a grimace.
Theo folded his arms and said nothing. Cal put a comforting arm around her shoulder—there was an instant closeness in knowing you were about to embark on the most dangerous thing you’d ever done with a person, even if you just met them.
Ria nodded, her thin lips pressed into a tight line. Jamal threaded his dark fingers with her pale ones and gave a jerky nod towards Anna to acknowledge her words.
“The best of luck to you all, and thank you,” she said, turning from the table and sweeping regally out of the room.
3
Charlie finished washing the dishes in the kitchenette sink, stacking the last of the cutlery in the small drying rack that was taking up basically all the counter space. She’d opted to just wash them herself as a two for one solution, no fighting over who’s turn it was or who left the dishes to pile up and she got to avoid listening to anymore of Theo’s grumbling.
The loud creaking of the door alerted her to someone coming into the room behind her, she braced her hands on the edge of the counter and sighed. Expecting alone time in a submarine under god knew how much water was a pipe dream but more than ten minutes wasn’t too much to ask was it?
“Hey,” Cal’s deep voice resonated through her and all her muscles relaxed—at least it wasn’t Theo. Callum dropped a large hand on her shoulder and spun her around. “Don’t listen to that blowhard Char, we all know he’s a dick.”
“Yeah, yeah. It’s just a lot harder to ignore him when the furthest I can get away from him is like twenty paces.”
“Well how about ignoring him while we scope out what just came up on the radar?” Callum asked, his eyes lighting up like a kid getting their first toy.
“Something good?” Charlie broke into an excited smile, his enthusiasm infectious.
“Maybe, Jamal is taking a look now.” They headed back out the oval opening, Callum stopping momentarily to pull the heavy door shut behind them. Charlie made her way to the front and found Theo sitting in her chair, with Jamal leaning over his shoulder as they pored over the radar readout.
“What do we got?” Charlie asked, planting her hands on the back of her chair and hoping Theo would take the hint.
“Well we don’t know yet do we?” Theo asked, his voice grated on Charlie’s nerves like an abrasive sponge.
“Actually,” Jamal cut in before yet another argument could break out, “see here.” He pointed to the radar screen. “There’s something behind this rock formation, a cave system maybe. But there’s a lot of heat signatures. Could be animals or plant life, could be an underwater thermal fissure releasing pockets of superheated gas.”
“Really?” Charlie stepped around the seat that Theo was stubbornly occupying to get a closer look. “Is there an entrance anywhere?”
“That’s what I’m scanning for now,” Jamal replied. Charlie tapped her fingers on the control panel while she waited for him to finish up. Behind her Theo huffed and finally got out of her seat, shimmying out and around the two of them. Charlie grinned to herself and settled into the pilot’s chair. “Can you take us over there Char?” Jamal asked, pointing out the window to the right of the rock face.
“Sure thing,” she replied, taking hold of the steering controls and easing the craft in the direction he indicated.
Charlie maneuvered their craft as close as she could, lighting up the rock face with the headlights.
“Look! There’s something there!” Theo’s voice reverberated through Charlie’s skull.
