To prepare for this years NaNoWriMo I will do prompts by the.plottery for September and October.
You can read today’s short piece right here. Today’s prompt was: Write a short story set entirely underneath the ocean’s surface.
With a thud the submersible hit the surface of the water. The waves embraced the streamlined vehicle greedily. Immediately the sounds that were familiar to the crew disappeared or became muted. The howling of the wind, the lapping of the waves and call of the sea birds was gone. The continuous rattling growl of the mothership’s engine was replaced by a droning hum with the same rhythm.
The serene quiet that spread through the vessel was not for long as the pumps spread to life that filled up the ballast tanks. The compartments were filling up rapidly and the added weight would drag them down to the depths. The goal of their journey.
The only contact the vessel would have to the mothership is a small umbilical cord, just thick enough for some data wires. It was completely self-sufficient in regards to power and air. The water column above the submersible would get tall enough to block out the ability to communicate wirelessly.
The humming stopped, the tanks were full enough. The depth gauges on the control panel showed a number climbing at a steady speed. Barely slow enough to read the numbers. The daylight from above the waves did not reach the inside of the craft through the three small windows. So the dim lights of the instruments were the only thing illuminating the three people crammed into the interior of the sinking vessel.
An engineer at the front commanding the vessel. The lanky woman had her eyes focused on the various displays and gauges, ready to spring into action. A biologist leaned back on their seat. Their form was just a shadow as the displays in front of them were turned off. The last crew member was me, a camera technician. I sat in the back half of the sub and had a nest of displays and controls around me. Each one connected to a camera on the hull to capture the varied wildlife of the abyss.
Right now they were showing not much at all. Only the lights that the engineer needed to avoid any unlikely obstacle were turned on, so most of my screens just showed a green tinted darkness. I leaned back in my seat. The journey was scheduled to last twelve hours and the hours seemed longer deep under the waves.
I tried to close my eyes, relax a bit, while I could. But the silence that reigned in the cabin was becoming deafening and oppressive. I opened my eyes again, just as the engineer was giving through our position via the radio and got an affirmative over the speaker. I focused my eyes on the screens. Only four cameras could see anything. The three in front, because the light was on so the engineer could see where she was steering, and the one on the top, that received the last vestiges of light from the surface.
I yawned and had to squint my eyes and when I reopened them I saw how a shadow had just moved through the screen pointed upwards. A warbling sound could be heard. I jolted in my seat and reached out to rewind the footage. A large animal moved over us. I touched the biologist on their shoulder and pointed at the screen. They in turn tried to call the mothership, to know if something had moved below them. The line stayed silent.
The submersible was completely on its own, but they were not alone down here.