I'm part of a submarine expedition to the deepest part of the ocean. What we found was a door, locked from the outside. (Final)
Every message, every signal, and every attempt to communicate with the surface was met with the same response.
TURN THE WHEEL.
I couldn't take it anymore.
My co-pilot's body was slumped against me, blood trickling down from the back of his head and tapping against my suit. The space made it difficult to push him away, but I didn't try anyway. I could only focus on one thing… the door.
My mind was practically screaming at me. It was a real, painful sensation that made me grasp my head with my hands. I knew that if I only took hold of the control panel, I could turn the wheel with the mechanical arms and end the horrible feeling. If I opened the door, it would all go away.
I felt angry, irrationally anxious. It was horrible.
I screamed and smashed the computer against the cabin wall.
I watched the screen glitch and turn off entirely. I huffed for a few moments before I realized what I had done.
I recovered the computer and tried to turn it on. I failed the first time, but on the second the screen lit up, though there was a large line running through it.
As I was reconnecting it to the submarine's systems, something appeared in the corner of the screen.
It was a message.
I knew what it would read, but I clicked anyway. As soon as I did, my eyes went wide.
It wasn't the typical message.
For a second, the need to open the door was gone.
“STANLEY WILSON, report. This is a request for your immediate return to base. Activate your audio communication systems.”
Brief, shorter than most, but it was a real message.
I was overjoyed. I opened the message and activated the microphone.
“This is Alexander Morgan, Captain. Wilson is unable to report and in critical condition. Ballast systems are offline and likely destroyed, please advise,” I said.
I waited for a few moments. Then, the device came to life.
“Captain Morgan, scans suggest that your vessel is near a rock formation. Correct?” a voice said.
“Correct,” I answered immediately. I couldn't have been more excited to hear the voice of a member of my team.
“There is a way to temporarily enable the ballast systems and allow the vessel to begin ascending. Captain Morgan, take command of the mechanical arms.”
The one thing I had been avoiding all this time—for what felt like hours—was to use the mechanical arms. The need to open the door had lessened, but I was still reluctant.
I leaned forward and activated the arms. I wasn't going to let an opportunity pass.
“Your goal is to push away from the rock formation using the mechanical arms. This will change the pressure within the ballast systems and allow them to function. Use the arms to hold a nearby rock.”
I extended both arms slowly.
As I did, the camera lit up. The first thing I saw was the steel bulkhead. I could still see the images engraved on the bottom. It made my blood freeze. This monitor was smaller, but the image was perfectly clear.
I held the surface of the cliff with the arms, but I was unable to find a steady spot.
“Captain Morgan, find a protruding portion of the cliffside.”
The only part of the wall that extended out, and that could be held, was the wheel.
“Negative. There is no protruding portion,” I said. I felt like a coward, but after all that happened, I wanted nothing to do with the door.
“Captain Morgan, listen to me, there is no other way.”
I sighed. It was an anxious, nervous sigh. I wanted the nightmare to end, and the one thing I wanted to avoid above all else was the door.
Reluctantly, I held the wheel with the mechanical arms.
Both claws seemed to wrap around the edges perfectly.
“Now, Captain Morgan….”
The voice had changed. It was slow, monotonous.
“Turn the wheel.”
My face went pale.
“Captain Morgan, turning the wheel will allow the vessel to ascend.”
I shut the computer violently, pushing it away.
I put my head in my hands and covered my ears. The feeling—the need to open the door—was back. It made me furious.
“Alex…” a voice came from the closed computer.
I recognized the voice.
The voice was distorted and it glitched at intervals, but it was unmistakable.
“It only makes sense to open it…”
It was Stanley's.
This… couldn't not have been possible. Stanley's lifeless, or at least unconscious body was still on top of me, dripping blood on my chest. And yet, the voice from the computer sounded exactly like him.
“Alex, If you don't turn the wheel, I will,” the voice said. It sent shivers down my spine.
“This is what you wanted, isn't it?” Stanley’s voice was perfectly calm.
“I tried to stop you, and you won. And now you changed your mind?”
My fingers were deep within my ears, trying to block out the sound. They were piercing as far as they could go. Still, I could hear the voice as if my hearing was perfect.
“Why did you kill me, Alex? I wanted to help—to stop you.”
I couldn't handle it. I didn't even know what the voice was talking about. I just wanted the horrible pain to go away.
“You killed me over this,” the voice seemed melancholy, but distant. “So now… if you don't open the door I died over, I will.”
The pain in my head increased to unbearable levels. I screamed.
It felt as if I was being tortured.
All I had to do was hit the button, and the pain would stop. I knew it would.
That was the only way.
Without thinking, I hit the button on the control panel.
I heard the machinery whirr, and the wheel rotated with a jolt to the side. The wheel stayed in its position for a few seconds.
And then, the view exploded in front of me. The door imploded inward so fast that ‘disappeared’ would be a better word. The submersible exploded forward under the unfathomable pressure. Over 10,000 meters underwater, and over 1,000 times the earth's atmosphere, the pressure change was immense.
Everything must have happened in a millisecond, for the instant the door had vanished, my vision went black.
I cannot explain how it is possible that I survived, or how it is true that the submersible did not implode, but I awoke feeling as if I had slept for no more than a few seconds.
My hand was still on the button, and everything in the cabin was in the same position as before. I couldn't understand how the vessel had stayed intact.
It almost felt like the cut of a movie scene. One moment the submarine was about to be demolished, and the next it had been placed in another location.
The question was: where had the submarine been placed?
I looked at the small monitor. At first I saw nothing but darkness, and I had to move the mechanical arm to reveal the scene.
One thing did appear on the monitor. It looked like a large, heavy beam of metal.
It must have been twice the width of the submersible, and at least 4 times as long. At one point, it curved upward.
Somehow, the submarine's ballast systems had come online, and I was not only able to ascend and descend, but move back and forth as well. The submersible was in perfect condition.
I followed the metal beam to the point where it curved. I saw that It looped around, and that the beam was actually part of a large oval of metal. Connected to this, was another oval.
It was a chain.
I had seen chains used in underwater construction, but this one was colossal.
I followed the chain with the submarine, hoping it was attached to a larger structure, and that I could follow it to find my way out.
I must have followed at least fifteen links before the massive chain abruptly stopped.
At one point, there was only half a link.
The metal had been broken in half. The giant link was split.
The computer screen lit up suddenly, catching me off guard.
“Captain Morgan!” said a voice from the computer. “What the hell happened? You went dark, and now our scans detect that you're 500 meters from your previous location! We've been trying to reach you for hours!”
I recovered my breath.
“This is Alex! Can you hear me?”
A brief silence.
“Captain! Get up here now! People are acting like lunatics! The crew has lost their minds!”
I was frozen. I couldn't believe it, the nightmare wasn't over.
“Scans are going wild! What is happening down there?”
I was unable to process what I was hearing through the device.
At that moment, something broke the silence of the water around me.
It was a deep, echoing bellow. It sounded more like an earthquake shaking the water, or a distant roar of thunder. There was practically no sound, just an intense and distant rumble.
The submarine literally trembled. I heard the metal rattle around me.
I needed to know what was in the void, and my headlights were obviously not going to help.
At this depth the water was indescribably heavy. It almost felt thick, and it was so dark that there was no way I would be able to see my surroundings. I needed another way to see where I was.
I set the submarine to remain still, and shut off any unnecessary systems.
I turned to the sonar display.
The returns showed a faint signal, very distant, which got stronger and weaker. Something was shifting in the water far away. The void around me shook again.
For it to move as fast as the returns showed, yet seem slow and sluggish, its size must have been unfathomable.
“Captain, what are you doing? You are clear to ascend! Ascend immediately—help me! The crew is outside, I don't know how much longer the door will hold!”
I couldn't comprehend what I was hearing, but I wasn't going to stay down there any longer. I wanted out. I took control of submersible and initiated my ascent.
Suddenly, the communication device came to life again. I heard glass break, and a brief scream.
Then, silence.
As I went up, more and more broken chains passed me by. Each larger than the last. Some were as big as houses, others larger than airplanes.
“Captain…”
The voice was distorted.
“The great chains are broken… we await his arrival. Good bye, Captain.”
Silence.
Stanley has died of his injuries.
I am alone on the research ship, but at least I'm on the surface now.
The bodies of my surface crew are floating in the water. I don't know why, but they all jumped.
The sensors light up with data, and I can do nothing but watch as the numbers rise to impossible levels.
I've been writing for some time, but I will make this portion brief. Unfortunately, I have a deadline.
There are at least 4 earthquakes, the smallest of these measuring at a magnitude of 9.5. The waves these have produced are heading toward coastal cities in Japan, Philippines, New Guinea, Taiwan, and Guam.
It's as if I am a spectator to the apocalypse. Screens light up and alarms blare, and I am forced to stand witness.
Worst of all, scans detect seismic activity within the Mariana Trench—in the exact portion where my expedition took place.
I have seen too much to assume it is an earthquake.
Whatever it is, it is also ascending. According to the data, it will surface in 5 minutes. Its size measures approximately 2,000 meters in length.
I will not be alive to witness it.
It is predicted to surface beneath my ship.
Whatever those massive chains were meant to hold… they are no longer serving their purpose.