Quest for the Nautilus by Jason Henderson

Author:Jason Henderson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

18

42:25:47

“THEY’VE FOUND IT,” Gabriel said. “I mean, I think. Look at it.”

“Is that it?” Misty asked. “It’s hard to tell.”

“This is where we’re supposed to look.” He was trying to picture the whole of the ship, extrapolating from how much was exposed on the ocean floor. He had seen models of the Nautilus his whole life, but he had no idea how accurate they really were. “The pilothouse is different from what I thought.” He looked back. “It’s square—the one on the model was sort of pyramid shaped.”

“If it is the Nautilus,” Misty said, “and not some other ship … we have to warn them.”

“Because of the Dakkar’s Eye,” Gabriel said. “Though they’ve got to be working from the same diary we are … They must have digitized it.”

“You can’t assume.” Misty shook her head. “If they send divers down and it’s radioactive…”

“I’d like to switch out submersibles,” the woman from the Lyman said. “Team Two, prepare to deploy.”

“Ahead full,” Gabriel said. “Hail them.”

“Ahead full,” Peter said. The ship was moving, water thundering against the body of the Obscure. “You can talk.” The loudspeakers chirped.

“Arthur Lyman.” Gabriel felt the Obscure picking up speed. “Arthur Lyman, this is Nemoship Obscure, do you copy?”

There was a flurry of voices on the radio. Someone sounded a horn. The radio crackled again. “Don’t come any closer, Obscure. You are entering a naval operation.”

“I’m here to warn you,” Gabriel came back. “That ship could be dangerous.”

“I advise you to stop your motion,” she said.

“Slow to one third,” Gabriel said. “I repeat…”

“It’s been there for a hundred years,” she said.

“If you’ve got the same data we have, you’ll know that ship was carrying an experiment that may still be radioactive,” Gabriel insisted.

“Based on what?” the woman answered.

“Stand by … Peter,” Gabriel said, “can you send them a scan of the journal page that mentions the lead box?”

Peter flipped through screens of scans on his tablet and nodded. Gabriel heard the screen whoosh.

“There’s only one reason they would have encased the experiment in lead, and it’s because they were afraid it was dangerously radioactive.”

The woman scoffed. “I’m waiting for this to make sense. If it’s dangerous for us, it’s gonna be dangerous for you.”

“But it belongs to the Nemos. It’s our responsibility,” Gabriel said. “If it is radioactive, our Geiger counters will tell us. But if it’s not … ma’am, it’s family.” He laid on a lot of earnestness with that last sentence.

Peter smirked. What?

Gabriel whispered, “I’m trying to suggest that if there are, you know, bodies aboard, we should have a right to see them first.” He waggled his hands. “There won’t be, not after a hundred years.”

Misty shook her head. “There might be.”

“Then … it’s the truth.” Gabriel tried not to think about it. He wanted the idea as an argument, not a creepy coming attraction in his brain. He’d never even seen a dead body.

“It’s six hundred feet,” the woman said. By which she meant, It’s too deep to dive.

Not for us. “Oh, I’ve thought about that,” Gabriel responded.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.