Amelia Hammond fished the incoming report from the fax machine tray. The ancient machine was the only thing that could receive news on Karuna II while the mega-storms raged. She scanned the urgent heading. After weeks of failed surveys, they’d found some trace of the disappeared Shackleton vessel in the waters this side of the storm. She brought the report to Mike Osborne, her colleague and roommate on the Juno weather station. He sat slouched before a sensor screen, one hand on the dial, the other on his handheld video game.
“This just in,” Amelia said, faking a tinny speaker with a hand cupped over her mouth. “They found the Shackleton sub.”
“Of course they did,” Mike said, rolling his eyes. “A billion dollar submarine full of rich people doesn’t go missing and they just forget about it. I bet they sent an armada from Arcturus 5 for the retrieval.”
“Actually, they called us.” She waved the report in his face.
Mike took the report and read it quickly. “This is pure speculation.” He pressed the pause button on his handheld game. “It’s a blip in the big ocean. We get all kinds of false readings from our hydrophones. This much water will play tricks on you.” He chucked the report aside.
“We can’t just ignore this.” She walked over to snatch up the paper. She read the briefing and celebrity passenger manifest again. In her three year stint on Karuna, she’d seen little beyond Juno station or the sparse ocean outposts. “They want us to check it out. Makes sense since we’re the only station this side of the storm.”
“Do you see this?” He pointed to the sensors. “We can’t risk the surge. The reaper’s kicking up a real fit today.” The storm’s nickname had followed its endless scourge on their equipment.
“I’ve been out there in worse.” Amelia looked out the 360-degree panoramic window. Waves crashed on all sides of the station. The gargantuan wall of cloud wound itself in slow patterns, its outer convexity vanishing beyond the folds of the horizon. “Besides, I fixed up the AJAX. It’s primed to dive up to one thousand feet without a hitch now.”
Mike cocked his head toward her. “I know why you’re so eager.”
Amelia looked away from the window. He was right, but she wouldn’t give him the pleasure. “I want to save those people.”
“And if you happen on one of your guardians en route, that would be convenient I suppose?”
“Should I read you the report again?” She shook the paper until it became pliable in her hand. “You’re the one who wanted a kick in your ass. This is your chance.”
“Jesus, alright.” He stood up and stretched his back in a pained motion. “But if you mess up my transfer, I won’t forgive you.”
“Just switch those sensors to auto-mode.”
Mike powered his handheld game down and fiddled with the sensors.
“And don’t forget the wetsuits.”
#
The Calypso resort, situated on the big island opposite the reaper, had scouted the Shackleton’s emergency signal in the water with one of their satellites. They’d repurposed all of their orbiting tech on Karuna in the planet-wide hunt for the disappeared submarine. The network recalibration provoked communication blackouts in and around Karuna City, and complaints were issued from guests who’d found themselves stranded in paradise. But the resort authorities did little to answer. The loss of their majority shareholders and other big investors had outshone any public interest voiced from below.
“Makes no sense how a ship that big goes missing,” Mike said from the passenger seat inside the AJAX. They were cruising at a steady fifty feet below water, riding the sweet spot in the pre-surge. “You’d think with all that money they would have prepared better.”
“That’s what the homing signal is for,” Amelia said. “It’s a black box in case of emergency.”
“They said it was a supercavitating failure in the Shackleton’s booster engines after it reached full speed. They speculate it was louder than a sonic boom, albeit underwater.”
“That would have done untold harm to the marine life. Those luxury subs are getting too loud for their own good.”
“You ever hear about the Titanic on Terra? Big ship par excellence. Reminds me of that. But can’t say I’m too sad to see some of those people go, if you know what I mean.”
Amelia nodded. The wealthy investors who backed most of the research on Karuna always put a bad taste in her mouth. Somehow their patronage justified them gliding around the big ocean in unchecked, wanton luxury. But she didn’t get angry. This was not her fight. The guardians would take care of it as they saw fit.
“Look at us, chewing leather-dried seaweed every day for three years,” Mike continued.” While they’re dining on Karunian shrimp like kings.”
“Juno is a research station,” she said. “It’s not about the food. Why did you sign up if not to learn more about the storms?”
“It’s a job like any other. That transfer to Delphi 6 might come any day now. I’ll trade the big ocean for the vast desert, maybe get a taste for scorpion too.”
“Well, I like it here just fine.” She checked the console. The signal still pulsed on the radar.
“I know you’re hoping to find one of your guardians on this little reconnaissance mission, but I hate to tell you it’s all a hoax.”
“Sure, that’s one idea.” She’d considered the opposing theories regarding the existence of the elusive creatures. She’d absorbed the information into her own experience and intuition, but always landed at the same place: they were out there and she would find them. Their projected size and magnitude alone, evidenced in food chain patterns and other plant-marine life interactions, was enough to make her a believer. Like the whales on Terra, she’d often thought, but here they’re much bigger, and they take care of the planet. That’s how they got their names. The resorts had popularized these scientific notions in countless adverts and t-shirts, exploiting the unseen creatures for their own personal mythos of a paradise blessed and tended by these guardians.
“It’s a scam to leech money from tourists.” Mike continued, slouching into his wetsuit.
The monitor beeped and they both looked up. The signal vanished for a few seconds, then reappeared in another location a few miles eastward.
“That’s getting dangerously close to the reaper,” Mike said.
“Then I guess we drive faster.” She punched the accelerator and they glided east.
#
They chased the signal for another hour. It vanished, then reappeared several more times. Amelia watched the patterns in the radar with glee, forgetting the Shackleton and its host of valuable investors in the chase. Mike hit the brakes near the threshold of the surge.
“That’s it, we’re not going any further.” Mike’s face was soaked behind the dome on his helmet. “There’s a line you don’t cross in the surge. I don’t have to tell you that.”
“We need to keep going.” Amelia moved to force start the engines.
“Wait—” Mike threw up a hand. “There’s something out there.”
She aimed the lights at a big shadow that had floated into view. A tangled mass of spindly fronds reflected in the glare. The mass doubled in size the closer it came.
“Jesus, that’s some kind of jellyfish!”
“No, it’s a Karunian kelp bloom.” Amelia turned the lights up so they could see the purple and red leaves all twisted into the algal mass. “It’s caught up in the surge.”
“That’s impossible. The water’s crazy deep here and we’re miles from any stand that could bloom like that. It was probably caught in the Shackleton’s propellors.”
“Could be.” But she knew it was another sign. The guardians were rumored to carry these weeds around the ocean, distributing nutrients where they were most needed. “I’m steering us further down.”
“A bloom like that washed this far out means the surge is worse than we thought.”
“The sensors say it’s fine.” She pointed to the dashboard.
“Our data is a drop in the bucket. We have no idea how these storms really move.”
“What’s that out there?” She pointed into the deeper water.
“Where’s the signal?”
“We’re right on top of it.” She read the monitor twice to be sure. “That’s the black box!”
A violent current on the starboard side jolted their small craft sideways and they tumbled upside down in the rushing water. The lights flashed and the warning alarm sounded. Amelia struggled with the wheel, her head dizzy in the motion, until she regained control of the ship. The surge dissipated and the black box reappeared ahead of them.
“We have to get that box,” she said. Some inner force moved her forward despite the danger.
“Hell no! We have to move into the safe zone now.”
She initiated the retrieval process. The mechanical arm moved a little before it jammed. “Dammit. I’ll take it close and you can use the tether to grab it.”
“That tether’s probably damaged too.” He turned to face her. “Amelia, this is suicide.”
“We didn’t come this close to abandon the mission now.”
“You can’t meet your guardians if you’re dead!” He gave her a pleading look.
“They’ll pay a fortune for a box like that. You’ll get your transfer and then some. Just a quick swim in and out, like we do in the drills.” Some energy moved her to convince him, to appeal to his baser desires. “Please Mike. We have to do this.”
He sighed, an old familiar sigh she’d heard a thousand times on Juno. He grabbed the tether and descended through the hatch.
She watched him swim out, the box a phantom shape behind his frantic motions. He was almost upon it, arms outstretched, when it vanished. The signal onscreen went dark. She tried to phone him but the connection had been severed.
A shadow descended all around. Her ears popped and her helmet creaked. A heavy weight fell upon her chest. The view went sideways as another blast rocked the ship. The forward lights came up and Mike and the box were gone. She jammed the call button but it was dead. She pressed her back into the chair as the silence deepened.
After a long moment, a beep sounded on the monitor accompanied by a glowing light. Then another light, then three more. The pattern continued in such a way as to indicate some kind of message. She counted each sequence in her head as it played out in the lights.
She’d waited so long for that signal and at last it had come. She held her breath, hand fixed over the place where she would deliver her reply. There was just enough time before the reaper overtook her. She was counting on her guardians to save her.