Adventures in the Marianas Trench...continued.
“All OK,” Peter reassured her, “it’s just mind boggling down here.” He had got a bit carried away with trying to record as much as he could of what he was seeing. Once he went down deeper, it would be black. Sunlight could not reach that far down which would leave him totally dependent on the meagre light from the bathysphere’s equipment.
Peter used the external web-cam also fixed to the front of the bathysphere and optimistically set it to record images they might later be able to enhance. Would they find previously unknown sea creatures? Monsters of the Deep? He remembered learning about the coelacanth found off the coast of Africa long after it was thought to be extinct. If only he could find something like that! He jumped and then lurched as the bathysphere gave a little jolt. He knew Danny had checked for any underwater mountain ranges within the Trench and none had been seen on the radar...what had made the craft jolt? He looked out nervously through the window and at the images from the web-cam. What was that?
Lucy and Danny looked at each other in consternation. Peter was sending a signal to them that he wanted to come up. Why so soon and why so suddenly? This was not going to be quick and it was much, much earlier than they planned. What to do? They wanted Peter to stay in the depths for as long as possible to get as much information as he could. The pressure was on Peter in more ways than one!
Poor Peter! Another jolt saw him rolling around the bottom of the sub in a rather clumsy manner in his bulky protective gear. Struggling to haul himself up, he looked up at the window wondering why he couldn’t see any fish swimming by. He couldn’t see anything. He found himself looking into an eyeball. A rather large eyeball.
Copyright: Alison Young
Lucy radioed down to check that Peter really did want to come up and that he was alright. Well, he thought, I am alright and definitely do want to come up now, although whether that would be possible with whatever it was outside remained to be seen.
Looking out of the window (or rather into the eye) Peter gave some thought as to what to do. First of all he needed to find out what exactly was out there. He radioed up to Lucy and asked her to get Danny to check out the radar. He certainly didn’t want to be stuck down in the Trench or worse.
Danny was shocked as he had not thought there would be anything too dangerous at the depth Peter had gone. Further down, maybe, in the relatively uncharted murky waters there may be danger. He looked carefully at the radar image and saw a long, shadowy shape like a snake only bigger. Much bigger. He immediately radioed to Peter to prepare himself for a bumpy ride. The plan was to guide the bathysphere to the surface in slow, gentle stages as and when the shadowy shape was separate from the bathysphere.
Peter made sure all his equipment was tied down and that he had his emergency supplies nearby. His eyes kept being drawn to the terrible eyeball at the window...what sort of creature must it be to have an eye that size? He prepared himself for the long slow haul up to the surface. Hopefully, he would see other, less terrible, creatures on the way back up. He had no wish to go any further down - it was claustrophobic apart from him not wishing to be a meal for some odd creature who flourished in the dark depths of this mysterious abyss. He had no wish to return empty handed though and prepared his camera for the work ahead. No doubt Lucy and Danny would be more than a little cross with him and disappointed at so short a time spent in the Trench!
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