Into the Abyss (Tom Swift, Young Inventor) (9 page)

Or maybe it was me. I was more than exhausted—I was practically in shock from being out in the water for three hours. No, it was the ship. … It was definitely tilting to the right.

Captain Walters noticed me looking around, confused. “We’ve got water in two of the ballast compartments,” he said. “Should have it pumped out by tonight.”

“Any other damage?” I asked.

Before he could answer, Bud and Yo ran up to me. Yo threw her arms around me in a hug.

“You stupid idiot!” she yelled in my ear. “Why didn’t you hold on tighter?” she asked, with tears in her eyes.

There was no good answer. I had been holding on tight—but the wave had been so powerful, it didn’t matter. I could have been superglued to the wall, and I
still
would have been washed overboard. But I knew Yo would never believe that.

I could see that the
Jules Verne-1
was not sitting on its mountings aboard the
Nestor
. So it was clearly still down at the bottom of the ocean.

I broke free from Yo. “I’m fine,” I said. “Really. It’s that other guy who’s hurt.”

“Who is he, anyway?” Bud asked.

“No idea,” I said. “Looks like he was out at sea on his boat, doing some diving, when the quake and the wave hit. It trashed his boat. That’s what’s left of it down there.” I pointed over the side at my raft.

“Okay,” Bud said, whipping out his note pad. “I want the whole story, from the minute you hit the water. Man, this is gonna make the front page of the
Gazette
for sure!”

“Maybe later, Bud,” I said.

“What are you, a machine?” Yo said, grabbing Bud’s notebook out of his hand. “Tom’s dad is still down there, remember?”

“Sorry, Tom,” Bud said, looking down at his feet.

“I’ll tell you all about it when we’re safely back in port,” I said.

Then I turned to the captain. “Any word from the
Vente-1
?”

The captain shook his head sadly. “Nothing since the last transmission you heard. Our monitors detect no movement and no signal.”

I stared at him blankly. It took a few seconds for the meaning of his words to fully sink in.

“You mean …?” I said.

Captain Walters swallowed hard. “They … may still be alive somehow,” he said. “The submersible has enough air for eight and a half more hours—if her hull is still intact.”

“Is there any way to haul them back to the surface if the sub’s disabled?” Bud asked.

The captain pointed to a spool of strong, thick cable. “We’ve got fifteen thousand feet of that,” he said. “Assuming we can find the sub. But we’d need someone down there to attach the cable. They can’t swim out of the submersible to do it—they’d be crushed by the pressure.”

“Can I ask a stupid question?” Yo said.

“Fire away.”

“How come the cable wasn’t attached to the
Verne-1
in the first place?”

“We had twelve seismic monitors to deploy,” the captain explained. “And the submersible was scheduled to explore the entire fracture zone of last month’s earthquake. It needed more mobility than it would have had while attached to the cable.”

Okay. I’d been listening carefully to everything
the captain said. My brain was processing every word, searching for hope, for some way to save my dad and the others.

So, they needed someone to attach the cable. Well, I had my pressure-proof suit aboard, didn’t I? Man, it was a lucky thing Dad hadn’t said yes when I’d asked to come along in the
Verne-1
!

Now I had at least a fighting chance of saving his life. But how?

Yes, I could attach the cable, but first we’d have to locate the
Verne-1
. Was I just going to go down solo, hanging onto the cable?

That idea posed a big problem. Even loaded down with two air tanks, I’d only be good for three hours underwater. An hour to get down and an hour to get back up—that left only one hour.

No, I’d need more air than that—a lot more. Because the odds were, I wouldn’t find the
Jules Verne-1
waiting for me when I got to the bottom.

After all, it could have been anywhere within a two-mile radius. It would probably take a long time before I found it.

There had to be a way …

Then it hit me like a sucker punch—the
Jules Verne-O
!

Yes—the prototype that we’d built last year, when we were still working out the final design. The
Verne-O
was still stored in the warehouse at Swift Enterprises.

Assuming it was undamaged I could use the prototype to get to the sea bottom and save Dad!

“I've got to contact my mom!” I told the captain.

“Mrs. Swift is being tracked down right now,” he said. “We wanted to let her know you’ve been rescued.”

Of course
. They’d called her when I went overboard. “Did you tell her about my dad?” I asked.

The captain cleared his throat. “Not yet. We thought it was still quite possible that the submersible is all right. They may just have lost their signal.”

“No!” I said. “If that was all, you’d still be able to track their movements. The
Jules Verne-1
is not moving, Captain.”

I took a deep breath. “I need to talk to my mom right away.”

“This way, then.” The captain led me up to the bridge, where one of the crew was already speaking to my mom on the ship’s satellite link. I took the phone from him.

“Mom!”

“Oh, Tommy, you’re alive! I’m so relieved. Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine, Mom. I’ll tell you all about it later—but right now, we’ve got another emergency.”

“
Another
one? Good gracious, is your father all right?”

“Mom, I need you to contact Smitty at the warehouse. Tell him to get the
Jules Verne-O
ready for deep-sea testing
immediately
. Tell him to load it inside the Swift Sub-Obiter.”

“Yes, Tom, but what—?”

“Then, Mom, I need you to get someone to fly the Sub-Orbiter out here to the
Nestor
to deliver the submersible.”

“Yes … but it’s just a
prototype
, Tom. It was never intended to—you’re not thinking of—?”

“Mom, I can’t explain now. Just have them fly it out here as soon as possible, okay? There’s not a moment to lose—it’s a matter of life and death!”

“Life and—I’m on my way,” she said, and hung up the phone.

Wait—did she just say she was on her way?

What did that mean? She wasn’t planning on … or
was
she?

She
was
.

Three hours later—after I’d had a quick bite to eat, an hour of putting final touches on my deep-sea diving suit, and, finally, an hour of exhausted sleep—the sleek, black Swift Sub-Orbiter came over the horizon.

The Sub-Orbiter is an amazing piece of engineering. It’s designed to operate both as a helicopter—complete with hovering and vertical landing—and as a high-speed plane that can soar high enough to leave Earths atmosphere. We re trying to tweak it so that it can take the place of a space shuttle—but that’s a few years off yet.

The Sub-Orbiter came to a stop in mid-air over the
Nestor
, firing its jets forward and backward simultaneously to make the craft hover. It was far bigger than the helicopter that had dropped off my dad the day before. The helipad was way too small for it, but somehow, its pilot steered it into perfect landing position. It touched down, and the engines whined to a stop. Out stepped the pilot, followed by my mom—and my little sister!

Oh, no,
I thought.
That’s all I need.

Now, instead of getting ready for my rescue dive, I was going to have to deal with
two
peoples emotions—starting with my little sister’s hysterical panic.

My mom ran straight over to where I was standing with the captain, and hugged me tight. “Oh, Tom!” she said.

“It’s okay, Mom,” I told her. “It’s going to be all right, don’t worry.”

“Has there been any word from him?” she asked the captain.

He shook his head. “No, but that doesn’t mean—”

Sandy cut him off. “You’ve got to go down there right away and bring them back up!”

“That’s exactly what I’m going to do,” I said. “Calm down, Sandy.”

“You?” my mom gasped. “Oh, no, Tom—let someone else do it.”

“He’s
my
dad, not theirs,” I said, indicating the members of the crew. “Besides, I know how the submersible works—they don’t.”

My mom looked deep into my eyes. “What if there’s another earthquake, or an aftershock?” she asked. “I can’t—I
won’t
lose my son, too.”

Meaning she thought she’d already lost her husband … my dad.

“Don’t worry, Mom,” I said. “I’ll be careful. You’ll see, everything will be fine.”

She just kept looking at me. “Tom—”

Trust me, Mom. I’ll be okay—and so will Dad.”

“I’m coming with you!” Sandy said suddenly.

“No, you’re not,” I said.

“Yes, I am.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Yes!”

“No.”

“YES!!”

“Sandy, stop it!” Mom yelled. I’d never heard her shout at Sandy like that.

Neither had Sandy. This was clearly a special occasion, and it was no time for one of Sandy’s childish temper tantrums. I mean, okay, she’s a mathematical genius, but nobody ever called her mature for her age.

Sandy sniffed back tears. She and Mom both hugged me hard, as if they were afraid they’d never get another chance.

Meanwhile, the
Jules Verne-O
had been unloaded
from the Sub-Orbiter and prepared for its descent into the deep.

Now it was
my
turn to get ready.

I turned to Bud, who was carrying my diving suit and the helmet with the zapper. “Ready,” I said. “Bud fitted me into the suit.

Before Yo fastened on the helmet, she said, “Don’t take any stupid chances.”

“Don’t worry,” I said.

But I didn’t say I wouldn’t.

I climbed aboard the
Jules Verne-O
. It was so cramped inside that I could barely move around. It would have been nice to have company along for the ride—someone who could operate the submersible while I went outside of it in my diving suit—but there was no possible way. Even if there’d been enough oxygen aboard for two, there was no room in here at all.

The captain’s face appeared in the doorway. “Uh, Tom,” he said, looking very serious. “There’s something else you should know.”

“Yes?”

“That storm? The one that rocked us around yesterday? It’s changed course, and it’s coming straight
for us … closing in fast. It may even hit us while you’re down there.”

I looked out the porthole of the
Verne-O
at the southern sky. There were dark clouds creeping over the horizon.

“You might want to reconsider, Tom,” he said. “I mean, this is a bad storm, and very fast-moving. If it gets bad enough, being attached by cable to the
Verne-O
might prevent us from steering into the waves. In other words, we may have to cut the cable loose to save the
Nestor
.”

I took in his words, nodding slowly. If the cable was cut, I could still bring the prototype back up to the surface on its own power. But there would be no chance then for the
Jules Verne-1
.

On the other hand, if we waited for the storm to arrive and then blow over, it might be too late anyway to save my dad and the rest of the submersibles crew.

“I don’t have a choice. It’s my dad down there,” I said.

He stared at me, and then smiled and nodded. “All right, then. Good luck, Tom.”

“Thanks.” We shook hands, and then he closed the hatch.

Soon I could hear the sound of the winch swinging around. The big hook was attached to the top of my craft, and I was hoisted into the air.

As the
Verne-O
swung free of the
Nestor
and was lowered past the deck, I saw my mom, Sandy, Yo, and Bud all waving to me with worried looks on their faces.

I gave them a thumbs-up, and then, the
Jules Verne-
hit the water.

“Here we go,” I said, with a sinking feeling.

8
 
 
Into the Deep

I had always dreamed of going on a dive in one of the Swift Enterprises submersibles. But I never thought it would be like this.