The rolling ocean waves lapped up against the sides of the swaying boat, cutting its way through. Clyde looked out onto the flat, expansive waters that surrounded him. All he could do for most of the trip was sit and reflect on that fateful meeting that occurred not three months ago.
It seemed to start as a normal day. He was in his lab with the four students he interned from the local college. It seemed like another day. At least until she walked in the door.
"Dr. Clyde Johnson?" She inquired, walking up to the man.
He turned, setting his current experiment aside. "Yes, ma'am. What can I do for you?"
"My name is Eleanor Lamb. I wanted to talk to you about something very important."
He was a little put off by this, but considering this current experiment had no time limit, he called over his shoulder. "Continue with your work. I'm going to my office for a moment."
With the acknowledgement from the four others in the room, he led Eleanor down a short hall, to a claustrophobic room.
He moved a box out of the extra seat. "My apologies Mrs. Lamb. It's been a busy year so far."
"Perfectly alright. And please, Call me Eleanor."
"Then call me Clyde. And skip the Doctor stuff. Never enjoyed the idea."
She stifled a snicker, and then sat down. "I understand that you are currently doing some deep sea experimentations, Clyde."
He smiled. "Hardly, Eleanor. All I really am doing is studying a current system to allow deeper ocean exploration. There are parts of the ocean that we have never seen before, and current diving bells only allow so much."
His gaze shifted, the natural curiosity in him taking over. "For my own sake, tell me why you are so interested."
She shifted in her seat, fixing her eyes on him. "There is a reef, out in the Atlantic ocean. It has recently been discovered that there is oil in the region, and plans have started to surface that drilling may occur there. I wanted to organize a group to examine this reef, to see if there is a chance to hopefully preserve it. I cannot ask this of any large organization, so I am sadly forced to inquire of smaller research labs."
He nodded. "I admit to a level of curiosity, Eleanor. I was never really that much of a biologist. In fact I failed it in school. But, I did hope to maybe have a better reason than just a swim to test a new sub design." His eyes glanced at the walls, the multiple drawings and blueprints along it. "That, sadly, is only a pipe dream."
Her eyes followed his, looking at the complicated sketches along the walls, pinned in place by tacks. "Mr. Johnson. I am more than willing to aid you in this endeavor. In fact, I am offering to fully fund your research and development."
His eyes widened at her words. "Mrs. Lamb, I have heard that too many times in my life. From the Feds, from private companies, hell I had an offer years ago from some small firm…" he snapped his fingers "what was it again…oh yes! Fontaine Futuristics."
She winced under the name. Then she reached into her purse, extracting a checkbook. "Dr. Johnson, I can write any kind of numbers on this check." She pulled out a pen, poising it over the paper. "Tell me, what will it take?"
He sighed again, his gaze now out to the ocean again. "How the hell did I let her rope me into this…"
"I thought it was the promise of millions of dollars," came an answer that he didn't expect. He turned to catch the gaze of Laura, one of the grad students.
"Not nice to sneak up on someone lost in thought." He snickered.
She offered him a cup. "We're going to be on the diving spot in about two more hours."
"It's all coming together." He glanced out again, this time looking at one of the larger boats, and its cargo, sitting in the open.
Laura looked over with him. "Seems the Nautilus is ready for the water."
He nodded.
"Think Jules Verne will mind me borrowing the name of his sub for mine?"
She laughed. "I doubt it. Seeing it as a new form of underwater travel may actually be a selling point to him."
He laughed. "Well good." He sipped the warm brew in the cup. "Did you do all the checks? Radio, cameras, the like?"
She sighed. "Yes. For the hundredth time this hour. All cameras read clear, the radio is perfect, and the fact that your harping on this is just your nerves. It will work fine."
Clyde scratched his head. "I guess so."
Another hour passed with more obsessing and checking on the Nautilus, and the constant assurances that everything was ready. He, however, still paced the hallways, sat in his cabin, running the math for the hull strength at least four times, and pestered the captain enough to merit being thrown out of the control room until they arrived.
When Clyde had run the figures on the view windows for the second time again, a squelch came from the inside PA system.
"Everyone get ready. We're over the dive site."
He bolted out onto the deck, looking around. All that was there was the three boats, now bobbing in the more active waters. It seemed like nothing was around. But he knew it wasn't the area over the water that was why they were here.
Getting the Nautilus into the water was, as Clyde voiced it, "One of the longest thirty minutes ever."
But soon, the fifteen foot long device was now bobbing in the water along the carrier ship. Clyde was now hurrying as quickly as he could to get into the device.
Eleanor walked up to the ladder. "Be careful." She said, after what seemed to be a hunt for words.
He smiled. "It's a simple thing. Swim around, snap some pictures, come back. Nothing to it."
She seemed nervous as he descended into the sub, sealing the door behind him.
A series of switches and knobs slowly brought the water over the view windows, allowing Clyde a view into the ocean depths. More and more opened up to him the further down. When he halted his descent, his amazed eyes absorbed the immense amount of life that now moved and swayed around the machine.
A familiar voice crackled over the radio. "Hey Clyde. Everything okay down there?"
He attached a headset, squeaking on the controls. "Picture perfect. And things seem to be holding. Are you receiving the feed?"
"Getting it now." Came the response. "Amazing."
"Your still about a half a mile or so from the reef," came a new voice over the radio.
"Right Eleanor. Time to swim."
A series of switches started the humming behind him up, now moving the Nautilus along the water. Fish darted out of the path, kelp swayed away from the wake. It was a feeling of freedom that enveloped him so much, he barely heard the radio crackling in his ear.
When he finally did snap out of the trance, he had to ask them to repeat what they said.
"I said, the next ridge should bring the target into view." Laura's voice called to him.
He was back at the controls, adjusting the depth to allow a clean clearing of the submerged ridge line.
What came into view though caught him by surprise.
"Uh…" Clyde was at a loss of words. "Are you seeing this?"
"I am getting a picture," Laura answered. "But this can't be right."
"It is right." Came Eleanor's voice.
"But this is…" Clyde couldn't finish his sentence.
"Yes. It's a city."
The buildings towered over him, neon lights attached to the sides advertising diners, bars and hotels. The fish swam between the towering structures, connected occasionally by a clear tube that saw the odd figure move inside them.
Clyde had to check his depth guage again, not believing his own eyes. "Someone up there needs to explain in a goddamned hurry why I am three hundred feet below sea level looking at a city."
A moment of tense silence was broken by Eleanor's voice. "What I said about oil is true. But the main problem that comes up is that this city needs to be forgotten. Things have happened here since the mid 50's, and they need to be hidden. I needed the pictures and eye-witnesses to attest to its existence."
"Mother fucker…" Clyde swore under his breath. "Well, now that you got your pictures what the fuck do we do now?"
"All I needed is the photos and your eyes. I would suggest getting out of there now."
Clyde was biting his lip in an effort not to scream in frustration. Something stunk of a sub-text, but a few million dollars to get his project off the ground blinded him.
"Fuck that." He barked into the headset. "You lied and dragged us out here, so now I am going to get my money's worth." He worked the controls, now moving the sub forward into the city itself.
Eleanor began to voice protests, but was shut out by Clyde asking Laura to direct him through it. Laura had to go up to the control room and get the sonar to give her a better look around.
The buildings seemed to stretch on, giving this new place quite a feel of hugeness. Clyde even mused something about feeling like New York, submerged by an earthquake.
Suddenly something streaked by the sub. "What the fuck?" was all that he could mutter before the machine shook so violently that the controls were wrenched from his grasp.
What then sounded like an explosion started to spin the craft in a way no one thought possible under water.
One final explosion hit, stopping the spinning motion only long enough for Clyde to slam his head into the control panel, knocking him out.
The sound of rushing water was the first to greet his ears as he blinkingly opened his eyes.
"Water?" Suddenly he was up, though the throbbing of his head dropped him again. He looked around to see that he was no longer in the sub, but through the newly destroyed front view window. The flowing water sound was the sea, trying to enter the hole that his craft had made in the building. He quickly got the radio from the sub, and quickly started looking around, knowing that the water was quickly winning the struggle.
Spotting a door, he instinctively started sprinting for it. Flinging it open to find a hallway, he slammed the door behind him and continued sprinting. Stairs leading up took him three floors before he heard the eminent sound of the ocean claiming the previous floors.
One floor opened up into a large lobby of some kind, lavish furniture organized rather well. He barely had the time to admire it as he dashed through, seeing a large metal door open up near him. He sprinted through it in time to hear the water closing in. The door slid shut behind him, and the water bashed against it, the door bowing under its strain.
Insdie the clear walkway, he looked over at the building he recently vacated. He saw his sub, now sticking out of the wall. His eyes were quick to notice that it was hardly damaged in the wreck.
The creak of metal drew his attention where it needed to be.
He dashed for the opposite end of the walkway, the same door sliding open for him. It slid down, giving him a fleeting glance as the door finally gave way. The door closed, followed by a loud banging sound that made Clyde think that no one was going to use that walkway again.
Thankfully this time, the door seemed to hold better, only being pinned shut and not straining against the sea.
He finally had a moment to gain his bearings.
He looked around the new space he occupied. A high ceiling covered what could only be called a very posh lobby. Plenty of seating around simple coffee tables, a long pair of counters that reminded him of more extravagant hotels he had seen. The main draw to him was the tall windows that showed the outside, the fish swimming by, an odd whale moving through. The most important part was the other building and the view that he had. The sub was now not a cork in the wall, and had been slid into place on the floor where he crashed, the hole and back propeller section all that was visible. It was probably still in decent condition, he hoped beyond hope.
He hooked the radio to his belt, fitting the headset again.
"Anyone hear me?" he called, filtering through the channels, forgetting the frequency that the boat had tried to hammer into his head to remember.
A few cries into the static garnered a startled voice. "Who is this?" came a voice in a clear german slant.
"I'm Clyde. Who is this?" He answered, not really sure who was on the ships. There could have been a german on board, he wouldn't remember it.
"My name, it is Tenenbaum." Came the voice back to him. "Why are you able to hear me? And I hear you?"
"I crashed into a building."
The shock was hard to miss in the respondent's voice. "You found Rapture? For why?"
"What? Rapture? Okay lady. What the fuck is going on?"
There was a moment of silence while Clyde could feel his patience ticking away. Then the voice came back. "Ah. You were on the ships nearby. I was hearing your sonar. I suppose there is no way around it. You are in Rapture. A dead city. Lost to time, and should have stayed that way."
"Fucking perfect." He dropped into a chair, now noticing that his feet were bothering him. "I need to get in contact with those ships."
"I can help with that." Tenenbaum's voice disappeared a moment, then a familiar voice came over the headset.
"Doc! Clyde! Where are you dammit?"
"Laura? Can you hear me?"
"Clyde! Thank god!" Her exasperated sigh was audible. "We thought you were dead."
"Not for lack of trying." Clyde said, then regaled them with the events that lead him where he was now.
"Is the sub fixable?" Laura asked.
"Couldn't tell." Clyde answered, now looking at the hole through the windows again. "But, from what I could catch, it seems like it should still be workable. Just that its now under water, and I can't do repairs like that."
"Maybe," Tenenbaum's voice came back over the radio. "But you could get the sub to a dry spot. The maintenance yard, at Ryan Industries has been dry for a while now. Get your sub there and you could fix it. Right?"
"Easier said than done." Clyde sighed. "How do I get it there? And where the fuck do I go?"
"I can lead you. You may need to do some things along the way, but we will get you out of this city."
Clyde sighed, stood up, straightening his shirt. "Alright. Give me the Rapture grand tour."