THE Octopus was the most advanced oceanographic research vessel in the world. In the three years since it had been built, it had circumnavigated the globe visiting various countries and famous underwater landmarks including coral reefs, the Mariana Trench and also shipwrecks like the Titanic and the German battleship Bismarck. Of course, being a surface vessel, it couldn't actually go down to these places itself so the crew used a large mini-submersible called Nemo. Like the Octopus, Nemo was one of the most advanced mini-submersible ever created. To the crew, they believed that Nemo was the most advanced in the world, but they weren't aware that on paper, there was another craft that was more advanced than it was.

Today, the Octopus was in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Indonesian province of Lampung. They were searching for the wreck of the Australian container ship Brisbane which had been sunk during the Global Conflict of 2040. Although there was no official confirmation, it was believed that the ship had been carrying an illegal cargo of nuclear missiles. The reason for the doubt was that Australia hadn't declared war on any part of the country and had chosen to remain natural, but also there was doubt about the weapons as there'd been no massive explosion from the ship during or after it had sunk. In order to settle the minor dispute, the Australian government had commissioned the American-built Octopus to locate the wreck-site of the Brisbane and use Nemo and its robotic camera pods to survey the wreck and find out whether it really had been carrying weapons.

As the Octopus made its way through the Sunda Strait, it sailed in a large box search pattern whilst its powerful sonar scanners mapped out the ocean floor to locate their target. On the bridge watching the sonar screens with Captain Mike Cross were deep-sea archaeologists Drs Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler. Between them they'd dived over one-hundred hours and visited over seventy different underwater sights over the past ten years. They were very experienced in their work and were ideally suited to the task that lay ahead of them.

Some searched for sunken ships could take hours, days or sometimes even weeks, but luckily for the crew of the Octopus, they found what they were looking for in just under two hours since starting the search.

"There she is!" said Dr Grant. "That has to be the Brisbane."

"It's broken up but its roughly the same size and shape as that particular class of vessel," agreed Captain Cross.

"So what's our next move?" asked Dr Sattler.

"First, we'll drop anchor," said Captain Cross. "Then the crew will get Nemo ready for the dive. I'm sure one of you would be happy to join them down there?"

The two archaeologists looked at each other. Both were going to suggest that the other be the first to go down. However, Dr Grant decided to play it fair and use a coin to decide who went first. "Heads or tails?" he asked after he flipped the coin.

"Tails," said Dr Sattler.

Dr Grant removed his hand and looked. "It's heads," he said. "Sorry, Ellie."

But Dr Sattler wasn't disappointed. "Don't worry, Alan. I'll go down on the next dive," she said.

With that decided, Dr Grant went off to test his diving equipment whilst the crew began to prepare the large white mini-submersible for its first dive down to the wreck. Captain Cook moved the Octopus to a safe distance before dropping the anchor. He didn't want to drop it onto the wreck and cause any unnecessary damage. After all, it was also a small graveyard as a large majority of the Brisbane's crew had not survived the incident.

One hour after their arrival, the Nemo and its crew were ready. Dr Sattler watched as Dr Grant climbed inside the mini-submersible along with its two operators. Once the hatch was closed there was no going back. Dr Grant felt a little uncomfortable. He was a man who preferred to explore in diving gear. He didn't really like being in vessels such as nemo. Despite it being big for a mini-sub, he still felt a little claustrophobic once inside.

After Nemo had been attached the gantry cranes, it was rolled out of its little compartment located behind the main superstructure until it was over the gap in the stern. then it was gently lowered into the water to begin its dive. Dr Grant watched through one of the portholes as the dark blue waters turned black as they went deeper.

"Lights on!" said Manuel, Nemo's chief operator.

Jenkins, the second operator complied and switched on Nemo's powerful spotlights. Now everything in front of them was illuminated perfectly and soon they were approaching the ocean floor. The crane cables had been detached after it had been placed in the water and was moving under its own power. However, it still had an extending cable that kept it connected to the Octopus.

Dr Sattler and Captain Cross were on the bridge of the Octopus monitoring Nemo's progress.

"Nemo, this is Octopus, do you read me?" Captain Cross said into the radio.

"Roger, Octopus," answered Manuel. "We're coming up to the wreck now. Turning on the cameras."

The cameras sent live images back up to the screens on the Octopus's bridge via the cable connecting the two together. Then they saw it – the vast shape of a ship appeared out of the darkness. It was definitely a container vessel.

"Octopus, this is Nemo – we've found the Brisbane!" said Manuel.

"Excellent news, Nemo," said Captain Cross. "Put her down on that outcrop of rock in front of you and send in the remote camera-bots."

Manuel guided Nemo down and extended its legs before landing on the rock. "Well, Dr Grant – shall we proceed?" he asked.

"By all means," said Dr Grant.

But as Manuel and Jenkins got ready to activate the camera-bots, there was a deep rumble followed by a violent shudder from the seabed. The rock that Nemo was perched on began to crack and the mini-submersible lurched suddenly over to the left. It was on the verge of toppling over.

"Nemo, this is Octopus!" Captain Cross said urgently into the radio. "What's happening down there? Nemo, come in! NEMO!"

5! (DUN)

4! (DUN)

3! (DUN)

2! (DUN)

1! (ROCKET IGNITES)

*Thunderbirds theme plays*

"THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!"