Let the Games Begin
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Chapter 11 - DIVING IN THE DARK
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These were the types of calls that Jess hated the most, the ones where she was blind and couldn't assist the team. In this case, not only was there no CCTV footage to monitor, but the team were headed out to sea in the dark - Jess could only imagine the sort of nightmares THIS might inspire.
From what she could tell, the Coastguard officer, although a bit unfriendly, seemed thoroughly efficient. Unfortunately, she could sense that Becker didn't like the bloke from the instant they'd met, and the officer clearly had something to prove as well. Jess never did quite understand the whole alpha male dynamic, and usually neither did Connor, but in this case he'd been the one to accidentally set Gelles off. When the team had arrived, the officer had officially greeted, "Welcome to the Jurassic Coast." Connor had instantly corrected, "No, this one leads to the Ordovician, mate," and things had only gone downhill from there.
Jess had spent most of her time during their drive skimming the social media sites, trying to find news of an incursion. Whilst there were many people in the waters around Weymouth and Portland, preparing to watch the sailing events that were due to start on Sunday, most of them were safely tucked indoors, watching the opening ceremonies with the rest of the world. Since all of Twitter was atwitter with comments about the festivities, there were literally millions of tweets to search through. With almost all eyes thus focussed on London, Jess had found only two tweets of interest to the team - one mentioned a "strange octopus" outside a moored yacht while the other mentioned "some kind of giant cone" floating by off-shore.
"Cameroceres." Matt instantly recognised the creature upon hearing Jess's meagre description.
"Yep," Connor concurred. "They was mostly blind, which would explain why it didn't notice it was, you know, swimming through a giant flickering gateway."
"And it makes sense it would've been on the move," Abby added, "as they tended to come in to shallower water at night to feed."
Jess didn't like the sound of that, and after some quick internet research, she grew even more concerned. These Cameroceres were like something a snail-phobic might have nightmares about - a giant cone-shaped shell the size of a school bus housing a terrifying cephalopod with metre-long tentacles. Since their main food source in their own time were giant, man-sized sea scorpions, Jess was not at all pleased to hear that both Matt and Becker were now suiting up and planning to dive into the dark waters with Gelles.
Since she couldn't do anything to dissuade them, she tried to distract herself with other research. Curious, she looked up the "Jurassic Coast", as Gelles had called it. Dorset, it turned out, was the site of England's first natural World Heritage Site, with 95 miles of coastline revealing millions of years of the earth's history in its cliffs. With its scenic footpaths, breathtaking views, sheltered beaches, and loads of fossils, Jess thought it would be an ideal spot for Connor and Abby to honeymoon...if Paris didn't pan out.
And it turned out that fossils and the anomaly weren't the only links to the past currently submerged in Portland Harbour - the protected waters were also home to numerous shipwrecks, dating back to the 1800s. Jess had not found this fact "Super cool!" as Connor had, but rather worrisome instead - she knew that anything additional for the team to contend with was bound to make their job more difficult.
And it was going to be difficult enough as it was.
"Is there anything I can do?" Jess asked anxiously into the comms.
The winds stirred up from the rescue boats nearly drowned out Abby's answer. "Matt, Becker, and the Coastguard officer are about to make their first dive. We'll keep you informed."
"In the meantime," Connor said, his voice clear as a bell from inside the Coastguard headquarters back on-shore, "you could tell us a bit more about what's going on with the opening ceremonies."
Jess rolled her eyes - how could he be thinking about the Olympics at a time like this?
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Becker scolded himself for having volunteered. Under ordinary circumstances, he probably wouldn't have offered to dive, especially not at night, but Gelles had so gotten his back up that he'd jumped at the chance to show up the prat.
But now he was wondering if Temple hadn't had the right idea staying back on shore. They should've just gone with Matt's initial suggestion - surely they could've somehow coerced the giant creature back through the anomaly from on-board the Coastguard's rescue boats - but Gelles had seemed so dismissive of the ARC team's capabilities that Becker had felt they had something to prove.
Of course, at this rate, Becker realised he might just prove he was a top-rate fool.
It had been some time since he'd dived, especially at night. Putting on their tanks, Matt must've noticed Becker's hesitation for he offered, "It's not too late to back out, mate. I'm sure we can handle it, if you're not comfortable."
This only made Becker more determined than ever. It also made him question, "And when did you get YOUR night diving certification, Matt? Was it before or after Everest?"
However, the comment merely rolled off Matt's back, which was probably for the best; now that they were out here in the harbour, Becker definitely needed an ally.
And as if diving at night in unfamiliar waters wasn't difficult enough, it turned out Portland Harbour was filled with shipwrecks, which made searching for the creature even more complicated. And whilst having the Coastguard's two giant searchlights shining into the water had seemed like a good plan, their presence, coupled with the shimmering light from the anomaly, only served to disorientate.
There wasn't even much of a plan in place. The creature was searching for food, and they somehow hoped to lead it back through the anomaly using themselves as bait. They hadn't exactly discussed how to do this without getting eaten themselves, nor what they'd do after getting it back through, though Connor was supposedly working on an underwater locking device. But one thing was certain - despite being annoyed with Matt tonight, Becker knew that he could rely on the team leader to watch his back, and vice versa.
If they ever found the bleeding creature!
Becker dived deeper, squinting his eyes to see through the water lit by his dim diving torch. He was mostly navigating on instinct, with no real idea of where to find the creature.
Suddenly he sensed more than saw the giant cone moving nearby. Becker headed towards the movement, catching a glimpse of another diving torch approaching from the opposite direction.
The creature must've sensed the other diver as well, for the cone suddenly swung about, knocking into Becker and sending him tumbling through the water. His regulator was momentarily knocked out, causing a surge of panic before he remembered his training. He automatically reached down for his regulator, which had settled at his hip, and blew the water out before taking a few breaths from the tank, trying to calm his pounding heart.
Once he was no longer in imminent danger of drowning, he realised he was now so disorientated by the darkness and the three golden lights that he no longer knew which way was up. He fought down this new panic as he glanced about, trying to get his bearings visually. When that didn't work, he watched the bubbles from his regulator by the light of his diving torch to see which way they rose. Up was NOT the direction he'd thought, and he took a moment to fully readjust to this new sense of reality before heading back towards the light source he now recognised as the underwater anomaly.
A large shadow was blocking most of its light, which Becker took as a good sign. He soon overtook the large creature and was finally able to get a good view of where it was headed. In addition to the flickering gateway, Becker could see two small lights up ahead, no doubt Matt and the Coastguard officer. The creature was charging straight towards them and thus, Becker was relieved to see, straight towards home. Connor had said this creature was mostly blind, so Becker hypothesised it must be navigating by sensing the movements of the other divers - as such, Becker stopped his forward progress, not wanting to set the creature off-course by his own actions.
Setting his buoyancy and hovering in the water column, he watched as the multi-legged animal with its 6-metre-long cone charged headlong towards the anomaly. It was hard to judge distances, but it must be getting close, for the two diving torches seemed to hold almost steady, as if guarding a goal. Suddenly the two lights seemed to split apart just as the creature swam between them and disappeared into the gateway.
Once the giant cone was completely through, Becker made his way towards the anomaly. Unfortunately he could now see only one torch, which was just starting to head towards the surface. Becker frantically looked about, but he couldn't see the other diver anywhere in the water. Unfortunately, that could mean only one thing - a diver must've been dragged through the anomaly with the creature. Knowing how disorientated he himself had felt after having been knocked by the creature, Becker realised that the diver might not even be aware that he'd gone through the gateway, which could have deadly repercussions.
Becker hurried towards the gateway, knowing time was of the essence. His tank was getting low, but so was the stranded diver's, and the longer the diver stayed on the other side, the more danger he was in. The last thing Becker wanted to do was head into the dark unknown on the other side, but it was his job to make sure his team was safe, even if it meant risking his own life.
Without even giving a thought to the Rules, he kicked hard towards the anomaly. He was about to head through it when he suddenly felt something behind him grab his ankle. Gasping, he turned to see what foul creature had hold of him, and was relieved to discover it was only Matt. Letting go of Becker's ankle, Matt held his hand in front of his torch, giving the signal to surface. Becker recognised his next signal as well - Gelles must've already surfaced, which was why Becker hadn't been able to find him. Nodding in understanding, Becker made his way up alongside Matt, relieved that he hadn't had to go through the anomaly after all.
As they bobbed to the surface, Matt removed his torch and shone it on the two of them, letting the rescue boats know where they were. The searchlights were swung about to shine on them, momentarily blinding the two divers. Luckily, one of the boats was there in a minute, and soon he and Matt were on deck, taking welcome lungfuls of the salty night air.
"Are you all right?" Emily asked worriedly.
Matt nodded but turned towards Becker, asking, "How about you, mate?"
Becker recognised that the question wasn't meant to be condescending - instead, it was clear Matt had seen Becker get knocked by the creature and was genuinely concerned.
Becker quickly nodded. "I'm fine," he said, giving Matt a look to let him know he'd rather the team leader not mention his close call to the others...especially Jess.
Abby gave Becker a wry smile. "Well, if you were trying to prove a point to Gelles, you succeeded. He was pale as a ghost when they fished him out, and we could hear his voice over the water, going on and on about the 'terrifying monster'."
"You would think he had never seen a dinosaur before," Emily said, a glint of humour in her eyes.
Becker smiled, looking forward to debriefing the officer once they got to shore. However, he was well aware he'd almost paid the ultimate price for trying to prove himself.
Perhaps next time he'd simply stick to competing over who had the bigger gun!
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to be continued
[Author's Note: I just want to thank JJB, who gave me lots of technical advice and assistance with this scene! It pays to know people who are crazy enough to be certified in night diving!]
