Disclaimer: All characters belong to HiT Entertainment.
Chapter 2
Later that afternoon, I signed on for work as soon as I arrived at the fire station. Ellie and Arnold had just finished signing off from duty for the day, having had night duty together the night before. After I'd had a brief chat with Ellie and Arnold, Station Officer Steele filled me in on what had happened that morning. There hadn't been much to report, and nothing had happened (aside from Elvis getting his foot stuck in a bucket again), so afterwards I went upstairs to make myself a nice cup of tea to drink. While I sipped on my tea, I planned out a training exercise for the others to undertake the next time we were all rostered on duty together.
I'd just finished planning the training exercise, when the alarms went off. Instinctively, I sprinted across the room to the nearest fireman's pole.
"Joe Sparkes is trapped at the bottom of the ocean in a submarine that's run out of power," Station Officer Steele announced over the loudspeakers as I slid down the pole.
Penny and Elvis joined me downstairs. I didn't have to give them any instructions. We'd all worked together for so long that most of the time they were able to anticipate what I had in mind. I ran over to Mercury, and I put on my quadbike helmet, while Penny and Elvis got into Venus. Together, we raced our vehicles down to the Ocean Rescue Centre.
Ben was already suited up and checking the Map Screen-700 when we arrived at the Ocean Rescue Centre.
"I've got the co-ordinates, Sam," Ben reported. "He's just off Pontypandy Island."
"Copy that, Ben," I replied as I grabbed my wetsuit off the hook.
Elvis and I quickly suited up into out wetsuits, while Penny donned her scuba diving gear. Although I was trained in many different types of rescues and emergencies, I'd never been interested in learning how to scuba dive. Part of my reluctance to learn was because of my fear of caves. I'd always imagined that being deep down underwater where it was dark and murky would be similar to being underground, and I didn't want to experience that unless it was absolutely necessary.
As soon as we were all ready, we went downstairs and boarded Titan. With Ben at the helm, we made our way as fast as possible to Joe's last known co-ordinates. When we arrived, Elvis helped Penny put on her scuba gear. Once she was ready, she flipped backwards out of Titan and she splashed into the water.
Penny swam around to Titan's bow, where I threw Titan's tow cable to her. She caught it, and then began her long descent to the ocean floor.
Several minutes later, an alert sounded in Titan's control room. Elvis and I stood back as Ben activated the winch. Before long, Joe's submarine emerged at the surface. I cautiously climbed onto it, and I opened the hatch.
"Penny's in trouble, Sam!" Joe blurted out. "She's got her foot stuck!"
Oh, no! And she won't have much air left, either.
"What are we going to do?" Elvis wondered.
This is why one of us needs to start training as a back-up scuba diver, I thought as I removed my helmet. Then, I unzipped my life vest and I took it off. I know Ben can scuba dive, but we also need another firefighter to be qualified in it as well.
"We haven't got time to go back and get more diving gear!" Ben exclaimed.
It's useless anyway if you don't know how to use it correctly. The water here can't be more than fifteen metres deep. Hopefully, Penny isn't right at the bottom. I hope I can make it… I set my life vest down on top of the submarine. "I'm going in!" I told the others. Before they could protest, I grabbed a pair of cutters from my life vest. Then, I drew in the biggest breath I could hold before I dived neatly into the water.
Using my strong swimming skills, I managed to swim straight down towards the bottom of the ocean. It was not easy. My lungs screamed in protest for more air; the salt water stung my eyes, and my ears popped painfully against the water pressure. But I kept going.
I could see Penny down near the ocean floor. Her leg was entangled in some thick rope. I didn't have time to even consider how it got there. I needed air, or I would black out and drown.
Luckily, as soon as I'd reached Penny, she removed her oxygen mask and offered it to me. I clutched it to my face, breathing in the air I so desperately needed. Once my lungs had stopped hurting from the strain of holding my breath for so long, I drew in another deep breath before giving the mask back to Penny. Then, I set to work freeing her leg. After I'd cut through the rope, Penny kicked it clear of her leg. Between us, we shared the oxygen mask for a moment. We knew it wouldn't be an easy swim back to the surface for either of us, so we needed as much oxygen as we could get.
Just as we were about to head back up to the surface, I saw something off to my left. To my astonishment, it looked like a flag bearing the faded marks of the Jolly Rodger. I tapped Penny on the shoulder, and I pointed to the flag. Penny also looked. Beyond the flag was the wooden remains of an old ship.
Penny pointed towards the surface. It was her way of saying, "Let's get out of here." I didn't need a second invitation. We started swimming back towards the surface, sharing the oxygen mask between us. We were almost at the surface when Penny's oxygen tank ran out of air. Using the last of the air in our lungs, we swam straight up to the surface.
Penny and I broke through the water's surface almost at the same time. For a moment, we just treaded water at the surface while we breathed in the deliciously sweet air. I could hear Ben and Elvis shouting at us, but I couldn't figure out what they were saying. I was too disorientated from the lack of oxygen, and I knew I was in danger of blacking out. Then, I felt Penny slip an arm securely around my chest, and she dragged me over to Titan. Ben and Elvis pulled me out of the water, and they lay me down in the recovery position on Titan's deck. I coughed several times before I closed my eyes to block out the blinding sunlight.
"Penny, you need to lie down too," Ben ordered. "With you and Sam in no condition to lead, I'm taking command of this rescue from now on." And with that, Ben got on the radio. "Ben Hooper to Station Officer Steele. Come in, please."
"Receiving you, Ben. What's the situation?"
"Request urgent back-up near Pontypandy Island, sir. Both senior firefighters are suffering from mild asphyxia. We require extra oxygen, masks, and Tom with Wallaby One. We'll also require Nurse Flood to be on stand-by and to meet us at the Ocean Rescue Centre."
"Copy that, Ben. I'll contact Tom and Nurse Flood now."
"Understood, sir. Out."
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Joe asked. He was now out of his submarine and standing on the safety of Titan's deck.
"No, Joe," Ben replied firmly. "Please just stay at the bow for now, so you're out of the way."
"But what about Hannah?" Joe protested. "She's stranded on Pontypandy Island!"
"We'll have to collect her later, Joe. Titan is too big to get into the bay of Pontypandy Island, so we'll have to use Neptune to fetch her. I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do right now."
"What about Ellie and Arnold? Couldn't they get her?"
"They're not qualified coastguards yet, Joe," Penny explained. "Don't worry. Hannah will be fine on her own for a while. She's very resourceful."
"I suppose…"
Ben knelt down beside me, and he felt my neck for my pulse. I just continued drawing in deep breaths of air. My breathing sounded very haggard though, which was concerning. "Sam? Sam, can you hear me?"
I nodded, but I didn't have the strength to respond verbally. I groaned feebly, and I placed a hand against my side. My lungs were hurting after the strain I'd just put them through. Ouch! That was tough! I just hope I haven't damaged anything…
"I can see Wallaby One coming now, Ben," Elvis reported.
"Good. Okay, Elvis. When Tom gets here, I'll need you to help me rig up Joe's submarine to the helicopter. Tom will have to carry it back to the quay."
A moment later, Wallaby One flew in overhead. Tom made the helicopter hover above us while he lowered two oxygen tanks down to us. Once the oxygen tanks were safely on deck, Ben and Elvis connected Joe's submarine to Wallaby One's cable.
While Ben and Elvis were attending to the submarine, I sensed a shadow falling over me. Opening my eyes, I saw Joe looking anxiously down at me. I coughed a couple of times, before closing my eyes again.
"I'm so sorry, Sam," I heard Joe whisper sadly. "I-I didn't mean for this to happen."
I wanted to respond, but I didn't have the energy right then. I knew that Joe was feeling guilty about how the events had unfolded, but I didn't blame him for any of it. He hadn't gotten Penny's leg tangled, and I'd made the decision to dive down to rescue her. He had nothing to feel guilty about.
Shortly after Tom had taken off with Joe's submarine attached, Ben knelt down beside me again. "Right, Sam. Let's get some oxygen into you…" And he placed one of the oxygen masks over my face. I lay quietly, breathing in the oxygen slowly and evenly. "That's it," Ben encouraged, placing a hand reassuringly on my shoulder. "Just concentrate on your breathing rate."
"Sam will be okay, won't he?" Joe asked anxiously.
"Yes, Joe. We're all trained in what to do if any of our equipment fails or malfunctions. I'm not saying that's what happened, of course, but we know what to do when things go wrong. Can you just stay with him please, while I check on Penny?"
"Of course."
Before long, we got underway with Ben at Titan's helm. As we neared the quay, I managed to sit up.
"Feeling better now, Sam?" Joe asked hopefully.
I nodded in response. Then, I removed the oxygen mask. "I'll live. Don't be upset, Joe. It wasn't your fault. You didn't put the rope around Penny's leg."
Joe just nodded sadly in response.
As soon as Titan had been moored at the quay, Helen jumped on board carrying her first aid kit. "What happened, Ben?"
"Penny got trapped underwater, so Sam free-dived to rescue her," Ben explained. "I want you to examine Sam first, since he had less air than Penny."
"You should've stopped him," Helen admonished as she made her way over to me. "He could've drowned. Free-diving is extremely dangerous."
I staggered to my feet, leaning my back against the external wall of Titan's cabin for support. "Penny would've drowned if I hadn't dived down to rescue her," I told Helen firmly. "She was almost out of air, and we didn't have time to go back and fetch more."
Helen just shook her head in dismay. "Go and get changed, Sam. I want you to wait for me inside the Ocean Rescue Centre. Hopefully, you haven't done any permanent damage to your lungs."
Sighing despondently, I grabbed my life vest and I disembarked from Titan. As I climbed the harbour steps, I noticed that a large crowd had gathered at the top to see what was going on. Charlie stopped me at the top of the stairs.
"Are you okay, Sam? Helen said that you and Penny had asphyxia. What happened?"
"I'm fine, Charlie," I replied, and I patted his shoulder reassuringly. "I was just doing my job."
"That's what you always say," Charlie grumbled.
"Because it's true, Charlie. My job is to save people, even if it means putting my own life in danger. And before you say anything else, I'm not a hero for doing my job. I need to go and get changed, or I'll have Helen after me. We can talk more about this later, okay." And with that, I headed over to the Ocean Rescue Centre.