The Omega Deep reached the top of the ancient waterfall.
Despite his hardened appearance, and normally difficult to read countenance, Commander Bower audibly gasped at the sight.
His eyes raked the unreal seascape below.
The ancient river opened up to a shallow underwater tabletop, covered in vivid and impressive coral gardens. It was a unique tropical playground that didn’t belong anywhere near where they were. Tropical fish filled the place, swimming in and out through the coral reef, which was awash with color. Hues of red and orange glowed brightly among the shifting tapestry of mustard, greens, blues, reds, and browns. A spectacular vista of coral sponges, mollusks, giant manta rays, sea turtles, and giant clams filled his vision.
Bower stared at the yellow Orcasub as a pod of dolphins raced beside it, swimming upside and by its side.
Grinning and speaking to no one in particular, he said, “Is it just me or does it look like we just entered a tropical coral reef?”
“Sure,” his XO replied. “But I’ve never heard of a coral reef so far from the tropics before.”
“Agreed,” Bower replied. “Whatever underwater landmass we’ve come across, it’s not on any maritime maps. Yeah, the geologists, marine biologists, and archeologists are going to have a field day over this when we report back.”
The depth of the tabletop was roughly fifty feet, with a narrow chasm through which the Orcasub still raced, at a depth of one hundred feet.
Under the direction of Commander Bower, the pilots positioned the Omega Deep at a depth of forty feet. The chasm was wide enough for them to descend deeper, but he wasn’t taking any chances of clipping the sharp coral sides of the valley.
Commander Bower said, “Did you know that coral reefs are some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth. They occupy less than 0.1 percent of the world’s ocean surface, but provide habitat for at least 25 percent of all marine species?”
The crew, used to his erudite lectures, called him the “Sea Professor,” but never to his face.
His XO obligingly replied, “That’s fascinating, sir. Can you tell us more?”
Bower smiled. He had a reputation for being a scholarly bore at times, and he didn’t care. One thing he’d learned after forty years at sea, was that being CO had certain perks. This was one of them. His crew was a captive audience when he wanted to share his knowledge. And why shouldn’t he educate them in marine biology? They’d joined the Navy to see the world. He was damned sure his crew was going to really see the world, not just watch it go by.
“Did you know most of the coral reefs around the world were formed during the last glacial period when melting ice caused the sea level to rise and flood the continental shelves? This means that most modern coral reefs are less than 10,000 years old. As communities established themselves on the shelves, the reefs grew upward, pacing rising sea levels. Reefs that rose too slowly could become drowned reefs. They are covered by so much water that there was insufficient light.”
The XO, happy to play the game, said, “And yet there appears to be plentiful coral life here, at a depth of 100 feet?”
“Well spotted, Mr. Halifax.” Bower nodded. “Sometimes coral reefs are found in deep sea, away from continental shelves, around oceanic islands and atolls. You’ll find the vast majority of these islands are volcanic in origin. The few exceptions have tectonic origins where plate movements have lifted the deep ocean floor on the surface. But even in those conditions, the coral never survives as deep as 100 feet, which is why a lot of scientists are going to be pretty excited by what we’ve found here today.”
His XO said, “Not what we found, sir. The owners of that private submarine appear to have known about it.”
“Indeed, Mr. Halifax.”
In the crystal-clear waters, through which crepuscular rays reached the seabed, the Orcasub became perfectly visible.
Bower squinted as he examined the now clearly visible faces of the pilot and copilot, encapsulated in their first-class seats on board the Orcasub as it flew quietly through the secret tropical rainforest.
The commander glanced around the Command Center. “Can anyone tell me what causes the unusual clarity of tropical waters?”
Mr. Browning, his navigator, answered first. “Tropical waters contain few nutrients. Thus, no drifting plankton, which equates to clear water visibility.”
Bower nodded, continuing his lecture on marine biology. “They call it Darwin’s Paradox. How can so much marine life flourish in such nutrient-poor conditions?”
Macintyre, the copilot on shift — a gentleman in his twenties from Wyoming who was on his second year out from receiving his coveted submariner Dolphins — dutifully asked, “What’s the answer, sir?”
Bower shrugged. “I’ve no idea.”
The crew laughed at his honesty.
There seemed to be an uncanny air of relaxed joviality on board. And why shouldn’t there be? The world’s most advanced predator was stalking a billionaire’s private sports submersible and had now located an ancient marine wonderland in the most unlikely of places.
Up ahead, the Orcasub headed to the end of the chasm, where it ran straight inside the mouth of a large underground chamber, roughly twenty feet high by thirty feet wide. Bower scanned the seascape for signs of where the submersible might have come out. There were none. The cave formed out of the mouth of a small rocky outcrop on the coral tabletop, like a monolith, with no sign of any place in which the Orcasub might disappear.
Bower said, “Pilot, all stop.”
“All stop, sir,” the pilot confirmed.
The command center remained silent while they waited patiently for the small sub to come out again, which it didn’t.
“What the hell is it doing in there?” Commander Bower asked.
“It could be trapped, sir,” the XO suggested. “You know, it’s gone inside only to get its multiple thrusters snagged on something inside.”
“I doubt it. You watched the pilot. He knew how to fly. Someone like that didn’t enter a cave on a whim. He knew what was in there. No way he was going to get trapped.”
The XO nodded. It was a valid point. “Or, it could be waiting?”
Bower’s eyebrows narrowed. “For what?”
“For us to leave it alone.”
Commander Bower met him with flat eyes. “Are you kidding me?”
The XO shrugged. “They might have spotted us. It’s possible.”
“How?” Bower asked. “With the blackbody coated hull, it should be impossible for the most advanced acoustic systems in the world to locate us, let alone some billionaire’s private submersible sports craft.”
The XO shrugged again. “I’m just suggesting the possibility, sir.”
Commander Bower’s vision narrowed, fixed upon that single image of the mouth of the cave. The pod of dolphins leisurely raced out again, as though bored by what they’d discovered inside. The coral, which surrounded the opening was a florid mixture of rainbow hues and tropical fish.
He ran the palms of his hands through his thick hair.
For a moment he contemplated the idea of sending a team of Navy SEALs out the lockout locker in dive gear to investigate.
Or he could just wait the Orcasub out. The Omega Deep was a nuclear sub with a near infinite endurance and a little under 90 days’ food supplies. The Orcasub had less than 80 minutes dive time. He could wait. But something was bothering him.
What if Halifax was right? What if the pilots of the private submersible had spotted them?
It would mean that nearly 30 billion dollars of research grants had been wasted. By him.
A moment later, he forgot about the problem, because Sonar Technician Callaghan interrupted his thoughts. “Sir, I’ve got a contact for a second submarine. It’s laying on the seafloor with a cracked hull.”