He let the cage sink down until the line was taut then swam down and dumped the rest of the gas from the lifting bag. He didn’t need the lift bag expanding as they ascended as that might cause the cage to hit the Pheia.
Satisfied the cage was secure, he swam around the hab slowly rising as he went. There was no other apparent damage. When he reached the top, the lifting cables were all in place. There was a good ten feet of slack that needed to be taken up and he needed to shut off the Pheia’s drive motors so that it hung on the cable. He had to be inside to do that.
There was just one more job to do, and one of the others was doing it now. The lift cable also had a comms line attached to it and that was plugged into the port on the top of the ops cylinder.
Morrison looked one last time at the lifting cables to make sure they had them connected to the cylinders correctly. The tensioning of the cables couldn’t be done until the hab’s drives were shut off.
Morrison had planned to do that himself but now wondered if he could get Kate to do it so he could stay outside and supervise the tensioning.
He keyed the comm system. “I’m going to get the drive shut down. Hold fast until I return.”
When he saw the OKs from the others he swam down over the side of the Pheia. As he passed the portal in the ops room he looked in and saw Kate looking out at him. She waved. Waving was another thing he wasn’t used to underwater. The closest he got to waving was using the ‘iffy’ signal. He gave her an OK and dropped down below the portal.
When he got up into the moon pool room he was momentarily surprised. He had expected it to be dry then saw the gap where the connecting tunnel had parted from the cylinder and understood why it was flooded. He kicked up and grasped the ladder to the ops room.
He surfaced slowly until his head was clear of the water. He saw Kate standing above him with her hand out towards him.
Morrison held up his index finger in the now familiar, “Wait a second” sign used universally by cell phone users. Kate dropped her hand. He reached down and pulled off his fins, which he threw up onto the deck. Kate put out her hand again and he accepted it this time and climbed out onto the deck of the ops room.
It took him a minute to remove his helmet.
Kate waited until he had it off. “Sorry about the hug.” she said.
Morrison grinned. “No problem. A first time for everything. You OK?”
“Yes, I’m fine.” She resisted the urge to hug Morrison again.
“We need to shut off the drive system so we can adjust the lifting cables. Can you handle that?”
“Sure. I’m quite the expert now.” she grinned.
“OK, then I’m going back out to secure the lifting cables. Once that’s done we have some gear and food to bring in, and then I guess we’ll do the introductions.”
Kate smiled at him. It was hard to stop smiling. “Sure.” she said.
Morrison nodded and put his helmet back on. A few seconds later he was gone.
Kate watched his bubbles until they stopped then went to the control console and sent a message on the ELF radio. “Divers arrived. Securing lift cables. Stopping drive now.”
Once the message was on its way, she shut down the drive system. The noise of the motors stopped, and the Pheia was silent again. It hadn’t been this quiet ever. On the way down, the barge had been lowering them so they didn’t need the drives but the entire crew was on board and often talking. Now it was eerily quiet.
A few minutes later Kate felt the Pheia jump up slightly as the lifting cables took up the tension.
She checked the depth. They were at about 750 feet. Another two days or so and she would be on the surface. But she had to spend that time with the three divers that were outside. “I hope they aren’t jerks.”
Hauling Up
(600 Feet)
Williams was ecstatic when he got Kate’s message from the Pheia. It felt good to know that the cable was attached. That should mean that they would have voice comms any time now. The barge was now in control of the Pheia’s ascent. So long as the gas mix held out, it would all be over in two days.
Morrison and his crew finished adjusting the lifting harness cables in short order. They had been set to almost exactly the right length and took very little adjustment to get the tensions even. He keyed the comm system. “We’re done here. Time to get the rest of the gear and go inside.”
The other divers followed his lead down the side of the hab, past the ops room portal and the weight stack to where the cage was hanging. On the floor of the cage were a couple of large plastic bins and what looked like a large kit bag. The three divers each grabbed one item and followed Morrison’s lead to the moon pool entrance. Morrison didn’t bother to tell them the moon pool room was flooded. They saw it for themselves as they swam up into it.
Morrison dropped the bag he was carrying and pulled off his fins at the bottom of the ladder and spun around to make sure the other two were with him. They had gotten the message. No need to explain. He floated up the ladder and climbed into the ops room.
Kate had seen the bubbles and was waiting for him. As Morrison stepped onto the deck he pulled off his helmet. “Wipe your feet.” Kate said.
Morrison looked at her as water ran off his suit over the deck plates. He wasn’t sure what to say. He was fairly sure she was joking but the look on her face was dead serious. He shuffled his feet a bit and that made Kate laugh. A head appeared behind him.
Kate looked around him as the diver climbed up the ladder.
“That’s Washington” Morrison said looking at the dark face inside the mask. “Stephens is behind him.” He nodded to Washington who disappeared back below the surface. A moment later a plastic storage bin appeared in his place. Morrison grabbed it and pulled it out of the water. He did the same for the other bin and the dry-bag. Then Washington came out of the water. Morrison grabbed Washington’s gear and steadied him as he climbed out. Washington pulled off his helmet. “Thanks boss.” He looked at Kate. “Miss,” was all he said and gave a nod.
Stephens appeared in the hole and also climbed out.
When all three were in the ops room, Morrison turned to Kate. “So. How do you want to work this?”
“What do you mean?” Kate asked him.
“We brought some food.” He pointed at the bins. “And we also brought a few medical supplies, and some clothing for you. It’s all bagged up. I hope it’s still dry.”
“I have no idea.” Kate said. She was feeling a bit overwhelmed.
“OK, well, we’ll get out of these suits and you can dig through what we brought down if you like.”
Kate looked at the divers. “I’m Kate,” she said and held out her hand to Washington.
“John.” he said and shook her hand.
Stephens took a step forward with his own hand out. “Stephens,” he said and then added “Just Stephens”.
Kate shook his hand.
It all felt very weird. She had been alone in the Pheia for quite a while now and had got used to her own company and her limited set of supplies. She looked at the mattress. “I’m not sure how we’re going to share the mattress.”
Stephens laughed. “We brought our own couch,” he said as he pulled off his suit and pointed to the kit bag.