– This beast has too good a sense of smell – Captain De Bont blurted out nervously, while the chief mate, meanwhile, reported on the data from the sonar screen:

– Heading one-seven-one. Speed twenty-four knots. Distance one thousand one hundred fifty. Coming towards us.

– Stop the machine.

– There is stop the machine.

Hector and Kayla stared at the large screen, which reflected images from night vision devices. With a storm of fear in her breast, Kayla expected to see an ancient predator pop up on the screen, rushing to feast on her entrails. Hector was burning with impatience to see it close-up and examine every detail of an aquatic creature unknown to science. He was haunted by the thought that upon returning from such an expedition, he would no longer have any desire to study even four-meter white sharks.

Henry watched the captain closely, trying to figure out what exactly the submarine’s commander was trying to see on the thermal map. At one point, he noticed how such a grimace appeared on the captain’s face that one might think that inspiration had descended on him and he was planning something.

Morgan continued to read the instrument readings:

– Distance nine hundred and fifty. Speed twenty-four knots.

Accompanied by a sound signal, the elongated signature on the sonar screen continued to move strictly in the direction of the Amphibia.

– Distance eight hundred and fifty. Speed twenty-four knots. Distance eight hundred… seven hundred fifty. Speed is increasing. Twenty-five knots. Twenty-six. – Morgan said in a slightly higher tone: – Twenty-seven. Twenty-nine!

Having collected his thoughts, Captain De Bont turned on a truly commanding voice, which is appropriate in a real navy:

– Engineer! Remove restrictions from the reactor!

The sonar signal grew stronger and sounded more frequently.

PIP!!! PIP!!! PIP!!!

The distance was getting shorter and shorter, and the object did not want to slow down its speed, which had already reached thirty knots and, apparently, this was its limit.

– Restrictions are lifted! – Henry reported.

– First mate! Heading zero-seven-one! Main and auxiliary engines full speed ahead! The fullest!

Morgan immediately plunged into pleasant memories of how last year, under the strict guidance of his charismatic captain, he launched live shells, hitting targets one after another. Captain De Bont’s loud commanding tone seemed to miraculously relieve him of the fear of danger. Somehow, he instantly pulled himself together and became bolder, promptly carrying out orders. It got to the point that Morgan mentally regretted that there were no torpedoes on the Amphibia, because then he would have been looking forward to the captain’s order «SALVO!», having fulfilled which he would have felt like an incredibly cool dude who smashes enemy targets to pieces with just one click of a button. While he was accelerating the submarine, the captain came up and shouted, as he did in the best moments of his service:

– I SAID FULL AHEAD, SOLDIER! THE FULLEST!!!

– There’s fullest!

The rest of the crew looked at them as if they were crazy, but at the same time, such decisive and courageous behavior of the commander made them less worried about their lives.

The captain continued to give instructions, preparing to implement his insidious plan:

– Engineer! Manual control for roll, yaw and trim!

The Amphibia accelerated like a bird, but while it was approaching a maximum speed of thirty-five knots, the pursuing object had managed to greatly reduce its head start during this time.

– Captain, roll, yaw and trim have been switched to manual control! – Henry shouted in an extreme situation.

Next came the voice of Morgan, who strained his vocal cords with all his might:

– Distance two hundred meters! One hundred fifty!..

The left eye failed when an unnaturally bright light came across the path. But this did not hinder the pursuit. The right eye, blinded only by sixty percent, had a vision radius of up to one hundred and fifty degrees, which made it possible to move not completely blindly. But this eye was not required to search for such a victim. An extremely powerful impulse came from there. It could have been another predatory giant that immigrated to these waters in search of food. But one must defend one’s territory to the last. This order of things was determined by animal instincts.

The source of the impulse is already somewhere nearby. There was very little left.

– One hundred meters!

– Faster! Faster! – commanded Captain De Bont.

The flashing dot on the screen was getting closer to the center. The instruments showed a speed of twenty-four knots, with which the Amphibia was moving and continued to increase. Observing the dynamics of the distance from the submarine to the predatory creature, Captain De Bont gave the order at the top of his voice:

– Everyone, buckle up!

Henry, Kayla and Hector hurriedly fell into their chairs and moved their belts, securing them in the lock.

The chief mate’s voice rang out:

– Fifty meters! Twenty-five! Ten! Collision!

The entire hull of the Amphibia was thrown up like a cork from a bottle. At the moment of the impact, the fire extinguisher fell out of its holder and, falling to the floor with a ringing sound, it flew forward across the rickety interior. Behind them came a whole series of deafening metallic blows, which were made by the door hatches of unclosed rooms, rattling as if they were caught in a powerful draft. The walls of the central compartment creaked. The grinding became so strong that it seemed that the casing could not stand it. Captain De Bont, groaning, pulled the steering wheel with all his might, trying to reduce the trim by the bow and restore the balance of the Amphibia. In the chaos of a series of incredible noises, Kayla’s screams and the first mate’s unintelligible obscenities could be heard in places. The tragedy would have been inevitable if the crew seats had not been screwed to the floor.

The body gradually returned to its original position. The captain continuously monitored the speed readings. At a certain moment he noticed that, picking up speed again, the Amphibia could not overcome the mark of twenty-two knots.

– What’s the matter! – the captain shouted, turning to the engineer.

– We lost the left auxiliary propeller! And this creature crushed one blade on the big right propeller!

The only barely alive eye could hardly examine the stranger. This predator moved very quickly, but did not make any movements with its limbs. It looked very strange. He noticed how fast the stranger was accelerating, but he had to spare no effort to prevent the uninvited guest from leaving. He entered from the right side, trying to grab the belly with his pointed teeth, but the left front fin touched something and began to tighten. What was it? It seemed to him that he had not managed to inflict damage on the stranger, but the familiar smell of blood still arose. It was his blood. He had never tasted his own blood. He was never injured. The only blood he had ever tasted was that of his many victims. Having lived for more than two thousand years, he received his first wound. The pain forced him to slow down. The faster he moved, the more intolerable the pain became. And the source of the irritable impulse began to weaken.

– The beast got it too! – Hector shouted, watching the night vision cameras. – Look, blood. Like clouds of smoke. They follow it’s.

– Captain, the signature is coming off! – said Morgan. – Distance eighty meters. One hundred meters. One hundred twenty-five meters…

Captain De Bont left the submarine moving at the same speed straight ahead and approached the large screen.

– It’s changing heading. The distance is growing. Two hundred meters. Two hundred and fifty. Three hundred…

The irritating impulse, that came from the stranger, weakened, but did not stop. These waves annoyed him. Trying to overcome the pain in his fin, he desperately rushed towards the target in order to send the wanderer to the bottom once and for all.

– It’s turning. Two hundred and fifty meters. – The signature again headed towards the center of the screen, which indicated the location of the Amphibia. – Two hundred meters. One hundred fifty…

– No one should get up! – Captain De Bont commanded and returned to his chair, looking for the point on the map where he was aiming. The depth, at which the Amphibia was located, had already exceeded eight thousand one hundred and fifty meters. The captain was no longer distracted and looked strictly at the screen, which displayed the space ahead in night vision mode. Now Captain De Bont did not observe the instrument readings, but turned to the first mate:

– Morgan, you will report the depth level.

– Eight thousand one hundred and seventy meters.

Without slowing down, the captain increased the trim to the bow, moving parallel to the slope of the ocean floor. The only thing he occasionally turned to was the thermal map to make sure the submarine was moving in the right heading. Somewhere on the horizon hydrothermal vents began to appear. The submarine was at its limit, reaching twenty-two knots. The object continued to close the distance, but this time not so quickly.

– Eight thousand two hundred.

– What’s with the distance?

– One hundred and thirty. Depth eight thousand two hundred and fifty.

The captain continued to lead the Amphibia into the depths.

Morgan blindly followed his commander’s demands, without thinking about the true goal. Kayla began to recite the Lord’s Prayer for the first time in twenty-two years. She did this, although she vaguely remembered the content of the prayer. Hector did not look up from the screen, looking for details of the predator pursuing the submarine. But this was also very problematic due to the large flow of bubbles emanating from the rotating propeller blades, which were helped to spin by a strong stream of compressed air. Henry was the only one who suspected some extremely unjustified risk in the captain’s intentions.

– Eight thousand three hundred. Eight thousand three hundred and fifty.

The Amphibia swam at the junction of tectonic plates. Hydrothermal vents bubbled, running around one after another. Dozens of blasts of hot air blasted from the depths into the ocean.

– Eight thousand four hundred. – The moment came when Morgan looked at the instrument readings with a shudder. Goosebumps covered his entire body. A slight trembling ran over his shoulders. – Eight thousand four hundred and fifty. Captain, the limit is approaching.

Keeping a calm face, Captain De Bont once again looked at the thermal map and said loudly:

– Morgan shut up! I asked you to voice the depth!

Morgan felt a lump rise in his throat. Swallowing with difficulty, he voiced the maximum permissible depth for which the Amphibia hull was designed according to the developers:

– Eight thousand five hundred.

The twenty-six-meter predator was not far behind. Not so briskly, but still he continued to shorten the distance, which had already reached seventy meters.

Hydrothermal vents became more common and their sizes increased.

The chief mate himself did not believe what he said:

– Eight thousand five hundred and fifty.

The captain increased the bow trim by another three degrees.

– Eight thousand six hundred.

There was a noise outside. It was like a vice was tightening. The Amphibia’s speed dropped to nineteen knots. Fifty meters separated the stern from the underwater monster.

– Eight thousand six hundred and fifty.

There is an expression «nerves of steel». Anyone, who was next to Captain De Bont at those moments, realized that there are also «titanium nerves». The captain was clearly playing games with death and the risk of defeat, which increased with every meter of dive, did not instill any fear in him.

The speed dropped to sixteen knots.

There was a noticeable tremor in Morgan’s voice.

– Eight thousand seven hundred.

A metallic crash outside made the entire crew scream, except for the one who was ready to go to such expense for the sake of the goal. Looking at his computer screen, which displayed information about the current status of the submarine, Henry shouted:

– CAPTAIN! DEFORMATION OF THE HULL!

– Be patient, baby! – the captain said affectionately, as if he was addressing a woman. – Just a little more. It’s almost…

The body began to rattle in places where the casing was located.

At a depth of eight thousand seven hundred and twenty meters a gigantic hydrothermal spring appeared straight ahead. A stream of hot air of unimaginable dimensions rushed into the expanses of water.

The speed dropped to fourteen knots. The Amphibia was separated from the monster by twenty-four meters.

The decisive moment has arrived! Captain De Bont slowed down a little, tilted the hull slightly to port and moved the trim to the stern, lifting the bow up. With his next action the captain gave the submarine the sharpest possible turn to the left, avoiding a collision with the hydrothermal vent. The predator, at full speed, entered the stream of hot air of incredible force, and the captain shouted at the top of his lungs:

– DIE!!!

The Amphibia was moving upward. The depth decreased, the speed gradually increased. The body stopped shaking, and Morgan continued to speak in a trembling voice, but now from relief:

– Captain. Let me confess.

– Confess what?

– I’m a coward.

The captain immediately asked:

– Are your pants dry?

– For now, yes.

– Then why such conclusions – Captain De Bont added with a grin.

Everyone just sighed in relief and screamed about how their lives had just hung in the balance.

The captain unfastened his belt and went to the platform, asking Henry to display a holographic map of the ocean floor.

Suddenly the restrained voice of the ichthyologist was heard:

– It’s too early to rejoice.

Moving with a confident, businesslike gait towards the platform, Captain De Bont replied:

– I don’t like your pessimism, Mr. Cage. Or do you doubt my skills?

– I don’t think this creature is so easy to kill.

– And of course, you will tell me why?

With his hands folded in front of him, the ichthyologist firmly stated:

– When he passed by the starboard side and entered the hydrothermal vent, I switched to the on-board camera and saw him in close-up. Point blank. His body is not covered with scales, or some super-dense skin. It is covered with a shell. Firstly, it explains how he can withstand such pressure. And since this is clearly not a basilosaur, it is likely that it lacks cavities. This also explains the resistance to great pressure. And secondly, a shell of this size may well protect it from high temperatures. At least for a few seconds so that it has time to escape from a hydrothermal vent.

– How late you find out everything – the captain said indignantly.

Their dialogue was interrupted by the alarming voice of the senior mate:

– Captain, activity on the left side. Heading two-zero-nine. Distance four hundred fifteen meters. Speed THIRTY KNOTS!!!

Stunned, Captain De Bont stuck to the screen and, without looking up from the flashing signature, turned to the ichthyologist:

– Mr. Cage, it’s clear why it’s still breathing. But can you tell me why this beast is so excited?

Hector kept his tone calm:

– Nothing surprising. It moved slowly due to the bleeding wound. The hydrothermal vent cauterized it. The blood has stopped oozing, so it behaves as if under doping.

The captain turned on his loud commanding voice again, returning to his seat and fastening his seat belts:

– Everyone stay put! Morgan, what’s the depth?

– Eight thousand three hundred and seventy meters!

– Watch the distance! – The captain lowered his eyelids, took a deep breath, and found the strength to say: – Prepare for a collision. The beast will catch up with us.

At the same time, Captain De Bont squeezed the maximum twenty-two knots out of the damaged propellers, lifting the bow upward by twenty degrees. The Amphibia was ascending, trying to avoid depths above the limit in case of systems failure.

– One hundred and fifty meters!

The captain’s last words plunged the crew into the cruel reality that awaited them in the next minute. Only Hector Cage did not have such thoughts. And in general, he didn’t really hear the captain’s words. All his attention was occupied by the ancient monster chasing the submarine, which in appearance was very similar to basilosaurus – a prehistoric cetacean predator. But that wasn’t it. This ocean dweller was five meters longer, had an extra fin above its head and a shell comparable to real armor. It didn’t even move its four legs, which resemble the flippers of sea turtles. The snake-like movements of the long spine in the vertical plane imparted crazy speed. It approached the Amphibia without any problems. The captain told the crew what needed to be said. His underwater bird was damaged and his top speed dropped by as much as thirteen knots, and this fish-like creature did not require any power or propellers to accelerate from a standstill to higher speeds.

– One hundred meters!

Hector looked straight at the screen, where the clearly visible outlines of a predator were already visible through the aft night vision camera.

– Fifty meters!

– COME ON, BEAUTY! – Captain De Bont shouted, begging the Amphibia not to give up and speed up. But twenty-two knots on the screen was her limit.

– Twenty-five meters! Ten!..

Here he is, the stranger running away, who does not move a single part of his body, but only blows a bunch of bubbles from the back, among which something round spins endlessly. This annoyed him.

The wound didn’t bother him so much anymore. He could have hit the back of the body with his muzzle, but he decided not to play and started a fight like an adult. He swam forward another fifteen meters, diving headfirst. His body curved as much as his skeleton allowed. The spring was tense. A wide and powerful tail rushed straight to the center of the alien’s body, cutting through the water on its way.

– Twenty-five meters! Ten! COLLISION!!!

It was as if an earthquake with a magnitude of nine had occurred, only all the power hit one specific point and the Amphibia turned into a building from which the support was falling away.

Sparks flew throughout the central compartment. Everything that was not attached to the body from the inside flew around the compartment. The hull began to rattle again. The crew’s panicked cries were drowned out by the noise of the submarine’s deforming hull. From the far end of the submarine came the ringing noises of the slamming doors of open compartments.

BAM!!! – another blow. Now along the second side closer to the bow.

The engineer’s chair fell off its mounting. Henry was blown away like a feather. The submarine began to tilt towards the bow. All objects flew down, past the central compartment. Henry and his chair were stuck in the passage between the central compartment and the stairs that led to the entrance hatch. The belt caught on a steel pipe. The lock securing the belts seemed to be jammed. The engineer looked up and saw that the door to the women’s cabin was hanging on one hinge. It just wanted to succumb to the law of universal gravitation and fall down right on his head. Captain De Bont unbuckled himself from his seat and jumped across the passage to the opposite side from which the engineer was hanging. The captain pulled the seat belts outward, increasing the space so that Henry could crawl out of the seat, which he began to do, moving his legs in a hurry, when suddenly…

BAM!!!

Another blow, from which Henry jumped out of his chair by inertia. Holding onto part of the hull with one hand, at the last moment the captain managed to grab Henry and prevent him from hitting his head a second time. The door hatch to the women’s cabin broke off its last hinge and rushed down like a weight. Captain De Bont pushed Henry away from him with all his might. The engineer flew deep into the workspace, sheltered from the passage. Pushing the engineer, the captain himself experienced pressure on his body, pressing against the inner lining. Rotating at high speed, the door hatch flew along the passage, with a roar clinging to the floor, ceiling and walls, which at that moment lost their usual position and turned into a vertical tunnel.

– POWER SUPPLY TO ZERO!!! – the captain shouted.

Henry began to crawl along the wall, as rock climbers do, heading towards the central control panel of the reactor. Having torn off the lid, in a panic he did not immediately see the red button. For some it launches nuclear bombs, and for others it cuts off the energy.

The next blow came at the stern and turned out to be much weaker, but because of it the engineer did not have time to press the button. With the last of his strength, with a groan, he continued to grab the edge of the control panel. The submarine shook and the lights went off. The screens stopped transmitting images from outside. The lighting fixtures have gone out. All compartments were plunged into deep darkness. Hearts beat faster. Breathing became faster. The fear continued to grow. Deprived of sight, all crew members began to listen more carefully to sounds. The engines stalled. A crazy vibration ran through the body. From their own feelings, everyone understood that the body was smoothly changing position. Somewhere in the bow, the noise of rolling objects and a rumbling door was heard. As soon as the vibration died down, loud, adrenaline-filled, rapid sighs began to be clearly heard in the central compartment.

All crew members held tightly to whatever they could get their hands on. The submarine continued to change its position. In the direction of movement, it has already become clear that the floor becomes a floor, and the ceiling becomes a ceiling.

Feeling his body no longer being pulled into the abyss that the passage had become, Captain De Bont unclenched his fingers and leaned his elbows on the floor, which was still at a slight slope. Trying to speak as quietly as possible, the captain said:

– Morgan?

– Captain?

– Is everything okay?

– Yes. Alive

– Fine. Mister Cage?

– Fine.

– Miss Fox?

– I’m fine – Kayla croaked with a groan.

– Henry?

– It’s okay.

At this point, Captain De Bont took in as much air as his lungs would allow.

– That seems it left – the first mate whispered.

The complete silence was broken by a sudden blow. The shock occurred somewhere in the bow area. The body rattled. The stern suddenly pulled down sharply. The submarine continued its sharp tilt, which ended with a noticeable impact that spread evenly along the entire submarine, accompanied by a series of screams and curses.

When the situation calmed down, no movement of the body was felt. The Amphibia rested firmly on the bottom, tilting slightly.

The voice of the on-board computer echoed throughout the cabin:

– Starting emergency power.

A dim red light filled the compartments. By nature, the color red was inherent in a person in such a way that at the subconscious level it was associated with blood, something harmful and dangerous, posing a direct threat to life. In those moments, the crew experienced real danger with the utmost possible threat to life.

Gradually the red light began to give way to working lights. The central compartment began to fill with the sounds of systems slowly starting up. The hum of operating equipment resumed everywhere.