the whole ocean floor came alive and started shaking wildly.
An aftershock!
The ground beneath me shifted violently, and I tumbled over the edge of the rock cliff, past the
Verne-1
, and down, down farther into the abyss!
11
The Monster of the Deep
Down … down … down …
It’s amazing how fast you can fall when you’re underwater—not as fast as falling through air, but close. Especially when you’re weighted down.
I thought,
I could keep falling till I hit the center of the Earth and get melted into jelly.
I banged against a boulder—YOW, that hurt!—and then landed hard on another one—OOF!
I got up and looked around. Beyond the boulders was a flat abyssal plain. The aftershock must have raised the part where the
Jules Verne-1
was trapped, I realized, because it was higher up the slope. I had no idea how much higher, or how far I’d fallen. I figured maybe thirty feet, but it could have been three times that, for all I knew. It was too dark to see much of anything.
Well, looking on the bright side, at least my long tumble was over. Now, as the water began to clear, I took stock of my situation, beaming my helmets searchlight upward.
The slope was steep but not impossible to climb. Trouble was, it was mostly rubble—pebbles and sand—that might come loose at any time, sending me straight back down to the bottom.
Around the
Verne-1
, there had at least been some sea life. Here, there was nothing at all.
Strange
. I wasn’t that far away from it, yet it seemed like a whole different underwater realm—totally empty of life.
Had the aftershock scared the fish into hiding? If so, then they should be starting to re-emerge around now.
Where were they … ?
An eerie feeling came over me. I decided it was time to quit thinking so much and start climbing instead—especially since my oxygen meter was starting to run alarmingly low.
I clambered over the boulders that had stoppedmy fall. As I crested the second and larger one, I thought I saw something move behind it.
Something
big
.
Maybe I imagined it
, I thought. I kept climbing, but I also kept checking behind me, to see if anything was following me. The beam of my searchlight pierced the inky blackness.
Nothing. Just boulders and endless, flat sea bottom.
Don’t be ridiculous
, I told myself.
What could be down this far under the surface that would be big enough, and mean enough, to take on a human being?
I tried to laugh it off, but it wasn’t happening. I kept climbing, making slow progress, losing a foot of ground for every two feet I advanced.
Once more I looked back—and a dark cloud blanketed my vision.
What the—?
Then, out of the swirling cloud, a gigantic tentacle emerged, snaking around me and tightening its grip before I even knew what was happening!
The black cloud cleared, and I found myself staring into the blank, hungry eyes of that most elusive of sea creatures—a giant squid!
The huge tentacle lifted me up with ease. Now thebeast rose from its hiding place behind the boulder and brought me toward its gaping mouth.
Was this bow I was going to end my days? As dinner for a giant squid?
“I don’t think so,” I said. With my free arm, I hit the button on my chest-mounted console and activated my Swift Kick Shark Zapper.
Yes, I know it was a stupid idea. A zapper designed to deliver a shock to a sharks unique electromagnetic locator organ should have had no effect on something so totally different as this giant squid.
But it was worth a try. The squids gigantic tentacle was squeezing the life out of me, pressure suit or no pressure suit.
ZZZZTTT!!!
To my total surprise, the zapper worked like a charm! The monstrous tentacle loosened, and the giant squid bolted away, leaving me alone and gasping in a cloud of its ink.
Ah, alone at last.
I stood there, waiting for the squids cloud of ink to clear, so that I could find the cliff and climb back up.
Nothing.
Why wasn’t it clearing?
In a flash of sudden
An aftershock!
The ground beneath me shifted violently, and I tumbled over the edge of the rock cliff, past the
Verne-1
, and down, down farther into the abyss!
11
The Monster of the Deep
Down … down … down …
It’s amazing how fast you can fall when you’re underwater—not as fast as falling through air, but close. Especially when you’re weighted down.
I thought,
I could keep falling till I hit the center of the Earth and get melted into jelly.
I banged against a boulder—YOW, that hurt!—and then landed hard on another one—OOF!
I got up and looked around. Beyond the boulders was a flat abyssal plain. The aftershock must have raised the part where the
Jules Verne-1
was trapped, I realized, because it was higher up the slope. I had no idea how much higher, or how far I’d fallen. I figured maybe thirty feet, but it could have been three times that, for all I knew. It was too dark to see much of anything.
Well, looking on the bright side, at least my long tumble was over. Now, as the water began to clear, I took stock of my situation, beaming my helmets searchlight upward.
The slope was steep but not impossible to climb. Trouble was, it was mostly rubble—pebbles and sand—that might come loose at any time, sending me straight back down to the bottom.
Around the
Verne-1
, there had at least been some sea life. Here, there was nothing at all.
Strange
. I wasn’t that far away from it, yet it seemed like a whole different underwater realm—totally empty of life.
Had the aftershock scared the fish into hiding? If so, then they should be starting to re-emerge around now.
Where were they … ?
An eerie feeling came over me. I decided it was time to quit thinking so much and start climbing instead—especially since my oxygen meter was starting to run alarmingly low.
I clambered over the boulders that had stoppedmy fall. As I crested the second and larger one, I thought I saw something move behind it.
Something
big
.
Maybe I imagined it
, I thought. I kept climbing, but I also kept checking behind me, to see if anything was following me. The beam of my searchlight pierced the inky blackness.
Nothing. Just boulders and endless, flat sea bottom.
Don’t be ridiculous
, I told myself.
What could be down this far under the surface that would be big enough, and mean enough, to take on a human being?
I tried to laugh it off, but it wasn’t happening. I kept climbing, making slow progress, losing a foot of ground for every two feet I advanced.
Once more I looked back—and a dark cloud blanketed my vision.
What the—?
Then, out of the swirling cloud, a gigantic tentacle emerged, snaking around me and tightening its grip before I even knew what was happening!
The black cloud cleared, and I found myself staring into the blank, hungry eyes of that most elusive of sea creatures—a giant squid!
The huge tentacle lifted me up with ease. Now thebeast rose from its hiding place behind the boulder and brought me toward its gaping mouth.
Was this bow I was going to end my days? As dinner for a giant squid?
“I don’t think so,” I said. With my free arm, I hit the button on my chest-mounted console and activated my Swift Kick Shark Zapper.
Yes, I know it was a stupid idea. A zapper designed to deliver a shock to a sharks unique electromagnetic locator organ should have had no effect on something so totally different as this giant squid.
But it was worth a try. The squids gigantic tentacle was squeezing the life out of me, pressure suit or no pressure suit.
ZZZZTTT!!!
To my total surprise, the zapper worked like a charm! The monstrous tentacle loosened, and the giant squid bolted away, leaving me alone and gasping in a cloud of its ink.
Ah, alone at last.
I stood there, waiting for the squids cloud of ink to clear, so that I could find the cliff and climb back up.
Nothing.
Why wasn’t it clearing?
In a flash of sudden
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