Sci-Fi Flash Collection - 2. Under World

Nathan pounded the emergency button on the airlock as the water roared toward him. The watertight door slammed closed just before the wall of water reached it. He knew he had to make it to the launch bay so that he could take one of the scout subs back to the main colony.

He let the desperation of the situation settle in for a moment as he watched through the small window in the door as water completely filled the compartment next to his. Eighteen, and barely that, was too young to die.

He snapped out of those thoughts, spun around and made his way onward. As soon as he was clear of the section break, he pressed the close button on the next door. The computer would then attempt to pressurize the area to see if the water flow could be halted. He turned around and ran towards the launch bay, praying silently that the explosions hadn’t cut off his access. He wished again that he hadn’t bothered to get out of his bed this morning. He arrived at one of his many innovations that had been installed on this rig. He pulled out a tablet and plugged into the maintenance jack. The holographic display of his handheld roared to life, and he was able to view an entire schematic of the rig with a graphical representation of the flooding. Command and Engineering were both under water. Dreading knowing for sure what he already expected, he touched the staff button, and the red dots that represented humans were overlaid in the hologram. He was the only one with life signs. He closed his eyes tightly for a long moment.

After several deep breaths, he once again cleared his thoughts so he could try to escape. Another explosion rocked the rig. The display failed, and the lights went out. In the pitch black, two miles below the surface of the ocean, Nathan waited. It took nearly thirty seconds before the emergency power kicked in and the corridor was flooded in red light.

“Shit! That last explosion probably took out the launch bay or the corridors to it. And now I’m talking to myself.”

He turned and ran back towards the way he came from until he reached a small door. He yanked it open and saw the ladder that went up into one of the escape pods. Using one was a last resort. He couldn’t surface because he needed to be decompressed first. The pod was in fact, not designed to allow for surfacing anyway. It was intended to separate from the rig and send out a fantastic amount of noise so that sonar could pick up on it and rescue subs could come and find it. He hadn’t wanted to use it initially, because he’d be a sitting duck to whoever was attacking the rig, as that was not an uncommon occurrence.

He knew the rig was doomed, and he knew he would die if he stayed. His chances of survival were only slightly higher when he yanked the release lever, sealing the pod and launching it. As soon as the pod cleared, it started to ping to attract attention.

Almost as quickly, Nathan was knocked to the floor as the pod slammed into something. It rolled about a few times before righting itself. In one of the rolls, Nathan slammed into the control panel head first, knocking himself out.