The water grew murkier. The light from the nose of the sub seemed to stop just a few feet away. Jones slowed their decent. “Naks. How far are we from bottom?”
“‘Naks?’” Larry started laughing.
“Put a lid on it, Flamb-chop,” Nakamura said. He was staring intently at a small screen on the side of the console. He turned a dial and a low beeping started to come out of the speakers. “The sonar is picking up lots of debris about twenty feet down.”
“Let’s get a better look.” Jones pushed another button and the big TV came sliding back down from the ceiling.
“Video games or movie?” Larry said.
“Neither. 3-D imaging.” Jones turned on the TV and a three-dimensional image of the floor of Tokyo Bay filled the screen. “I’ve gotta give the Nori guy credit. He’s got all the toys,” Jones smiled.
“Is anyone else wondering why Nori has all these toys?” Isabella said.
“What do you mean?” Neil said.
“Nori lends you his submarine. Maybe he knows what you’re looking for and maybe he wants you to find it? It saves him the trouble.”
They all looked around the cabin suspiciously, half expecting some giant Nori face to appear, chuckling.
“Hello?” Larry called out.
Nothing.
“You’re just being paranoid,” Larry said.
Isabella glared at him.
Nakamura watched the screen. “It doesn’t hurt to be cautious. I can’t imagine the comatose captain back in the hammock was something Nori had planned.”
Neil wasn’t so sure. “I think it’s worth taking a close look around the sub while Jones looks for something treasurey-looking on the screen there. What kind of treasure are we looking for anyway?”
They all shrugged. “Actually, I have no idea,” Larry said. “I kind of imagined some big pile of coins sitting around in a box.”
Suddenly, the sub slammed to a stop. They were all thrown around the cabin. The sub stared to list to the side and the engines groaned. Jones reached up from the floor and shut them off. The nose of the sub seemed to be sinking.
“What was that?” Larry asked, rubbing his forehead.
They looked out of the front of the sub. The lights shone on something large and square, covered with mollusks.
“We hit a box?” Nakamura said.
“Is that the treasure?” Neil said.
Jones looked at the GPS. “This is the place, roughly.” He turned on more lights. The cube was almost completely sunk into the muck. The TV just showed a slight bump in the floor of the bay. If they hadn’t hit it, they might have missed it. Fish swam around a series of bubbles that began to rise toward the surface. “Whatever it is, we just jammed the nose of our sub into it.”
“I hope those bubbles are from the box and not our sub,” Isabella said.
“So do I,” Jones said. “With the pressure down here we’ll find out soon enough if the front of the sub starts caving in.”
“Hey, sad sacks, how come no one else is excited?” Larry said, beaming. He pointed out of the front window. “That’s it. That’s the treasure!”
“Maybe,” Nakamura said. “It could also be a hunk of an old battleship or part of some old bridge they threw down here to be an artificial reef.”
“Party pooper,” Larry said. “I say it’s the treasure.”
“What, you have a hunch?” Nakamura said.
Larry stopped smiling and folded his arms. “First of all, the sea growth on the box is consistent with the time period of about a hundred years. It takes about that long for that crusting of mussels and also for that amount of that particular type of coral to grow. Then there are the obvious patina and oxidation levels of the iron—also consistent with about a hundred years at this depth and temperature. Much longer and the salt in the water would have eaten it all away. AND, the silt has been built up around it by the current but hasn’t completely buried it . . . also consistent with—all together now—a hundred years or so underwater.” Larry rested his case.
Nakamura took his finger and dramatically pushed his lower chin up to close his mouth.
Isabella applauded and Larry took a deep bow. “I must share this award with Maxine Gill, shipwreck hunter.”
Jones seemed less impressed, as always. “Okay, genius, we found the treasure. Now what?”
Larry’s smile didn’t fade a bit. “You said Nori had all the toys. What are the chances there’s some deep-sea scuba gear inside this baby?”
* * *
The first thing Larry and Neil did once they were outside the sub was to check the nose. Luckily, it wasn’t damaged, but it had become entangled with a series of iron chains that were draped over the top of the iron box. Larry swam up to the front window and gave a thumbs-up while swimming in a slow circle, like a seal.
“There is an intercom, you idiot,” Jones said into his microphone. “It works if we’re close to each other.”
“Oh, you’re no fun,” Larry said. “If you lower the nose and then tilt back up, you should be able to shake free of the chains. Let me and Neil get to the other side first.”
“Why should I?” Jones said, gunning the engine.
“You know your mike is still on!” Neil yelled.
“He knows,” Larry said. Then Larry splashed away from the sub, singing, “I’m a little mermaid shrimp and trout. Here is my haddock, here is my . . . What kind of fish rhymes with trout?”
“Remind me again why you two idiots are handling this?” Jones barked.
“We’re the only ones who fit into the suits. And you’re the only one who knows how to drive that thing.”
“And you and I lost to Isabella and Nakamura in rock-paper-scissors,” Neil added.
“Oh, yeah, and that,” Larry said.
Jones nudged the sub free and then Larry and Neil began examining the metal box. “It looks like the chains were used to lift it down. They must have had a crane on the ship.”
“So they sailed out here, dumped the treasure, then sailed off?” Neil said.
“Yes and no by the looks of it,” Larry said. “Yes, they dumped the treasure, but then the ship was blown up. There are fragments of wood down here, but scattered around. My guess is the crew unwillingly went down with the ship.”
“No witnesses that way,” Neil said.
“I bet the artist was on the boat too.” Larry stared at the box for a moment, thinking. “Here’s what happened, I bet. The Takoyakis got tipped off that the emperor was about to attack, so they picked a spot to hide their treasure where nobody was going to find it, in the middle of the water. Then they commissioned the prints and told the artist to hide a map inside. Then they sent him and the crew out to dump it . . . which they did.”
“Then BOOM,” Neil said.
Larry nodded. “The good news is that the chains still look strong enough to use. Ramming into the box loosened it from the muck, so it shouldn’t take too much more to lift it, assuming it’s not too heavy.”
“So how do you propose we do that?” Nakamura asked.
“I think we could use the hook on the chains to attach them to the sub’s railing.”
“And lift it to the surface? I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“No. I agree. But when we smashed into the box, we actually broke the seal on the door. Half the door is still below the muck level. So if we can just drag the thing out, we should be able to wrench the door open.”
“Okay, it’s worth a try,” Jones said.
“Those bubbles were a good sign, actually. It means the stuff inside stayed dry and wasn’t corroded. But now that we’ve let the seawater in, we’re going to need to get the treasure out fast.”
“So what do we need to do exactly?” Neil asked.
“Hook these chains onto the railing and let the sub do the hard work. Easy!” Larry said.
Neil and Larry had to strain to lift the chains while trying to swim upward in the cold water. “This is EASY?” Neil said, breathing heavily. “I can’t wait to see your plan for opening the big iron door.”