4. The Nautilus

So there are things going on that the captain doesn’t want us to see, you think. That makes you uncomfortable, but you don’t know what will happen if you refuse the captain’s offer.

“You said we would be free on board, but what do you mean by that?” you ask.

“You will be free to come and go, to see all that goes on here—except for those rare times when I say you must stay in your quarters. You will have the same basic freedoms that my companions and I enjoy.”

“You mean we will never see our family, our friends, our countries again?” you ask.

“Yes, but you’ll find it’s not as bad as you think.”

Ned finally speaks up. “I will never give my word that I won’t try to escape.”

“I didn’t ask you,” says the captain coldly.

“What you ask of us is cruel,” you tell him.

“No,” says the captain, “it’s fair. You attacked me. You are my prisoners of war. I’m keeping you alive and comfortable when I could plunge you into the depths of the ocean. My life is a secret that cannot be revealed to the world. In keeping you here, it isn’t you I guard—it is myself.”

“So our choice is between life and death?” you ask.

“Simply put, yes,” says the captain. “But I don’t think you and your companions will have much to complain about. I know you, Mr. Arronax. Your book on the depths of the sea is one of my favorites. But you haven’t seen half of what lies under the oceans. You will discover marvels you never imagined.”

You have to admit, that does sound exciting. Yet you wonder if it is worth losing your freedom.

“What should we call you?” you ask.

“I am Captain Nemo. You and your companions are passengers on board the Nautilus.”

Captain Nemo calls for a crewman and talks to him in the strange language of theirs. Then he turns to Ned and Conseil. “There is a meal waiting for you in your cabin. Follow this man.”

The captain invites you to have breakfast with him. You follow him down a lighted hallway and into a decorated dining room.

Your meal is made up entirely of food prepared from the sea. Captain Nemo describes each course—where it comes from and how it is caught and prepared. He tells you that he gave up food from the land a long time ago, and he never gets sick now.

To get him talking about something other than food, you ask the obvious. “So you like the sea, Captain?”

Captain Nemo’s whole attitude changes. “I love it!” he exclaims. “It covers seven-tenths of the globe, and it is pure and healthy. In fact, Professor, the globe began with the sea. Who is to say it won’t end with it? The sea doesn’t belong to evil men. On the surface, men fight and kill each other. But at thirty feet below the surface, they have no influence. Their power disappears. Here I am free!” He slams the table with his fist.

His attitude changes to calm again. “Now, if you would like a tour of the Nautilus, I will take you.”

You follow Captain Nemo to the back of the dining room. He opens a set of doors which lead into a large library, complete with leather couches, reading desks and an enormous center table covered with old newspapers.

“There are thousands of books here,” you exclaim.

“These are all that bind me to the earth,” says Captain Nemo. “On the day the Nautilus first plunged beneath the waters, I bought all of my books and newspapers. You are free to make use of the library.”

Captain Nemo leads you through another set of doors. You find yourself in a huge room filled with paintings, sculptures, and cases upon cases of natural wonders. Everything on display is carefully labeled. There’s even a piano in the corner.

“Come, Mr. Arronax. I will show you your cabin.”

You follow Captain Nemo down a hallway that leads toward the front of the submarine.

Your cabin is an elegant room with a bed, dresser, and other fine furniture. Captain Nemo also shows you that his room is next to yours.

However, his room is nothing like yours. It feels like the room a monk would have, with only a small iron bed, a table, and a few personal items.

When you ask about the source of the submarine’s mysterious lights, Captain Nemo replies, “Electricity. It lights, warms, and powers everything.”

“That’s impossible,” you say. In your experience, electricity has only been made in small amounts, not even close to what is needed to power a ship like this.

Captain Nemo smiles and explains that his ship can produce electricity straight from seawater.

You are amazed.

The captain has more wonders to show you on board the Nautilus. He takes you to the center of the submarine where there is a sort of well that opens between two walls. An iron ladder leads to the upper end.

“What is the ladder used for?” you ask.

“It leads to a small boat,” he says.

“You have a boat?” you ask in surprise.

“We use it for fishing,” says Captain Nemo.

Your tour ends in the engine room. You pepper the captain with questions: How many men crew the ship? How fast can the submarine go? How can it dive so deep?

He will not answer.

***

Later, Ned and Conseil join you in your room.

Ned immediately starts planning an escape. “Can you tell me how many men are on board?” he asks. “Ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred?”

“I don’t know, Ned,” you answer. “And I think it would be best, at least for now, to give up on the idea of escaping. This ship is a masterpiece of technology. I wish to study it. Let’s wait and see what happens.”

“What do you mean see?” snaps Ned. “We can see nothing in this iron prison!”

The words hardly leave Ned’s mouth when the room goes suddenly black.

You hear a grinding noise in the walls. Then light shines through two huge windows. The outside ocean is lit up by electric lights. You can see for a mile all around the Nautilus.

Ned’s jaw drops, and he stares out the windows. Colorful fish, attracted by the electric lights, race with the submarine. You, Ned, and Conseil watch them for more than two hours before the panels slam shut. The electric lights of the room turn back on.

Ned and Conseil go back to their own cabin, and you wait for Captain Nemo. He never appears. Even though the Nautilus is a wonder, you can’t help but feel uneasy about Captain Nemo. Who is he? Where does he come from? Why does he hate humanity, and what will he do because of it?

You’re still not sure you made the correct choice in agreeing to stay on board, and you wish you had some answers to these burning questions. Is the captain up to no good? Should you demand to know more? Or should you trust that his secrets are not too terrible? What will you choose to do?