It took two hours for the DSRV to ascend to the surface. The pilots of the DSRV in the front of the sub exercised great caution in making sure the crewmen in the chamber behind them wouldn’t suffer any decompression sickness. The design of the Challenger meant that nitrogen levels on the research vessel were almost the same as on the surface, but even so, they surfaced very slowly from the six hundred foot depth where they had rescued the crew. It gave the weary Challenger survivors time to calm themselves and discuss what they had just endured.
Ethan, the only crewman of the DSRV to have survived the rescue, finally broke the silence. “What happened down there? What were those things?”
Tony exchanged glances with Jessica and Theresa and shook his head, “I have no idea.”
The sailor looked at Theresa and Jessica. They both shook their heads. Finally, Jessica spoke. “You saw it. What do you think it was?”
He stared in disbelief.
“Exactly,” she replied, her head dropping back against the hull of the DSRV.
“How did it get inside the ship?” he asked.
Jessica took a long, deep breath and sat up straight. “One of the experiments brought bacteria inside the ship. My best guess is the bacteria changed its host into whatever you saw down there.”
Ethan’s contorted face showed his disgust. “Changed its host? You mean that thing I saw was human? That was one of your crew?”
Jessica nodded. “There’s a bacteria that lives in the deep sea which enables animals to live in the superheated water of the thermal vents. It keeps the animals from boiling. Whatever that bacteria does to protect the host animal, it also changes the host into something else. It was like an infection that turned people into whatever you saw down there.”
Ethan shook his head. “But there were little ones, too. The walls and floor were covered with them. What was all that?”
Jessica shrugged. “I don’t know exactly. I think it’s like a form of regeneration. You cut off a starfish arm, and it can regrow a body. I think it was something like that.”
“We were told we were rescuing seven of you. Four of your crew turned into that thing I saw?”
“No,” said Jessica quietly.
“One crewman got infected. He turned into something else that killed two and infected a second one,” said Tony. He shook his head. “I dunno. I think that’s what happened.” He looked around at Theresa and Jessica. “Hell. Maybe I have no idea what happened.” He rubbed his shaved head, now with a few days of black stubble growing back in.
Ethan looked up at nothing, a thousand mile stare. “I saw what it did to our two guys. They never had a chance.” He paused and looked at the three of them. “How did you survive down there?”
Tony shook his head. “A little luck and some rubbing alcohol.”
“Yeah,” said Theresa angrily. “We disinfected the shit out of those things.” She forced a smile, but her eyes were filled with tears. She kept thinking about Mike, the shipmate with whom she shared a mutual crush.
“Alcohol kills them? Really? That’s it?”
“That’s it. Simple enough,” said Tony.
“So what happened to the one that was still on the ship?” asked Ethan.
Tony looked at Theresa and Jessica and made a sour face. “Davy Jones’ locker. Let’s just hope that’s where it stays.”