Tomb of Zeus (Atlantis) (16 page)

Javi nodded and said, “Things just got a lot more complicated…”

South Caicos Island

East Bay Marina…

Jack, Javi and Helena walked toward the sign that read “Caicos Adventures”. Jack had used the dive shop’s professional services three years before to assist in locating the crystal globe and now, with the new tasks to find another crystal, he elected to use them once more.

As they entered the shop, they looked around for Greg Wilson, the owner/operator. Several people were inside, browsing the racks of wet suits, air tanks, and other related equipment. Spotting a sign hanging from the ceiling that read “Services”, Jack headed over to inquire.

“Hi, I’m Jack Roberts. Is Greg hanging around anywhere? He’s expecting us,” he said casually to the young man working the counter.

The young man’s face suddenly
became somber.

“I’m sorry Jack, there’s been a tragedy here at the shop. Greg was out on a diving expedition a couple of days ago and never returned.”

“Oh no! How horrible. I’m so sorry,” Jack responded, news of the tragedy ripping through him. “Has there been any news? Does anyone know what happened?”

The young man shook his head solemnly.

“I’m afraid not. They basically vanished without a trace. Authorities are speculating that while they were diving, their boat must have gotten caught in one of those freak storms that occasionally occur and sunk.”

Jack thought about his similar experience at sea that happen three years before. He knew exactly how savage those storms could be. He shuddered to think that those men died in such a terrifying way.

“Wow, that’s so awful. I don’t know what to say,” he responded, momentarily overcome by the thought of it all.

“Jack, what’s going on? Is there a problem? Don’t tell me they double booked our reservation,” Helena said, walking up to Jack from behind.

“There’s been a terrible tragedy,” Jack said sadly.

The young man could see Jack was having difficulty reporting the news and cut in:

“The dive team you hired is missing and feared dead,” he said.

“
No, how horrible. I just spoke to them a couple weeks ago when I made the arrangements,” Helena responded, shaking her head in disbelief.

“You must be Helena Galanos,” the young man said. “We tried to get ahold of you but the number you gave came up as out of service. I’m sorry you had to learn about it this way.”

“Out of service? That’s impossible. I’ve got my phone right here. What’s the number you have for me?” she inquired.

The young man typed a few characters into the computer, then read her number aloud.

“I see why. Someone transposed the last two digits,” Jack cut in, solving the mystery for both of them. “an easy mistake to make.” He thought about the situation and felt torn: “Hmm, with a tragedy like this, kinda takes the wind out of your sails… I don’t even feel like diving now, and what’s even worse is even if I did, we’re still going to need to find another dive team.”

“I’m sorry Jack,” Helena responded. “When you asked me to call them and make the arrangements, I never thought to call back and confirm everything was still on. It just never occurred to me to do so. I guess if I had, we would’ve know
n and been able to make other arrangements.”

“Ma’am, you don’t have to make other arrangement. We still have you booked for the next month,” the young man responded.

“I don’t understand. With whom?” she asked.

“With Greg Wilson’s whereabouts still uncertain, his wife is running the shop in the meantime. She hired some more
pros to run your diving expedition. I hear they’re real good too, so you shouldn’t have any problem going ahead with your plans.”

“Well, I guess if everything’s still in place, we might as well go forward with the dive,” Helena suggested to Jack.

“I guess so,” he replied. “It just feels so wrong… like we should cancel out of respect for Greg.”

“
NO
! You can’t do that,” Helena blurted anxiously. She softened her tone and continued, “What I mean is, I’m sure Craig Wilson’s wife is running the shop because she probably doesn’t have much choice. It’s probably her only source of income. I’m betting she’s counting on the cash from our expedition to pay her bills.”

Jack thought about
her argument and nodded.

“Why cause the poor woman financial troubles?
She’s got enough to think about with the death of her husband,” Jack reasoned. “I guess we’ll go ahead as planned.”

Two days later…

Standing on the dock of Oyster peer, Javi, Jack and Helena watched the dive team prepare the fifty foot dive boat. Loading on tanks, supplies, electronics, as well as food and water, they looked professional and efficient.

“I have to say, these guys are looking good. In fact, a little too good,” Jack said aloud.

“What do you mean by that?” Helena asked nervously.

“Check out this boat. It’s like new with all the latest electronics. When we used Greg Wilson, his boat looked like it was held together with duct tape and glue. I’m wondering if we’ll see a bunch of hidden charges on the bill when we’re all done here. What they’re charging me can’t possibly pay for all this,”
he speculated.

“Hey, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” Helena joked. “They must’ve given Greg’s wife a break on their service due to the circumstance.”

“I guess,” Jack responded simply.

An hour later, with all supplies and people packed aboard, the crew started the massive twin engines and slowly rolled out of the harbor. Within
minutes of reaching open water, Capt. Gerald Green pushed the throttles open and skimmed along the surface at a blistering pace. An hour and a half later, he pulled back on the throttles allowing the boat to slow.

Jack looked at his watch in surprise.

“Wow, amazing. I knew we were moving fast, but this is really impressive. We’re here in about half the time,” he remarked happily.

As the boat slowed to a stop,
the sound of a winch rumbled from the forward deck, as the anchor dropped to the ocean floor.

With little direction, the men sprang to action like a programmed machine, readying the equipment of the dives for that day. Jack sat back and marveled at their efficiency.

“Man, these guys are well worth the cash. It’s almost like I’m watching a military operation,” he joked.

“They are impressive,” Javi joined in.

Watching the men drop tethered equipment into the sea, Helena wondered aloud about the length of the expedition.

“With guys this efficient, how long do you think this’ll take?” she asked.

“To be honest, no one knows. We could spend a lifetime here and come back with nothing,” Jack responded. “But we have a bunch of things going for us: just look at all this equipment. They have vacuums to process all the sand and silt down there. They can scour huge areas of the sea floor in very little time. They have DVP’s, diver propulsion vehicles, that can pull us though the water way faster than mere fins, conserving our energy for the most important task, namely excavation. They have the latest in side-scan radar and ultrasound. Also, the crystal globe we’ll be looking for isn’t some small dust spec. It’s the size of a small bowling ball… pretty hard to miss once you’ve removed the top layer of sand. In addition, I have a fairly good idea of where the other crystal is. I don’t want to jinx us, but I think we’ll find it inside of a month,” he reassured.

Helena nodded approvingly.

A half hour after the boat’s engines stopped, the eight-man dive team slipped into the water, while a four-man team monitored the computer data in the ship’s cabin. Breaking up into pairs, Jack joined the lead diver and his companion in the search.

As he floated in the water and waited on the signal to descend, he stared up at Javi and Helena. A slow grin crossed his fac
e under his dive mask. The scene reminded him of his dive three years before, but instead of Selena Arista, he would now be waving goodbye to Helena. It felt good that he had finally moved on.

A minute later, lead diver Frank
Chelmsford, gave the signal to descend. Jack waved a goodbye, then breathed out his air, reducing his buoyancy. Now under the surface, he clinged to the DVP (diver propulsion vehicle), and depressed its throttle. Instantly, he surge ahead. Angling the vehicle, he quickly picked up the leader and followed him downward, using a colored rope to guide them to the ocean floor.

“How’re you doing, Jack?” Frank asked.

“Fine. Right behind you,” Jack responded through his internal mic and headset.

“We move fast down here, so if we get separated, holler out and we’ll come get you,” he instructed.

The descent to the bottom took only five minutes. Huddled at the end of the anchored rope they noted the time left for the mission. At one hundred feet below the ocean’s surface, they calculated that they could spend an hour and twenty minutes before they would need to ascend. Their ascent would include one elevation where they would need to “hang” until the effects of the nitrogen buildup in their blood was neutralized.

After marking their time, they then took a bearing on their location and the direction each team would need to move to. With all four teams coordinated and synchronized, they headed off on their separate assignments.

Just as he had seen three years before, the ocean’s floor was covered with soft sand and green vegetation, mixed with tiny reefs and rock formations. As the DVP’s pulled them along, their bright lights lit up the darkened world, illuminating the beautiful tropical fish.

Minutes after leaving their check point at the
anchor-line, they had already moved to their destination: a large meandering ridge of rocks and boulders; the seven-thousand year old remains of the ancient Atlantean shipwreck that produced the previous crystal globe.

The four teams quickly got to work. Using long poles with bright flags waving off one end, they began to drive the markers into the sand a
t regular intervals along a straight path. Once the markers were set, string was wrapped from one marker to the next, creating a path to follow. An hour later, the team had created a visible grid pattern with which to work in. The pattern of squares would be monitored as they worked. When a grid square was searched, they would simply mark it off their list and move onto the next, insuring no two locations were searched twice.

Next, the team positioned their radar equipment for future analysis. With time running out, they quickly set up and tested the equipment, getting feedback from the team aboard the ship, then making small adjustments.

“Time’s up. Regroup at the check point,” Jack heard through his headset.

Following Frank
Chelmsford, Jack steered his DPV toward the anchor-line far in the distance. Three years before, when he had dived on that site alone, the time to swim back to the anchor-lines location took him nearly twenty minutes. With the DPV, they made it in five. He smiled at the efficiency of the modern expedition, barely moving his feet as the vehicle dragged him through the water.

Seconds after regrouping, the team began to ascend. A minute later and twenty feet below the surface, they stopped at a colored flag that hung off the
anchor-line. Next to the flag were a collection of fresh air tanks, suspended at that elevation by a separate rope that hung from above.

Having experienced deep water diving before, Jack mentally prepared himself for the boring hour long wait
they’d all have to endure at elevation under the water. Strapping on the new tank, he clipped into the anchor-line and allowed his body to dangle. Slowly, his eyes began to close…

“Hey Jack, you alright?” a voice shouted into his head set.

Jack’s eye snapped open. He grinned through his mouthpiece, breathing in a great rush of air.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he called back.

“Dude, you gotta stay awake down here, Ok?” Frank scolded mildly.

“Sorry. Won’t happen again,” Jack reassured, feeling embarrassed by his amateurish mistake.

After an hour, the seven broke through on the surface. They climbed aboard the boat and discussed their next dive.

“Ok, team two, you’ll start your analysis on the southwest corner, we’ll start on the northeast corner. Once we finish our scan, we’ll ascend and decompress at the twenty foot marker. At that point, that’ll be the signal for teams three and four to enter the water. You guys will man the vacuums and search each grid just completed. So basically, while teams one and two are decompressing, teams three and four will be vacuuming. We’ve got a hundred and twenty grids to complete in one month. If each team can scan and vacuum two grids per day, we should be able to search the entire wreck site in the time allotted. Any questions?”

“How long will it take to scan one grid?” Jack asked.

“Almost two hours,” Frank shot back.

A confused look spread across Jack’s face at the answer.

“If we’re only allowed to stay down there for an hour and a half, max, how do you propose to scan a grid if it take
s two hours?”