The being replied again, only this time, the weight and pressure of the words were more dreadful than before.
"Who dares enter my domain ?"
We were on a timer; if they couldn't finish the preparation of the sound wave before she attacks us, we are dead.
I glanced to my side, looking at Emily's face. Since the threat had been made, her expression was different. She started wearing an indifferent expression.
"Are you okay?" I whispered.
She nodded her head, and replied.
"Why didn't you tell them about the whole thing, like the one about the worthy ones being able to enter?"
I didn't reply immediately, but after a few seconds, I gave my response.
"I don't know how she determines who is worthy and unworthy, and not to get everyone hopes up, it is better if I don't say that part."
She didn't say anything after I replied.
'Is this Norman's doing ? It was so obvious that they would betray the contract during the expedition and especially lie about it when I question them on land. Heck, if they don't kill me first. It looks like the first thing I would have to deal with is Quinn,' I said to myself.
There was also one question that came to mind, 'Why will they betray our contract?' but it seems that question had an answer, which was simply, 'power.'
Those who have power can do anything and get away with it and that's what Norman Corporation has been doing. Stealing the works made by fellow scientists and researchers and claiming them as their own. It was a horrible thing to do, but who was there to judge them.
There was an eerie calmness in the sea after she repeated the question twice. Everything felt like it was still, unmoving; even the creatures around us were silent and still like statues.
Each one of them cast eerie shadows that danced acutely. I knew this calmness, wasn't temporary; this was just the calm before the storm.
With a deep breath, I steeled myself for the challenge ahead. The submarine was about to begin, and its hum was a constant reminder of how delicate we are before the monster.
"We are done!" the captain announced, slightly lifting our spirits.
In order to win this battle, there was a need to be focus and have the ability to be persistent. In this battle, we were about to risk everything more than we did last time.
"Then start the operation."
Quinn was still calm even under this pressure, his voice relaxed, never showing any sign of hesitation. The captain immediately started, and with a final warning, he turned on the sonar.
The sonar emitted large sound waves in all directions to at least 2 km. The figure which imposed both power and authority, started to move. At first she moved slowly towards the submarine, but suddenly she gripped her head and began to scream, reeling back.
This was our window of opportunity. I looked at the screen displaying the Kraken and noticed it was suffering the same predicament.
"This is not going to last up to 2 minutes," Mark warned us, signaling to the captain to hurry up.
Time was racing; whether it was slow or fast, it was still moving. The sub moved forward towards the monstrosity at the speed it could maintain. And at that moment, the sub's warning system activated, displaying news that could affect our mission.
"Everyone we have about 30 minutes of air remaining, which means we have to make this count or we are dead," Mark hurriedly announced.
As we got up close to Scylla, we were able to see her perfectly. The pressure she imposed was more fearful than it was at a distance. We couldn't move our bodies at all, and finally we saw those eyes.
Those eyes were of those who have felt pain and sadness, I suppose. Those eyes were white in colour which contradicted the dark color of the sea.
'Shit! I never knew we couldn't move when we get this close to her,' That realization sank to my very core.
How do we intend to move the sub, when we ourselves couldn't move? I tried moving my hand, but to no avail, it didn't move.
'This could create a dent in our plan, it just remains about one minute left,' I thought.
The harsh reality of the world was shown upon us; it crushed our spirits, leaving us motionless in the sub. The world was never a place where one would be so optimistic, sometimes we have to face reality. And that reality is that, we will die here.
"There you are," she said as she was still struggling with the sound waves.
The person that gave up first was Edward, he fell to his knees not voluntarily, but just due to the dire hopelessness he felt. And he began to mumble something.
'This means our mission was a failure.'
That thought just crept into my head even if I didn't want to admit it. My heart was racing, my mind was thinking about what to do next.
'45 seconds more, what to do?' I thought.
I used all of my strength to glance at the screen displaying the Kraken. That was our only hope; the Kraken was close enough to draw the attention of Scylla, and that's what we will do.
"Captain! Can you try to put the sub in autopilot ?" I cried out.
The captain flinched slightly and nodded.
"I can move my fingers, albeit to a small degree, but that will be enough to engage the autopilot," he answered.
Since that was taken care of, we had to wait, but time waits for no one.
'30 seconds more,' I counted in my mind.
All our hopes were on the captain, if he could accomplish that, we had a fifty percent chance of surviving this. But if he couldn't, we are dead. The sub flashed another warning sign.
"2 minutes of air remaining," it echoed.
'What ?' That was what was on everyone's mind; 'how did it remain 2 minutes ', but the answer was right under our noses, literally. Humans are known to consume more air, especially during times of stress and fear. The more scared one is, the more likely the air he will consume, and in our case, we were six people who was having a hard time, we were both scared and uneasy.
Leading to a high consumption rate of oxygen in the sub. The key to preventing the air from reducing was to remain calm, but how do you remain calm in this type of situation.
"Everyone we have to remain calm unless you want the air to finish," I announced.
There was silence; no one replied, but they knew what to do. I tried moving my head towards the captain, checking how he was doing. But, what I saw was something I didn't expect.
"The captain is dead."
That just came out from my mouth when I saw his corpse.
"Of all times, why now?"