Chapter 7: Cherry-Red Calamari, Ten Thousands Fathoms Deep

## Chapter 7: Cherry-Red Calamari, Ten Thousand Fathoms Deep

Short Summary:

Jack Cameron of Cameron Dive Excursion, meets with four men, named Liam Turing, Noah Franklin, Oliver Chaplin, and Henry Fleming. They go deep into the sea and have fun looking around at animals. But this all ends when a massive Kraken grabs Oliver. Oliver manages to fight back the Kraken before hes pulled back into the submarine. Noah throws an ordanace at the Kraken, which only just agrivates it more. The men are pulled back into the submarine and it begins its ascent, dodging the Kraken just in time.

Original Chapter:The Dryland of Oberon 52C was known for its many abnormalities and unique landforms. For example, in the Contrast Mountains, which were mountains trapped in an eternal freeze, the temperatures in the middle of the landform dropped to 200 degrees below kelvin, yet possessed hot springs at the base of the mountains. Or perhaps the Flowing Sands, a naturally occurring landform where the sand flowed like a river north, up the hills. But that was for the Dryland.

The Blue Zone was not to be outdone by its terrestrial counterpart. It had various ecosystems: reefs with fishes the size of an adult human; deep sea trenches that seemed, and probably were, endless; volcanoes that spewed out hot magma; strange turtle-like creatures that ate that magma; and various other mysteries. One of the most famous was the Dark Abyss, a trench just 100 miles from the coast of New Cliffland. It was popular due to the strange animals in the deepest parts and the mystery of its structure. That is, around eight miles or so downward, the forces of the ocean changed.

It became incredibly bright, and vessels were pulled upwards toward the line instead of downwards: the heavier the ships were, the faster they moved upwards. This part of the trench was called the magnetic cut: a mile or so downwards, and the depression changed back to its dark nature. The creatures that lived in this crack neared the millions. Each time someone went past the magnetic cut, they found a new species. And that's why they were required to take pictures of the creatures and bring back samples.

The trench's density of new creatures was not only for the professional but also for people that wanted to have fun and learn. So many people offered their expertise to not only make a living out of it but also be able to quench the public's desire to see the things that resided down there. One of these people was a 23-year-old man called Jack Cameron, the owner of the Cameron Dive Excursions. People paid him to take them down to the bottom of the trench, and he let them out so they could see the depths with their own eyes outside the submarine. He had bought the suits from Nicholas Brunel of Metallica. And this day was something, unlike all others. It all started when four men requested him to bring them down to the trench. And that's where it all started to go wrong.

< 11:00 AM, The Cameron Dive Excursions, New Cliffland, Dryland >

Jack Cameron tapped his foot as he leaned against his submarine, the J.C. Dive, waiting for his guests to arrive. They were supposed to be here 30 minutes ago, yet they weren't here. They said they were making their way over, and due to traffic, they were late. About ten minutes later, they arrived. The men parked their car in the lot and ran over to his stand, one of them waving.

"Hi. Sorry about the wait. The traffic was a killer," one of them said.

"Yeah. I could've sworn the president was on that road," another one said.

"Your driving was just bad," a third one declared.

"At least we didn't let you drive. Last time we made that mistake, we ended up on the other side of the planet," the last one said with a sigh. Who were these people? Just four ordinary Joes: Liam Turing, Noah Franklin, Oliver Chaplin, and Henry Fleming. Liam wore a t-shirt and jacket, with loose pants and white sneakers. He looked energetic and friendly, always on the balls of his feet and with a cheeky but not arrogant grin. Noah wore a leather jacket, a grey shirt, dog tags, jeans, and running shoes. He seemed a lot like Liam but with less energy and more snark. He was only a bit shorter than Liam. Then there was Oliver. He wore just a shirt and baggy pants, a pair of what looked like loafers. He was like the other two, but with less energy than Liam and less snark than Noah. Oliver was around half an inch shorter than Noah. Finally, there was Henry, who wore a vest, a grey shirt with a wolf print, jeans, and running shoes. He was taller than the others, standing 3 inches above Liam. He seemed like a stoic man, with his hands in his pockets.

"Alright, now that you're here, we can begin reviewing what we will be doing," Jack stated. He began teaching the men what the vessel would do: sink toward the bottom of the trench, and then they would get out and explore. They would also be eating a quick lunch of sandwiches from AwAw. Once he finished briefing them, they entered the submarine. The submarine was a yellow ship that looked a lot like the head of a squid. It had three four-foot wide holes that pointed outwards and a lot of lights. On the bottom were a pair of treads and biotic legs, and in the front were a pair of thin metallic arms, each equipped with a pincer. Once Jack finished briefing the men, they entered the vessel and started their descent. The inside of the submarine included many things, including four beds, a table, and two computers. While the four men settled into their chairs and started talking, Jack proceeded to the pilot seat and began their descent. They started by using the propellors in the back of the submarine to push it toward the trench before lowering it down into the pit. Around an hour later, they arrived past the magnetic cut, where they stopped for a few minutes to take a break. Then they proceeded to move downwards towards the bottom of the trench. They were about halfway down when Noah broke the silence.

"Hey guys, I think I just saw something red," Noah exclaimed, pointing eagerly out the window. The other three men gathered around him, saying the same thing and pointing out the window. There was what seemed to be a wall of red behind a hole in the rocks.

"What do you think it is?" Liam asked Jack.

"I'm not sure," he replied, "I've been running this business for eight years, five months, two weeks, and five days and I've never seen such a thing," They continued down before landing at the bottom trench. Jack taught them to dress up and exit the vessel. He taught them about the water pressure down around ten miles deep and how it would affect their bodies, along with the safety procedures involved with how they should react if they get stuck on the bottom or need to get back to the submarine quickly when they would pull on the tabs on their opposite arm, which would move them rapidly to the vessel at over two-hundred miles per hour. They then exited the submarine and went out into the depths of the sea. They looked around, observing the strange creatures that roamed in the depths of the sea. Many things lived deep in the trench: octopuses that looked like strange hats, eels that seemed to phase in and out of existence, and even a weird crab-like creature attempting to eat sand. They wandered around for a while before splitting off. Suddenly an SOS signal flashed from Noah's direction. The four other men ran/swam as fast as they could toward him but found him unharmed.

"What is it?" asked Liam, placing a gloved hand on Noah's shoulder.

"The red thing. It was a giant squid," Noah replied.

"Hah! Is this another one of your jokes?" Oliver asked with a smirk. The other four men stared blankly at him until his smile disappeared.

"It was real," Noah said.

"It probably was just a figment of your imagination," Oliver sighed. Unannounced to him, something was slowly creeping up on him. It was a long red tentacle.

"What are you staring at?" Oliver asked, tilting his head to the side.

"You might want to look behind you," Jack stated, pointing a gloved finger at Oliver. Oliver slowly turned his head, and right beneath his eyes was something true, out of a nightmare. It was a gigantic red octopus, similar to a Kraken. It was strangely visible in the dark abyss, with huge, red, glowing eyes emitting an aura of danger.

"Ah!" Oliver comically screamed, jumping almost two feet into the air. The Kraken grabbed Oliver and flung him around before slamming him into the ground. Oliver managed to pull the tab, bringing him back to the submarine. The other two men ( Liam and Henry ) pulled their strings to rocket back into the submersible. Noah, however, stayed behind. Noah pulled something out of his pocket. It seemed to be a knife with a small ball attached to it. He threw the ball and knife at the Kraken, and it stuck inside the Kraken's hard scales before the ball exploded, throwing the beast back.

"Woohoo! That's what you get for picking on an ex-c-moon General!" he yelled, pumping his hands up. Well, it certainly did knock the Kraken back. But it also enraged it. The Kraken came back with full force sweeping its arms around furiously. It grabbed the hill trapping it and tore the entire obsidian hill off its base before throwing it into the abyss. Noah paled at this, staring at the Kraken in shock.

"Don't try to be a hero and run to save your own life!" Jack yelled, pulling Noah's tab for him before pulling his own. They both went into the submarine at high speeds. Jack dove into the pilot seat and pressed the ascend button, bashing his finger into it. It began the initiation process. The legs retracted back into the machine as the lights turned on. The Kraken began gaining on the submarine, its arms flailing along. Jack's eyes widened as he stared at the Kraken as it gained on him. Jack would later swear in court that he saw a hooded skeleton raise its scythe before raising and slamming it down. Just as the blade of the scythe was about to hit him, the submarine screeched as the ballast tanks filled with nitrogen, pulling the submarine up incredibly quickly. Within seconds, the Kraken and the cliff of the abyss were gone. Finally, after they passed the magnetic cut, he came out into the pavilion. The four other men were huddled in the back of the submarine as it flew upwards, the machine rumbling. Within three minutes, they had returned to the surface, where they quickly drove to the port, running out of the submarine the second the hatch was open. At Jack's stall, the five men looked at each other, hearts still pounding.

"Never will we speak of this again outside of court," Jack said.

"Agreed," the other four said before they parted ways. The memory of the cherry-red calamari would be a memory that they would hold onto dearly.

(c) Kevin and Kenny Yang 2023