This is a story I wrote as a gift for one of my favorite artists on FA.  Firefeathers requested for her birthday fan art. Given I've been attempting to get my writing chops rebuilt, I figured this would both be a great way to show my appreciation for one of the treasures of the community but also to hone my talents.

As such, this story could possibly use some revisions. But alas, at this time I'm to tired to be able to make competent revisions, and that today is the birthday in question, I figured I'd just submit now and let it be as it is.

I hope my characterization of her character is fair and as accurate as I hope. Its very tricky for me to get the right tone and motivations for a character not of my creation, so I hope I did at least well enough there. FF, please please let me know if I totally borked, I won't be offended and am better off knowing if tis the case.

Alright, without further ado, I present, Providing for Pressure.

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You really want to know? Let me start at the beginning.
I had already served on the Pressure for probably ten years. As you can imagine keeping the seasons straight is a little tricky down there. It wasn't an assignment I had ever really loved, but by that point I really didn't want to know anything else. And that's not just because my shedding had all but stopped. I mean, one doesn't get assigned to the Pressure without cause. You get put there because you are either trouble, or in my case, useless. Menial work on a stranded ship is all well and good if it means you don't get discharged and tossed out into the street.
And yes, I only was raised to the position of captain because the previous fool, Captain Yerm decided that taking a dip was a great idea. Swam out beyond where our spot lights could see him. I suspect if Yerm had still be in charge more of us would of died to tell you the truth. He got to where he was by being half trouble and half useless.
But the tales of that idiot are not really what you want to hear. Yerm was gone at least three years before our real troubles began. As you're probably aware, around four years ago when all of this transpired there was that whole flap from the powers that be that invasion was imminent. That under ever rock there was a spy or some hockey. Wait five more years and they'll make a cry like that again I assure you.
So with alert status, even for those of us who are part of the so-called Home Guard, comes new people at the boarders. And yes, the Pressure was counted as the boarder. And of course instead of pulling us back up and sealing the shaft, they opted to up the crew numbers on the ship. Some of them were even good sailors, their talents being wasted on a ship that doesn't move.
But among these new faces was someone who certainly was trouble. As captain it was my duty to meet new crew and what others came along for the ride. The last of the new arrivals brought her along. She wasn't Home Guard, nor were two others that arrived with that last group.
Mel, the first mate, clued me into the breathing cargo arriving just as the lift passed the roof. Supposedly a trio of experts had been sent down to work on the ship. Given that the ship was very sea worthy, this suggested to me that they were going to try to fix her engines. I wasn't too pleased with that likelihood. Despite being captain of a ship, I was quite happy to effectively be land bound by our tenuous connection to the roof and the shaft up to civilization.
When the lift touched down on the deck, our compliment of thirty five was complete. I invited the new sailors aboard. The trio hung back behind on the lift as the traditional new crew ceremony was completed. Once Mel had begun bunk assignments, I went to meet the trio.
The most noticeable of the three was the tall one in a plaid suit. He was something akin to a weasel but a bit off. I don't think I've met one of his species before or since. Standing to his left was a very unhappy looking bird in coveralls. She never said much to me during her stay but was prone to glaring at me. To her left was an aatmik in red.
"Welcome to the Pressure," I said to them. "I'm Captain Markos. I've been informed you are to be working on her. If this is as true as I've been informed, I would like to have daily reports on your progress and what exactly it is you are working on. If there is any thing you wish to do that might put the Pressure or her crew in danger, I need to know about it. As Captain I can have you removed from the ship if your activities are putting lives in danger."
The weasely one nodded. "Of course Captain," he said. His voice sounded raspy. "I can assure you that we are not here to put the ship in danger. Each of us has our own specialities."
"Which are?"
"I specialize in pumps and things. There is some concern that if the ship ever began taking on water the roof anchor wouldn't be able to keep her afloat. My college here," he said pointing to the bird at her side. "Is Tav. She specializes in the other thing that would be useful for keeping us afloat, hull repairs."
"I crush rust," said Tav, spitting out each word.
"Indeed," continued on the weasel like fellow. Mind you, I might not be remembering the conversation perfectly, but this is what I recall him saying next. "And this here is Rei, our mechanist. She came highly recommended by some friends of mine who build aircraft for a living." I recall her giving me a friendly wave with a slightly spooky grin. "With the praise they gave her," he went on. "I'm surprised they let me run off with such a skilled engineer."
I looked them over. "And you are?"
"Scoo," he answered.
"Well, Scoo," I said. "We got one spare bunk for the three of you. There's not a lot of privacy or personal space here. Mel will show you on your way when she's done with them. Don't run off."
I went back to my office just off mid ship. I glanced at the window at the lift. Scoo was still standing where I left him. Tav was digging in her box. Rei was missing. I heard from crewman, Blektar I think it was, that he founder her riding the main guns at some point before Mel got around to showing them to their room.
And yes, the pressure had guns. Corroded and useless guns. But big twelve foot death canons on a rusted in place turret guns. Who ever built the Pressure before we found her intended her to be in a war of some sort.
I was mostly content for the next day to keep up on my duties filling out paper work about how we had nothing to report on the great frontier of inky blackness around us. But the next day Scoo was taking his sweet time to report to me as requested. So I track him down. He was in his bunk sleeping. After waking him up he explained that he had asked Tav to report in in his stead. I remember thinking to myself, great, another layabout.
I tracked down Tav. After I asked her for the report three times, she finally said, "Rei will report."
I figured that the third of the trio was probably the biggest problem anyway, so I went to track down the aatmik. I had delta with aatmiks before. If you haven't, lets just say some of them can be real arrogant pricks. Some of the ones with sever cases of hot head will do their transformation at the slightest provocation. I was pondering what form I could fill out to lay claim that verbal abuse by someone outside the Home Guard was a clear and present danger to the entire ship without getting promoted accidentally.
I looked first in the engine room. It was quite obvious that someone had been tearing through all sorts of machinery. The electric generator was the only thing that didn't look like it was missing major components. After carefully making my way through the piles of gears, wrenches, and manifolds, I soon came to the conclusion that my quarry was not present.
After extracting myself from that mess and asking around I was soon directed to where Rei had set up shop. The Pressure had three life boats. Not enough for everyone, but we didn't really care as any emergency would have us climbing the ladder up the scaffolding of the lift. I found her camped out in one of them. The boat was filled with parts. This seemed like a very odd place to set up shop.
"I would very much like to know what you're doing here," I said.
"Hmm? This boat needs work," she said.
I looked at the life boat again. "Yes," I said. "I'm here for the daily report. Your compatriots are not being any help."
"Well of course not, they're terrible," she answered. "Okay a report. I took apart your main engine, de-mounted screw number four, oiled turret number one, made a sandwich, changed the oil in the generator, organized the first aid kid in the pantry, and machined an intake valve. Tav welded some plates on the forward hull. Scoo checked the emergency pumps and then went to nap."
I was a little shocked and confused by this list. She didn't seem all that interested in talking more. I watched her for a minute as she screwed two devices together, that to this day I have no clue what they were.
"You rearranged the first aid kit in the pantry? Getting bandages for your hands there?"
She paused for a few seconds, glancing about, before giving a quick, "Yes."
"Be more careful next time," I said. "I noticed you were bandaged up when you came down yesterday. We don't have unlimited medical supplies so try to avoid slicing yourself up further while you are here."
She smirked at this. I figured I should say something more but figured I'd lay down the law on not having working engines tomorrow.
It was early the next morning when I was walking the deck when I heard a loud engine sound off the side of the ship. I, along with a third of the crew were soon at the railing.
Rei had lowered the live boat, still filled with grease and parts, into the water. She had at some point assembled some of it into an outboard motor. As Ulsi, he was in charge of keeping the generator working, would tell me later, she hadn't run off with any of the gas for the generator. So what ever her motorboat was running on was something different.
She looked up at us and waved enthusiastically while yelling, "It works! It works!" Someone turned one of the spotlights on and pointed it towards her. "Whooooo!"
She revved the engine and began to drive the little boat into the murky blackness of the underground sea. I yelled something about coming back. She vanished beyond the illumination of the spot lights. For several hours most of us stood on the deck listening to the echo of the motor. Slowly the crew began to drift back to their duties, most of which involved sitting around below deck where it was slightly warmer.
I went and found Tav. Who was again not useful. Scoo was similar except he mentioned something about Rei's job including making sure the life boats were in good shape.
I returned to the deck and was on my way to my office when I heard a loud bang. I rushed to the railing and looked out into the darkness. The echo of the motor was gone.
The spot lights searched for probably an hour before we figured she was well beyond anywhere we could get to or see. I had someone inform Scoo that Rei was probably lost out there. As I mentioned before, this isn't the first time someone has lost themselves out there somewhere. The paper work is a bitch and everyone feels crappy for weeks. I was mostly miffed that the only seemingly competent one of the civvies was probably about to die.
But in the hours that past we all began to get to what we had to.
It was sometime well into night cycle that someone roused me and brought me on deck. I arrived there just in time to see five crewmen tossing a rope to a half sunk life boat with a very unhappy looking aatmik in it. With her hat gripped in her teeth, she tossed the large oil pan she had been using as an oar and latched onto the rope. Very shortly after they began to pull her up the side of the ship the life boat began to quickly sink.
After some effort, they pulled her aboard. From the looks of her, something had exploded at her back. Her red jacket had a rather large hole burned through the back, and her fur underneath was heavily singed. She coughed.
Then she said in a very accusatory tone. "Thanks for coming to search for me."
I crossed my arms and twitched my tail to and fro. "You drove off without a tether," I said. "There was no way would of been able to find you and find our way back."
"What?" she said. "But this rust bucket has sonar or radar or something! Spotting something on the surface might be difficult but its a pretty easy fix."
Erwin our doctor was on the scene around this point inspecting her. I replied with, "Perhaps you didn't get a very good briefing before coming down here. First off, the radar might work, but its useless. There are too many reflections in the cavern. Which brings us to second, because its useless none of us know how to use it. And third, leaving the ship to go out there is pretty much a death sentence because of this and the fog. Don't repeat this incident and you'll stay alive."
Her eyes were narrowed at me. Erwin explained to her that her burns were not bad but that she should still spend some time in the infirmary.
I waited a few hours to let the tensions settle before going to visit her. Both to make sure the point had gotten across and to apologize for not trying anything. She wasn't there. Erwin said after he had applied some ointment she had vanished. I grumbled and admitted to him that this vanishing act was becoming an unwanted trend.
I tracked her down again. She was helping Scoo clear out a tank. Scoo had opted to nap at the cut off valve for the pump to the tank. Thankfully he seems to sleep with a vice grip and was intently sleeping with the valve in the off position. I looked in and saw Rei poking a crew driver at a grate.
"Hey," I said. "Are you not supposed to be resting?"
"I am resting. I've not gone sailing in minutes," she answered.
"Right," I said. "Could you come with me?"
She sighed and put down the screw driver. I started walking to the door, expecting her to follow. Instead I heard a large clang. I turn and look to see Rei still inside the tank, but laying down unconscious.
Long story short, the clang was loud enough to wake Scoo and we together pulled her out. When she came to she complained about having a headache and wanting to fix her jacket. She apparently bonked her head on the edge of the portal. out. We brought her back to Erwin.
As I didn't much want to loose her again I waited an hour with her in the infirmary. She was quiet for a first few minutes, content to lay back and stare at the ceiling.
Finally she spoke up. "You don't need to baby sit me ya know."
I laughed. "I'm getting the feeling that perhaps someone needs to. Your not in very good shape right now. I got a dozen bored sailors who I could have watching you around the clock to make sure you don't go adventuring again."
She growled. Like seriously, growled. Then she said, "I'm here to work."
"Well then," I said. "What is your actual mission here?"
She didn't speak for at least a minute. After I asked again she said, "Do you want the official mission or the real reason?"
"Start with the official," I said. "And end with the real. Sounds like a good story."
She sat up to explain it to me. "My contract is to provide for a feasible way to explore the underground sea. My mission on that front was completed. For a while. The real reason I think I'm here is because the biplane they had me building for them crashed."
I crossed my arms. My claws were more visible this way. "Crashed?" I asked.
She rolled her eyes and grabbed her had from the side of the bed. "Yes," she said. "Crashed. It wasn't supposed to! I could of sword the engine was powerful enough. I think the problem came with wings, they weren't providing enough lift to over come the drag from the twenty guns."
The last bit sounded odd so I asked why there was twenty guns on a biplane.
"Why not?" she answered. "So they were about to fire me when they found out I was the one who built it. People suck sometimes. But I lucked out and got sent down here. Into the pit of despair."
I smirked. "You get used to it. Down here long enough and your fur turns all white due to lack of sunlight. Its great."
She grumbled something that sounded like 'impossible'.
"So," I went on. "Just so we're clear here. Your official mission is complete. I can't yet get you out of here but I'll do what I can to do so. I'll try to do the same for your friends as well. In the mean time, I don't want you rebuilding the main engine. Not that such would be possible given the parts and tools that were lost in the sinking. Also, don't get busy disrupting any important systems. Don't touch the electrical generator unless Ulsi asks you to help. And don't leave the ship without my say so."
She rolled her eyes. "Fine."
Her head hung low. Either that or she was trying to burn a hole through the floor. The last aatmik I had encountered was fond of singeing my ears. I almost had her tossed over board before she stopped. I still remember those burning red eyes. I was quite happy when I got her moved back up top.
It was about this point that I noticed that such was probably not likely to happen. Her red jacket, now in tatters and covered in grease stains and soot, had pulled my vision away from noticing that she had deep sky blue eyes. And I mean pretty much the entire eye was that color except for the silted pupil.
After this observation I smiled. "Come," I said. "Lets get you a new jacket."
She looked up, confused.
"I'm serious," I said. "I'm sure we can find something that fits your aesthetic tastes."
A few minutes later I was showing her to the brig. Or what used to be the brig. Since before I had come aboard it had been used as a storage area. I showed her in and pointed her to one of the boxes near the front.
"The previous Captain, uh… left some of his stuff here," I explained while opening up one of the boxes. "He was mighty fond of red himself."
She grinned before plunging her claws into the box. She began to rip cloths out of it and toss them behind her. I'm pretty sure I made some noises of displeasure at the mess. She thankfully ignored them if I had. Rei hit the bottom of the box and gave a sound of displeasure.
"None of these are right," she grunted before tossing that box to the side and digging into the next one. The third box she was a lot more happy with. Mainly because she pulled out an old flight jacket. She said, "Its not quite my style, but it will do for now."
Then she reached into her old jacket and pulled out a rather large gun. She handed it to me asking me to hold it and then pulled out another. Two knives later, I was holding her arsenal with my back turned as she change. "There!" she yelled. I remember her yell because she yelled right behind me, which gave me enough of a startle to drop one of the knives. Thankfully it hit my foot handle first.
"Can I have those back?" she asked as I turned around. A little more careful now I returned what I still held, still wincing from the impact on my paw. I was so distracted that I didn't even notice her grab the knife I still held by the blade. She shoved it into one of the pockets of the new jacket, along with the guns, before noticing the blade had ripped through the bandages on her hand. "Oops," she said watching the trickle of blood. I handed her the other blade handle first.
At this point I was beginning to understand more fully the source of the trouble that was Rei. I of course brought her back to Erwin. He told me it was getting late and that I should stop pestering his favorite patient.
Mel came to me before I retired for the night shift to complain about Tav and Scoo. Tav had popped a small hole in the hull and Scoo's snoring was waking up the night shift crew early. I told Mel she had my blessings to handle it. If you're not getting my tone, I was making it clear I had had enough for the day and didn't care at that exact moment.
The next few days were much more uneventful from what I recall. Each day, Rei did make the report for the trio. Tav continued to double layer or replace hull plates. Scoo would fiddle with some of the water pumps for an hour then sleep. And Rei would bounce from project to project each day. One day she would say she was fiddling with trying to get the radar to work better in the cavern environment. Another she might be helping clean up Scoo's mess. And another she'd be turning the old ammo room into a freezer. From reports from the rest of the crew not a lot was made of this random tinkering.
About a week after the life boat incident I found Rei at the bow of the ship. "Not planning on going for a swim are you?" I asked.
"I didn't find a shore out there," was her response. "This chamber is very big."
I didn't know how much she knew about it. "Well its big enough for a cruiser sized ship at lease," I said. "And it would make sense that its big enough to need a ship like this. Or perhaps the ship used to be on the high seas but gut pulled down here. The problem is that the water here isn't very salty at all so its probably not sea water. Its sheer luck that they found it so close to the dig shaft. But then again, there might be many more ships like this down here. An entire ocean of darkness with ghost ships and perhaps trapped sea monsters. Could go on for a hundred miles. Maybe our neighbors on the surface know of it and have their own ship of down here.
"See, nothing about this place really makes sense. The ship, the cavern, why its filled with fairly fresh water, the fact they didn't find any bodies on board. Its obviously from a previous era and in amazing shape for its age. But they weren't all that more advanced then us when this ship got here, if at all. The only writing we found was a journal or log and that got whisked away by Special Services right quick."
I glanced at her. She was smiling. "This is wonderfully creepy. A mystery to solve!" She laughed. So did I.
"I'm off," I said. I pointed to the black void over the waters. "Enjoy the view."
"Can I stop giving reports?" she asked as I walked away.
My tail froze and I turned. "Sure," I said. "Only report if you think someone's going to sink the ship."
"Got it!" she said.
And for the next few days I rarely saw her. Mel grumbled more about Tav, less about Scoo, who had taken to sleeping in Rei's attempt at a freezer. Scoo apparently thought it was nice and toasty in there. He was right, for some reason it was actually hot in the old ammo room.
I think it was the eleventh day of the civilians being on the ship when Rei came to me to give her report. In fact, she did it while I was asleep.
She shook me awake. My first glimpse of her that very early morning was of her with barred teeth and a drawn gun. I couldn't help but growl instinctually until I realized she was trying to say something to me.
"Captain Markos guy, wake up I have a report to make," she said in a hushed and hurried tone. Once it was obvious I was understanding her, "Good, your awake. Someone might be trying to sink the ship."
My eyes must of been excessively wide at this. I pushed her away and was on my feet in moments. "Explain," I said as I pulled on a shirt.
"Someone has climbed up the ship in the front bit," she said glancing around nervously.
"You mean the stem," I said.
"This is a boat not a flower," she replied. "Come!"
She lead me onto deck. It was probably around two thirds of the way through the night shift. Three of the four of those normally awake would be below deck most likely in their usual card game. The fourth would be on watch near the lift. Rei lead me around near the front of the bridge. With a "Shhh!" she pointed me towards two figures at the far end of the deck.
I couldn't tell what they were exactly as they were covered head to toe in some sort of heavy suits. Their helmets suggested they had some sort of breathing apparatus. It wasn't clear if this was because they had been swimming or simply because they needed it. They were average in stature and walked, from what I could tell with their suits, flatfooted. They had tail compartments but nothing else that would suggest their species. Their suits were also all black. No insignias. Given the environment, I was sure this was no accident. The two of them seemed to be pulling something up on ropes from over the side of the ship.
I pulled Rei back from our vantage point and said, "Alright, good work. I need you to keep an eye on them while I alert the crew. Can you do that for me?"
She nodded grinning. I gave her a pat on the back. She winced. I quietly apologized.
I quietly made my way back to where the crewman should be keeping watch. I was very miffed to find he or she not there. I started making my way back to where we had come up and I looked forward to where I expected Rei to be.
As you can probably guess, she was missing once again. I held back a growl as I shuffled towards the stairs. But before I could descend, I heard something I was hoping to avoid hearing. A large bang. I ran to the corner by the bridge and looked at the scene.
One of the figures was staggering. The other was trying desperately to hold onto the rope but soon gave up as the first hit the railing and fell over backwards overboard. The remaining figure began yelling something to the effect of, "Uctilsamzep! Uctilsamzep! Ulkilov rollaltumeol Uctilsamzep!" And no I have no idea what language that is.
The figure seemed to be going for a weapon while they yelled. I was unarmed but I stepped out and yelled, "Surrender!"
The uniformed person pulled a nasty looking pistol of some sort from the rather complex folds of their person simply to have shot from his glove.
"I'm not going to surrender!" shouted Rei from near by. I looked up to the top of the big guns. "I told you they were trying to sink the ship!" she yelled down at me from. "They were pulling up a bomb, I'm sure of it! It wouldn't make sense for me to surrender. Silly Captain!"
I turned my gaze back to the figure at the end of the ship just in time to see him hopping over the railing.
"See?" she said. "They're gone and won't be coming back."
Numerous clangs from below signaled the crew, now very much roused by the firing of weapons, arriving. I pointed at Mel and was beginning to shout orders for everyone to be at battle stations. The older crewmen looked confused. The newer recruits began rushing to positions. Mel had her sidearm. She rushed to the edge of the ship and pointed her weapon at the boat as it took off.
"Permission to fire?" Mel asked.
"Granted," I said. Alas… Let's just say Mel isn't as good a shot as the aatmik. I looked back at the turret roof where Rei had been perched moments before and she was of course gone. "Someone check the side of the ship and make sure no one left any presents there. Get Tav and Scoo up here and find me…" It became suddenly brighter.
"Look!" someone yelled.
I turned. Mel had lowered her pistol. The craft she had been firing at was now illuminated by a spot light, but not ours.
"Its another ship!" "Who are they?" "Impossible!" came the cries.
I paused for a moment. Indeed, there was another ship out there. Or at least something with spotlights. One of them was on the small craft and the rest were shinning at us. And it was also obvious the ship was getting closer. The small craft pulled up along side it and vanished from view. The other ship got closer. Most of the crew had paused to stare. This was not acceptable.
"Prepare for incoming attack," I yelled. Most of the crew, now realizing the severity of the situation began to act. Weapons began to be distributed and cover positions taken.
They began to fire at us at probably a hundred yards. The next few minutes are still a blur. But we returned fire. Some of us were hit. A few were killed in that volley. That is where I got this hole in my ear. Indeed, its not an oversized piercing.
At some point I realized that something big on our side of the fight was moving. It took me a few moments to process that it was the turret. The turret, that last I knew was rusted in place. The weapon that seemed counter productive given that guns of that size couldn't hit anything that wasn't in line of sight and thus at very close range. The guns that really shouldn't be working at all.
Boy was I wrong.
I was able to yell fall back before it got lined up with the attackers. Most of the crew responded correctly. One poor sod jumped overboard. Another either didn't ear me or ignored me. I covered my ears.
And just in time too. I was thankful that blood was filling at least one of them. I don't think I could of taken such pain in both of them after that blast. Well, there was the blast from the firing of the guns. And the blast from the other ship as most of what was on its deck was obliterated. But the sounds were so close together it was pretty much just a single ear shattering kaboom to me and the crew.
I spun around as the guns fired a second time. I should probably add somewhere in here that we didn't have any shells for a gun like this. But what ever it was being lobbed at the dark ship, it was being highly effective. Most of its lights were gone, but replaced with plenty of fires. The small arms fire was pretty much silenced except for a few pops here and there. The third firing of the guns didn't hit anything at all, instead sailing over the burning deck of the other ship and hitting the roof quite some distance away. I wasn't expecting a forth firing, despite the paws clenched over my ringing ears.
And it was the forth firing that did us in. The fourth volley, with the guns readjusted, did hit the other ship. Well, the volley from the one gun. But there was more than one gun on that turret. The other guns must of misfired. The turret exploded inside. I ducked. When I poked my head out again I could see mayhem.
The other ship was tilting to its side. I could see a few figures dashing about its deck. But that wasn't really what I should of been concerned with. And I soon wasn't. A large portion of our own deck was blasted. The turret was cracked. Its door was missing. And inside was nothing but flames. I could already feel the ship shaking much more than I can ever remember it shaking. I stepped out, staring at the torn up turret.
"Uh…" I grunted. I shook off the shock. I turned and yelled, "Fire!" The similarly shocked crew leaped into action. Mel had already vanished to get the extinguishers. I suddenly realized something in my vision. I turned my head to the front of the bridge. The turret door which had faced it was there.
And so to was aatmik, her fur blackened and her new jacket highly singed. I rushed while yelling for Erwin. The deck under me shook violently. A few shots rang out, the bullets ricocheting off the deck near by. I came to Rei and was surprised to see her turn towards me.
"That was fun," she said. Her arms seemed to be stuck, as if she was holding an invisible firing mechanism. "But I think I need a nap." She closed her eyes.
"Erwin's dead!" yelled Ulsi.
Crap, I remember thinking. I checked Rei's pulse. I did have trouble finding it I remember. She was breathing weakly and maintained her rigid pose. The ship shook again. I remember someone grabbing my tail moments before the deck under me gave way. Rei, pinned to the blasted door slid below deck. I was lucky not to do the same.
I was soon face to face with Mel. Before she could say anything I said quietly. "Abandon ship." Mel amplified the order. The woman had lungs enough to almost rival the canons. Or so it seemed at the time. Everyone was clamoring onto the lift scaffolding. The lift itself was quickly full and moving up. The rest of us took up positions on the two ladders. Mel and me took up the rear. As we climbed the scaffolding shook violently. I looked down and watched the ship tear itself free from the tether to the roof and the world of sunlight. It was only a few minutes before the lights below went out. The fires on the decks of both ships submerged and extinguished. The electric lights short circuited. Generators flooded. A few shimmers from things perhaps battery powered floating on the water's surface. The only good light was from further up the scaffold, where the lift shaft emerged from the roof. Those on the lift were already well above us, and very happy the lift mechanism was drawn and powered from above, not below.
We climbed to safety and civilization. By the time me and Mel had gotten topside, most of what had happened was already known. I filled them in with some more details as we were tended to.
They of course claimed to not believe some of it. But the shaft was sealed off in the weeks that followed. Many of us had to get adjusted to day light again. I still wear my shades when I go out. I was eventually discharged, ambiguously. But well enough to keep my pension. Mel was sent to head up a fort. You might of heard of the mutiny there. She survived but it wasn't pleasant for her. But she came out with her dignity and a high kill count. Scoo slept through the sinking of the ship. The last I saw of Tav was her slapping me and storming off. Still don't know what her problem was. Not sure what happened to the rest.
Now, that is indeed how the Pressure was lost and access to the underground sea restricted. For the most part. But I happen to know for a fact that, with the possible exception of super secret government mines and illegal private digs, there is at least one access point into and out of the cavern there. I know this because I did see Rei again.
It was over a year after the Pressure sank. I was visiting some relatives out east and stopped at a diner. I was tapped on the shoulder, and much to my standing there was a familiar aatmik. The big blue eyes were not hidden by her reds this time.
I offered here a seat and explained how dumbfounded I was to be seeing her. She assured me that I was both awake and probably not insane.
I asked her how she escaped and survived.
She said, "Well after my nap, I swam around for a little bit before one of those spooky suit guys pulled me out of the water. I couldn't understand the crazy talk he was spouting until he managed to get his box thing working."
She paused and glanced down at the table. "You see," she went on. "Remember that box they were pulling I thought was very likely a bomb to kill us and all that? Turns out it was a device that would let them talk to us. Not like an instant translator or anything so fancy, but a computation device someone could type messages into.
"So anyway, he explained that his name was Fritz and that he was angry that I shot him and sank his boat and killed all his friends. His armor stuff had limited the damage, lucky him. But he also didn't want to die so he wanted my help. Long story short I had him dive into the wreckage to retrieve the radar electronics and a cooking bowl. With those I built a device that let us navigate and find a way up. Took me a few engines to get us anywhere were we could actually see a way out of course. But we did and managed to climb out."
"I hope you understand if I'm a little amazed by your story," I commented.
"Well don't be, I've had to deal with much worse traveling companions before. If I didn't want to talk to him I just didn't read his messages on the do-dad there."
I chuckled. "Right," I said.
"Anyway," she said. "We ended up way to the south. It was an area I was actually familiar with but wasn't welcome in, so we had to skid-addle pretty quickly. Fritz went his own way and took his super neat box with him. I really wanted to have a look inside but he wouldn't let me."
"A shame really," I said. "Did Fritz tell you where he came from?"
"Nope!" she answered. "But it wasn't from dark sea land place."
I ordered my guest a coffee with a funny sounding name. I asked a few more questions about the details of her escape. It became clear that it was very likely they were down there months, living off a crate of snack cakes as they looked for a way out and then navigated their way to the surface through a series of caverns. The miracles of science Rei constructed to get them out were, like a number of her toys from the caves, left behind in their final escape.
"So, did you figure out any other mysteries from the dark sea?" I asked finally.
"A few. I didn't tell you about the ship of exiles. Cool people. But I didn't fit in. Oh, and there was the sunken sky scraper. That was pretty neat. Really I think the dark sea is just… a place where the left overs of the rest of the world end up."
I nodded while sipping my own drink. "I certainly felt like that while I was there," I told her.
"Oh? Why did you go down there?" she asked.
"I was sent," I said. "To get me out of the way for more ambitious soldiers. Hard to have ambition when you're drafted into the Home Guard. I wanted to be a radio star. They wouldn't let me near a radio. And radios were useless in the cave. After I got rank they wouldn't let me go so I sat, waiting."
She nodded. Then shrugged. "Could be worse I guess."
I looked up at her, my ears perked. At first I didn't know if it was Rei just being Rei, or if she was trying to belittle my hurt. But then I realized something. I had the distinct feeling that she was speaking directly of something from her own past. I decided not to pry.
"So what are you up to these days?" I asked.
"Oh, I'm moving on. Everyone in this country thinks I'm dead. Figured I'd go somewhere else to be alive. Though putting one's self as being dead for a few months kind of ruins one's resume. But, one should always be honest about such things."
"Indeed," I responded.
The town clock began to chime. Rei looked at her wrist, which lacked a watch mind you, and said, "Oh look at the time." Of course the motion to look at her non existent watch resulted in her tipping her coffee cup and splashing half of it on the table and herself. I blinked a few times as she got up and gave a quick bow.
"So long Captain," she said to me.
"Keep safe Rei," I responded. "And don't sink anyone else's ships, alright?"
"I'll do my best!" she said before bouncing off down the street, leaving a trail of coffee stain foot prints behind her. That, was the last time I ever encountered that strange girl.
Well, now you have the whole story. I hope it was worth your time. I can honestly say it was good going back through those memories.