I had figured as much. I knew we might be going down this road. “Why?”
“I think the Master Coders must have noticed Dylan’s frequent double visits to the docking bay, and it must have been a red flag. As a marine science student researcher, he has permission to visit the surface once a day, not two. At this time, we have to hope they do not know anything about you. Dylan is a really smart boy, and he is also loyal. He would never rat out a friend. He won’t reveal the fact you’ve been visiting here for weeks.”
“So, how could I be in big trouble?”
“It may be very hard for you to get out of here. Visits to the surface are strictly regulated and I hardly ever leave the city, so it will be an automatic red flag if I enter my code into the docking bay. It would be even worse if I checked out a seamobile and I was gone for hours. I cannot take you to the surface.”
Inside panic chipped away at me like chunks of ice cracking away from a glacier. I swallowed hard and fought back. “So, how do I escape?”
“You’re going to have to get out of here on your own power, Allie.”
“Huh?” I stared at Dr. Wilcox with narrowed eyes and a confused expression.
“There is this extraordinary undersea device that I have been working on for over a decade now. It is finally near completion, but I haven’t quite had it tested yet. It’s a very sophisticated diving suit meant for a single person. It’s taken me years to develop a material that is durable, pliable, breathable, yet as sturdy as a titanium alloy. Not to mention dealing with the issue of toxicity of breathing compressed air and the low amount of dissolved oxygen in the water at this depth. So I had to figure out the oxygen permeability of the suit and a way to diffuse oxygen from the water itself through the suit. Finally, I discovered a material that will not only allow oxygen to seep through the suit while barring other gases or liquids, but also have a high affinity for oxygen. The material has the capability to withstand immense pressure as well as deflect any sound waves or electrical pulses sent at it, effectively making the wearer invisible. Not to mention that I added a chameleon feature that allows the suit to change colors to match the environment. It has a helmet equipped with a GPS and a fully functioning A.I. It also has the capability to withstand immense pressure. If my calculations are correct, it can even possibly withstand the pressure that is twice that at the bottom of the Marianas Trench. Plus, I’ve recently added a jet propulsion device with adjustable speed levels that can be clipped onto the back of the suit.”
“That sounds like an interesting device.” I could sense where this conversation was going, and I really, really, didn’t like it.
“Yes, it will be a phenomenal advancement. I call my invention the SCUBAPS, which stands for ‘self-contained underwater breathing and anti-pressure suit.’ We already have high-pressure suits and devices to extract oxygen from the water, but not both in one material. So my SCUBAPS is certainly one of a kind.”
“And you are telling me this because…” I hated myself for starting the prompt to the answer that was sure to lead me to the new backdrop of my future nightmares.
“Because you’re going to have to use it to escape Oceania.”
Chapter 11
The person staring back in the mirror at me was unrecognizable. The SCUBAPS, which Dr. Wilcox kept explaining to me, was pronounced “scoo-bops” after I’d mispronounced it about a billion times, had a black outer covering like any other diving suit. The overall thing weighed only thirty pounds, but that didn’t account for the propulsion device Dr. Wilcox said added about fifteen more pounds.
Getting the suit on was a lot easier than I had anticipated. The material glided across my skin like soft silk. The outer covering mimicked the smoothness of a fish’s scales and resembled one in the microscopic overlapping layers of the outer skin. Once pulled up to my neckline, it immediately snapped skin-tight around my body, covering me almost completely from head to toe. The suit extended all the way around the tips of my fingers and thickened in that region like a glove. Both my feet were enclosed in denser material as well, acting like a woolen sock. Unlike most diving suits, the zipper went down the front, but the teeth of the zipper actually merged into part of the suit itself, leaving only a small pull-tab remaining at the neckline.
As I twisted and turned in the mirror, the surface glistened like the scales of a jack fish. Seeing my reflection in the mirror, I felt very uncomfortable with its tight appearance. Gran would kill me if she witnessed me wearing something so tight.
“Are you done changing, Allie?” asked Dr. Wilcox from the other side of the bathroom door.
“Yes, I think so,” I answered. Twirling around slowly and craning my neck, I attempted to see where exactly on my suit the jet propulsion device would attach.
“Well, then it's best if you hurry up, you don’t want to keep your grandmother waiting for too long.”
I knew Dr. Wilcox was right, but I was fighting to control the battle raging inside me. Half of me was terrified that a malfunction in the SCUBAPS would cause me to die alone, crushed to death at the bottom of the ocean. The other half of me attempted to override my fear with sheer excitement. I’d be the first person to explore the ocean depths without a submersible
