The thing which lurks amidst the lithium
Amara stared out into the depths of the cavern as the sensor readings slowly grew higher.
They were now deeper than any person had ever gone before, thanks to the latest in submarine technology. Their mission was not exploratory, but commercial — their sensors had detected the large deposit from all the way on the surface.
To see this up close was even more spectacular. How did so much of it come to be placed here? Underwater volcanoes? A meteor from a prehistorical era? Amara supposed the reason didn’t matter, as long as they could carry it back to land.
“Activate the trawler,” she commanded.
“Aye Captain Patel,” the ensign said.
The machinery whirred and trudged forward through the intense pressure of the depths. As it continued, it opened up to form a large metal net with a fine mesh to filter out anything which wasn’t their treasure.
“What do the readings say David?”
He looked over the stream of numbers on his console. “I’m estimating somewhere around fifty kilotons.”
“We won’t be able to get that all in this mission.”
“No, I believe we’ll need a whole fleet to extract the entire vein.”
“Let’s bring back a sample. That should be enough to get the investors excited.”
“Aye captain.”
She watched as the claw in front of the submarine was driven into the seafloor. Particles rose in the air, obscuring her view through the window. Their ship was old. Even this one extraction would probably take a while. She closed her eyes and dreamed of a ship which was state of the art. Maybe she could finally have central heating.
Her desires were interrupted by an annoying grinding sound. It was just at a sharp frequency which was driving her crazy.
“David, what’s going on?”
“I don’t know!” he looked at the console frantically. “It’s not supposed to be making that sound.”
Then a silhouette appeared in front of the window, obscured by the falling particles.
“David, start the engines in reverse.”
“We shouldn’t do that when the arm is extended.”
“Now!”
David obeyed, grabbing the throttle and pulling it hard backwards. The acceleration was so intense that Amara stumbled forward and planted her face into the glass window. There was a loud snap as the arm broke off, unable to handle the intense forces.
On the other side of it she could see the silhouette coming into view, illuminated by bright LEDs. All she could see were white teeth, dozens of them, all radiant.
“Contact the surface. Let them know of our ascension.”
A loud series of sharp screeches came over the radio. David covered his ears as he became almost overwhelmed by the noise.
“What happened to the radio?”
“Nothing happened. It just picked up a new sound. Was that echolocation?”
Amara grabbed the rudder and began turning the submarine hard to the right. They’d need better line-of-sight to get out of the cavern.
“What the hell is that?” David shrieked.
Amara watched as the silhouetted creature came into view, growing far larger than she had imagined.
“Keep going,” she pushed. “We need to get out of here quickly.”
The massive leviathan had picked up the robotic arm in its mouth and she watched as it was torn to shreds. There was still a bit of greed in her heart but it had been overwhelmed by a primal fear at seeing this coming towards her.
“Where did that thing come from?” David questioned. “I don’t remember reading about any sort of sea beast like that.”
“The sea is full of wondrous beings that humans have never been able to fathom,” she remarked with awe even as she felt afraid.
“Was it somehow collecting the lithium? What would a fish need with all of that?”
“David, play back those sensor readings. Was lithium all you saw?”
“No captain,” he reported. “The contents of the cavern appear to be sixty-five percent silicon, due to the sand, twenty-five percent iron from the rocks, fifteen percent lithium, and an anomalous five percent carbon.”
“Carbon?”
“Just plant life. It’s within the margin of error.”
“What if it wasn’t an error? What if there was more life in there?”
“Our sensors didn’t detect the leviathan until it suddenly appeared.”
“And it appeared once we activated the claw.”
“Yes, and?”
“What if there was more in those deposits than some minerals? What if there was life in there?”
“More of those things?”
“Small ones, perhaps even eggs. Maybe this kind of creature thrives on lithium. It hunts it out for its own consumption.”
“I’ve never heard of something so foreign.”
“And yet here it is, an entirely unknown creature living in our waters, perhaps for millennia.”
Their conversation was suddenly interrupted as the beast collided into the side of the submarine. It discharged a large bolt of electricity which shorted out the external lighting. They were now in darkness, unable to see what was swimming around them.
“It’s okay,” she reassured. “This is basically a Faraday cage. The electricity won’t harm us.”
“But it’s taken out of lights and our radio. We’ll be sitting ducks soon.”
“No. We won’t be,” the captain affirmed.
“Motors are still active, but I can’t guarantee it’ll be that long before it chews into the frame,” David said worringly.
“I’ll turn the motors downwards. Go to full impulse.”
“We can’t! The change in pressure will be too intense. It’ll crush us!”
“Our ship is made of the strongest metal fibers. We can handle it.”
“No, it’s not within the ship’s tolerance. The manual…”
“The manual was made by risk-averse engineers, and I respect them, but they aren’t here now. It’s just the two of us and that thing. Would you rather stay here and be consumed?”
“No, but…”
“I’m the captain and I’m giving you an order.”
David grabbed the throttle and pushed it to the limits. Amara adjusted the vertical rudder to change the direction of movement. She immediately felt heavier, knowing that their acceleration would feel a lot like gravity pushing on her.
She stared out the window, hoping to get an idea of where the leviathan was. All she could see was darkness.
Just then, she felt the sub shake. She tried to look out but that didn’t help.
“It’s still chasing us!” David cried out over the sounds of the hull creaking.
“Keep going,” she ordered. “It can’t handle the pressure change either. That’s why it lives this far down.”
Amara looked around her ship and could see small signs of strain. The walls no longer had a perfectly round shape. Small dimples had formed, and the entire ceiling now looked misshapen. As she opened her mouth to speak, her voice was drowned out by the louder creaking of metal.
Another crash into the sub nearly threw her to the ground. She grabbed onto the rudder for balance.
“Where are we? How deep?”
“Still 10,000 meters.”
“We’re not going fast enough,” she remarked.
David looked up at the ceiling. The indentations were growing in size and number.
“We can’t go any faster without crumpling.”
The decompression was getting to her too. She felt a deep pain in her stomach. But she knew half of it was fear of being stranded down here.
“We have no alternative. If we can’t outrun that thing…”
The ship suddenly shook again with a loud croak.
“That didn’t sound like the beast,” she remarked.
“It wasn’t,” David said remorsefully as he stared at the console. “Chamber four’s integrity is compromised. It’s taking in water.”
“Seal it off!”
“I already did, but that’s going to weigh us down. We have to slow down. Otherwise another chamber will collapse. And then we’ll be next.”
A silence hung in the air. Nobody dared to speak. As they continued sitting there in the midst of the ocean, Amara finally had a realization.
“David, I think it worked. The leviathan has left us alone.”
“Captain Patel, come in. We detected a chamber integrity failure. Are you okay?” a voice buzzed in on the radio.
“We’re safe. We’re fine,” Amara breathed a sigh of relief. “Now David, take us home. Slow and steady.”
“Yes captain.”
Although we’ve been able to travel to the moon and send many rovers to Mars, a great deal of the ocean depths are still undiscovered. What kinds of strange life lives down there? 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea continues to inspire us with ideas of fascinating life.