Chapter 1431: An Unseen World
Tim and Tony looked around the room with a confused look on their faces. Jasmine’s words had caused them to pay attention to their surrounding, and aside from some porous openings around the walls and a few windows, everything around the room was empty.
There were no steering wheels, no small knickknacks or anything. The room was completely empty.
All except for a small metal wheel that was attached at the base of the room.
“What’s that?” Tony asked.
Jasmine looked at it and gave a disgusted look. “That’s probably what you open to do your business. Remember, this room is the toilet of the ship too.”
“Oh,” Tony said and didn’t look at it any longer.
Ning chuckled a little, catching everyone’s attention.
“Why are you laughing?” Jasmine asked.
“When did I say this room was the toilet of the ship?” he asked.
Jasmine narrowed her eyes. “Did you not say this is where we had to come to relieve ourselves?” she asked. “I’m very certain you said that.”
“I did,” Ning said. “But I did not say that you would be doing it right here.”
“What the hell did you mean then?” Jasmine asked, exasperated about the entire situation.
Ning smiled and looked toward Tim and Tony, can you two move to that wall, and stay there?
Tim and Tony complied, moving to them all and staying there as Ning told them to.
Ning then got to the ground and started twisting at the circular handle, making large metallic clangs as he twisted it completely.
Once done, he grabbed onto it and paused.
He looked up at the three for a moment and asked, “Do you guys know of any ships that can go underwater?” he asked.
“Underwater?” Jasmine asked. “Why would you want to capsize a ship?”
“No, not capsize, just go under… never mind. What about you two?” he looked at the men. They both shook their heads as well.
Ning shook his head. “I am certain these exist around the world,” he said. “But to the three of you, this will be your first time.”
Ning pulled on the door and opened a large hatch from the ground, revealing not the ocean underneath but something entirely different.
Jasmine moved forward and stared down the hatch, seeing a large tunnel that led nearly 5 meters down onto a flat surface below. She could also hear hollow sounds coming from in there, giving her a feeling of awe.
Tim looked down as well, completely flabbergasted at what he was seeing. “Does this tiny boat have space below deck? How?” he asked.
Tony simply couldn’t understand what he was looking at. The lighting inside made him think he wasn’t looking at natural lighting, but then what was making it glow so white?
“Follow me,” Ning said and jumped through the large hole, landing on the surface below.
Tim was the first to move. He saw a large ladder that led all the way down, so he went down it one step at a time. Once down below he stood beside Ning, an expression of disbelief clear in his face.
Jasmine followed suit, and Tony came in after her.
Both of them were utterly stunned at the sight they saw down there.
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” Ning said. “Welcome to your first Submarine.”
It was a magnificent feeling the three of them got, looking at large open tunnels that led to different directions. Bright white lights that glowed all around made them feel a surreal feeling as if nothing existed in this world yet that glowed white.
“A Submarine?” Tony said. “Marine, meaning relating to the sea. Sub, meaning below. Below the sea. Ah, that’s what you meant earlier.”
Tim spun his head toward Ning. “Does the majority of the ship remain underwater the entire time?” he asked.
“Then the ship was were at above, that’s not the actual ship?” Jasmine asked.
“Nope, that’s just the surface. People who usually go around in submarine never stay on the top,” Ning said.
“Why? It looks like a perfectly fine place to stay,” Jasmine said. “Although, I can see why they would be reluctant to go outside when the inside is this magnificent.”
Ning smiled. “Let me show you to the bridge,” he said and took them along with him toward the front of the submarine where the navigation happened.
A soft beeping noise welcomes the four into a bright and wide room, full of various machinery and that which looked like glowing glasses.
They had no idea what a screen even was.
“This is where you steer the ship from?” Jasmine asked.
“Yes,” Ning said. “Go look through the hole.”
The three turned around and went toward the small window at the side of the submarine and looked out.
The wonderment they felt at realizing that they were completely underwater became even more real when they saw life below the ocean from the window.
Fish moved across close to them and far away.
“Wait, the water isn’t murky here at all,” Tony said.
“You were looking at the submarine from up there. The darkness you saw was just the giant ship’s metal hull,” Ning said.
“Damn, how large is this entire ship?” Tony asked.
“It is an oval ship at about 40 meters long and 11 meters wide at the largest and 5 meters wide at the shortest part of the ship,” Ning said.
“Woah! And the entire thing is underwater?” Tony couldn’t believe it.
Ning chuckled. “You haven’t even seen everything yet,” Ning said and pressed something.
Suddenly, everyone felt a sudden increase in pressure around them and a cracking of the metal hull.
“What is going on?” Tony asked, looking around.
“Look!” Tim shouted and everyone looked out the window.
As they watched, the fish that were in their eyesight, started moving upward, while light slowly faded from the surroundings and the Ocean’s darkness took over.
“Are we…” they all turned around.
“I told you, this is a ship that travels underwater,” Ning said. “When I say underwater, I mean underwater.”
It was unclear to the three if they were feeling surprised at the moment or not. It had been such a constant thing at this point that the feeling simply felt normal to them, as though that is how they should always be feeling.
However, they knew as the submarine went more and more underwater, that they were experiencing something that rarely any human in the entire world would have at this point.
“I can’t believe it,” Tim said. “We are really underwater.”
“50 meters below the surface already and going further below,” Ning said.
The group quickly moved away from the window as everything darkened to a point where nothing became visible to them anymore.
“How is it going underwater?” Tony asked. “We are still filled with air.”
“There is a system in the back where it takes in water. At some point, there is enough weight in the entire thing that it simply drowns,” Ning explained.
Tony fervently took in the information. “And what about when we need to go back to the surface?” he asked.
“Then we push out the water, and become light enough that we float back into the surface,” Ning explained. “Honestly, you guys don’t have to worry about anything. Just look at that screen over there. You will soon start seeing what is outside of here.”
Ning pointed them to the sonar that was next to it and told them what to look out for.
The screen lit up with images from the ocean outside, as bright headlights at the front of the submarine lit up many fish that quickly scurried away from in front of them.
Tony and Tim were still in awe at everything. So many questions flew through their heads that they didn’t know what to ask first.
What was the light? Where did the submarine come from? What were these screens? What were these blinking sounds?
Questions and questions and yet Ning barely answered any.
“Keep watch through that screen. We will soon be moving toward the Reef,” Ning said.
They all turned to look at Ning with surprised expressions. So much had happened that they had forgotten that they were headed toward the Great Reef.
“Won’t this Submarine crash still?” Tim asked. “Those large lands would create a barrier for the ship.”
Ning smiled. “Just wait, you’ll see it soon enough,” he said.
Tim wondered what Ning meant.
A small jolting force told them that they had started moving forward. Fishes passed by the front of the submarine, showing up on the screen for a second before passing by.
The three of them looked at the screen intently, watching out for the wall that would soon come into view.
“We are closing in on the Great Reef,” Ning said. “You should be able to see it… right… about… now.”
A massive natural structure showed itself on the screen, a giant cliff of sorts. Many corals were stuck to the surface of the giant wall they came across, each one a different color and shape.
All of them stared at the Great Reef in awe, looking at the corals that grew all across the area.
However, what shocked the three even more than that was the gaping holes in the giant walls.
The structures weren’t uniform. They weren’t solid. The land seemingly looked more like large interconnected pillars of earth that left just about enough land underwater that the Submarine could easily pass through them without any trouble.
“See? I told you,” Ning said with a smug smile on their face.
However, none of the three turned around to look at him. They continued staring in awe at the world they had never known existed.
And would have never known had it not been for Ning.
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