Chapter 10: Queen's Triumph
"Is something wrong with the hydraulics, Admiral?" The Queen inquisitively leaned in to look at the gauge. "I saw you tinkering with it, just before I made the tea." Vodyanoy turned his head to the Queen, his eyes smiling, "It turns on and off by itself, Majesty. All other systems are working just fine." The Queen pursed her lips in response, while tilting her head to the side, thinking. After a brief moment, she shifted in her seat, "How deep are we, exactly?" Vodyanoy didn't hesitate, "5,000 feet, Majesty. Still ways to go." He bent over the controls to re-check the data. He seemed immersed by this new technology, glowing and flashing and lighting up different keys. Although, he did manage to wonder why she came onto the submarine in the first place.. She knew the risks of going under, and yet she still did it anyway. She could have easily sent one of her Generals, or that annoying adviser Amelatu. Vodyanoy has been warned about Amelatu, and so far, everything they said about him, was true.
The tea has gotten cold by now. As the submarine descended deeper and deeper, the outside landscape became darker and darker. Pushing away creeping anxiety and the feeling of being closed in, Alexandrina looked at her cup, debating if she should warm up some more tea. The longer she remained alone with Vodyanoy, the more tense she felt. He made her uncomfortable, as if he didn't care that she was the most important being on Earth. She folded her arms, shivering. She felt cold and hot at the same time. The palms of her hands were wet. Sneakily, she wiped them off on her sides. "We should probably let Amelatu know the hydraulics aren't working properly." Vodyanoy reached for the radio but hesitated, "No doubt he is going to tell us to come back up. Is that what you want? I can go to the back to check on other sources of power. Hydraulics are just one way to transmit power through the submarine, and something tells me this fancy new boat has other sources, otherwise we wouldn't be talking." Alexandrina shivered again. Awkward silence fell between them. Pushing away her anxiety, the Queen counted to ten in her head. She turned to the Admiral and quietly commanded, "You have been too long at sea. Tell Amelatu about hydraulics now." Her tone was icy cold. Vodyanoy's hand involuntarily flinched as he grabbed the radio, "Elvira, this is Vodyanoy, come in." Radio static returned no answer. "This is Vodyanoy, come in Elvira." Admiral gently tapped on the microphone with his crooked old finger, and continued to call Elvira. At some point, radio static jumped up and Amelatu's relieved voice filled the cabin. "This is EIvira, Vodyanoy. We hear you well. The radar is showing that you are at 7,000 feet. Confirm your current depth." Vodyanoy shook his head in response as if Amelatu could see him. "Elvira, your reading is incorrect. We are at 5 000 feet currently. Our hydraulics gauge is brokedick, all other systems are working fine." "Ten four, Vodyanoy, please remain at your current depth while we scan hydraulics systems." Vodyanoy's eyebrows raised slightly, "How long is that going to take?" He threw a sheepish look at the Queen, "Your Majesty, we are sitting on top of an underwater volcano that can blow at any moment... We should move fast. There is no time." The Queen shook her head in response. "No, we stay put. Amelatu said wait so we wait." Admiral shoulders began to rise as he took a deep breath of stuffy, submarine air. After a few moments, he slowly exhaled. Alexandrina tilted her head to the side, slightly clearing her throat. A prospect of waiting a long time did not appeal to her.
The tea has gotten cold by now. As the submarine descended deeper and deeper, the outside landscape became darker and darker. Pushing away creeping anxiety and the feeling of being closed in, Alexandrina looked at her cup, debating if she should warm up some more tea. The longer she remained alone with Vodyanoy, the more tense she felt. He made her uncomfortable, as if he didn't care that she was the most important being on Earth. She folded her arms, shivering. She felt cold and hot at the same time. The palms of her hands were wet. Sneakily, she wiped them off on her sides. "We should probably let Amelatu know the hydraulics aren't working properly." Vodyanoy reached for the radio but hesitated, "No doubt he is going to tell us to come back up. Is that what you want? I can go to the back to check on other sources of power. Hydraulics are just one way to transmit power through the submarine, and something tells me this fancy new boat has other sources, otherwise we wouldn't be talking." Alexandrina shivered again. Awkward silence fell between them. Pushing away her anxiety, the Queen counted to ten in her head. She turned to the Admiral and quietly commanded, "You have been too long at sea. Tell Amelatu about hydraulics now." Her tone was icy cold. Vodyanoy's hand involuntarily flinched as he grabbed the radio, "Elvira, this is Vodyanoy, come in." Radio static returned no answer. "This is Vodyanoy, come in Elvira." Admiral gently tapped on the microphone with his crooked old finger, and continued to call Elvira. At some point, radio static jumped up and Amelatu's relieved voice filled the cabin. "This is EIvira, Vodyanoy. We hear you well. The radar is showing that you are at 7,000 feet. Confirm your current depth." Vodyanoy shook his head in response as if Amelatu could see him. "Elvira, your reading is incorrect. We are at 5 000 feet currently. Our hydraulics gauge is brokedick, all other systems are working fine." "Ten four, Vodyanoy, please remain at your current depth while we scan hydraulics systems." Vodyanoy's eyebrows raised slightly, "How long is that going to take?" He threw a sheepish look at the Queen, "Your Majesty, we are sitting on top of an underwater volcano that can blow at any moment... We should move fast. There is no time." The Queen shook her head in response. "No, we stay put. Amelatu said wait so we wait." Admiral shoulders began to rise as he took a deep breath of stuffy, submarine air. After a few moments, he slowly exhaled. Alexandrina tilted her head to the side, slightly clearing her throat. A prospect of waiting a long time did not appeal to her.
Both of the submariners jumped when a loud, ear-splitting sonar chirp rattled through the cabin. As an experienced diver, Vodyanoy recovered first, hoarsely shouting "We gotta move now!" He was beating with his old crooked finger on the radar showing a large mass of something moving quickly towards the boat. His eyes became intensely large prompting the Queen to have a reaction. He sat back into his seat, strapped his belt around his torso and grabbed the controls. Another deafening chirp pinged through the cabin. "What is that? A rock?" The Queen shouted while peering at the radar and then out of the window into the murky water outside. "Tell Amelatu we must move, tell him!" Vodyanoy motioned toward the microphone on the right hand side of the controls, closest to the Queen. "I have to move this boat out of the way before we turn into sardines." Slightly disoriented, Alexandrina reached for the microphone and immediately fell forward onto the controls. She cursed out loud. "You could give me a little warning here!" Angrily she threw an enraged look at the Admiral. He didn't even hear her. She looked down at his hands, and saw the white of his knuckles piercing through the skin as he gripped the controls. Breathing very fast, Vodyanoy shouted, "Here we go, here we go!" He pulled the controls forcing the boat to sharply plunge into the blackness. "Dive, dive, dive!" He kept yelling over and over. The Queen's hands were shaking as she snatched the microphone and growled at Amelatu, "We're diving! I repeat, we are diving! Depth is 5200 feet. 5300 feet! Amelatu respond!" Radio static filled the cabin as the Queen let go of the microphone button. "Get your seat belt on," Vodyanoy barked at Alexandrina, "We will hit. We will hit this thing." Focusing on imminent impact, Vodyanoy got hold of his breathing. His sweaty hands loosened the grip, just a little. "Okay, okay. I am ready." The Queen strapped herself into the seat and inhaled. Just as she let the air out of her lungs, a loud bang reverberated through the submarine cabin.
"Shit, are we dead? Are we sinking." She half whispered at Vodyanoy. "Yes, we are sinking." Vodyanoy's voice sounded uncertain. "It's not a rock, Majesty. It's a container of some sort." He pressed several buttons and brought up a screen with outside camera. "See this?" He asked, turning towards the Queen. "Some sort of a box, and its sitting on top of us." He pressed more buttons and the screen disappeared. "Doesn't matter, we have to get out of here anyway. There is more stuff coming and this time its debris." The Queen grabbed Vodyanoy's arm "I want that box. Don't lose it." Vodynoy stared back at her, quizzically. She turned red slightly, but didn't break his stern glance. "Your Majesty, you should've told me about this when we first got in this boat. You are putting me in a difficult situation." His voice was interrupted by another wave of radio static. Amelatu was yelling at the Queen and the Admiral, but the connection was deteriorating with every syllable. "Pull up! Bzzz... Khhhh... Pull Up! Grztkzkz crr grztzkzktztzz You have to pull up!" Vodyanoy grimaced, yanking the controls. "We are losing radio signal and we can't stay at this depth.. I tell you what, can you get a hold of Amelatu some other way?" The Queen nodded. "See if he can get rid of this incoming debris, while we sweep the baffles. That will help us time wise and we won't lose the box." The Queen smiled, gratefully. She pulled out a necklace tucked neatly underneath her clothes, opened the attached pendant and whispered instructions. A small, shimmering, whitish substance floated out of the pendant and disappeared through a submarine wall. Vodyanoy assumed it was some kind of an alien message transmitter. He looked at the Queen disapprovingly.
The more time he spent with her, the stranger he felt. He couldn't figure out why she was a Queen to begin with. She didn't carry herself like a Queen and didn't possess any royal aura about her. Back 7 or 8 eight years ago, she appeared out of the blue announcing herself as the Queen of the entire planet. It was all over the news... "Watch that boulder!" Alexandrina tugged at Vodyanoy's jacket sleeve. He grabbed the rudder and turned. "I see it, I see it." The submarine swayed to the left narrowly avoiding a hit. "Did you see the size of it? We have to get out here, fast!" Alexandrina motioned with her hands at Vodyanoy. "As if I don't know that." he quietly thought to himself. "Yes, Your Majesty. we are moving as quickly as possible." He shifted in his seat and concentrated on the controls again. The gigantic boulder flew passed them at lightening speed, slightly scraping the side of the boat. Feeling relieved that imminent danger has passed, Vodyanoy's eyes shifted to the radar. It indicated more debris coming their way. He sighed. He checked the controls and mapped out a different trajectory all the while still wondering in the back of his mind about what Alexandrina really wanted. He remembered seeing her beautiful face on TV. Back then, every news outlet screamed about a woman who proclaimed herself Queen. "She is Not our queen!... Not our Queen!" a large mob of people chanted while camping out in the Times Square. In Paris, around the Eiffel tour, people stood for days yelling "Queenie, queenie, queenie - out! out! out!" All news channels, all over the world, talked about her ascending to the throne. People died protesting. "What is that!?" Alexandrina pulled on Admiral's shoulder. He grimaced, blinked and refocused on the radar. "The ground is moving!" Alexandrina's voice sounded distraught. He didn't respond to her. But she was right, the radar did show movement. It was slow, consistent and.. random. It looked like the underwater volcano was about to blow and both of them were right on top of it. There was not much he could do at this point. A terrorizing chill went through Vodyanoy's body. "How much time? Minutes? Seconds?" His thoughts raced at a speed of light in his tired mind, analyzing every potential outcome. The worst would probably be the demise of the Queen. His entire family would suffer for that. Slightly panicking, he checked the tanks again. They have been slowly dumping water, making the boat rise a few hundred feet. He already blew the emergency compressed air into the ballast tanks, and that got the boat up another thousand feet. But the volcano was too large. "Its not far enough!" His mind whispered to him, provoking action. He stole a glance at the Queen, wondering if she might present some last minute ideas, but her eyes were closed. It looked like she was praying. Dead silence fell in the cabin as both occupants tried to imagine what would happen next. Surely the death would come quick and painless.
Long lasting, excruciating minutes rolled by as both of them sat in cold silence while they waited. The submarine continued to rise, little by little, because the depth gauge readings got smaller and smaller. Watching those readings, Vodyanoy felt thrill and terror at the same time. Large sized air bubbles played outside the submarine's windows. The whales, who were long gone, could be heard making sounds out in the distance. Radio was dead silent. Not even static seeped through. No messages from Amelatu or anyone else have arrived in the last five minutes. Alexandrina quietly wondered what the situation looked like on the surface. Her brother, she thought, was waiting up there, to see her. "Deep breaths," she mumbled. Rubbing her hands, she stared at the bubbles in the window as another five minutes crawled by. The darkness outside the submarine began to disappear. Warm light invitingly gleamed through the dense water, increasing visibility. The Queen's foot started to impatiently tap on the floor. "We are going to make it!" she thought, relieved. At that very moment, the ground below them burst. Some parts of the bottom opened up showing orange substance illuminating the darkness of the ocean floor.
They didn't feel anything at first. A few seconds went by before the effects were felt. A lot more bubbles suddenly appeared, so many that Alexandrina could no longer see out in the distance. Too many bubbles, like the ones you see when the pot of hot water is boiling too hard. Somewhere far away, she heard Vodyanoy's tremulous voice repeating over and over: "Mayday, mayday! mayday!" Alexandrina stared at his cracked old lips as if in slow motion. Nothing felt real. Instead, everything slowed down. She sat back down in her chair, and pulled the seat belt over her shoulder. She heard a loud clanking, clinging, metallic noise reverberate through the submarine... and then.. reality hit her like a punch in the face. Gasses from the eruption of the underwater volcano finally caught up with the submarine jolting it violently back and forth. At the same time, the boat started ascending to the surface much faster, as if it was being pulled up from above by an invisible force. The jolting and the moving threw Alexandrina and Vodyanoy back and forth in their seats. She grabbed the arm of her chair to steady the thrashing. And smiled. It looked like she was going to survive this ordeal and she got what she came for. She couldn't wait to open the box.
The clanking noise felt terrifying. Any moment Alexandrina expected the boat to come apart at the seams, but it held together, barely. It was clear that something was pulling the boat from above by the way the Queen's body was jammed into her seat. She couldn't move or stand up. "What is he up-to up there?!" she wondered. Amelatu must have received her message and took matters into his own hands. She looked to the left at Vodyanoy. His hands were firmly clasped on the rudder trying to steer the boat among the fast moving debris. Alexandrina smiled again and closed her eyes. The shaking and the jolting continued for what seemed an eternity before everything went quiet. "You can open your eyes, Majesty, we're out of there water now... and air-borne!" Vodyanoy motioned for her look out of the windows. "Huh? What did the old man just say?" Alexandrina leaned forward to look and saw blue skies with fiery water below. It was true! The boat was hanging below Elvira, slowly moving away from the disaster area. "Flying submarines??? Now I've seen everything Your Majesty." Vodyanoy smiled at the Queen. "I suppose drastic times call for drastic measures, eh, Admiral?" The Queen laughed while throwing her head back. She wanted to see Amelatu immediately to thank him for saving her life. And for saving her child's life as well.
The clanking noise felt terrifying. Any moment Alexandrina expected the boat to come apart at the seams, but it held together, barely. It was clear that something was pulling the boat from above by the way the Queen's body was jammed into her seat. She couldn't move or stand up. "What is he up-to up there?!" she wondered. Amelatu must have received her message and took matters into his own hands. She looked to the left at Vodyanoy. His hands were firmly clasped on the rudder trying to steer the boat among the fast moving debris. Alexandrina smiled again and closed her eyes. The shaking and the jolting continued for what seemed an eternity before everything went quiet. "You can open your eyes, Majesty, we're out of there water now... and air-borne!" Vodyanoy motioned for her look out of the windows. "Huh? What did the old man just say?" Alexandrina leaned forward to look and saw blue skies with fiery water below. It was true! The boat was hanging below Elvira, slowly moving away from the disaster area. "Flying submarines??? Now I've seen everything Your Majesty." Vodyanoy smiled at the Queen. "I suppose drastic times call for drastic measures, eh, Admiral?" The Queen laughed while throwing her head back. She wanted to see Amelatu immediately to thank him for saving her life. And for saving her child's life as well.
