In the Trench

Day 1

Chapter 1
The Prince

Our first day in the trench is going swimmingly. Apparently I am the only one who finds my jokes funny. Big surprise. Oh well, we're only down here for a week. The Mariana's Trench is one of the few unpolluted places on the planet; therefore the United States of America has every intention of changing that as quickly as possible. My political opinions are not popular either. In fact, I am not popular at all.
But, the smart people can't drown or get lost out in the trench, therefore I and the other reformers are here. They call us that because it's better than slaves. We are people who broke the law, more than once, in a big way but not a super dangerous one, and now we do grunt jobs in factories and on freighters and occasionally on submarines. 
We don't usually get sent down here. It's supposed to be a punishment. But up until it dawned on me that I was trapped thousands of feet beneath the surface with fifty odd people whom I differ with on socio-political level, I really didn't completely mind.
Mostly what I do is go outside the ship to fix it, or collect samples. Well, I don't collect samples anymore because apparently I was taking too long trying not to damage the fragile ecosystem here by a volcanic vent. So now other people who will damage the fragile ecosystem, but go faster, do it. I get to stay in here sorting samples in to bags for the clever people to look at.
"Reform, move on to the new set," that's one of the clever people.
"I have a name. I don't respond to it, but I do have a name," it's pretty obvious after about oh fifteen minutes of being around me why I'm the one living in lockdown with a convicted murderer as a roommate. No, I do get to leave the barracks there's just tracker bracelets around my wrists and ankles to deliver powerful and incredibly painful electric shocks through my body should I go somewhere they don't think I should go, like, oh I don't know, the zoo to go find my roommate.
"Reform, go check the temperature on the water on the new samples now," i don't know that persons' name but they don't know mine either so I can live with that.
I smile smarmily and then move to obey. Some of the others just got back in from a dive. They still haven't closed the chamber.
"Look at that one Russo, I shot it with the harpoon," one of the other reforms, Bradly, says. I think he still talks to me because he doesn't know I mean everything I say.
"Why would you do that???? What is it— a squid?" I ask, looking down at a squid or octopus like creature, nearly as large as a human, that has a harpoon through a couple of tentacles.
"I dunno. That's what the smart people are for."
"It's still alive----we aren't bringing live things up---they can't stand the change in pressure," I say, reaching my hands in the water of the little holding tank. The creature scoots to the other side, pressing against the wall and changing color to match the grey steel walls of the sub.
"It'll die in a minute," Bradley shrugs.
"You're a monster------I'm putting it back," I say, "Shhh, shhh, I'm not going to hurt you," I gently ease the harpoon from the octopus' tentacle. No suckers? It's not an octopus---some sort of deep sea squid? 
"You're not putting it back," Bradly scoffs.
"Watch me," I say, grabbing an oxygen tank off the wall. I'm in a wetsuit as it is so I can get in the tanks to sort the samples as necessary. I take one of the smaller oxygen tanks, which themselves are large because they contain three days worth of oxygen. I wouldn't take one at all, but these guys would lock me outside. I'm not saying I haven't done many things to deserve being locked outside. I'm saying they would lock me outside.
"Hey----reform. Put that down!" that's the smart non-incarcerated person watching us.
"It's still alive, I'm putting it back," I say, climbing into the tank. The creature scoots away from me. "It's all right----it's all right. I'm here to help you. Shhh, shhh." I reach out and firmly grab the thing, which wraps tentacles around me, nearly twisting my arms out of their sockets. " I know, it's okay," I say, gently, walking towards the dive chamber.
"Reform---put that thing down and come back here----that is an order---"
"No," I say, flatly, they can't shoot us in here, and I'm wading in water they electrocute me we all go down.
"You'll be in solitary the rest of the week------I'll add five years to your sentence----"
"And here I was looking forward to freedom on my hundred and seventh birthday—bye," I say, closing the dive port and sticking the oxygen tubes up my nose. There's a mouth piece as well usually so you don't have to bother with not inhaling water. But I didn't take one. It's not like I'll be out here long. The creature relaxes a little when it realizes we are going back out. It definitely has the intelligence of an octopus, must be a deep sea variant.
"It's okay, I'm helping you," I say, one more time, before I open the hatch and dive out into the darkness. I fumble for a second with a flashlight, but before I can get it out I realize the creature is glowing. Nice.
That's useful. I smile at it, as it floats in front of me, not afraid now. It is as tall as I, with dozens of tentacles coming from a bulbus head, two eyes, not on eye stalks but similar to octopi, a body like that of a squid, with thicker tentacles on the sides smaller thinner ones below.
It stretches out a thick tentacle and touches my face, as though in thanks. I wave at it, smiling. Good. At least someone likes me.
I look back up, feeling for the submarine to go back in. That's when the submarine jolts down towards me. I couldn't swim away fast enough, but the force of the water shoves me backward onto the ocean floor. There is something holding the submarine. Shaking it.
It looks like the creature I helped, only fifty times bigger. This thing is bigger than the sub. And it's shaking it. And using its tentacles to rip it in two.
My new friend grabs me and drags me back behind a rock, away from the wreckage of the ship which the monster is throwing left and right.
Yeah, hide, good plan. I nod to the little one, who is scooted next to me. Then a massive tentacle reaches down, wraps around me, and everything goes black.