The Anatomy of Drowning (ONC 2022 Longlist)

Epilogue

Late Spring, 1985

There wasn't a sound, beyond the press of water, in Vera's ears.

It rolled and pulsed through the headset resting on her head, the line connected and plugged into the radio transmission input banks. Dials of all colours flashed and blinked, as Control Tower One transmitted the live data from the submarine thousands of miles away in the deep sea.

There was only radio static and the blip of the sonar.

The occasional checkin from crew and officers.

Vera learned their names. Every person on that submarine. She met them and spoke with them and charted this expedition only after taking that responsibility. The grid of the ocean loomed over her in the Schwab. The cluster of pins where the whales had been, no replaced by a single red pin.

Vera closed her eyes, vision swimming.

Here, there here. The thought swells a little in her chest. Reeds grip tightened on her shoulders, like she'd been swaying on her feet. Vera looked over at him and Arthur looked back at her and this time, Vera smiled.

Her hand slipping from the headset to reach down and touch Reed's hand.

"Are you okay?" he asked, the accent deep in the swirl of machines around her. The voice nothing like the echo she'd imagined but that voice didn't belong to Reed, only the words did.

The strangers name was Mathew Leech. He was the first-officer aboard the Etruria Expedition. He was real, he'd been on the ship with them and Vera kept his file in the room she'd shared with Jay and Sydney. She'd bring him home too.

She'd bring them all home.

Reed starts to say something, but then his gaze goes distant and he presses his hand to the headset against his ear before his gazed snapped back to Vera. "You're going to want to hear this."

> Command. There's a ship. She looks like the Etruria.

> Copy. Standing by.

> Command, we have a haul. Portside exposed against the floor... we have damaged. Repeat, we have damage on the metal, full exposer of interior. Looks like an explosion from inside the cargo bay.

> Repeat, Charter.

> Command. There is damage to the Portside. Looks like an internal explosion. She sank from the inside... dropping extendable. We're going in for recovery.