The 96th hour

2

We have been sitting in silence now for a long time, just waiting and hoping. It is still dark. So freaking dark, the cold sweat on my back now makes my shirt glued to my body. I am quite happy that the others can not see my panic.
I can sense theirs, though. It is obvious and strong. The fear has a deep smell to it .I am sure the others smell it too. It’s the mixture of sweat, bad breath and a kind of rot. It’s hard to describe, but it lingers in my nose.
"Soo Stockton, where is the promised return of power? I am very uncomfortable", Hamish asks. Uncomfortable is an understatement. Dying because of fear would have described it better. How does Hamish still sound so calm? I can feel my son shivering slightly. Then I notice it too.
The cold.
Without power we also have no heat. This deep down in the ocean we surely will freeze to death slowly. What a nice vacation idea. I feel so bad for Suleman because I have dragged him here. I have involved him into this, thinking everything would be safe. My wife has also tried to talk us out of this. To late. The money has already been paid to that moment and no refunds. And it was a present to Suleman. Something special for the two of us. And now this. I just hope Stockton is right and that we will either get rescued or the power turns on again.
At this thought the light inside the submarine flickers on again. It is not continuous and stays flickering. Maybe the dark was better than this to be honest. It makes everything more creepy.
“See, dear gentleman. The first power. The rest will return soon. I am telling you, everything is fine.” Stockton says. Still not turned towards us but the monitors. They are still pure black nothingness.
“I really hope for you. Because if we are stuck in this thing until our death I will make sure you are the first one to go.” Hamish says. I am rather taken aback by this threat because I would never have expected this to come form Hamish. We haven’t really talked but he seems like a nice and well mannered man. And the power has just returned a bit. But I understand that his nerves are on edge. Mine are too. But I am on the verge of tears and not of murder. We all look at Hamish after this statement. In the light he really does look murderous. He could easily kill Stockton, no doubt. I really hope it will not come to this.
Stockton is speechless. For a second we all sit in silence, waiting for a reaction. The he speaks:” Hamish please, how often do I have to tell you. There is nothing to worry about. The outside world knows about the power loss. They are already looking for us. If the power does not return in the next hours we will get rescued. Until then just calm down. I don’t care, sleep a bit ore something. Make yourselves at home. The only person who has to worry and work is me…”
“And about what do you have to worry about if you tell us everything is going well.” Paul asks.
“Umm well… the thing is… the batteries form my controller seemed to have stopped working for whatever reason.” He replies. He still haven’t faced us.
We sit in stunned silence. I personally don’t really understand how much this affects our situation right now but it clearly isn’t good or helping us.
“No way. No one would have expected that with the Logitech controller you are using.’” This is my son speaking up. Now everyone is turning towards him, except Stockton. I immediately sense that my son is now nervous. The was speaking rather quietly but with no sound at all around us everyone has heard his sarcasm.
“Young man, don’t pretend like you are the expert here. Just let me handle this.” Stockton replies.
“Yeah, I am not an expert, but I don’t have to be one to know how this would have ended badly in every situation. It’s for gaming. Not going to the ground of the ocean, geeze. What the elk were you thinking in that small brain of yours. Old man, I really do not want to die so get this thing to work again and then to the surface.” Suleman has been rising his voice steadily towards the end of his little speech. I fully support what he has stated. He has spoken for us all. We all don’t want to die.
Silence from Stockton again. “I also don’t want to die. Give me some quiet and then hopefully…” he doesn’t finish his sentence. He doesn’t have to, we all know.
Another good thing that came with the flickering light is that it is also getting warmer again so at least we won’t freeze to death. Not yet. But the flickering has been more unsteady than just some moments ago.