Hidden in the Depths

Chapter 5

The pod rocked with the waves, swaying them back and forth on the calm sea as they stared at the black smoke just east of them.

It was hard for Techno to tell what Fit was thinking about this situation. On one side, he was grinning like a madman, like he just lost the rest of his sanity. Not that the younger would blame him for that in any way.

On the other hand, his eyes were also widened with horror, a stark contrast to the maddening grin on his face. His tone as he asked, "Do you think it could be another pod?", didn't help at all.

Techno pulled a face. "Uh, well it has to be, it's not connected to the ship I think?" The 'I think' was mostly unnecessary, they both could clearly see that whatever caused the explosion was miles away from the ruins of the ship. Miles might be an overstatement, but it was hard to tell anything from such a great distance.

Silence hung in the air as the two stared at the horizon. The sky darkened by the minute, barely a sliver of light still coming from the setting sun, most of the sunset colours already gone and replaced by a glittering night sky.

"Yeah alright, we're going there and check it out." And Fit dropped down the ladder, back into the pod, without even glancing at Techno.

"Wha- no we're not?" Techno followed down, just to see Fit already scrambling to put on all of his gear, much to the younger's own dismay, who kept being ignored by his friend. Nevertheless, he kept trying to convince him that this was a terrible idea.

"I mean- It's already dark, we wouldn't be able to properly see where we are swimming!" Fit was pulling on the extra parts of his suit, fastening the oxygen tank onto his back, freshly refilled while they had tried to repair the radio. "So we go there now, before it's too late and we have to wait an entire night." "It's already dark!" "Not fully!"

Techno kept himself from rolling his eyes. Probably because he was less annoyed than he was panicked, but that didn't matter.

"Even if we reach the other pod- Fit for god's sake no we are not going-" And Fit was already pulling the mask over his head to rest around his neck, in case he will need it. But Techno's complaining did finally work, as the older stared at him now. "What if someone is out there, needs our help right now, and we are just sitting here even though we know they are there?"

Techno put up a hand on the ladder to support his weight and leaned on it. "Fit, please-"

"Techno there was an explosion there and something must've caused it for it to go off only now and not immediately when the pods landed!"

Techno sighed, closing his eyes and pinching his eyebrows together in frustration. Fit only continued, sensing the weak spot in his defences. "There are so many possibilities Techno! It could have been a person that causedthis, who is now injured and can't keep themselves above water!"

The younger just opened his eyes again and stared up at the hatch to avoid Fit's eyes. There was no point in arguing, yet still he did. And if he looked at Fit and saw him with a pleading look in his eyes, it would just continue, because he himself wants to believe there is someone out there now, who can be saved and can join them. But he was also so fucking terrified of going into the water after dark...

Fit walked forward to lay a hand on his arm, holding it gently. And he kept pushing it.

"Techno, if we don't go now, you and I both..." He took a deep breath. "If we'll find a body floating towards us in the next days, we will know that it's them. That there was a person aboard that pod as it exploded, and we did nothing." Fit's tone was now drilling into him. "We did nothing and that person might've made it out alive if they had just received our help."