Atlantis

Part 3

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Lyra smiles as she stands next to the looking out in the sea as the submarine gets lower and lower. "Atlantis here I come." 

Lyra walks away from the window and towards a desk that holds all of her work. She had made a copy of the Sheperds Journal before her grandfather gave the original to Milo. Lyra has been studying the Journal the best she can, trying to figure everything out and she is so excited to have a fresh pair of eyes to look at it with her. 

She was sitting down when Rourke starts talking to the crew. "Okay, everybody, I want you to give Mr. Thatch you undivided attention."

Lyra gets up and sits on the top of her desk so she is facing Milo and the screen. She was standing behind Vinny and Audrey. Audrey leans towards Vinny. "Lyra already talked to us before we left, why are we getting a speech from nerdy-boy over there?" Vinney glance over at Audrey and shrugged, not having the answer himself.

Lyra chuckles and leans forward. "Because Audrey, Milo might know different things. We just have to find out if he is correct or not." Audrey rolled her eyes.

Milo smiled as he stepped in front of the screen. "Good afternoon. Can everyone hear me, okay?" No one answer as Audrey gum bubble popped loudly. "Okay, uh, how... How 'bout some slides? The first slide is a depiction of a creature. A creature so frighting, that sailors were said to be driven mad by the mere sight of it." Milo accidentally put in the wrong slide; it was a photo of Milo in a swimsuit while in a dino floaty. Lyra couldn't help but chuckle as everyone else laughs loudly. "Uh, I'm sorry. That's wrong."

Audrey rolled her eyes. "Geez, I used to take lunch money from guys like this." Vinny smiles and Lyra laughs at Audreys words. 

Milo clears his throat. "Anyway, this, uh... Okay." Milo puts in the right slide. "This is an illustration of the Leviathan, the creature guarding the entrance to Atlantis."

Vinny speaks up. "With something like that, I would have white wine, I think."

"It's a mythical sea serpent." Milo ignores Vinny's words. "He's described in The Book of Job. The... The Bible says, 'Out of his mouth go burning lights, sparks of fire shoot out.' But more likely it's a carving or a sculpture to frighten the superstitious."

Lyra speaks up. "Well, that's not completely true. Most likely the Leviathan was a real creature, the question is whether it's alive or not... Like you said before there has been sighting by sailors." Lyra hops off the desk and walks to the map next to the screen and points to where there are heading. "About 90 percent of the sightings have been said to be here. The other 10 percent are untrue with sighting everywhere else on Earth."

Milo frowns not liking that she called something he said as false. "Most if not all those people were to be said that they were telling lies."

Lyra shrugs as she walks back to her desk. "Atlantis was said to be lies, the Journal was said to be lies... There are many people who won't give others the time of day, thinking that they are mad. Didn't the museum think you as mad? I know they did your grandfather. Before and after he found the Journal... Until you find proof you shouldn't push it to the side."

Rourke sighs. "So we find this creature, dead or art. Then what?"

Mole comes out of nowhere. "When do we dig?"

Milo smiles. "Actually, we don't have to dig." Milo draws on the white board behind him. "You see, according to the journal, The path to Atlantis will take us down a tunnel into a air pocket, where we'll find the remnants of an ancient highway that will lead us to Atlantis. Kind of like the grease trap in your sink."

Helga smirks. "Cartographer, linguist, plumber. Hard to believe he's still single." Helga turns to Lyra. "You too would be perfect for each other."

Lyra smiles at her tease and turns to Milo. "Sorry," She turns back to Helga, ignoring Milo's rambling. "But he isn't my type. I like them with muscle. But since it's hard to believe that's he's single, maybe you need to grab a hold of him before he's gone." 

"Not interested."

Mole started pulling on Helga's sleave. "You said there'd be digging."

"Go away, Mole."

A worker steering the ship calls down. "Captain, you'd better come look at this, sir."

Rourke turns towards where he is being called. "Okay, class dismissed. Give me exterior lights."

Lyra goes back to her desk and starts cleaning it up a little. She is quickly distracted with the lights moving around outside the ship. Lyra looks out the window is in awe of how many broken ships where on the ocean floor. 

"Still believe the Leviathan is a piece of artwork?" Lyra says walking closer to the window.

"There are ships here from every era."

Lyra slowly goes back to her desk cleaning up while every so often looking outside. 

After some time of silence Mrs. Packard speaks up. "Commander, I think you should hear this."

Lyra goes up behind Milo as he reads the Sheperd's Journal. "Enter the... the.."

"Commander? Commander?

Milo clears his throat as he tries to read the language. Lyra looks over his shoulder. "The lair of the Leviathan."

Milo pushes his glasses farther up his nose. "Yes, thank you."

"Commander?"

Milo continues reading. "There you will find the path to the gateway."

"Commander?"

"Yes, Mrs. Packard. What is it?"

"I'm picking up something on the hydrophone. I think you should hear it."

"Put it on the speakers."

Mrs. Packard clicks a button, and a weird sound Lyra has never heard before plays over the speaker. 

Lyra looks at the window and frowns. "What the..." Lyra says softly to herself.  She turns to Rourke, Helga, and Milo. "Do you guys..." Lyra takes a deep breath. "Could it be the Leviathan?"

Milo shook his head. "Don't be silly. It's not real." Lyra doesn't get a chance to say anything before Milo continues to talk. "Plus, if, it was real then it would be long dead. It would have to be hundreds and hundreds of years old."

Lyra looks towards Rourke and Helen and see that they are talking to Mrs. Packard. 

"Is it just me, or is that getting louder?"

Lyra frowns at Milo's question. She honestly didn't think anything would be alive either. She quickly puts all of her really important notes into her backpack and puts it on as she walks away from the windows. 

The noise goes quiet. "Well, whatever it was it's gone now."

"Or its hiding." Lyra says quietly. 

"Helsman! Bring us about." Rourke orders to the sailor steering the submarine. "Tighten our search pattern and slow us to..." Rourke gets interrupt by something crashing into the submarine and falling to the floor. 

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