THE TITAN EXPERIMENT

CHAPTER 13 - Creature of the Abyss

Sarah was not planning on finding a Greenland shark so soon. It came out of nowhere and it had to be blind luck or twisted fate. She assumed it would take hours to track down a specimen, get a sample, and get back topside. She thought it was altogether possible they might come up empty tonight and have to venture out again tomorrow night. But if she survived this collision and didn't spring a leak, she may have stumbled upon some good fortune.

The sea cycle spun in a torrent of black water, the exterior search lights illuminating a wash of white suds as Sarah's head slammed against the watertight canopy. First came the loud thump of her skull striking the polycarbonate, followed by a second wave of foam swirling over the cycle. Then, in the middle of the violent water, a flurry of stars burst across her field of vision. Sharp pains bounced all over her skull. The impact would have knocked an average person out cold, but not Sarah. The blows left her off kilter, but only lasted for a few seconds. In an instant, she recovered because her body's enhanced immune system repaired and deflected the onset of a concussion in her brain. Any traumatic effects were temporary.

Otherwise, the ambush kindled a fire of determination.

As the creature swam off into the dark abyss, Sarah swiped her hand over the touchscreen, jabbing a finger at a button to engage the cycle's stabilizers. Her first and second attempt failed amidst the rumbling tumble through the water. But before she could make the connection, the computer's automated system kicked into gear, activating the cycle's balancing mechanism. Jets of water from the ballast tanks blasted from cone shaped nozzles into the direction of the roll, slowing the spin, and stopping it altogether. With less water in the tanks, the cycle shot up thirty feet from the ocean floor in a frothy blur. The sudden ascent sent her heart racing to her throat. She gasped, caught her breath, and steeled her nerves into an icy focus on the mission objective.

With precious time slipping away, Sarah located the fleeing shark as it scurried away. It showed up as a pulsating red dot on the display between the handlebars. In the past, keeping up with an untagged creature like this would be impossible, especially at night. But the technology of the future had a way of evening the odds. Before the collision, as soon as the computer detected the shark on radar, it locked onto the target's heat signature. With a goose of the throttle, she started the chase.

Sarah opened the comm system with the tap of a finger. "I got sideswiped, but I'm in pursuit. Fifty meters out." She saw Wolf's submersible on the screen, visible as a solid green dot. "It's about half a klick off your starboard."

"I see it. I'm on my way."

Sarah knew she would beat Wolf to the prize, but she didn't need to kill the shark or capture it. She only needed to get close to it. Sea Lab equipped the sea cycles with a pair of mechanical arms. One arm had four fingers that pinched together to pick up objects from the seabed. They had fitted the other arm with a rotating coring blade for taking tissue and blood samples from marine life. The blade was like a hollow drill bit that buzzed into a shark's tough skin.

Fortunately, Greenland sharks were slow. Since they lived in icy water, their metabolism had adapted to a leisurely pace, slowing its bodily processes, allowing it to live twice as long as the average human. Although it was capable of quick bursts of speed, normally, the shark lumbered the icy depths in search of prey.

Sarah gunned the cycle with a twist on the throttle handle. Twin fans at the rear of the submersible churned a milky wake, propelling her forward.

As she closed in on the meandering shark, she monitored the bank of lights illuminating the path ahead. Tiny bubbles and bits of debris floated through the water, sweeping over the cycle's clear canopy. The shark's tailfin waved back and forth. She was gaining ground, the red dot on her display screen drawing near.