Chahaya dan Surya (BOOK 2 OF MUTIARA TRILOGY)

Where is Guntur?

***

At the submarine vessel, Guntur, Topan and Petir are cruising at a more accelerated speed. They are getting much closer to Garuda now. The water gets murkier as they get closer to where Garuda anchored its ship.

"Is there a reason why the water is so murky?" asked Guntur to Petir.

"We are getting close. Garuda is a mother ship so it requires many anchors to hold itself still."

"I don't see any marine animals," said Guntur again.

They said 'be careful what you wished for' as the submarine is suddenly halted due to a mysterious black thing covering the front part of the window.

"Hold still!" ordered Petir, getting tense and serious due to the unforeseen situation.

Guntur and half-dazed Topan immediately buckled themselves back up on their seats. The surrounding of the submarine is murky due to black sand getting mixed with the warm tropical water. The submarine is shaking as it makes screaching sounds when Petir drops its anchors to stop it from projecting forward. In the water, sometimes just stopping the engine to brake is not enough. The fastest way to stop at this deep sea level is to anchor one-self to the ocean floor. As the submarine cruises forward still, the anchor is pulling the vessel to the opposite direction; propelling the three forward. Luckily, they are caught by the seat belts, preventing them from hitting the engine-which could be fatal.

"What is happening?!" Topan who has been quiet this whole trip, finally spoke.

"There seems to be some mysterious animal covering our window. We cannot keep moving forward as I cannot see what is in front of us and we may hit something," explained Petir.

He seems the most serious he has ever been; at least the most serious that Guntur has seen. He observes the window while waiting for the sands to fall back to the ocean floor, hoping that the visibility would be much clearer then. Guntur and Topan are waiting, unconsciously holding their breath.

"This is not good!" said Petir, prompting Topan and Guntur to face the front window at the same time. They are squinting to see what Petir is saying.

"The Gigantoarthropoda* ," said Petir, pointing to gigantic black creature with hundred of legs which is snaking around the submarine. Its lower part of the body is visible through the glass as Guntur shivers in fear.

"Wh..Wha.."

"it's a giant millipedes which was discovered around 50 years ago. It is believed to be extremely similar to the pre-historic Arthropleura. The difference is that this Gigantoarthorpoda* evolved to be primarily aquatic."

"Will it kill us?" asked Guntur again.

His hands are getting extremely pale as it clenches into a fist. He is trying extremely hard not to show his fear; appearing indifferent yet unable to cover up his curiousity. His eyes are focused on the animal who is gliding forward onto the top of the submarine with its countless legs.

"It will if we are to get out of the water now. But then again, the toxic water here would probably kill us before we got eaten by that beast!" Petir has become much calmer in comparison to a few minutes ago.

He slowly restarts the engine and then pulls back the anchor that has been holding the submarine still. The engine keeps the Gigantoarthorpoda* from dragging the vessel backward with its movement. Slowly but surely, Petir brought the machine back into movement. The animal is still on top of the submarine but slowly releasing itself from the body of the vessel.

"Why did we stop then?" asked Topan.

"It's not the animal that could disarm this submarine, but if we cannot see and hit some rocks or shipwrecks, we can be doomed here."

Guntur and Topan look at each other in shock. Petir is much smarter than the two thought of. He has calculated everything and he knows what he is doing. Guntur and Topan quickly divert their eyes away from one another. Looking out at the dark water, Guntur is unable to wrap his head around the fact that the ocean is so toxic that it could kill humans. Luckily, as far as Guntur could see, there is no more giant animals threatening the submarine.

"Ehem!" Topan cleared his throat.

Then he announces,"I think we are close."

Guntur looks forward again to see extremely huge anchors with royal symbols on the ocean floor. There are at least 6 anchors that Guntur could see. There could possibly be more. The submarine is slowing down, manouvering between the anchors and trash that were abundant. There was a chair and even an old cupboard there. Other random items that no longer identifiable are present as well.

"Do you think there are people remains here?" asked Guntur, unclear to whom he specifically asked.

"I doubt it. Garuda is toxic but it does not do such thing," Unconsciously, Topan defended the kingdom. Luckily, nobody noticed it. 

Note: *fictional