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"Strike Three"
Rating: PG What The Sea Swallows (6) Archer stared at the green-blue water under the raft. Sunlight quickly disappeared into inky blackness below the calm surface. “Cap’n,” Trip said. Archer looked around at Trip. Trip had his wetsuit and diving equipment on and was holding the mouthpiece in his hand. Archer looked back at the water. “You know…this an alien ocean. You don’t know what’s down there,” Archer said. “Hey, I didn’t twist your arm to come out here. You wanted to go, remember?” “I’m allowed to have second thoughts.” “Not once we get in the water you’re not.” Archer shot Trip a glare. “I’ll go if you don’t want to, sir,” Travis offered Both men looked down at Travis. The young man was reclined at the back of the raft next to the motor. He wore only a pair of ragged cut-off shorts and his cap was low on his head, shading his eyes from the sun. He had his legs resting on the opposite side of the boat and looked like he would probably fall asleep as soon as they were gone. “I wouldn’t want to disturb you or anything, Travis,” Archer teased. “I’ll go.” “Don’t say I never offered, sir.” “Not a chance.” Archer looked back at the water. “I want to go find out the what the things were that showed up on the scans, Cap’n. Are ya comin’ or not?” Trip asked. Archer turned and pulled his mask down. Trip stood up and checked their air tank levels. “Ready?” Trip asked as he sat back down on the edge. “No,” Archer answered and then put the mouthpiece in his mouth. Trip pulled his mask down, put his mouthpiece in his mouth, waved good-bye to Archer and let himself fall backwards into the water. Archer closed his eyes and fell back into the water. He felt something on his arm and opened his eyes, finding Trip beside him. Trip pointed at Archer and then bunched his fist with his thumb sticking up. Archer nodded. The two swam toward the darkness below. Archer saw Trip turn on his wrist beacon and did the same. Something dark gray began to become visible as they swam closer toward it. In the darkness they could make out that it ran lengthwise and looked like cement. Trip knelt down on the object and reached out, swiping his hand back and forth to clear the silt away from the object that disappeared into darkness to the left and right. Trip grabbed something and held it up, staring at it. Archer swam closer, taking it. It was a metal rod but other than that neither man had any idea what it was. Trip motioned Archer to wait and that he would be gone for five minutes and then disappeared over the edge. Archer watched where he’d gone and began to grow concerned after several minutes passed. Trip suddenly appeared, waving Archer to follow him. Archer swam over and Trip led the way down the side of the object to an opening. Trip pointed into it, disappearing inside. Archer stared at the opening wishing he’d taken Travis up on his offer to go in his place. He didn’t want to go through the opening and his mind was playing a thousand ‘what if’ scenarios. Trip appeared suddenly, grabbed Archer’s wrist and drug him through the opening. Inside the structure it was bitch black. A light burst and Archer looked to see Trip had lit a flare. He held it up, dragging Archer with him. Trip led him through another opening and up to a wall. Trip let go of Archer’s wrist so he could point at the wall. Archer moved closer and stared at the calendar on the wall. A calendar? Archer reached out and pulled the calendar off the wall, staring at it. Archer looked at Trip when his friend touched his arm. Trip was motioning him to follow. Archer turned and followed him into another room. Trip handed Archer the flare and swam over to something. He cleared silt away until Archer could see the object. Archer swam close, holding the flare in front of a decaying television set. Archer looked up, seeing Trip pointing at something. Archer turned, swimming in the direction Trip was pointing. Along a wall was a decaying stereo sitting amid a pile of decomposing wooden shelves and metal braces. He pushed the top and the lid slowly floated up. Archer reached in, picking up the compact disc inside. He turned, waving Trip to follow. Archer led the way out of what was apparently a building and started for the surface. He spotted the raft and swam toward it. The two men surfaced and held onto the side of the raft to hold themselves up. Archer yanked his mouthpiece out and pushed his mask up, watching Trip do the same. “WAS THAT REAL!?” Archer asked, holding up the calendar. “It was real,” Trip grinned. “As the proverb goes; what the sea swallows is lost forever.” “What was real?” Travis leaned over the side of the raft. Archer handed Travis the calendar. “I’ve never heard that proverb.” “It’s an old proverb.” “Yeah? How old?” Trip shrugged, “Oh…about fifteen seconds.” Archer smiled. “Is this real!?” Travis smiled. Archer tossed the disc in the raft next to Travis. He picked it up, looking at it. “What is this?” Travis asked. Archer’s eyes narrowed as he tried to pull up the unused information from his mind. “If I remember right, a compact disc. Pretty common in the twentieth and twenty-first century.” “For music,” Trip added. “Not all were for music,” Archer argued. “It was in a stereo. It was for music,” Trip pointed out. Archer shrugged his eyebrows. Trip had a point. “A stereo?” Travis looked at them. “There was a stereo down there?” “Yeah,” Archer answered. “And a television. Or at least what was left of it.” “That’s why I was gone so long,” Trip explained to Archer. “It’s an apartment building. There are a few other apartments that I checked out. Fully furnished with full kitchens — refrigerator, stove, one of those old microwaves.” “That explains all the objects detected on the scans, sirs,” Travis said, flipping the pages of the calendar. “I bet this was like a swimsuit calendar.” Trip and Archer both looked at him. “Why would you say that?” Trip asked Travis. “Look.” Travis held the calendar up, showing an alien dressed in very little clothing lounging on the hood of a car. Archer ripped the calendar from Travis, folded it and lightly hit Travis on the head. “Bad ensign! Bad boy!” Archer said. The three men laughed. “Now you know what Porthos has to put up with, Travis,” Trip laughed. Archer pulled up on the side of the raft. “Hey, where’s that PADD that has the locations of the other anomalies detected on the scan?” Travis turned and retrieved the PADD. Archer took the PADD, looking at it. “Look here,” Archer said, holding the PADD at an angle so Trip could see it. “Notice something?” “Yeah.” Trip pulled himself up on the side of the raft, tracing out the imaginary squares. “Bet that somewhere under all that dirt are streets.” “Looks that way.” Archer tossed the PADD in the raft. “Travis, get a hold of T’Pol and tell her to do a layer geographic scan down to, oh, twenty kilometers. Sound about right?” Archer looked at Trip. “Probably. It’s looking pretty twentieth century so I suppose there could be something that deep. Like a subway or something.” Travis leaned forward. “So we happened to stumble on a submerged city that apparently,” Travis held up the calendar and flipped it to a page with an alien standing next to a car, “Had a twentieth century culture before it sank to the bottom of the ocean. Shall we christen this world Atlantis two, sirs?” “Atlantis sank. This place didn’t sink. It flooded,” Trip said. “T’Pol said the sun’s going nova and is melting the icecaps. Pretty soon the whole planet’s going to be under water, and then the atmosphere will diminish and the planet will die.” “When did she say that?” Archer asked Trip. Trip shrugged. “Yesterday afternoon at lunch in the mess hall.” “You worry me sometimes, Trip?” Archer pulled his mask back down, adding, “Oh wait. This is side hobby you never mentioned. You’re really into dying planets, suns going nova, sunken cities…these are all hidden interests, right?” Trip grinned. “I never mentioned that? Must’ve slipped my mind all these years.” Trip pulled his mask back on. “There’s a building about three meters to the right of the first. Let’s check it out.” Trip put his mouthpiece back in his mouth. Archer nodded and dove down. “Good luck, sir,” Travis said before Trip disappeared under the water. Travis sat back, thumbing through the calendar with a smile. What the sea has swallowed it does not vomit out again. African (Jabo) proverb |
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