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"The Empress was a twin-screw vessel," said Heidi softly "The one on the port side was salvaged in nineteen hundred and sixty-eight

Pitt turned to Hoker "Co the starboard boat deck"

Deep beneath their feet the little sub obeyed its i, narrowly n of the Empress' home port

"The aftappears to be gone"

Then the boat deck ca empty, but some still held steel lifeboats frozen for eternity in their chocks The ventilators stood in silent agony, their buff colored paint long flaked away, but the two funnels had vanished, fallen decades before into the silt

No one spoke for a few h they could sohtenedthe decks in confusion, helplessly feeling the ship sink beneath them with terrible swiftness

Heidi's heart began to pound against her breast There was ato the rust eaten hulk, swayed eerily to and fro with the current She shivered involuntarily and clasped her hands together to keep the Finally Pitt broke the silence "Take it inside"

Hoker took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the nape of his neck

"The

two upper decks have collapsed," hein a church "We can't penetrate"

Pitt spread the ship's interior drawings on a chart table and traced a line with his finger "Drop down to the lower promenade deck The first-class lobby entrance should be clear"

"Is Baby actually going to enter the ship?" Heidi asked

"That's what it was designed for," replied Pitt

"All those people dead in there Soious"

"Men have been diving on the Eh talking to a child