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“Drier than an eye at a miser’s funeral,” Zavala said

“Ready to take the plunge, Doc?” Austin asked

“I’ve been ready for nearly forty years,” Kane said

Zavala tossed two inflatable cushions and a couple of blankets through the door “Beebe and Barton sat on cold hard steel,” he announced “I’ve decided a minimum of comfort will be necessary”

In turn, Kane produced two skullcaps fro and handed one to Zavala “Barton refused to dive unless he wore his lucky hat”

Zavala pulled the cap down on his head Then he crawled through the bathysphere’s hatch, taking care not to snag his fleece-lined jacket and pants on the steel bolts that surrounded it He curled up next to a control panel Kane got in next and sat on theside Zavala turned the air supply on and called out to Austin, “Close the door, Kurt, it’s drafty in here”

“See you for ave the order to seal the bathysphere

A crane lifted the four-hundred-pound hatch cover into place The launch crew used a torque wrench to screw ten large nuts over the bolts Kane shook hands with Austin through a four-inch circular opening in the center of the door that allowed instru to move the cumbersome cover Then the crew screwed a nut into the hole to seal it

Austin picked up a microphone connected to the bathysphere’s communications system and warned the divers they were about to becorowled and the crane hoisted the B3 off the deck as if the fifty-four-hundred-pound steel globe and its hu it over the side, and kept it suspended twenty feet above the heaving ocean surface

Austin called the bathysphere on the radio and got Zavala’s go-ahead to launch

Through the B3’s s, the divers caught a glimpse of the upturned faces of the launch and film crews and slices

of ship and sky before the portholes were awash in green bubbles and froth The B3 splashed into the crystal clear waters and slipped beneath the surface in the valley between two rolling swells

The crane lowered the diving bell until it was just under the surface

Zavala’svoice came over a speaker ,” he said

“This crane crew could dunk this doughnut in a cup of coffee,” Austin said