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“What’s going on down there?” Gannon’s voice called “Picture went dark, and now it’s back all jumbled”

“Stand by,” Austin said, then finished tapping out his e

“Standing by,” the captain replied

Austin’s efforts had sapped his strength Sas dripping into his eyes, and he was gulping for air like a beached flounder

“Haul away!” he shouted breathlessly into the suit’s microphone

ZAVALA HAD LISTENED CAREFULLY to the ht the first few letters After a pause, he’d caught the rest

Float

Hell, Kurt, if I could float, I would float

The bathysphere still stuck in the er and despair Maybe this was all a drea all this, playing out a rescue that existed only in his mind

A buzzer yanked him back to reality

A red light blinked ht had been going on and off for sothat the air supply was about to end

He reached out for the spare tank, barely got it off the wall, and turned on the valve

Air hissed into the cabin and blew the fog fro the manual switch for the flotation syste to happen

AUSTIN HOVERED ABOVE the bottohts trained on the top of the B3 The cable went taut as, a half an to turn, but the bathysphere didn’t budge Dire scenarios ed hook would break immediately and the sphere would remain trapped in the suction created by the et to deploy the flotation system or the system wouldn’t hen he did; worse of all, both men were unconscious

“Cable’s tight to the winch,” Gannon called down “Anything happening at your end?”