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CAPTAIN GANNON FURROWED HIS BROW AS HE GAZED OUT the bridge s at the restless sea The weather had changed for the worse in the hours since the B3 had dropped into the depths Gray slabs had replaced the puffy white clouds of reeted the ship’s arrival had freshened, puckering the heaving sea The water gained a dark, leaden cast as the sun lowered, and foaated wave tops

The rugged research vessel had been built to take the worst kind of weather i the bathysphere and an exhausted Hardsuit diver would have been delicate operations even without dicey conditions

Gannon had moved the ship back froive the B3 roo up the Hardsuit, and Austin would not appreciate being dragged all over the ocean, so the ship could only move a short distance

If anyone can survive this ordeal, the captain thought, it would be Austin Hell, the man’s a perpetual-motion machine!

Having dived a half mile to the botto in constant touch with the ship, reporting his ascent to the bridge at regular intervals, relaying vivid descriptions of the sea life he observed

Lookouts lined the railings or were gathered on the bow and fantail A Zodiac inflatable boat sat on the slanting stern ramp under the A-frame Two divers in neoprene wetsuits were perched on the pontoons waiting for the signal to push the Zodiac into the water

The diesels ruainst the hull, and the rising wind thru But otherwise, an eerie stillness had descended over the ship

The quiet was broken by a lookout yelling over the bridge intercom

“She’s up!”

Keeping his eyes glued to the newly formed patch of foam a hundred yards to port, Gannon picked up his ave the command to launch

The divers pushed the Zodiac down the stern ramp and clambered in It leaped over the waves as its powerful outboardaround to the side of the ship, slip-sliding over the seas, trailing the retrieval line behind it like a prehensile tail

The Zodiac slowed to a ing stop near six wave-slicked orange mounds that had bobbed to the surface The cabled hook at the end of the line was lowered into the water, and one of the divers slid off the Zodiac and disappeared beneath the waves

Every eye on the ship watched the drama play out When the diver popped to the surface and pumped his fist in the air, a loud cheer went up The B3 was hooked Winches pulled the bathysphere and its flotation air bags slowly to the surface

The recovery crew cut the air bags away, and the crane lifted the dripping bathysphere from the sea and onto the deck of the ship A porench burped, the lug nuts were quickly unscrewed, and the hatch cover clanged to the deck

The ship’sand saw a rumpled pile of blankets surrounded by a loose assortment of equipment