The Deep

We do not and will never truly know our own oceans. Yes, they have outward things of which we can use to identify them, such as names, location salinity, but we can never know them. We know people not only by their outward features, like their name, height, the color of their iris, but what is inside of them. Their emotions. Their feelings. Their morals. And we can never know what is inside our oceans.

It is a crazy thought. Sure, we know some of the oceans and the numerous species they harbor, but it is impossible to know all. At depths that, in some places, don’t even reach the ocean floor, pressure rears it’s disfigured head to break man. Organs implode, skulls shatter, spine fold up and crack- the mere thought of it is gruesome, brutal, macabre. We don’t belong down there. Ergo, you would expect for people not to want to experience such a horrible death.

Intrinsic curiosity, however, tends to take hold of us.

A young Doctor Isaac Denton always had a love of nature, especially the waters. The seas fascinated him. This was not something like a phase after seeing Finding Nemo, no, this was true love for Dr. Denton. Unfortunately, love tends to hurt. He would grow to become quite the accomplished marine engineer and biologist, officially proposing to his first love. There were a few students and engineers with a similar story to young Dr. Denton, who would work with him on a project spanning multiple years.

Nicknamed “Project Atlantis” by the students, engineers, and Dr. Denton himself (and fueled by eccentric, wealthy donors and well-off engineers), the project focused on the creation and testing of extreme deep-water machinery. But not by using some kind of robot- but by using people. They spent years of their lives attempti...

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...eprints for the submarine and the suits to various companies to be mass produced. Deep-sea expeditions by marine biologists and geologists would become increasingly common. Governments would send men and women to the ocean floors to map them for wars and waste disposal. The group decided that within the next twenty years, most of the oceans would be mapped out, and their contents observed. But, before all of this would happen, the men and women of “Project Atlantis” had to see the Challenger Deep for themselves.

However, they never thought the plan completely through. They were too giddy, far too excited to see the what they all had been working towards for seventeen years. The group did not account for one variable. They missed something very simple and vital; what was inside the Challenger Deep. They did not find what was down there; what was down there found them.