The Marine Super Computer

The blue carpet of water hanging over the ocean surface pretty much resembled a beautiful wrapping paper that enlivens its appearance before the recipient, drowning him into dreamy visualizations at least until the moment of actual sighting. But what lies buried under the huge mass of water has been the subject of innumerable speculations with the character of its appealing or debasing properties far from being settled! The content inside, potentially burgeons with countless mysteries and episodic installments of monumental human interference over the work of centuries if not millennials; the tranquillity of the sea on that particular after noon betrayed traces of no such involvement. It seemed to be singing to the tune of self composed symphonies that carried on indifferently amidst tumult or tempest that would shake the guts out of any human presence!

The submarine glided through the first few fathomable layers of water. Its nimble movement symbilized the descent of a fish on an exercise round; so rhythmic and symmetric that it added remoteness to any possibility of an accident, lulling all concerned into a false sense of security. As it plunged below a few 1000 meters, the surface of the ocean pretty much dimmed out of view. Ibrahim, one of the passengers on board, tried to look around from the compact, round glass of the sub, and found himself smothered by a never-ending expanse of the sea in which his own frame stood quite out of proportion. The small marine creatures darted from one place to another with amazing energy and razor sharp reflexes. At 5000 meters, it became really frightfully scary. Their small vessel was all at the mercy of the waters with no hope of a second chance!

A group of 4 adventure aficionados had arranged for a trip to see the lowest point of the ocean. One of them was Peter who was a professional swimmer; another one was Ibrahim who taught marine biology at a privileged university. The third one was Jack fixated on sea travel and the last member of the team was the captain himself, called Ahmad. They were not friends but united by the same passion.

The submarine started off on Tuesday afternoon. Nobody had gone so deep before. A successful voyage would deposit their names in history books and this accomplishment together with an obsession with exploration drove them on! Even before the start there was an element of risk but their passion overrode this fear!

They were all cramped in the middle of the submarine. It was like sitting in a capsule with pretty restricted space for movement.

They wondered at the watery presence. The vastness of the ocean exhausted the limits of their vision. Their otherwise towering figures became miniscule entities.

At 5000 meters, the submarine slowed down to a crawl.

At this point, Ibrahim nervously asked. “Is the vessel going to break down?”

The captain, Ahmad, replied with characteristic calmness, “no! It’s business as usual. Going slow is discretion!”

The captain’s tone encouraged him a bit but he had his qualms very much alive.

At 6000 meters, the submarine suddenly produced a creaking noise and stopped completely.

The lights went out and it was pitch black inside to match the extent of blackness outside. At first the passengers did not know how to react. They sat stationary on their seats but only after a few moments started to realize the scale of the problem! To put things in perspective, here they were over 6000 meters below sea level and billions of gallons of water weighing them down! Their vehicle had presumably broken down and the engine had developed a glitch. A mechanic would not dare come close, leave alone fix it!

The captain tried to contact the people on the shore. The signals flip flopped a bit before dying down completely. Apparently, the connection with the people on land had also snapped along with the power failure. 

The 4 passengers were petrified. They were all alone, stationed at this huge depth and groped around for the flash lights. Thankfully, they were close at hand. As Ibrahim flashed his light, he could only see water all around them. He screamed almost to a frenzy.

The captain reassured them that it was only a power failure and he would try to fix it.

Suddenly there was further trouble as they all started coughing furiously. They all knew in their hearts of hearts that it could portend the advent of a serious problem, jeopardizing further their slim chances of pulling it off! No body wanted to admit it but the fact of the matter was that their oxygen was wearing out. This news transformed them into patients at hospitals who were just informed about the insidious spread of a fatal disease holding their organs in a state of authoritarian control.

With the help of flash lights, they managed to put their oxygen masks on and things settled down to a fractional bit.

Another hour passed in this activity-less position.

They all had inquiring looks on their faces as if trying to plan the next move but the capacity of their brains was drastically shrunk.

It was getting scary by the day. However, their restlessness contrasted sharply with the composure of the sea creatures who were completely indifferent to their plight and sang their own tunes. It was incredible to see them perfectly at ease under such immense pressure of the watery seascape. One could only appreciate the design of nature in making this possible!

The depletion of oxygen was an ominous sign. Something had to give and everyone was foreseeing their worst nightmare realizing a practical shape.

The captain tried his best to fix the power supply but he miserably failed.

The engine was now completely silent. The sound of the waves hitting the exterior of the ship and then tossing it around produced an esoteric effect and temporarily benumbed the sensations of the passengers. It was clear that they were badly trapped with no immediate escape imaginable at the moment. A twinge of fear encircled their frames. They thought about the worst possible scenarios. Time was ticking out! They had to make the right decisions. Any minor indiscretion or a tiny miscalculation would be enough to bring the whole house down.

Jack was the first one to scream out his emotions.

 “I told you to double check the engine before we started off but you were too smug." He swaggered at Ahmad.

Ahmad, a calm head in troubled times, did not respond and continued examining the engine with the flash light.

Ibrahim also tried to calm others.

“Listen. This is not the time to fight. Aggression will give way to anger and once it is unleashed, it will throw reason out of the window.”

However, Jack was not the one who could be silenced. He stepped forward and held Ahmad by the scruff of his neck.

“Why did you put our lives at risk?” Without waiting for an answer, he hammered a metallic object on the temple of the captain and he flopped on the floor of the vessel. It was obvious that Jack's ability to contain himself had been swept away by the seemingly irretrievably situation.

Ibrahim tried to stop him but even he was caught in the cross fire. That brought Peter in as well. They all started beating each other up ferociously and blaming each other for this mess. The thing called ‘sanity’ appeared to be quite out of place! Just at that fateful moment, a streak of water drops started moistening the socks of Ibrahim. He immediately looked down and his worst fears were confirmed! Water had started to penetrate the sub from one corner. He screamed at the top of his voice to snap the scramble unfolding around him. "water is getting inside the sub." These words delivered at the loudest pitch, drew the crowd of 4 into absolute silence. The last glimmer of redemption was ruthlessly extinguished. Soon the sub started filling with water. it submerged their toes, then knees and then hips. They were half floating, half standing. "let's hold our hands together and try to stay above water as long as we can" , Peter almost pleaded. Jack, after this latest blow to their survival, still refused to cooperate. Ibrahim and Peter did make some effort to hold their hands together but it was thwarted by the pressure exerted by the water. They scrambled their arms and legs for 2 to 3 minutes but soon lost steam and water started to penetrate their lungs. It was everyone for himself at that stage! Or had it been the same for all the previous stages? The only difference being its wrapped up nature.

The injured captain, Ahmad, had badly entangled himself in one of the loose wires. He was hopelessly watching catastrophe unfold around him. He tried to struggle against the rising water for a minute but then his energy sputtered to a halt. He could foresee three bodies ahead of him and he was about to become the fourth!

As he visualized four bodies drifting in the water, the sea produced a mocking, triumphant smile. Man always thinks that he can conquer nature, but nature has the last laugh! All Ahmad’s plans of the future; his promotion to the next occupational level; his wife’s affectionate embrace; his child’s beaming smile; the excitement of seeing the world cup football final and the languid anticipation of the approaching weekend, all appeared in front of his eyes as individual yet detached images but counted so feather weight, so inconsequential to deserve being followed even to a ceremonial extent. Death was the ultimate truth and man all his life overlooks its grasp to keep his illusions alive but for how long! The voyage of the vessel had exposed the fissures that do not come out in the open during peaceful times. It is adversity that makes the final assessment of man and this time unfortunately, it gave a verdict in favour of the latent anti-humanitarian instincts!

The collaborative instincts also surfaced trying to balance the two sides of human nature locked in perpetual confrontation. The seedy side appears to be well- disguised until exposed by a violent storm! It may be literally present but even a metaphorical one is capable of doing the same amount of damage! The disclosure is painful at least to those who experienced it first hand! One thing was certain and almost set in stone; nature is the super computer operating the billions of microcomputers competing for conquest!