Milwaukee Deep

Michael stood before Sam dressed in a yellow radiation suit.

“Are you okay?” Sam asked.

“I am,” replied Michael “thanks to you.”

Sam smiled at the compliment.

“You know you could have easily given me up – it would have saved you all of this. But you promised you would look out for me and you did that.”

“I was just doing my job,” Sam replied

“No you weren’t – you were doing more than that. If they had killed me, Sam, no one would be here now, including my little girl. You protected me - you protected her. And now I have to thank you once more. Thank you for giving me what I wanted – giving me a chance to be a father again – to protect Marianna one last time.”

Sam looked across at his friend.

“I’m sorry about what happened to you, Michael, I really am. You don’t deserve to go this way. You should have been able to live your life out with Marianna.”

“I’m just doing my job, Sam.”

Sam tried hard to hold back the emotion he felt.

“I’ll make sure she knows what you did for her. I’ll make certain she knows who her father is.”

“Thank you, Sam.”

Both men embraced each other tightly.

Major Yandell approached.

“Michael,” he said softly, “It’s time.”

“Can you read me, Michael?”

Burton placed the radio to his mouth.

“Loud and clear.”

“Okay, good. Now we’ve rigged this baby to handle you during the transportation process, so don’t worry. All you have to do is relax and enjoy the ride,” replied Yandell, “Are you locked in?”

Michael tugged at the harness holding him in place.

“Yes.”

“Is the weapon secure?”

“Yes – it’s been locked away.”

“Good. Put on your radiation mask and hold on tight – it’s a quick ride.”

“Thanks for the heads up,” Michael replied.

Yandell began the initiation process.

Immediately the warning sirens began to blare.

A loud vibrating sound emanated from within the vessel.

“We’ll talk to you soon,” Yandell said, “Good luck, Michael.”

The vessel began to shudder slightly as Michael held tightly onto the armrests.

As the engines kicked in, Michael felt a slight stinging sensation up along his back.

A bright light filled the secured hanger.

With the blast doors locked down, Yandell, Sam, Jensen, Perks and Harding could not see what was happening within the confined room.

Burton shut his eyes as the engines ramped up – the sound almost deafening.

As the sound became louder, the vibrations around him grew alarmingly, the chair he sat in shaking uncontrollably, and then without any warning the engines shut down.

There was silence.

Michael opened his eyes.

“Michael, do you read me – Michael, do you copy?”

“What happened?” he asked as he raised the radio to his mouth.

“Michael, you’ve arrived. You made it – you’re there.”

President Stoker sat on the couch in the Oval Office looking over satellite thermal imaging with General Conwrey.

“As you can see, Mr President, the water temperature has risen just under point zero one of a degree, which is quite a significant increase given the depth we’re talking about.”

“Do we know why?” asked Stoker.

“All we can determine, Sir, is that right now our visitors have increased their radioactive emissions. We don’t know why – imaging over the last week has seen a gradual increase.”

“What ships are in the area, General?” Stoker asked.

“The Nimitz, Sir – it’s on active duty overseeing the vessel for the next six weeks.”

Stoker looked across at the General.

“Get the Nimitz Commander on the line, General – I want to know what his take is on this.”