Page 64 of Jewel of the Sea

“This facility has been placed on emergency standby power.” There was a heavy click from the door. “The lock has been disengaged, but the door’s automated opening mechanism is currently inoperative. Please open manually for entry.”

Aymee stared at the door; the excitement of discovery faded suddenly, giving over to uncertainty. This place had been abandoned for hundreds of years. What would they find on the other side of this door? If the huge room behind them felt lonely and stifling, how would the interior chambers feel?

“Sam, can you power on the facility?”

The hologram pulsed for several seconds. “Manual override for emergency standby power has been engaged. It will need to be released physically to restore power.”

“How do we accomplish that, Sam?” Arkon asked.

“The power override switch is in the control room. Turn counterclockwise to deactivate standby mode.”

Aymee took a deep breath and reached for the door handle.

Arkon settled a hand on her forearm, gently guiding her arm down, and moved in front of her. “I do not believe there to be anything dangerous on the other side, Aymee, but I would rather stay between you and the unknown all the same.”

She stepped back with a nod. Arkon grasped the hand and pulled; the door groaned, and he leaned his weight to one side, muscles tensing.

Ifhehad to strain to open it, she would never have managed.

Finally, metal scraped against metal, and the door slid aside. A gust of cool, clean air hit Aymee. The corridor beyond the threshold was lit by a faint red glow from above, just enough to cast everything in deep shadow.

Arkon straightened, and they turned their flashlights forward.

Though crafted from the same slate gray concrete as the rest of the building, the walls inside were cleaner and showed little of the wear evident in the exterior. The corridor led first to an intersection, where another hallway bisected it, and ended at a door some fifteen meters beyond that.

She followed Arkon inside.

He stopped at the intersection and Aymee glanced up at the red overhead lights. Though they were solid, they all seemed to flow from the ends of their respective corridors to this meeting place, from which they led to the entry door.

She raised her flashlight to look past Arkon, down the center hall. The small sign beside the door at the end readCONTROL ROOM.

“There,” she said.

They moved toward it, passing more doors on either side.

“Control room lock has been disengaged,” Sam said. Aymee started at his voice; it had been amplified by the concrete.

Arkon grasped the handle and pulled, nearly falling into the wall — this door slid smoothly, and he’d likely put too much force into it. Arkon met her eyes when she chuckled.

“Everything in here has been protected from the moisture and salt outside,” she said.

“Well, it is nice to hear you laugh, even if it’s at my expense, in this case.”

Smiling, she turned her attention to the control room. It was lit with the same dim glow as the hallways, but movement ahead caught her attention — a blinking red light. The beam of her flashlight revealed a control console, atop which the light blinked beside a handle. Both were set within a square of striped red paint.

“That must be it!” Aymee stepped into the room, wrapped her fingers around the handle, and turned it counterclockwise.

There was a low rumbling in the floor. Instruments flickered on along the console, and holographic projections of screens materialized in the air.

“Primary power restored,” a female voice said from overhead.

“That is the voice of the Computer in the Facility,” Arkon said from beside Aymee.

The red emergency lights went out, replaced by bright white illumination an instant later. Aymee squinted against its intensity. She turned off the flashlight and placed both it and the suit atop the console.

“Performing diagnostic scan,” the computer said. “Structural damage detected in submarine pen. Rerouting power from damaged lighting. Communications array non-operational. Submarine pen ventilation system operating at thirty-five percent efficiency. All other systems operational.”

Aymee turned to glance behind her. “And we now have li—” She shrieked as she caught sight of something in the corner of her eye and leapt back against Arkon.

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