Page 25 of Shinji Takahashi: Into the Heart of the Storm

There was a jolt as whatever was holding the sub aloft was released. Immediately theSeabeetlebegan to drift downward. Oliver took the controls, and Shinji heard the whir of engines as the pod began a controlled descent into the ocean depths.

For several minutes, Shinji could only stare out the window in amazement. Colorful schools of fish swarmed around the sub, from tiny creatures no bigger than his finger, to fish as long as his arm. The deeper they went, the dimmer the light became, until Oliver hit a button and a spotlight flickered to life. More fish swam around the sub, perhaps attracted to the light, or maybe just curious about the strange metal creature drifting through their world.

“This is ironic,” Roux muttered beside Shinji. “It’s like we’re in a fish tank, and the fish are the ones staring at us.

This must be what everything at the aquarium feels like from the perspective of the fish.”

TheSeabeetlecontinued downward. After what seemed like an eternity, the seafloor finally came into view in the hazy beam of light.

“Lucy,” Oliver said as they continued to descend. The ocean floor was just a few yards away now. “See that red switch over there? Push it.”

Lucy blinked, her face lighting up with excitement. “Now?”

“Yes.”

Lucy flipped the switch, and Shinji felt a mechanical vibration below them as theSeabeetleresponded. From the sides of the sub, panels opened, and four jointed metal legs curled out, reminding him of enormous insect appendages. TheSeabeetle, now truly looking like some kind of huge water bug, touched down on the ocean floor, and Lucy literally clapped her hands with excitement.

Oliver pressed the controls, and theSeabeetle’s metal legs moved, crawling over sand, rock, and dirt as it scuttled along the seafloor. Leaning against the window, Shinji watched the bottom of the ocean scroll by, shadowy and surreal in the hazy spotlight. Fish swarmed around them, small creatures darted away over the sand, and stingrays fluttered past like ghostly pancakes. At one point, a cloud of jellyfish appeared, their pale bodies ethereal and transparent as they floated in the water. The sleek form of a shark passed overhead once,

its silvery-gray fins barely moving as it glided like a torpedo through the darkness.

They crested the rise, and suddenly the hulk of something large and boat-shaped appeared at the bottom, sprawled in the sand and rock of the ocean floor.

Lucy gave a little gasp. “There it is! We found it.”

It was lying on its side, covered in algae and seagrass, and looked like it had been there for decades. But it was definitely a ship. It was, from Shinji’s perspective, enormous. Far bigger than theGood Tern, it even dwarfed theSeas the Day. The details of the vessel were impossible to make out, having been lying on the ocean floor for decades, but Shinji thought it might have been an old military ship, sunk and left to rot miles from the ocean surface.

But then, that raised the question, why was there a warship here?

“Still intact, too,” Oliver muttered. “At least Hightower didn’t blow it to smithereens when they were done with it.”

Roux, Shinji noticed, had been staring out the window in awe, eyes bright with amazement as he gazed at the sunken ship. Quickly, he shook himself and wrenched his gaze from the boat, his normal bored expression falling into place.

“Too bad we’re down here to find cups and plates,” he muttered. “And not real treasure.”

Lucy narrowed her eyes. “And what would you consider real treasure?” she asked in a cold voice.

“I don’t know. Gold? Jewels?” He shrugged. “Old statues

that are worth lots of money? Don’t rich people pay a fortune for that kind of stuff?”

“They do.” Phoebe nodded. “But you see, there is more to it than money. We believe history should be preserved. Whatever was on this ship could’ve taught us a lot about a culture we know nothing about. That is the Society’s goal after all: to learn everything we can, to better understand those who came before us. That is why preserving history is so important, and why it should be shared with the world, not hoarded and locked away in someone’s private collection.”

“Huh.” Roux crossed his arms. “Well, all I know is I can’t eat a history book. And if my choice was to sell a moldy old statue to some rich guy or starve, guess which one I’m taking.”

Lucy snorted. “Why am I not surprised?”

“Maybe because the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do was choose your nail color, Snowflake,” Roux shot back. “Or which bathing suit you were going to take on vacation. Talk to me when you haven’t eaten in three days. Maybe I’ll be impressed.”

“Kids, don’t make me turn this sub around.” Oliver’s voice, though subtly amused, was still a warning, and it stopped whatever Lucy was going to snap in return. She glared at Roux, then at Shinji, as if silently accusing him of betrayal for not jumping to her side. But even though Lucy was his friend, Shinji understood where Roux was

coming from, at least a little. He and Aunt Yui had never gone hungry, but they’d never had tons of money, either. Shinji had never had designer clothes, expensive computers, or top-of-the-line anything. When they traveled, they stayed in cheap hotels and ate at fast-food restaurants. When they went shopping, Aunt Yui used coupons and bought the stuff on sale. He knew his aunt did her best, but there were times he’d wished he could get a faster computer, a better phone, or even the pair of shoes he wanted, without having to save up for it.

So, he got it. He didn’t necessarily like it, but he understood. The Society wanted to preserve history, and thatwasimportant, but for Roux…he was just trying to survive. He was looking out for himself because no one else would. And in some strange way, Shinji understood and sympathized with that more than he saw Lucy’s side of things.

Though Roux didn’t have to be such a jerk about it.

The ship grew even larger as theSeabeetlecrawled forward, looming above them like a sleeping dragon. As they got closer, however, Shinji began to see something strange. Small holes, three or four feet in diameter, had been bored into the side of the ship. They looked perfectly round, and the edges were smooth, like they had been cut with an extremely sharp blade.

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