Whoa.
A bit eager, isn't he?
Locke looked at the splashing surface where Dylan had vanished, let out a sigh, and shook his head. Then... he blinked in confusion at Gwen and Cindy, who were currently waist-deep in the rising water near the stairs.
"What's the situation?"
"Cold!"
"The water is warmer."
Gwen squeezed out a smile. "Compared to up there, the temperature in the water is much better."
Locke blinked. Kahn, hearing this, ducked himself into the water as well. He paused, then looked up at Locke and Robert. "Actually, she's right. It's way warmer in here than out there."
Locke: "..."
Near the steps, the group sat in a row, keeping the majority of their bodies submerged. Gwen, Cindy, Kahn, Maggie, Pepper, Jennifer, and Kristen. And then there was little Connor, sitting next to Maggie, still wearing his underwater respirator and happily blowing bubbles.
On the stairs, Robert and Locke exchanged a look. There was a sense of inexplicable absurdity to the scene. Not long ago, they were playing PUBG: Survival; now, it had regressed into a leisure game you'd play after finishing an escape room.
But... it was cold up there.
Robert glanced toward the propeller shafts. Frigid air was being sucked in from the outside, the wind biting and sharp. He suppressed a shiver.
Locke caught the movement. "You want to get in, too?"
Robert waved a hand dismissively. "I'm fine."
Locke raised an eyebrow at Robert's slightly blue lips. "Look, if you can't take it, don't force it. Go warm up in the water for a bit."
The water was indeed warmer. Why? Perhaps some electrical circuits in the ship were grounding out and heating it up, or perhaps it was just the contrast against the freezing wind howling through the hull. Whatever the reason, Locke didn't really care.
Robert seemed tempted, but looking at the group huddled together in the water, he decided to change the subject. "Do you think the rescue teams have arrived?"
Locke looked at him. "The truth?"
"Of course."
"Unlikely." Locke shook his head. "I don't hear any rescue ships or helicopters outside."
To be more precise, Locke suspected that the emergency GPS signal never actually made it out. The world outside likely had no idea the Poseidon had capsized. Earlier, Locke had tried to use the satellite phone from his inventory—a device supposed to work in deep mines—but there was no signal. That was a problem, though he wasn't sure what the cause was.
Robert frowned. "That can't be right. How long has it been?"
Locke checked his watch. "About two hours. Hang in there; it'll be dawn soon."
"I remember our route was still in the North Atlantic," Robert mused.
"Yeah, it was this morning."
"Wait." Robert suddenly froze. "We didn't... drift into the Bermuda Triangle, did we?"
The group in the water went silent.
"No way."
"The itinerary didn't say anything about Bermuda."
Pepper, who looked much better now that she was warm, added, "Around eleven o'clock when the helicopter left, the Argo was near the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Even if the Poseidon was moving fast, it shouldn't have reached the Triangle yet."
The Argo was another luxury liner that had launched from France at the same time, heading for Los Angeles.
Gwen shook her head. "There's a theory among scientists that the Bermuda Triangle's position isn't actually fixed."
Suddenly—*Thud, thud, thud!*
Everyone looked toward the propeller shaft. The massive blades had stopped turning. A second later, they began to spin again—but this time, in reverse.
Instead of sucking cold air in, the blades were now violently exhausting the air from inside the ship to the outside. The cabin turned into a wind tunnel.
Locke gripped a steel pillar to steady himself. He saw Robert being dragged toward the opening by the hurricane-force suction, inches away from being shredded into mincemeat. Locke lunged out and grabbed Robert's arm.
"Hold on!"
"I've got you!"
"Can you stay steady?"
Locke hauled Robert toward him, forcing him to grip the pillar. Then, Locke looked at the opening where air was being roared out. He took a deep breath.
With a sudden burst of movement, Locke grabbed a red canister and leaped off the ground. Just as he was about to be sucked into the blades, he hurled the canister into the gap.
*BOOM!*
A dragon of fire erupted as the canister met the spinning blades. The suction vanished instantly. Locke grabbed a hanging chain and swung clear as a roar of flame billowed out of the shaft like a fire-kirin, missing his back by a mere ten centimeters.
It was a backdraft explosion—intense but fleeting.
The water nearby churned, and Dylan surfaced, spitting out his respirator. He laughed. "Did it work? Is it dead?"
He looked up and saw Locke hanging from a chain, then noticed the group sitting in a row in the water. "What the hell are you guys doing?"
"Cold!"
"It's warm."
"Up there is freezing."
"I'm learning to swim."
"..."
Locke swung his body and landed steadily at the edge of the now-smoking shaft. He peered inside; the once-unbreakable blades were mangled like a scorched iron tree.
They had stopped.
Locke nodded to Dylan and Robert below, then climbed into the shaft. The rest of the group scrambled out of the water to follow.
"What the..."
"So cold!"
"Does anyone have dry clothes?"
"Gwen and I spent so much on clothes and didn't get to wear a single thing."
"My ID and everything were in there..."
As the adrenaline faded, the biting cold took over. Gwen looked at Cindy. "We're the lucky ones. So many people didn't make it out."
The Poseidon carried over 3,700 people. Now? It seemed they might be the only survivors. The realization brought a heavy silence over the group.
Suddenly—*Rumble!*
The hull lurched upward.
"What's happening?"
"Move!" Dylan shouted. The water behind them began to churn and boil as the ship groaned. "The Poseidon is going down! Get out, now!"
Adrenaline spiked again. They reached the end of the propeller shaft. They were now perched sixty meters above the sea surface. The bow of the ship had already found the bottom, and its weight was dragging the rest of the vessel down.
They had to jump.
Locke pulled Gwen close and kissed her forehead. "Scared?"
Gwen shook her head. "I'm your Goddess of Luck. If I'm scared, what happens to you?"
Locke smiled, holding her tight. "My Goddess always blesses me."
He shouted "Jump!" to the group and leaped into the abyss with Gwen.
*Splash!*
It was a zero-point entry. None of them would have won a diving competition, but they were all alive.
*Vwoom!*
Behind them, the stern of the *Poseidon* rose high into the air. A massive whirlpool began to form as the giant sank.
"Over there!" Locke pointed to a circular life raft floating in the distance. "Get to it! Fast!"
They had come this far. Locke wasn't about to let them be dragged down by the suction at the finish line. The group paddled frantically toward the raft.
"Ms. Potts!"
"I've got her! Gwen, keep swimming!"
Locke, whose stamina was still high, saw Pepper struggling. He shouted to Gwen, who was turning back to help, and kicked off. He cut through the water like a swordfish.
Don't be envious. He'd just spent 5,000 Potential Points to max out his Swimming Level 5.