What is Your Dream?

Taiga whistles as he navigates his submarine through the ocean. At the depth that he was piloting through, he had to rely solely on combination mapping to avoid the many hidden dangers of the abyssal zone due to the absence of light. His pressure radar kept him from slamming into rocks and avoiding debris, and his thermal radar kept him from running into hydrothermal vents and certain deep sea predators, but most importantly, his Omvo radar could read certain wavelengths emitted by certain fish, so once he saw anything on his omvo map, he would turn his submarine right around.

“Howa there. How are things going?” An uncourteous man waltzes right into his cockpit. He docks his shoulder right at the front entrance leaning to the side, crossing his arms, and making himself very comfortable.

“Nothing crazy so far. Why? Ya bored?” Taiga replies.

“Ya, a little bit. Ya got nothing on board man. I thought ya’d at least have some shows to watch like most other submen. At least a board game I can play with myself.” The man says, making a stink face.

“So you came up to cozy with me for a bit?” Taiga says.

“I mean… Don’t make it sound strange.”

“I said that with my chest, ‘fraid I ain’t the one making it strange.”

The man snorts. “My name’s Ashlen by the way. Nice to meet ya.”

“Cool, ya should already know my name from the commission you sent out.” Taiga reaches upwards and taps a button, causing a dull thrum to vibrate through the sub.

Ashlen looks around as the noise vibrates. “I know, Taiga Graten right? I saw that little name ‘bov the message you sent. Wanted ya to say it in you’s own words though. That would only be nice to someone trying to greet ya yea?”

“Didn’t pay me just cause you wanted a friend did ya?” Taiga says

“Course I didn’t, some small talk wouldn’t hurt though.”

“Isn’t that what we’re doing right now?”

“I mean… I think?”

”Then go on. Keep talking. I won’t shut you out. My lip will entertain you for as long as you are willing to do so.”

“... How old are you by the way?”

“Oh, you finally dropped that fake accent.” Taiga comments.

“Likewise.” He chuckles. “Now about my initial question. How old are you?”

“Mmh, around 13 and a half? Or I guess that would be 27 with the new system.” Taiga looks up.

“And you’re an abyssal navigator at this age? Don’t you need to go through years of training before they let you on one of these things?”

“Well yea, but I don’t have a license, so I never went through all of that.”

“Huh? Am I safe here?”

“Of course, I have years of experience. Never had an accident.”

“You deep side kids are something else.” Ashlen shakes his head. “Then humor me, how do you operate this thing? Actually what was that button you pressed that made the submarine vibrate.”

“A muppy latched on to one of the stern rudders. Had to shake it off.”

“What’s that?” Ashlen asks.

“Ah, you’re not from around here then are you? Muppys are devilish little things that can eat straight through titanium. If you get one stuck on your submarine, you have about a day to shake them off before they bite right through.” Taiga explains.

“Sound’s dangerous if you lose power somehow.”

Taiga chuckles. “Oh boy, as somebody whose specialty is in abyss navigation. Muppies might be eighth in the order of things that’ll kill you if you lose power here. Don’t worry though, I’ll get you to where you need.”

“Hold on. If we lose power can’t you just eject to the surface by adjusting the buoyancy? Or aren’t there escape pods that do that?” Ashlen laughs nervously.

“We can try.” Taiga simply replies. “Though the back escape pod isn’t functional right now, the only one that works is the one next to the pilot seat.”

Ashlen then falls quiet and silently watches Taiga for the next couple minutes. “Doesn’t look too hard. Just move that steering thing every once in a while to avoid the stuff that pops up on your radar.” He tilts his hand left and right, imitating Taiga.

“Yea, it’s pretty simple, most can do this job. Most people however, don’t want to be eaten by a fish if they mess up, which is why I’m one of the few people who do it.”

“What, you want to be eaten by a fish?” Ashlen muses.

“Not particularly. I’m just too fortunate of a person to die that way, so that won’t ever happen.”

“...That’s just an outrageous thing to say.”

“Hmm.” Taiga glances at the omvo radar. “Well, do you wanna give it a go?” He then smiles and asks.

“Huh? Are you sure?” Ashlen doubles back dumbfounded.

“Yea, it’ll only take you a couple minutes before you’re comfortable, and I can read between the lines, I know you’ve been eyeing the controls since coming here.” Taiga stands up off his chair and gestures invitingly.

“Oi, oi, people don’t do this. I’m an amateur you know? Don’t we get eaten if I mess up? How can you just entrust your life to me like that?”

“Like I said. I’m a fortunate person. Therefore, neither of us will die even if you mess up.” Taiga shrugs. “I’ll point it out if you make a mistake.”

Ashlen’s mouth hangs open speechless before he also shrugs. “Then, don’t mind if I do.”

“Have fun.” Taiga taps a few buttons before handing the seat off to Ashlen who sits down comfortably.

Ashlen scours the controls for a couple seconds before taking a deep breath and nodding. He then reaches deep into his pockets and pulls out a gun, pointing it at Taiga.

“And there it is.” Taiga sighs.

“You seem to know what’s going on.” Ashlen says. Despite the sudden development both of these people were talking in the same relaxed tone as before.

“Yes, Modu, that’s your real name right? I figured your commission looked a bit sketchy.”

“Oh, so you did your background research, and you still went through with it. At this point you’ve got nobody to blame except yourself.” Modu says. ”Now wait outside that door patiently while I get us out of here. I’m taking your sub, sorry! Don’t try to call for help either, we’re too far from Sumer for emergency communication to reach anymore.”

Taiga complies and walks slowly out of the cockpit, as soon as he does the door quickly slides shut alongside a brief click, locking the cockpit. So you did know how to operate a submarine.

He looks behind him before sighing and sitting down, leaning against the locked door, staring at the bright fluorescent lights of the submarine.

It briefly flickers.

Taiga looks down, fidgeting around with a ring on his ring finger. “Flashlight on.” The ring immediately begins glowing brilliantly, the light circulates the ring as Taiga rotates his wrist, always pointing away from Taiga’s eyes.

The lights flicker again, this time for much longer than a second.

“Huh? This thing isn’t—“

The noise canceling systems shut off, unleashing the unsettling rumble of the deep ocean into the submarine.

“Huh?! What the hell is going on! Oi Taiga, what did you do?” The submarine begins rumbling violently as the stabilization systems fail next.

“Hey! Fucking answer me! What did you do?!” Ashlen gives up and begins pounding on the door as all the lights shut off, plunging the two of us into darkness, leaving us stranded at the bottom of the ocean.

“No use. The power’s out, I’ll have to unlock it manually.”

”What do you mean the power’s out?! What the hell happened?!”

”You should understand the implications of power suddenly going out in the abyss. The backup power isn’t going to work either.” Taiga replies.

“What? But… There was nothing on the Omvo map how did—“ Modu suddenly shuts up.

After all, the sound was unmistakable, a high pitched drone at exactly 17694hz. The signature buzz emitted by the Omvogod. An ocean predator found in any level of the ocean that could constantly emit an EMP field to disable all electronics. For many millenium humans considered themselves at the top of the food chain, and, by a matter of fact, they were. Even when the oceans flooded the earth, humans had quickly overcome all the growing pains of sharing their new land with their ocean friends and reached the top with little effort. Eventually however, despite human’s unparalleled adaptability, they soon found one creature had adapted to them back, and thus they were now number two on the food chain.

“I wiped all the data off the omvo map so it had to recalibrate for a couple minutes.” Taiga explains.

Modu goes silent for a couple seconds as he processes the information. “Huh? Are you crazy? What’s wrong with you? Is this revenge for something? Do I know you?” Modu says incredulously.

”No, no it’s nothing like that. This is our first time meeting. I just like using these situations to get to know people a little better, so I’d like to ask, why are you robbing me?”

“You are completely insane. Goodbye.” A click could be heard from the other side as Modu enters the escape hatch. None of the escape pods were powered, so once they detached they would shoot straight up to the surface of the ocean.

Taiga waits patiently as Modu enters the escape pod.

“Huh? What’s going on?” Modu begins panicking as the manual eject fails to unlatch the pod.

Taiga looks up. ”Sorry, I misremembered, the pilot pod was actually the one that wasn’t working well. Ahh it’s been so long since I’ve serviced it, my memory is a bit hazy.”

“Don’t fuck with me!” Modu stomps out and begins pounding on the door furiously. “Come on! Let me out!” The sounds of his fists reverberate through the entire sub as the door violently shakes.

“What is your dream?” Taiga then asks.

”What?”

“What is your dream? Come on, in this situation there’s gotta be something going through your mind right? Maybe there’s a girl you wanted to marry, maybe you’re the artistic kind, and you want your works to be appreciated by many, or really any regrets you’re having. Don’t tell me what you’re about to leave behind, tell me what you’re about to give up.”

“R-Regrets? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Come on man. Please, I don’t want to die here.” Modu’s voice loses its edge, as he begins to break down.

“But that’s what I’m asking, why? Tell me something, anything! And if you’re telling the truth. I’ll let you through. If you don’t have any regrets you might as well just die.” Taiga’s ice cold demeanor penetrates harshly.

”What the fuck is wrong with you! This isn’t a game, just let me through!” Modu's voice re-energizes as he begins slamming on the door again.

”Hey, didn’t I tell you the back pod wasn’t working? You were about to leave me for dead right?”

“N-No I wasn’t, you just weren’t coming through, so I thought you had a death wish.”

“I don’t know, you tried to unlatch the pod awfully fast. Hey, just humor me alright? For every second you waste, the distance between us and the omvogod shrinks by a couple meters. I can be pretty stubborn.”

“T-then, I just want to see my daughter again. Is that good enough?”

“I told you! That’s not a dream! You already have a daughter. Try again!” Taiga shouts.

“Wait, what? What do you mean?”

”Were you listening? What are you about to give up? What did you want to achieve that you will never do if you die here? Go!”

“I-I-I wanted to be a clockmaker then!” He stumbles the words out.

“Name a famous clockmaker!”

“What?”

“Three seconds!”

”I don’t know any clock-“

”Err! You could have said Troy Hosim, Lowell Carris, or Olsem Dangst. Again! This time the truth!” Taiga’s speech rapidly accelerates to a lightning pace.

”How am I supposed to— I want to be a top turbo-ball player. Uh, Loam Travesting.”

“Oh? Tell me more.”

”What do you mean tell me more?! There’s no time to have a pleasant chat here, we’re going get eaten!” Modu screams as the distortions of the Omvogod swimming begins to rock the submarine.

“What position do you play?”

“Any!”

“Even top under?”

“The hell is top— Yes! Even top under!”

“ERR! I just made that position up. You only casually watch turbo-ball I bet.”

“WHA—?” Modu exclaims before beginning to cackle. “Oh, okay, you’re messing with me. You wanted to give me false hope to satisfy your sadistic urges before ending me. Okay, I’m not going to play your games any longer, hehehehe! Ehehehehehe! AHHHH!!!” Taiga covers his ears as what sounds like a metallic thunderbolt rips through the room as Modu repeatedly shoots the door behind him.

After the noise ceases, Taiga scoffs. How boring. How come most people… even when faced with life or death, can't come up with a genuine answer.

“It’s sad how few people really know what they want to do.” Taiga says. “Don’t you agree?”

Modu stays quiet.

“Ahh…” Taiga adjusts his ring once more. A roar rains down through the submarine as the Omvogod lunges into the ground.

“But the issue is, I’m boring as well, so when I talk to boring people, it makes me so apathetic sometimes.” Taiga sighs again.

Taiga preemptively grabs a handle to stay steady as the submarine lurches, the Omvogod biting through one of the rudders. If the fish had hit the main space the entire sub would have imploded, killing everyone instantly.

Taiga’s ring magnetizes and attracts the latch to the door, opening it. Taiga pushes the door open revealing Modu lying on the floor in a pile of blood.

“Oh, yea you probably shouldn’t shoot a gun in super tight spaces with lots of metal.” Taiga leans down and presses his finger against his carotid artery.

The Omvogod roars again as it charges the submarine again.

Seconds later it sinks its massive teeth into the main cabin and as the ocean pressure and the cabin pressure rapidly equalize, the submarine implodes like a pop can crushed under a shoe.