It was a dimly lit room hidden twenty-five meters underground. The bunker was surrounded everywhere by one-and-a-half-meter layer of monolithic reinforced concrete. A man of about forty in a gray suit entered the room. He stopped in front of the main table, but did not sit down, immediately starting to leaf through the contents of the folder that was with him. Without introducing himself to those present, he began to speak in a low voice:

– Please sit down. You have already been introduced to the essence of the work ahead. In view of this, I will not waste my time and steal yours, so I will get straight to the point. All research expeditions to the most closed places on our planet, as a rule, are initiated and financed by departmental structures, and the results of such research are stored in closed archives classified as «secret». This expedition is organized by the company «Best Technologies». It was initiated personally by the company’s president, Martin Hogan. Therefore, it is worth immediately bringing some clarity. All finds you discover and discoveries made during the expedition are the property of the company. The expedition is closed. Under no circumstances should it be known to third parties. Further. None of you has the right to publicize your discoveries or disclose any data directly or indirectly related to the expedition. Only the company has the right to publish information about certain discoveries and findings, while indicating the names of the people who had a hand in this. We determined the route you will follow in advance, taking into account data on points on the map where events of a strange and little-studied nature took place. During the expedition, if any valuable finds are discovered, a deviation from the heading is allowed, followed by a return to the original trajectory. From the beginning to the end of the entire expedition, you will report to the captain of the boat. Everyone acts in accordance with his instructions. Any of his orders is carried out without discussion. This is necessary both for the successful completion of the mission and to ensure the safety of all crew members. Questions?

There was only silence in response.

– Then that’s all. A helicopter awaits at the top, which will take you to Heathrow, from where you will depart to your destination. You will receive further instructions upon arrival on the island directly from the submarine commander. – Closing the folder, the man in the suit added: – Have a successful expedition to everyone.

1. LUTHER DE BONT

He stepped off a ramp onto a pier, waiting for passengers to arrive. In a side pocket of his jacket a few hours ago there was a pack with last two sticks of chewing gum. Quitting cigarettes turned out to be difficult, but now, after two months of abstinence, the old habit made itself felt less often and the desire to smoke seemed less strong. Now it became clear that if he could endure a little longer, the craving for cigarettes would exhaust itself forever. Even service in the navy was unable to curb the addiction to this poison. And now, when he managed to gradually begin to kill the bad habit, there was no chewing gum in his pocket and thoughts about a cigarette occupied his brain more and more every minute.

A man dressed to the nines appeared on the pier. He was a tall black man with short hair. His eyes were hidden behind narrow sunglasses with thin, neat frames. He was dressed in an expensive beige suit, the jacket of which was thrown over his shoulder, holding it with a hook from his index and middle fingers.

The stranger walked along the pier with ease until he approached, after which he said:

– Good morning.

– Mr. De Bont, I suppose? – asked the stranger.

– Yes – the captain answered with some suspicion.

The man in the suit extended his hand and introduced himself:

– My name is Stephen Frost. Nice to meet you. Do you have five minutes?

Captain De Bont looked at his watch and said:

– Judging by the fact that the concept of «punctuality» is alien to some people, I probably have extra time.

With these words, the captain, with a gesture of his hand, suggested having a conversation while walking along the rest of the pier.

– In that case, I will try to be as brief as possible.

– By the way, do you happen to have any chewing gum with you? – interrupted the captain.

– Only lollipops.

– Fine.

Stephen Frost placed five lollipops in a rustling wrapper on the captain’s palm and continued his thought:

– I represent the company «Best Technologies».

– Yes, I heard about you. You are involved in technical development.

– That’s right – Frost answered, smiling slightly. – But these are all rather basic developments. We, as a rule, conduct research, and their results are then used by manufacturers of some consumer goods, transport and various equipment.

– But you also had a hand in the technology of the Ministry of Defense, right?

– Yes. Software and electronic stuffing are our business. But in recent years we have moved into production. Innovative technology, as it turned out, is always in demand and even exorbitant prices are unable to stop the crazy demand – Frost answered, again bursting out with his snow-white smile. He lightly scratched his nose with his index finger, paused, and then continued: – Mr. De Bont, when was the last time you led a crew on a submarine?

– Last year I had a fixed-term contract with the Ministry of Defense for seven months.

– Where did you command?

– Bay of Bengal. Mediterranean Sea. Antarctic. A little near the Panama Canal.

– Why didn’t they want to renew your contract?

– The commander, whom I replaced, recovered from a course of chemotherapy and returned to duty.

– So what, the British fleet is so perfect that it doesn’t need such an experienced captain with a crystal clear reputation?

– They didn’t have any vacancies for the position of captain. They offered me the position of chief mate, but do I look like the kind of person who would be grateful for a demotion?

Frost shook his head slightly and said:

– Yes, it’s an insult.

– But they still didn’t want to let me go and offered me command of a surface ship. They were just about to launch a new aircraft carrier and wanted to entrust it to a not very old, but experienced captain, so that one person would be assigned to the ship for a long time and would not have to constantly change the commander. It was considered that a forty-nine-year-old captain with submariner experience was perfectly suited to manage affairs on this ship.

– So you also have experience with surface ships?

– I started with them, and at thirty-one I became a senior mechanic on a submarine.

– And you refused?

Captain De Bont took a deep breath and said:

– I prefer immersion. It’s hard to understand. And it’s even more difficult to explain. And so, as a result, now I am steering the yacht of a moneybag.

Stephen Frost wiped the sweat between his nose and upper lip, then spoke in a slightly different tone:

– Well, I won’t beat around the bush so as not to delay you too much. Let’s get down to business. Our company wants to offer you a job. The case concerns the operation of a submarine designed for civilian purposes.

– Someone created a submarine for a civilian?

– I agree, it sounds a little strange.

– And what is this submarine?

– Unfortunately, I do not have the authority to disclose such information. I can name only a few parameters. Length – thirty-five, displacement – two thousand and… basically, that’s all.

– Where are you planning to swim?

– Well, this detail will still be clarified. At the moment, all that is known is that it will be the Atlantic.

– Deadlines? – Luther de Bont asked in a somewhat doubtful voice.

– Launching is planned in approximately eight to twelve months.

– That is, the boat is already at the assembly stage.

– At the moment we have seventy percent of the assembly. As you understand, given the specifics of our company’s activities, this submarine is much more advanced than those in service with any military superpower. But I repeat, the ship is intended for civilian purposes, and more precisely, for scientific purposes.

Captain De Bont looked thoughtfully at the port waters and asked:

– How long is the voyage planned for?

– From sixty to eighty days. But if the swim turns out to be successful and the vessel performs well, then we will be ready to offer you cooperation on an ongoing basis. I’m not rushing you to make the decision. You still have more than enough time. And then, I understand perfectly well that you will want to look at the submarine with your own eyes before giving an answer.

– Sorry, but there’s no way without this.

– No, no. No hard feelings. This is understandable. Therefore, our company invites you to conduct practical tests of the vessel during launching. Of course, for a certain fee.

The captain ran his fingers over his chin and asked:

– Why did you contact me? Or is there a queue in which I am far from the first?

Frost carefully took off his glasses, after which he smiled again and answered:

– No, Mr. De Bont. There is no queue. At the very least, it depends on you whether it will appear at all. Since we often carry out government orders for the Ministry of Defense, our representatives have extensive connections in the department. So we requested information about officers who had the opportunity to command on submarines, but, due to reasons beyond their control, are not currently in His Majesty’s military service. In addition to you, recommendations have been received for nine more captains. But all of them are either near retirement age or do not have impressive achievements or valuable skills in their track records. And judging by what is indicated in your personal file, you have mastered the art of underwater maneuvering extremely well, enjoyed impressive authority among the personnel, over your entire career, ninety-eight percent of the shells fired hit the target; moreover, each new crew that came at your disposal demonstrated dramatic progress and organization in their work. As for the results of psychological tests, you didn’t disappoint either. You have been described as an organized and pragmatic commander, with no tendency to make impulsive decisions, cool-headed and able to sensibly set priorities when emergency situations arise. There is also emotional stability, which is maintained during a long voyage. But most of all I liked what was indicated in the «flaws» column – a strong addiction to smoking.

Frost said his last words not without laughing.

– My bosses almost fought with me over this. I constantly heard that a person who organizes an entire crew is not able to show his own organization.

– Stop it. Our company is not an army. With us you can smoke as much as your heart desires.

Captain De Bont rubbed the lollipop in his mouth more carefully with his tongue when Frost mentioned cigarettes.

Frost stopped and, after rummaging a little in the inside pocket of his jacket, said:

– I’ll leave you my number. As soon as you decide on your decision regarding practical testing of the submarine…

– I agree – the captain interrupted. He wanted to quickly inflate and explode a gum ball, but suddenly he remembered that he had a lollipop in his mouth, not gum.

Frost extended his hand.

– Glad to hear that. – Shaking the captain’s hand, he added: – But I’ll still leave the number for you in case any questions suddenly arise. I will be available to you twenty-four hours a day.

– Oh, really. Very rare even for hotlines.

Frost again burst out with his snow-white smile, which all dark-skinned people have. Suddenly he remembered:

– Oh yes, and one more thing. Mr. De Bont, do you have a smart chief mate in mind?

– Sure. He and I have been serving together for eleven years – we step on a board together, we leave it together.

– And can we count on him?

– Of course.

– Then great.

After a short pause Luther said with some doubt:

– Mister… Frost?

– Yes.

– Of course, I haven’t seen this submarine yet, but with such parameters I don’t think that two people will be enough to control it.

– You’re right. There will also be an engineer. But don’t worry about that. We will provide the engineer.

– And as far as I understand, this conversation did not happen?

– Now I have no doubt that this is a military man in front of me. You understand everything correctly. More questions?

Captain De Bont gave a negative answer.

Frost shook his hand again and slowly walked away. On the way back he took his phone out of his pocket, dialed a number and put it to his ear.

At this time, Captain De Bont looked at his boss’s yacht for the thousandth time. Suddenly the boat disgusted him more than usual. At the mere thought that today he would once again have to steer a toy-sized surface ship, Luther wanted to return to this ship even less. But it didn’t take long before he started smiling. This might have surprised even Luther himself, but there was nothing strange about it. He just thought that he wouldn’t have long to drift on this toy. Soon he will leave this boat.

A few seconds later, Luther de Bont looked at the figure of the owner of the yacht and a provocatively dressed girl, whom he carefully hugged by the fillet, who appeared on the pier.

2. HECTOR CAGE

– Doctor Cage. Dr. Cage – a student called, jogging along a corridor after the teacher.

– Whoa-whoa. Don’t rush, Margaret. Everything will fall out of your hands now.

– Sorry. Just wanted to ask.

– I’m not running a hundred meters here. There is no need to rush so much – the forty-two-year-old teacher continued in a soft tone.

Margaret only smiled in response.

– Well, ask.

– Dr. Cage, I wanted to ask you about the essay on cetaceans that you said to be done by next week.

– Are you having any difficulties? – the teacher asked puzzledly, continuing to leisurely walk along the corridor with the leather briefcase.

– As if… in general, I couldn’t really find enough data about dorudon. Even on the Internet, all information comes down to only a mention of their existence in the Eocene era, and in the library there are only a few encyclopedias, which only provide a definition of biological and species affiliation.

– Why did you even choose dorudon?

– I just wanted to write about some monster. Well, you know, a hefty predator, and it has an unusual appearance. I liked it in the movie you showed.

– I’ll give you some of my monographs. But it is unlikely that it will be possible to draw objective conclusions based on them. Still, my advice to you is to choose someone else. Let’s say kutchicetus or protocet. These are also representatives of the Eocene. But there is a little more information about them, and their body structure is much more interesting.

– Then, can I change it?

– Certainly.

– Thank you.

– No problem.

– Goodbye, Dr. Cage.

Hector Cage collapsed into the seat of his Ford, sighing with ease that the work week was over. Teaching at the new university was not easy for him. This is his second year of work and he has never yet managed to get a place on a research expedition to go study new and rare species of fish. And something told him that this would not happen very soon. At his previous job, he systematically found himself as part of an expedition, going on research to Australia, Thailand, Japan and Malaysia. Now all his work boiled down to continuous lectures and listening to the tedious remarks of many students who were not able to distinguish different types of living fish, not to mention the swimming creatures that inhabited the Earth in the era of dinosaurs.

In order not to get to the point where he begins to feel sick from working with the same materials twenty times a week, Hector had to turn to a private psychoanalyst for a prescription for a sedative. Otherwise, the old story that got him fired from his previous university may repeat itself.

It was already dark outside. The city streets were shrouded in natural darkness, diluted by the glow of street lamps and car headlights.

Having crossed the threshold of his rented apartment, Hector set water to boil for a cup of strong tea. Turning on the kettle, he went to the laptop, hit the keyboard several times, and after a couple of seconds the sounds of the song «Mamy Blue» began to be heard from the stereo system. While waiting for the kettle to boil, Hector Cage sat back on the sofa, listening to the voice of Julio Iglesias and feeling how all the accumulated negativity was gradually evaporating somewhere. This continued until the craving for sleep set in and Hector’s consciousness turned off, falling soundly into a deep sleep.

Only in the morning did Hector lift his face from the upholstery of the sofa six minutes after he realized exactly where his body was. He managed to get to his feet only after his bones had at least woken up a little, namely after an hour and a half.

Turning off the music, he decided to boil water to make a cup of tea that had not happened the day before. But at the last moment the ichthyologist preferred to drink coffee.

Hector looked in the mirror and wondered who he saw in it. He looked as if he had been subjected to severe torture, not allowing him to sleep all weekdays. It was already noticeable how the bags under the eyes were looming, and the hairstyle, shabby due to the lack of a pillow, only emphasized the condition called «vegetable».

The clock showed twenty minutes to nine when the doorbell rang.

At the threshold stood a tall dark-skinned man dressed in a respectable suit.

– Good morning. Dr. Hector Cage?

– Yes. Hello. Yes. It’s me, confused in the flow of words, Hector answered.

– My name is Stephen Frost – said the man at the threshold, holding out his hand. – Nice to meet you. I represent the company «Best Technologies». May I steal some time from you?

With a gesture of his hand, the scientist offered to go to his modest apartment.

– Sorry for the mess. I just can’t find the time with work.

– No, everything is fine. Do not worry. If you saw my apartment, you would understand that your simply shines.

– Tea? Coffee?

– At your discretion.

While Hector poured the invigorating instant drink, Stephen Frost carefully examined the bookshelf, on which most of the books were devoted to river and ocean fauna. Among them were reference books about the inhabitants of the world’s oceans, divided by time periods of the geochronological scale from the Triassic period to the Calymmian period. Judging by the titles on the spines of the books, it was clear that the scientist was particularly interested in cetaceans.

Hector placed two cups of coffee on the coffee table, after which he invited Frost to sit on the sofa, and he sat down on the chair on the opposite side.

– Well… – Hector said, inviting Frost to get down to business.

– Your library is impressive.

The scientist looked at his collection of books with an indifferent glance for the thousandth time and said:

– I spent my whole life on this.

– Do you have to study rare fish species from time to time?

– Well, it happened before. Actually, that’s what I liked about my job. Observe live what few people have seen before. And to explore…

– Have you written any manuals in your field?

– Manuals? No. A mountain of monographs, but not a single book. It was in the plans, but a change of job got in the way. So what did you want to talk about?

Stephen Frost leaned slightly towards Cage and began to expound:

– Mr. Cage, our company is planning an expedition to the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. In order for it to take place, we need a highly qualified expert in the field of marine fauna…

From such words Hector experienced a noticeable rush of blood to the brain. It was like an injection of adrenaline into the very heart, which was about to beat much harder. It seemed that Hector had finally woken up. It was as if he heard a bomb explode near his ear and went deaf, losing for some time the ability to hear at least some sounds. Instead of sounds a ringing thundered in his ears, and Frost’s lips moved silently for some time.

– … never had to before.

– And what is the purpose of the expedition?

– A complex of scientific research at the intersection of biology, ichthyology and paleontology.

Thinking a little, Hector tried to say something, but Frost interrupted:

– Are you interested in payment?

– No, no. How long is the work planned for?

– Two month. Maybe a little more.

– When do you intend to start?

– Possibly in the coming months. The time frame can vary from three to seven months. Now the question is about recruiting the expedition. At the moment we are interested in the ichthyologist.

Dr. Cage pondered in absolute silence, his gaze cast somewhere to the side.

– In any case, we do not require an urgent response. You have time to think.

Hector looked around his apartment, the scattered books, the countless educational and lecture materials that he had to grind a hundred times every day. He thought about what his life had become. Its colors remained as gloomy as his rented apartment.

But suddenly Hector came to his senses and decided that he needed to at least pretend to have doubts.

– Can I ask one question?

– Sure. Ask – Frost answered, taking a sip from his cup.

– Since you’re talking about payment, can you provide some clarity?

– Oh, of course. For two months of work you will be paid, well, let’s say, enough so that you can afford to quit teaching and not think about it for a very, very, very long time. To be more precise, it will be…

Frost took out a notepad with a pen from the inside pocket of his jacket, wrote down the amount and pushed the notebook across the table towards his interlocutor.

– But, just so you understand, Mr. Cage, this is the amount that you will receive regardless of the results of your work. – Frost began to drink coffee in large sips. – We understand perfectly well that this is largely a matter of luck and the number of individuals and species discovered does not depend on you. Therefore, the contract will provide for a fixed salary. The amount you see will be paid regardless of the results of the expedition. And if any discoveries are made, new species are discovered, then… well, you understand me.

Hector Cage actively scratched his nose, while Frost added:

– I’ll leave you my business card. Do not hurry. Think it over carefully.

– Sorry, – Hector interrupted, – Mr…

– Stephen.

– If such an offer had come a couple of years ago, I would have thought a thousand times. But under the current circumstances, such a vacancy creates too strong a contrast with my current job to think about anything. I agree.

– Glad to hear that. Oh, and I forgot to mention one more thing. If individuals of rare biological species are caught, you will be offered a job on a long-term basis. You will study or manage the progress of scientific work on the study of those individuals that will be at our disposal. And one last thing. How do you feel about greater depths?

– Excuse me? – Hector Cage said perplexedly, frowning his eyebrows.

– The expedition, that our company is planning, will take place near the ocean floor at a depth of about seven and a half to eight thousand meters.

– And do you have suitable equipment for this?

– Actually, we produced this device. There are no analogues. At least for now.

Cage thought even harder, and Frost had already finished his coffee by this time.

Gradually, a kind of thirst began to appear on Hector’s face. After some time he said:

– Where to sign?

Hearing these words, Frost burst into a wide smile. But as soon as that smile faded, he immediately spoke in a serious voice:

– Mr. Cage, I have one request for you.

– I’m listening.

– No one should know about my visit to you, as well as about this conversation. Is this possible?

– I don’t see a problem.

– I like it. And finally, so that you don’t get bored, I will leave one gift. Maybe you can come up with a few new theories.

Frost placed a piece of paper with the image on the coffee table and added:

– Take a look sometime. Thanks for the coffee. It was delicious. And I didn’t say this out of politeness.

They shook hands, after which Hector escorted his guest to the door.

Almost reaching the threshold, Frost turned around and asked:

– Mr. Cage, may I ask you one question?

Hector spread his arms.

– Why were you fired from your previous university with such success in science?

Hector felt a surge of energy. Now no bad memories could spoil his sharply increased enthusiasm. He straightened his back, put his hands in his pockets and answered in a confident tone:

– I knocked out eight teeth of a graduate student who was diving into my wife.

– I respect you – Frost said before leaving.