(text revised - with thanks to shadri - may-08-03.) The tinny bell rang again as Kelly and Amanda pulled on their rebreathers. "General quarters. Battle stations." followed by the Captain's voice, "Rig for silent." Kelly looked at Amanda with a solid look of concern. "What the hell?" Almost as soon as she said it, Dunbar's voice came over the intercomm: "We've got to get you out fast. Looks like they've got a patrol boat in the area. You've got 2 minutes. Good luck." And with a click, he was gone. Amanda tightened the mask on her face and puffed twice to guarantee no leaks. Without a word she turned to the master console and launched the tactical sled - a powered, robotic underwater palette used to carry the heavier equipment to their destination: larger weapons and explosives and supplies. At the same time, Kelly released the hatch to the escape tube and entered the automatic sequence for their egress. Both completed their tasks at the same instant and looked at each other. Amanda gave Kelly a thumbs up and Kelly nodded in recognition as both women stepped into the tube, Kelly heard the whoosh of air as the tube filled with water. "Shit! This is hot!" she blurted as she heard Amanda suck in her breath as the water went over their heads. The water was over 30 degrees Celsius. A dull clunk and the top hatch swung open allowing Kelly and Amanda to swim up, out, and away from the sub. As they turned around to get their bearings, they watched the Snapper sink beneath them and disappear into the darkness. But below them, the seabed wasn't dark at all. Flashes of reddish glow punctuated the featureless darkness. "Explains why the water's so hot here," Kelly said. "Lava below. Probably 200 meters down." Amanda could only manage a slow "Fuuuck" as she looked back up at Kelly. "OK. We're on our own. With Snapper deep, our comm link to OPSCON is dead. Check out the T-PAK. When we get in closer, we'll activate the SAT link," Kelly said quickly and quietly. "Roger that. We're 1000 meters from the reef at 8 meters depth," Amanda responded as she swung the T-PAK around, and it whirred to life - dragging them quickly towards the reef. Above them the seas roiled as if possessed by evil. "Time check," Amanda snapped. Immediately the 3Ds responded in synch:"00-01 and 22 seconds." Amanda looked at Kelly and nodded. Suddenly, the T-PAK revved and then stalled. Kelly flashed a worried-questioning glance at Amanda who swung around to the control panel to determine the glitch. "Must be the heat. Shit!" Amanda blurted as the T-PAK tilted down and started to sink. Frantically, Amanda reached for the emergency panel. If the T-PAK sank, it'd end up in a pile of lava 200 meters below - with all the tactical gear they needed for the mission. She quickly engaged the manual buoyancy packs which deployed weakly. "Fuck! 20 percent only. We're going to have to off-load here." Kelly went through a split-second inventory in her head. "OK. Let's grab the BD charges, the weapons, and all the ammo we can," she whispered as Amanda popped the storage lid and both women started yanking their equipment from the T-PAK. Simultaneously, they heard the muffled rumbles of explosions. "Damn. Depth charges. I hope they're OK." Amanda panted as she got out the last BD pack. Both women watched the T-PAK slip slowly below them and into the dark as they attached their addtional loads and adjusted the buoyancy on their rebreathers. "You realize we just lost our Ts," Kelly remarked. "Yeah," Amanda responded. "Too hot for that shit anyway. Com'on. We've still got to get over that reef and ashore." rendered for an on-going story.... victoria 3 with daz gel hair and updo, custom textures; modified rebreathers by anthony appleyard; swimsuits by gypsy rose; equipment from daz's project z by 3dwizard, doug sturk, and gorodin; 3d model (unknown).... rendered in poser 5, post-work in photoshop. thank you for looking and for any comments.