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At seven thirty in the morning Anguilla’s Clayton Lloyd International Airport was receiving a charter flight from Heathrow. After eleven hours of travel, the seven passengers were met by a thin man of average height, whom Captain De Bont, senior mate Morgan Sinclair and engineer Henry Mills knew well by sight. They called him Stanley. Whether this was his real name or not, they didn’t think about it. They met Stanley when they were conducting practical tests of the submarine. The others saw him for the first time. He was dressed like a typical resident of a resort town – a baseball cap with a curved visor, a loose shirt with multi-colored patterns and loose white trousers. All clothes were made of pure cotton. Stanley’s eyes were hidden behind wide sunglasses. If he took off his baseball cap from time to time when he found himself indoors, then even the captain, senior mate and engineer who spent three weeks with him during the tests did not know what color his eyes are.

Stanley helped load the travel bags into the trunk of the minibus. As soon as everyone was seated, he reversed and drove the car to the eastern part of the island, where an eight-seater seaplane was waiting at the pier. Stanley himself took the pilot’s seat. With a slight movement, he started both engines and began to pick up speed, developing it until the fuselage left the water, after which Stanley turned it towards the final destination.

Even before the seaplane began to descend into the water, an object located in the middle of the open water caught an eye through the porthole. Some kind of surface station had an impressive size, equal to two football pitches. Most of the area was hidden behind the roof, in the middle of which there was a sliding section with dimensions of twenty by forty meters. On the opposite side stood a control room with a radio tower and repeater. Another building was visible between them – a housing block. All three parts were connected by steel overhead bridges one and a half meters wide.

There was a pier along the perimeter on three sides. The seaplane stopped near one of them. Having moored the aircraft, Stanley led the crew along the pier towards the covered part of the station.

Finding themselves here for the first time, the scientists and the doctor looked around with curiosity. Through the glass windows in the control room, someone’s silhouette could be seen looming inside. Electronic locks were installed on the doors at the entrance to the housing block. The bridges, connecting the compartments, also had checkpoints in the form of lattice doors made of high-strength steel. On the side of the doors there were biometric locks with palm and retina scanners, as well as a microphone for voice reading and identification.

Stanley placed his palm on the panel and tilted his head closer to the retinal scanner. After a few seconds, the screen read: «Say «Picturesque bay».

Stanley said clearly into the microphone:

– Picturesque bay.

A signal sounded and the lock unlocked. Walking forward, Stanley held the door to let the crew members through. A few meters later, at the entrance to the covered part of the station, he performed the same actions, only this time, instead of «picturesque bay», the system required him to say «galvanic cell».

The full crew found themselves inside.

Stanley grabbed the switch, pulled it and the darkness was replaced by the glow of powerful LED lamps. An impressively sized surface hangar appeared before their eyes. Support underfoot was provided by only a quarter of the entire area in the form of a floor welded from a thick layer of steel, which was located along the perimeter of the hangar and had a depth of ten meters from the edge. All sorts of tools lay everywhere, including a welding machine, wrenches and adjustable wrenches, a grinder and a sharpening machine. Judging by the fact that only one of the many metal cabinets remained open, all these tools were used for some minor work, which, quite possibly, was carried out to eliminate minor defects. Somewhere at the far end of the hangar a manipulator was visible, which had obviously completed its work a long time ago. Two cargo boats were moored nearby below.

The views of all crew members, and especially those who arrived for the first time, were riveted on what was in the center of the hangar and was almost entirely hidden under water.

«Amphibia XXI» is an ultra-modern submarine, developed with the latest technology. The latest development of the «Best Technologies» company, representing the pinnacle of innovative achievements in the entire history of the company and a new milestone in global progress. The world’s only analog submarine capable of withstanding pressure up to eight hundred and fifty atmospheres, which allows it to reach almost maximum depths of the Atlantic Ocean. The displacement of Amphibia XXI when fully submerged under water is two thousand one hundred and fifty tons with a length of thirty-five meters. Equipped with a nuclear reactor and four engines, Amphibia XXI is capable of reaching underwater speeds of up to thirty-five knots and maintaining navigation autonomy for up to one hundred and ten days. Operating at the expense of a reactor, the submarine has on board an installation for autonomous generation of oxygen reserves. Thanks to a well-functioning system of equipment interconnection and centralized access to its management, the minimum number of crew required to maintain and operate the submarine is only three people.

Having passed all practical tests under the command of captain Luther de Bont, Amphibia XXI stood idle in the private bay located eighteen kilometers north of Island Harbor awaiting the start of its mission. So far, the only thing that could be seen above the water, was the top of the wheelhouse and the entrance hatch. The rest of the hull was hidden under water and what the actual dimensions of the submarine were, the ichthyologist, biologist, paleontologist and doctor could only guess.

Captain De Bont hit a button on the dashboard in the wall with his hand, after which a collapsible ladder began to extend from under the floor. The crew members followed it to the center of the hangar. The captain opened the entrance hatch and was the first to go inside the submarine, taking the others along with their travel bags.

Stanley remained upstairs. Or left the hangar. However, this was no longer important. The last stage of preparation remains before the start. All crew members had to quickly get used to life on a submarine. While this was a common occurrence for Captain De Bont and his senior mate Morgan Sinclair, and engineer Henry Mills managed to take his first steps, the rest of the crew needed some time to get used to the new environment.

– So, ladies and gentlemen, – Captain De Bont said, sighing loudly and spreading his arms wide, – let me give you a tour. Me, Morgan and Henry have already gotten used to it a little, but for you at first everything will be new. Follow me.

The captain elegantly turned around on his axis, beginning the briefing:

– This room is called the «central post». It is from here that we will control our beauty. Frankly, when they first brought me here and showed me this miracle of engineering, I was stunned. On a standard submarine, you have to have a whole group of specialists to simply correct the position of the boat. And here, using just keys and touch panels, you can manipulate all systems while sitting still. Add here some military equipment with shells, and there would be no price for such submarines in the military flotilla.

– Why «Amphibia»? – asked medic Kate Moore.

She immediately turned around when she heard Henry’s voice behind her, who answered the question posed:

– Some people believe that at the bottom of the ocean there is a completely different environment, which is very different from the sea we know and hides something new, previously unknown to mankind. There is also water there, but not at all the kind we are used to. And our Amphibia is heading exactly there.

– So, it turns out that you are one of those who built this boat?

– Something like that. I was the senior assistant to the chief designer.

– Why didn’t he go on the voyage?

– He is sixty-nine years old. He is too ancient for such walks.

The captain, meanwhile, continued to introduce the scientists to the central compartment, pointing to the chairs in front of the monitors:

– These are your jobs. Here, through monitors, you will watch what is happening in the ocean outside. There are cameras with spotlights throughout the submarine’s hull, so be careful and try not to miss anything. Please go to the next compartment.

Luther de Bont led the crew through a rectangular partition hatch into the next room, where he drew attention to the entrance to the compartment with the inscription above the entrance «biological laboratory».

– Miss Fox, this is your abode. Here you will perform your immediate responsibilities. Everything you need is here – a refrigerator, containers with liquid nitrogen, microscopes, a chamber with a vacuum pump, a centrifuge, all sorts of chemical liquids, tools. In general, you will understand. Now I ask you to go to the next compartment.

The room was equipped with an abundance of instruments for comprehensive measurements of parts of a skeleton, scales, tools for cleaning skeletons from dust and foreign substances, a computer with a database that stored information about all living beings on the planet, not only living today, but also ever lived.

– As you already understand, Mr. Hughes, this service bungalow is assigned to you. But I think you’re familiar with everything here, aren’t you?

Dr. Tucker Hughes nodded silently, carefully examining the room allocated for his work.

The next compartment belonged to Hector Cage. The difference between his computer and Tucker’s was that here on the hard drive there was all the detailed information about representatives of the fauna that live and once lived not only in the vastness of the ocean, but also in the aquatic environment anywhere on the planet, including rivers, seas and lakes. In addition, along two walls in the shape of a square there was a huge aquarium made of a high-strength alloy of glass and plastic, divided into thirty-four sections of different sizes. There was a control panel on the wall. Using it, by pressing one key, it was possible to open the inlet valve and fill a section with a specific number with water from the ocean through a system of hoses, the holes of which were led out through the hull of the submarine. In the same way, it was possible to pump water out of a specific section using a second tube that was connected to the drainage system.

The next compartment housed the infirmary. It was one of the most spacious rooms.

– And we will come here to complain to Dr. Moore about our health. But let’s hope that this cruise will take place without incidents and everyone will be as healthy as animals.

After an interim pep talk, Captain De Bont pointed out to Dr. Moore that there were two isolation rooms in place should anyone need to be kept away from the rest of the crew to avoid infection. On the back side there were cabinets and refrigerators with medicines, medical equipment, materials and other supplies. The infirmary was also equipped with the most advanced technology, including several microscopes, including electronic ones; pneumatic syringes, x-ray, transformable surgical table and ultrasound machine.

Next, the captain pointed the crew to two cabins, where they immediately left bags with personal belongings. Each cabin had parameters of three hundred ten by three hundred eighty centimeters. Inside there were two bunk beds and two double-leaf wardrobes with a crossbar for hangers and three shelves.

– Wait – Kate Moore slowed down, interrupting the captain. – There are five men and two women among us, and one cabin is designed for four. There are only two cabins. Is it possible that one of the men will keep Miss Fox and me company?