literature

Lost cargo alternate ending

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Literature Text

A stream of bubbles flowed past the diver with each breath. The lone swimmer slowly descended, checking his dive watch every couple of breaths. He knew his depth was quickly nearing fifty meters.

Various fish swam around him, as though they were curious about this new being in their waters. Unconsciously, the diver moved his hand a towards his knife. The fear of being alone in the freezing cold waters was obvious, even if the goggles prevented it from being seen.

Carefully, the diver began to scan the deaths around him. The sea floor was barely twenty meters below him, but in the available light, barely anything would appear.

All at once, he noticed something. Quickly, the lone diver aimed his flashlight in the direction of the movement. It was a floating piece of metal, grey and rusted. If he could have smiled with the breather in his mouth, he would have.

The lone diver continued downwards, looking around. He didn't care about the cold or his limited air supply at that moment. There was a prize to be found down here. The lone man knew that the story of a U-boat having been sunk in this area had persisted for decades.

If the legends of its existence were true, then within its hold existed a potential untold fortune in lost paintings. It was a prize that many had sought, and none yet had retrieved. Many had given up on it, and some had even lost their ships in the process.

With a start, the diver looked around. A chill had just run down his spine, though he could not confirm what its was from. The waters remained fine, and no creature was approaching him. He knew full well that his dry suit was intact, so it was clearly not the water that had sent that chill.

Again the diver looked around, expecting something to be approaching him. Instead he found the seas empty. It was at that moment that the problem occurred to him. There was nothing but water. Not a single fish in sight. Everywhere he aimed his flash light returned the same result. Every last fish had ducked out of the area.

Spooked, the diver looked above himself. There, he could still make out the shape of his ships hull. It was silhouetted against the clear sky, a dark patch against the moons light. The research continued to hold position, awaiting his return.

For the first time, a sound other than his breath leaving the mask reached his ears. It was a slow churning noise, like that of a propeller churning through the water. With a start he glanced back up to his ship, but it remained completely still.

Frantically, he looked around himself. He made a quick circle, checking first the surface around him, and then the waters immediately around him. Not a single object could be seen, yet still the ocean hummed with the sound propellers.

Finally the diver looked below himself. Cast in light grey, was a single vessel, rising to greet him. Quickly, he swam to the side, as the submarine continued its ascent. The vessel narrowly missed him. Had the diver held out his hand, the metal racing past would have greeted him.

Awestruck, he watched as the new found vessel halted its ascent barely five meters from the surface. Powerless, he stared at the gleaming hull of the vessel. Unlike a military submarine, its hull was not cylindrical in shape. Instead, it was shaped almost like a knife blade. The submarine was over sixty meters in length, far longer than any research submarine.

Still dumb founded, the diver watched as a part of the ship's bow shifted positions slightly. A second later, two cylinders shot out, each leaving a trail of bubbles. The pair of torpedoes shot forward, both squarely impacting the hull of the the divers ship. The diver watched, shocked, as the hull began to split open, and less than a minute later, slip beneath the waves.

The submarine sat there for a moment, before descending back down. It halted its descent at the same depth as the diver, with the bow pointed squarely at him.

It was clear that it was a U-boat. There was no mistaking the fact. With a start, the diver watched as the hatch on the coning power opened. From within the U-boat, a single figure stepped forth. The figure was seemingly unaffected by the water pressure. Nor did he wear any sort of breathing equipment. It would have been pointless for him to wear such equipment.

The lone figures uniform was in tatters, but it was clearly that of a kriegsmarine captain. On his head he wore his cap, and his chest still bore his medals. The captain however, was no more alive then his ship. His flesh had rotted away long ago. If one were to look closely, they would be able to see right through the spaces in his ribs. The captain looked at the diver with empty sockets that had once contained eyes.

Slowly, he raised one skeletal finger to point at the diver. The divers heart pounded in his chest, the sound drowning out that of the U-boat's propellers. Shaking his head, the captain drew back his hand making a slashing motion across his throat. The diver's eyes went wide in terror, as he slowly watched the ghost ships deck mounted auto cannon swivel around towards him.

Frantically, he tried to move out of the way, but it was hopeless. At this depth, a rapid descent could prove just as lethal as the ship's weapons, as the nitrogen in the tank would be at risk of poisoning him. With no ability to dive below the weapon, the diver looked back, realizing the futility of his escape attempt.

The captain gave the diver a final look. It was difficult to discern an expression on the corpse, but the captain's attitude seemed to speak volumes about his thoughts on this situation. Down to his last breath, the captain had been sworn to protect his vessels cargo at all costs. Even in death, the captain refused to disobey his orders, as much as it pained him to do so.

All of this went through the divers mind, just before the cannon opened fire. The weapon unloaded a volley of shells into the sea, each leaving a trail of bubbles behind. Under water, the weapons effectiveness was severely limited, but given the weapons caliber, it didn't matter.

The shells tore clean through the diver, passing through both sides of his dry suit, with some even puncturing his air tank. The ruptured air tank began bleeding air heavily, as the divers bloody body fell.

The body impacted the sea floor, with the diver mere seconds from death. Taking a final look around, the diver saw the ships graveyard. Many ships already sat there, with his own descending to join them. Each one was a victim of the U-boat, each having paid the harsh price for trying to lay claim to the paintings, still housed in the U-boats hold.

After originally posting this story, the few comments, and a few re-reads made it clear that the original ending had some issues. So I figured I may as well get a strong rework going for the ending. Hopefully this one comes off a bit clearer and a bit stronger.

The original version can be found here: frozenwhitenorth.deviantart.co…
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MercenaryBlade's avatar
I think this ending makes more sense and flows better, but poor diver.