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"Elise? Elise!" Ava barked down the transmitter, "Do you read me? What's happening?"
"Something's down here!" Came the crackling reply, a sharp scream cutting off as the SM-14 lost signal.
Another one gone. Ava was really starting to wonder if this mission would ever work, or if they were just feeding convicts to the blood ocean.
After Simon's sacrifice, she'd tried to petition for the C.O.I to stop researching the oceans, but there'd been no joy. She'd been allowed a break, to study what Simon had gathered, but instead of stopping researching she had been instructed to gather more intelligence on the creatures down there.
A death sentence, Ava knew, but what could she do? Were she to argue, she'd be going back down there again. At least she could provide these people with the last humane treatment they would ever get.
A treatment Simon had been forced to practically beg from her, she acknowledged to herself.
"Start the timer," she sighed, "If she doesn't make contact in twenty minutes, start trying to retrieve the data she gathered."
"Roger," David sighed, rapping his knuckles against the desk. "What's this one's crime? Did she get a trial? Or is she like the last?"
"Theft of controlled resources," Ava dragged a hand over her face, hearing David curse beneath his breath.
"So they're not just sending unconvicted convicts to us," He groaned, "but people with an addiction? Who need help? Jesus Christ..."
"I know," Ava sighed, "Just... keep an eye on the communications. Please."
"Roger."
They sat in awkward silence for a while. Her team wasn't the best - the best wouldn't be expended for a convict programme - but they were hers, and trusted her implicitly.
David, especially once they had been informed that Simon had never been convicted, had thrown himself behind her whole heartedly. Sure, he was quick to anger and combative to those he perceived as slighting him, but he was loyal and that was worth anything in this place. He was there on paper to work on the wiring, although in reality he was there to tackle any rowdy convicts who got any ideas due to his tall, muscled frame.
Daniel, David's brother, was there for many of the same unofficial reasons, seeing as he had a similar muscular build, but he was primarily there for his skill with photography. Jack, irradiated but still standing, was their best welder, and Sarah and Pauline were there as a medical standby and science advisor respectively, both small but powerful in their own rights.
Five people, none of whom were anywhere near the best in the field, but goddamnit they were her people, who stood by her even when they knew the job they were being forced to perform was morally wrong. Her people who refused to let her fight back and end up in one of these subs herself, under the control of someone as cold and uncaring as she had initially been herself.
"Ten minutes," Pauline mumbled quietly, "Standing by."
God, the silence was oppressive. All six of them standing by a receiver, hoping to hear their newest convict speak - so they could save them like they hadn't saved Simon. So when a rough crackle ran through it, Ava wasted no time.
"Elise?? Elise, can you hear me?"
"Pull us up."
David's head turned to look at her, face drip white. The others were slower to react, but all were the same.
They knew that voice.
"What-" Ava whispered, "Simon?"
"Never mind. I'll do it myself."
The chains they used to haul the sub started to creak, the wheel turning of its own volition. The team turned, staring at two submarines left the ocean.
The SM-14 was one, Elise clearly somewhere inside judging by the loud sobs that could be heard externally. What was unusual was the fact that the SM-13, looking like the day they sent it down, was beside it.
"What?" Daniel whispered, "It's not possible..."
As if to illustrate what wasn't possible, the welds practically melted off the SM-14, Elise collapsing through the hole in the side and retching on the ground. She was hysterical, begging, pleading for them not to send her back down, to go back to jail, please. Sarah ran to her side, hands feeling all over her to check for any injuries, while the others turned their attention to the second figure.
Because there was a second figure. Almost ghostly in appearance - missing an arm and drenched in blood. But Ava would remember those eyes anywhere, even without the tall, strong frame and voice.
"Simon?" She asked, breathless.
He turned to look at her, and for a minute the apparition shifted. Blood drenched hair turned fluffy, his arm flickering back into reality, bruises melting away. It didn't last long, fading back to the blood drenched spirit - for what else could it be - who stared at her with dull red eyes.
You will not get your executions. His voice seemed to echo through them, as his mouth didn't move. I was not allowed my freedom, but they will get theirs. I will make sure of it.
And as soon as he was there, he disappeared, walking into the SM-13 which started sinking again of its own volition. No discussion, no one cranking the handle - the ship sinking under the blood silently.
Elise was shaking in Sarah's arms, everyone else sitting in pregnant silence, none willing to break it lest they be forced to confront the reality of what had happened in front of them. "Who was that?" She asked, voice hoarse, "I had a woman try to take me somewhere, and then... He showed up behind me. Just... took control of the submarine. Told me I'd be ok - to sit down and control my breathing..."
"I..." Ava was dumbstruck, shaking her head briefly to try and clear her thoughts. "Get her to medical." She ordered Sarah, who nodded. "Did anyone get that on video? Get me an audience with the council... again."
"Roger." Her crew - her people - bustled away, and Ava was left staring at an ocean of blood.
Simon wasn't resting peacefully. He hadn't died and ascended to some great beyond where he could live freely as she has tried to comfort herself with upon retrieving the black box. Even if his body was gone, assimilated by the ocean below, his soul was still piloting a spectral SM-13 beneath the surface, looking for survivors.
"I'm sorry, Simon." She whispered, "I'll make this right."
The ocean, still as ever, did not answer.