Beneath him, Jarell stopped squirming, a grin on his face. Denton sat up and raised his hands in the air. In front of him, Jonythan, Carter, and Leah stared at him with their mouths wide open. They appeared as shocked as he was at the current developments.

"Get off of him and join the others on the couch. No sudden moves," the voice behind him said.

"Ok, you've got it," Denton said as he took his time to get off of Jarell and stand up. He stepped over towards the other three. Behind him, he could hear Jarell scramble to his feet. A shove in his back that sent him flying into the arms of Leah confirmed that Jarell was back in control.

"As I said," Jarell said with a chuckle, "You should understand that I have thought of everything."

Denton sat up wiped off the dirt on his clothes and sat down on the couch facing Jarell and his compatriot. "I admit, I wasn't quite expecting this," he said and looked up at the hand still holding the gun aimed right at him. "Gabi, what happened? Were you in on this from the beginning?"

Gabi looked at him, tears forming in her eyes. She wiped them away with the back of her hand, the revolver in her other hand firmly pointed at Denton. Denton noticed it was slightly shaking in her hand.

"Of course not," she said. "I told you what I knew."

"Was it true?"

Gabi nodded. "Of course. I had no idea Jarell was behind anything. I told you, Carter was the suspicious one."

Carter, who had taken a seat, jumped to his feet. "Me? You thought I kidnapped him?" he said and pointed at Jarell. "Why in the world would I care about him?"

"Well," Denton said, "He is your brother, after all."

"Yeah, but I didn't know that. Gabi, how could you? I'm your brother."

"So is he," Gabi said and pointed towards a smirking Jarell with her head.

"Half-brother," Carter corrected and cross his arms across his chest. "You disgust me."

Jarell burst out laughing and walked up to Gabi and stretched his hand out. Gabi hesitated for a moment before she put the gun in his hand.

"Family squabbles, I love it. We're just like any other family," he said and retreated towards the exit, a firm hand on Gabi's arm as he pulled her along.

"You don't have to do this, you know," Denton said and took a step closer. "We can all still walk out of here. You can too."

"Don't be naive," Jarell shot back. "This is the end of the road for you lot. Daddy, dear," he said and turned towards Jonythan, "Remember me when you take your last breath." He laughed, pushed Gabi forwards toward the couch. Gabi, not expecting the shove, stumbled forwards and flipped over the back of the couch and landed on her back, partially on the floor, partially on the couch. She grunted and collapsed on the floor with a yelp. Jarell stepped backward into the access door to the living quarters and sprinted towards the pressure door. Denton leaped forward, jumped over and followed closely behind while Jonythan and Leah rushed to help Gabi.

As Jarell reached the pressure door, he turned and fired towards the living room. Denton dove sideways into one of the bedrooms just a fraction of a second before Jarell fired and landed with a thud on the floor. Pain shot through his left arm, and he cried out in pain. He clenched his teeth and struggled to his feet just in time to hear the pressure door slam shut. Leah ran past the doorway towards it, and she let out a frustrated scream a moment later. Denton rushed to her side and grabbed the circular handle.

"On three," he said and counted from one. Pain shot through his shoulder as they jointly try to make the handle budge. It didn't move.

"We're trapped," Leah said, breathing heavily. "We're trapped in this...this aquarium."

Denton opened his mouth to respond but was in that instant thrown off balance and slammed against the wall as everything around him shook. A mechanical whine on the other side of the door started up and then grew fainter with each second.

"Now what?" Denton muttered and staggered towards the central area with Leah right behind him while the floor under his feet swayed back and forth. They joined Jonythan by the observation window. Gabi sat on the floor in a corner, her hands wrapped around her knees, sobbing softly. Carter sat on the couch, his head in his hands.

"Jonythan, what is happening?" Denton asked.

"We're as good as dead," he said and looked at them, his face drained of all color.

Denton felt a chill run down his spine, and his legs felt a bit wobbly. "What do you mean? Surely there's a way out of here."

Jonythan shook his head in silence and his gaze returned to some invisible point outside the observation window. "We're doomed," he said, then sighed and looked down. He collapsed on the floor in silence and stared blankly into the room as if they were not there.

"Would anyone care to explain to me what's happening?" Denton said. "Carter? What just happened?"

Carter stood up and joined Denton by the observation window and pointed through the glass into the void outside. "See anything different?"

Denton looked in the direction Carter pointed. It was dark there, just as before. Nothing was different as far as he could tell. The spotlights lit up the darkness, and there was nothing there.

"I do not see anything different."

"Look again," Carter said with a sigh. "Up top."

There it was. Denton finally realized what Carter was talking about. The ice sheet that had been visible previously was no longer there. It was gone.

"The ice, it's gone."

"That's right."

But ice couldn't just disappear like that. If the ice was gone and they were still under water, there could only be one explanation that fits the scenario.

"We're going down," Denton said matter-of-factly and gripped the ledge next to the observation window. "We're going straight down."

Carter nodded. "You got it. We're heading down, as far as the cable will let us go."

"The cable? What cable?"

"Come," Carter said and pointed towards one of the doorsthe led out of the observation deck. "Let's grab something to eat while we still can."

"Eat?" Leah looked at him, confused. "How can you think of food right now? We should be trying to find a way out of here."

"There's not much else we can do. We're stuck as it is, there's no way for us to get out. No-one knows we are here, so there's no one to save us. I don't know about you, but I can't think on an empty stomach."

"That's not true," Gabi said quietly from her corner on the floor. "The emergency beacon will automatically activate for any abnormal descents. Jarell didn't know the full procedure, so the signal is already broadcasting."

Denton walked over to Gabi and offered her a hand. "But is one listening?"

"What do you mean?"

"Is anyone listening anymore? I'm out of range of Tanner, comms don't work. Who's there to listen to an emergency broadcast?"

"He's right, although not for the reasons he thinks," Jonythan said, his head down. "The emergency system was mostly intended for internal use, to let someone at the surface know something was wrong. It wasn't meant to call for public help. If anything, you've alerted Jarell, since he's at the surface."

Gabi looked at Denton, her eyes widened as she understood the implications of what he had just said. Tears started flowing from her already teary eyes, and she ran out of the room, towards the bedrooms, sobbing. Jonythan got to his feet and tried to follow her but was held back by Carter.

"Let her go," Carter said with a hiss. "She betrayed us."

"I don't believe it," Jonythan said as he slumped back onto the couch. "My Gabi, she would never..."

Denton needed time to think. Too much was happening at once and he felt overwhelmed. "Leah, do you mind taking Jonythan to the kitchen and getting him something to eat. Carter, can I have a word?"

The two men remained in the observation room as Jonythan and Leah disappeared in the direction of the kitchen. Denton gazed out into the darkness beyond the module.

"Tell me the rest, Carter. What happens when we're as far down as we can go?"

Carter shrugged. "It really depends on how much my dear brother knows. He knew about this place, after all, and if he did, he likely knows about the emergency release as well."

"The emergency release? That sounds ominous."

"It's because it is. The cable what right now is lowering us down into a cold and dark hell is our lifeline. The module we're in does, of course, has life support systems and such but any such systems are going to be limited in use. Anyway, the point is, the cable is detachable, both from within this module and from the base station up top. It's intended for absolute emergencies only but-"

"Jarell is going to release the cable and let us sink to the bottom."

"Exactly. With no-one up there to re-attach the cable to the unit, we are effectively doomed. I know this sounds dramatic, but unfortunately, it's also true. I see little possibility that we'll get out of here alive."

"I see," Denton said and continued to gaze out into the darkness. Was this really it, the end of the road? Would he, Denton Staxx, detective extraordinaire, really meet his doom at the bottom of a glorified underwater tourist attraction? He had imagined that his end might come on the receiving end of a blaster gun or be blown up in a fight with a worthy adversary in space. Suffocating in a box on the bottom of the ocean? He hadn't seen that coming.

He turned and left Carter by the observation window. Gabi's betrayal had been unexpected and Jarell's decision to leave her behind even more puzzling. There was more to that story he needed to understand.

Gabi was huddled up on a bed in one of the bedrooms. She looked up when he entered, her eyes red from crying, then looked away. "Go away," she said.

"There's nowhere for me to go, remember?" he said and sat down on the chair next to the bed. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Gabi spoke up again.

"What do you want?"

Denton sighed. He was unsure about how to approach this. Was she a traitor to the family or an inadvertent accomplice? He had to tread carefully if he wanted to get anything useful out of her.

"Just tell me what happened. I wasn't expecting to find myself held at gunpoint by you."

Gabi looked at Denton for what seemed like an eternity, then nodded and put her legs down on the floor, still seated on the bed.

"He promised he'd let me live, to give me a chance to save them."

"Why would he do that?"

"I guess our relationship with the team wasn't for nothing. Well, I guess, in the end, it was, but at the time, that's what I thought."

"That he'd show mercy because of your professional relationship with him?"

Gabi nodded. "That's what he said. He'd let me back out before he dropped them down."

"So what did he expect from you in return?"

"Just to keep them in line. He said my betrayal would prevent them from actually doing anything. It would be too unexpected, he said."

"And if you didn't?"

"He'd kill us all. The worst part," she continued, tears once again forming in her eyes, "Is that by trying to save everyone, I ended up betraying everyone and we're all still going to die." Tears were now running down her cheeks. "How can I ever face my family again?"

Gabi retreated back onto the bed, and the tears came quicker, followed by sobs. She covered her face and cried. Denton wasn't sure what to do. Console her or leave her be, let her cry it all out? Did it really matter if death was just around the corner anyway?

No, I'm not giving up, not now. Denton left Gabi to her tears and found the other three in the galley. Jonythan had an uneaten sandwich in front of him and a cup of coffee in his hand. His gaze was fixed on some invisible point on the opposite wall. Leah and Carter sat next to each other, deep in what appeared to be a quiet conversation. They both separated the instant he walked through the door.

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Denton said and opened the fridge. "Anything you'd like to share with me?" he said as he picked up a wrapped sandwich and joined the others at the table. "Is this place always this well-stocked?"

Leah and Carter looked at each other for a moment and then back at Carter.

"How's Gabi?" Leah asked.

"She's got a guilty conscience but I she's to be believed, she acted the way she did because she thought she could save you."

"Save us? How is this saving?" Carter spit out.

"It's not. Jarell double-crossed her. He used her to keep you in line. He was right. He did think of everything," Denton said with a sigh. He sat down at the table, unwrapped his sandwich and took a bite.

"So how long?" he said after he had finished chewing his first bite.

Leah and Carter looked at each other.

"What do you mean?" Leah said.

"How long have you two been together?"

"Look, Denton-" Leah started and was then thrown off balance, forced to grab onto Carter, as the module jerked to an unexpected stop. They both ended up on the floor in a pile.

"This is it," Jonythan said and shifted his gaze towards Denton. "It's the time of release. Hold on, Denton, the next part will be unpleasant."

~~~

Denton once again finds himself participating in a descent, although this time, it's not one that he opted to take part in. What do you think the end result will be? A dramatic tumble to the bottom?  

As always, if you like what you read, leave a comment, vote! Thank you again for reading and sticking with the story.