As everyone was busy with their work. ..Suman began herself in arranging the necessary gadgets for deep ocean dive. ..

   " may I help you. .? "  shravan asked. ..

" perhaps. ..but, I am afraid you can't. .."  suman  wasn't considering him and focusing on the devices she need. ..

" suman. ..don't underestimate me. ..I have once done  scuba diving   in Maldives. ..and I could hold my breath for long time underwater. ..mine was  a record since our training school had been started. .."

  Shravan  pulled his collar up in  pride. ..

   " Oh. ..then...sorry Mr. malhothra. ..i wasn't aware. .."

  Suman said in a calm tone. ..

Shravan wasn't sure whether she's teasing him. ..

  " okay. ..Mr. scuba diver. ..get the suit and shall we move. .?"  She showed him the exit. ..

Shravan jerked and followed her. ..

        There's a  snowmobile they could travel to the marked oceanic area. ..

 
   Suman loaded all the devices in the snow mobile. ..she was wearing her simple thermal wear, so as shravan. ..

  After punching their electronic card , they geared up to the destination. ..

 
   Shravan was  amused to see the snow that covered almost the entire area. ..and he didn't find any water body. ..

   " suman. ..where's the ocean. ?" He asked like a enthusiastic student. ..

  Suman was unloading something from the snowmobile.without looking him, she answered casually. ..

   "below your feet. .." 

" what. .?"  Shravan jumped out of surprise. ..

  Suman didn't expect his surprise. ..

" shravan. ..do you really  think the ocean deep under is same like the one you see in the aquarium. .?"

Shravan froze at her seriousness. ..

" shravan. ..it's winter here. .ice reaches 60 miles out of sea. ..the bottom surface of the sea would be thick slurry of floating ice crystals. .."

  " water was going to be colder than 29 degrees Fahrenheit. ..the condition would be beyond harsh. .."
   

  Her warning tone hit shravan. ...she stared at him steadily. ..

" are you sure. ..you're going to dive with me. .?"

Now her eyes were pity full. ..

  Shravan nodded subsequently. ..

" I should be around you in every  circumstances. ..you are my responsibility. .."

He was sure...Suman stepped little bit closer to him. ..

" shravan. ..I can understand your work ethics. ..but, it's not like a commercial dive. ..it's highly dangerous. ...stay here itself. ..Please. .."

She spoke to his eyes. ...

Shravan clucked. .." if it's dangerous, then ...why you're going. .?"

" and. . . it's not only  the work ethics.. ...."     he mumbled. ...

"I won't leave you alone ...i will be coming with you .that's final. .."

  Suman sighed and she started to wear her swim suit above her thermal wear. .. ...she gestured him too ,to wear it. ...

  An uneasiness crossed shravan when he saw the giant suit. ..actually, he ever had seen it. ..

    The suit had four layers. ..thermal underwear, followed by an electrically heated bodysuit which was operated by a battery, a thick fleece and a half inch thick layer of water proof neoprene with hood and gloves. ..

   The suit itself weighed much. ..it was difficult for shravan to move even. ..

  
   Suman smiled at shravan. ..

" shravan. ..With this improved suit, we could last upto five hours. ..are you  comfortable. .?"

   Needless to say ,suman was habituated to these kind of suits. ..but, shravan struggled to breath even, yet there's a  rebreather  attached to the suit. ..

    Suman began to dig the ice sheet with an  ice drilling machine. ..she made the hole enough to crawl in. ..

  " shravan. ..sometimes, the hole may   close  behind us,when we return after hours. ..and the greatest dread is getting lost and trapped under the ice. .."

  
  Suman kept on detailing and shravan felt a spine chill over the thermal suit. ..

She might have read him, she touched him reassuringly. ..

" let's drop this luminescent yellow rope into the hole and pull it along with us during dive. .."

Shravan tied the rope's one end to the snow mobile and the other end with him. ..

  Suman gestured shravan to be with her until they come out. ..

    Suman fixed her handheld gadgets with the suit and she crawled down to the hole as it wasn't enough to dive. ..shravan followed her. ..

    Shravan hadn't been to this kind of strange world anymore. ..Suman was right. ..the underwater was not like the images he had in his mental map. ..

  As the Antarctic ocean was the large reservoir of pure water, the pressure, visibility, light refraction. ..everything was unique. ..as she said, shravan could see huge ice sheets around. ...

   Suman  commenced her research with   the gadgets which she had already brought ...

She took some samples and fixed some minute structures to the areas she had observed so far. ..

  All through the time , shravan had nothing but to wait. ...Sooner, the extreme cold anesthetized the few square inches of his exposed skin on his cheeks and lips  ..He felt his hands and feet numb. ..He thought that he was dying. ..

    It was when he could feel alive after they reached the surface. ..

    When they finally reach themselves out of freezing ocean,their skin was numb. ..Suman removed her swim suit swiftly and adorned  the electrical  thermal suit. ...

But, shravan couldn't do anything as his limbs were swelling out of cold. ..the pain was at its worst that made shravan to groan ...

  Suman noticed his restlessness and ran towards him. ..

" shravan. ..are you alright. .?"

He couldn't answer her. . . as the cold was too intense, that he found himself frozen. ..

  Suman deciphered his inability. ..she immediately pulled back the suit and covered him with the electrical thermal suits. ..

She rubbed his cheeks which was damn cold to touch. ..

  Though he was awake, he couldn't move ...

" I have told you to stay here itself. What did you say. .? ..scuba diver. .? Now did you get the real meaning of diving. .? Your pride as a  commando wouldn't help anytime. ..Please. ..give ears to suggestions. ..see. ..how you're shivering. ..."

Her scold turned into concern. ..involuntarily her eyes curtained with a layer of tear. ..

  Shravan could see her tearing. ..He wanted to smile. ..but he couldn't. ..

  " shravan. ..say something. .."  as time grew, she developed some sort of scare. ..

He wasn't able to move his facial muscles as they were stretched due to cold. ..

Suman cupped his cheeks and  rubbed against her palms ...slowly, shravan recovered. ..

   " suman. ..thankyou. .."  He said fragile. ..

Suman helped him to sit in the snow mobile ...she gave him painkillers ...she gave hot water bag compression to ease him. ..

   After he's completely recovered, they're yet to return. ..

" suman. .."  He stopped her by holding her hands. ..

" thankyou so much. ..I guess this commando needs your support always. .."

Suman chuckled. .."my  support. .?"

" yes. ..will you be with me. .?"

He was on his stream. ..Suman understood the underlying meaning very well, she wanted the situation to be easy and yanked his reddened nose tip playfully and said. ..

" Mr. scuba diver. ..ofcourse, I will. .."

Shravan's face bloomed at her reply. ...😂😂but only for seconds. ..

" until we accomplish this mission. .."
 
  Suman told ,looking into his eyes sharply. ..

" ufff. .."  Shravan huffed, disappointed. ...

   Suman broke out into bouts of laughter, seeing his despair. ...

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  Friends. ...it's all about happy reading. ..and I guess this chapter must be somehow monotonous. ..but, it's needed. .hope you got some thing about antarctic ocean. ..do drop your comments. ..

  I thank everyone of you who are the real energizers for my entire day. ..

Thankyou for your overwhelming responses and thankyou for the followers who had joined by last week. ..welcome buddies. ..

    there's a valentine's day special. ..Romeo Julliet. .shraman edition by me. ..it's a completed book with three chapters. ..give a chance. ..and I guess you will like it. ..

  What else. ...

Hit the vote and drop a comment too. ...

Love,

Arulpirai. ...