Abduction by Robin Cook

been totally unresponsive to the controls no matter which Donald Fuller manipulated.

Although initially the plunge had been straight down, the boat had eventually begun to spiral and even
carom off the walls. One of the first such collisions destroyed the outside halogen lights. Another stripped off the starboard manipulator with a grinding crunch. Perry had been the only one to scream during the ordeal. But even he fell silent once the helplessness of their situation had sunk in. He could only watch helplessly as the digital depth recorder whirred into the thousands. The numbers had flashed by so quickly, they'd become a blur. And when twenty thousand feet approached, all he'd been able to think about was the chilling statistic he'd heard earlier: the crush depth !
"In fact, I don't think we're moving at all," Suzanne added. She was whispering. "What could have happened? Could we be on the bottom? I didn't feel an impact." No one moved a muscle, as if doing so might disturb the sudden but welcome tranquillity. They were breathing shallowly in short gasps, and beads of perspiration dotted their foreheads. All three were still holding on to their seats for fear the plunge would recommence. "It feels like we stopped, but look at the depth gauge," Donald managed. His voice was raspy from dryness.
All eyes returned to the readout that only moments earlier had inexorably held their gaze. It was moving again, slowly at first but then rapidly gathering speed. The difference was that it was moving in the opposite direction.
"But I don't feel any movement," Suzanne said. She exhaled deeply and tried to relax her muscles. The others did likewise.
"Nor do I," Donald admitted. "But look at the gauge! It's going crazy." The readout device had returned to its previous furious whirring. Suzanne leaned forward slowly as if she thought the submersible was precariously balanced and her movement might tip it over an edge. She peered out the view port, but all she could see was her own image. With the outside lights sheared off from collisions with the rock, the window was as opaque as a mirror, reflecting the interior light.
"What's happening now?" Perry croaked.
"Your guess is as good as ours," Suzanne answered. She took a deep breath. She was beginning to recover.
"The depth gauge says we're rising," Donald said. He glanced at the other instruments, including the sonar monitors. Their erratic signals suggested there was a lot of interference in the water, particularly affecting the short-range sonar. The side-scan was a bit better, with less electronic noise, but it was difficult to interpret. The hazy image hinted that the sub was sitting stationary on a vast, perfectly flat plain. Donald's eyes went back to the depth gauge. He was mystified; in contrast to what the sonar was suggesting, it was still rising, and faster than it had been moments before. Quickly he reopened the ballast tanks, but there was no effect. Then he put the dive planes down and added more power to the propulsion system. There was no response to the controls. But they continued to rise nonetheless.

"We're accelerating," Suzanne warned. "Rising like this we'll be on the surface in just a couple of
minutes!"
"I can't wait," Perry said with obvious relief. "I hope we're not coming up under the Benthic Explorer, " Suzanne said. "That would be a major problem."
Everyone's eyes were riveted to the depth gauge. It passed through one thousand feet and showed no sign of slowing. Five hundred feet shot by. As it passed one hundred feet Donald said urgently: "Hold on! We're going to broach badly."
"What does 'broach' mean?" Perry yelled. He heard the desperation in Donald's voice, and it sent a new chill through him.
"It means we're going to leap out of the water!" Suzanne shouted. Then she repeated Donald's warning. "Hold on!"
As the frantic whirring of the depth gauge reached a crescendo, Perry, Donald, and Suzanne once again grabbed their seats and held tight. Holding their