"You are ordered back to base immediately!" Captain Vargo shouted at me as I tried to sneak past him. "How many times do we have to tell you that this is not our home?" He grabbed my arm and pulled me toward his captain's cabin. The door slammed shut behind us. "I was just… reading about what happened on the surface." His voice sounded slightly muffled through the thick wood paneling. He turned around slowly, letting go of my arm for a moment before grabbing it again. He looked like he had something important to say but wasn't sure where to start.

He took a deep breath before continuing. "The last time someone went down there they didn't come back up," he said quietly. "We've been waiting here for centuries hoping they would show up so we could ask them how to survive out there." He stopped pacing and sat heavily on the bed. "But now they're gone too. We'll never get answers unless we find their bodies or some survivors. And even if we did, who knows what kind of state they'd be left in after all this time."

Vargo paused briefly to catch his breath before looking straight at me. "So no more foolhardy adventures outside the hull! Understood? If any harm comes to me because of you—"

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"It won't happen," I interrupted quickly, trying to calm him down. "I'm only going to take pictures."

Captain Vargo frowned. "This isn't an opportunity to capture images of the world below," he continued sternly. "If anything happens to me, you will leave right away without telling anyone else."

"Yes sir," I replied obediently. My heart started beating faster. This was finally happening: I was actually doing it.

"Good luck, Mr. Smith," Vargo finished. He opened the wooden chest sitting next to the bed and rummaged inside until he found a pair of old goggles. These were followed by a large backpack containing several items including food rations, water bottles, and a medical kit. Finally, he removed a small metal box—the same type used to store data in the computers onboard each ship. It contained a single red button. "Get ready," he told me while handing me both objects.

I nodded silently and watched as he closed his eyes and pressed the button three times very fast. A low hum filled the room before abruptly stopping. Then silence returned, broken only by the sound of our breathing.

After a few minutes, Captain Vargo stood up and walked over to the window. There was nothing unusual to see; the view beyond the glass remained unchanged since yesterday