The Invenios Expeditions | Chapter 5 - The PX

This episode is made possible by the generous support of our listeners on Patreon. Join us at patreon.com slash Leviathan Chronicles to hear episodes ad-free, unlock exclusive content, and dive deeper into the Leviathan universe. We thank you for supporting us and making the Inveneos Expeditions possible. A Leviathan Chronicles story. Chapter 5 The PX Water. Water. Water? There's no water here. Only coffee. Do you know where you are? What? You are in my little coffee room. From his one half-opened eye, the immortal stared around the hot, dingy room and saw a blurred image of a huddle with two men standing beside her. And in my coffee room, we like to have little pokes. First, you can tell me your name. William. William. Why were you in the ocean, William? I told you we aren't... we don't belong here. Where do you belong? Where are you from? We're from a city under... under the ocean. It's called... If I hear you say Leviathan, one more time I'll cut out your cash and add it to my collection. Think carefully. We... we were skipping the fire. Give him some coffee. Where is Leviathan? What country? Stop! Where are you people from? A huddle took a step back and removed a pair of pliers from her belt. It's standing him up. He won't stand. You just do this sitting down. If you take out his stone, then he won't be able to tell us anything. I know, but it will remind the others that Lohane is no place to be shunned. Hold him. The others... the others know. It's not me. The others... they'll tell you. They'll do. William's eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped over into unconsciousness. Is he dead? No, not yet. Good. Casual says they're worth more life. Should I wake him? No. Take him back with his people. We'll see if some of the others like coffee. I'll be right back. Shhh! Someone's coming. I'm bringing him back. Poor William. He's been gone for hours. Get away from the door. You're coming. Here. You can have your friend back. My good girl. What did you do to him? You've beaten him to a pulp. Be grateful he can still speak with his own tongue. Please. Speak. He's barely conscious. You almost killed him. All the most. These wounds are serious. This is torture. Keep his head elevated. Don't let him fall asleep. Monsters. How can you do this? We've done nothing to you. We were stranded and lost and used. Mrs. Celia, turn it. Ahado spun to face Cecilia and gave the predatory smile of a wolf before lightly stroking her hair. It looks like you are in the mood to speak. Don't touch. Ahado snapped her fist shut, pulling back a thick chunk of Cecilia's hair. Let her go. Edward. Don't ever tell me what to do. We want to help you. We want to get you back to your country. But you need to be truthful to help us. What would you have done to us? Why should I do anything to help you? Because if you don't speak soon, you will be sold to people that will do far worse than I ever could. Well, well. My captain, we were just deciding who feels like being truthful today. Ah, we enjoy when our guests feel like speaking. You, you're the leader here. I am not the king. Not yet. Where am I? This man has been beaten with an inch of his life. I thought your people on this leviate had never died, eh? More lies, I think. My arm, I can't move it. Our friend needs medical attention. And this friend needs information. Tell me who you are. What embassy do we call for your release? You mean ransom. You came into our waters, our territory. We saved you. He doesn't look saved. You need to tell me why we should keep you alive. I told you, if it's just money you want, I have people I can call. Lots of money. But I'll need access to telecommunications equipment. Your radio. No, no. No, I think I should do the talking. I've seen your ship we found you in. You're not tourists. You're not merchants. No. You're something else. Why is no one looking for you? There are people looking for us. Where are they? I don't see them. Maybe they are a very tiny people. You don't know these people. No, I don't. But you do. I... No? Where are these people that will come rescue you? Do you know? I don't need to tell you anything. I suggest you get more talkative, my friends. I want to know. I want to know who it is that would look for you. Invisible people? You. What is your real name? I told you my real name. It's Edward. Edward what? Don't want to talk? Leave him alone. I think you're hiding something. Hiding something valuable. And I like valuable things. I think it's him. Don't touch him. I think we should take your friend to my coffee room. Do you like coffee, my friend? The coffee can be very hot. Take your fucking hand off him, you fucking... Stop! You're right. You're right. We are hiding something. I'm the leader here. The others have been protecting me. I told them to. What are you doing? I'm buying us time. Now, Joe, you see clear. This isn't a game. I'll drink your coffee with you, whatever, young lady. Not your lady. I'll talk. I'll cooperate. And why should I believe you? Because in this group I am the secret keeper. Need anything from Tesco? Like Nescafe Azir and 90g instant coffee? For just £3.50 this Easter with your Tesco Club card. Because every little helps. Majority of larger stores, Azir and 90g ends 14th April. And if you're not sure, you can go to Tesco Club. The regional region. The region was an explosive time of social change, sex scandals and maybe the worst king in British history. The new season is all about the region. The balls, the gowns and all the scandals. Listen to vulgar history, Regency era, wherever you get podcasts. Oh, please, not that music. That music gives me nightmares from my childhood. Could we get something a little bit lighter, some lighter music here? Are you a fan of true crime TV shows? And what about Unsolved Mysteries, the show that jump-started all of our love of true crime? I'm Ellen Marsh. And I'm Joey Taranto. And we host, I think not, a true crime comedy show. And we host, I think not, a true crime comedy podcast covering some of the wildest stories from your favorite true crime campy TV shows all the way to Unsolved Mysteries. Baby, you will laugh, you will cry, you'll think about true crime in a whole new way and you'll also ask yourself, who gave these people mics? New episodes of I think not are released every Wednesday with bonus episodes out every Thursday on Patreon. And every Monday you can listen to our true crime run down, where we go over the top true crime headlines of the week. So come and join us wherever you listen to your podcasts. The Atlantic Ocean, almost a thousand miles northeast of the Isis Reina Islands. Captain, we're approaching the coordinates of the Veloscora. Okay, deactivate the trident drive and bring us back to Monohull. Yes, Captain. Attention and venue is screwed. We will be reaching our dive location in five minutes. This is an active recovery mission and we are pushing against the clock. I need everyone at their stations and report. Flight avionics online and awaiting orders, Captain. This is the Beluga. I just locked the air hatch. O2 levels are primed. Ballets are cleared. Is anyone ready to dive at your order, Captain? I'm downstairs. Science lab is green, Tully. Combs are open and sonar is active. Status of the Nemo drones. The ROVs are set to deploy. Good job, Oberlin. Hey, just in time. Okay, Samantha. This is your show. Thanks, Tully. And you, Abigail. Thank you. Let's just find your friend. Agreed. Oberlin, are you getting anything on Combs? I'm listening, but I don't hear anything. It's Radio Sidelim down there. Sam. She's probably conserving power for life support. Yuki, how quick can you get your boat in the water? I like it on the foreplay. I like her. I like her too. Okay, guys. Get ready. This is the plan. Beluga and the Nemos will descend to the initial seafloor shelf at 6,000 feet. Beluga is getting the pull. Nemo 1 and 2 are wet and falling. We're going to run a spiral search pattern on the first shelf. How much time, Sam? She's got nine hours. Maybe less. Nemo 3 and 4 are active. Now, the bridge is showing strong currents at over 7 knots, so the first 1,000 feet are going to be bumpy. That's nothing. I've had stronger currents in my bath time. Yuki. Pitching Beluga's nose down to speed of descent. How's the pressurization? All good. She's just saying hello. Flight control, I want the Seahawk airborne with eyes on a 5 mile radius box pattern around the Invenos. Roger that, Captain. Charging launch drone, firing Seahawk. Gate is open. Seahawk away. Beluga, what's your status? Just clearing 4,000 feet and falling. Bringing active sonar online. Abby, level with me. Will they find her? The Nemos are small but mighty. Their sonar range extends about a mile underwater. That's 5,000 feet. What if she's deeper? Gibson report. We're stealing top secret technology from the US government, so I prefer if there were no other boats in the vicinity watching us do it. Got it. Altitude holding at 5,000 feet, Captain. No bogies in sight. Skies and seas look clear. Want me to take her higher? Negative, but keep your eyes peeled. Downside, what's your status? Upside, just reach the seafloor shelf at 6,200 feet. Vis is good, all systems are gone. Overlook, Nemos are hovering above the Beluga and starting spiral search patterns. Show me the way, Chief. Find me a ship. I gotcha, Yuki. Keepin' the sonar net tight. Tell me, why aren't you boosting the sonar gain? You know we don't have much time to get to work. Because low-frequency sonar can travel 100 miles underwater, and I'd rather not have the Navy's Atlantic fleet know exactly what the hell we're doing to you. Sam, do you remember what the conditions were when Dominique initiated her dive? Currents? Visibility? Sorry, but when the Velovskor became a blowtorch, I was too distracted to check the water conditions. Hey Oberlin? I reached ya, Sam. What about comms? Maybe we can get a message to Dominique that we're here, trying to rescue her. Hard without a channel frequency. I can try to rig us for a multi-spectrum blast. It might be worth a shot. Go for it. Okay. Broadcasting on all frequencies. Dom. Dom, it's Sam. Do you read? Dominique. Evitera topside to Dom. Download. Do you read? I'm right here. I'm so close. Please, Dom. Do you read? Repeat. Do you read? What's your condition? If you can hear this, Dom, just give a signal. Any kind of signal. Please, Dom. What have you got, Obi? Uh, nothing yet on the first pass. I'm going to widen the search radius for the Nemos. Captain, I'm engaging the Beluga sub-bottom profiler. It might reveal some geological features hiding the Velovskor. That's a smart idea. Any other great ones? Yeah, actually. You might want to have Oberlin adjust the Nemo search pattern to include a zigzag across the current. You might get a wider field of coverage on the seafloor. Make adjustments now. This is why we pay you the big bucks, Yuki. Captain, this is the flight deck. I've got eyes on a vessel about 30 miles out on a 045 northeast heading. Looks private. Will they intercept? Negative. Unless they change course. Looks like they don't know we're here. Let's keep it that way. Gibson, this is Samantha. Can you give me a description of the vessel of, like, how large? Hard to tell from this distance. Bigger than the Avinias. Maybe 300? 350 feet? You want me to go lower and give her a fly-by? That's a negative, Gibson. We don't want any extra attention. Maintain course. Yes, sir. Well, over 60% of the mega yacht market, boats over 200 feet, is dominated by Russian oligarchs. So? What does that mean? Tony, Tony, I think we got something. Report. I think I hear some buglet. Trying to hone in on it. That could be an air seal leak. Can you route the audio to the bridge? Try angulate the audio signal and get the coordinates to the bluga. Already ahead of you, Captain. Looks like Nemo 3000. About 1000 meters west along the shove ledge. Come on, Dom. Come on. Bringing Nemo 12 and 4 to converge on your position. What are you seeing, Yuki? Anything? The video feed looks cloudy. I thought the visibility was solid. It was, and I got some bad news. Looks like we found a black smoker. A thermal offensive, a subduction fracture. I hate to say it, but those bubbles are natural. Fuck. Shit. Hey, hey, look at this. Tony, check out the sensors on Nemo 4. You see what I'm seeing? Um, I'm seeing a slight uptick on the Geiger counter. Looks about .12 microceverts. Could be traces of thorium in the minerals near the smoker. Unlikely. Smokers produce sulfides like iron or zinc, not radiation. It's the PX. It has to be. Captain, look at the position of Nemo 4. Shit. It's way over the shove ledge. That means that whatever it's picking up is probably another 7,000 feet lower. We've got to check it out. We've got to get down there. Whoa, whoa. Slow down. We're talking about a rescue at 13,000 feet underwater. Maybe more. That'll put the beluga damn close to its max operating. Then I'll fucking buy you a new one. I'm talking about my friend's life. And I'm talking about my pilot's life. Your goddamn money doesn't give you the- Captain, the beluga. She's diving. Go, Yuki. Beluga, this is Antonio. What the hell do you think you're doing, Yuki? You hired me to do. Drive this up. Drive. Not crush. Tony, look! The radiation is increasing. She's down there. I know it. Captain, the drop off from the shelf levels out at around 13,000 feet. Yuki, the specs you showed me have the beluga's M.O.D. at 12,000 feet. You have a game plan I don't know about? And if you'd fully read my report, you'd have seen that the beluga can go deeper for short periods of time. Oh, Tully never reads his emails. How much deeper? Only one way to find out. Now passing 10,000 feet. Yuki, I'm serious. If one fault light comes on, I'm pulling you up. Tully, let her fucking do her job. Hey, you need to step back. I'm not going to lose two lives trying to save one. She's not your responsibility. No, Dominique is. Or is it just the PX? Fuck you. Look, Captain, I don't like going down without bringing something back up. And this may be our only shot. Trust me, I've got this. I know the beluga like the back of my hand. I'll know if she starts to feel squeezing. Radiation signaled increasing. Okay, Yuki. Obi, I want you to get Nemo under the beluga and start searching the deeper basin. The ROVs are good to almost 20,000 feet, so let's get a hard fix whatever is shooting off isotopes down there. I don't want Yuki and the deep end a second longer than she needs to be. I'm at 12,000 feet. Nemo's getting a lot of radioactivity from a westerly heading. Started to find my signal. Where, Obi-Lan? Triangulate the reading. Where? That's the problem, Tully. I'm getting readings everywhere. What do you mean, everywhere? I mean, it's spread out. There's not one location. I can't figure it out. I think I can. What? Activating stabilizers at 12,150. I think I found something, Captain. What are you seeing? Yuki, what did you find? I'm seeing a debris field, some twisted metal, some cables, lots of canisters scattered. PX. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Dump. Lotteral sonar scan is picking up something. Something big, 100 meters ahead. Permission to check it out? Permission granted. Yuki definitely pushed the control stick forward, firing the side jets on the beluga. Looking out of the clear half-dome nose of the sub, she maneuvered the ship along the breadcrumb trail of detritus. Then, through the haze of marine snow, she saw the Evitara mini-sub lying on its side upon the ocean floor. Its cargo hold ripped open like a wound. Oh, shit. Yuki, do you see it? Did you find a sub? I... I found the wreckage of it. Rackage? Hard to tell, but it looks like it crashed along the trench wall. Maybe it lost power or... What? What are you telling me? I'm telling you that the sub took some pretty bad structural damage getting down to depth. It... it doesn't look good. But it's intact? Bring it up. I want to see your... Bring her up, Tully. You can do that, right? Sam, you heard what Yuki said. There's almost no chance that anyone could... You want to get to the Highland Rose by the end of the week? You bring me that damn sub. I need to see it or at least grab whatever's in it. That was our deal. Captain, I can try to grab a hold of the sub with the articulators, but I don't want to put a structural strand on the beluga trying to lift it up to surface. Not at this time. I've got an idea. Each of the Nemos is equipped with lift bags. If we can get all four to grip the sub and inflate, we might be able to rise high enough so the beluga can bring it home. Smart fucking Irishman. That sounds like a good plan from where I'm sitting. Okay, Oberlin, let's bring the Nemos on site and use the clamps to attach to the sub. Yuki, I want you and the beluga to start ascending now and don't even think of touching the sub until you're a thousand feet over M.O.D. I copy, Captain. I'm piloting into place. Nemo one, locking onto sub. As each of the Nemo R-O-Vs attach their locking clamps onto the sub, long cylindrical bags unfurled upwards. And soon, the Ebertera sub began rising towards the surface. It took close to an hour of agonizing wait time as the sub completed its ghostly ascension. Finally, the Ebertera submersible, guided by the Nemos and the beluga, breached the surface in an eruption of seawater just 50 meters off the port bow of the Invenos. Abby, can you operate the recovery crane and bring the sub onto the rear deck? Affirmative, Captain. Bringing the sub on board now. Gibson, let's bring the seahawk home and lower our profile. Oberlin and I are heading to the recovery deck to see. Tully turned to look at Samantha. To see if there are any survivors. But she had already left the bridge and was racing to the stern of the Invenos. The Ebertera sub burst onto the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, suspended in the sea by the powerful lift bags of the four Nemo R-O-Vs. Abigail carefully operated the Invenos recovery crane to set the submersible down on the cargo deck in the ship's stern. Samantha rushed to get to the submersible, still ice cold from its slumber in the deep ocean depths. She raced to get to the airlock and strained to twist open the hatch to the pilot's chamber. Help me! Damn it! Help me! Hurry! Tully and Oberlin sprinted closely behind, leaping into the sand to assist Samantha in opening the hatch. The airtight hatch to the south opened and immediately a strong stench of decay rushed out of the ship. Oh no. Dominique! Dominique! Don't worry! No. I'm... Tully took one look at Samantha and could feel the devastation in her heart. I'm so sorry, Samantha. He swallowed and put his hand gently on her shoulder. You did everything. But she remained motionless. I mean everything you could. But not enough. It looks like she went pretty early in the dive. She must have taken damage on the descent or... Yeah. I'm really sorry. Your friend must have been pretty goddamn brave. I'm sorry I never met her. She wanted to save the world. But she... she couldn't save herself. Looks like neither could I. Hey Tully! Come over here! Tully leapt back down to the deck and walked around the sub where Oberlin was staring inside its ripped cargo hold with a flashlight. Holy shit. Will you look at that! Tully peered inside and saw a thick reinforced canister with radioactive markings. I've seen this before. Where? A board of Veloscora. It's the PX Tully! Shit. She was telling the truth about everything. So what would seem? Listen, call Gibson down here and let's get this thing put away downstairs in one of the storage bays. Preferably someplace inconspicuous. I gotcha, Tully. Tully stood up and walked back to Samantha who was still staring motionless at her friend and lover's lifeless body. Samantha, I just wanted to let you know that we found a single canister of the PX. We're gonna put it down below in the hold and you can tell me what you'd like to do with it after... um, well, whenever you're ready. Thanks, Tully. Sam, I hate to say this but we can't have this sub on our boat. Not when we pull into dock or really anywhere near land. It's evidence of what your Evitera group did. We have to let it go. If there was another way... I get it, Tully. This is a burial at sea. You did what I asked. Can I... can I have a moment? Yeah. Yeah, of course. Take your time, dear. We'll be on the bridge. Goodbye, Tom. I loved you. I know I did a shitty job of showing you. I was so young that you... you made me want to try. I thought maybe I could be a better version of whatever I thought I was. Fuck, we... we both ran out of time. And I know you gave it everything you could, but whatever the cost. Goodbye, Tom. Okay, Abigail. Drop it. You have been listening to the Inveneos Expeditions, a Leviathan Chronicle story. Written and created by Christoph Leputka. To view the blueprints of the Inveneos, go to inveneosexpeditions.com. The Inveneos Expeditions is made possible by the generous support of our listeners. To listen, add free and get excluded. Become a subscriber at patreon.com. The Inveneos Expeditions was executive produced by Amish Jani. Produced by Robin Shore. Original music by Luke Allen. Editing by Luke Allen and Robin Shore. Sound design by Jonathan Stevens and Robin Shore. Casting and production by the Inveneos Expeditions. Directed by Christoph Leputka. Starring Georgina Elizabeth O'Conn as Ahado. Paul Hikari as William. Sophia Mahmoud as Hassan. Lex Damon as Sunny Kacho. Tammy Klein as Cecilia. Time Winters as Sinclair Rousseau. Christopher Swindle as Elyse. And the Inveneos Expeditions. The Inveneos Expeditions is made possible by the generous support of our listeners. Time Winters as Sinclair Rousseau. Christopher Swindle as Edward Carnell. Michael Pizzuto as Archie. Brittany Cox as Serena Narobi. Matt Shale as Captain Jeffrey Tully. John Patrick Higgins as Oberlin St. Clair. Laura Post as Abigail Evinton. Justice Slocum as Gibson Donahue. Stephanie Wong as Yuki Yamamoto. Lindsay Rousseau as Samantha Kell. And Melissa Medina as The Narrator. For a full cast list and to learn more about our other audio productions, go to LeviathanAudioproductions.com or follow us on social media. Thank you for supporting Leviathan Audio and thank you for listening. Leviathan Audio Production. The war is over and both sides lost. Kingdoms were reduced to cinders and armies scattered like bones in the dust. Now the survivors claw to what's left of a broken world. Praying the darkness chooses someone else tonight. But in the shadow dark, the darkness always wins. This is old school adventuring and it's most cruel. Your torch ticks down in real time. And when that flame dies, something else rises to finish the job. This is a brutal rules light nightmare with a story that emerges organically based on the decisions that the characters make. This is what it felt like to play RPGs in the 80s and man, it is so good to be back. Join the Glass Cannon podcast as we plunge into the shadow dark every Thursday night at 8 p.m. Eastern on youtube.com slash the glass cannon with the podcast version dropping the next day. See what everybody's talking about and join us in the dark. We've got writers, producers, composers, directors, and will of course have some actors on as well including some certain guys that played some certain pretty iconic brothers. It was kind of a little bit of a left field choice in the best way possible. The note from Kripke was, he's great, we love him, but we're looking for like a really intelligent decovney type. With 15 seasons to explore, it's going to be the road trip of several lifetimes. So please join us and subscribe to Supernatural then and now. Jacob Cain, failing actor who assumes his late brother's life and finds himself in the redacted unit. A covert agency tasked with containing impossible creatures and phenomena known as aberrations. Inspired by late 90s and early 2000s television featuring incredible guest writers from the world of podcasting, film, and games, welcome to the redacted unit. So, hush.