Lost City

"Bad idea to piss off a ghost"

"You were right, Sang. The air is impossibly clean." Phil says as he pulls another air tight box from the mini sub unit tied close to the bank. "I should be more tired by now, or at least feeling a lack of oxygen."

"Right? I thought it was strange to be so deep and not have pressure out the wazoo. There has to be another opening at the end of one of those tunnels, otherwise the air would have been stale." I grab the box from him and add it to the small mountain that's been forming all week.

Phil nods and grunts as he lifts another box. "I think this is the last one for now. The remaining boxes are the dehydrated food, but we can come back for those when we get hungry. I think our lunches are packed with them."

"That works. Jay should be done setting up the tents and tables anyway."

I watch as Phil climbs ashore before grabbing two of the lighter boxes. We match pace as we make our way to the children's playground turned laboratory. It's the last day of the week before we return to land for a few days to update Rocky and gather more materials for the lab. Jay and I spent the previous days clearing the cave in and scouring the playground for anything of importance. We couldn't take the chance that we set up the lab over anything of importance.

We all would have rather had a lab above ground or even in the water, but it would be too difficult to bring floating boards down and make them stable enough to prevent any accidents with the artifacts. It will be dangerous enough to remove them from here, let alone study them over water. The pressure change alone could disintegrate the fabric and parchment. That's one of the items we need to get before returning, the pressure boxes to safely move them. If we seal them down here they should be safe until we can make a preservation room on land.

Before long we reach our camp. Even though we searched the entire playground the site only covers a small corner of it. Besides being a small team we didn't want to disturb the City more than needed. A large canvas tarp covers the ground, marking the edge of our future domain, as well as sifting any dirt that may fall off back to the ground. Four large canopies create our work space with a smaller one for dining and relaxing. Another five tents line the edges and wait to be filled with our sleeping bags and personal items. One final tent is set up further away to keep the smell of the bathroom to a minimum. Luckily we aren't going to stay down here for long periods of time so refuse will be cleaned often enough.

"Jay, first load delivered. Are the tables ready?" Phil calls even as we arrive at a newly set up table.

Jay appears from behind one of the tents and nods at Phil. "They should be. We will need to set up a video feed before we leave. When it's my turn to be left on the boat I don't want to miss any important info."

"I agree," I say quickly, "As much as I'd love to be here all the time, I know it's not fair to everyone else. If the video feed is set up first then everyone can have a say in how the lab is set up."

Phil sighs, but nods his head. "You're right. I'd much rather have the entire team down here together, but we can't leave the boat unattended. Let's get the rest of the gear and set up the basics. You two can choose your tents too. I might send you back up, Jay, to help Karen link up the feed."

I share a quick glance with Jay before we pick tents on opposite sides of camp. Karen will choose the one next to me and Phil will take the middle one to place Rocky next to Jay. This way I won't have uncomfortable attention on me and Phil can be the eye of the proverbial storm.

"We should hurry." I say after we step off the tarp. "The weather is going to be terrible again tonight and I don't want Karen on the ship alone. She's never been comfortable handling the boat in bad weather."