I hated buddy phones the most when I wasn’t in the water because it was difficult to breathe. I sucked in air as best I could as I peered out through plastic at these two divers I had just entrusted with my life.
“There will be two rescuers in a boat and they will be monitoring us with a transducer that will be lowered into the water. Whatever we say will be heard by whoever is listening on the surface. Do you understand?” Ki Soo looked at me and I knew I had just been given a warning.
I nodded, my breathing loud and labored in my ears.
“You want your fins on now?”
I shook my head and pointed at the water.
“Then you go first and I will toss them to you.”
Weighing at least eighty pounds more than when I had arrived, I cautiously made my way to the edge of the dive platform and checked again to make certain my mask was tucked into my hood. Cathodic protectors were like catfish whiskers trailing from the huge dormant ships, the water ruffled by wind. I steeled myself for the most unnerving giant stride I had ever made.
The cold at first was a shock, and my body took its time warming the water leaking into my rubber sheath as I pulled on my fins. Worse, I could not see my computer console or its compass. I could not see my hand in front of my face, and I now understood why it was useless to bring a flashlight. The suspended sediment absorbed light like a blotter, forcing me to surface at frequent intervals to get my bearings as I swam toward the spot where the hose led from the johnboat and disappeared beneath the surface of the river.
“Everybody ten-four?” Ki Soo’s voice sounded in the receiver pressed against the bone of my skull.
“Ten-four,” I spoke into the mouthpiece and tried to relax as I slowly kicked barely below the surface.
“You’re on the hose?” It was Jerod who spoke this time.
“I’ve got my hands on it now.” It seemed oddly taut, and I was careful to disturb it as little as possible.
“Keep following it down. Maybe thirty feet. He should be floating right above the bottom.”
I began my descent, pausing at intervals to equalize the pressure in my ears as I tried not to panic. I could not see.
My heart was pounding as I tried to will myself to relax and take deep breaths. For a moment I stopped and floated as I shut my eyes and slowly breathed. I resumed following the hose down and panic seized me again when a thick rusting cable suddenly materialized in front of me.
I tried to get under it, but I could not see where it was coming from or going to, and I was really more buoyant than I wanted to be and could have used more weight in my belt or the pockets of my BC. The cable got me from the rear, clipping my K-valve hard. I felt my regulator tug as if someone were grabbing it from behind, and the loosened tank began to slide down my back, pulling me with it. Ripping open the Velcro straps of my BC, I quickly worked my way out of it as I tried to block out everything except the procedure I had been trained to do.
“Everything ten-four?” Ki Soo’s voice sounded in my mask.
“Technical problem,” I said.
I maneuvered the tank between my legs so I could float on it as if I were riding a rocket in cold, murky space. I readjusted straps and fought off fear.
“Need help?”
“Negative. Watch for cables,” I said.
“You gotta watch for anything,” his voice came back.
It entered my mind that there were many ways to die down here as I slipped my arms inside the BC. Rolling over on my back, I snugly strapped myself in.
“Everything ten-four?” Ki Soo’s voice sounded again.
“Ten-four. You’re breaking up.”
“Too much interference. All these big tubs. We’re coming down behind you. Do you want us closer?”
“Not yet,” I said.
They were maintaining a prudent distance because they knew I wanted to see the body without distraction or interference. We did not need to get in each other’s way.