Ryan M. Patrick

Old posts are on the main Crush Depth page at the bottom.

This has been the midpoint of every single draft – and, yes, this is the fourth full version of this story concept! Versions 1 and 2 had the mosasaurs attack the USS Arizona, Versions 3 and 4 switched that to the underwater habitat Atlantis. This is comparable to the pier scene/car chase in Lag Delay. Things will start happening very quickly past this point.

Chapter Twenty-One: Parkowski monitors the core’s recovery while the habitat shakes from external impacts. The team activates closer-in defenses, repelling initial probes. Some of them work, some of them don’t, but the creatures don’t leave. The contacts on the sonar swarms – there’s dozens of them and they are going to attack.

The mosasaurs start with some probes.

Then they move in, and the habitat shows off some of its defenses.

And are at least partially effective!

But not totally so. The habitat takes some hits.

And more and more! This was really fun to write.

Chapter Twenty-Two: Multiple creatures assault the habitat at full force. Parkowski is knocked to the floor. The crew fights back with full strength – torpedoes and low-frequency directed energy, taking minor damage but holding the line by electrifying the exterior of the habitat. Parkowski runs from compartment to compartment trying to fix small leaks and breaks in the power lines reminiscent of the giant squid attack in Sphere.

Yes, Sphere, with “Jerry” attacking the habitat. A huge influence on this book and others. Whereas The Martian Incident is focused on the discovery of the massive spaceship from the future, Crush Depth is my take on the underwater survival aspect of the Michael Crichton classic and one of my favorite books.

I start it with a bang.

This was a blast to write, if you couldn’t tell. Lots of choppy sentences and a very fast pace.

Sphere influences throughout!

And we end as the mosasaurs retreat.

Chapter Twenty-Three: A breach threatens one sphere. During triage, there are multiple deaths – including Vasquez – and a few of the named characters are wounded. They took a big punch. Parkowski goes back to the command center and uses an underwater telephone to signal for help, but gets no response. They still don’t know what they’re up against, only that they’re angry and are no longer communicating with them. But the entities seem to leave for now.

A little breathing, but we’re going to take some casualties. Character deaths are never easy. Vasquez got a lot of screen time earlier and his death should hit hard. But it’s a slower-paced chapter than the last two.

Time to repair!

Yeah, he’s not making it back.

One final attempt, but they aren’t successful. May remove that.

Kind of a shorter chapter, and probably somewhere I’m going to add in edits. Need more breathing before the next action sequence.