Oceania: The Underwater City by Eliza Taye (novels for teenagers .TXT) 📕

my cheeks and tore at my eyes causing them to water. Barely able to keep my eyes open, I had no idea how Dylan could even see where he was going.

For what seemed like a long time, we sped across the waves at breakneck speed. Unlike the watercrafts I was used to, the seamobile rarely catapulted us into the air on a big wave, but when it did, Dylan expertly balanced the seamobile to land us evenly on the waves.

“Hold on, Allie!” shouted Dylan as he removed his right hand from the handlebar to press something I couldn’t see on the touchscreen.

The wind died enough for me to widen my eyes larger than slits as our speed decreased. A whining, barely audible above the lapping waves sound, came from somewhere near my feet. I gazed down to see a sheer pane rising up from the grooves on the edges of the seamobile. Once it rose past our heads, it arched to join seamlessly above us. Puffs of air flowed into our mini-cabin from the tiny dots I hadn’t noticed before. The blue stripe along the midline began shining with a brilliant blue glow that softly illuminated the interior. The touchscreen in front of Dylan glowed with the same blue light, but with less intensity.

Gradually leaning forward into an incline, the seamobile started to dive.

“What is this?”

“It’s a seamobile. It functions like an ordinary watercraft on the surface of the ocean, but it is primarily an underwater vehicle.”

“Amazing.” I continued to admire the engineering marvel of the seamobile as it completely submerged itself. I could feel a slight breeze as the fresh air continued to blow into our enclosed space. Now entirely underwater, a few more lights along the sides started to emit rays of light that permeated out into the water. Between the soft lighting and invisible outer shield, the area induced comfort rather than claustrophobia.

“Oh, and we’re locked in here…you don’t have to hold onto my waist anymore.”

“Oh, sorry.” I let go and rested my arms at my sides. “So, how long will it take to get to Oceania?”

Dylan pressed another button on the screen and then took both hands off the handlebars. “No need to apologize. It’ll be about two hours. The seamobile is fast, but it is still a ways away. Also, we have to dive to 12,000 feet.”

“Twelve thousand feet?” I could feel my eyelids stretching towards my eyebrows. That was extremely deep. Most of what I knew of the ocean stemmed from what I could access myself. I knew nothing of the abyss or what we’d find there.

Dylan pressed a series of options on the screen, each lighting up before they disappeared. “It’s on autopilot now.”

“Okay…that console looks like it has a lot of interesting things.”

“Yeah, it does. There’s an altimeter, a gyrocompass, video and audio recording system that can be activated, a navigator, low-grade sonar, and a wireless connection link to call Oceania for help.” Sitting farther forward and resting his arms on the handlebars, Dylan exclaimed, “This is where the ride gets really fun! We’re going to start heading towards the edge of the continental shelf. That’s where you’ll get to see all the incredible inhabitants of the sea.”

Glancing over my right shoulder, I noticed he was right. Shimmering rays of bright sunlight with a tinge of blue illuminated a small school of fish lazily swimming through the water, seemingly without a care. Darting in and out, breaking up the school of fish swam an energetic California sea lion. Not far from that commotion, a jellyfish floated by, carried on the whims of the current, allowing the sea to choose its direction.

A ping resounded through the inside of the seamobile and my eyes darted around to see if something had happened. Gradually, the floor, our seats, the sides of the seamobile and everything but the touchscreen and handlebars faded to invisibility. Now it appeared as if we were floating in the sea like any of the animals outside.

I blew out a chuckle of disbelief and marveled at my new 360-degree view of the ocean. Gazing around to my left, the sight startled me enough to let out a scream. A gray inquisitive face stared back at me. The dolphin let out a series of clicks and shrills before swimming away, joining the rest of its pod about ten feet away from the seamobile.

Laughing so hard, he had to clutch his stomach, Dylan told me, “He does that all the time. I’ve seen this guy several times before. He’s super inquisitive. I named him Jagger.”

Even though Dylan couldn’t see me, I nodded in reply and continued to watch the pod of bottlenose dolphins. Following Jagger’s lead, they swam up to the seamobile to examine it. They would look at us and then blow bubbles in our faces. If we didn’t react, they peered at Dylan and me with their heads tilted. When one got bored, it would swim far from us, then come back to inspect our little vessel again.

Their charade became so funny that I had to laugh. Looking at Dylan’s back, I asked. “Why do you call that one Jagger?”

Dylan pointed the dolphin out, “Do you see his dorsal fin? It has a lot of notches on the trailing edge. Since the notches create a jagged pattern, I named him Jagger.”

“How do you think his fin wound up like that?”

“All dorsal fins wear down over time. The calves are really the only ones with flawless fins because they haven’t had time to become worn.”

“Interesting, I never knew that.” How did Dylan know so much about so many animals? I guess growing up under the sea had its perks. Either way, his passion for the ocean was blatantly obvious.

A series of additional clicks permeated through the air, but none of the dolphins had emitted them. I leaned forward