Chapter 10: The Wreck Beneath the Ocean
The ocean remembers everything.
That was something Michael Carter once told me.
I thought it was just something sailors said.
A poetic way to describe the sea.
But standing inside the military transport aircraft twenty-four years after Black Current, looking down at the endless darkness below, I finally understood.
The ocean did not forget.
It waited.
The wreck site was six hundred miles from the Virginia coast.
The coordinates had been buried beneath layers of classified files, forgotten reports, and lies.
Yet somehow, I had known where to go.
Not because someone told me.
Because a younger version of myself had left a trail.
A trail leading back to the one place I had spent my life trying to escape.
Michael sat across from me.
Neither of us had spoken for nearly an hour.
The silence between us was heavier than anger.
Because anger had direction.
This had none.
Too many questions.
Too many missing pieces.
Too many memories waiting beneath the surface.
Finally, Carter spoke.
“You shouldn’t have brought me.””
I looked up.
“Why?””
“Because whatever we find down there…”
He looked out the aircraft window.
“You might not like who you were.””
The words hurt because I knew he was right.
But I was tired of running from myself.
“I spent twenty-four years believing I failed you.””
Carter looked at me.
“You didn’t.””
“I left you behind.””
“No.””
His voice became firm.
“You followed my order.””
“And if I had stayed?””
“You would have died with me.””
“Maybe I should have.””
Carter’s expression changed.
Anger.
Real anger.
“Don’t say that.””
I stared.
“Why?””
“Because that is exactly what they wanted.””
The aircraft engine filled the silence.
“They wanted you to believe your life was a punishment.””
I looked down.
“Maybe it was.””
Carter shook his head.
“No, Richard.””
His voice softened.
“Your life was the reason I survived.””
I looked at him.
“What?””
He leaned forward.
“When you came back for me, you didn’t just find me.””
A pause.
“You found the truth.””
The words followed me as we descended toward the ocean.
Three hours later, we were aboard a Navy recovery vessel.
The official mission was underwater survey.
The unofficial mission was uncovering a crime that had survived longer than most governments.
Daniel Cross joined us.
So did Commander Elena Voss.
Neither trusted the other.
Neither trusted me.
And I couldn’t blame them.
The man I had been might have created the entire disaster.
The ocean was calm when we reached the coordinates.
Too calm.
The kind of calm that felt unnatural.
The captain approached.
“Admiral, we’re on position.””
I nodded.
“Begin descent.””
The submersible waited below.
A small metal sphere designed to withstand impossible pressure.
As I stepped inside with Carter, I felt something I hadn’t felt in years.
Not fear.
Recognition.
Like some forgotten part of me knew I was coming home.
The hatch closed.
The ocean swallowed us.
The sunlight disappeared quickly.
Ten minutes below the surface.
Twenty.
Thirty.
Then the wreck appeared.
The remains of the Black Current vessel rested on the ocean floor.
Broken.
Silent.
A grave made of steel.
Carter stared through the window.
“I thought I would never see it again.””
Neither did I.
The submersible moved closer.
The damaged hull appeared exactly as I remembered.
The same torn sections.
The same broken structure.
But something was wrong.
I leaned closer.
“Stop.””
The pilot looked back.
“Admiral?””
“Move the lights.””
The beams shifted.
And there it was.
A symbol carved into the metal.
A black trident.
But underneath it was something else.
A date.
Twenty-four years after the mission.
My blood went cold.
“Impossible.””
Carter saw it.
Someone had been here recently.
Someone had returned to the wreck.
We entered through a damaged section of the hull.
The inside was worse than memory.
Corroded walls.
Broken equipment.
The remains of a place where men had fought for survival.
Then I saw the corridor.
The aft passage.
My breathing changed.
Carter noticed.
“Richard.””
“I remember.””
The words came quietly.
A flash.
Red lights.
Water.
Carter standing at the seal.
But another memory followed.
One I had buried.
After Carter pushed me away.
After I climbed the ladder.
I had stopped.
I had turned around.
I had gone back.
The memories came faster.
I was in the corridor again.
But this time, someone was waiting.
Daniel Cross.
Younger.
Alive.
And beside him…
Me.
Another version of me.
Standing calmly.
Holding a weapon.
I stumbled backward.
“No.””
Carter grabbed my shoulder.
“What?””
I stared at the corridor.
“I remember.””
Everyone became silent.
“What do you remember?”” Voss asked.
I couldn’t answer.
Because I saw it.
The truth.
The reason I had warned myself.
The reason I had forgotten.
I had not been the victim of Black Current.
Not completely.
I had been part of it.
A voice echoed through the communication system.
A voice that should not have been possible.
“Welcome back, Admiral.””
Everyone froze.
The transmission continued.
“You took longer than expected.””
I recognized it.
Jonathan Pierce.
But older.
Closer.
Real.
Carter reached for the communicator.
“Pierce.””
A quiet laugh came through.
“Michael.””
The voice became colder.
“Still protecting him?””
Carter looked at me.
“Where are you?””
Pierce ignored the question.
“Richard, do you remember now?””
My hands tightened.
“What did I do?””
Silence.
Then:
“You completed the mission.””
May you like
The lights inside the wreck flickered.
“And you erased yourself.””
