Minnow was oddly quiet and still, staring out into the ocean.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“They really do say not to come down here,” she said. “And not like… ‘don’t go out to the reef on your own’ or ‘look both ways before you cross a current.’ The grownups always look a little scared when they talk about here.”

“I see,” I said. “Well, it can’t be that dangerous, right? Dr. Crankshaft can take care of himself.”

She shuffled her hooves. “I hope so.”

I occupied myself with familiarizing myself with the dials and readouts. One of them looked to be the submersible’s charge, and I could see it slowly tick up as we remained connected to the cradle below.

Then the line connected to Crankshaft jerked twice, twanging hard. I hesitated, and then moved to the lever, but Minnow had already jumped to pull it down. She was breathing heavily.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” I said…
“We… We should go,” I abruptly decided...