Taste of Pears

"The flood came suddenly. The engine room was lost first, drowned in salt water and sealed off by the watertight door. Derek—poor Derek—tried to stop the leak. The pipe gave way and the water hit him like a cannon shot. It threw him into the gears. He got caught good, below the torso. I couldn't pry him out no matter how hard I tried.

"The hallway didn't give us much hope. The leak wasn't isolated to the engine room, it was sporadic and hit multiple weak points simultaneously. Water was filling the hallway, fast."

Captain Merrick took a handkerchief from her breast pocket and wiped her forehead with it. I don't know whether it was from the stress or the heat. Likely a combination of both. "Continue."

"I tried to seal as many doors as I could. But so did Brian. The water came rushing to his feet and tipped him over. He fell in the middle of the doorway. Right as the door was closing. And… oh god…" my hands fell to my knees.

"Right." The Captain remained standing tall, controlling her breath. She looked over at the door guarding the mess. The little window on the top side of the door was half-submerged, rising quickly. "So it's just you and me then."

I took a few exhausted breaths. "Yeah, it would appear so. Opening the door now would be suicide."

The Captain walked over to the dining table and gazed into the window. It was a dark void, a stark contrast to the deep blue it was minutes prior. The hull groaned and creaked, as if the ocean was trying to crumple it into a ball. The depth gauge was slowly creeping into the red zone.

The Captain tapped on the gauge. "We're not in the red, though. Not yet."

I caught up to the Captain. "We weren't in the red when the hull gave out, either."

"So what gives?"

"God, I don't know. Somebody messed up. The inspectors, a crewmate, manufacturers—I don't know, but somebody fucking buried us—"

"How much time do we have to fix this?"

"A couple of minutes, if we're lucky. We are gaining depth fast." I looked back at the door guarding the mess. It was now completely submerged in water. "Maybe if we grabbed some diving masks—no, we'd have to trudge through the water. And the gears—they're utterly stuck. That won't work. Perhaps we could—"

"I know something we can do. Wait here." The Captain wiped her forehead one last time and threw away the handkerchief. She walked off behind the corner. Whatever her plan was — it had to work now. I kept pacing and brainstorming in the meantime, but I kept running into obstacles. Increasing internal pressure—where would we get pressure from? Engaging the ballast tanks wouldn't be an option either. Opening that door now would just flood us nearly instantly.

Another minute passed. The hull made a loud groan, the sound of metal contorting. Another passed. There was a loud boom in the distance somewhere, deeper in the vessel.

The Captain returned with a crate of pears. She set it on the table. She took one, sat down, put her feet on the table. "Treat yourself." She bit into the pear.

I stood dumbfounded for a moment. "How are pears supposed to help us?"

"If you think of something better, let me know. In the meantime, please, sit down and enjoy these pears with me."

My bottom landed on the chair. Not to eat, but because there was some invisible weight forcing me down. My elbows landed on the table, and my head landed in my hands.

"I just had a child, Merrick. A girl. She'll grow up without a father."

Merrick responded casually, talking through a mouthful of pear. "Your family will be fine." She took another bite of the pear. "They'll be sad for a bit, but their payout will be bigger than anything you would have made in a lifetime working in this shithole. Trust me, I would know." She put her other hand behind her head, looking up at the amber ceiling light, fully relaxed. "Hell, whoever is responsible for this — I wouldn't trade places with them! They're probably in deeper shit than we are. Let them wallow in guilt while we devour these pears."

"Y-you're taking this pretty lightly, Merrick." The depth gauge was now in the deep red, vibrating violently.

"Eh, it is what it is. We knew the risks, we did the job. I'd say we did good." She took another bite. Small chunks of pear and juice flew out of her mouth as she talked. "You know, they say the pressure is so great underwater, what if it hits you all at once, you don't even feel it. The vessel implodes faster than your nervous system can process it. Better fate than the rest of our crew, wouldn't you say?"

I took a pear out of the crate. It was yellow. They were all yellow, with a warm, gold reflection from the ceiling lamp.

"Shouldn't we wash them first?"

Merrick smiled. "I don't think we have to worry about that anymore, dear."

She took another bite. Her pear was mostly eaten. She discarded it and reached for another one.

I bit into my pear.

It was sweet.