Digging Deeper The Deep

If we move towards the International Date Line,

my birthday will come quicker.

And then, if we start in Samoa and move away as fast as we can,

my birthday could last more than 24 hours!

I could have a birthday sooner!

That's longer than a day!

I understand, Ant, but we need to be here for the drop.

You'll just have to experience time like a regular person.

HE GASPS

It's here! Professor Fiction's supply drop is here!

What are you doing here?

I asked Professor Fiction to send me something.

Hmmm. What is this something?

It's nothing. Don't worry about it.

Fontaine.

Thank you.

You're really not going to say what it is?

I'm really not.

Is it an actual secret or are you just doing this

to deliberately drive me crazy?

It's definitely one of those two things.

HE SIGHS

Something for Mom and...

-HE GASPS

-Yes!

What is it?

This? THIS is the single greatest thing ever!

My family are explorers.

We have been for generations.

While others look up to the stars,

we know there are an infinite number of things

that shine in the darkness below.

There are things lurking in the seas

that long ago vanished into myth.

My family are explorers!

And we explore the deep!

What is that? A fish scuba tank?

Don't be ridiculous.

It's Fish Cam!

Fish Cam?

Yeah! Professor Fiction and I have been working on this for months.

See the world through the eyes of a fish!

Wow!

See this side of his fishbowl,

see that side of his fishbowl.

See this side of his fishbowl,

see that side of his fishbowl.

Don't you listen to her, Jeffrey.

I'm sure your view will be remarkable.

Nektons, we're being hailed by an approaching cargo ship.

Come on, Ant.

The stunning entertainment that is Fish Cam will have to wait.

Go ahead, Captain Chadwick.

We hit bad weather and lost our cargo.

It's incredibly valuable.

We have retrieval equipment, but not for something of...

this scale.

What scale are we talking, Captain?

I'm transmitting the coordinates now.

I know those coordinates.

That's Challenger Deep!

Yes.

You accidentally dropped your cargo into the Mariana Trench?

Yes.

You dropped something into the single deepest part of the ocean?

Yes!

Whoops.

What did you lose?

It's an experimental generator.

It could be the next giant leap in clean energy.

If you agree to help us,

some of our personnel will need to accompany you on the...

No, I'm sorry. But no-one we don't know travels on the Aronnax.

Give us a moment to discuss this and get back to you, Captain Chadwick.

Aronnax out.

Ant, take a closer look at that cargo ship.

Up, periscope!

Something about this feels a bit strange.

See anything suspicious?

Not really, just Chadwick talking to someone.

Not sure what suspicious talking looks like.

Mom, Dad,

before you start a reasonable, calm and composed discussion,

sensibly weighing the pros and cons of whether or not

we should take on this mission, I would just like to say one thing.

Yes, Ant?

You cannot say no to journeying to the

bottom of the sea on my birthday!

He makes a pretty persuasive argument.

Hmm, we are only a few hours away -

and the new Rover was built to withstand that pressure.

Fontaine, close the moon pool and plot a course

for the Mariana Trench.

Yes!

Captain Chadwick, give us the homing beacon signal.

We'll retrieve your power source.

This is going to be the best birthday ever!

Where is it?

Where's what?

You know what! My package!

I'm in the midst of making something and need it now.

What are you making?

Never mind. Where is it?

It was right there.

I know it was right there. I left it right there.

It's not there any more though, is it?

What? You think I took it?

You were the only other person in here.

The list of suspects is pretty small.

I didn't take it, Fontaine.

I don't even know what "it" is.

Maybe YOU took it.

I took my own package and hid it from myself?

It's a criminal masterstroke. You're the very last person you'd suspect.

Gah!

Nektons, report to the bridge.

We're here.

There it is.

11,000 metres straight down.

Less people have been to the bottom than have stood on the moon.

Wow. We're really going to do this!

We really are. Is the Rover prepped?

Yep! It's ready. And so is Jeffrey.

You're taking your fish?

Of course!

And, thanks to Fish Cam, he'll get to capture it all.

Fish Cam. Right.

Where are you going?

I can't tell you.

Agh! You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?

You're not going anywhere secret.

You're just trying to make me think you are.

Sure. That could be exactly what I'm doing.

Ant, did you leave the door to the moon pool room open?

Why is everyone accusing me of things today?

Wait.

Where's Jeffrey?

Maybe Jeffrey left the door open.

You're always saying how clever he is.

-You!

-Me what?

I didn't take your package! Give me my fish back!

You did take my package and I didn't take your fish!

It's not funny, Fontaine.

Give him back!

-I didn't touch your fish!

-All crew, we're over the beacon.

Time to go.

Without Jeffrey?

Fontaine?

Do you really think I'd take Ant's fish on his birthday?

No, I don't. So, what's happening here?

We're at a full stop.

You're clear to open the moon pool.

Come on, I'm sure Jeffrey will turn up.

When you're through glaring at your sister,

do you want to take us out of here?

You want me to pilot to the deepest place on Earth?

We'll call it a birthday present.

Yeah!

What do you say?

You want to take us to the bottom of the world?

To the bottom of the world!

On button.

On button!

To the bottom of the world!

Safe journey.

SIREN BLARES

Fontaine?

Fontaine? Are you in the engine room?

Nope. I'm just leaving the Moon Pool. Why?

Because the door to the engine room is open.

Well, that wouldn't be the first door left open today.

I'm going to check it out. Can you come back and watch the bridge?

Sure.

-CLATTERING

-Huh? Hello?

SIREN BLARES

What?

Oh!

Argh!

No!

No!

Fontaine, can you hear me?

Fontaine?

Hello?

CLATTERING

Huh? Is there someone in here?

Whoever you are, I should warn you,

I have a giant metal claw and I'm not afraid to use it!

-CLATTERING

-Huh?

Argh!

Jeffrey! What are you doing in there?

Seriously, Jeffrey, what were you doing in the White Knight?

Fontaine, you're asking a fish questions.

It's not like he can answer.

Fish Cam!

Oh, no.

If Fish Cam just became useful, Ant will never let me forget it.

OK, let's see what you saw.

How far down are we?

Far enough that right now about three tonnes of pressure

is pressing in on every single square inch of the Rover.

Hang on. If the environment is that dangerous...

Yes?

..then why do we have company?

Why are you smiling? They're getting closer!

You'll see.

Dad!

Dad! This is awesome!

I know!

Wow. See this side of his fishbowl.

See that side of his fishbowl.

See this side of his fishbowl...

She left her secret package!

A-ha! I knew it!

Gah! I want to know what it is so much it hurts!

I haven't seen my sister this excited about anything in ages.

So, I will ask you to guard it with your life, Jeffrey.

If you do have a peek, I'll understand.

Huh?

Huh. Who are you?

I'm on board. Once they've divided, I'll seize the sub.

Yes.

As soon as they've brought the weapon back on board,

I'll lock the sub down before they realise what they have.

I know. I know!

You think I would have gone to so much trouble

to steal the weapon in the first place

if I didn't know how valuable it was?

What are you looking at?

Nothing. It's a fish.

A fish!

Never mind. Over and out.

What's with the little scuba tank?

Seriously, stop staring. You're freaking me out.

Why do you look like you're judging me? You're a fish!

Right!

Mom! Can you hear me? Are you there?

Fontaine, I'm locked in the Engine Room!

Mom, can you hear me?

Ugh!

Aronnax to Rover. Aronnax to Rover!

Yeah. That's not going to work.

I cut communications.

Well, that's just annoying.

What is?

Cutting the communications. Someone's going to have to fix that.

I doubt you're going to volunteer.

That's it Fontaine, just keep her talking.

Aren't you shocked to see me?

Please. I knew you were onboard.

No, you didn't.

I did. The fish told me.

Huh?

Never mind. So, you're a weapons smuggler?

How do you know that?

-Jeffrey.

-Who's Jeffrey?

The fish! Keep up. There's one thing Jeffrey didn't tell me.

What's the weapon doing down there in the first place?

We had a helicopter fly over the ship

when we were transporting the weapon.

One of our men got spooked.

He thought it was an inspection team and threw the weapon overboard.

OK. I think we've got it all. Thanks.

Got what?

Enough to show the authorities.

I captured all of that on Fish Cam.

You what? Camera?

OK, intruder, let's test your sea legs.

Mom, if you can hear me, pull up!

Ant and Dad are down there.

Whoops!

-Is that the bottom?

-It sure is!

-All right!

-Ha, ha!

-Yeah!

Hey, over there, is that the cargo?

It's in good shape and it's not damaged.

Rover to Aronnax, Rover to Aronnax, we've located the cargo.

-STATIC

-Huh?

What's happening?

If I had to hazard a guess,

I'd say you locked my mom in the engine room.

And that was really stupid of you.

You don't trap the world's best submarine pilot

in the engine room of a submarine.

So, you OK to pick it up?

Absolutely.

Got it.

What are they?

I don't know. Not whales.

But they're big. And they're coming fast!

-Where?

-They're coming from above us!

Move!

Ah. The container is too heavy. I can't manoeuvre it!

-Let it go!

-It'll be crushed!

-I'm dropping it!

-Wait!

OK, throw it! Now!

It's safe. Go!

What's the matter?

How... How are you doing that?

Simple. I was born on a submarine.

Whoa!

-Ant!

-I see it!

We did it, we're clear!

RADAR PINGS

We are not clear!

THEY SCREAM

-Turn around, go down!

-Down?

Do it!

You've made a very big mistake.

No, you've made a very big mistake.

You've come onto our ship without knowing two very important words.

What two words?

-Up.

-Huh?

Periscope.

I am so glad you caught that on camera.

Dad, that's the sea floor, we're running out of down!

-Get us as close to the trench wall as you can!

-We'll be crushed!

No, that rock is huge, make us small.

It's OK.

Well, that was...intense.

I am never going to worry about you driving again.

The cargo. It's open!

That's no power source.

No. I know my tech. That's a weapon.

If that had been hit by one of those falling rocks...

Rover to Aronnax. Rover to Aronnax.

Kaiko? Are you there?

STATIC

I don't like this. We need to get back.

We can't just leave that weapon.

I have an idea!

OK. Try them now.

Aronnax to Rover.

Fontaine. We tried to contact you but we couldn't get through.

Yeah. Sorry.

We had a bit of a problem with a stowaway weapons smuggler

-severing our communications.

-What?!

It's all taken care of, Will. Don't worry.

We've called the World Wide Ocean Authority.

They're boarding the smuggler's ship as we speak.

And we put the stowaway in a locked storage cupboard.

I'm calling it the brig.

-Well done.

-We even posted a guard.

Huh?

Stop looking at me like that!

Will. The cargo isn't a power source. It's a weapon.

We know. It's OK. We took care of it.

-You sure you're OK?

-We're fine.

-Where's Jeffrey?

-I have him.

-I knew it!

No. That's not what I meant. I didn't take him.

I found him, and the package and...

Look, I'll explain it all later.

Dad, it's just gone 12am in Guam.

That means...

Yep. It's officially your birthday.

Here, Fontaine made this for you.

Fontaine made me a cake? Fontaine baked?

-I was surprised too.

-This isn't some sort of trick, is it?

No. Honestly, she said she wanted to make you something

as a surprise for your birthday.

Ew!

It might not taste the best. We ran out of sugar.

Fontaine asked Professor Fiction for another packet

but it seems it went missing.

The secret package was sugar?

Yep.

Huh. Well, it's awful, but I still appreciate the effort.

-It was made with love, Ant.

-Do you want a bite?

It has no sugar but you can really taste the love.

Yeah, I really don't.

You know I'm still on the line, right?

So, you made it to the bottom of the ocean?

Even better!

What's better than making it to the bottom of the ocean?

Well, we had to make sure no-one ever got their hands on that weapon,

-so we buried it.

-Why is that better?

Because we went to the very bottom of the ocean...

and we dug a hole!

We went deeper than the deepest part of the ocean!

What's it like down there?

It's OK. Not much to see.

-What were you expecting?

-Dragons? Mermaids?

Mermaids? You were expecting mermaids?

Maybe not expecting - but I guess I was just hoping

there'd be, I don't know, something magical.

Turn off the lights. All of them.

But...we'll be blind.

Listen to your dad, Ant. Just for a minute. Turn them off.

Wow.

Wait for it.

Wait for what?

You can't have candles on your cake

but this will be better.

Just wait for your eyes to adjust.

What's...?

Bioluminescent creatures.

Life thriving 11,000 metres below the surface.

Otherwise known as...

Magical!