When Kelsie reached for the window latch something outside caught her eye. The window faced the sea entrance and rolling waves hemmed in by the circular walls of the cave filled the panorama. Beyond the waves, the outside sky, cloudless and blue, looked no different from when they had first come into the underground cavity. She blinked and was about to turn away when she noticed the waves at the centre of the entrance.

In the middle of the rolling surf there was a black pole poking above the surface. It was followed by a tiny but distinct vee shaped of white surf. Then, as she watched the pole rose and was connected to a dull black oval shaped metal object.

‘Get in here!’ she called as she kept her eyes riveted to the object.

The object rose and moved forward slowly. A conning tower now cleared the surface, followed by a stubby bow and decking. A submarine was surfacing in front of them. Following surf crashed against its hull in an attempt to push it forward.

The submarine now stopped all forward motion but continued to rise out of the water. Thousands of litres of water sloshed off the curved cylindrical hull to join the incoming waves in a surge of waves competing for the same spot. The wake behind caught up, so for a moment the vessel was hidden in bellowing waves surging for the shore. The resulting crash sent surf right up to the building where Kelsie and the others were standing.

‘Get out the back door and behind the building,’ directed Glenn. ‘Hurry! It won’t take long for that thing to get to the jetty.’

Without having time to think, they rushed though the building, out the door and around the back. Kelsie, who was leading, slipped along the rear and searched for somewhere to hide. The prefab was built close to the edge of the cave walls but along the inside was a space about a metre wide filled with loose rocks, old litter, and junk.

‘In here,’ she hissed and squeezed her way into a claustrophobic space with the sheer cave walls on her right and the wooden building on the other side. They all stumbled along the gap like peas in a pod. It was a tight fit but was probably the safest place to be at the moment.

Slowly, and as noiselessly as possible, Kelsie managed to make her way to the other end where she found that by bending down she could actually crawl under the building’s foundations. Spider webs brushed her while dirt and dust rose in front of her face as she slid forward on her stomach.


Three hatches opened on the submarine and half a dozen people scrambled onto the deck. Instructions were called out from the conning tower and a small rubber dinghy was brought onto deck and inflated. This was lowered over the side and two crewmembers jumped aboard to attach a small outboard motor.

‘Quiet, Boy,’ whispered Glenn as his dog let out a low growl.