I watched as the ship disappeared from my sight. Now I was in charge of a crew of over two hundred people. We were really on our way to Atlantis. I had seen Milo Thatch that morning. He was still pathetic. I couldn’t imagine how some guy and a little book were going to get us to Atlantis. But other things weighed heavily on my mind.
“Lieutenant,” Rourke said. That was my signal.
“Bring her about. Make the depth one five zero,” I ordered. Meanwhile Mr. Thatch had joined us at the bridge for a little demonstration. I paid attention…half way. I still felt bad about leaving that ship. There was something about this mission that was making me nervous. Either way, I would be strong. I thought about Adrienne and smiled to myself. That crazy girl. She probably would have stowed away on the submarine had her grandfather not been there. That would have been an interesting scenario to say the least. I felt a pang of homesickness. Adrienne was not the only person who I had left behind on that loading dock. I felt sad for leaving everyone behind. So many emotions were left inside me. It was hard to make sense of any of it at the time. Now I had a job to do. My mission was to discover Atlantis, and… I shuddered. I had made a promise to Rourke. It was either that or Adrienne’s life. No matter. Surely there was nothing in Atlantis but a crumbled city. It wasn’t as if we were actually going to hurt anyone. So Mr. Thatch babbled on and I stared out of the huge glass windows into the ocean. I thought of Christopher and my family. I thought of my friends, the few that I had. Then I though of Adrienne…and my other friend Elaine. Two of my closest companions. “I’ll return for all of you,” I said to myself. “It takes more than an ocean to get rid of Helga Sinclair.”