Challenger Deep

Dedication

For Dr. Robert Woods

Contents

1. Dedication
   
2. Acknowledgments
   
3. 1. Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum
   
4. 2. Forever Down There
   
5. 3. Better for This
   
6. 4. How They Get You
   
7. 5. I Am the Compass
   
8. 6. So Disruptive
   
9. 7. Charitable Abyss
   
10. 8. Reality Check
    
11. 9. You Are Not the First and You Will Not Be the Last
    
12. 10. In the Fright Kitchen
    
13. 11. Nothing Awful Is without Its Beautiful Side
    
14. 12. Spree
    
15. 13. No Such Thing as Down
    
16. 14. Can’t Get There from Here
    
17. 15. No Passage of Space
    
18. 16. Swabby
    
19. 17. I’d Pay to See That
    
20. 18. Mystery Ashtray
    
21. 19. Deconstructing Xargon
    
22. 20. Parrots Always Smile
    
23. 21. Crew Member Questionnaire
    
24. 22. The Mattress Didn’t Save Him
    
25. 23. Eight-Point-Five Seconds
    
26. 24. Don’t Think You Own It
    
27. 25. You Were Not Given Permission
    
28. 26. All Things Not Nice
    
29. 27. Hand-Sanitized Masses
    
30. 28. Skippy Rainbow
    
31. 29. Some of My Best Friends Are Cirque-ish
    
32. 30. The Movements of Flies
    
33. 31. Is That All They’re Worth?
    
34. 32. Less Than Nothing
    
35. 33. Weakness Leaving the Body
    
36. 34. Behind Her Back
    
37. 35. The Unusual Suspects
    
38. 36. Without Her We’re Lost
    
39. 37. Third Eye Blind
    
40. 38. Ah, Here’s the Proboscis
    
41. 39. Stars on My Scantron
    
42. 40. Hell Asail
    
43. 41. Nothing of Interest
    
44. 42. Spirit of Battle
    
45. 43. It’s All Kabuki
    
46. 44. Boss Key
    
47. 45. Ten Graves Deep
    
48. 46. Food Fight
    
49. 47. We Even Have a Diving Bell
    
50. 48. Really That Lonely
    
51. 49. Don’t You Want a Whopper?
    
52. 50. Garage Widows
    
53. 51. Not Entirely Me
    
54. 52. Evidence of the Truth
    
55. 53. Hindsight at My Feet
    
56. 54. Due Diligence
    
57. 55. A Regular Infestation
    
58. 56. The Stars Are Right
    
59. 57. The Chemicals between Us
    
60. 58. Head-banger
    
61. 59. Man on Fire
    
62. 60. The Things They Say
    
63. 61. Check Brain
    
64. 62. More Alive Than You Think
    
65. 63. People I Don’t Know in Places I Can’t See
    
66. 64. If Snails Could Talk
    
67. 65. The Darkness Beyond
    
68. 66. Your Terrifying Awesomeness
    
69. 67. The Flesh Between
    
70. 68. Worm Inside
    
71. 69. Your Meaning Is Irrelevant
    
72. 70. Silver Shark
    
73. 71. A Worse Enemy
    
74. 72. Our Only Hope
    
75. 73. The Honors
    
76. 74. In God We Trust
    
77. 75. Safety Locks
    
78. 76. No Way to Stop It
    
79. 77. Oil Slick
    
80. 78. Realm of the Forgiving Sun
    
81. 79. Submitted for Your Approval
    
82. 80. Salted Slug
    
83. 81. War of the Nemesi
    
84. 82. Deep in the Throat of Doom
    
85. 83. Clockwork Robots
    
86. 84. Lost Landscape
    
87. 85. All Meat Must Be Tenderized
    
88. 86. Therapy Rodeo
    
89. 87. All That We’ve Worked For
    
90. 88. Toxic Tide
    
91. 89. Streets Green with Blood
    
92. 90. Atlas Drugged
    
93. 91. Not in the Olympics at All
    
94. 92. The Greater Unknown
    
95. 93. No Other Way
    
96. 94. Critical Mass
    
97. 95. Windmills of My Mind
    
98. 96. Divine Dealer
    
99. 97. Can I Trust You?
    
100. 98. Decomposed Potential
     
101. 99. Running on Saturn’s Rings
     
102. 100. Her Embedded Extremities
     
103. 101. A Piece of Skye
     
104. 102. Severe Nails
     
105. 103. Magic Mantras and Latex Poodles
     
106. 104. Mutinous Mutton
     
107. 105. Out of Alignment
     
108. 106. The Skin of Who We Were
     
109. 107. The Fo’c’sle Key
     
110. 108. Up or Drown?
     
111. 109. When Ink Acts Up
     
112. 110. Garden of Unearthly Delights
     
113. 111. Hot for You
     
114. 112. Abstract Angular Angst
     
115. 113. Who They Were
     
116. 114. Happy Paper Cup
     
117. 115. Double, Double, Toil and Trouble, Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble
     
118. 116. Dirty Martini
     
119. 117. While You Were Out
     
120. 118. Zimple Physics
     
121. 119. Little Chatterbox
     
122. 120. The Maps Say Otherwise
     
123. 121. Mentally We Roll Along
     
124. 122. Historically Freaking
     
125. 123. Bard and Dog
     
126. 124. Hating the Messenger
     
127. 125. Promenade
     
128. 126. A Fine Kind of Pain
     
129. 127. Have You Considered That Maybe It Was Intentional?
     
130. 128. Intestinal Time-share
     
131. 129. Against Us
     
132. 130. Stay Broken
     
133. 131. Cardboard Forts
     
134. 132. Without Whispering
     
135. 133. Crestmare Alley
     
136. 134. On the Other Side of the Glass
     
137. 135. Which Is More Horrifying?
     
138. 136. Becoming a Constellation
     
139. 137. Lost Horizon
     
140. 138. Marksman on the Fields of Color
     
141. 139. The Rest Is Silence
     
142. 140. The Time of Words Is Over
     
143. 141. Like He Never Existed
     
144. 142. Are You Now, or Have You Ever Been?
     
145. 143. Fail
     
146. 144. Other Places
     
147. 145. Soul of Our Mission
     
148. 146. Psychonoxious
     
149. 147. Genetic Life-form and Disk Operating System
     
150. 148. Squirrelly
     
151. 149. Half-life
     
152. 150. Last Man Standing
     
153. 151. King of All Destinies
     
154. 152. Scarecrow
     
155. 153. The Overwhelming Never
     
156. 154. Challenger Deep
     
157. 155. Vestibule
     
158. 156. No Miracles Here
     
159. 157. Kind of Like Religion
     
160. 158. Morons in High Places
     
161. 159. 10:03.
     
162. 160. The Way It Works
     
163. 161. Points Exotic
     
164. Author’s Note
     
165. Resources
     
166. About the Author and Artist
     
167. Books by Neal Shusterman
     
168. Credits
     
169. Back Ads
     
170. Copyright
     
171. About the Publisher
     

Acknowledgments

Challenger Deep
has been a labor of love, the creation of which spanned many years. First and foremost, I’d like to thank my son Brendan for his contributions; my son Jarrod for his amazing book trailers; and my daughters, Joelle and Erin, for their many insights and for being the wonderful human beings they are. My deepest gratitude to my editor, Rosemary Brosnan; associate editor, Jessica MacLeish; and everyone at HarperCollins for the amazing amount of support they have given this book. Thanks also to my assistants Barb Sobel and Jessica Widmer for keeping my life and speaking schedule on track. I’d like to thank to the Orange County Fictionaires for their support and critiques through the years; NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, for being such a great resource; and finally my friends for always being there through the best and worst of times.

Thank you all! My love for you is bottomless.

1. Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum

There are two things you know. One: You were there. Two: You couldn’t have been there.

Holding these two incompatible truths together takes skill at juggling. Of course juggling requires a third ball to keep the rhythm smooth. That third ball is time—which bounces much more wildly than any of us would like to believe.

The time is 5 a.m. You know this, because there’s a battery-powered clock on your bedroom wall that ticks so loudly you sometimes have to smother it with a pillow. And yet, while it’s five in the morning here, it’s also five in the evening somewhere in China—proving that incompatible truths make perfect sense when seen with global perspective. You’ve learned, however, that sending your thoughts to China is not always a good thing.

Your sister sleeps in the next room, and in the room beyond that, your parents. Your dad is snoring. Soon your mom will nudge him enough to make him roll over and the snoring will cease, maybe until dawn. All of this is normal, and there’s great comfort in that.

Across the street a neighbor’s sprinklers come on, hissing loud enough to drown out the ticking of the clock. You can smell the sprinkler mist through the open window—mildly chlorinated, heavily fluoridated. Isn’t it nice to know that the neighborhood
lawns will have healthy teeth?

The hiss of the sprinklers is not the sound of snakes.

And the painted dolphins on your sister’s wall cannot plot deadly schemes.

And a scarecrow’s eyes do not see.

Even so, there are nights where you can’t sleep, because these things you juggle take all of your concentration. You fear that one ball might drop, and then what? You don’t dare imagine beyond that moment. Because waiting in that moment is the Captain. He’s patient. And he waits. Always.

Even before there was a ship, there was the Captain.

This journey began with him, you suspect it will end with him, and everything between is the powdery meal of windmills that might be giants grinding bones to make their bread.

Tread lightly, or you’ll wake them.

2. Forever Down There

“There’s no telling how far down it goes,” the captain says, the left side of his mustache twitching like the tail of a rat. “Fall into that unknowable abyss, and you’ll be counting the days before you reach bottom.”

“But the trench has been measured,” I dare to point out. “People have been down there before. I happen to know that it’s 6.8 miles deep.”

“Know?” he mocks. “How can a shivering, malnourished pup such as you know anything beyond the wetness of his own nose?” Then he laughs at his own assessment of me. The captain is full of weatherworn wrinkles from a lifetime at sea—although his dark, tangled beard hides many of them. When he laughs, the wrinkles stretch tight, and you can see the muscles and sinews of his neck. “Aye, it be true that those who have ventured the waters of the trench speak of having seen the bottom, but they lie. They lie like a rug, and get beat twice as often—but just so it scares the dust out of ’em.”

I’ve stopped trying to decipher the things the captain says, but they still weigh on me. As if maybe I’m missing something. Something important and deceptively obvious that I’ll only understand when it’s too late to matter.

“It’s forever down there,” the captain says. “Let no one tell you any different.”

3. Better for This

I have this dream. I am lying on a table in an overlit kitchen where all the appliances are sparkling white. Not so much new as pretending to be new. Plastic with chrome accents, but mostly plastic.

I cannot move. Or I don’t want to move. Or I’m afraid to move. Each time I have the dream, it’s a little bit different. There are people around me, only they aren’t people, they’re monsters in
disguise. They have gone into my mind and have ripped images from it, turning the images into masks that look like people I love—but I know it’s just a lie.

They laugh and speak of things that mean nothing to me, and I am frozen there among all the false faces, at the very center of attention. They admire me, but only in the way you admire something you know will soon be gone.

“I think you took it out too soon,” says a monster wearing my mother’s face. “It hasn’t been in long enough.”

“Only one way to find out,” says the monster disguised as my father. I sense laughter all around—not from their mouths, because the mouths of their masks don’t move. The laughter is in their thoughts, which they project at me like poison-tipped darts shot from their cutout eyes.

“You’ll be better for this,” says one of the other monsters. Then their stomachs rumble as loud as a crumbling mountain as they reach toward me and tear their main course to bits with their claws.

4. How They Get You

I can’t remember when this journey began. It’s like I’ve always been here, except that I couldn’t have been, because there was a before, just last week or last month or last year. I’m pretty certain that I’m still fifteen, though. Even if I’ve been on board this wooden relic of a ship for years, I’m still fifteen. Time is different here. It doesn’t
move forward; it sort of moves sideways, like a crab.