The Abyss of The Atlantic Chaper Ⅱ Section Ⅱ

This novel was written in 2018. I wrote it after watching the wonderful submarine movie "Das Boot". This novel is about giantessifying(personifying) a U-boat , similar to Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.What I have to say is that my novels often spend a lot of time describing the settings and characters...

I am working hard to translate it into English completely and without any grammatical errors.  If possible I will also translate it into German and Japanese

Similarly, since accurate manual translation will take up a lot of my time, it is only open to subscribers, please understand.

(This section is quite long and it takes about ten minutes to read.)

(of course this is not my art but my friend's)

Section Ⅱ

(Charlle or Charlles are all correct)

In the evening, the port shrouded in thin fog was silent. The lighthouse at the port turned on its searchlight, adding a fragile glimmer of light to the darkness, slightly improving visibility. The faint light could serve as a reminder for passing ships, indicate the route, and search for German U-boats lurking like water ghosts in the shallow layers of the sea, ready to strike at any moment.

It was now nine o'clock, and the port of Liverpool was preparing for a lockdown. Guards occasionally patrolled aimlessly with guns along every planned road. In these extraordinary times, they not only had to guard against spies but also pay attention to any new tasks from headquarters.

At this moment, a person holding a piece of paper knocked on the door of the port dormitory. He looked very anxious. Soon, the door opened a crack, and the face of the lieutenant colonel appeared. He was wearing pajamas, and inside, the voice of the radio announcer could be heard from time to time.

"Mr. Charlles," the lieutenant colonel sized up the visitor and asked, "It's so late, just tell me what's going on.?"

"This is the telegram from the superior to the lieutenant. I think we can set sail again to investigate!" The journalist handed the paper to the lieutenant colonel excitedly, almost slipping from his fingertips.

The lieutenant colonel took it, browsed it carefully, and couldn't help but wake up a bit.

"In five days, another supply fleet will sail from New York to us. The lieutenant proposed a plan to send someone to meet them, and the superior agreed." The journalist lowered his excited tone and said softly to the lieutenant colonel.

"And then, the lieutenant decided to send only the three of us to meet an entire fleet?"

"That's about it."

Hearing this, the lieutenant colonel irritably and annoyedly scratched his head.

"Three people? Are you sure?" the lieutenant colonel said distressedly, "Only three people for such a task? Do you know what kind of submarines we are facing?"

"I think it's because we are still at war, so manpower is scarce."

"What about my men?"

"They are in Manchester, and I believe after surviving the last incident, they definitely won't go again."

"So,..?you think I will go to dead hole in vain?"

The lieutenant colonel tried his best to calm down, sat on the chair, and listened to the information on the radio.

The announcer was emotionlessly reporting the heavy losses suffered by London due to air raids or the news that a merchant ship was sunk, causing supplies to fail to arrive on time.

"Mr. Charlles, you must understand my feeling,.. if we go this time, if we are lucky, all the radio stations in the world will report our news; but,if we are slightly unlucky, no one will collect our bodies. We will all be eaten like chocolate beans!"

The journalist was equally conflicted. Just thinking about the last encounter with the "abyss" was enough to terrify him, let alone going a second time.

"And you must know, we have no understanding of this so-called 'abyss', nor any direct evidence."

"So,my Lieutenant Colonel, this time we go, it is to make more people believe that what we say is completely correct!in this case,maybe a Germany “Wunderwaffe”’s secret we could find !" the journalist cautiously added.

The lieutenant colonel closed his eyes, nodded thoughtfully.

"But I don't want to go really... I can't just die without knowing why."

The journalist patted the lieutenant colonel on the shoulder and encouraged him:

"Maybe, it's not that bad."

The lieutenant colonel sighed deeply, looking at the confident journalist beside him.

"Is the truth of this matter only to be discovered by us?"

"God bless us, hopefully."

"I still don't want to go again..."

"It's not that you don't want to go, you don't dare to go, right? But you are a soldier, you should muster the courage to face what scares you again!right? Mr. colonel!"

"I......"

Dragging it out like this is meaningless. Instead of wasting time, it's better to agree with him first and then find an excuse not to go.

"Alright, allright!I’ll go with you!Just take a look,and make it clear…but I must say,this is the last time I go to there."

" Très bien!(Fine!)Mr.O’Clair! Shall I reply to the lieutenant like this?" the journalist asked.

"You can reply to him. That's it, I will follow the arrangement."

The journalist nodded, walked out silently, and closed the door, leaving the sound of the radio echoing in the dark night…

(Lieutenant Monteldam of the Royal Navy, who spent most of his time in the office recording the supplies of the British Empire, did not leave any detailed records of this voyage—the only one in his life—and even remained silent about it to the outside world. Therefore, people knew nothing about the Abyss he had encountered…

However, at the age of seventy-six, he suddenly came from the nursing home to his grandson's house and talked about this matter with his grandson. His grandson thoughtfully recorded all his words and then wrote a memoir based on the recordings. Unfortunately, Lieutenant Monteldam passed away peacefully shortly after the recordings were made.

His grandson believed that everything he said was true, but the staff of the publishing house and magazine, after reading and listening, unanimously believed that the elderly man had hallucinations due to poor health—so-called near-death hallucinations. They deeply mourned the lieutenant's death but still refused to publish the memoir to avoid damaging their reputation.

The neighbors also believed that the lieutenant was already mentally unstable and insane at that time. His grandson had no choice but to burn the memoir he had written in disappointment, leaving the tapes as a memento stored at home, no longer made public.

Below is the recording of the conversation between Lieutenant Monteldan and his grandson, recorded in 1988:)

(Noisy recording audio, the room is so quiet that you can clearly hear the static electricity sound from the friction of the sweater)

Lieutenant: (coughs) Are you listening, Chris?

Christie: Yes, yes, Grandpa. Go ahead, tell me everything you want to say.

Lieutenant: Christie, you know, I was once a Navy lieutenant, once. (slight cough)

Chris: Yes, Grandpa, you often mentioned it when I was little.

Lieutenant: When you were little, I told you many interesting stories from the military, right?

Christie: Yes.

Lieutenant: (laughs) You were so small then, always pestering me to tell you stories.

Chris: (awkwardly laughs) That's true.

Lieutenant: There's one thing I never told you. And I've been hesitating until today whether I should tell you because I'm afraid that after I tell you, you'll think I'm crazy too.

Christie: How could that be? Just say it, it's okay.

Lieutenant: After that incident, I told almost everyone I knew, and they all thought I was crazy. (coughs) Saying it like this, even I started to wonder if I was really crazy. Or was it really an illusion? I don't know.

Christie: What was it?

Lieutenant: I came here today because I heard that a military friend who experienced that incident with me passed away in his hometown in Missouri a week ago. His widow wrote to me because he left no record of the incident, and he seemed unwilling to let it be known to the public, but she hoped I would leave something behind. I think I might be the only one who knows about it, so I need to find someone reliable to tell the whole story to.

Christie: So you chose me?

Lieutenant: Yes, my child, I can only tell you. No one else would believe it. You will believe it, right, Chris?

Christie: Of course, just say it, I'll listen carefully.

Lieutenant: (sighs, sound of chair creaking) Other memories are not as clear as this one, you could say, now it's like I'm replaying a movie for you.

You know, I told you, I was always a logistics officer at the port, never went to the battlefield, never touched a gun, except for a self-defense pistol for duty, I never touched any guns or cannons.

But as a soldier, wanting to know what it feels like to hold a gun is almost like a belief. (slight cough) I wanted to do something exciting, after all, I was young and energetic at the time.

But the superior required everyone to do their duty diligently, which meant I could only do logistics at the port... never think about going to the battlefield. (slight pause)

I was quite disappointed, but as the textbook says, "The poorest patriot in East London, when thinking of the wealth and industry of the British Empire, will proudly hold his head high." I thought, doing my duty could still contribute to the country, which was why I joined the army.

Christie: Yes, go on.

Lieutenant: Soon people were at war again, when Germany attacked France, we thought it was a repeat of World War I. But we were wrong, France quickly fell, and the British Empire became the target of German air raids. At the farthest, German planes even flew to bomb Manchester, and the port of Liverpool was blockaded by German submarines, any ship that set sail would disappear in the Atlantic, without a trace.

(slight cough) In such a crisis, I was still told to stay here on duty. I was not content with the boring daily tasks. At that time, the supplies from the United States were under my responsibility to receive and count, of course, I could have handed this job to my subordinates and gone to the battlefield to fight the Germans myself, but I didn't.

Then... a French journalist who returned from North Africa, Ed... something like that, he was hit by a shell, but thank God it didn't hit him, not even a shrapnel scratched him, it just scared him half to death, and he refused to go to the battlefield again. So he had to take a ship from Gibraltar to our port, and since he had nowhere else to go, he stayed with us.

He was an interesting person. At that time, American supply fleets often mysteriously disappeared in the Atlantic, some people thought they were sunk by German submarines, but some believed it was something else, like sea monsters, that destroyed the entire fleet.

So one day I saw an article in a local newspaper... what was it called... oh right, The Bottomless Pit of the Atlantic, written by that journalist. He excitedly handed me the newspaper, and after reading the article, I laughed.

"Char B1, do you really think it's a sea monster there?" I asked.

He was quite honest.

"Yes, Lieutenant, I definitely think it's a sea monster."

"Oh." So I just replied and didn't pay attention to his report.

I thought that was the end of it. The higher-ups issued an order saying that a new supply fleet would soon arrive in Liverpool. I was very happy that the supply fleet was coming. However, unfortunately, this supply fleet, like the previous ones, (coughing, sound of a chair creaking) had no news, just like before.

Christie: That's really unfortunate.

Lieutenant: But there's also good news. One of the destroyers actually came back alive. Their captain... was it O'Clair? Yes, Lieutenant Colonel O'Clair. He seemed to confirm that the bottomless pit was indeed a sea monster, but I didn't quite believe it. Later, they asked me to personally go out to sea to take a look, which piqued my interest. So I planned to use my superior's name to let them go out and see. But I didn't dare to use a warship, and due to a lack of supplies, I could only give them an ocean-going fishing boat (slight coughing). So they set off, and three days later they came back. I was very anxious, wanting to see what the situation was.

They came back out of breath, saying they found the bottomless pit, and that the bottomless pit was actually... actually... (hesitating)

Christie: Actually what?

Lieutenant: Do you think my mental state is normal now?

Christie: You speak clearly and think sharply, very normal, Grandpa.

Lieutenant: Then I'll continue. They said the bottomless pit was actually a girl, with silver hair and blue eyes, but she looked only about ten years old.

(Christie's laughter)

Lieutenant: Christie, you said you believed what I said.

Christie: (laughing) Grandpa, sorry. It's really... really hard to imagine...

Lieutenant: Christie, I thought the same at the time. I thought they must be talking nonsense, especially since the journalists couldn't even produce a photo. I thought they must be talking nonsense.

Christie: And then?

Lieutenant: Then around July 10, 1942, I went there myself, and I also—

(The sound cuts off here due to changing the recording tape)

(The hissing sound of the tape indicates the recording tape is ready)

Lieutenant: ...left.

Christie: Wait, Grandpa, can you say that again?

Lieutenant: Oh? What's wrong?

Christie: I didn't hear clearly, just from "you went there yourself," can you start from there?

Lieutenant: ... (coughing) Then, I went there myself. Yes, I saw it with my own eyes...

Christie: Saw what?

Lieutenant: What I'm about to tell you, the bottomless pit that devours everything...

Christie: A girl?

Lieutenant: A girl at least five hundred meters tall.

(Christie laughs)

Lieutenant: Chrrie! Do you still want to hear it? This is real!

Christie: (laughing) Yes, yes. Grandpa, please continue…

Lieutenant: Hmm, then don't laugh, listen to me finish.

After they came back, the lieutenant colonel said he wouldn't go again, saying it was too dangerous. He couldn't bear to die in the hands of a giant girl instead of on the battlefield. But the journalist still wanted to explore, so I hoped he could persuade the lieutenant colonel to go with us.

So I forged an order from the higher-ups, indicating that they agreed for us to investigate... I have to say, I had never been so curious in my life, so I forged the telegram. It seemed he didn't notice anything unusual. He still agreed and suggested we write our wills.

Christie: Did you write it?

Lieutenant: Of course... (slight coughing) I mean, no, I believed I could come back alive. But when I really saw that "bottomless pit"... I'm still curious how I came back alive.

Christie: Just tell me what happened after you went to sea.

Lieutenant: Hmm, hmm.

We prepared a gunboat, the "Flying Fish," the fastest boat I knew, because it was very fast, we could go early and escape quickly if we encountered the bottomless pit. I prepared a week's worth of food in advance and unloaded all the ammunition to reduce weight, but still brought some tracer rounds as signal flares.

Chris had already prepared the film, and the lieutenant colonel only brought a signal gun. When I asked why he brought it, he said he hoped more people could see the true appearance of the bottomless pit before he died. So we set off.

Christie: Hmm…

Lieutenant: Then (thinking) actually, this time I went to the sea not only to see the bottomless pit but also because a supply fleet was coming. I hoped to meet them, and they had a fully armed escort fleet with destroyers and frigates, so they shouldn't be afraid of any bottomless pit.

We sailed on the sea for about two days, I didn't know where we were because I didn't bring a map. So I asked if anyone had a map. The journalist said he brought the map from last time, which marked the place they reached last time. Then I realized we were a bit off course, but since the supply fleet was supposed to pass through this area and it was getting late, I decided to rest here. They agreed. Later, it proved that my decision was correct…

I started chatting with the lieutenant colonel and asked, "Lieutenant Colonel, how did you come to the Atlantic?"

"My father's influence, I suppose."

Then I asked, "Last time, you didn't want to talk about your relationship with your father. Why is that?"

"Well, because my father has always been obstructing me."

"Can you elaborate?"

He hesitated for a moment before continuing.

"My father was a navy major. He participated in World War I and served as a captain on a destroyer. But after the war, he not only resigned from the military but also converted to Catholicism and strongly opposed my joining the military."

"Is that so?"

"Yes... When he saw he couldn't stop me, he secretly changed my enlistment to the army, but I later switched back to the navy. When I was still in New York Harbor, he used his connections to send me to Los Angeles. When I actively wanted to transfer to the Atlantic, he insisted I serve in the Pacific."

"Oh, so you just like to go against your father?"

"No, no, no. I feel like he must have encountered something in the Atlantic, something he's hiding from me, which is why he doesn't want me to go there. So I really want to find out."

I remembered the purpose of our journey.

"Is it about the bottomless pit?"

"I don't know, maybe."

He hesitated for a moment and repeated, "Maybe. I still don't know."

"Your father really... had foresight..."

I turned to see the journalist already asleep in his chair. It's funny how French people can sleep anywhere.

Christie: And then?

Lieutenant: Then... (thinking) Then the lieutenant colonel told me one last thing: "Lieutenant, before I came here, my father told me, 'When dealing with the British, don't listen to what they say, but watch what they do with their hands. After talking with you for so long, it feels very applicable.'"

I smiled at the time and walked out of the room to look ahead. I saw lights flickering in the distance.

I knew those were the searchlights of the supply fleet.

"Quick! Everyone get up!" I shouted, "Our people are here."

The journalist woke up suddenly. "What? The Germans are here?"

The lieutenant colonel quickly ran to the side of the ship, holding onto the railing, smiling.

"It's our people."

The lights in the distance got closer and closer. I started preparing to signal them that we were a British ship. Soon, their searchlights were clearly visible to us, but since they were still tens of kilometers away, I tried to contact them by radio.

I quickly tuned to their frequency. "Hello, this is the British gunboat 'Flying Fish,' please respond."

A reply came quickly.

"This is the lead ship of the American supply fleet, 'St. John.' Our radar and sonar have detected abnormal conditions, possibly a German submarine. Please retreat temporarily. Repeat, our radar..."

Before the sentence was finished, a burst of static interrupted their communication. At that moment, I felt like something bit me, and I quickly left the cabin and rushed to the deck. The sea was calm, nothing was there. The lieutenant colonel and the journalist were looking at the distant ship's signals with binoculars.

Just as I was about to go back and continue contacting them, a huge commotion suddenly erupted on the sea. I saw almost all the ships' searchlights simultaneously pointing in that direction. I was speechless as the waves...

(The recording was cut off, it seems the tape broke)

(After reconnecting, the recorder hissed)

Lieutenant: ...two hundred meters high...

Christie: Wait... Grandpa, what was two hundred meters high?

Lieutenant: (slight coughing) Ah... how...

Christie: What's wrong?

Lieutenant: You didn't...

Christie: I was listening, just got a bit distracted.

Lieutenant: (rocking chair) Every detail of Hamlet is wonderful, please listen carefully, Christie.

Then, I saw a semicircular silver object emerging from the water, rising higher and higher. Finally, a girl with long silver hair and blue eyes, emitting a faint star-like glow, appeared on the surface. I was so shocked that I didn't even notice the expressions or states of the lieutenant colonel and the journalist. So, I have no idea how they felt when they saw the girl.

Christie: Unbelievable...

Lieutenant: It was like watching a movie. I stared at her without blinking. You can imagine how shocked we all were. I felt like I didn't even know who I was anymore. The sea suddenly became quiet, and we all held our breath, watching the enormous girl.

Suddenly, an alarm sounded, followed by a second and a third. Then, searchlights all focused on the girl... (coughs lightly) She was unbelievably huge, and the searchlights could only illuminate her below the chest. However, her eyes had already noticed everything.

Then, on the ship closest to us, the crew was shouting. I clearly saw them slowly rotating the turret. But they were too slow. That terrifyingly huge hand had already grabbed their poor ship. I watched as the ship was slowly lifted, with people screaming in terror, and some bravely jumping off the ship. In the end, the ship disappeared after being lifted.

I was so foolish... To avoid attracting the girl's attention, I turned off the light we had just used for communication, making it harder for our ship to be noticed. The poor people who fell into the water were scooped up by her and disappeared just like the ship. Besides seeing her blue eyes glowing more intensely, I also saw her smiling and licking her lips.

Christie: Oh my...

Lieutenant: That was just the first ship. The fleet had twelve ships in total, all gone. In fact, they were all eaten by the girl, like candy beans.

Christie: Do you remember the scene?

Lieutenant: (coughs) Want to hear it? Then don't interrupt me, or I'll forget again.

So, I didn't dare to move a step until the girl submerged again, immersing her entire body in the water. In front of her was an oil tanker. She opened her mouth, and the ship disappeared into it, like drinking soup, quickly and neatly.

By this time, the other ships had formed a battle formation. "Fire!" I didn't know where the voice came from, but there was indeed a burst of fire, followed by a second, a third, one after another. The destroyers started firing.

However, the shells exploded on the girl without affecting her at all. She calmly picked up a firing destroyer, slowly put it in her mouth, and gently pressed it in like eating a cookie. (coughs lightly) The brave destroyer continued firing until it was swallowed, and the sound of the cannons stopped from her mouth.

Christie: This...

Lieutenant: Then, the girl grabbed a retreating oil tanker, lifted her head, and her silver hair stirred up a wave, causing the ship to fall into her mouth like falling into a bottomless abyss. Then she swallowed it slowly... I saw her licking her lips again and grabbing another ship.

The destroyers were doomed, but they continued firing and launching torpedoes. Every shell and torpedo hit the target, as it was too big to miss. However, it didn't harm her at all. Her eyes still emitted a star-like glow, calmly grabbing one oil tanker after another. The sound of swallowing and the panicked screams almost echoed across the sea. My God... I couldn't bear to think about it anymore. You will never know what I saw...

The destroyers didn't flee, trying to buy time for the remaining few oil tankers. So, the girl grabbed them all, slowly lifted one, and shook it. I saw people being thrown off the ship, but they had no escape tools, and our small boat couldn't accommodate so many people. Moreover, they couldn't notice our tiny assault boat.

The destroyers were like candy beans, eaten one by one. She even licked her tongue. I think, if not for her height, she would be just a ten-year-old girl. But such a child, even the largest ship, was just a candy bean to her, eaten without a second thought.

Christie: So, the entire fleet was eaten by her?

Lieutenant: Ah... I don't even think she's human... But because the oil tankers were too slow, she didn't even move much, just grabbed the remaining ships and ate them all.

Christie: And then?

Lieutenant: Then, I saw her satisfied, holding her cheeks, closing her eyes, with a happy smile. I woke up from my daze, quickly started our boat, and retreated in the opposite direction. All the way, I was afraid she would chase us, lift us up, and put us into her pitch-black mouth (coughs)... Every wave on the sea made me nervous. That was... a real sea monster, no longer just something in our imagination or conspiracy theorists' articles...

At this point, I noticed the lieutenant colonel and the journalist were still in the room. They looked equally shocked, but the lieutenant colonel's eyes were more filled with anger, and the journalist's with fear.

Christie: And then?

Lieutenant: Then nothing. I never went to sea again. When the lieutenant colonel said he would get to the bottom of it, I didn't follow. I was scared, just like the lieutenant colonel was before. But now he's not afraid, which is...

Christie: Oh... Your experience is really... bizarre...

Lieutenant: Yes... I think so too. I hope you believe every word I say because it's all true. no one believe me,and someone who believe me are all died… I swear on the honor of a British officer.

Christie: I believe every word you say, Grandpa.

Lieutenant: that’s great..---

(The recording was cut off. This is probably all the saved recording. We have no way of knowing more details.)

As subsequent sections become longer and longer, all translation times will increase significantly, even if I have used AI translation as an aid.