"Cal… Caleb, please go back up. Please." Teddy sounded exhausted.
"Dad? Are you alright?" Relief flowed through Caleb's voice and the speakers.
"I will be if you start your ascent slowly. Listen to your uncle. He will get us both safely home." Teddy's voice was scratchy from drinking seawater.
"Caleb—ascend to one fifty and hold for two minutes, then ascend to one twenty and hold. Teddy—I want you to find a wall, any wall, follow the altar to the floor if you have to—even if it feels like the ceiling right now." Uncle Stu wasn't smiling and he didn't look as calm as he sounded.
"Following altar to ceiling or floor—can you kill the lights, it may help if the sediment is not illuminated." Teddy sounded a little better.
"Okay, but I need minute by minute updates if I'm going to give up the lights. Okay?" Bones was working to maintain a sense of control for everyone.
"Touching floor. What next." Teddy sounded tired.
"Can you follow the contour of the altar? Follow it along its length—you'll either hit the door or the back wall."
"Following altar lengthwise."
"When you get to the end, keep your foot running along the side—you should reach the back wall or the door before your foot loses contact with the altar."
"Following altar. To the end. Moving out, hands on floor. Foot still touching altar. Ugh! Back wall!" Slightest note of despair in his voice.
"It's okay, Teddy. It's okay. You just found the way out! Turn around and go back the other way and you will be out the door in less than a minute. You can do it!" Bones didn't look very relieved.
"Returning to the altar. Following along the bottom. Dark. At the end."
"You can do it, Dad!" It was Caleb.
"Leaving the end of the altar, hands touching the floor. Foot dragging on the altar. Foot at the end. I lost contact with the altar. I can't feel anything in front of me!" Teddy was losing it.
"Touch the floor, Teddy! Keep touching the floor and swim forward! You will still be in the cloud as you exit—we are watching for you!" Bones knew this was where it could all go wrong.
Everyone naturally went in circles when they were disoriented. If Teddy turned even slightly and re-entered the temple, he might not have the energy to make it out. Bottom time was another issue. It was getting desperate. Joshua and Bones peeled their eyes looking at the billowing cloud of dust and willing their father and friend to come out.
"Teddy? Is your flashlight on?" Bones voice was both relieved and perplexed as they watched Teddy emerging from the cloud.
"No light. Can you see me?" Teddy was exhausted.
"We can see you. You are okay. But something is following you. Something that is glowing." Bones and Joshua were too confused to be scared, but Teddy wasn't.
"What are you talking about? What is it?" Teddy began to swim frantically. "Lights! Rover lights on now!" Teddy was churning the silt cloud as his powerful legs pulsed and thrust. Bones hit the flood light switch and Joshua burst out laughing.
"Jelly fish, Dad! It's a jelly fish!" Bones was giggling so hard he couldn't speak and Joshua had to take the mic. "Fluorescent jelly fish giants!"
"Dad, they could be Nephilim jelly fish ghosts!" Caleb had to get in on the act. "Virgin Nephilim jelly fish!"
"Ascending—one hundred and ninety feet. I am glad you are all having so much fun. Hope you got it on video so you can play it over and over tonight." Teddy was relieved to be around to be the butt of his beloved son's jokes.
"Oh, Dad—I didn't know you could move so fast!" Joshua's laughter cut him off.
"Ascending—one hundred and sixty feet. I am glad you can go from fear to hilarity in the time it takes your dad to drown. I thought I heard real care down there. Genuine compassion." Teddy knew that some of the joking was nervous relief.
"We care alright, Dad!" It was Joshua.
"If we lost you, who'd we have to make fun of." Caleb finished the joke for him.