brainstorm anyone?

[kais]

Editing book two, and I'm running up against the same problem I've had before with a certain chapter. I've got characters trapped in a submerged station both underwater AND underground. I need them to escape. The following are their limitations:

- the available dive suits have only one hour of O2, and it would take longer than that to swim to the surface

- even if they made it to the surface, there is a landmass in the way

- they've taken over the station and the governing body knows, so no one will come to the station

- the station has no ships available for them to steal to leave

I'm trying to avoid dues ex machina here, but I'm having a hard time. There is a small opening in the landmass so supplies and such can be brought down to the station, so that is an obvious exit, and I have some chemistry options for blowing a hole through a wall and getting some force to propel the characters upwards. In theory I could write off hypothermia and the bends via futuristic technology dive suits, but at some point it's going to start coming across as too much of a leap of faith.

Help? Anyone? WWQD (what would Quirk do, ala @Robinski?)

[Robinski he/him]

How long does it take to get to the surface? Could one person go alone and take the second dive suit with them, switching suits or O2 supply halfway up, therefore having air for two hours?

Doesn't get over how they find the hole, but once over that issue, they could bring a ship back down for the other person.

[kais]

Hmmm.... I like this. Stealing a ship and retrieving the others brings with it another set of difficulties though. Thanks! Going to play around with this now and see how it pans out.

[Stormgate he/him]

Use some of the air tanks as propulsion devices, and have them hold their breath whenever possible.

Fun fact about holding ones breath: if you take in a regular breath and just stop breathing right when you are about to exhale, you can hold your breath longer than if you take in a big gulp. Not confirmed by any scientific study or Internet fun fact, but I have experience.

[Wayne Ligon]

Situation is something like this? (Attached graphic)

 

[kais]

Yes, @Wayne Ligon, you captured it perfectly!

[Wayne Ligon]

1. Since we're talking future tech, the suits can be very lightweight - something to keep people warm, and then an active membrane to separate o2 from water like an artificial gill. So there's no time limit for them to stay under, Same tech balances the gas in their blood to keep them from getting the bends. Now, they could simply swim upwards to the hole or if the suits need to be heavy for some reason (maybe they were heavy bulky construction work units that are not stored where the normal suits are), then they could improvise flotation devices. This could be as simple as a drink jug filled with air. Then they rise to the underside of the landmass and have to walk across the underside to get to the hole.

2. The installation entrance is an airlock. Blow the supports and frame, and the airlock chamber floats to the underside, then the suits will work to get them to the hole. Problem - the bends, probably, from the airlock chamber rising too fast.

3. Added tension - the government starts to flood the facility. Journey through flooding tunnel to previously established outlying power facility - blow the supports anchoring it's maintenance 'shed' to the ocean floor. Shed floats to underside. Then same as #2

[Robinski he/him]

Nice sketch. Personally, I think using tech to give unlimited time feels like a bit of a cheat and steals some of the tension. There could be a nice ticking clocking here if air running out was a thing, and fear of drowning (or asphyxiating in this situation unless they take the breather off) is a primal fear for most people.

[Wayne Ligon]

Oooh given the layout there, this might be a dead zone with little o2 dissolved in the water. If the suits use artificial gill fabric then it would work poorly at best, or not extract enough for a human. So, supplemental O2. Maybe taken from the medical lab.

[Wayne Ligon]

Oh. The landmass above them wouldn't happen to be ice, would it? Like on a gas giant moon with a thick ice shell covering a water/liquid layer?

[kais]

3 hours ago, Wayne Ligon said:

Oh. The landmass above them wouldn't happen to be ice, would it? Like on a gas giant moon with a thick ice shell covering a water/liquid layer?

Alas, no. Standard landmass. 

I need to do something with either chemicals or extra oxygen (or having one go up and then come back down for the rest). The station was designed to hold these people, so having suits with the capacity to filter oxygen through water would be a possible means of escape the governing body would not have overlooked. Hence my issue - I can design the facility to keep them in, and then when I need them to break out, I've already backed myself into a corner. 

My original plan was to set up a chemical chain reaction which started with corrosion, so they could get out, which then lead to several large explosions with enough inertia to push them towards the surface. Then in theory they could swim the rest of the way (or die trying - they don't all have to make it by any means). Of course, they also have to make it to the opening in the land. 

So maybe a combo of chemical and extra air tanks for backup?

[Wayne Ligon]

How far is it to the surface?

[kais]

On August 5, 2016 at 9:30 PM, Wayne Ligon said:

How far is it to the surface?

Sorry for taking so long to answer this. I was trying to find where in the book I had mentioned the depth. Turns out I just had this line: 

Uk pointed to the hanging screen, which now showed a topographic map of their current location and the kilometres of water that rested on top of them. Over the water was a contiguous landmass, with an opening large enough to fit a small dive ship and nothing else.

It should be a distance a standard biped could not swim in one go. Eight kilometres maybe? Maybe I get rid of the oxygen limitation and just make the distance unwieldy? 

Ugh. Why is this so hard?

[Wayne Ligon]

Hmmm I see what you mean. Pressure at that depth is another big problem for our heroes. If there are suits they will almost have to be hard-suits - effectively mini-submarines. That also means it's too heavy to ascend without some kind of powered thrust or very large buoyant device.

[Robinski he/him]

3 hours ago, kaisa said:

It should be a distance a standard biped could not swim in one go. Eight kilometres maybe?

Whoa - yes, you're safe with 8km. I found these handy tables:

Ocean	Deepest Point	Depth (feet)	Depth (meters)
Pacific	Mariana Trench	36,200	11,033
Atlantic	Puerto Rico Trench	28,374	8,648
Indian	Java Trench	25,344	7,725
Arctic	Eurasia basin	17,881	5,450

 

Ocean	Average Depth (feet)	Average Depth (meters)
Pacific	13,740	4,188
Atlantic	12,254	3,872
Indian	12,740	3,872
Arctic	3,407	1,038
Average Overall	13,124	4,000

[kais]

Well, it's written. A little bit of everything got integrated. Thank you all for the help! If we ever work our way to chapter 17 in book two, I'll be excited to hear what you think of how it turned out!