Respire - Underwater Science Fiction Short Story - Excerpt

The sound of his wheezing was muted under the sea. Just outside the window of the underwater habitat, colourful fish swam between stands of kelp and over the rugged heads of coral reefs. Metres away from the sun-drenched water, James lay choking on his bedroom floor. He had just woken up and was undressed apart from a pair of skin-tight swimming shorts that revealed his pale skin and scarred chest. He wasn’t a large man, but he had striking blue eyes. They were wide with panic as he leaned against the frame of his bed, gasping for air.
James tore his hands away from his throat and fumbled around on the floor for something. After a few desperate moments, the tips of his fingers brushed against a small inhaler with a plastic mouthpiece that had rolled under the bed. He snatched it up and clasped it with both hands, pressing the mouthpiece to his lips and sucking the air in greedily. His wheezing lessened but didn’t cease and he went to take another breath but received only a rattling sound from the inhaler. It was empty.
He started to panic and hyperventilate and scratched at his chest, as if trying to tear his lungs out. Reaching up above him, he tore the drawer of his bed-side locker open and pulled out a small plastic bottle with a tiny amount of oil inside. He prised the inhaler open and shoved the bottle into it, smacking the top to try and force the oil downwards. As he closed the inhaler and went to use it again, his vision turned blurry and he began to pass out. His head lolled and he dropped the inhaler. The sound of it hitting the metal deck struck him awake and he seized the inhaler and took another puff. It gave him slight relief, but it wasn’t enough.

James threw the inhaler away. His mouth closed in a whimper, and he tried breathing through his nose. It whistled slightly as he started to cry and he lowered himself into the foetal position on the floor, rubbing his chest in a self-soothing gesture.
He tried to deepen his breathing but he was too upset, instead drawing short, shaky breaths of air as he rested his head on the metal deck. The cold surface felt soothing on his skin and he stared under his bed at this strange angle he had become so used to. He closed his eyes again and after a few moments, allowed himself to succumb to unconsciousness, thankful for the brief respite.

After some amount of time, the metal deck and discarded inhaler under his bed returned into focus. James sighed as he remembered where he was. He pushed himself up into a sitting position, rested his back against the wall and took a few cautious breaths, testing his lungs. They were inflamed and sore and his breathing was shallow. The voice of an AI came through the speakers mounted around the bedroom. “Are you okay James?”
James didn’t open his eyes. He was annoyed by the AI at this moment, though he couldn’t help but be thankful for the company. “Yeah... yeah Buddy. I just need a second.” He always felt exhausted and vulnerable after an attack.
“You have been passed out for forty-three minutes.”
James couldn’t bring himself to respond yet. He let out a long slow breath, still feeling a little shaky.
“Why isn't the new inhaler working on your lungs?”
He groaned, “I hate when you ask me questions after an attack.”
“I am programmed to ask questions. To help you think.”
James’s head made a dull metallic thump as he slumped it back against the bulkhead. “I don't want to think right now Buddy.”
“Acknowledged,” the AI replied and they both fell into silence.
A few moments passed with James lying against the bulkhead, trying to clear his mind and breathe normally. Once he felt able to get up, and had grown bored of just sitting there, he grabbed the frame of his bed and dragged himself to his feet. He caught the view outside of his bedroom and turned around, resting his elbows on the edge of the window and looking out at the water. It was beautiful, the mountain of serene blue always calmed him down after an attack. Staring out into it, his mind felt clear for a few precious moments. He sighed before he spoke to Buddy.
“The kelp oil I'm using in the inhaler mix...it isn't viscous enough.”
“I see. So what is our next objective?”
James didn’t respond right away, he was watching some brightly coloured fish darting in and out of the coral on a nearby reef. “We need to find a different type of kelp. One that will produce a more viscous oil.”
Buddy took a few moments as he processed his words. “My data shows a possible biome for this kelp variant exists roughly thirty metres below us.”
James’s stomach fell and he clenched his jaw. He had already suspected that but the confirmation didn’t make him any less terrified. His eyes were drawn to a smaller fish who had strayed towards the edge of the reef and was staring out into the deep water surrounding it. The fish shrank and shivered at the sight of the abyss, retreating back into the coral.

James turned away from the window and walked through his bedroom towards the doorway. He passed a table that had an old, seventies scuba diving helmet on it as well as a photo of himself and his father, dressed in wetsuits and standing on a dock. They had both just finished a dive and were holding scuba tanks and smiling.
James crossed from the bedroom into a makeshift kitchen. It was cramped and small but it had what he needed. A coffee maker, a few storage cupboards and even a small electric cooker, which was rarely used. He pressed a button on the coffee maker and boiling coffee filled a small cup. Snatching it up, he drew it closer to his nose and inhaled the aroma deeply. His lungs stung as the hot air hit them and he coughed, spilling some of the burning liquid onto his hand. He swore and wiped his hand off on his shorts but still took another sip of the scalding coffee, letting out a sharp breath as it burnt his tongue. He left the kitchen and continued through a large hallway and into another room.

The light from the surface of the moonpool reflected off his face as he entered. It was a brilliant white colour and oval shaped, with a ladder at either side. It would have looked like a swimming pool, except it was bottomless and opened out into the ocean. There were several metallic equipment lockers against the far wall on the left-hand side and a desk with a large computer screen on the right. The desk was a mess and there was a microscope, pieces of kelp in slides and several plastic bottles strewn across it. James walked over to it, checked it over and then began wiping it down and organising everything back into its proper place. Satisfied, he walked over to the metal equipment lockers and opened one of the smaller ones. From it, he pulled out a rebreather, diving mask and a pair of fins. 

He closed the locker and trudged back over to the moonpool, dragging his fins along the ground. He sat down on the edge, dangling his feet in the water and gazing into the shimmering pool.
Just below the water’s lens were hues of red, yellow and green emanating from the plants and creatures dancing beneath him but all James could think about was the depth and the crushing amount of water. After a few moments he sighed and spoke to Buddy, still peering into the pool. “I have to... collect some more shallow-water kelp. I need to refill my inhaler.” A camera overhead was already focusing on James and Buddy’s voice came through one of the speakers dotted around the room.
“Acknowledged. I will keep the coffee maker running.” James nodded his appreciation and grabbed his fins, pulling one onto his left foot first, then the other onto his right. He took his mask, spat in it and rubbed it around the inside, then dunked it into the water to clean it. After strapping it on, he inserted his rebreather, exhaled sharply to clear it, then took a breath through it to make sure it was functioning properly. Satisfied, he counted to himself as he continued to breathe. One. His lungs sounded raspy and uncomfortable. Two. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He inhaled quickly for his third breath and leapt into the water before he could change his mind.

James’s body broke the surface of the moonpool as if he had just jumped through a portal to another world. Rays of sunlight pierced through the water around him, reflecting off the scales of the brightly coloured fish he had been watching through his bedroom window. He could hear his own respiring, loud in his ears but muted under the water. His chest still sounded ragged and laboured and he took a moment to try and calm himself. There were a few larger predators following the nearby fish now, chasing them between the coral or stalking them through strands of seagrass.
He rolled onto his belly and swam forwards, away from the habitat. After a few moments something caught his eye and he couldn’t help but look. There was a large cliff face in front of him and lurking at the bottom of it, was a drop-off into a much deeper, darker part of the ocean. James felt his breathing speed up and he turned away from it, avoiding its gaze and heading instead towards a nearby coral reef. His breathing stabilised as he focused on moving forwards.
There was a small sandy clearing just beside the coral reef, containing long stalks of green, shallow-water kelp, wavering in the current. A shoal of tiny fish dissipated as James arrived. He grabbed a few loose rocks from the bottom and dropped them around the kelp, testing for stone fish or anything else hiding in the sand underneath. When he was satisfied, he planted his feet on the seafloor and pulled gently until a handful of stalks came free. He coughed a few times with the effort and a small number of bubbles escaped from his mouth. They danced upwards towards the surface, sparkling in the light.
With the kelp in his hand, James pushed off the bottom, kicking up a cloud of sand. He gilded over the coral reef and swam back towards the habitat. When he passed by the drop-off and its black, imperceptible depths, his breathing started to sound worse than before. As he got closer to the habitat, he started coughing again and this time it didn’t stop. He was in trouble. He tried to control it but his body convulsed as it was racked by coughing fits. A torrent of bubbles escaped from his mouth and it looked like he was screaming. As the corners of his vision began to grow dark, he saw the moonpool and reached up desperately towards it.