Twenty mines went down before the first one detonated. The concussion was felt on the Esperance, twenty-seven thousand feet up and in shallow water. Then another, and another, and another. The mine layer continued to sow her destructive seed. Far behind her, a monstrous spouting of gas and spume rose up hundreds of feet. There was another concussion, and another....
The Esperance quivered, and Terry said grimly to Deirdre, "We set off five pounds of explosive down the Deep, and the bathyscaphe returned all smashed. What will the creature do now? I wish we could get some mines down to the bottom there!"
Davis came up, beaming—but shaking.
"The carrier's sending some planes down to drop eggs at the spot where the fish were dragged down!" he said zestfully.
Gigantic, terrifying masses of gas leaped skyward where the gases released by the exploding mines finally reached the surface. The mine layer zig-zagged, and dropped a mine. She zig-zagged again, and dropped another. Presently, she took refuge beside the carrier. The Esperance drove over and came to a stop between the two armed vessels. Someone shouted down by megaphone from the carrier's deck, "What happened to you? What hit your bowsprit?"
Terry shouted back, "You shot those beasts. We've been wrestling with 'em!"
An enormous eruption of gas.... Then the underwater ear began to emit an unprecedented sound. It was a rushing sound, but it was only vaguely like the noise of whatever had come up from the depths last Tuesday night. This was powerful beyond imagining.
"Something's coming up!" roared Terry. "Better alert for a real fight now!"
Deirdre said with a little gasp, "The real creatures are coming up! Terry! The ... things that come in the bolides...."
He said savagely, "They've been shaken up badly by the concussions underwater. They resented five pounds of explosive! There's been four hundred pounds in every mine! If they try to fight after what they've taken down below...."