Above, tension mounted. Fuel reserves dwindled as the chase stretched. Supplies of bait fish thinned. And yet, the pod showed no sign of relenting. Crew and coastguard alike questioned how long Nathaniel could survive in such conditions. Every moment lost was a thread fraying on borrowed time.
Desperation pressed heavier than the waves. Radios hummed with speculation, reporters clamored for details, and the legend of “the swallowed biologist” grew by the minute. Yet beneath the surface, reality was stranger: Nathaniel suspended alive in a living sanctuary, his fate tied not to teeth or hunger, but to choice.