Under Pressure

     You know when you have that school paper to write but all that’s there is the blinking cursor? Well, that’s me! Staring at my laptop for over an hour with still nothing to write for my college paper on mathematics. And that’s when my brother called.

     “Hey, Izz, how’s the paper going?” (my name is Izabella, but my friends and family call me Izz).

     I shook my head and laid back on my couch. “You know, Jay, I can’t tell whether you called at the perfect time or the worst time.”

     “That bad, huh?”

     “Yup, it’s that bad.”

     Jay chuckled. “Well, how’ bout this. Your pal Max just offered me to come to this marine site that he’s running. Why don’t you come along?”

     I laughed. “Yeah, because Max always makes my day easier.”

     “Well, maybe not easier, but maybe some of his problems will give you something for your paper.”

     I got up from my couch. “Alright fine. But just a few days. This paper needs to be done by the end of the week.”

     I got some clothes ready and Jay picked me up in his Jeep. Jay is the better-looking sibling. He is tall like me but is noticeably stronger. His hair and eyes are brown. Besides height the only thing that the two of us have in common is our practically pail skin. I have thick red hair that’s quite long and emerald green eyes. I’m very wiry and lean.

     When we finally arrived at our destination, we were at Key West Beach. After I got out of the car I slowly spun around so I could look at the empty parking lot. “What happened to the people?” I asked.

     “Max told me he rented out the beach for his site.”

     I quickly spun around and looked at Jay. “He did what?”

     Jay didn’t have time to answer because Max came over to talk to us.
     “Well, well, well, what do we have here? I didn’t expect you to come to one of my adventures voluntarily, Izz.”

     “Yeah, well, I’m already starting to regret it.”

     Max narrowed his eyebrows. “Oh, don’t do that! I was just going to call you to come down anyway.”

     “Well, I guess I beat you to it.”

     “I guess you did,” said Max and he beckoned us to follow him. Max is lean and lanky with black hair on the long side. His skin is a perfect bronze since he’s always outside on a crazy adventure. And his eyes are a very dark blue.

      It took us about five minutes to get to the dock. I scratched my head, “I don’t get it? I thought we were going to a marine site?”

     “We are,” replied Max.

     “Then why are we about to go into a small motor boat?” asked my brother. “Have you gone crazy or something?”

     Max laughed as he helped me into the boat. “Me? Go crazy? If I were really crazy I wouldn’t have been able to build the thing we’re about to see.”

     “OK.” said my brother as we got settled in the boat. Clearly, he wasn’t convinced that we were going anywhere, but I patted him on the shoulder as we moved out into the open water.

     After about—two minutes, Max docked the boat in front of a small house boat.

     “Max,” I said while he helped me onto the house’s porch. “This is definitely not a marine site, it’s a house boat. I’m starting to think that you are going crazy.”

     Max laughed as he unlocked the house boat’s front door. “Looks can be deceiving.  This is definitely not just a house boat. Come on in and see for yourself.” He then opened the door and all three of us walked inside. My jaw dropped when I saw the inside of the house. Instead of normal furniture, the house had huge TVs all along the walls. Along with computers and printers.

     “What is all THIS!?” I asked.

     Instead of turning around and explaining the room to me; Max just walked over to a small panel and said, “What? This? You haven’t seen anything yet.” Then he typed a few numbers into the panel and a portion of the floor opened!

     By now Jay had decided to place a hand on my shoulder so that I wouldn’t fall over in shock. Max motioned us to follow him as he walked down a flight of stairs. After the three of us were at the bottom of the stairs, Jay and I could clearly see that we were underwater. The long acrylic glass tube that we were in let in a blue tinted light since we were close to the surface. Being the construction master he is; Jay asked Max questions about the structure as we walked. I, on the other hand, couldn’t say a word. Not because my brother wouldn’t let me talk, but because I had lost the ability to speak. This problem only grew worse when I saw the main HQ.

     The place was beyond my description! The room itself was huge and entirely made of acrylic glass. There were X-ray panels, computers, and countless marine life being aided. Somehow, I found my voice and asked,

     “Did you build ALL of this?”

     Max and Jay had gone ahead a little and now they turned around.
     “Why, yes,” said Max, “…but this isn’t what I wanted to show you. Follow me.”

     I rubbed my head since I wasn’t used to the water pressure down there then I quickly walked up to Max and Jay.
     Still rubbing my head I asked, “Max, Jay said that you rented out the entire beach. If that’s so, why did you build this thing under the water?”

     Max laughed. “Wait. You thought that I rented out the ENTIRE beach?”

     “That’s what Jay told me.”

     “OK look. I did go through a lot of legal red tape to build this structure in the ocean, but no one is allowed to rent out the entire beach.”

     I crossed my arms. “OK, then how do you explain the empty parking lot?”

     “Oh, the town is doing renovations to the beach.”

     I nodded my head and jabbed my elbow into Jay’s side.  I don’t like to look stupid, and what Jay told me, made me look stupid.

     By now we had reached the place that Max had wanted to show us. There were more computers, monitors, and other machines everywhere! My jaw dropped. “Now THIS is why I want you here,” said Max gesturing to the room. “We have to constantly maintain the machines and I think you two are the best for the job.” I don’t know what I was more surprised at, the fact that the room was a mathematician’s haven, or that Max had a relatively normal job for me.

     “When do we start?” was all I managed to ask.

     “As soon as possible.” Max replied. My brother was about to say something, but an alarm didn’t let him.
    
     “What on earth is happening!” I yelled over the siren.

     “I don’t know! That’s why you’re here!” replied Max. Jay and I looked at each other and shook our heads. "One of our machines has been having issues lately, and unfortunately it’s a really important machine."

     “What does this thing do?” I asked walking up to the machine.

     “That thing pumps oxygen into this building!” exclaimed Max.

     “So basically in a few minutes were gonna suffocate! GREAT!” said Jay.

     “Oh, don’t worry. The backup tanks will kick in soon.” said Max.

     “Yeah, but I’m guessing that they won’t last forever!”

     “Oh, quit your whining and let me think!” I yelled and then I let out a grunt.

     I scanned the machine and noticed that the two main wires were burnt out in the middle. Then I saw that the air intake was way higher then it should’ve been. This explains the pressure that I’d been feeling earlier. It wasn’t water pressure, but air pressure. I also saw that the air outtake was super low so air that wasn’t used wasn’t really escaping.

     The alarm had finally turned off and I asked Max. “Max, do we have any extra wiring?”

     Max shook his head. “Izz, this is a marine site not a computer store.”

     I let out another grunt. “Fine. Do you have any duct tape?”

     “Duct tape?!”

     “Yes, duct tape!  I also need a lighter, a few calibrated droppers, some surgical scissors and a surgical knife.”

     Max shook his head and went to get what I asked. After he came back I used the scissors to cut the burnt off part of the wires. I then shaved off part of the wire shielding with the knife and slipped on a part of the dropper. I then duct taped the wires and melted the droppers on top of the duct tape. I then adjusted the machine to have normal air intake and outtake levels.

     Everyone heaved a sigh of relief. The machine was working!

     “Great job, Izz! I don’t know what we would’ve done if you hadn’t been here,” said Max.

     “I do,” I said. “You would’ve suffocated.”

     Max rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, we didn’t. Oh, by the way a mechanic will be here in five hours to do a permanent fix to the machine.”

     “Great,” I said.

     The rest of my stay was pretty much like my first day. It always involved either Jay or I fixing something that was life-threatening when broken. By the time I got home I was exhausted, but at least I got one good thing out of it. I knew what I was going to write for my paper. Mathematics isn’t just about showing off how smart you are; it’s also about helping people. And in my case saving lives. 



Acknowledgments

I’d like to thank my parents and grandparents for proofing my story.

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