“I’m fixing the radio,” Jun announced, his voice tight with panic. “We cannot afford to be this blind anymore. If we are lost, we need help.” Jun dropped to his knees inside the cramped cabin, pulling off the melted plastic cover of the radio box. Tools clattered around him as he frantically stripped the burnt battery wires, trying to bypass the short-circuit with a spare piece of copper wire. His hands shook as he fought against the ticking clock.
Outside, the ocean was dead silent, but the fish-finder screen on the wall was acting completely erratic. The green dot had stopped moving away. It was now circling them slowly in the deep rocky trench, lingering like a shadow.
“Come on, come on,” Jun muttered, sparks flying from his pliers as he twisted the raw copper together. Suddenly, the dead console gave a weak, static-filled hiss. A tiny green indicator light blinked on. It wasn’t fully fixed, but a weak signal was finally cutting through.