Sebastian Malloy, author, explorer and adventurer, is lowered beneath the frigid waters of the San Francisco Bay in a decommissioned eBay-purchased Soviet era bathysphere (dubbed the Aqua Hermitage), for the purpose of isolation from the surface world while he works on his various manuscripts and memoirs.
Tragedy strikes as, just before the adventure begins, his faithful manservant, Rudolpho, is kidnapped by Anastasia Valentine, Sebastian’s nefarious nemesis and ex-girlfriend, and spirited away to locations unknown, leaving Sebastian distressed, distraught and some other word which begins with the letter d.
Undeterred, Sebastian carries on with his undersea undertaking, while a hundred feet above his tiny steel bathysphere, a crew of intrepid and occasionally productive interns monitor his oxygen supply, search their spam filters for ransom notes from Anastasia, and suffer through bouts of sea sickness complicated by poor life choices.
The story continues…