The others had been amazed. Some had been perturbed. “All people has to make this resolution for themself,” Stone advised me. “The Pearse Resurgence shouldn’t be a spot to experiment. Once you go in there, try to be utilizing gear and methods that are going to work at that depth. You don’t wish to be doing physiological experiments at 300 meters’ depth. That’s what killed all the different divers who went past 200 meters’ depth. So my recommendation to Harry and anyone else who needs to play this recreation is similar as what I gave Exley: Go. To. A chamber. Simulate this primary.”

“The group was type of cut up,” Menduno advised me. “I imply, everyone was supportive of Harry, however there have been some folks within the group that thought: You’re gonna die. A few of the folks within the group had been upset and anxious that their good friend was going to go off and do that factor and probably die.”

Across the first nook of the Pearse Resurgence, the sunshine disappears, as if the darkish partitions, black marble striated with veins of grey quartz, have absorbed it. The cave typically narrows a lot that should you stood, you may contact the ceiling. Different components billow out into huge chambers. At one level, jagged fingers of rock bristle from the partitions. Different, deeper components of the cave are easy and virtually completely spherical, damaged solely by darkish fissures that result in unexplored tunnels. 

As every part of the cave will get found, it receives a reputation. Taking place in February 2023, Harris and Challen handed via the Nightmare Crescent, the Needlebender, the Gargleblaster, Weaver’s Ledge, the Large Room, and eventually the Brooklyn Exit. The water was 6 °C and completely clear. Apart from the temporary hisses and clicks of the rebreathers—the crackle of the solenoid triggering, the sigh of gases being pumped via the loop—there was an otherworldly silence.

At 120 meters, the cave opens up onto a plateau that drops off into an abyss. “At that time it’s like standing on the precipice,” Harris advised me. “And it appears like you’re actually starting the journey.” 

The abyss takes you down 50 meters via a vertical tunnel. By 170 meters, Harris might monitor the place he was on the map in his head, following acquainted rock formations. They needed to protect their power and forestall carbon dioxide buildup of their joints, so that they restricted their motion, counting on underwater scooters to maneuver. They slowly tied off at completely different factors within the descent, working round ropes left behind from dives previous, a few of which had been put in by Doolette 20 years earlier than. 

At 230 meters, Harris had executed one thing no one had executed earlier than—swimming freely to unimaginable depths and inhaling hydrogen.

Harris remembers that although his thoughts was absorbed with their strict plan, hypervigilant to any unusual noises from his rebreather that would imply failure, he took a second to pause, pondering: “What if I by no means obtained to see this once more?” 

At 200 meters, Harris launched the hydrogen. For the subsequent 30 meters he gauged his physique’s response. He was calm, clearheaded, however much more, he observed that the sunshine tremors in his arms he often obtained at this depth, an early signal of high-pressure nervous syndrome, had disappeared. He seemed to Challen, who was utilizing helium, as he tied off the rope: his dive accomplice’s arms had a visual tremor.