Masao Protects His Family

This flow traces Masao Tanaka’s attempts to preserve his institute and protect Terry, culminating in the painful discovery that powerful institutions have used his family as part of a covert operation.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

A Son-in-Law Asked to Return

A Son-in-Law Asked to Return The appeal Masao asks Jonas to go to the Goliath and help investigate the Proteus loss. The JAMSTEC contract is at risk, and Jonas’s experience as a deep-sea pilot could help secure the report. A refusal with consequences Jonas declines because Angel is threatening the lagoon and because the Trench remains unbearable to him. Masao must make the journey himself, while Terry chooses to accompany him.

The Lagoon Disaster

The Lagoon Disaster A father’s shock News that Angel has killed three teenagers reaches Masao while he is aboard the Goliath. The shock overwhelms him, and he collapses on deck. A dream under pressure The incident intensifies Masao’s fear that the institute he built has become inseparable from loss. It also places the family’s safety and the future of the attraction under immediate strain.

The Heart Attack

The Heart Attack Strain becomes physical Masao sees the battered gateway removed from the canal and receives word that Terry is still in the Trench. He suffers a heart attack as anxiety and accumulated grief overwhelm him. A father refuses rest Even after hospitalization, he insists that he must reach Guam and act. His health is fragile, but the danger to Terry makes inaction impossible for him to accept.

The Conspiracy Revealed

The Conspiracy Revealed The real arrangement CIA representatives tell Masao that the institute’s financial collapse and the UNIS contract were part of a larger effort to give Benedict access to the Trench. His business partnership was used as cover. Betrayal compounded Masao understands that the lawsuits and institutional crisis were manipulated to bring his family into the operation. The revelation turns his earlier misgivings about Benedict into anger at the governments and agencies that used him.

Waiting for Their Return

Waiting for Their Return A family reunited Masao reaches Jonas and Terry after their escape pod surfaces. He has feared losing another child to the Trench, and now sees both return alive. Relief after betrayal Their survival does not erase the political manipulation or the institute’s losses. It gives Masao a chance to place family before the missions and institutions that repeatedly claimed his loyalty.

After the Proteus disaster

After Angel breaches the viewing corridor

After Masao returns to Monterey

Late in the novel, at the U.S. naval base in Guam

At the ending, after the escape pod reaches the surface