1
00:00:06,334 --> 00:00:13,275
"Stop that!" Will tried to protect his goldfish from Tish, the family cat.

2
00:00:13,276 --> 00:00:18,115
"Silly cat! Those fish aren't a snack, and I have to study!"

3
00:00:18,116 --> 00:00:22,304
He turned back to his science textbook and yawned.

4
00:00:22,305 --> 00:00:26,784
"This is boring," he murmured, pushing away his homework.

5
00:00:26,785 --> 00:00:31,795
"Isn't the ocean just water anyway? I'm so tired . . ."

6
00:00:31,796 --> 00:00:37,542
Will glanced at the time on his phone, set an alarm for ten minutes later, and crawled into bed.

7
00:00:37,543 --> 00:00:41,681
He immediately fell asleep and started to dream.

8
00:00:41,682 --> 00:00:45,640
Will found himself inside a submarine, floating in the middle of nowhere.

9
00:00:45,641 --> 00:00:50,408
"Wow! Where am I, QT?" he said, picking up his phone.

10
00:00:50,409 --> 00:00:59,090
"My GPS indicates that we're floating in the western Pacific Ocean," QT responded. "See?"

11
00:00:59,091 --> 00:01:03,595
"Wow. That's a lot of water," Will commented.

12
00:01:03,596 --> 00:01:12,833
"Almost three quarters of Earth is covered by water: the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Southern oceans.

13
00:01:12,834 --> 00:01:20,355
But they're connected into one world ocean because water moves all around," QT explained.

14
00:01:20,356 --> 00:01:26,301
Will peered at the map on QT's screen. "The continents seem so small."

15
00:01:26,302 --> 00:01:32,941
"They're bigger than they look," QT said. "Wait a second, and I'll take control of the ship."

16
00:01:32,942 --> 00:01:38,631
A beam of light shot from QT to the submarine's controls, and the ship began moving.

17
00:01:38,632 --> 00:01:44,053
"You can do that? Wow!" Will exclaimed.

18
00:01:44,054 --> 00:01:51,516
"I sure can. Right now we're over a strip around the continents called the continental shelf.

19
00:01:51,517 --> 00:01:55,483
It can extend four hundred kilometers from the coast.

20
00:01:55,484 --> 00:02:02,360
But it's not steep, so the water is usually 140 meters at its deepest."

21
00:02:02,361 --> 00:02:10,260
"Colorful tropical reefs and lots of animals live in this area," Will said, remembering something he had read in his textbook.

22
00:02:10,261 --> 00:02:19,640
"That's right," QT said. "Then the ground gets steeper. We call this section of the continents the continental slope.

23
00:02:19,641 --> 00:02:26,620
It goes all the way to the ocean floor." The submarine descended quickly, startling Will.

24
00:02:26,621 --> 00:02:29,212
"Where are we going?"

25
00:02:29,213 --> 00:02:34,129
"Down!" QT answered. "But I've got to turn on the lights.

26
00:02:34,130 --> 00:02:37,980
Sunlight doesn't penetrate very far into the water.

27
00:02:37,981 --> 00:02:44,740
The top layer of the ocean, the Sunlight Zone, is only two hundred meters deep.

28
00:02:44,741 --> 00:02:48,459
In this zone there's enough light for plants to survive.

29
00:02:48,460 --> 00:02:52,827
The fish and mammals that live here feed on the plants and—"

30
00:02:52,828 --> 00:02:56,001
"Each other?" Will guessed.

31
00:02:56,002 --> 00:03:04,497
"Right. As you go deeper, into the Twilight Zone, it grows dimmer and dimmer—not enough light for plants.

32
00:03:04,498 --> 00:03:10,469
So the creatures that live here usually have huge eyes to help them see.

33
00:03:10,470 --> 00:03:18,430
And they tend to come up to the Sunlight Zone to feed at night, when predators can't see them," QT explained.

34
00:03:18,431 --> 00:03:22,056
"That's where we are now, right? It's pretty dark here."

35
00:03:22,057 --> 00:03:29,313
Then Will noticed something enormous in the distance. "What's that? It's getting closer fast!"

36
00:03:29,314 --> 00:03:40,948
"Uh-oh . . . That's a giant squid. They live here, feeding on fish and smaller squid. It probably thinks we're lunch!"

37
00:03:40,949 --> 00:03:49,233
Just as the giant squid was about to wrap its tentacles around the submarine, QT turned the boat sharply, and they sped away.

38
00:03:49,234 --> 00:03:52,518
"Whew!" said Will.

39
00:03:52,519 --> 00:04:01,899
"As I was saying," QT continued, "by one thousand meters deep, there's no light. That's the start of the Midnight Zone."

40
00:04:01,900 --> 00:04:08,964
Will nodded. "This must be it." Then he spied something surprising. "Lights!"

41
00:04:08,965 --> 00:04:12,411
"Many species have adapted to life without sunlight.

42
00:04:12,412 --> 00:04:18,937
Some create their own light, to attract mates or prey or confuse predators."

43
00:04:18,938 --> 00:04:23,161
QT turned off the lights, and a fish with huge teeth swam by.

44
00:04:23,162 --> 00:04:28,040
It had what looked like a fishing pole coming out of its head, with a light on the top.

45
00:04:28,041 --> 00:04:32,636
"That's weird! What is it?" Will asked.

46
00:04:32,637 --> 00:04:36,926
"An anglerfish. It attracts food with that light."

47
00:04:36,927 --> 00:04:43,440
After the fish swam away, QT flashed the submarine's lights. Thousands of lights flashed back.

48
00:04:43,441 --> 00:04:49,167
Will was amazed. "Wow! That's a lot of anglerfish!"

49
00:04:49,168 --> 00:04:57,035
"And some squid, some shrimplike species, and other creatures. We're approaching the ocean floor now.

50
00:04:57,036 --> 00:05:05,862
The ocean floor starts about four thousand meters below the surface, but it can go as deep as six thousand meters."

51
00:05:05,863 --> 00:05:14,328
QT turned the lights back on, and a vast plain appeared before them. It was dotted with mountains.

52
00:05:14,329 --> 00:05:22,029
"It looks a lot like the land above water; most of it is flat, but there are also mountains and valleys.

53
00:05:22,030 --> 00:05:31,820
Those little mountains are called seamounts. If they become big enough to reach the surface, their name changes to islands."

54
00:05:31,821 --> 00:05:36,386
"Cool!" Will exclaimed. Then he noticed something else.

55
00:05:36,387 --> 00:05:41,579
"What are those tubes, with the black stuff erupting out of them?"

56
00:05:41,580 --> 00:05:50,373
"They're called black smokers," QT said. "They release toxic gases and hot water from underground.

57
00:05:50,374 --> 00:05:56,273
For a long time, people thought nothing could live down here, but they were wrong."

58
00:05:56,274 --> 00:06:05,033
QT shined a bright light near one of the smokers, and they saw fish and crabs swimming among long, white tubes with red tips.

59
00:06:05,034 --> 00:06:14,205
"Those are tubeworms. They actually get their energy from those toxic substances. But let's look behind us too."

60
00:06:14,206 --> 00:06:17,812
As the submarine turned, the ocean floor dropped away.

61
00:06:17,813 --> 00:06:22,918
QT said, "That's the Mariana Trench, a huge valley.

62
00:06:22,919 --> 00:06:33,282
Its deepest part is the Challenger Deep, at 11,000 meters under the surface. But life exists even there. Let's go see."

63
00:06:33,283 --> 00:06:41,457
As they floated over the edge, they heard a creak. Worried, Will asked, "What was that?"

64
00:06:41,458 --> 00:06:47,305
QT ran a safety check of the submarine, and "DANGER!" appeared on the phone's screen.

65
00:06:47,306 --> 00:06:51,287
But QT sounded calm. "Our submarine made that noise.

66
00:06:51,288 --> 00:06:58,477
We are under extreme pressure down here, and the weight of all the water above us is pressing on the boat.

67
00:06:58,478 --> 00:07:03,200
We shouldn't go much deeper. We don't want to get squished and—"

68
00:07:03,201 --> 00:07:07,069
But before QT could finish, the submarine window cracked!

69
00:07:07,070 --> 00:07:13,008
A stream of water shot inside, splashing Will.

70
00:07:13,009 --> 00:07:22,754
He woke with a start and saw the cat jump away from the fishbowl, shaking its wet paw. "Tish! Stay away from that fishbowl!"

71
00:07:22,755 --> 00:07:30,602
Will went to his desk. "Oceans aren't boring. They're awesome!" he thought, quickly filling in a worksheet.

72
00:07:30,603 --> 00:07:37,197
Before long, he crawled back into bed—this time, for the night.