Deep Six (Part 2)

Posted on Fri Apr 21st, 2017 @ 3:33am by Lieutenant Ryan North & Ensign Theodore Vega

Episode: Fishing Expedition
Location: Verona IV
Timeline: MD-03, 0930

Their pilots slowly crept them over a ridge towards the valley below. Ryan was so busy checking his sensors that he failed to see what was right in front of him. When he looked up he was utterly in awe. The floor of the valley was alive with flowing lakes of what looked like blue lava. Occasionally, one of the lava streams would burst, sending the molten rock into the water and turning it into some sort of sparkling gemstone like material. 

"Wow," Ryan breathed. "Theo, are you seeing this?"

"Huh?" Theo said, dragging his eyes away from the sensor display. "Oh. Yeah, that is pretty cool, isn't it?"

"Running geo-thermal scans now," Ryan said, hands dancing over his station. "This has got to be one of the most beatiful things that I have ever seen."

"Those large chunks of lava have an uusally high mineral concentration," Lt. Palmer stated. "That includes elements that we haven't been able to identify yet. They are eventually carried away on the current and the locals mine them to create some pretty stunning jewelery. They call it oceanglass."

"That's interesting," Theo commented. "Is it specific to this hot spot, or is it a common feature elsewhere?"

"It's a phenomenon that occurs around all the geo-thermal activity in the ocean," Lt. Palmer said. "The deeper you go, the more intense the surges of lava get."

"That's amazing," Ryan said, shaking his head. "I'm focusing the sensor scans on the on lava flows now."

"I can see what you mean about the unusual elemental makeup," Theo said as the spectrometer readouts scrolled across his display. "Cobalt, samarium, iridium... all unusually high for a planet of this size and star type. Do they have the technology to do a core or even deep-mantle probe yet?"

"Not yet," Lt. Palmer answered. "At least none that would survive the depth pressure."

"Theo, take a look at the radiogentic signature of that iridium... is that in the theta band?" Ryan asked, tapping some more keys. "Or am I seeing things?"

"It certainly looks similar," Theo agreed, "but if it was, wouldn't we all be dead just from eating the fried fish?"

"That's another phenonemon that we've yet to identify," Lt. Palmer pointed out.

Ryan tapped several more keys. "The frequency is different, we should get a sample and take it back to the lab."

"Lt. Palmer," one of the pilots said. "We've detected another vessel near the edge of the Abyssal Field."

"The Children of the Depths?" Lt. Palmer asked

"Prepping a sample remote," Theo said, activating a small aquatic probe attached to the top of the submersible. "Sorry, the children what now?"

"They are an organization that seeks to undermine our way of life by spreading heretical lies," one of the pilots responded. "They will keep their distance from us."

Ryan quirked an eyebrow at Theo. "I suppose that's good news. I'm getting something else here, looks like a lifeform."

"Looks like a cross between a tube worm and large coral colony," Theo said, immediatelly dismissing any theological disputes as irrelevant to the task at hand. "There's a bunch of smaller fish and anthropods around and in it - commensals, maybe?"

"I think you're right," Ryan said, in agreement. "The electricial output coursing through that lifeform is nearly off the charts."

"It can probably harness the water currents caused by the heat in some way," Theo agreed. "You'll notice these bigger fish aren't getting near it, either because of the danger of a shock or because it hurts their magnetic sense receptors. I bet these little guys swimming in closer are basically clownfish."

"Let's make sure we get plenty of images," Ryan stated. He glanced over at another display. "That other ship still hasn't moved."

"Maybe they want their picture taken too?" Theo said. Under all this water picture was just a metaphor, of course; the really interesting data would be probably be in unpacking the readings from the magnetometer.

"Who knows," Ryan said, with a shrug. "They might just be camera shy."

"They're moving off," Lt. Palmer reported. He shook his head. "I'm curious as to look over their own findings of the situation."

"It'd definitely be useful to compare their readouts to ours," Theo said, "to give us a baseline for the same phenomena on both local and Federation sensors, so we could apply that to historical sensor readings."

"Regardless," Ryan said, bringing the conversation back to the topic at hand. "We have our own job to do. I'm getting another fairly large lifeform 100 meters to the north, very strong magnetic flux readings too."

"This one's moving," Theo said. "Based on the size on sonar, I'd say it's one of those..." He paused, trying to think back to briefing materials on the local megafauna. "The whale-like ones, what's the name?"

"Voyloran Divers," Ryan answered. 

"Right, those." Theo nodded, redirecting the sensors that way. "Looks like it may have seen us too, it seems to be swimming in this direction. Pretty quickly, actually... um."

"Let's back off a little bit," Ryan said, looking over at the pilots. "As I recall from the reading they can be pretty terroitorial. Maybe we wandered into one of thier breeding grounds."

"Makes sense. The area around the vent is pretty nutrient-rich, so there's a lot of prey."

"Alright, let's finish these scans. We are going to have a whole lot of data to go over when we get back to the research station."

"Just about... uh, pilot, you really should back away a little -" Theo stopped as there was a long screeching noise, as if something with a very large mouth had tried to bite the ship and then realized it was made out of metal. "Faster? I hope it didn't hurt itself..."

"Increase your speed," Ryan said, glancing at a screen. "It looks like it's gaining on us."

"Fire an electrostatic charge," Lt. Palmer ordered. "Aft launcher."

A glowing blue orb shot from the aft of the submerisble and impacted on the nose of the chasing creature. It went off with a flash of blue light, causing the creature to rear back and turn away.

"You didn't hurt it did you?" Ryan asked, looking over at Lt. Palmer. "We could have outrun it."

"It's fine," Lt. Palmer assured them. "It was merely an uncomfortable jolt, there are no lasting effects."

"Reeeeallly," Theo said. He made a note to look that up later. The electrical output had to have some really interesting effects on the predator/prey dynamic. "I've finished the collection sweep, we can move on any time."

"Let's get moving then," Ryan said. "We have plenty of other places to stop and collect some readings before heading back for the day."

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