Theo smiles at everyone in the submersible. "I'm gonna go out for a walk, guys. See ya later." The godling enters the airlock, waits for pressure equilibrium, and begins his deep sea swim.
Nissa replies, “Got it! With the modifications, I don’t think I need to land. It’s like I’m wearing a big metal swimsuit with fancy buttons!”
Kai sends Legion for a quick scan closer to the site, feeling very doubtful that this is indeed Atlantis.
At the same time, Kai turns BINAH off and concentrates on the whispering felt earlier.
Charles grins just a bit at the labels on the detector. For now he turns it to the lower setting and starts walking around between the mounds, seeing if it picks anything up, and if so where it's stronger.
Charles grins just a bit at the labels on the detector. For now he turns it to the lower setting and starts walking around between the mounds, seeing if it picks anything up, and if so where it's stronger.
The scanner doesn't pick up much TD-Rad from the mounds. Fine-tuned to detect a 'Kai' of TD-Rad, it does pick up stray energy here and there but not in unusual quantities around the mounds.
When it picks up TD-Rad it shows up like a floating particle of light, not unlike a tiny glowing Nissa. The light shows up on Charles' enhanced diving mask which also shows various health related information about himself.
There's a fairly significant glow coming from the crevice though.
turning BINAH off, the telepathic whispering becomes louder: "banoo atalas nawara nagi banoo atalas nawara nagi banoo atalas nawara nagi banoo atalas nawara nagi banoo atalas nawara nagi ..."
"There's a camera left behind by RSL, we might want to recover that and take a look at what it recorded." Kai points out the location of the tripod and camera on the ocean floor.
"Also, has anyone ever heard the words 'banoo atalas nawara nagi' before? Either the phrase or the separate words? Not too alarm anyone, but I am getting this whispered telepathically over and over."
Trying not to get too distracted by the whispering, Kai sends Legion to pick up the camera and bring it back to the Starfish for analysis.
Nissa isn’t much of an athlete, so being able to control a swimming mecha, using her arms and legs, is quite a feeling for her.
She comments on the shapes of the domes. “Those two look like umbrellas… oh! That one looks like Pac Man!” —which she only knows about from the 20th Century Film unit on video-game-based cartoons. As she reminisces, she starts dancing like her entire sophomore class did during the credit roll of one such cartoon.
Fortunately, she’s a skilled enough pilot that her swimming machine treads water with this motion. She catches herself and resumes normal swimming.
🎶 Oh, Captain Lou, y’know you’re still number one
🎵 But girls, they wanna have fun…
"No idea," Charles replies to Kai, glad enough that radio didn't convey the concern in his tone too well. At least he didn't think it did.
To everyone he says, "The detector's not showing much around here, but there's definitely something around the crevice."
Chiming in over the radio back at Kai "Do.. voices talk to you often? I knew someone who felt feelings. So don't ignore it. But no. Also.. how do you whisper think..?"
As such Zellgato will continue his viewing; but also follow along Legion a bit in Legion's retreival.
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Legion returns to the Starfish with the camera and enters through the 'doggo-door,' a tiny airlock specifically for drones.
The camera needs to be charged before it can be viewed. That will only take about 5 minutes.
Zellgato left an apocalyptic 2085 and ended up in 2219 of a happier timeline.
All the way down and now underneath the sea, Zellgato sees an ocean that is full of life. He saw the same thing on video other night while bingeing nature documentaries, but now he is seeing it firsthand.
It's nothing like the Atlantic ocean of his world which was heavily acidic in his time, despite tens of thousands of miles of floating kelp farms designed to reduce ocean temperatures while de-acidifying the ocean at the same time. In Zellgato's world, no one even dreams that the oceans will be like this again.
"Those are all very good questions," replies Kai to Zellgato's queries. "And no, this is the first time I hear whispers in my head like this. Usually I just feel what other people feel."
Kai retrieves the camera and starts charging it, enough to get it to boot and transfer the files to the Starfish computer. Legion is sent back outside to nose around the crevice with another scan.
Nissa snaps out of her funk and asks, “Who did you know that could hear thoughts, Zellgato? We have a friend who can do that… well, make that two now.
“Kai, if hearing whispered thoughts is new to you, congratulations.”
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The schools of fish that gathered around Nissa as she 'did the Mario' now scatter and seek out other choreography to dance with.
"Sorry, not my secret to mention. Although I do also know someone who can speak with thougths to an extent; although I only just now remembered it."
If Zellgato knew about Disney Movies he'd likely comment on that disney fish moment.
Legion returns from the crevice with the following information: it's dark and it's a long way down. The crevice is fairly wide, about 200 feet at the top, but zigs back and forth. It would be difficult to bring the Starfish down because it's not very maneuverable. The Starfish isn't built for the pressure that's down there either. Descending into the crevice will start to hurt those in the diving gear, but not right away.
"So, anything more to do up here, or is it time for the mechs to go down there? I suppose the rest of us could wait up a bit higher and if you need help you can fall back and see if you can lure things to where we can reach them."
Theo activates his deep dive suit comm. "Guys, ..I think I'm going to swim down, as an act of faith. Big Uncle Poseidon gave his blessing on this venture. And you have to admit: the lack of kraken, or lacken, was nice."
“Okay. If we’re low on visibility, I can light the way.”
Nissa wonders if the mech can grant her more visibility than her sundress. She also wonders whether her glow might attract a kraken and/or Nazi octopus. If she and Zellgato can guide swimmers without creating an obvious amber beacon, Nissa leaves her sundress dimmed completely…
…and while dimmed, she moves slowly so swimmers can keep up. At the same time, she uses the slow movement to draw as little attention as possible.
She’s confident that her attempt at stealthy swimming won’t attract dancing fish.
"You know your limits more than us; just don't sardine yourself. Death by the Bendz is not a good way. That said, we'll pull you out if need be."
Zellgato attemtps to follow suit with Nissa; although fully realizes they're complete foriegn matter in something else' territory means their large mechs are unlikely to remain unaware.
Theo makes his way down.
Kai sends Legion to follow the people in mechs and diving suits as far down in the crevasse as it can go, to provide either additional light or an additional manipulator arm, should it be needed.
"Legion is going to do a bit of scanning ahead of you and I'll let you know if anything strange pops up."
As Nissa and Zellgato quietly descend with lights off and Theo swims somewhat noisily behind them, Legion uses its deep sea modified sensors to scan the bottom. Before it is halfway down, Legion detects something on the bottom of the trench ... two things, actually, one that reads as metal--showing up in blue and green on Legion's scans--and one that has an energy signature, showing up red and yellow on its scans.
As Nissa and Zellgato quietly descend with lights off and Theo swims somewhat noisily behind them, Legion uses its deep sea modified sensors to scan the bottom. Before it is halfway down, Legion detects something on the bottom of the trench ... two things, actually, one that reads as metal--showing up in blue and green on Legion's scans--and one that has an energy signature, showing up red and yellow on its scans.
Charles trails behind with the detector, making sure not to get too deep.
The occasional tiny motes of TD-Radiation become more and more frequent until Charles just sees white light on the screen. The most significant sources of it align with the places Legion identified on the map.
[b]"Do we split up to survey, or one at a time? You lot have had more experience with the whole... things in this world and the hole things."[/b}
Nissa replies, “This is uncharted territory for me, Zellgato. I think maybe we both move at once but stay spread out. I imagine a Nazi octopus can attack us both at once if we’re both in its reach.
“Not like I know how big it is.” The way she says that almost implies, and I’m not sure I wanna know!
Almost.
Kai finishes reviewing the footage from the recovered camera at triple speed, and shares the findings with the rest.
"Well, it looks like there is definitely something with tentacles down there. A big something. So... um, be careful."
"Definitely getting something from the detector," Charles reports. "From right where the footage shows something might be. Like I said, maybe see if you can lure that thing up here so the rest of us can help without getting crushed if it tries to attack you."
Nissa says, “Maybe these machines can outmaneuver a sea beast.”
She gradually sinks toward it , ready to high-tail in the opposite direction once she draws its attention.
"Remember.... If we end up killing a nazi octopus; I would like to eat part of it." an odd plea escapes Zellgato's thoughts prior to him shifting in behind Nissa's mecha; However he will maintain turning radius. Leaving Nissa to see the front; while he keeps an eye towards the area around as well as the accompanying divers.
Nissa and Zellgato touch down on the bottom. The mechas, no matter how softly they land, stir up a lot of silt and sand. Once it is possible to see again, their lights settle on something metal, bell-like, and about 15' in diameter.
As the dust settles, the mechas' lights center on the device illuminating a white swastika. The rust and corrosion make it clear that, whatever this is, it's been on the bottom of the ocean floor for a while.
☀️
Nissa’s eyes flare from a tension she can’t fully grasp.
“I hate Illinois Nazis,” she mutters as she adjusts her phoenix-feather boa. She uses her comm to take a picture and send the image to the Team Venture chat.
Everyone receives a murky image in the Team Venture chat. It's a metallic bell-shaped device, which is heavily corroded and has a visible white swastika on the side.
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" Wait Illinois? That is a state right? How do you know its that group? Have they done undersea stuff before? Any M.O.'s to know about? And keep an eye out."
Zellgato realizes he never bothered to try retrofiting a mech to work with his microlab; lamenting that dumb mistake. "...So.. Should we go lift it up and see if its a infosphere scanner, or a cover to a hatch?"