After her interesting conversation with Guido, Elana decided to move on and head toward her lab, where she was going to in the first place. While her research was rather important and meant to be secretive, she was fond of chatting with fellow scientists and workers. They offered a bit of sanity for the daily routine, something that was sorely missing from the first lab, which is probably rotting somewhere in the abyss, rusting and decaying as the wounds from the past heal and nature reclaims its space.
S’ara was walking down the aisle and passed Elana, giving a quick smile and nod. She didn’t particularly feel like talking. A few steps later and her footsteps stopped. Looking out of a window she saw a rather ominous shape appear from the waters. Closer it came, revealing a large submarine. It approached the docking station, connecting to the Sealab. However, it wasn’t the size of the sub that took the felidae aback, it was the logo of her secret sponsor, Wey-Yu Industries, that was present on the vessel.
[hr]
Arnold Holder, Robert Mason, and Jack Cain departed from their submarine and were now in the Sealab. It was obvious that these men looked out of place, as tattoos covered their rippling bodies. Their short military haircuts also pointed to their past. If the tattoos were not telling enough, these men belonged to the Rhodesian Navy. More specifically, the Shock Divers. The SD is considered the Rhodesian equivalent of a Underwater Combat Diving team in use by foreign nations.
Arnold was in front of the two others, his sneakers impacting the floor as he held over-sized ballistic cases. Setting them aside in a conveinent location, he looked back and pointed at the sub. The other two understood the message, placed their cases down, and went back for the rest. Holder wore a rather tight fitting polo-shirt and swim trunks. His next objective was to track down a being by the name of Elana, which he proceeded diligently to. Returning from the submarine, Mason and Jack retrieved several liquid tanks filled with what was a rather pinkish fluid.
Arnold Holder was walking down one of the interconnecting tubes until he spotted a Vulpine female on her way opposite of where he came from. He raised his hand and said out loud, “Excuse me Miss, are you Elana Navinsku?”
His legs continued to walk until he was finally within casual conversation distances. When the distance closed, Arnold was a little taken back by how short Vulpines were in comparison to humans like himself, even more so with her race’s lithe figures. Holding out a hand in a manner of greetings, he continued, “Arnold Holder, I’m here on a research mission to explore Ef Noversu. Sorry if this seems a little quick but we have authorization for a private lab. All the necessary funding is already set up, but I do need to ask this, is the security adequate? We are transporting and using some rather classified stuff in the endeavor.”
Elana paused, bringing a finger to her mouth. “Ef Noversu… Ef Noversu…” “Oh! The trench! Yes, it’s just to the west. Traditional divers should probably avoid that area, as it is rather easy to get lost, especially at the lower depths. Nitrox will probably not be sufficient in that area. Come to think of it, that’s probably not recommended for most of the area around here. I hope they told you all that.”
“As for the security, yes, it’s adequate here. We don’t really have a force, so to speak, but if you remember to close your door, no one should be able to get in unless they know the access code.” She paused, again in thought. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”
“Holder, Arnold Holder,” said the large diver while still holding out his hand. His smile was genuine and his posture friendly, he resumed, “As to Nitrox, we are familiar with it not adequate for our needs, then again, our needs are rather unconventional with what we are planning on.”
A voice emanated from down the tube, “Hey Arnie! Stop chatting with the chick! We gotta get the fluids in!”
Arnold looked at the direction where the voice came from, then nodded towards Elana, “Well, that’s that. Figured I’d give you a heads up since you are the lead scientist of this lab. We can talk later.”
The diver started jogging back in the direction from whence he came to help load the fluids to their private lab. If one looked, they would notice a rather large cylindrical shaped and metallic object on wheels. A window cutout revealed a rather pinkish looking substance.
Robert Mason sunk to the depths, an never-ending chasm of blackness enveloped around his special diving apparatus. Resembling an astronaut suit, Robert was immersed within a pink fluid. Strangely, he showed no signs of drowning. Rather breathing slowly and forcefully, mouth open. The liquid was a specially designed form of Perfluorocarbon, oxygen rich and the perfect substitute for air or gaseous mixtures in extreme environments. One downside was that regular voice communications would not work well, as noted as the sinking man typed into a keyboard and display screen on his left forearm.
“Black Dawn in Progress. 90% down.” he typed. The depths were extreme, the pressures and temperatures were enough to squeeze an elephant to the size of a mouse. Yet Mason felt fine, aside from a little on the cold side. The insulation of the suit, along with the liquid heating and flow pack on his back, were holding up. Until suddenly, the suit warned him of the approached bottom. Mason turned on the lights, illuminating only a few yards ahead. Then the silty bottom came rushing into the field of light. With a very faint thud, his boots impacted the ground. It kicked up more than enough silt to obscure his vision, even to the point where he could not see his own hands in front of him.
Arnold Holder was back at the top of Ef Noversu, in his regular diving suit maintaining a pattern. He was to observe and keep a remote transmitter that connected Robert to the main computer which Jack Cain monitored from the safety of the lab. Jack was just sweating, the door was locked, and the shades were pulled down. If anyone here knew about the purpose of their mission, it would have sparked a global war. Tensions were high enough, and Jack was on the verge of a panic attack. Despite him and the rest of his mates being Shock Divers and been in and out of hairy situations without a sweat, this mission topped it all in the pucker factor.
“Hit the Floor. Making Way to Package”
The silt finally settled around Robert as he could finally see a few yards away. He began walking slowly as his boots were weighted down to ensure the descent. He began the long walk to the package. Deciding to turn up the brightness of the lamps, he turned the switch over. Now instead of a few yards, he could see easily a hundred yards around him. It scared away the denizens of the depths, several creatures that looked alien scurried or swam away. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a crumpled wreck of a submarine, long ago lost from wars before his time. One boot in front of the other, the diver marched.
“Package is 500 yards away. Continue Progress.” typed Cain as he was visibly sweating. He even muttered, “Jesus, sweating like a hooker in a church,” under his breath.
After fifteen minutes, Mason reached his destination. Before him was a unmanned submersible drone. It had went down at a predetermined destination the day the group of Shock Divers showed up. They couldn’t risk a wireless transmission to send the codes for activation, for fear of the transmission being caught or a rouge transmission being received. The diver opened a panel, revealing a keypad for the activation codes. He began to punch in the numbers that was memorized. The drone buzzed slightly, as it’s inner workings started up. So much money and time was put into the highly secretive innards of the submersible. Robert reached over to his keypad and looked at the text that showed up.
“Tracking Says Off-Target. Needing Relocation 20 Yards Away.”
A second of sudden realization as Jack Cain’s eyes shot open and every fiber in his body tensed. On a scale of one to ten, the pucker factor went straight to 20. Jack turned around, and removed the weights stuck to the bottom of his boots. He waddled as quickly as possible to put distance between him and the drone, before finally activating the propellant rockets that sent him up to the top.
— Begin quote from ____
The Rhode Reader
Urthquake Hits Genosha and the Tolorian Empire!
Just yesterday, a massive Urthquake registering 8.7 on the Richter Scale hit the Tolorian Empire and Genosha. Most of the damage being done to the Tolorian Empire. It is estimated that over 5,000 deaths, with many more wounded, have occurred. Several aftershocks have been recorded, some even in the Rhodesian mainland. Minor damages have been witnessed and a few fires, along with minor injuries reported in Rhodesia. The Rhodesian President and Vice-President have offered their condolences and aid to the greatly affected nations.
The Rhode Reader has reached out to known geologist, Dr. Mark Himm, for comment. Dr. Himm has commented, “This is a freak occurrence. It is very rare for an Urthquake to happen nearby, even rarer considering the size and intensity of such an event. Our men and women are baffled at how this happened in the first place, especially with very little warning.”
Meanwhile, Ultra-Nationalists in Rhodesia has protested the giving of aid, even more so at the recent proposal of accepting more foreigners into the nation. The political representatives were already under fire for passing the Genoshan Reconstruction Act. This event may lead to a rise in the fascist political party.
— End quote
Jack, Arnold, and Robert were busy staring at the latest political newsflash from the Rhode Reader from the safety of their private lab. They didn’t know what to think until Robert Mason spoke up, “Twenty… F***king… Yards…”
“Dammit, we got lucky. A yard or two off and we would have been quartered and labeled as terrorists in our nation,” commented Jack Cain.
“Enough miserable talk,” said Arnold Holder, “this might benefit our nation in some way.”
“How so?! The Target was Prussia and Serenitech! Not The Tolorian Empire or the Genoshans!” shouted Jack.
“Jack, calm down,” Mason commented shakily, his arms outstretched and not anticipating what his fellow diver might do.
“Jack,” said Arnold, “It’s precisely what they need. You know how are bosses are. They want an expansionist Rhodesia. This will work to our benefit more so than we think. Instead of crippling our enemies, we have the perfect excuse to extend our borders.”
Elana had performed enough testing on her own to determine if the plant would survive at their depths in her lab at Calesu. Now was time to test it. She grabbed her gear and the specially-designed tank and set them on a cart (it wasn’t too heavy, but if a cart’s nearby, why not use it?). She changed into her diving suit - a neoprene one piece swimsuit wetsuit with a back zipper, colored in black and yellow. Vekaiyuns typically refrained from wearing full wetsuits unless completely necessary. The reason? The sleeves would pull on their fur, making diving an uncomfortable experience.
She nonchalantly opened the door and headed to one of the diving chambers, pushing her cart along. She placed a jacket over the experimental diving cylinders - one of which housed the plant which could allow for a near perfect aqualung.
While she was definitely up for mild chatter, her research was much more important. It most certainly could not be compromised. Once she reached the diving chamber, she began doing stretches, as this would be a long dive, after all.
S’ara sent her reports to her colleagues in DuVall. After satisfied with the simulations, she was confident that overfishing would be the least of the Veridian Empire’s worries. Still, she sat in her chair with a weird sensation of emptiness.
While she was away, her nation transformed in what could be seen as a radical shift towards right thinking policies. Mandatory military service for citizenship, the recent surge of anti-communist protests in DuVall and other cities in the formerly known Rhodesia. So many changes happened that alienated her from her homeland, and it was unlikely she would return. As far as she was concerned, there was no home for S’ara, rather wanting to be on the move. Her co-workers were eager to come home, but her? All she could do now in her new residence was to continue with other projects related to the sea.
As Jason and Ron packed their bags, Arnold Holder stopped by the lab and knocked on the doorway. Slightly startled, she looked up and noticed the overtly large figure. She asked, “Yes, can I help you?”
Arnold looked curiously at the female in her charcoal gray labcoat, “You are not coming on the sub with the rest of us?”
S’ara knew sooner or later someone would ask this type of question, not eager to head back. With a prepared response she said, “Not really, I relayed my thoughts of continuing work from the Sealab, citing that I’ve been more efficient at it.”
“Ah, well ok then. Well it was a pleasure getting to know you for a while, you have fun and be safe.”
Presenting a fake smile she replied, “Thanks, you enjoy the ride home.”
As soon as the Shock Diver left, S’ara gave a sigh and went back to writing in the notebook with a pen.