Supercape

"Light? I think you saw that little trick at your, umm, little getaway", he winked. He couldn't resist. "Let there be light! And lo, there was..." A brilliant flash of white light bathed the walrus and a few hundred feet around it for a fraction of a second. It would have been brighter still, was it not for the high level of sediment in the water. The ship gave another ominous creak.

"Spiffing!" smiled Quentin. "Jolly good show! Bravo!" Adjusting his bow tie for the umpteenth time, he pressed his face against the window. Yes, he could just make out the glistening algae. Now, plot a path to the Walrus, lets have a guess at the thermal currents - damn if only some of those instruments were still working. Anyway, to business. It wasn't perceptible to any but Quentin, but a stream of excited molecules, only a few particles wide, started to behave most peculiarly. Jumping around and reconfiguring themselves, they started to emit a low level microwave burst. The result, a line of heated up water from the Walrus to the vent. It wasn't easy, and it took concentration. "I think that's it, Stesha, hard to calibrate, and the heat disperses quickly. Too much, and its fried algae for supper..."

"A boost?" said Quentin, scratching his head. "What kind of boost... you mean getting closer to the vent?, or something else." He was quite lost as to exactly what Stesha meant, her ability to control plants was a mystery to him. Perhaps it was the stress of the situation, perhaps the pressure (both psychological and physical) was getting to him, but he leapt to the only conclusion that presented itself to his mind... "Young lady, I hope you are not referring to any illicit drugs!"

"Erm... well, there is one way to get to the algae. " Stesha followed his gaze to the airlock and the adjoining closet, marked in cold steel letters: "DEEP SEA DIVING COSTUME" "Caution: Qualified Persons Only" With a somewhat apologetic shrug, he looked at Stesha. "It may be our only way out of here. " Looking out of the window, he continued "Anything I can see, I can irradiate. A touch of microwave radiation should warm up the water, no problem. Its just so damn dark out there. "

Slick felt his blood boiling, and his skin turned a dark red. "What's this stuff. WHAT ARE THEY DOING?" She shouted. With a grunt of rage, he slammed his fist against the wall, leaving a small dent. "Godamn it! This is wrong!" He marched towards the other door, and this time subtle was clearly off the menu. "I'm going to find out exactly what's happening here, and they are going to pay. " And with those icy steel words, he flung the door nearly off its hinges.

Liebniz looked quite shocked, and stood dazed for a few seconds. Then, his academic instincts took over. "Well, yes, of course. I suppose I could take a look at what we have got. But to be honest, Quill knows more about botany than me. " Drawing himself to his full height and holding on to his lab coat lapels, whilst raising his chin, he pronounced "I confine myself to the higher intellectual sciences. " Quill snorted. "Well go and sort out the power supply then, Liebniz. I'll take a look at what we have got out there. " He peered out of the window. There wasn't a whole lot to see, but he could make out the flume and the glowing algae that circled it. A whole microcosm of strange flora and fauna had evolved here. He felt a small groan, and the ship tilted another few degrees. Turning to Stesha, he lowered his voice so Liebniz wouldn't hear. "Uh oh. I think we may have a small structural integrity problem..."

Quentin scratched his head. Then unloosened his tie. Then cracked his knuckles. "Well." "Um." "Err..." Liebniz exploded "Quill you idiot! You dragged me down here, and we are all going to die. DIE! DIEEEE!" The man was clearly hysterical, and had lost all sense of reason. "WELL I'M NOT GOING TO STAND FOR IT! ABANDON SHIP!!!" Liebniz roughly shoved Green away, who tumbled with the akward angle of the floor, banging his head on an instrument and promptly passing out. Right next to Fleur, he started struggling with the airlock, intent on opening it...

Even in the crisis, Green could not abide anything bad said about his pride and joy "It's not the ship, It's not the ship... it's... I don't know..." Liebniz was babbling a prayer in German. The Walrus keeled over and the whole crew felt a violent jar as they hit the ocean floor and rolled slightly, the floor now at a 20 degrees angle. "Its the Vent", replied Quentin, shaken but still calm. "It magnified the energy sensors and sent them back, overloading the systems. I bet half the circuits of the ship are fried, if not more!" The emergency lights were dim, and not all working, but after a bit, his eyes accomodated and they could make each other out. He went to the window, and looked out. They were right next to the vent, pouring out is rich hydrocarbon smoke, with the dim light of lava cooling as it hit the water of the ocean.

"Just a moment, I'm sick of this tarpaulin. " Without any shame, he took of his clothes, and changed into the collected garments of the two guards. The clothes didn't exactly fit at first, but with a little wiggle of her joints and musculature, they ended up fitting perfectly.

Quentin was looking out of the window ports with Stesha, marvelling at both the life and, to his uncanny senses, the energy flow pouring and dancing out of the vent. They were very close indeed now. What was that odious Liebniz on about now. Ozone? Reluctantly, he tore himself away from the window port, and started examining some of the sensors. Thats odd. Some very strange readings here. "Green, take a look at this... the tachyon emissions we are using as sensors. They seem to be rebounding of some kind of natural resonator down there. Well, it looks like they are being magnified, and... ummm... reflected..." Suddenly a red light bathed the Walrus, and a siren sounded. "WARNING: ENGINE FAILURE. WARNING POWER FAILURE" Liebniz stared in panic, Green was only slightly less frentic. And to be honest, Quentin felt a gut wrenching anxiety himself...

1d20+7=25 That, I presume, is a hit! DC 22 Toughness save...

"Some bum went and threw up on me outside. " Slick replied, walking up to them. "Needless to say, I gave him a good seeing to, the scum. I could sure use a new set of clothes, however. Like yours, for instance..." As Slick walked towards them, his muscles tensed, ready to unleash a KO blow...

"Imitate his voice?" asked Slick, incredulously. "I think I can do better than that..." With another slow crawling of flesh and oil, the tramp slowly morphed into the features of the bouncer who had just departed. "Of course, the right clothes would be nice, if you have any with that jack in the box contraption of yours, Dragonfly. Otherwise, this tarpaulin covers a multitude of sins. "

Slick is trying a bluff/bribe/whatever 1d20+7=27 Wow! Bingo! This must make up for all our terrible luck in the fight! Your call on modifiers, Troll: If its bribery according to house rules she gets +6 due to wealth bonus (not sure she could carry that much around in disguised form). No idea what the DC is of course.

Slick quickly started to stumble towards the man, putting on a drunken voice. "Yersh, Corsh' we have, man. Thish playsh ish Da Bomb!" He stumbled again, and straightened up. "And here is my invatashon!" he pronounced, waving a roll of cash.

"Depends on what we find!" smiled Quill, dragging himself away from a ridiculously elaborate particle sensor. "This is field science, my dear!" His eyes glazed over slightly "why, we could get our names on over a dozen papers!" he glanced at Liebniz "Guess who will be demanding first authorship, of course!" he bristled. Green was examining some oceanic maps. He estimated it would take two more hours to get to the vent, and now that he had prepared his crew, they should perhaps relax a bit. With a few strokes of a computer keyboard, some classical music started piping through the Walrus' speakers. With another press of a button, he produced a bowl of what looked like creamy soup. "High protein, high calorie rations, folks. Not too bad, and keeps us going as long as we need to!"

So, the voyage started. "Feels like twenty thousand leagues under the sea" laughed Quentin. And well it might have been, as the Walrus was as well equipped as the fabled Nautilus, perhaps even more so. The interior was comfortable enough for four people to sleep and live in for a short period of time. Green ran through the features. Computers, scientific instruments, food and medical supplies, a tiny kitchenette, even an airlock and deep sea diving suit. The walrus had three small remote controlled drones, also armed with various instruments, and a small robotic arm. The power supply was state of the art lithium based batteries with hybrid petrochemical fuel cells, more than capable of running the entire operation for a week or two. Oxygen supplies were a little more limited, to a day or just under before the atmosphere would start to get stale with all four on them on board. Green carried on his proud presentation as the ship sailed into the ocean, and started to submerge to the depths. It was all exciting enough for Quentin to not mind Liebniz' constant sycophantic ramblings to Green.

Quentin was a little shocked, but it was science after all. Giving Stesha a friendly pat on the shoulder, he stepped into the decontamination chamber. He felt the scrutiny of laser beams dancing over his body, a brief hum, and the bathing glow of amber light for about ten seconds. At which point, he stepped out. "Decontamination complete", intoned the rather lifeless female voice of the Walrus. Liebniz underwent the same process, not missing the opportunity to lavish praise on Green's excellent scientific standards, and how, if he was to get a grant, he could assure that the same meticulous methods would be used. "Your turn, dear", called out Quentin, to Stesha.

"Quite so, my dear lady, quite so!" replied the Professor, rubbing his hands with glee. He escorted Stesha to the waterfront, which was host to a magnificent shiny yellow submarine, bristling with probes and antenna of various sorts. It was clearly a magnificent vehicle, combining high tech with a sleek, stylish design. It was fairly big, and looked like it could comfortably house four people and the various equipment in it. Mr. Green shook Stesha's hand "lovely to have you on board! Prof Q says you are highly valuable, and a trusted research assistant." he smiled "Great hair, too!" With a flourish, he opened the door to the yellow submarine, called the Walrus. As they entered, a slightly metallic voice intoned "Welcome... [Mr. Green] and [three] associates. I am the Walrus." A pleasant bonging alarm sounded "Please be advised of additional plant based life form aboard." Mr. Green frowned slightly. "How odd! Sorry folks, but its just four of us... any additional passengers will screw up the calibration of the sensors. We aren't going to be able to do our analysis if we have any plant's aboard." He looked at Stesha "Pet flytrap you have there miss?"

"Absolutely splendid, my dear! Absolutely splendid!" Quentin was much cheered by the news. The day was turning out quite well. If only Liebniz would develop some tropical disease and have to bow out, the day would be perfect. "I can't thank you enough. I promise you won't regret it!" Foolish words, he would come to realise.

"Are you really the subtle type?" asked Slick, with a slight smile on her face. She turned to Dragon Fly, "Any Idea's? I thought this old fellow is always good for a little spying..." and with that, her fleshed bulged, expanded, and contracted, as the streaks of oily excrement dripped off her. Standing in the place of the attractive and athletic woman stood a dishevelled and dirty gentleman of the road. He even smelled of alcohol. His clothes were still of the wrong sort, but Slick pulled the tarpaulin off a dumpster, and once it was pulled over the vagrant, the illusion was complete.

Quentin bit his lip and tried to remain composed. He didn't succeed all that well, and his voice came out rather strained, to the point of spluttering. "LIEBNIZ. Hmph. Intelligent fellow, I'll give him that. An intellect married to a base, deceitful, spiteful and backstabbing personality. He just doesn't play cricket, I can assure you of that. " Regaining his psychological balance, he straightened his bow tie. "Hmph. Well, the less said about that cad, the better. Don't worry, just ignore the man. " "Are you coming by regular or irregular means? Not that I mind, but lets not make this too overt, if you know what I mean. And keep my extracurricular activities under your hood, so to speak. Last thing I want is Liebniz catching on to that."

The Journey was fast enough on Dragonfly's bike. She seemed to know all the short cuts, and the route seemed to perfectly bypass all red lights (or did they just turn green as needed?) They pulled up by the riverside, keeping to the side roads. Nothing out of the ordinary so far. Lots of warehouses, the smell of the river, few people around. Slick slid off the bike and noted the smudges on the Jacket. "Sorry about that, dear. I will try to keep my juices to myself next time. But you do make it hard. " She winked. She had, of course made sure several large denomination bills had also slid into the Jacket pocket.

Quentin smiled. He really was fond of the young lady. Nice keen bright mind. Pleasant personality. Owned own planet in alternative dimension. Ticked all the boxes for an friend. "Bring yourself, a packed lunch, and a swimming costume if you are feeling adventurous" he replied. "We are invited to a scientific expedition to the bottom of the ocean. Splendid little underwater vent, and unique little micro environment. " He lowered his voice slightly. "That swine Liebniz is coming along. Can't let him get one over on me, so I could use your particular expertise and green fingers to take a look at what's down there. "

Professor Quill approached the dockyard to meet the young gentleman who had invited him. Greg Green was his name, a rather smart, and extremely wealthy, graduate of Freedom University who had taken up semi-professional environmentalism as his hobby. Of course, his arch-nemesis, professor Liebniz, was already there, sucking up to Green in his unbearable way, trying to curry favour and grant money from the wealthy heir to the Green fortune. The two professors nodded at each other, with Liebniz curling his lip at Quill "Ahhh. Quill. I missed your lecture on biomolecular fractals. I hear the lighting was well done. " "Liebniz" grumbled Quill, imagining the vindictive academic's clothes evaporating. Mr. Green welcomed the two professors, and motioned them to his magnificent submarine perched at the docks. "Equipped with all the very latest scanners, computers, and whatnot!" he proclaimed excitedly. It just so happened that Mr. Green had found a slight deep sea vent, an area at the bottom of the ocean where magma was pouring out. Around this flume, a micro-environment of new life. "So what do you want to physicists for, Mr. Green?" queried Quill. "Well, it's most peculiar, Professor. The readings are off. It seems that there is some sort of electromagnetic bond between the vent and the life forms there. Quite original and new. A bit out of my depth" (he chuckled at the emphasised pun) "I am more of a geologist than a physicist, so I thought I could gain some expertise from two of Freedom's finest!" Quill didn't really relish a day out with Liebniz, but he couldn't face loosing face. New life forms hmmm? well, perhaps he could gain a bit of an edge... The submarine did fit 4, and Green was in agreement. He pulled out his phone and dialed up Stesha. "Stesha, is that you? How would you feel about an exciting excursion..."