Sea of Green (IC)

[Supercape]

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..."

[Electra]

Stesha was having a quiet day gardening at home, so she didn't hesitate to pick up the phone as soon as it rang. She smiled as she saw Professor Quill's name come up on the caller ID. Dark Star had been on call with a civil war halfway across the galaxy, which had impeded her plans to have the professor over, but it was nice to see him calling.

"It's me," she confirmed cheerfully, "and I'm always up for exciting excursions!" Living with Derrick had vastly changed her perspective on excursioning, but it was always fun to to go new places and see new things. "Where are we going, and what should I bring? Oh, and when do we leave?"

[Supercape]

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. "

[Electra]

"It sounds fascinating, I'd love to come!" Stesha bit her lip in amusement at the thought of wearing the rather scanty bathing suit she'd bought for extraplanetary use on a scholarly research trip. Hopefully she still had a one-piece around somewhere. "Ah, who's Liebniz?" she asked curiously.

[Supercape]

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."

[Electra]

"Just let me know where to be," Stesha assured him, even as she started gathering her things, "and I can make sure I arrive there without raising any questions. I'm not the best in town at the secret identity thing, but I do all right. It'll probably take me about twenty minutes to get everything together that I need, will it be all right if I meet you there?"

[Supercape]

"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.

[Electra]

It took Stesha nearly every moment of her appointed twenty minutes to gather her things, after she finished watering all the plants, of course. She packed a sack lunch of turkey sandwich, hard boiled egg, apple, and bottle of water and stuck it into her knapsack along with her swimsuit and her usual collection of seeds. She didn't need to eat, of course, but it would look odd if everyone else had a lunch and she didn't. Besides, someone might be hungry! She wasn't sure what tools she might need for analysis, so she didn't take much of anything, hoping natural talent and whatever tools were available would be enough.

She walked up to the docks exactly at the appointed hour, looking a bit winded as though she'd been walking briskly on the way. "It's a gorgeous day, isn't it?" she asked Professor Quill affably. "I can't wait to get started!"

[Supercape]

"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?"

[Electra]

Stesha blinked dumbly at Green for a moment, then over to the Professor. "Well, I'm a botanist by trade," she ad-libbed smoothly, "and I have a few samples in my pack, an apple for my lunch..."

"No, no, entirely unfeasable!" Green exclaimed, flapping his hands a bit. "We need a sterile environment down there to make sure the readings are entirely, one hundred percent accurate! No lunches, and definitely no samples!" He seemed a bit apologetic about it, but entirely firm. "We'll all be going through the decontamination chamber before we enter the submersible, for the same reason. If you'll just leave your pack up here and fix your hair, we'll be all ready to go."

The unexpected prohibition made Stesha hesitate, suddenly nervous. Without any plants on the sub, she'd be totally powerless, and if something were to go wrong... That was a silly way to think, she reminded herself. People with no superpowers worked on submarines every day, doing far more dangerous things than exploring ocean vents! It would be just fine. "All right," she said, "just give me a moment..." Stepping aside, she shucked off her knapsack, then began unbraiding the little yellow roses from her green hair.

[Supercape]

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.

[Electra]

Warily, Stesha stepped into the chamber and let the laser beams play over her. It didn't feel very good, an unpleasant tickle inside her skin, and it seemed to take a lot longer than for the others, but she stood still and endured it with nothing more than a few shudders. Finally, the laser switched off. "Decontaminationcomple-plantlifedetected!" the computer said, the two phrases running over each other.

Green frowned at the odd bobble. "There must be a malfunction there, I'll have a look at it later. But you were certainly in there long enough," he said with a smile for Stesha. "If any plant life was in there, it would have been eradicated by now! Let's get a move on!" Stesha could certainly believe that, she herself felt a bit nauseous and woozy as they headed into the submarine, now totally plant-free.

[Supercape]

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.

[Electra]

Stesha didn't pay much attention to the presentation, instead tucking herself up into her seat and closing her eyes as the sub began to descend, trying to regain her equilibrium. Leaving the plants was bad enough, she'd sort of forgotten she'd be leaving the sun behind as well. At least the air was all right, she'd been a little worried that there'd be more oxygen than she was used to, but it was quite easy to breathe. But the stress of decontamination and the descent into the plantless dark had her less enthusiastic about this trip than she had been when she was on land.

To distract herself, she looked over to Professor Quill. "What sorts of experiments will we be running?" she asked him.

[Supercape]

"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!"

[Electra]

Stesha eventually felt better enough to eat the soup, then as the journey continued, to move forward to the reinforced glass windows at the front of the sub. "Oh, it's beautiful!" she said, gasping a little at the unexpected world of color and life captured in the running lights. Brightly colored and strangely shaped fish were everywhere, rocky coral covered the sea floor, and strange species of algae waved in the breeze.

"We're gettng close to the plume now," Green told her. "All this life is here because of that warm water flow. It's twenty or thirty degrees warmer down here than anywhere else at this depth. There's nothing like it, really." Stesha readily agreed, pressing her fingers to the glass and watching in fascination as the sub traveled silently through the ocean. Even the unpleasant Liebinz's chatter faded to unimportance, even as he started asking Green about why the air seemed to smell a bit like ozone all of a sudden.

[Supercape]

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...

[Electra]

The lights suddenly went, plunging the sub into an eerie red-tinged dimness, surrounded by an ink-black sea. It suddenly became very, very easy to remember that they were in a tiny, fragile metal capsule surrounded by thousands of tons of water. Even the hiss of air from the ventilators was silent, which was surely a bad sign. She reached for Quentin's arm in the darkness, just to reassure herself that the others were still there.

"Is there any way to tell what's wrong?" she asked, not liking the high sharp edge to her own voice. Stesha took a couple of deep breaths and tried to calm down. "I mean, you built the ship, right, Mr. Green? You can tell what's the matter with it and how to fix it?"

[Supercape]

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.

[Electra]

"So how do we get back to the surface?" Stesha asked, looking over at the eerie orange and brown light of the vent, like an undersea campfire. "There's got to be a system in place for emergencies, right?"

"Sure, right, right..." Green said distractedly, going over to a set of panels. "I'll just blow the ballast tanks one at a time, we'll gradually rise up to the surface, hopefully we won't have any decompression problems..."

"Of course there will be problems, you fool!" Liebinz burst out, his brownnosing forgotten in the face of possible death. "We're three thousand meters down and have no circulating air! We are at risk of being squashed like a soap bubble at any moment! If we start to gain any pressure, the bends are going to be the least of our problems because we'll have been squashed like grapes!"

"Easy, easy!" Stesha said, focusing on one thing she could do in the cramped confines of the ship. She put a reassuring hand on Liebinz's shoulder. "It's going to be okay, just try to be calm. We've got three amazing scientific minds here, I'm sure that together you'll all think of something to get us out of here. Take slow breaths, and think calm thoughts," she encouraged.

[Supercape]

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...

[Electra]

If there was one thing the past year had done for Stesha, it had quickened her reflexes. "Hey!" In an instant, she was down next to Liebinz. She gave him a sharp, attention-grabbing slap across the face. "Pull it together!" she ordered. "You're a man of science, not some kind of dimwitted fool who is nothing but a liability to himself and everyone around him, right? So start acting like it! All of you!" She looked to Green. "If the ballast tanks aren't working, then we need to get the power turned back on, right? How do we do that? And you," she said to Quentin, "can you feel how it's already starting to get warm in here? We need the heat under control so we don't freeze or bake.

"And you," she said to Liebinz once again, taking his face between her hands so he had to concentrate on her, "what can you tell me about the plants out there?"

[Supercape]

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..."

[Electra]

"That's not what I wanted to hear, Quentin," Stesha murmured, her face paling a little despite her confident words of earlier. "Liebinz is right about one thing, if the skin on this thing doesn't hold, we're going to be flatter than a beer can at a frat party within a minute. I think if I can just get a hold on some of the plants out there, I can get some over to the ship, but it's not going to be easy. They're not used to growing quickly, and I'm getting a lot of resistance." She flexed her fingers against the glass of the window. "Can you make the water any warmer out there? It might help a little."

[Supercape]

"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. "