Hal swam over to the wreck and approached the shadowy shape illuminated by the nodda's main search beam. He tried to find an outline of the hull and looked for a bow or prominence, but it was rounded and smooth. On one side was a gaping hole and he peered in with his helm light. It looked nothing like the interior of any ship he'd ever seen before. There was an inner deck with a barnacle covered railing that circled the cabin. His light couldn't penetrate far enough to make out any detail of the deep interior. He followed the thick railing closest to the outer hull. It looked like it was welded to the hull at regular intervals and served as part of the structural support. He rapped on the metal and felt a shudder go through the wreck. It lurched to the side and slipped a little way down the rock ledge it was lying on.

"Greyla, do you read me?

"Affirmative. I saw it move."

"Yeah, probably my air bubbles accumulating and causing some buoyancy. I think I can hook on to one of these internal support beams. Have you buzzed Tajlon?"

"Yes. He's lowering a cable now."

"Good. Tell him to hurry before this baby slips off the ledge."

As if in response to his words, the wreck shifted again and stirred up more silt, obscuring Hal's view.

"Hal, get out of there. It's not worth the risk."

"Is that concern I'm feeling?"

"You're a special case, Hal. You know that?"

The Solar Wave hailed the nodda craft.

"Greyla, can you see the end of the cable yet?" Tajlon asked.

"I see its light, Tajlon."

Greya called back to Hal, “The cable is right above me. Can you see it?"

"Yeah, I've got it. Move back and give me some room."

Greyla backed the nodda up.

Hal swam to the lighted cable and maneuvered it down inside the hull.

"I'll find a solid place to hook on," Hal said. The wreck lurched and slid another few feet. It knocked him into the railing and drug him with it before stopping dangerously close to the edge overlooking the rift.

"Hal, abort and get out of there now!" Greyla shouted.

"I like that plan, but I'm caught on something."

"I'll suit up and come get you."

"Not a good idea, Greyla."

Greyla ignored him and rushed to the gear rack behind her, donned a suit and pulled on a set of air tanks.

She paused to hail Tajlon before leaving, "Hal's stuck, I'm going out to help him."

"Secure the hook, Greyla. Don't let it fall with him in it. The rift's too deep for his suit to hold against the pressure. I'm tuning into your helm frequency now."

She swam over to Hal. His suit was caught, one arm pinned between the railing and a crushed beam.

"Nice day for a swim, huh?" Hal asked.

Greyla ignored his quip and moved past Hal to grab the cable. She secured the line before turning back to him.

"Okay, the hook is set. Hal, we could pull you up with the wreck. I'm afraid we might tear your suit getting it loose."

"It's a chance I'm willing to take. Pull."

"There's a safety lining that should seal itself, go ahead," Tajlon said.

Greyla braced a foot against the hull and managed to dislodge Hal's arm. A stream of compressed air jetted from his left sleeve but slowed to a fine trail of bubbles.

"We're almost clear, Tajlon," Greyla said.

The sunken craft lurched a final time which sent it over the ledge of rock into the rift below. It tumbled and spun around sharply as the hook and cable yanked tight, stopping their downward plunge. The motion sent both of them reeling toward the interior of the ship. Greyla clung to Hal's arm and he reached around her with the other to hold them together as they fell. The light from the nodda and the cable disappeared in the inky darkness.

"Are you alright?" Tajlon asked through the radio in their helmets.

"We're still together, but I can't see the opening in the hull now," Greyla answered. She managed to grab a protruding metal bar and halt their free fall.

Hal turned his head side to side, peering with his helm light. "It's like a maze in here. Lots of twisted metal and corridors leading off in all directions. Just pull us up with the ship buddy."

"Will do. Hey, looks like Dad is here."

"That's a relief," Greyla said as she surveyed the dark chamber surrounding them. She felt her own fear in addition to the empathic one, but now it was mixed with something else. Intelligence. Curiosity.

***

De'Marc brought his sloop to a stop near the buoy Tajlon had run up. There was no place to anchor in the deep water of the rift zone. Koutou was restless and flew in circles above them as De'Marc kept them from drifting away with a couple of small outboard engines.

Jejliard hailed Tajlon, on the sub below, "Give me a status report, son."

"Hal and Greyla are in an old wreck and can't find their way out. Greyla managed to set the line and I plan to haul it up with them still inside."

We need to attach another line for safety. Get a second cable ready. I'll swim down to attach it."

"I'm on it," Tajlon responded.

"Sorry to interrupt your cruise," Jejliard said as he prepared to get in the water.

"Not at all," Danlea said. "This is far more exciting."

"Yes, we've never seen a salvage operation before and the stars will still be there, " Raemolle agreed.

"We can enjoy the view while waiting on Jejliard's return," De'Marc said, leading them over to some comfortable deck seating.

Jejliard took an extra search light and loaded a couple of tools in his belt before getting in the water.

***

They clung together for warmth which helped even though the suits were bulky.

Greyla adjusted their helm lights to keep from blinding one another when looking toward each other’s face shields. "Looks like we're stuck here for a while."

"You look beautiful at three hundred feet, Greyla."

"Save it."

"This may be my last chance to tell you. If this thing breaks free, we're going to plunge to the bottom of the rift. We won't survive."

"Can't we talk about something else?"

"Sorry, but I have life and death on my mind right now."

"Let's talk about life."

Tajlon's voice broke in. "I hate to interrupt, but Dad is coming down to attach a safety line."

"Sweet. Now where was I? Oh yes. I love you Greyla..."

"This is a really bad time, Hal."

"It's the perfect time. I can say I was delusional with nitrogen narcosis."

"Hal...shh." Greyla placed a hand on her helm and shook her head slightly. "It's here. Right here with us. I can feel it. Strong emotions are rushing through my mind. There is something down here and it is very much alive."

Something pulled her out of Hal's grasp and forced them apart. It pushed Hal to one side and drug Greyla down a black lightless passage.

"What the hell just happened?" Hal braked against a railing and searched for any sign of Greyla.

"Greyla, come in," His light found only dark passages of inky water.

"Tajlon, I think the wreck must have shifted. I've lost physical and radio contact with Greyla."

"Greyla? Can you hear us?" Tajlon called out over the helm radio.

***

Her helm light could barely pierce the darkness far enough to see the walls around her. She was carried deeper into the bowels of the wreck at dizzying speed by an invisible force. Her mind filled with confusion.

"I... I can barely..." Her mind struggled to form lucid thoughts.

"Answer me. Say anything at all," Tajlon persisted.

"I'm falling..." Her head was dizzy, and her mind was spinning out of control, but with great effort she managed to collect her thoughts. "I feel like I'm falling."

"Describe what you see, Greyla," Hal called back to her.

"Faces. Nothing makes sense. It's as though I've been here before. Or maybe I'm dreaming all of this..." Her voice faded out.

She was lost in a blur of faces and memories. The last face she recognized before losing consciousness was that of her grandfather, Captain De'Marc, but he appeared as a much younger man.

***

Hal and Tajlon tried repeatedly to get back in communication with her to no avail.

"Dad, we've lost contact with Greyla. I'm patching you into their radios."

"Hal?" Jejliard called out.

"I'm here. Greyla isn't responding. She's fallen farther down into the wreck."

"As soon as I attach this safety line, I'll join you and search for Greyla."

"Be careful, Dad."

"Return the nodda back to the sub with the auto pilot, Tajlon. I'm riding up with the wreck. Notify De'Mark and he can let Mara know what's going on. Have medical support on standby."

***

Jejliard watched as Tajlon tightened the safety line and pulled it tight against the wreck. He climbed into the gaping hole and attached another guideline to a support beam.

"Going in now. Give me a couple of minutes to reach Hal."

Jejliard groped his way through the darkness, securing his guideline occasionally.

"Over here," Hal said. "I can see your light."

"Which way did she go when you separated?"

"Not sure. It happened fast. Felt like she was literally pulled out of my arms."

Jejliard called out again. "Greyla?" No answer. "Okay Tajlon. Bring us up slow and easy. Get the decompression chamber ready."

***

"Done," Tajlon replied. "I left the nodda down to record this and give me a visual. I will bring it in later, but I want to see this. Here goes."

The wreck moved past the ledge as it was lifted, years of silt and debris flaking from the hull. Tajlon's view was blurry, but the shape of the craft soon became obvious. It was quite a bit larger than anticipated and he was glad the safety line was attached. He let out a low whistle when the water cleared enough to see the outline of the craft.

"We've got a new species here, Dad."

"What do you mean?"

"This is no ordinary ship. I can see its outline, perfectly round except for the hole in its side."

"What do you make of it, Hal?'" Jejliard asked.

"Something crashed into that ledge, but I have to agree with Tajlon. it doesn't look like any boat I've ever seen before."

"I'll send a picture to Captain De'Marc," Tajlon said.

Tajlon maneuvered the Nodda by the remote pilot control and hailed the Captain.

"See if you can identify this craft. I'm lighting it up with the nodda search light."

De'Marc studied the fuzzy image along with his guests.

"Can't tell. It has to be some sort of ship, maybe an experimental design."

"Yeah, but we're the only facility on Beldora capable of making something like this and you know it."

"What does that mean?" Raemolle asked.

A cool surface breeze punctuated De'Marc's his reply. "It's not from here."

"What?"

"It's not from Beldora." Koutou said with screech of delight, flapping his wings and dancing about on the table. "It's a spaceship!"