Chapter 7: First Dive

"Beginning submersion of sub 1." Joe called out though Kai and Josh were the only two listening. Everone else was going about with their ownbusiness. Sub 1 was the unmanned sub on the Siren, sub 2, which was also being deployed, was on the back of the Griffin. Sub 3, the manned sub on the back of the Haltija, was not being deployed today.

"Sub 2, submerssion complete, depth 50 ft." Josh said.

They were sitting at a trio of computers. Kai next to Joe next to Josh. Joe and Kai were in charge of sub 1, sub 2 was being controlled by two people on the Griffin while Josh kept them updated on sub 2's status.

A merman, Flavian Joe noticed, swam in front of sub 1's camera and waved. He pointed down, gave a thumbs up, then swam away.

"We're all clear for descent." Kai translated.

"Sub 2, sub 1 is cleared for descent." Josh told sub 2's team through his headset. "Sub 1 has begun its descent. Let's try and keep the subs a good, oh, let's say at least 50 yards away from each at all times."

"Tow cable, detaching." Joe said and the cameras on the sub jerked as it did so.

"Beginning descent." Kai said as he piloted the sub down.

"Sub 1, depth 150 ft." Joe called out a minute later.

"Sub 2, depth 375 ft." Josh countered.

Kai was busy piloting the sub down and said nothing.

"Hey, Kai." Josh said as he typed away on the computer before him.

"Yes?"

"I was kind of wondering." he said. "Why is Jack getting so worked up over some dopey lights?"

"It's not the lights that bother him." Joe answered. "It's what might be making the lights."

"You know," Josh continued, "I heard a few years ago, about some glow in the dark squid they found in Madagascar. Couldn't it be something like that?"

"Bioluminescence is created by living creatures." Kai said. "The lights were too uniform and unmoving to come from a living creature."

"I guess you would know best, huh?" Josh said. "Sub 2, depth 500 ft."

"Sub 1, depth 350 ft." Joe called back automatically.

"Joanne Hudders, you have a call from MCRC base from Brooklyn Mayers." a voice told her through the microphone system in the computers.

"I have time." Joe said. "Patch her through."

"One moment please."

"Who's Brooklyn Mayers?" Josh asked.

"Brook is an expert on mythics." Joe said. "She's done more research on the species than anyone. I sent the lights to her to ask if she could find anything that would make that pattern."

The screen in front of Joe divided itself in half so that Joe was still looking through sub 1's camera 2 but the top half was the video feed of a rather mousy looking girl with big glasses.

"Hello, Joe." she said quietly. Brook had always been the shy type.

"Hey, Brook." Joe smiled. "This is my partner Kai and tech support leader, Josh. You can speak freely in front of them."

"Well, there's not much to say." Brook smiled apologetically. "There's nothing I can find that would make that pattern, at least nothing alive. Especially nothing that lives in the water."

"Nice call, Kai." Josh said. Kai ignored him, still focused on moving the sub down.

"I checked with Tina, she's an expert on mythics on a more...hands on way than me." Brook continued as she checked her notes. "She says that there's nothing she knows that would make that pattern either. Sorry about that, Joe."

"It's alright." Joe smiled at her. "I just wanted to eliminate the obvious before we started checking anything else."

"Well, if you need anything, just call." Brook smiled.

"Sure. Bye, Brook." Joe cut the line. "Well, now we know for sure it's nothing mythic."

"I bet you were a straight A student, huh?" Josh asked.

"Sub 1, depth 500 ft." Joe said forcing Josh to reply. "Sub 2, depth 750 ft."

Kai said. "The cliff that leads to the lights is about a mile more south east. We'll stay in this area for now."

"Works for me." Josh said.

"What are we going to be doing?" Joe asked.

"Just looking. Like the simulator." Josh said.

"Can't see a thing." Joe complained as she switched on the exterior lights. But it was like a flashlight in space, it barely illuminated anything

Joe began rotating the cameras, checking to make sure each was as functional at that depth as they had been directly under the surface. She would be repeating the process as they sank.

"Cameras are operational." Joe said as she moved on to checking the sub's two mechanical 'arms'. They could used for picking up samples and for tapping cable lines. She was in charge of those as well as camera placement. "Arms, operational."

"I want sand samples, water samples, and, if you can find them small enough, rock samples." Josh said. "Remember where to put them?"

"Yeah." Joe nodded. "Want anything living?"

"No." Josh shook his head. "I have the merfolk getting those samples for me. They can handle gentler tasks better than the mechanical arms."

"How much of a drop is the cliff to the lights?" Joe asked.

Kai smirked a bit. "The cliff drops suddenly to about 10,000 ft." Kai said. "The spot we'll be looking in is only about 7,000."

"Only." Josh snorted.

"It's enough to keep them from suspecting us and enough so that we can pretend not to find them." Joe concluded. "How steep is the cliff?"

"Straight down." Kai said

"You know, I've been thinking," Josh said suddenly, "How about if I go down on the manned sub with you two."

"No." Joe and Kai said at the same time.

"Aw, why not?" he asked, looking put out at their simultaneous denial.

"Your expertise is needed aboard the Haltija to guide us." Kai said. "I would trust no one else in that position. Except maybe Kyma, and since she will be with me, you are all that's left."

"Sweet talker." Josh said but he smiled and let the subject drop.

Joe called out the depth, trying to hide her blush. She didn't know if he just said those things to get Josh to stay here, but he did say he would trust her, essentially, with his life. So much could go wrong in a submarine at that depth that there were things not even merfolk could live through.

She didn't want Josh down there either, though for entirely different reasons.

The simulation in the fake sub had been so intimate that Joe didn't want anyone else to interfere with that. Like the sub had been their own little world that no one else could interrupt. The thought of the two of them down there, essentially, alone was one she was looking forward to.

XXXXXXXXXX

A little under two hours later, the sub hit the sandy floor of the ocean.

Flavian swam in front of camera three and gave them a thumbs up that everything was working well. He pointed to the left, gave them a two finger salute farewell, and swam up.

"Adara and Dorian are going to be with us during this dive." Kai translated. "Flavian is heading back up."

"I still can't believe your people are comfortable at that depth." Joe said in wonder as Adara swam past camera two.

"We're not." Kai said. "We can stand the pressure at that depth, it doesn't mean we're comfortable at it. My people aren't allowed to stay down for more than three hours at that pressure."

"Makes sense." Josh said as a man, Dorian obviously, swam in front of camera three and pointed to his right, then held up three fingers, then put down one. With the webs between them, it was more like the down fingers were leaning away from the others.

"There's something to look at about 3 meters to his right." Kai said, following Dorian's motions and turning.

"What's around here anyway?" Joe asked.

"Maybe something, maybe nothing." Josh laughed. "Isn't that what's great about the ocean floor?"

Joe had to admit, there was an eerie beauty about the sea bed.

The rippled sand, like still waves, was mesmerizing. The fact that the flood lights on the subs could blind her on the surface but barely illuminated anything down there astounded her. Nothing living but the merpeople swam around the sub but she knew better than to think that there was nothing down there.

The something turned out to be nothing more than a rock formation. But Joe collected her samples dutifully. Kai patiently kept the sub stable while Josh kept track of both sub 1 and sub 2. Joe knew sub 2 was around there somewhere but she couldn't see it. The darkness of the bottom of the sea swallowed it up.

"Hoe are your injections working out?" Kai asked Joe suddenly, breaking their silence.

"Uh, fine." Joe answered as he steered away from the rocks and followed after Dorian and Adara. "My appetite is still gone but I'm eating. Other than that, no bad side affects."

"Any good ones?" he asked.

"Uh..." Joe thought for a minute as she looked around with the camera. "I don't know. I haven't felt any different."

"You won't." Kai said as if he expected that answer.

"Most of the changes will be subtle." Joe said remembering what the doctor told her. "He assured me I wont end up with gills. The doctor, I mean."

"I think you would look good with gills." Kai said.

Joe didn't know what to say about him being attracted to six slashes, three on each hip on a girl. Then she remembered that all the people in his society had those slashes and they probably were very good looking to him.

"Maybe." she said, thinking. "I have been craving fish more. Maybe that means it's working."

"Maybe." Kai said. As long as the CBI's weren't hurting her, he wouldn't care what happened. If she grew fins and gills he would think she was that much more beautiful. Then again, what attracted him to her was that she was so different from any mermaids he knew. She had so many bright colors about her that he could go dizzy just watching her. And he didn't care one bit.

But if something bad did happen, he would feel incredibly guilty, which was why he had a vested interest in making sure nothing bad happened. The merblood mixed with changer blood had been his own. In fact, the idea to give Joe one of the new doubled CBI's was his idea entirely. He wanted her as safe as possible on the bottom of the ocean.

Ever since he had seen her, a week before they cast off, he had found her completely enthralling. The thought of something bad happening on the subs made his already cooler than human blood chill. So he had requested the CBI injections for her, the new doubled ones. The fact that he had his blood, granted it had been chemically adjusted and could barely be called 'blood' any longer but that didn't matter, running through her veins, was strangely a bit of a turn on. Everywhere she went now, he went with her. He rather liked the thought.

He pulled himself out of his own thoughts and reminded himself he had work to do. There was plenty of time to fantasize about his human later.