April 8th 2008
You know those moments when you see or hear something that is just so unbelievable that your brain wants to explode? Like when someone tells you that there is a giant space ship over London and 1/3 of the population is standing on rooftops getting ready to jump. Yeah, exactly like that. Well, I had one of those moments today. I'm down in the habitat now. I don't even know how to tell you how I get here. The technology was unlike anything I have ever seen. It was a submarine yes but not a bulky depth cruiser like the ones I'm used to. This one was sleek and streamlined. Glyn was right.
It's a secret of the US Navy. For years now they've been able to go down deeper and for longer than anyone else on the planet. But it's not just that. I've know for years that we're close to achieving that anyway. I'm convinced that whatever this craft was it was not built by humans. For starters the seats were wrong. Just a little bit too small for an average sized person. Ok so possibly it was designed by the Chinese. They do tend to be smaller. But what about this? The atmosphere was much higher in argon and nitrogen than it should have been. Our pilot claimed that there was something wrong with the mixers but every light on that board read green. Either of these things could be true but this will make you think. There was not a single word in any language anywhere on that ship. In fact the only thing that I could find resembling a language was a series a swirls above the side hatch. Oh, that reminds me! No submarine I've heard of has a hatch on the side. That's just silly.
Natalie closed her journal. Jack had told her not to bring it. There was sure to be a spy or two in the habitat but she promised not to mention Torchwood or anything about her task. Anyone who read that would just think she was crazy. She was alright with that.
Her briefing had been short. The Americans were still pretending to be there to study a series of caves containing rare and new species of undersea life. How stupid did they think she was? How stupid did they think the British government was?
The habitat was like so many that she'd been in before. A series of pods and tunnels anchored to the seas bed. Everyone thought that such thing were the stuff of movies but they did exist. The pressure was indeed immense but no more than the space shuttle endured. In fact here it was significantly less. They we're just on the edge of the shelf that England and Ireland sat on. Much farther from Cardiff than she had been told they were going.
Natalie was sitting her small berth when there was a tap at the thin metal door. Opening it she found the only other female crew member, Jessie Holmes.
"Sorry to get you up, Natalie but we've got work to do."
"Seriously? But it's nearly 9 o'clock at night."
"I know darlin' but we're still on California time. That's a seven hour time difference. But don't worry it's nothing heavy duty, just taking readings and stuff."
Natalie nodded and picked up a coat to follow Jessie. It was cold down here. Colder than people expected it to be. Generally only the individual berths, main office and mess hall were heated to a decent temperature.
The lab was housed in the upper half of one of the larger pods. It was well lit and had warmed up nicely with all 6 crew members inside. Each person had their own station and was working quietly taking measurements of temperature, current direction and strength, bacteria content, the usual stuff. Two hours had gone by and Natalie could barely keep her eyes open. The man sitting across from her laughed as she tried to stifle yet another jaw breaking yawn.
"If you really are that tired you should just get to sleep. We can take these readings with out you. Don't worry."
Natalie clicked her laptop shut and stood, stretching, spine and arms cracking.
"Thank you so much for finally saying that. I'm sort of the odd one out here and didn't want to separate myself any farther by falling apart on the first night. I'm sorry, I'm terrible with names, who are you again?"
The man stood up and extended a hand.
"We didn't meet at the briefing. I was taking care of some other ahh… duties. I'm Captain Oliver Pennington. I'm in charge of the mini-sub down here. Any voyages out you take will be with me."
"Glad to meet you, Captain." Natalie said with a smile. She wouldn't mind taking trips in a small, confined space with this man. He was a good looking bloke.
"If you're not too tired, Natalie go up to the observation room above the mess hall in pod 2. I'm going to take some readings of the light reactive plankton and will be switching on the flood lights. It's a pretty amazing view."
"I'll do that, Captain. Sounds interesting. Goodnight."
Natalie made her way down the narrow staircase along the wall of the round pod. She was exhausted but she really did want to see the sea bed here. The edge of the shelf was an area she had not seen too many times. She stopped to make herself a cup of tea and arrived at the obs deck just as Captain Pennington turned on the lights.
The water lit up like a starry night. Something must have stirred up the silt along the bottom. A whale or a rogue current perhaps. Tiny pieces of reflective mica and silica drifted and eddied about the outcroppings and rock pillars. There would be no readings taken tonight. The plankton would have drifted towards the top and out of the maelstrom. Swimming through that would be like flying through and asteroid field.
A voice sounded above her and Natalie looked around for the source.
"Sorry, nothing out there tonight." It was the Captain on the intercom. "I wont be able to take any readings but if you'd like I'll leave the lights on a few more minutes for you."
"That would be lovely. Thank you."
The intercom went quiet and Natalie switched off the lights on the deck. The shimmering bits of silt and debris were beginning to settle. Every now and then a fish would streak by the heavy glass window. A huge shark glided silently above and Natalie stared at it in wonder. Sharks were amazing prehistoric creatures and to observe one like this was truly a wonderful experience.
Natalie watched as it swam away towards an out cropping where it circled for a moment before coming back towards her a little lower in the water. It sailed smoothly over a large round boulder and was gone. Natalie pressed her face against the glass and looked down for the shark. Then it appeared again on the other side of the bolder still swimming towards her.
She must really be getting tired. Natalie shook here head, rubbed her eyes and headed back for her berth and bed. As she left the outside floods switched off. Natalie didn't notice a golden light appear from an almost invisible crack in the side of the boulder.