I'm starting to get sick of saying this, but....
I don't own Big O
I don't own the characters
I am not making money
Lawyers, begone!
Angel had never really liked the sea. Her little jaunt with Roger amongst the sunken buildings of Paradigm City's bay had done more to fuel her dislike. This most recent incident was the last straw.
She was cold, tired, hungry, and very wet. The latter was especially infuriating, for it rendered her 30-foot white-feathered wings all but useless, as thouroughly soaked as they were.
The storm that had sunk the first ship had mostly moved on, leaving only some slighlty rough waves and large quantaties of rain in its wake. The rescue ship had found the spot where the first vessel had gone down, but was unable to hold position. It had moved off to a less-turbulent area of water, waiting.
Lures of hot chocolate drew Angel back inside, to relative warmpth. She found the mug and took a dep draught, feeling the heat flow throughout her. Norman was looking at a chart of the sea floor near where Roger and Dorothy had vanished beneath the waves.
"Miss Angel, I believe we may have a serious problem."
She groaned. "Another one? What is it this time?"
Norman gestured at the chart. "As you can see here, the sea floor directly beneath us is fairly flat, and extends all the way back to shore. Further out, however..." Since it was a topographical map, he pointed to a large cluster of lines close together. "You can see that there is a very steep descent less then a few miles away. It drops down to a lower portion of the floor, and at that depth Roger and Dorothy's support frames would begin to feel stress. Not farther on, they would be crushed by the pressure."
"So? Wouldn't they be heading towards shore?"
"Logically, yes. But they have no way of knowing in which direction the shore is."
Angel studied the map for a moment. "So they could be walking straight towards that cliff, and not even know it?"
"Normally, Dorothy's internal balance system would detect the incline, but it may be thrown off by her slight buonacy in water and the large current that runs through the area."
"That does it. Get the search equipment up! We've got to find those androids!"
Roger and Dorothy had, in fact, come right up to the sub-aquatic cliff, and were looking over the side. Roger stared long and hard into the darkness, then turned and looked back the way they had came. He motioned to Dorothy, who gave him a resigned look and nodded. They turned around and began to walk back.
Suddenly, the ground beneath them shifted. Both of them froze in their tracks. Dorothy turned her light behind them just in time to see a patch of mud go sliding down the cliff. The weren't on the cliff edge itself, just a mud overhang. An overhang that their weight might send crashing to the bottom.
Roger and Dorothy locked gazes, then began running as fast as they could underwater. Their movement disturbed even more mud, and the ground behind them began falling away rapidly.
In the utter blackness, at the foot of the mile-high cliff they had peered over, the mud struck not sea floor and more mud, but armored spines. A true sea titan moved slightly in its sleep, but when more and more mud came tumbling down to land on its back, the creature began to rise. Huge eyes, each at least as big as the Gryhpon, glowed with an eerie green light. The beast kicked off with powerful legs, rising to the top of the cliff.
Roger and Dorothy suddenly saw their own shadows laid on the ground before them. They stopped, and slowly turned. A huge monster, with giant black claws and phosphorescent eyes, loomed over them. Seeing potential prey, it started forward.
Roger's hand went instinctively to his wristwatch.
I don't own Big O
I don't own the characters
I am not making money
Lawyers, begone!
Angel had never really liked the sea. Her little jaunt with Roger amongst the sunken buildings of Paradigm City's bay had done more to fuel her dislike. This most recent incident was the last straw.
She was cold, tired, hungry, and very wet. The latter was especially infuriating, for it rendered her 30-foot white-feathered wings all but useless, as thouroughly soaked as they were.
The storm that had sunk the first ship had mostly moved on, leaving only some slighlty rough waves and large quantaties of rain in its wake. The rescue ship had found the spot where the first vessel had gone down, but was unable to hold position. It had moved off to a less-turbulent area of water, waiting.
Lures of hot chocolate drew Angel back inside, to relative warmpth. She found the mug and took a dep draught, feeling the heat flow throughout her. Norman was looking at a chart of the sea floor near where Roger and Dorothy had vanished beneath the waves.
"Miss Angel, I believe we may have a serious problem."
She groaned. "Another one? What is it this time?"
Norman gestured at the chart. "As you can see here, the sea floor directly beneath us is fairly flat, and extends all the way back to shore. Further out, however..." Since it was a topographical map, he pointed to a large cluster of lines close together. "You can see that there is a very steep descent less then a few miles away. It drops down to a lower portion of the floor, and at that depth Roger and Dorothy's support frames would begin to feel stress. Not farther on, they would be crushed by the pressure."
"So? Wouldn't they be heading towards shore?"
"Logically, yes. But they have no way of knowing in which direction the shore is."
Angel studied the map for a moment. "So they could be walking straight towards that cliff, and not even know it?"
"Normally, Dorothy's internal balance system would detect the incline, but it may be thrown off by her slight buonacy in water and the large current that runs through the area."
"That does it. Get the search equipment up! We've got to find those androids!"
Roger and Dorothy had, in fact, come right up to the sub-aquatic cliff, and were looking over the side. Roger stared long and hard into the darkness, then turned and looked back the way they had came. He motioned to Dorothy, who gave him a resigned look and nodded. They turned around and began to walk back.
Suddenly, the ground beneath them shifted. Both of them froze in their tracks. Dorothy turned her light behind them just in time to see a patch of mud go sliding down the cliff. The weren't on the cliff edge itself, just a mud overhang. An overhang that their weight might send crashing to the bottom.
Roger and Dorothy locked gazes, then began running as fast as they could underwater. Their movement disturbed even more mud, and the ground behind them began falling away rapidly.
In the utter blackness, at the foot of the mile-high cliff they had peered over, the mud struck not sea floor and more mud, but armored spines. A true sea titan moved slightly in its sleep, but when more and more mud came tumbling down to land on its back, the creature began to rise. Huge eyes, each at least as big as the Gryhpon, glowed with an eerie green light. The beast kicked off with powerful legs, rising to the top of the cliff.
Roger and Dorothy suddenly saw their own shadows laid on the ground before them. They stopped, and slowly turned. A huge monster, with giant black claws and phosphorescent eyes, loomed over them. Seeing potential prey, it started forward.
Roger's hand went instinctively to his wristwatch.