Daylight reveals a crystal clear blue ocean underview. And then raising up reveals somewhere off the east coast of Asia in the early morning, lies one of the largest cities in China.
SHANGHAI, CHINA
5 YEARS LATER
On top of it's buildings, a helicopter takes off and begins to fly out over the city, passing it's buildings.
And flies along the coastline, and flying pass some of it's prehistoric looking landscapes.
And soon flies over the ocean, flying east towards the raising Sun.
Several minutes later, a large research station starts coming into view.
And the helicopter approaches the landing pad as then a large Turtle like aircraft appeared.
MANA ONE RESEARCH STATION
200 MILES OFF THE CHINESE COAST
Soon the helicopter and the Turtle like aircraft lowers down to land. And as a mid aged man name Zhang with dark hair with a hint of white and brown eyes waits for them, and waves.
And then 2 men approached the helicopter, and then a side panel opens on the Turtle aircraft.
And then a group of 5 people stepped out.
2 of them were brothers.
One was older with blonde hair, blue eyes and wearing a blue jacket under a white shirt, safari shorts, and adventures boots.
His younger brother, has brown spiked hair, brown eyes, same shorts and boots, and green jacket more zipped up than his brother's.
And a young Spanish woman, brown hair tied into a ponytail. Gray eyes, wears a purple shirt under a yellow no-hood jacket with a sky blue line on each sleeve. A belt slightly crooked with a bolt like buckle.
An African American woman with a black afro, brown eyes, wears a yellow headband, earrings. Wears a dark red shirt with a white star and yellow jeans.
And lastly a young man with reddish-orange hair, a bit of chin hair. Light blue eyes, wears a blue green baseball cap backwards. A gray shirt with a video game character of some kind, a white sleeve shirt underneath and red plaid shorts and white tennis shoes.
They were the Wild Kratts team, Chris and Martin Kratt, Aviva, Koki and Jimmy Z.
One man opens the side door of the helicopter revealing a man in his early 50's, brown hair and blue eyes. Wearing a black shirt with a yellow dot and black jeans and wearing a gray cap and shades. And he steps out and wearing red and black Nike shoe. His name is Morris.
"Are we living the dream here or what?!" Morris yelled and hands his bag to a man.
And Morris and the Wild Kratts approached Zhang.
"Welcome to Mana One, Mr. Morris and Wild Kratts." Zhang greeted and reached his right hand out.
"Get that thing away from me." Morris suddenly said. "What are you doing? Come on, bring it in." He then hugs Zhang. "There we go."
"Good to see you again, Mr. Morris." Zhang said. "You too, Wild Kratts."
"You too, Mr. Zhang." Aviva smiled.
"This way, please." Zhang said.
"Hey, you always smell so nice." Morris said. "What is that? Sandalwood?"
They followed Zhang down a walkway.
"It's impressive so far, I'll say." Morris said.
"This is truly a work of design." Koki said.
And then a young woman with black hair, and brown eyes appeared named Suyin who is Zhang's daughter. And with her was a little girl at 7 years old, with black hair and brown eyes who is her daughter Meiying.
"Oh, here they are." Zhang said. "Do you remember my daughter, Suyin? Our chief marine biologist."
"Hi." Suyin greeted and brought her right hand out.
And Morris shook it. "You meet candle egg... nice skull." He said in Chinese which needs work and likely meant to greet her in Chinese.
"Uh..." Koki arched a brow.
Suyin turned to her father with an uneasy look.
Even Meiying stared at him weirdly.
"Did you understand a word of that?" Suyin asked her father in Chinese.
"Yep." Chris nodded uneasily.
"Sorry, what was that?" Morris asked. "I didn't catch it."
"Uh..." Suyin tries to think.
"Uh..." Martin uneasily thinks.
"She says she likes your hat." Meiying said.
"Oh, yeah." Zhang said.
"Right, yeah." Chris said.
"But, I thought she said-" Aviva nudged Jimmy. "I mean, yes! That's it."
"Yeah." Suyin nodded.
Morris looked at Meiying suspiciously, and Meiying gave an innocent smile.
"Let's go." Zhang quickly said.
"Why don't we go?" Morris agreeing with him. "Yeah."
And they headed off.
"Nice one." Aviva high fives Meiying.
Zhang swipes his ID card at a scanner, and an elevator door opens.
"Your granddaughter's a pistol." Morris as they entered and patted Zhang's back. "Okay."
They entered inside, and Zhang pushed a button to the lower level.
"What have we here?" Morris asked as the elevator doors closed. "This is, um... really ugly. I know, I realize that we're under construction and everything but I really think... that a world-class research institute deserves a world-class entrance."
"Yeah, I couldn't agree more." Zhang agreed.
"I mean this isn't Jurassic Park or something." Chris said.
"O-Level."
And then the elevator stops, and the doors opened. And they reveal an underwater tunnel network of the station as a few members walked by them.
And they headed out of the elevator.
"Whoa!" Morris gasped.
"Welcome to the O-Level." Zhang said.
Morris chuckled lightly. "Nice."
Above them, was a glass ceiling as they were over 100 feet underwater. And a number of fish swam over them. And even a Stingray swims overhead.
"This is our central hub, from which researchers will access all 5 labs once it's finished." Zhang said.
"This is amazing." Chris said in awe.
And then they got to the end of the hall, and as the Stingray swims off. A mother Humpback Whale and calf appeared into view. As well as a Sperm Whale mother and calf and Blue Whale and calf.
"Wow!" Morris gasped. "Oh, look at that. That's not something you see everyday."
"Wow." Aviva said in awe.
They watched the whales outside, and a gathering like this is not something seen by Humans. And Humpbacks are one of the icons of the ocean, which is how they became the icon of Pacific Life.
"Did you have those Whales here on cue?" Morris asked.
"I might have lured them with some Whale songs." Suyin admitted.
"Yep. Humpbacks can actually hear each other from miles away." Martin said. "Even if they're hundreds of miles apart."
"This is Lucy." Suyin gestured to the Humpback mother. "And her daughter Gracie."
Little Gracie appears to be only 6 months old. But she's already as big as a truck, and weighing as much as an African Elephant. But when she reaches her adult size, she'll be 50 feet long and weigh as much as 66,000 pounds or 33 tons. That's more than 6 African Elephants.
"Incredible." Morris said amazed.
And then Gracie twirls as she curiously swam over to them.
And Morris chuckled. "Wow!"
"Hey, wait a minute." Martin realizing something. "I know those whales. It's Bumper and his mom and Colossal Blue and Blue Jr."
"I see that you know them." Morris said.
"We see them every now and then." Chris said.
And then a series of loud clicks were heard as Bumper's mom fires a beam of sonar from her enormous head that makes a third of body length. And the sound is overwhelming, and the largest males can generate 230 decibels of sound. Far louder than a jet plane taking off.
Making them the loudest animals on Earth.
And as the barrel of her head turns towards the group. They can literally feel the sound through the glass.
The biggest Sperm Whales can be 60 feet long, and weigh 65 tons. Making them the biggest predator on Earth.
And last time they saw her, Blue Jr seems to have gain in size. And is now 27 feet long.
And then, unexpectedly, 2 Great White Sharks appeared into view from different directions. Judging by the size, they both seem to be females, but one seems 2 feet longer than the other.
"Wow, 2 Great White Sharks." Martin said.
Luckily for the 3 calves, the 2 Great Whites showed no signs of hunting behavior. And the smaller Great White got closer to them, and Martin noticed an interesting set of scars of her that look familiar.
"Wait a second, I know that Shark." Martin said. "I think it's Razor-Mouth."
"Wow, we haven't seen her for a while." Chris said.
The last time the Wild Kratts saw Razor-Mouth was when they followed her to figure out where Great White Sharks travel to. And discovered she was pregnant with 3 pups. And also saved her from Gourmand from using her fins for shark fin soup. They followed her till they reached a calm section of shallow water as a nursery, where the pups will be save from predators like other Sharks, Killer Whales and even other adult Great Whites.
"I wonder who the other Shark is." Jimmy gestured to the bigger Great White.
The 2nd Great White appears to be 20 feet long, and is really big in girth and is 8 feet high.
"Wait, I think she's the famous Deep Blue." Chris said.
"Oh hey, the largest Great White to date." Martin said.
Deep Blue is an old timer, even for her kind. She's likely at 50 years old, and is a gentle giant. Her last sighting was off Hawaii's coast, and so gentle take she didn't mind a diver swimming next to her. Not even when a passing Spotted Dolphin came by. She's even nicknamed the grandma shark.
"Wow." Aviva said in awe.
Later, the elevator doors opened as they stepped out.
"Dive control level."
"Here we are." Zhang said. "Follow me quickly." As he leads them. "I hope we are on time."
They then entered a room.
"Come on in." Zhang said.
They walk into a control room, as several people were working around a 360 screen with a young woman with blonde hair and blue eyes and wearing a light gray jacket and behind her were 2 men and they appear to be in a submarine deep down. One was a Chinese man with brown eyes and black hair named Toshi. And a large man with blonde long hair and blue eyes with glasses named Wall.
"Oh. Oh, man." Morris said in awe.
"I'd like you to meet our engineer and sub designer, Jaxx." Zhang gestured to a young woman with short brown hair and blue eyes and with a kind of tattoo on her arms.
"Hey, doc." Jaxx greeted Zhang.
"Hello." Morris greeted her.
"Hi." Jaxx greeted.
"Doctor Heller. Our medical officer." Zhang gestured to Heller.
"Nice to meet you." Morris shook his hand. "You're like Bones, huh?" He joked.
"DJ here pilots our remote explorer." Zhang said and approached an African American man with brown eyes and glasses and black hat.
"How's it going?" Morris shook his hand.
"You're my first billionaire." DJ said.
"And of course, Mac, our station chief." Zhang introduced.
Mac is a young New Zealand man, black hair and brown eyes.
"Mr. Morris, just in time." Mac shakes his hand.
"So I keep hearing." Morris said.
"Try that." Mac hands an ear link to them.
"Just in time for what?" Morris asked as he placed his on.
"Good morning, Mr. Morris."
"Lori Taylor, our mission pilot." Mac gestured to the blonde in the sub on the screen.
On the screen, Lori and her crew waves to them.
"Hi, Mr. Morris."
"Welcome on board." Lori greeted. "It's good to have you."
"Hey."
"How-How's it going down there?" Morris asked.
"Lori, long time no see." Chris called.
"You too, Wild Kratts." Lori said.
"Must've been... What 6-7 years?" Aviva said.
"Uh... 7 years, 5 months. Antarctica." Lori said. "With those Minke Whales."
"Where'd you learn how to pilot a sub?" Morris asked.
"I spent 10 years with a certain-"
"-whale-saving environmental group that shall remained unnamed for legal reasons." Lori said.
"Yeah, ask her if she blew up a whaling ship with a homemade torpedo." Wall offered as Lori merely looked back at him.
"Hey." Lori warned.
"No." Morris said as if he was joking. And he chuckled. "That is a good hire." He said to Zhang.
Tens of thousands of feet below them in the Abyssal Zone.
Lori's sub descends deeper into the black.
"11 in 2."
"Water temperature is at 6 degrees."
"Mac, we are through the thermocline." Lori announced. "We are approaching 11,000 meters."
As it turns out, they are descending down the Mariana Trench. The deepest point on Earth, it's lowest point is 36,070 feet below the surface. 7 miles down from the surface, if Mt. Everest was placed under it, It would literally still be a mile underwater.
So far down, that only 4 descends were every made. The first was in January 23rd, 1960 when Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard descends in the Trieste. Which they made it to a depth of 35,814 feet.
The last descend was in March 26th, 2012, 52 years after the first descend. When famous film director James Cameron who made 1997 film Titanic, and 2009 film Avatar. 2 of the highest grossing films of all time to date. He entered a tube like vessel called Deepsea Challenger, which has reached a depth of 35,756 feet.
So far down, the water pressure at that depth is colossal. A Human will be crushed under these depths, crushing every amount of air in the body. Not even a Sperm Whale, has ever gone this far down. Where even they, have their limits in diving on a lungful of air of 2 hours max of their famous deep sea hunts.
"100 meters from the bottom." Toshi reported.
"Maybe." Toshi turns to the screen.
"Maybe from the bottom." Wall said in a haunted tone.
"Maybe?" What does he mean, "maybe"?" Morris asked.
"Yeah." Koki wondered.
"Come on. Look at this." Mac showed to a screen.
They moved over to a screen on a table.
"Since 1875, we've all believed... the Mariana Trench was the deepest place on Earth." Zhang explained and Morris nodded.
"Right." Chris nodded.
"Yeah, over 35,000 feet down." Martin said. "We've never been that far down."
"I've had a theory that what we think is the bottom might actually be a layer of Hydrogen Sulfide." Zhang said as the screen shows the trench's seafloor. "beneath that cloud, and a freezing cold thermocline... there could be a completely new world." And the screen shows if the layer was what he said is true, shows the real seafloor.
"Wow." Aviva said in awe.
"The Origin is about to see if my father is right." Suyin said. "If there is warm water below, that means we're going to be the first to see it."
"I am so glad you invited us." Chris said. "And that means, unknown species waiting to be discovered."
"And what if you're wrong?" Morris asked.
"Then you have wasted $1.3 billion." Zhang answered.
Morris laughed from thinking it was a joke. "You're kidding."
But Zhang shook his head.
Morris turns to Mac. "He's kidding, right?"
"Copy that." Mac said and heads off.
"Wait. What?" Morris blinked.
"10 meters. Approaching boundary." Toshi announced.
Lori slows the descent speed of the sub as they near the supposedly seafloor. And then came to a complete stop.
And it was like an endless desert at night.
"Hovering at 5 meters. Full stop." Lori announced.
"Final checks."
"Jaxx?" Mac called.
"Good to go." Jaxx replied.
"Doc?" Mac turned to Heller.
"Crew are go." Heller replied.
"DJ?" Mac turned to DJ.
"Sub and rover are a go." DJ replied.
"Origin crew, we are go for insertion." Mac announced.
"Insertion." Toshi said.
Wall snickered from that tone.
"Is everything sexual with you guys?" Lori asked turning to them.
"Sex, food, power and..." Toshi said.
"Money." He and Wall said. "Blow it up now." And they both fist bumped and and made an explosion sound.
DJ silently snickered from that.
"Dive control,-"
"-we are a go for... insertion." Lori reported.
Toshi and Wall chuckled.
"I'll remind you to get 2 other crew members on the next dive." Aviva called and Lori who she meant.
And then, Lori slowly descends the sub near the seabed. And as the sub nears the floor, the rover vehicle attached to the underside hits the floor and sinks through. And soon, the entire sub disappeared in it.
"We're in." Lori announced. "You guys, we're in.." She beamed.
"It's a cloud. It is not the bottom."
"Lori, be careful." Mac advised. "We don't know the depth-
"-on the other side of this. The sea floor could come right under you."
"Copy that, Mac. We're ready."
Everyone remained silent.
Slowly, the sub sinks through the layer.
And then, it emerges out from the layer. And it was almost like entering another world on a different planet.
"You guys, we are through!" Lori announced.
Everyone in the room cheers.
"I have multiple small sonar contacts. There is life down here.
The screen shows the crew.
"Congratulations!" Toshi cheered.
"Deploying the lights." Wall announced and pushed a button on a screen.
Outside the sub, on it's underside. Small light devices deploy off the sub. And they sink down to the seafloor by weights. And one touches down as some deep sea Shrimp swim off.
And several species of deep sea fish were seen swimming off.
And it seems, the blue world...
Has got a whole lot bigger.
In the room, everyone was amaze still.
"Lights-"
"-deployed." Lori flipping a switch. "I'm gonna come around."
She then slightly turns the control handle as the sub turns right. And soon they came across a field of hydrothermal vents.
And they were completely amaze of what they were seeing.
"Whoa!" Wall gasped.
"Oh, my goodness." Lori gasped.
Among the vents spewing a mixture of hot water and bacteria. Creatures of different kinds swam around them. A small deep sea Shrimp moves across some Tubeworms, and then a deep sea fish that was hiding snatched the Shrimp and swam off. And there was even deep sea Jellyfish.
And the sub moves across the field like they're exploring another world.
This is probably even how life on Earth even started as when the first soft bodied creatures appeared.
"Wow!" Lori breathlessly said.
"Whoa!" Wall said as well.
"Mac, tell me you're getting this." Lori called to him.
"We're getting all of it, Lori." Mac said. "Got a lot of smiling faces up here."
"No kidding." Chris said.
"It's like looking at an alien planet." Martin said.
Slowly, the sub lowers down to the seabed, and it has a flat enough area to deploy the rover vehicle.
"DJ, we got positive-"
"-terrain to launch the rover." Lori announced.
DJ reaches for the controller of the rover. "Copy. Launch is yours." He types a code on a screen.
"Okay." Wall flips a few switches. "Rover is..."
Outside, the rover gently drops to the seafloor.
"...free." Wall announced.
And the rover's front lights turn on.
"Copy." DJ replied.
The rover then begins to moves across the seabed.
DJ moves the rover with a controller.
And he looks up as the rover's camera view shows it exploring the seafloor.
"How is this possible?" Morris breathlessly asked.
the screen showed countless number of small deep sea Squid.
"This ecosystem is completely cut off from the rest of the ocean... by the freezing cold thermocline." Zhang explained. We should find all sorts of species completely unknown to science."
"Sounds like a good investment." Morris said.
"And this could mean, new species." Chris said. "I gotta think of a good enough name for the first unknown species."
"Good luck spotting it before me." Martin challenged.
Back under over 36,000 feet at the seafloor, an alarming beeping sound was heard as Toshi turns to his screen.
And the radar showed an object appearing in view.
"Lori, I have a contact." Toshi called to her. "Bearing 0 8 0."
Lori looks at her screen, and can it as well. And turned to another screen as it was near the rover. And whatever the radar was getting, it was clearly something big.
"It's big." Toshi said.
"Oh, it's huge." Wall said.
"And it's moving fast." Toshi added.
Lori adjust her screen, and a radar screen appeared on the top section of the windshield that is adjustable and works like a screen.
"DJ, is the rover-"
"-seeing this?" Lori called to him.
DJ looks at the camera view of the rover, but there was nothing there.
"Negative." DJ replied. "Let me try and bring up some more lights."
DJ then moves to a screen, and turns on the starboard lights of the rover.
The lights on the rover brightens as they turn on.
The screen shows the rovers continues moving, and so far nothing appeared.
Then suddenly the rover was struck by something.
"Rover One, signal interrupted."
It was soon picked up.
"Whoa! I just lost telemetry." DJ exclaimed.
"What the hell?" Mac approached.
The screen showed as the rover was taking damage. And the camera view screen shows as it was being carried across by something.
"Origin, recommend an immediate right-
"-turn to 3-5-0." Jaxx called. "This could be a landslide."
Lori quickly grabs the controls, and turns the sub.
But Lori's screen showed something was behind them.
"Last time I checked, landslides don't make 90 degree turns." Lori said.
Everyone was now growing concern.
"Something's after them." Martin gasped.
The object closes distance on the sub.
"It's right on us! It's right on us!" Toshi exclaimed.
And then a moment later, the sub shook as if something just hit it.
"What the hell was that?" Lori exclaimed as a few pieces outside fall off and sank.
The radar screen showed whatever struck then is moving away.
"Lori, what's going on down there?" Mac asked.
"You guys..." Lori called to Toshi and Wall seeing something.
"What?" Wall turned to her.
"...come look at this." Lori said.
And then Lori moves a section the screen as it zooms in, and showed the damaged rover.
"Whoa!" Wall gasped. "What could do that to the rover?"
The rover looked like it was used as a chew toy.
"I don't think I wanna know." Lori said.
Then there was an alarm as Toshi turns to his screen, and whatever struck and damaged the rover was coming right at them again from behind.
"It's coming back." Toshi said.
And then the screen said "IMPACT ALERT".
Then suddenly the sub felt like it was struck by a freight train.
"Oh, my God!" Lori exclaimed.
"Let's get out of here. Blow the tanks."
They watched as they were in trouble.
"I'm trying. It's not working!" Lori yelled. "Mac, help!"
"Whole system's down!" Toshi yelled.
"Oh, my God." Lori trembled in fear.
"Oh, my God. DJ, Mac..."
"Lori, what's going on down there?" Chris to her. "What's happening! Talk to us!"
"...there's something down here." Lori exclaimed. "Jonas was right. Jonas was right!" Lori turns to the screen. "Do you co..."
And then the screen froze as it lost connection.
"Lori, come in." Mac trying to reach her.
But there was no response.
"Origin, can you hear me?" Mac trying to reach the sub. "Origin, please respond."
"Come on." Jaxx softly begged.
""Lori, come in." Mac tried to reach her but no response. "Wall, can you hear me? Toshi?"
And then the link failed, and the screen went black.
And the Origin crew were now trapped over 36,000 feet with a giant unknown creature.
Soon, they gathered in a meeting room.
"Gather around, people." Mac said as he and Zhang entered. "Options."
"Not great." Jaxx said.
"This is big." Martin said.
"We know they're alive." Heller said. "I've still got telemetry on their vitals."
"How long do they have?" Morris asked.
"Maybe 18 hours." Heller responded.
"Ballast valves are jammed, which means it can't rise by itself." Jaxx said. "If we attempt to tow it, it's 50/50 that the tanks will explode and breach the capsule."
"And with water pressure down at that depth." Chris said. "It's over 15,500 PSI. The sub will be crushed like a soda can."
"Yeah, we had several experiences with water pressure." Martin said referring about the Whale of a Squid and Creatures of the Deep Sea adventure.
"Can't we go hatch-to-hatch?" Mac asked.
"Not a chance." DJ sadly replied.
"The external camera's showing severe hatch damage." Jaxx said.
"We have to try something." Suyin said.
"Yeah, we can't just leave them down there to die with thing." Aviva said.
"They're 6 miles down." Jaxx reminded. "And no one has ever attempted a rescue at that depth."
"No. That's not exactly true." Mac said.
Heller soon realized what he meant. "No. No way."
"What?" Koki asked.
"We can handle this." Suyin said.
"Not at 11,000 meters, you can't." Mac said.
"We've gone 5,000 meters." DJ said. "8,000 meters. At some point, it just becomes a number."
"Why don't you try this number?" Mac said. "3." And Mac moves around them. "That's how many people have actually attempted a rescue below 10,000 meters. And the number 1. That's how many are left alive to talk about it. 1 man. Jonas Taylor."
"I've actually heard of him." Chris said. "That deep sea rescuer."
"Me too." Koki said.
"And look what happened to that one man the last time he went to these depths." Heller reminded.
"He saved 11 people, including you, Heller." Mac reminded. "That's what happened."
"Not all rescues go the way they should." Aviva said remembering the news of that day.
"He left our friends to die, because he had pressure-induced psychosis." Heller said.
"Come on, Heller." Mac said dismissively. "That was your diagnosis. Jonas said something attacked them. Something big enough to take out a nuclear submarine."
"What kind of creature would even have the ferocity to even do that?" Aviva said.
"The biggest deep sea creatures I could think would be Giant and Colossal Squid." Chris said. "But they would be likely to just avoid them. And from what I heard, the sub felt as it was struck by a dozen freight trains."
"What about Sperm Whales?" Koki asked. "They can dive deep."
"True. But they're likely to avoid them as well." Martin said. "And Blue Whales are gentle and would avoid them as well. I think whatever attack that sub, might be some kind of unknown species."
"He's a drunk." Heller said dismissively.
"You're not listening!" Mac snapped.
"He washed up on a beach in Thailand." Heller said.
"I know he knows leaving his 2 members behind is wrong." Martin stood up. "But he didn't had a choice, Heller. Another few seconds, with the rescue vehicle still attached. The sub could've exploded, and taking everyone in the vehicle with it."
"Did you hear what Lori said?" Mac angrily asked. "Were you there?"
"That's enough." Zhang said to them. "We all heard Lori's last transmission. We have to consider that Origin may have encountered something similar... to what Jonas Taylor described. Something he was able to escape from."
"Ba! Please." Suyin turned to her father.
Zhang held his hand up.
"Prep the helicopter." Zhang said. "We must go to Thailand."
Author's Note:
The Wild Kratts knowing Lori, I know. What can I say?
I can be full of surprises with this kind of stuff. When something pops in my head, it happens.
And the Great White Shark, Razor-Mouth. She'll be getting several other appearances.