OCEAN
1.
Under the surface of the sea, between the Corel and the Midgar coasts, the World Regenesis Organization submarine Dragonette was slowly making its way amidst the banks of fishes swimming tightly around the steel-clad prowler of the abysses.
The submarine had been dispatched to a maritime patrol mission and in addition it had received further orders to monitor the flow of the Lifestream beneath the bottom of the ocean, right where the rift separating the two landmasses ran. Accordingly, in addition to its 37-men crew, it had embarked a small team of scientists before setting sails from Junon the day before. During the cruise they had been busy running the surveys pertaining the anomalies that had been recorded by the network of sonar-buoys deployed from one coastline to the other.
The commander, Rear Admiral Gast Anspeth, was more or less at ease in his seat in the submarine main deck. To him, that extended patrol was nothing more than a slight modification to the usual routine: the Dragonette would have normally harboured back at Junon before sunset, being more suited to coastal patrol rather than long voyages around the waters of Gaia. On this occasion, on the other hand, the orders where to perform a sweep over the rift and rendezvous with a supply ship that would have extended the operational autonomy of the vessel for another day and a half. The Dragonette was a small submarine, compared to its predecessors which had been mothballed and cannibalized by the Chief of Staff of the WRO Naval Service since their usefulness had come to an end. It was nonetheless reliable and well equipped and the WRO was using it extensively in their dual role of liaison and scientific vessels. Anspeth decided that operating outside the comfort zone of the submarine would have been the perfect chance to put the efficiency of the submarine (and of its crew) to test.
The cruise so far had proceeded smoothly, save for a bunch of minor malfunctions occurred just after leaving Junon harbour. Anspeth's crew dealt with them and, although frankly unexpected, they did not delay the mission schedule. The only thing that bothered Anspeth was how such glitches could occur in a submarine that had just rolled out from the inspections with flying colours.
Anspeth discarded these worries. He looked at his wristwatch and then addressed his executive officer
"XO, how long to the rendezvous with the supply ship?"
Jan Marcus, the Executive Officer and Anspeth's second in command tapped his fingers on a keyboard
"Still eight hours to go, sir" he replied
"Thank you, XO" Anspeth replied, slightly grumping
'Still too early' he thought
"Admiral, if I didn't know you, I'd dare to say you sound nervous" Mace Pinknell, the navigation officer had worked under the orders of Anspeth long enough to be allowed to use such friendly tones with the Admiral. Aspeth was known throughout the WRO Naval Service to be a stern although fair officer, who usually kept his due distance from subordinates. That did not prevent him from becoming more open if he deemed it appropriate
"I'm not" Anspeth assured him, smiling "But honestly, I'd like to call this off as soon as we can"
"Well, there will be still a day and a half at least to swim around the Corel-Junon rift, even after the rendezvous with the supply ship" Pinknell pointed out
"At least half of the work will be done by then"
"Right, sir" Pinknell concurred
"Sir, do we have anything to rely to Junon? The Digital Burst Relay is ready to broadcast" the communications officer asked from his station
"I'll go in the quarters to ask it personally to the scientists" Anspeth answered, standing up from the chair
"We can use the intercom and the submarine intranet. There's no need to walk downstairs" the communications officer marvelled at the Admiral's decision
"Well, we could. Of course!" Anspeth explained "But I'd like to exchange a few words with them. XO, I'll leave controls to you!"
"XO, taking controls" the executive officer confirmed, as he stood from his station, shifting to the Admiral's one
"Do not hesitate to ring the bell if something weird happens" Anspeth cared to recommend
"Yes, Sir!" the XO saluted, watching as the Admiral took the stairs at the end of the deck down towards the crew quarters
"Sure Aspeth looks nervous…" Pinknell observed
"I'm afraid he is" the XO pointed out "Must have been the issues with the on-board electronics we had experienced a couple of hours ago" he reminded the rest of the crew
"Sure that has scared me out as well" the electronic defence officer spun his seat to face the XO "I've never experienced multiple batches of panels going off randomly and simultaneously. And thank Heaven the guys at Junon told the submarine was good to go!"
The XO waived his hand "Probably is just a coincidence or something like that" he dismissed the electronic defence officer's worries "Maybe we have a defective relay or a contact in a circuit. It is serious but the redundancy of the submarine's computer will mend that glitch automatically. We should probably be more concerned about one of the scientist not meddling with wards of the submarine strictly reserved for crewmembers" he grinned
"Well" officer Pinknell concluded "At least, if anything really bad happens, we can always resurface an shoot a flare in the air…"
Admiral Anspeth walked through a narrow and low corridor before reaching the quarter that had been reserved to the scientific crew. He knocked on the door
"Come in" a voice replied from behind. Aspeth opened the door and entered the room. The quarter was not spacious at all, but considering the standards of that submarine, the two scientists making calculations over a relief map of the Corel-Junon rift were lucky enough to have gotten so much space inside a tin can such as the Dragonette
"Oh, it's you Admiral" one of the scientists sitting at the desk greeted him "Is there something we might help you with?"
"Oh, relax doctor Toz!" Aspeth told him "I just wanted to stretch my legs and see how your work is progressing…"
"That's very kind of you to take interest in our job!" Ephraim Toz, the head of the small scientific mission aboard the Dragonette exclaimed. He was a geologist, a graduate from the Modeoheim University. He was quite the portrait of a 40-year-old academic, with pince-nez glasses and a well kept appearance despite being holed up in a submarine vessel
"Is there anything specific you'd like to ask?" the doctor Toz's aide asked the admiral
"Oh, well, why don't you just tell me if you have found something suspicious or weird…" Anspeth vaguely suggested
Toz puffed "It would be easier to find anything if only the pillow-heads at the WRO headquarters told us what to look for…"
"What do you mean?" Anspeth asked
"It means" the second scientist explained "that we had received the orders to board your vessel at Junon and to proceed to survey the rift. That is all. If anything suspicious was meant to be found, well we haven't been told that…"
Anspeth scratched the back of his neck. He had boarded a team of scientists who had look for something they did not even know where to look for it. Or what it was, for all that mattered.
'Sure this assignment is starting to turn funny' he thought, bemused but worried at the same time
"But if we really have to file a report of anything suspicious" the second scientist continued, getting a hold of a wad of papers "this should do"
Aspeth took a look at the papers the scientist had passed him on. They pictured a series of diagrams. Aspeth frowned
"Well, it's all clear, now…" he sighed, sarcastically
"Oh, I'm sorry admiral" Toz apologized "Here, I'll explain…"
The scientist took a pencil and unfolded the relief map better
"So" he explained "The Corel-Junon rift is an underwater valley running north-south, here under the ocean midway between the Corel and the Junon landmasses"
Aspeth took a stance over the map and nodded
"Seismically speaking" Toz continued "the two landmasses had always been pushing against each other. The shape of the valley suggest that the Junon plate is slowly subsiding under the Corel plate. And this has been going on since Gaia was created. At least, since when Gaia began its geological life"
"But now" the scientist made a series of diverging arrows along the line representing the rift "the sonar-buoys had began detecting strange seismic pattern…"
"Sonar-buoys detecting earthquakes?" Anspeth curiously asked
"Well, yes" the other scientist joined the conversation "The buoys are sensible enough to detect the sound from the friction of the rift's cliff pushing against each other, and that helps us devising quake reconstruction based on the sounds' patterns…"
Anspeth gazed at the map
"Bear in mind that water propagates sound way better that air"
"That's right" Anspeth nodded again
"So, back to the map" Toz continued "The gush in the earth crust right here, at least according from the buoys and from the seismographs is now opening again"
"What?" Anspeth stared at him
"The plates had began slowly separating from each other. We don't know why but maybe…" he took another sheet. This time Aspeth could tell what it was about
"Mako readings" he said
"Right" Toz confirmed "Mako is seeping through the rift. This can be a consequence… or the cause!"
Anspeth took a closer look at the sheets and the map in front of him. Not that would have helped him understand the situation any better than Toz did. He sighed, challenged by the complexity and by the realization that probably the matter uncovered by the scientists would have had implications even for someone who was not really a man of science, like Anspeth himself.
Or maybe for the entire population of Gaia
"Is this the only place where that thing is happening?" Anspeth asked
"We don't know for sure…" the aide vaguely replied
"Maybe the WRO is performing surveys somewhere else. Maybe even in Mideel. But we can't be sure of that"
"Why not?"
"Nobody told us!" Toz shrugged
So apparently, the WRO was carrying out a series of inspections unbeknownst to the general public and even to high ranking officers like Anspeth himself.
But the most awkward side of the matter, was that even the persons tasked with carrying out these inspections were unaware of the wider picture.
Suddenly the light inside the quarter flickered and turned red. An alarm went off
"What is it?" Toz asked, startled by the chime
"It's the proximity alarm" Aspeth realized
"Admiral Aspeth on the deck!" a voice in the intercom announced "We have an unexpected target on radar!"
"I'd better go, now. Maybe our contact is running early on the timetable. Thanks for your time, gentlemen!" Aspeth greeted the scientists
"Thank you, Admiral" Toz shouted him as the Admiral made a run for the main deck. The interior of the submarine were flooded by a bright red light as the alarm was instructing every crewmember to rush to their respective battle station.
Anspeth climbed upstairs and reached the main deck
"Situation?" he asked
"Contact at 40 degrees from our bow, distance less than 5 miles" the radar officer illustrated him
"Why didn't we picked it up earlier?" Anspeth asked
"I don't know" the radar officer replied "The contact was picked up by the radar itself while it was scrubbing the scope"
"Could it be the resupply ship?"
"If it is, their transponder is either out of order or deliberately shut off…"
"Everyone ready at battle stations" Anspeth ordered "Code red!"
"Relying message to Junon" the communications officer announced "Buffer ready to broadcast"
All of a sudden the whole submarine was shook by a violent shockwave. Everyone held fast at their station
"What was that?" Anspeth frantically asked
"A shockwave!" the sonar office announced "We have no trace of the epicentre, though…"
"Was it a seaquake?" the Admiral asked
"I'm investigating" the sonar officer replied "But the readings went off the charts so it will hard to pinpoint the location?"
"Damage control?"
"We're safe" an officer replied
"What's the status on the previous target?" Anspeth asked the radar officer
"Still there where we first found it" he replied
"Contact Junon on the emergency frequency" Anspeth instructed the communications officer
"The frequency is occupied!" the communications officer told him
"What?" Anspeth was shocked. All of a sudden a routine patrol, a mission which consisted in nothing more to take a bunch of scientist on a trip into the sea was becoming a cluster-fuck. He started to sweat, the worries of the present situation coupling with the revelation the scientists had disclosed to him earlier.
As Anspeth rushed to the communication station, all lights in the main deck went off. They partially lit up again after a couple of seconds.
"Power out" the XO shouted "We've lost power on the main circuitry!"
"The auxiliary units?" Anspeth asked
"It already kicked in!"
"Defence status?" the Admiral again asked
"We're in standby mode" the defence systems officer announced
"Engines shut down" the engine officer shouted "We're coming to a halt!"
"Contact engine room!" Anspeth ordered "I'll go and see what happened in the server room. Broadcast a continuous feed on the emergency beacon!"
The officers nodded. Anspeth proceeded aft as the XO took charge of the ship.
2.
The trawler Constantine was lazily idling in the waters just miles away from the Dragonette. Its captain was sitting on a chair at bow, dressed in a heavy harbour coat at gazing at the tip of the fishing rod. Banks of fog were starting to emerge from the surface of the sea.
At the other end of the small fishing boat a voice chimed through the cold air of the night
"I can't really understand your craze for night-time fishing. I'm getting stiff and frozen like an icicle and we've caught nothing so far…"
The captain sighed at the impatience of his partner
"You should know" he explained "during night time no one dares to throw their lines in the water. Therefore, the more fishes for us…"
"I don't wonder why" the other man complained "Anyway, this is genius. One day it will be uncommon to fish during night time!"
"Stop heckling already!" the captain cut him short "No wonder why haven't caught anything so far if you don't stop crying out…"
"Jeez!" the other man puffed as he focused back on his fishing rod.
The captain stood back on his seat reeling the line to check if the bait was still on the hook. Maybe a fish had sneaked up while he was asleep and had carefully eaten the lure around the hook. The bait, though, was still in its place.
He stood up and proceeded to the caboose to see if there was a better lure still in the store. One more try before returning to port before the fog would have made sailing hazardous
"Hey, I'm going down to check if we have anything better to give these goddamn fishes!"
"I'll shout out if anything happens" the man replied
The captain nodded and walked downstairs. He opened a drawer and checked through the boxes if he could find anything suitable to catch something to at least eat dinner that night.
A thud diverted his attention. It came from starboard. The captain rushed on deck, aroused by the excited yells of his crew mate
"Damn you and your goddamn mouth of yours" the captain grunted, stepping up on the deck "What's so exciting now? Did you manage to tie the laces of your shoes by yourself?"
"Oh, you" the man countered, then he pointed to the side of the boat "I think something got tangled in the net!"
"Well, might as well take a look…" the captain concluded, pulling a lever. A clanking noise erupted from the winch next to the mast as the net was pulled upwards. It actually contained a bulk of dark matter, all covered in algae
"Let's hope it's not a stinking, rotten carcass or we can kiss our dinner goodbye"
"Just cook it and it will be fine!"
"Damn you are sure disgusting…"
The net was positioned over the deck. The hook snapped, letting it fall to the deck, opened.
The crewmember, as seasoned and as husky as they appeared, could not prevent themselves from screaming out loud as they never had before.
Among the chunks of algae, there was a corpse.
It had to be a male, the captain somehow could tell. The skin was pale and munched to bits. The eyes were dull and staring in front. It still wore a khaki uniform with the ranks of admiral of the WRO Naval Service.
The captain rushed to the radio to call out for help, before his legs could abandon him.
His crew mate sought a place to sit. Since there were any, he simply collapsed to the ground.
The lights on board the trawler suddenly went off. The captain hooked to the radio trying to broadcast on a frequency frantically twitching the knobs.
Meanwhile, more corpses were coming afloat around the boat.