"The system seems nominal, no data across the array shows any sign of corruption" said Naomi.
Her voice broke the oppressive silence of the ocean floor. Sound traveled much better in water, much further, yet down here the only things audible were the occasional whale call, and geological activity. Darkness swallowed her headlamp, only illuminating the scant flakes of marine snow a few feet in front of her. Looking up, she flipped to infrared and saw dim silhouettes in the distance undulating. Waiting. She felt more comfortable in the dark and tried not to think too hard about the isolating nature of deep ocean trenches."That's good" Kai replied, validating the sister vault.
His diagnostic progress was passing 47%."Less for us to do, I'd rather not be down here longer than necessary. Let's collect our samples then be on our way."
A small stream of silvery liquid had collected in a circular depression below the data vaults. It flowed down from the basalt walls of the continental shelf with a powerful slowness that dragged the otherwise motionless water into a weak current."Don't you think we should find the source?" Naomi's gaze followed the stream as it disappeared into the dark. "Whoever this belongs to would probably like to know, especially if it could avoid another expedition down here. You don't store something in an ocean trench if you want people knowing about it, and you for sure want the peace of mind that nothing will damage it."
"Our instructions were to verify the integrity of the vault and the data it houses, we've done that."
Kai's diagnostic ticked to 100%"And now we can go home, where the probability of me getting crushed by an ocean's worth of water goes back to what it should be."
He initially had expressed excitement at the prospect of making an expedition to the seafloor, hoping to find something of interest to bring back. Something beyond the sand and constant fall of marine snow.pleasant euphemism, she thought.
Naomi walked alongside the stream, ascending the few meters to where sand met rock. The break in the cliff face framed her shoulders, just wide enough for her to enter."Careful over there, I have you on FLIR but you're too far. We should leave and get it analyzed", Kai warned.
"I'll be fine, it seems to be denser than water. Anyway, I want to get a sample as close to the source as possible."
Kai begrudgingly stored a few milliliters in a compartment on the side of his calf, and propelled himself towards the silhouette of Naomi's suit.