Devilfish -- Part One

he Vice Director of the planet Palm II, Veya Carmis, sat in the office of her superior, Dahlia Mallos, rifling through papers. She was absolutely buried in them. Reports came in at all hours of the day from a thousand different stations and networks and subsystems, and all of them demanded attention. Veya watched, crestfallen, as yet another report slid out of the communication device that waited at her right hand. She picked it up and read the first few lines.

We are out of fruit-flavored soft drinks and snack cakes in Northland Sector Twelve. The only supplies remaining consist of freeze-dried granola and diet cola. Please send provisions immediately....

Veya growled and tossed the report into a trash can labeled "LOW PRIORITY." Having done so she began to sob and her head fell to her desk, smacking hard against its smooth wooden surface. "Owww," she said.

There was a knock at the door. Without looking up Veya called, "What now?"

The door opened and a tall, slender man in a lab coat entered. He had fair, unblemished skin and white-blond hair that was very short but combed and styled meticulously. Although he was Palman like Veya, he was nonetheless a stark contrast to her. Unlike the spindly, wiry man, Veya was athletic, with olive skin and long mane of wild curly hair the color of overly-ripened plumbs.

The thin man cleared his throat. "Hello, Vice Director," he said. "I am Assistant Coordinator Mect Lobard, from Tidal. I, along with my superior, oversee the development of the ocean's southeast quadrant. I sent you a report two days ago. It was marked 'URGENT' but you haven't responded yet...."

Veya shook her head and randomly grabbed four reports. She held each of them up in turn. All were marked as urgent. Mect showed no response. Then Veya opened one of the 'urgent' reports and began to read. "Coordinator Savalbara reports that he has found several blades of grass in the Sobodo valley which were as much as half a centimeter too long or too short. This is after Coordinator Savalbara made his grass specifications clear on four separate occasions. Please report this incident to Biosystems immediately so that a diagnostic of the entire Sobodo ecosystem development unit can be started at once."

Mect chuckled. "You're joking."

Veya threw the reports down in disgust. "I'm not."

Mect shuffled and said, "I assure you, the problem at Tidal is considerably more important."

Veya shrugged, closed her eyes, and rested her delicate chin in her palm. "Go on," she muttered.

"Very well," Mect said, pulling yet another file from within his lab coat. "There is a photograph I would like you to take a look at."

Veya opened her eyes and Mect slid a picture across the desk to her. Veya looked at the photo for a moment, expressionless. But then a look of revulsion came over her face.

"What is this?" she asked. Her eyes were transfixed on the image -- a tentacle, covered in suckers oozing some sort of pus, with wires and diodes emerging from what seemed to be at least a dozen terrible wounds in its slimy skin.

Mect took back the photograph. "We don't know," he said. "In my report I asked for a full investigation, and for Tidal to be temporarily shut down so as to ensure the safety of the workers."

"So you're telling me that this...thing... was photographed by somebody at Tidal."

"We retrieved this image from the memory of a security drone which we found, for all intents and purposes, eviscerated."

Veya took a deep breath and her dark skin went white. "All right, you got it," she said. She reached for her keyboard and input several orders into the computer. "I'm shutting down Tidal immediately. All workers will report home at once. Only a skeleton crew of vital personnel and security officers will remain behind. I'm also having a team of investigators sent in, but it might be a few days, or even weeks, before they can pull themselves away--" She tapped the report on grass length. "--from more pressing matters."

Mect nodded, but he was clearly disappointed. "Thank you very much, Vice Director."

Veya sighed as she finished with the computer. "And thank you, as well, Doctor Lobard. I'm very sorry about this delay. What if that thing had run across a person and not a robot? I swear, I don't know how Dahl ever kept up with this flood of nonsense, this time-wasting garbage...."

"Yes...." Mect said, backing away. "Well, I'll be on my way, then. I'll keep you informed of events."

"Oh, no you don't," Veya said. She stood and took her long lavender-blue fibercoat off of the rack next to Dahl's desk. "I'm going with you."

Mect looked at the high pile of urgent reports on Veya's desk. "But, Vice Director! Don't you think you are needed here?"

Veya shrugged and walked past Mect. "It looks to me like your situation is too important to leave unattended for a decade or two," she said. "I am going to look into this one personally. As for this other junk, I'll just pass it down to my assistants. That's the way we work around here."

It was only a short walk from the Director's office to a teleport terminal. The terminal was a wonder of modern technology and was part of a new network that, some hoped, would one day link every city in Algoian territory and make spaceships obsolete. However, if that day was ever to arrive, it was still a long way off. Even so, the network was already being tested on Palm II and on the satellite of Zelan. Through its use, Veya and Mect were be able to teleport from the Labs, beneath the western plains of the Eastland continent, to the western shore of the Southland continent, where transportation to Tidal was available.

Within thirty minutes of their brief meeting, Veya and Mect were on a small boat en route to Tidal. The two convened in the boat's bridge as the robot captain piloted the ship. Mect had a map with him, which he spread out on a table. It was a map of the Palm II ocean, with the east coast of Eastland and the western coasts of Northland and Southland framing the map.

"I don't mean to insult you, Vice Director," Mect said. "I'm sure you know the geography of this planet. But there are some finer points of Tidal and its work with which you may not be familiar."

"Go right ahead," Veya said. "I'm a tinker. I know a lot about this planet, but I don't have any special expertise in any one area. You're the Sea God around here. I'm more than happy to listen to you."

"Thank you," Mect said, grinning at Veya's comments. "But first.... Captain, how long until we reach Tidal?"

The head of the rather skeletal robot piloting the watercraft turned so that it faced the two passengers. The body, however, remained still, with its thin hands tightly gripping the large, old fashioned steering wheel. "About ten minutes, sir," the robot said, and then it turned back to the ocean stretching out in all directions.

"Oh, good, that's more than enough time. Well, anyway, it's like this, Vice Director...."

"Please, call me Veya," Veya said.

Mect nodded and smiled again. "And call me Mect. As I was saying, the water supply of Palm II has been created over time by bringing large quantities of ice from Dezo and then melting the ice at the appropriate locations. The water supply is almost complete now; we even have a real water cycle going. However, the ocean basin is not yet full. Tidal's eventual purpose will be to maintain a tide system -- at least until the moons are built. But right now, its primary mission is to oversee the completion of the water supply and the planting of aquatic life in the ocean."

Veya nodded. "Yes, of this much I am aware."

"Then I'm sure you also know about the Drift."

"I know all about it. A massive bubble has accidentally been created about fifty kilometers west of Tidal. A large quantity of ocean water has actually gotten under the planet's skin and is creating a giant blister."

"I'm afraid that's right," Mect said with a frown, pointing to a white area on the ocean map. According to the map scale, the area was hundreds of square kilometers in size. "And that's one blister we haven't been able to pop."

"What does this have to do with the, ummm, creature?" Veya asked, now studying the map intently, and seeing how the gradation of the map marked the water level getting shallower and shallower the closer one came to the Drift.

"There is an abandoned complex from Palm II's previous developmental stage under the Drift," Mect told her. "It's very similar to your Labs complex. We just recently discovered it, and we were able to find a tunnel connecting this complex to Tidal. So, we sent a few teams of robots down there to see if we could find anything useful for deflating the Drift. Well, we didn't find what we were looking for, but...."

Veya chuckled and shook her head. "You sure found something."

"Or it found us. Veya, I have no idea what this thing might be, but it's clear to me that we must have created it somehow. And now it is posing a dire threat to everyone at Tidal and the surrounding stations, and it's jeopardizing our work on fixing the Drift."

"I know, I know, this is very serious. We have got to find a way to contain that thing...."

Mect stared down at the map. "Of course, it may be necessary to destroy it."

Mect had brought out the photograph at the same time he brought out his ocean map. Veya picked the photo up and looked at it. "It looks like such a tortured thing," she said quietly. "Whatever course of action we take, we've got to act quickly."

It had already been early evening when Mect arrived at Veya's office, so by that time night was falling. After Mect had replaced his map and photo he turned to Veya and saw her staring at the sea through a window. "We should go outside," he said. "You won't want to miss your first view of Tidal."

Veya nodded and followed Mect out onto the boat's humble deck. "I've heard it's very impressive," she said. "One of the most impressive installations on this planet, they say."

"In my opinion, the only thing on Palm II more awesome than Tidal is New Baya Malay. And that is saying something."

"Mmmm, indeed. The station should be in sight at any time, shouldn't it?"

Mect was silent as his pale blue eyes scanned the black ocean before them. Algo was sinking behind the restless waves and the first, brightest stars -- Mota and Dezo -- had already appeared. Mect squinted and shielded his eyes from the last of Algo's light, knowing that what he was looking for should be just ahead. And then, as Algo was finally overtaken by the ocean, he smiled and pointed. "There it is!" Mect said. "It's coming up now."

Rapidly rising into view was a city lying atop a raised platform. Veya had seen similar platforms many times, in places where engineers were digging tunnels or companies were drilling for oil beneath the Motavian sea. But this platform was far larger and far higher. Veya guessed that the platform itself must have been a thousand meters up, and then there were buildings atop the platform that could have easily rose for thirty or more stories.

Veya whistled. "Okay," she said. "I'm impressed."

Mect chuckled. "It's really something, isn't it? Once the ocean is full the platform will be appear to be floating right on the surface. And then, once the moons are done and Tidal's systems are retired, we're going to make a real town out of it!"

"Yeah, there was a floating city on Old Palma," Veya muttered. "Dahl's assistant Mium told me about it."

"That was Drasgow," Mect added. "We plan to call our city that, too."

"But how will we get up there?" Veya asked. "I see lots of cranes and pulleys and such, but nothing that could lift an entire boat."

The boat's robot captain joined the two Palmans on the deck. "I can answer that, ma'am," the robot said. "Tidal has already taken control of the boat via remote control. It will now guide us to the center of the four columns, directly beneath the center of the Drasgow platform. Then an elevator shall come up from below. That will take you and Dr. Lobard to Tidal's primary complex beneath the ocean floor."

As the robot spoke, the boat did in fact come to rest directly beneath the platform. It was pitch black under there. The only light came from the platform's four legs, which were themselves massive towers covered in windows and airlocks. Veya ran to the side of the boat and looked down. She could see that the windows in the columns did not stop at the current ocean surface. They continued down into the water, deep down until they disappeared, their fiery yellow light fading into dull green and finally brackish blue. And beyond that, there was nothing but the perfect silence and ever-present darkness of the abyss.

"How deep is this now?" Veya asked.

"More than twice as deep as the deepest point in the ocean on Mota," Mect said. "Mota really has a very shallow ocean, as far as planets go. Palma's oceans were much deeper."

"I see that. Oh, look!"

Veya pointed to a red light that had appeared below and a little off to the east of the ship. The red light rose rapidly, and when it broke the surface of the water, Veya found that it was actually a "headlight" for a cylindrical elevator module. The little boat automatically waded over to the elevator so that Mect and Veya could easily step from the boat's deck to the elevator's interior.

Once both of the Palmans were off of the boat, the boat captain saluted. "It was my pleasure to serve you," the robot said. "Have a pleasant evening." With that, the elevator door drew closed with a soft hiss, and the robot and his boat skirted off into the night.

Meanwhile, the elevator began to sink. Inside, Veya asked, "So, this thing we're in is attached to the sea bottom."

"Right," Mect said with a nod. "It works like a periscope. In a minute we'll be in Tidal proper, which rests on the ocean floor. From there we can go, via an old tunnel, to the abandoned complex where the creature was sighted."

"Sounds good...I guess."

Mect shrugged. "I've been down to Tidal a thousand times, literally, but now I find myself a little nervous. I don't like being out of contact with my crew for so long. Especially with an unknown...thing prowling around down there."

Veya gave a crooked smirk. "And here I thought it was the knowledge that billions of tons of water are just waiting to crush you like a paper cup...."

Mect returned the smirk. "No, that you can get used to."

Veya sighed and leaned against the smooth, cold wall of the elevator. She stared up at the one red light bulb in the compartment's ceiling and said, "You know, maybe it was stupid of us to think we could make an entire planet and keep everything so...controlled. Nature finds a way of doing what it wants."

"Now you sound like Rolobin, the marine biologist," Mect said with a shake of his gaunt head. "He's been putting off the introduction of sea life for years now. Here on Palm II we've already got simple insects, simple birds, and we're scheduling some rodentia for next year, and this is while the land environment is no where near as finished as the aquatic. I'm telling you, the oceans are ready."

Veya turned to Mect and said, "Looks to me like the ocean doesn't really care whether we think it's ready or not."

Mect nodded. "Yeah. That is what scares me."