eugenesis-text

worked through its planetary inventory, cataloguing and surveying, confident that the further down the list,
the less likely the chance of contact.
Protometallic messian spheres like Nithium, Torrene and Yerril were the most desirable targets, and
yet every body-drop had ended with a resounding ‘clean’. So after three years checking the Top 200 it was
time to sift through the dregs – the ruinous globes that didn’t quite make the grade.
Aquaria didn’t even make the Top 200: it was buried in appendix six (‘Contingency’) under
weightier and more probable candidates. It wasn’t even metallic, or a half-bred Cyberformed leftover. It
was just… there. And so no one could quite work out why transwarp traces had been detected across its
orbital belt, or why a cargo ship had been wing-clipped as it had crossed the dark side of its third moon.
Aybe steadied the craft as hail started to scab the viewscreen. ‘It’s getting prickly up here. I’ll make the
orbital run and retrace for pick-up, okay See you in forty.’ He released the final set of holding clamps and
the deep sea pod slipped from the aquashuttle’s fuselage.
Kaal swept his hand across the control console as the pod sank underwater. A belt of multi-layered
plexiglass curved around the pod’s waist. A single green bulb driven tight into the domed ceiling glazed
every instrument with an emerald sheen. Directional boosters battled against the current and warning lights
faded as the pod stabilised.
‘Let’s see what’s down here,’ said Plyn, activating the searchlights. ‘No sign of movement on a local
scale. Take a sample, Kaal.’
Kaal fiddled with the miniaturised airlock and unpacked a seawater sample. ‘I know we can withstand
the pressure,’ he whispered, ‘but do you ever get the feeling that the ocean is trying to force its way inside’
‘The ocean is trying to force its way inside – or are you just trying to be poetic’
‘Forget it. You want to hear the tox report’
‘What’ve you got’
‘The planet’s covered in aqua fortis, a corrosive liquid that breaks down certain metals – anything in
the GH3, 7 or 8 tables. Submersion can trigger contact decay or web fractures.’
‘I take it we’re safe in here’
‘I think so. The pod’s made from a GH composite.’
Plyn checked his console. ‘Ten thousand metres, Kaal - deepest we’ve dropped in a long time. It
feels like the walls are gonna buckle. Tin-can time, eh’
‘Perhaps we should turn back. I mean look at the tox report – you think they’re going to choose this
place’
‘Who knows Aquaria’s on the list.’
‘Yeah, but so is Earth. I think the Patriarchs are reading it all wrong.’ He pawed the viewscreen.
‘Crank up the beams, will you I can’t see a thing. What’s the seabed like’
The search beams swelled to maximum glare. ‘Nothing special. A few minor protrusions, but we’re
looking at a regular pantrinsic plateau. I suggest we… ah.’
‘What What’
‘The sonar’s picking up some irregularities... Looks like an abyss, about two thousand metres across.
Indeterminate depth. Suggest we—’
‘No.’
‘—go further down. Come on, Kaal, we’ll descend as far as the primary fuel blocks allow, right We’ll
drop-drift if we have to.’
Kaal fiddled with his mouthpiece and stared outside. The beams were bruising the lip of the canyon,
tripping over cracks and cavities. ‘I really don’t see the point. Let’s buzz Aybe and give him the all clear.
We can be back on Hybridia by daybreak.’
‘15,000 metres. Where’s your sense of adventure’
The pod dropped into the abyss, into suction streams and tidal threads.
‘How far do you want to take this, Plyn’ Kaal’s knuckles were pale with tension. ‘Until we clip an
outcrop Until the lights burn out and we’re diving blind’ He craned his neck to get a response. ‘Are you
listening to me’
Plyn was still staring outside. ‘Did you see that Just then – the cliff changed colour.’
Kaal followed the search beams. ‘That’s odd – this part’s made of metal. Hmm… Perhaps Aquaria is
techno-organic. That would explain why they’re interested.’ He tilted the pod closer to the walls of the