In the deep sea you're not on the ground just because you stopped sinking
Peacetime is hard times for mercy's like me I used to be grateful for every job
No matter how boring or senseless it was it's part of my routine to provide protection for supply boats and transports it
Was my job to guard a sulphur shipment heading from the Gulf of Bengal for the Argentine basin
Now sulfur isn't a particularly attractive prize for pirates or an artist's so I got to wondering why a
Protective convoy was necessary especially since they've been few pirate attacks recently
the captain of the transporter insisted on taking the slalom room for the melee archipelago
crossing the South Pacific so as to round Cape Horn
I thought maybe he wanted to give himself in the crew a little entertainment in the Pleasure Dome to the Mele archipelago a few ores
Some surface simulation who knows I had nothing against the idea we passed south of the domes and headed straight for the South Pacific Basin
They came at us from every direction a torpedo exploding close off my bow jolted me from my daydreams a
Small fleet of fighter boats under the flag of the show goon and circled us it probably wasn't monarchists just bandits from the tornado zone
as a greeting they sent us a flash shark, which penetrated the outer wall of the freighter and knocked out its electrical system a
Hungry swarm of bull sharks was after me
It's no fun in a fix like that if you've only got a dilapidated boat with one firing top
The automatic finder picked out the approaching torpedoes and sent them to the bottom one after the other
Well the only thing I could do was fire a few feeble thresher sharks against the agile boats
Then three things happened at once my location system failed an
Explosion astern set my boat rolling and a smart show goon bomber
Flashing painted deeds appeared hovering right in front of me
I might have known that she was behind it all my own personal nightmare from the depths of the tornado zone
I closed the valves on my suit crawled into the escape hatch and angrily jettisoned my lifeboat with a blast of compressed air
And
Not a second too soon
my crippled boat rolled over and sank into darkness as the grinning bombers draped my titanium capsule with a salvo of
arcade stuff
One glance at the freighter confirmed what I feared two enemy votes at dock Don the crew was being dealt with already
Before I passed out I thought of my failure and I wondered why the hell the anarchists needed sulfur so bad
I
came to freezing on a cold metal floor
And I didn't know which was sharper the features of the woman or the blade of the knife
She threatened me with she was a russo-japanese named homeroom
Which means red dragon a long time ago in a penal colony in the Sea of Okhotsk I slept with her
but at that moment feelings of nostalgia stayed deep she was the enemy always had been I
Defeated her once in a fight at the edge of the sandwich trench and spared her life
She's like me and our paths have crossed often, and she's always my enemy
We didn't talk much she said it would be child's play to slit my throat
but the world still needed me now that evil was reaching out of the depths I
Don't know what she meant by that, but it was the first time I ever heard fear in her voice
The Ronin didn't kill me she did the same as I have done at the sandwich trench
She gave me a tank full of breathing gas and expelled me from a lock into the ocean
The breathing gas had almost run out when an Atlantic or freighter picked me up?
They brought me to the Argentine basin quite unpleasant meeting with my employer was waiting for me
That's where this whole damn business started
The ship that this junk dealer foisted off on me didn't offer a lot of comfort
He wasn't particularly agile, but it was lightly armed and to my surprise. It was watertight
I wasn't in a position to make many demands because I just screwed up a pretty good job
I picked up Perry LaSalle who was seething with rage and on his way to see my employer El Topo
El Topo the mole so named because he hides his eyes from the light
Except when it comes from the surveillance monitors in his dismal mountain fortress the mole is a powerful force behind the scenes
And he has access to the most important power centers in acqua. I was sure that here I'd find out
What was really on board that freighter?
In
Trucks has a worldwide monopoly on JumpShip manufacturing and technology up to now
Nobody's been able to explain to me
How they managed to accelerate their jump ships ships as long as 500 meters to an underwater speed of 500 miles per hour
Among other things the ships have a so-called dipole drive an endless chain of series connected
Electromagnets that charged the water molecules alternately positive and negative setting them in rotation an extensive system of vanes
Offers the attack surface needed to convert the energy of rotation
Into sheer energy if it weren't for the ships and the network of jump points covering aqua the world wouldn't go round
Anywhere near as fast?
No wonder
El Topo was trying to break and trucks as monopolies fast transport as well as the production of breathing gas and energy
Are almost entirely in its hands if in trucks his boss ever got a notion to close up shop chaos would rule over aqua
On the eastern edge of the tornado zone off the coast of South America the busier narcos have closed off a rock cave in the
Continental slope and filled it with heliox breathing gas
Atacama city is called the dream of every inhabitant of aqua who yearns to feel solid ground underfoot once in their life
In this chaotic labyrinth of rocks pipes and tunnels I expect to track down
Likely in a bar serving cold girls and warm beer
We're on our way to one of the most exciting places in the tornado zone the station's off Galapagos
Apart from their inventive minds and their unscrupulousness the inhabitants of the tornado zone have two principal sources of income
harvesting mineral rich manganese nodules and producing synthetic protein around the sulfur rich volcanic vents off Galapagos
Which reach 350 degrees Celsius?
Giant tubeworms and mussels contain bacteria that can process sulfur and produce carbohydrates out of carbon dioxide and water
The bacteria in turn form nourishment for the muscles worms and crabs which are the most cheaply produced animal proteins
Protein is highly valued and much in demand in aqua
The director of this part of the tornado zone ivan king is a tough customer he wants higher prices for protein
That's why he's holding a fully laden freighter from bento is unlimited. He along with the crew. It's my job to change his mind
Neapolis
capital of the Atlantic Federation home of freedom democracy and
unfettered money-making on the eve of the six hundredth anniversary of the ocean settlement its cleaving would
Spit-and-polish like the inviting entrance of a whore tank for me
It's too clean to save you always know what the next day will bring and the citizens are so content. They've completely forgotten
They're locked up a thousand meters
Deep in a gas filled terrarium for me
Freedom means more than just the right to inhale all the lavender scented alien ox I want
Behind the giant lux in the Strait of Gibraltar Heights the greatest collection of human trash in all aqua
under command of the notorious captain sorrow they are an army of outcasts
Criminals and terrorists hunted all over the world. They meet here to plan raids piracy and terrorism
To kill a monster of this size best thing to do is knock off its head
I'll bet anything sorrows band of marauders and cutthroats will scatter over the seven seas if they lose their leader
But it's not just a matter of taking captain sorrow prisoner the entire fortress needs to be knocked out
in one stroke
That's about it aqua has been liberated from one more legend the cutthroat captain's sorrow
Floating bombay
the people of the Klan's Union from the Arabian Indian sphere
Primarily care about beautifying their existence their masters of rare arts like underwater painting
And they have a thorough understanding of how to raise swarms of shining bioluminescent fungal spores
But it's not just the culture of beauty they've mastered
But also the culture of communication and when it comes to the clans union and communication that means trade
Here you find everything from secret dipole drives for fighter drones to the latest weapons and weapons guidance systems
The bazaars of the floating city are bursting with technical achievements from the remotest corners of aqua
They say that in floating bombay you can buy a smuggled weapon before it's even invented
I've never heard it denied
The channels Andy papers are all talking about one thing the cataclysmic undersea quakes near the mcquarrie Ridge in the southern Indian Ocean
The first reports tell us thousands of dead
The JumpStart was completely destroyed making immediate assistance impossible
The strange thing is this they've got a sophisticated warning system
But it wasn't able to predict the catastrophe and there weren't any aftershocks
Many of the tabloid broadcasts are reporting that strange objects
Which could only have come from the surface of the earth?
Destroyed the entire station with the effect of a massive bomb I don't believe it the surface is dead
Nothing living will ever come down to us, and we are never going up there again
The star of Bengali I did its best
after the incident with a strange Cruiser every minute counted for getting aid to the victims of the horrific undersea quake
But what had happened?
Nobody in the star of bengali. A-- had ever seen such a ship
When it was directly over us we didn't hear anything except a powerful vibration
All of our electronic gear shorted out as if we'd sailed into a powerful magnetic storm
Home lumen spoken of evil from the depths
it became clear to me that she must have meant what we had here because it was like nothing I'd ever seen and
Whatever it was it sure hadn't come to preach the gospel of peace
You could look on the machina antarctica as a sort of outpost to the tornado zone
Except that here it isn't lively anarchy that dominates, but rather that dull
Problem-solving atmosphere common to all peak headed technocrats who never look over the edge of their test tubes
ever since Boris Santiago's mercenaries abducted the ingenious
Scientists frits Rasmussen in put him to work in the manganese natural fields of the South Pacific the atmosphere here is dreary
er and more uncertain than before the chief scientist Victor of Arnhem a melancholy man who puts his faith in technology
is
Familiar to me only from a few noteworthy
Interviews in which he gravely predicted the end of gasps breathing humans and the rise of liquid breathing Fishman
I've heard from El Topo that that crazy bond helm has already created a prototype of the liquid breathing artificial human
He calls his mobile aquatic us
No matter what a civilized man thinks of the amphibian consensus of favor
He's got a vision his idea of slotting me and his manager of the famous sex charged glows E on board
Santiago's big fat mama was carefully thought out and put through
The crew of the floating fortress needs some diversion, so it seems I'm guaranteed to be received with open arms
Once I'm aboard the mega freighter. I shouldn't find it hard to enter into Santiago's service
That'll let me keep an eye out in peace and quiet for Fritz
Responsible who's being held captive and if need be I can put Boris Santiago and his whole pompous floating imperial court out of action
In the area of the cape verde rise all hell is broken loose in
Armada of mutinous mock soldiers is threatening the de Gush Etzion there that by itself would be enough reason to get angry
But general cocks is afraid that the rumor is true and a fleet of the Shogun's warships is headed there as well if so
They'll be entering the territory of the Atlantic Federation for the first time in ages which would amount to an open declaration of war
The diggers are the pariahs of the world's oceans?
Their job consists of digging up the palm layer that sickening mass of dead organic particles that covers the surface of the ocean
most importantly
exploitation of these particles produces the much-needed nitrogen which fertilizes the farming facilities
The diggers work so close to the surface that they're exposed to high doses of radioactive radiation which is in turn?
responsible for their frequent appearance of mutations in their ranks
All over aqua people disparage the diggers the mutants and treat them as lepers
The adherents of the muck cult want to wipe the diggers out to the last man in their warped view the poem layer represents the
Personification of the god monk and every digger harvest is a wound to his divine body
The show Gulen government is also in a state of permanent war with the diggers from the regard is serious competitors in nitrogen production
Attacks on big RC Onan by the show whose books for by bands of monks are a daily occurrence in aqua
The leader of the cape verde diggers is theodore brown a revered telepathically endowed mutant they call the great magician Merlin
At the moment at any rate his magical powers are failing in the face of impending military annihilation and a more effective protection
seems to be called for
The top command of the Atlantic Federation is sounded a war alarm and on the monitors of the bridge we
continually receive horrific reports from the Red Sea
The situation has become more desperate
The attack of the monarchist troops on the dig estación of the cape verde rise seems to have been a diversion
The main target of the show who the government appears to be the Red Sea which is under the territorial regime of the clans Union
their unbelievable natural resources their
Petroleum diamonds gold platinum and the titanium that's critical for the construction of boats and stations
The first attack wave of the army of the Shogun government is over
under the command of General Sui Akira the monarchists are carrying out a brutal massacre of the protection force of the Atlantic Federation
The monarchists can make life hell for you every mistake is failing the fighter pilots face a considerable challenge
maneuvering in the shallow waters of the Strait and the threat from radioactive surface contamination only makes it that much worse
As if it weren't bad enough that we have to deal with the powerful Armada from the showroom government now
We're in the line of fire of some of the buy ons cruisers
We're under way to the Mariana Trench the deepest Valley in the world summoned by a by aunt alarm
the monarchists operate their geothermal power station in the trench
converting magmatic energy from the Earth's interior
into electricity
The geology of the Earth's crust is particularly unstable there an Admiral voice jia ping
Suspects the bayan sir trying to exploit this fact to set off an undersea quake
News has come through that the raging battles in the Red Sea have cooled down an undersea quake of catastrophic
magnitude destroyed the stations and habitations of the clans Union in the Arabian Sea
No survivors. I've seen it before
the right displacement of the Earth's crust and a powerful tsunami
Arises stirring up the sea sucking the polluted surface layers into the depths no one can survive
It's becoming clear that these undersea quakes are not just whims of nature
The Ronin comb roof called the by Anse evil from the death the monks doctored the growling from the depths
I'd bet my last credits that they're right the undersea quakes are being intentionally unleashed
The devil only knows what machines the by Anse have that can mobilize the very crust of the earth against the people of aqua
I
Don't like jobs that take me into sherwin territory years ago
I supposedly insulted his majesty and after a rigged trial. I was sent to a penal colony in the Sea of Okhotsk
Thanks to the Ronin who loom I was able to escape
Nobody has ever seen the show going after lung in person
But that simply makes him the most powerful phantom on earth
His feared loved and honored by his subjects though some are said to be dissidents
It seems to me as if everybody here is in lockstep for the strong ones there are only two courses
Climb as high as they can in the officers Corps or run
The BionX were clever not even our smallest robotic rescue unit can dive that deep a
Slightly build man might just be able to squeeze inside, but nobody could breathe down here at a pressure of 1,200 atmospheres
Um to design and build a machine that could take over rescue operations in this abyss
I've got an idea
El Topo has organized the transportation of troops from the Atlantic by jump ship
Floating Bombay was the locus
all available
fighting units of the Atlantic Federation of the showroom government and of the clans Union are on their way to pay their respects to
Serbians bridgehead off the coast of Australia
The scientists suspected the central guidance unit of the Serbian is in the center of a tube
protected by several concentric rearranged rings made of an unknown titanium ceramic alloy
It doesn't look like it'll do any good to destroy the individual protective walls with heavy fire from the plasma cannon the center
The innermost heart is almost certainly secured by separate mechanisms and could probably would stand the blast from an h-bomb
However if we can set off the seismo bomb in the immediate vicinity of the center
There's a chance we can annihilate the Serbian bridgehead
Of course the buy-ins have been expecting us they've formed around their center in several defensive rings our
Ponderous battleships won't have an easy time against the mobility of their units the plan is clear
our side must breach the baiance defensive rings with smaller fighting ships and try to briefly disable their biomass and
Electronics with a massive blast of the EMS weapon if we throw everything we have at them in a blistering assault our
Battleships can press forward and engage the heavy beyond cruisers
They've all come
the mole under captain callosum
oh the shinto one with Admiral Voyager ping on board the star of been gaya under the command of galakrond rule and
the polar with captain Lopez and Admiral pika
That's the way I'll always remember the brave Ronin
Grinning into the heart of Hell
Carrying with her the most powerful bomb of all time
Clone
Amazon
Piratas
anarchist the
Red dragon brought the steel heart of the monster to the melting point
The moment she was gone in the shockwaves of the raging plasma I mister
The mighty shockwaves of the exploding bridgehead said our heaviest battleships rocking like helpless jellyfish
Water began to boil from the energy that was released water that for fractions of a second took on the consistency of salty gel
It hissed and bubbled
Precipitating its mineral components to the bottom of the sea
The gases that have been set free rose and mighty glistening orbs towards the surface
The surface that we certainly would never see the wild unknown surface
corroded by poison mid radiation an unattainable paradise of hellish dangers
for some the epitome of archaic horror for others a
lighted beacon in an endless quest or lost origin
I gave general cocks that tired salute and signed off
The Triton sailed with the other ships to home waters while I spent a moment in the darkness
Listening to the faint echoes of the last battle one
We had destroyed the Serbian at least that part lying beneath the surface of the sea
our scientists suspect a significant portion of the bridgehead lies on the continent of Australia itself
Perhaps we've met our own future in the by anse
Perhaps we and they would have learned if there had been any readiness to do so
But when was learning ever long in the mind of any species
No comments:
Post a Comment