“Does anybody else see anything?” I use the communicator as little as I can since they told me that any sonic disturbance down here can make the more… irritable creatures realize how hungry they are. There is no way, however, that I’m going to just stand here in the semi-liquid murk of the ocean floor and assume that I’m okay.

The hiss-crack of the comm coming to live heralded a return message. “Hack, don’t start that shit. We just lost Yego to the darkmind, and we’ll be damned if we lose another one.” Hiss-crack “Over.”

I took a few more steps towards where I thought the light came from. It’s hard to move under the surface when 10,000 PSI is bearing down on your exoskeleton. The internal hydraulics (warmed and individually pressurized to avoid freezing) gave me a five-second-a-step gait and the sensors – though state-of-the-art – still jammed at this depth. Speaking of equipment…

“I copy,” I answered, then I twitched my forefinger up in the suit’s multi-use glove to deactivate the comm.