Chapter 1

The Lengthy Intro Don't forget our Tumblr!

Koane Talenekta

Chapter 1

Everyone in this day and age grew up hearing rumours of the planet scientists had discovered in another solar system, and though it was completely covered by water, it appeared capable of supporting life. It had been affectionately dubbed “Ocean Planet.” Fifteen years ago, when it was first discovered, there had been a crazed attempt to design and build a ship capable of reaching it. However, when this new ship was launched five years later, it was destroyed even before it passed the outposts on Mars. Since then, this new planet had faded into a mere dream, something man kind would never attain.

It came as a huge shock to me when I found that the ship had in fact reached the planet, only a few months before I was contacted by the Worldwide Aeronautics and Space Administration. However, they had received only one message from the ship after landing before it went silent. For some reason, though, the Administration did not believe that they were dead.

That was all I was told, and it was so that I sat in a small briefing room with about twenty other people, waiting to be informed of the entire situation. We had spoken a little while we waited, and I had learned that they had all been recruited the same way I had; they were told that they were valuable a new team being constructed, though how or why remained a mystery.

The room looked like a very small cinema, to me. It had three long rows of seats stretching the length of the room, with a small stage and large screen behind it. It came as little surprise when the bright lights dimmed slightly and someone walked up onto the stage. She was a tall blonde woman with a distinct all-work-no-play air about her.

“I apologise for the delay,” she began, “but we had a few issues authenticating everyone's identity. Now that everything is done, let me introduce myself. My name is Marianne Sargasso. I'm the Interstellar Project Coordinator here with the Administration, so I'm in charge of this new project to return to Planet X1-73, otherwise known as Ocean Planet.” There were a few murmurs throughout our small group, as if they didn't know that this was the plan to begin with. I leaned back in my chair, prepared for a long and rather boring briefing about things no one cared about.

“I'll spare you the lecture on the planet itself for now, as I'm sure no one wants to hear everything they already know all over again. Instead, I'll cut right to the chase. As you know, the Space Ship Naviganti did arrive on X1-73, despite our false press release that it was destroyed by an engines failure. The project was supposed to be top secret to begin with, you see, so we had to eliminate the problem once it leaked. Well, we also lied a bit over the phone when we said that we only received one message from Naviganti once it arrived. We only lost contact with it about a week ago.

“Now here's the interesting thing. Though the planet appears to be covered entirely by water, there are actually land masses just inches under the water in many places, making it suitable for settlement by an air-breathing species.”

“Are you implying that there are non-air-breathing species on that planet?” Another young woman in the front row had stood up, her shoulders tense and panicked looking. I almost laughed at her irrational fear of such a thought. It was only to be expected if the planet could support life.

“Yes, Ms. Hernandez, that's exactly what I was getting to. There are an indigenous race of humanoids that live in the deep oceans, and have apparently made quite the civilization down there. For lack of a better term, we are calling them Mermaids right now. The crew of the Naviganti were discovered by the natives. We aren't sure of the exact details of what happened, but somehow a few Mermaids ended up on the edge of one of those land masses, discussing the crew in a strange language. The crew never did figure out what they said, but they did not deem them to be a threat and have not shown themselves again. The crew apparently were too in shock to take careful notes of their appearances, so we know next to nothing about them.”

“Let me guess, the crew was screaming about how they were attacking before the radio went dead, right?” A male voice suggested grouchily, earning a very dangerous glare from Director Sargasso.

“Of course not, Mr. Waters. Like I said, they never showed themselves again. The crew's last transmission was talking about making another attempt to contact them, but we were unable to advise them not to before they went out. That is the point of your mission. You are to recover the Naviganti ship and, if possible, crew. Then you are to make another attempt to speak with them, and perhaps form some sort of agreement."

“And how exactly are we supposed to talk to a bunch of aliens who speak a language no one on Earth knows?” Another rude-spoken comment from Mr. Waters. It surprised me; with the murderous glare she had given him before, I would've thought he would have the sense to shut up. This time, though, she did not even look at him, letting only her voice hint at her annoyance.

“Again, I was getting to that. All of you are either scientists of aeronautics and the like, or pilots trained on some of the most advance spacecraft we have today, often captaining the vessels to the Mars outposts. All of you but one, who we consider to be the most high-priority passenger on this trip simply because of his particular skills. If you would please stand up, Damian McConnell.” I sighed a little and did as requested, resisting the urge to laugh at the strange looks I received. I knew what I looked like to them: a scruffy redhead teenager, wearing a T-shirt and blue-jeans to what looked like a suit-and-tie kind of event. I had never really cared for changing my appearance to fit the theme of certain events; it was considered rude in some cultures.

“What does this brat have to do with anything? He looks like he just got finished Dumpster-diving.” I turned a slight grin toward the owner of that voice.

“Mr. Waters, was it? I think it would be best for everyone if you just kept quiet. I don't even mind if you insult me, but if you insist on being so rude to Director Sargasso, I may just have to teach you the proper way to speak to a lady by force.” He huffed a little and sat back in his seat, and I did the same with a triumphant grin. It made me glad to see that Director Sargasso was smiling slightly as well.

“To answer your question, he's the most talented linguist and cultural anthropologist we've seen in a long time, and the last one with his skill did not become so well-known until he was nearly sixty years old. He may be a bit laid back in appearance, but this boy is fluent in some thirteen languages and more than adequate in over thirty more. He's also an expert on the cultural behaviours and standards of every major culture for the last four thousand years, and at least well-versed in hundreds of minor ones. Please keep in mind that he's achieved all of this in just seventeen years of life.” It seems that everyone in the room turned to look at me for a second time, though I did not pay attention this time. This time I was focused entirely on the smiling woman in front of us.

“Pardon the rudeness, but please, cut the crap. Don't try to kiss up and make me feel important so that I'll do this for you. You just want me to learn their language and becoming your own personal bridge between our worlds, don't you?” There was a moment of silence, before she started to laugh.

“I can see why you went into cultural studies. You can see through everything. Alright, so maybe I was trying to buy your support a bit, but we have no intention of using you like you say. We don't just want to communicate, but we also want to learn everything about their history and culture in general. We do intend to attempt a bridge between the planets, but that is a long way away. Perhaps not even in your lifetime. But even that depends on whether or not their culture is open to assimilating with people from another planet, another solar system even. We established this small group of twenty-five people, along with the crew of just ten from the Naviganti, so that there will be a small enough group of representatives that the indigenous will not feel as if they are being invaded and can hopefully learn to trust us.” I said nothing, though people seemed to look at me as if they expected a response.

“I don't think that they will trust us very much, no matter how few our numbers,” I said at last, after careful consideration. “I just hope that the Naviganti crew didn't do anything stupid before you lost them. If it's true that these Merpeople didn't attack them, then they might be peaceful, but if your crew pushed them too much... Well, we've had enough wars in our own history to know how badly that can end.” I crossed my arms and sat back again, clearly indicating that my part in this discussion was over for now.

“I agree completely. This is why we made an attempt to stop the crew, but it was too late. Anyway, unless we can re-establish a connection with them, we won't know anything until you arrive. Now, you've all signed non-disclosure forms and all sorts of other agreements, but you've yet to properly agree to the most important thing. Will you join us in our mission?”

“Count me out now.” The response came so quickly that even Director Sargasso looked up, startled. Mr. Waters stood, walking towards the exit already. “Go ahead and wipe my memory of this whole briefing if you want. I don't really care what you do. I'm not even going to spend ten years in a little space ship with all of you idiots.” I wasn't as surprised as everyone else in the room; while they all whispered and sounded worried, I just chuckled softly under my breath and rose my voice.

“I'll go. For sure.” The room grew silent again, and I smiled brightly. “After all, I'm apparently quite important to you. Besides, I've always wanted to visit a planet covered in water. I love swimming.” Director Sargasso's laughter was very bright, a little unexpected considering her businesswoman demeanour, but still pleasant.

“Well, the Administration has provided rooms for all of you, so that you can sleep on it and decide tomorrow. If it wasn't such a top-secret mission, you'd have more time and be able to talk it over with your families, but unfortunately that isn't the case. If you have already decided to leave, though, then I suggest you go ahead and join Mr. Waters through the exit door. If you already want to join up, please come with Mr. McConnell and I and we'll go ahead and start signing papers.”

I wouldn't have thought that a year of training could go by so quickly. Aside from Mr. Waters, the other twenty-four applicants all decided to join the project. All of the pilots spent day after day learning how exactly the ship worked and how to operate the complicated machinery. Every scientist, no matter what their exact field, would spend their days studying the ship's build and how it would behave in hundreds of different events. I was the only one with a different task: I had to learn at least the basics of about 150 languages and dialects, and write page after page on the best ways to approach this new indigenous species peacefully. It didn't seem to matter to them that I couldn't say much of anything until I knew how their culture worked, so I was forced to explain our approach based on hundreds of factors.

Despite the way each day played on repeat of the last, a year went by like it was only a month. The night before our trip, we all had to be given prescription sleeping pills just to sleep through our excitement and anxiety. Our typical morning banter was completely absent from breakfast, and we hardly said anything that wasn't required as we prepared our ship, Sectator, for launch. I couldn't remember most of our preparations, just a blur of scientists and mission directors going over launch schematics that I would never understand. The only thing that stood out was Marianne Sargasso's unusually friendly smile and wave as we were all locked into our cryochambers.

So I slept. It felt like only minutes before I was blinking my eyes open again, though, climbing groggily out of the bed-like chambers along with everyone else to glance around at our stark-white ship. It took less than a glance at the other crew members to know that we had hardly changed at all, a result of the cryosleep that completely froze almost all bodily functions.

We did not speak at all, but we all knew where we were going as we moved toward the bridge. A large screen covered the front portion of the space, above all sorts of panels and buttons. But those meant nothing in light of what we saw through that screen: a solid blue planet, with clouds and storms brewing over it in seemingly random places. For a moment I thought that the entire Earth had flooded, but then it hit me. We had arrived at Ocean Planet.

Emily Hernandez, the pilot who had been so panicked at our initial briefing, took her place in the captain's chair, examining the display screen in front of her for a moment. “They already sent a message for us to watch when we got up. Is everyone in here?” Someone confirmed that we were all present, and then Emily had the video up on the main screen.

I think it came as a huge shock to us all to see Director Sargasso with wrinkles and greying hair. She was still smiling, just as she always did, but she looked so... worn out. “Good morning, Sectator crew,” she began. I was relieved that at least her voice was the same as always, serious and unwavering, but still gentle underneath. “I'm going to go ahead and get the big shocker out of the way. You've been asleep for nine years and 268 days. I'm sure you only feel as if it's been a few minutes, though. In that time, we haven't heard a single word from the crew of the Naviganti, and the Administration has presumed them dead, though this won't be official until you arrive. Now, it was originally going to take about twenty-seven hours for messages to reach between us, but a new satellite we've established at the edge of our solar system cuts that down to about ten hours.”

“Why would they want satellites there...?” Someone asked quietly. Though of course this was just a pre-recorded message, Director Sargasso smiled and answered as if she had heard it.

“We've made outposts on Jupiter's moons, and we're making expeditions all the way to Neptune now. You'd be surprised by the progress we've made. But that's not relevant. Please relay news of your arrival as soon as you land. If you don't hurry, you won't be able to land where the Naviganti landed, and there's no telling where any other solid ground is hidden under that water. End transmission.” The screen changed back to a view of the fast-approaching planet as the captain turned around in her seat.

“There you have it. Pilots join me, everyone else get strapped in.” At her official tone of voice, we all did as we were ordered, all slowly processing what we had just been told.

It had been a couple of hours of walking through about three inches of water before we reached the exact resting place of the Naviganti. It was a much smaller ship that ours, only built to accommodate it's ten passengers. But the ship itself had been stripped and pulled apart so that only the frame and some of the computer remained, and what remained of that computer was scorched and black.

“That would probably be the reason that they lost contact, but... where are they now?” I asked quietly, voicing everyone's silent question. A few broke off from the group to walk around the ship and look into what little shelter it still provided, but their confused looks as they returned proved how futile it was.

Everyone spun around in an instant, those armed with their guns raised, as something created a huge splash behind us. It was quite the shock to see a... human walking towards us? From underwater? I recognised his face as the captain of the Naviganti, but he looked so very pale and kind of... water-clogged. There was no better way to describe the odd texture to his skin.

“Who... who are you? What are you doing here?” His voice trembled so much that I thought him scared for a moment, but he looked more excited than anything.

“We've come to recover the ship Naviganti and its crew.” I glanced oddly at Emily, even though she did not see me. There was so much more to our mission than that, but then... she was likely right to do that. The Naviganti crew had been stranded for eleven years. There was no telling what condition their minds were in, and if they had become close to the indigenous, they might not agree with our intentions of communication with them.

Clearly, though, he considered absolutely none of this as he started to laugh, coming forward and nearly tackling Emily into a hug. She seemed completely dumbfounded for a moment, but finally smiled gently and hugged him back and he went into fits of hysterical laughter and tears.

We were all clearly too focused on calming the crazed man down, because we didn't even notice anyone else approaching until there was something like a gun barrel pressed against my back and several others. We all froze dead in our tracks at the cold voice behind us.

“Step away from the captain. He's innocent, no matter what crap you guys are accusing him of.” There was an oddly high tone to his voice, unlike anything I had heard before, but it wasn't really the centre of my attention at the time.

“No, Darrell! They're not accusing me of anything, or anyone!” The captain snapped something else in a screeching voice as he rushed toward them, but I couldn't understand it at all. It truly sounded like nothing spoken on Earth, even though it came from a human.

Still, the guns slowly lowered as they bickered amongst themselves in that odd language. I was able to turn and see exactly what those weapons were. Though they did closely resemble our own pulse guns, they were made of some odd material that looked to be caught between sand and metal, and they had soft... pouches of some kind just in front of the trigger-like mechanisms. They hardly looked natural in the hands of those humans, still wearing their Administration uniforms.

All ten of the crew was present, and even though the captain, Samuel, was arguing with his first mate, it was very apparent by the way they stood close together and watched us with suspicion in their eyes that they were very close. Darrell finally relented to his captain, sighing heavily and turning away with a slight pout. Samuel turned back to us with a huge grin on his face.

“Welcome to Koane Talenekta, friends. The Ocean Planet.” There was a moment of silence, as if in respect of the greeting, but it seemed that Emily was the first one to break it with the question that we were all wondering by now.

“As unusual as it is to ask... Where did you guys come from? There was no one here before, and I don't see any buildings...” There were murmurs of agreement throughout our group, but they were all silenced as Samuel laughed, waving to us as he and his crew began to walk toward the deeper waters again.

“Come on, there is something we have to show you, something unlike you've ever even dreamed of.” He didn't hesitate then to dive head-first off a sort of underwater cliff, following after the rest of his group, who had already disappeared. We all stood near the edge, looking down into the darkness in shock as they didn't return for nearly a whole minute.

“Does anyone else know what just- AHH!” Whatever question Emily had begun to ask was cut off as Samuel suddenly reached out of the water just long enough to grab her wrist and drag her under again with him. We all made a grab for her at once, but that only resulted in myself and several others falling in. Just as I went to swim back to the surface, a hand wrapped around my ankle and dragged me down. I barely caught a glimpse of several others struggling with me to get back up, but we were all stuck. I looked down to see the only female member of the Naviganti's crew, Sarah, smiling brightly at me as she took a deep, intentional breath.

It didn't even register in my oxygen-deprived brain for a few seconds, but then it clicked. She was breathing... underwater! She waved her free hand toward herself as she did it again, trying to tell me to do the same, but I just shook my head furiously and continued to struggle to escape. Her grip was like iron, though, and she just pulled me ever further from the surface. The more I struggled, the more I felt myself growing weak, and she seemed to have noticed this as well as she finally stopped and swam up in front of me, making a dramatic breathing motion one last time.

I would've denied again, just as furiously, but instead I was unable to deny the burning in my lungs any longer. My body ignored my mind's commands to just hold on and inhaled sharply, and then I realised that a real fire had been lit inside me. I choked and coughed violently as the liquid flooded in, searing it's way down my throat and into my lungs. I gasped painfully for a few seconds, growing accustomed to the extra strain that my muscles had to make to circulate the water, but then it was over.

I looked up at the huge grin on Sarah's face. I looked farther up, somewhat expecting to see the blue sky and clouds, something to confirm that this wasn't actually happening, but... there was the surface of the ocean, rippling softly against the breeze.

“It's beautiful, isn't it?” I heard a strange voice ask. My gaze returned to the woman just in time to see her lips move, but I was certain that it wasn't her voice. It didn't sound human, it sounded more like... a ghost, perhaps, with a cheesy echo from a 21^st century movie, but even that did not accurately describe it.

“What is this?” I asked. Or rather, I meant to ask, but it came out rather garbled and almost sick sounding. I made another attempt, but it sounded just as horrible. She chuckled (I think), pointing upward.

“Go back to the surface. Cough up that water and speak.” I nodded, though I didn't like the sound of coughing up water. My feet kicked quickly, and I realised that this water felt different than the water on Earth, though not by much. It made me think of semi-melted gelatin: thin enough to breath, apparently, but thinker than a normal liquid, so that it was easier to move through. It was almost as if there was something solid enough for me to grab and pull myself up, and it made the trip to the surface much quicker than I expected from my original depth.

Clearly, that short trip wasn't such a good thing as it seemed. The water hurt just as much to cough up as it had to inhale, but it was soothing to finally be able to breathe the clean air again. I floated on my back and took several deep breaths, ignoring Sarah's soft laughter at me. I wondered for a moment what was in that water. After all, it didn't leave my throat in half as bad a condition as Earth's salty ocean water did.

I was going to ask about it, too, but then a certain thought occurred to me; half of our crew was still standing on dry land, staring at us like we were aliens. Clearly we were the first ones to come back up.

“Jump in!” I shouted to them with a grin, watching as their eyes widened even more. “And don't come back up, not even when you think you're going to drown.”

There will never be a way to describe the looks they gave me then. The only thing I can describe is how much I laughed at them, so much so that I was nearing hysterics by the time I was done. When I was finally able to calmly breathe again, I noticed that most of the others had come back to the surface as well and were laughing with me, while Emily was trying to very hard to convince her own crew that it was okay. I had never seen such a huge smile on her face as right then, pulling on their legs like a child.

I turned back to Sarah again, who had thankfully stayed beside me. “What's different about this water as opposed to Earth? And please, don't use the scientist-speak, because I flunked chemistry.” She chuckled softly, watching as Emily finally got at least one of the crew to jump in before she suddenly dragged him under.

“Well, it has been quite a long time since we examined it, but... There is a foreign substance, very similar to the pectin that they use to make jelly, but it's in such a small amount that it doesn't have too much of an effect on the water's feel. Whatever it is, it is almost exactly like oxygen, which is what we believe allows us to breathe underwater. Of course, we got very little research in before the computers short-circuited.” I looked at her questioningly, and she just sighed. “I guess we're going to have a lot of explaining to do, aren't we?”

“Definitely. But honestly, I don't think that matters right now. After all, we just got the chance to breathe underwater. Let's have a bit more fun before we get back to the serious stuff.” I beamed at her, and finally got to ask what I had meant to ask for quite some time. “So, how exactly do you talk underwater?”

“Try to sound like a banshee.” My smile fell as I stared blankly at her for a few seconds, waiting for her to start laughing at me. But she didn't.

“You've got to be kidding.”

“I'm not. The old movies had that part right. The only way to really make the sound clear and intelligible underwater is to talk as if it were three octaves too high. That's why we all sound strange up here; we've been living down there for so long that we're completely used to it.” I stared down into the dark water, remembering something.

“The... indigenous people here... You live with them?” She stared again before laughing wildly, as if I were crazy.

“The Eripah? Of course not! Come, come, I'll show you our home.” She dove back under again, and though I was somewhat hesitant, I followed her. As it turns out, inhaling water gets easier the second time you do it. I hadn't noticed it the first time in my panic, but the cliff we had jumped from curved inward slightly, and there were lights around a small area sticking out from the wall.

As we neared them, I began to see a makeshift building sticking out of the cliff-side that had been formed out of metal sheets, and after a few seconds I realised that it was the hull of the Naviganti. Lamps of some kind emitted a blue glow over the structure, though I couldn't tell what they were made of before Sarah was dragging me through the ship's hatch (re-purposed as a typical door). The interior was littered with chairs pulled from the ship, and more lamps hanging from random places. There were some odd devices laying in different places, but I chose not to try and identify them at that particular moment.

“Do you talk to the... Eripah?” I tried to speak as high as I could manage, but it still felt strange and awkward, and sounded even worse. Still, it was clear enough to be understood and that alone was a triumph.

“We don't interact very much any more, but we used to, especially when we first arrived. They helped us build this place and taught us their language. I think they pitied us a lot, because they even gave us a lot of technology, likes those guns. But after a while they stopped talking with us very much, and now they only check on us every now and again.”

“Will we see them?” She smiled as she pulled me back out again, pointing down into the black depths.

“You can almost see their city right now. Down there, the lights stand out just slightly.” I followed her gaze and squinted hard at the darkness. It took a few seconds, but something flickered just enough to catch my attention, and then I saw them. It was true, there were faint lights, but they were so very distant. How deep is this ocean? I thought in shock. “They are better-suited to the cold, so they won't come anywhere up here until nightfall. There will be many of them swimming past here, though, once the birds come out.” I turned to her in shock, and she laughed yet again, though there was something undeniably strange about the way it sounded through all that liquid. “Yes, there are birds here. They hide in nests in the rocks, where it's cooler, until the sun sets. Then they crawl out and skim the surface until they see a fish to dive at. They also make excellent meals, which is why the Eripah hunt them so often.”

“Will you teach me the language?” It was a natural question to ask, considering the situation, but Sarah's eyes grew wide and shocked. Then she sighed and rubbed her forehead in annoyance.

“You guys should definitely stay out of the water tonight. The Eripah are generally pretty laid back amongst themselves, but they are very strict about outsiders. I think they only taught us the language so that they could tell us not to interfere with them or go anywhere near their city. It would be dangerous for us to share anything with you without first seeking their approval.” The cold tone her voice had taken on was unmistakable, and I knew without even considering it that it was more than time to leave. We swam quickly back to the surface, with Sarah shouting at her comrades in the Eripah's language.

By the time all of the Sectator crew had gathered on the land, all of Naviganti's members were floating just in front of us, clearly decided about their course of action. “Captain Hernandez explained to me exactly what you're doing here,” Samuel began formally, and I glanced over at Emily's determined expression. I hadn't expected her to tell them so quickly. “However, the natives, called the Eripah, are very strict about outsiders and any kind of interaction with them. We've decided that it is in everyone's best interest if you stay above water for tonight, while we try to speak with them about this.”

“We can sleep in the remains of the Naviganti, at least for tonight. It's too close to sunset tonight to go all the way back to the Sectator,” Emily explained, waving us toward the remains of the ship. “Now come on, let's get comfortable. Nights here are longer than on Earth.”

The group uncertainly did as they were told, and I looked back just in time to see the smaller group sink into the waters to return to their underwater home. It would only be a matter of time before the low sun sank completely below the horizon.

It would only be a matter of time before our fate was decided.  

Author's Note

Pardon any errors in science. One day, when I'm more motivated, I'll research some legitimate science to put in here. Also, if there are small punctuation errors (mostly involving the quotation marks), it's because they didn't transfer correctly from the original document. Message me please.

Reviews

[Meghan]

First, this is an extremely engaging plot. Although it's very improbable that a person would ever be able to speak more than five or six languages because of confusion in the brain or something, it was an inteesting idea.
You use foreign terms with brilliant ease, like the name of the planet and the civilisation that lives there. How you created such realistic and believable names I do not know. You have an admirer :)
The time skip was also very clear and not at all confusing.
You also use a good range of sentence structures and vocabulary.

However, there are a few things you could improve upon. Firstly, the characters you have introduced so far have very similar personalities, except Mr. Waters. This makes it seem a little boring. Most things seem to be a little too convinient, like the Eripah not attacking the crew. If they are hostile to newcomers, why are the origional crew of the ship still alive? I hope there is a backstory here.
Overall though, it was well-written, even though some elements of the plot were a little... well, I hesitate to say "cliché", because taht's not exactly true... but sort of like that. A bit.

P.S. If I remember, I will be keeping up with this book. :)

[blindcat97]

Thank you so much for the review!

On the characters... I'm pretty well aware that they are sorely underdeveloped. They were not my primary focus, and they sort of did become dull. I intend to do major work on it, and have done a lot on my original docs (which I don't often repost). And the plot, too. Lots of work. I know there are problems, and your review helps me fix things I hadn't noticed. But there is a backstory, to a certain degree, and it's slightly less cliché than this chapter was.

Seriously. Thank you for taking the time to tell me this, and for following the story. You make my day~