Museum Core Chapter 105: The Deep

Two days into her passage on the Royal Navy destroyer Dauntless, Jaclyn was being shown around the ship, shown the adaptations made as a response to the new realities.

It had taken a while, but she’d finally managed to badger the destroyer’s captain into having someone explain to her how his ship had been adapted to the new circumstances. Unfortunately, the man hadn’t seemed to like her much from the start, something that likely came down to the fact that his warship was currently playing taxi for someone who, at least in theory, was a civilian government official.

The fact that Jaclyn was on the front lines far more often than her position indicated, and that the BPA was effectively acting as just another arm of the military under the current circumstances … none of that had seemed to matter.

Now, if she commandeered the vessel for her own use, the resentment would have been understandable, but that wasn’t what had happened. The ship had been in the naval base in Plymouth for resupply and minor repairs, and Foster had told her to get on the ship since it was mere hours from beginning a journey to the northern Atlantic transformation zone.

Perhaps the captain was just an asshole. She decided to put it out of her mind and focus on the explanation she was getting.

“And these are our transformation zone missiles. They work, but no one’s happy with their current state. You’re sure you haven’t figured out how the magic breaks our technology?”

“No, we haven’t figured it out. The boffins’ve blown up or fried a couple of tons of electronics by now, and the beancounters are starting to have panic attacks every time someone from R&D goes so much as near them … but we don’t know,” Jaclyn told her guide. “So, how do these work? How do you deal with the electronics failing?”

“We don’t,” her guide shook his head. “The missiles have been rebuilt with the fundamental expectation that every piece of advanced electronics in them is going to fail the nanosecond it enters the transformation zone.

“The missile locks in on its target, calculates what its speed and trajectory needs to be when it shuts down just before flying into the ‘zone, and engages an analog timer fuse adjusted to blow the moment it reaches its target.

“It’s not perfect, and can’t adjust for any movements after entering, but it won’t go flying in random directions just because something important gave up the ghost at the worst possible moment.”

‘That should have been obvious,’ Jaclyn thought. She should have figured that out on her own.

“They fail that quickly?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Fifty-fifty chance that everything lasts until impact.”

She grimaced. “Yeah … the more complicated the electronics, the more easily and quickly they fail.”

And while Jaclyn was decidedly unaware of what the internals of a missile looked like, logic alone informed her that those things likely contained more and denser computing power than any computer she’d ever had, potentially by as much as an order of magnitude.

“We also replaced the anti-submarine torpedoes on the heli with what’s basically depth charges. They don’t go far, but can be fired past the barrier, and then the pressure is going to set them off when they’re deep enough.”

They really had thought of seemingly everything, and were far more prepared for a fight against magical beasts than they’d been when this had all started … except that none of that changed the sheer power difference between what was magical and what wasn’t.

If Jaclyn were to step in front of the 4.5-inch naval gun at the bow of the destroyer, put her forehead against the barrel, and had fire, her only problem would have been getting back onto the ship and fixing her hair. And maybe repairing the damage to the ship, if she clipped something on the way out.

Simply put, there was a point where ingenuity alone could no longer bridge the gap in power between humanity and its foes.

The arrival of European hunters with their firearms had traumatized the lions of South Africa so badly that many still kept their distance, a warning passed down throughout the generations.

… there was not a snowball’s chance in hell that they’d be able to do the same with whatever was waiting down there for them.

“Thank you,” she said, and after a brief conversation, headed back towards “her” quarters to check over her gear, again, make sure things still worked.

They had, indeed, gone with magic for the underwater uniforms; no normal material worked for the kinds of swift movements she needed to make in a fight. Anything not waterproof would soak up the liquid, get heavy and sodden and start dragging, and that was impermeable to water would only work until the ocean got between the outfit and her skin, be it due to design or damage, at which point it would become an even greater source drag than any normal clothing could have ever become.

A couple of Gearheads with the right powers had gained the ability to imbue cloth with the ability to, quite simply, phase through water. As far as the ocean was concerned, it did not exist, and would therefore not slow her down in the least, while also being able to hold whatever she needed in its multitude of pockets.

And as an added bonus, since the cloth wouldn’t actually carry any water with it, she wouldn’t be running around in sodden, cold clothing once she returned from her excursion to the deep.

Though there was one small issue with this literally magical solution. The enchantment would wear off eventually, and learning that had left her feeling ever so slightly paranoid.

But, of course, the new uniforms weren’t the only thing that had been designed. For starters, there were these things called “potion balls,” which were basically oversized, hardened jelly beans containing healing potions that could be chomped down on as needed, since drinking potions underwater was an exercise in futility.

They’d also built a handful of underwater-capable cameras that would work even two kilometers deep, with a built-in flash that would apparently also work.

Although as she knew from experience, water- and pressure-proof was not the same thing as indestructible. That being said, in her defense, the scientist had asked her to try and break one to prove how tough they were, with predictable results. Well, predictable to her, at any rate, her assumption that other people had an adequate estimation of the power of a C-Rank physical power had died that day. From this day forth, she wouldn’t trust anyone else to estimate what was capable of standing up to her.

Oh, and she’d also gotten these weird water bladder things that one could, once again, drink from underwater, though these were too prone to leaking to use for expensive healing potions. And even yet another variant of the same thing for some kind of “nutrient-rich superfood” that smelled bad, tasted worse, and would supposedly allow her to keep going for hours with every bite.

All in all, she’d be going down with three days’ worth of supplies, in addition to the fact that she could use utility magic to remove the salt from any seawater she managed to isolate.

Although if she even scratched the surface of any of that, things would have already gone pear-shaped.

And, finally, they had a whole lot of these things simply labeled “noisemakers,” which were how they’d be communicating underwater. Even with powers that let them opperate down there, talking wasn’t necessarily possible, even those using the Manatees’ system still needed the sound magic they’d pick up at E-Rank to “talk,” while those who’d used an Anima Monk’s Spirit Bond on an aquatic animal like herself and her hydra were struck entirely mute.

But sound carried underwater, and they’d even managed to work out a reasonably effective communications system with them just outside of Bristol’s harbor.

Jaclyn also popped her head in on the other BPA agents, to make sure they were doing well. She didn’t know any of them overly well; they were too new for her to have interacted with them much, but Frye had sent them along to get some on-the-job experience out here. After all, with them all having one power or another that allowed them to operate underwater, and this sort of thing was most of what they’d be doing in the future.

Though only three of the six were even capable of reaching the bottom of the ocean where they were going.

But once that was done, she returned to her quarters. Paperwork. It had followed her even here.

***

Another day later, the destroyer finally came to a stop, and some poor Midshipman was sent to fetch Jaclyn. She wasn’t too sure why he was looking like he’d been sent to his execution, but that was yet another issue that she could probably lay at the feet of the captain. Not that there’d been anything she could actually make a stink over without looking crazy or entitled, but that was likely the point. So she made a mental note of the “issue” and did her best to ignore it.

Soon enough, she found herself on the deck, looking out across the waves, and the dispersed flotilla of various ships, of various designs and classes, belonging to the various member states of NATO, watching the transformation zone and waiting for something to happen.

Ultimately, that was all they could do, though. Exploring the ocean floor, two kilometers down, without advanced electronics would have been risky enough even if it hadn’t been for the monsters. Monsters that no one had seen so far, but based on sonar and audio pickups, they were there.

Which just left her with one question: how did she want to do this?

Honestly, any way that didn’t make a production of this would be fine.

Jaclyn simply leaped overboard, falling towards the surface of the ocean and plunging through, the rush of air instantly replaced by the cool embrace of the world’s lifeblood, eyes blinking a couple of times to adjust to the liquid in her face, revealing the enormity of the world around her.

This was …

As in … there was nothing there. No rocks, no sand, no fish, no … well, no nothing. A vast void of empty water, the only thing visible were the ships above her, unless one counted the fact that the water below was steadily growing darker and darker the deeper it went, swallowing the light and anything she could have used to orient herself …

Jaclyn could feel herself shrinking in on herself, suddenly feeling as though about to throw up, head swimming.

Fuck.

It wasn’t like the existence of monsters down there, being beyond mortal understanding, was in any way theoretical; she knew they existed … but at the end of the day, was that in any way conducive to her lizard brain calming the hell down, in any way, shape, or form?

The answer was obviously no.

She was seriously regretting having gone ahead now. The others would have found themselves in the exact same situation … but at least she wouldn’t have felt so alone in the vastness of the sea.

It hadn’t been that bad above, the waves of the ocean, uniform as they had been, reflecting the image of the sky, had at least provided some semblance of a limit, illusionary as it was …

Jaclyn’s head broke through the surface, and immediately, her unease redoubled. Yes, the void was no longer in her sights, but she’d seen it. It was there, and all fleeing to the surface had achieved was ensuring that when its denizens came for her, she would not see them coming …

A couple of seconds later, she found herself back upon the deck of the ship, shivering, hoping that everyone would attribute that to the chill of the water, rather than the tingling of fear running down her spine.

Next time she went in, she’d just have to go for broke, go as deep as possible, as fast as possible, and pray she reached the ground before the vastness of the depths overwhelmed her.

She planted herself on the prow of the destroyer, dripping onto the deck, staring off into the horizon. Similarly vast, yet somehow fine to look at.

‘Fuck the ocean,’ she thought. ‘Any water I can’t see the ground off is too fucking deep.’

But it wasn’t like she could crawl back to Bristol with her tail between her legs because she’d lost her bottle over a small spot of thalassophobia.

A brief burst of magic scrubbed off the salt that had started to cover her as the water on her dried, then she turned to everyone else.

“I know we’ve already talked this over to death, so I’ll keep this brief: go as deep as you feel comfortable with, see what you can find, then return to the ship. If you see something, set off the alert. Do not engage unless you’re at a higher rank than the monster, none of us has enough experience fighting in the open ocean.”

Even the odd sparring bout in the water had barely any relation with how fighting in an environment where threats could come from literally all directions worked.

Once again, Jaclyn leaped overboard and immediately began to shoot downwards, a spectral serpent tail manifesting behind her to further accelerate her movement.

The water around her began to rapidly darken as she descended, the noonday sun overhead vanishing into the gloom, but she couldn’t help but keep going. If she stopped, she’d stare. If she stared, it would stare back. And then, she’d lose her nerve again.

As light fled and the ocean became so dark it no longer mattered what time it was, transforming into a place where “night” and “day” practically ceased to exist and yet, she kept going, her eyes already having adjusted, drawing out supernatural senses beyond anything she’d ever been able to use, beyond what she’d had to resort to.

This place, it was darker than any place she’d ever been to, with less light than she saw even when she had her eyes closed, in her bedroom, with the blinds down, and streetlights outside broken.

Even her eyes, backed by the same power that put her on par with that entire flotilla that still had to be somewhere overhead in terms of firepower, could only see so much.

But there was something beyond that, an awareness of the world around her that was stronger than any sensation she’d ever felt before. Her Situational Awareness skill, boosted to supernatural levels by the system, the effect becoming all the more pronounced now that her other senses had become nearly useless.

Yet all it told her was just how empty her surroundings were, suddenly making her wish she didn’t have the skill.

Jaclyn glanced at her wrist, where she could barely make out the depth gauge.

1.7 kilometers. Almost there, just three hundred meters to go … yet it might as well be three hundred thousand as far as she was concerned, because she could see nothing. Hear nothing. And the only things she could taste or “smell” was the salt in the water.

For the briefest moment, her descent slowed, but she redoubled her efforts to reach the ground. Just a bit more, just that little bit more, then she’d have a grounding … ground again … though when it came, it did so entirely unexpectedly, entering both her sight and area of supernatural situational awareness while already very nearly too close for her to react.

Her “landing” wasn’t precisely a full-on collision, but certainly far more forceful than she’d intended.

But before she could properly take in what she could see of her surroundings, her vision was blocked by an entirely unfamiliar system window.

Greetings, Mortal, welcome to Atlantis!

Current Population: 0 (unless you decide to emigrate)

Current Threat: high (all atmospheric systems collapsed, monster activity, guardian active)

Guardian Status: active (WARNING: you may be mistaken for an invader)

Would you like to pre-activate the System of Machine Ascendancy to trigger upon your ascension to B-Rank?

Would you like to see the boundaries of the System of Machine Ascendancy highlighted in your vision?

Would you like to learn more about the System of Machine Ascendancy?

Huh?