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Before she could ponder further, a low rumble shook theCormorant. The coral canopy rolled beneath them, shaking and vibrating. Pieces of it shattered and fell away.
Phoebe braced a palm against the window as Bryan drove the DSV higher.
They were not the only ones to try to escape the quake.
The feasting creatures scattered in all directions. Some dove into thetrembling forest to hide. Others sped off into the darkness. A few octopuses buried themselves deeper into the whale’s belly for shelter. The huge stingray fled over theCormorant, striking the DSV’s top with its barbed tail, as if warning them to flee.
Bryan did his best to do that, to put a safe distance between them and the thrashing forest. After a minute, the seaquake ended, and the world settled again. Still, Bryan kept them gliding higher over the coral.
“Everyone all right?” he asked.
He got nods and thumbs up.
“We keep going?” he asked.
Monk leaned forward. “How much farther to the sub?”
“Another three kilometers.”
Before descending, Monk had recommended that they not drop directly atop the wreckage. He had expressed concern about leaking radiation if the submarine was a nuclear vessel. Adam had agreed with him. From their furtive glances, she suspected the pair knew more about the submarine than they were willing to share. Still, she hadn’t objected to this course. It had allowed her more time to explore the coral forest.
With the whale behind them, Monk glanced back, apparently equally intrigued by life down here. “Why is everything so huge down here?”
“It’s called deep-sea gigantism,” she explained. “Across the taxonomic range, deep-sea animals grow larger than their shallower-dwelling counterparts. It’s due to the colder temperatures and high pressure. It makes cells grow bigger and live longer. Food scarcity also contributes. Larger animals have a slower, more efficient metabolism.”
“Meaning they need to eat less,” Monk said.
“And not just that,” Datuk chimed in, ready to demonstrate his own knowledge of life under high pressures. “The size of a marine animal is in direct correlation to the amount of dissolved oxygen. The more oxygen, the bigger the animal.” He pointed to his glowing display of sensor readings. “Look at the numbers for these waters. They’re off the charts. Thirty percent higher than what’s been reported during other trench dives.”
Phoebe leaned over to review them. “Salinity has dropped by roughly the same percentage.”
Datuk nodded. “These waters are far higher in oxygen and lower in salt. Nearly what you’d find in blood plasma.”
“If so, then that must be a giant red blood cell.” Monk pointed to the massive rosy bell of a jellyfish to the right. It stretched yards across, rimmed by fleshy arms.
“Tiburonia,” Phoebe reported. “The Big Red jellyfish of the Pacific. But that specimen is twice the size of anything reported before.”
“In these oxygen-rich waters, I’m not surprised,” Datuk said. “I’m also not registering any microplastics from the samplings. It’s as if the coral forest below has purified these waters into a pristine sea.”
Phoebe glanced below. It was an intriguing thought. In South America, the Brazilian rainforest served as one of the lungs for the planet, breathing in carbon dioxide and breathing out oxygen.
Was this coral forest doing something similar?
Bryan sat straighter. “We should be coming up onLouie, one of the landers, shortly. Once there, I’m going to slow us and perform a system check before continuing on. Everyone okay with that?”
No one objected.
Phoebe wondered if someone should have.
11:30P.M.
The change in the timbre of the thrusters drew Phoebe’s attention from the landscape passing under them. TheCormorantlurched slightly, shifting her forward.
“We’re about to reachLouie,” Bryan reported. “The lander should be just ahead.”
The thrum of the thrusters continued to fade. With great skill, Bryan timed their glide to stop where the lander’s site glowed on his bathymetric map.
Once halted into a hover, Phoebe stared across the flat expanse around them. “Where is it?”
