Descent and Care
Jackie's thrusters hummed softly as she eased past the 500-meter mark, the surrounding water thickening with pressure and darkness. The dome city was still a faint glow beneath her, hints of its bluish tinge rippling in her ocular overlay, but she wasn't looking at that yet. First, Lyra.
"Lyra, status check," Jackie said, voice calm but firm, echoing in the comms.
Lyra's image flickered in Jackie's HUD. Her breathing was steady but uneven, hands floating close to her tools as if she might lose her balance in the water. "Everything's fine. The pillar's holding, cracks are sealed. You're—well—you're really fast."
Jackie allowed herself a brief smile, though it didn't reach her eyes. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I don't care how fast any
Kamopt—or whatever else—is out there."
Lyra gave a weak chuckle. "I know. I know you won't."
Jackie's ocular implant flickered with another incoming signal. Sura. Her heart did a subtle lurch; even through a stream of nanobyte communication, Sura's presence was grounding.
"Jackie?" Sura's voice was faint, trembling slightly. "How… how are you talking to me?"
Jackie grinned, knowing Sura couldn't see it. "Nanobytes, sorry, I implanted them when you were injured. They stopped the bleeding tracked your vitals, rendered first aid. I can communicate through them, make sure you're safe, and they can help you to communicate with me no matter how far apart we are. And yes, you heard me—these are my nanobytes, but I can remove them, if you like."
Sura's voice softened, a mix of relief and disbelief. "I can feel… you're here. I can feel it, and don't worry about it, I need the added layer of protection and the ability to communicate with you."
"I'll keep you updated. Make sure Patrick knows where we are. We will be entering the dome city soon. Once we're inside, I'll contact you again. For now… just stay safe."
Sura's voice was quiet. "I will. Be careful, Jackie."
"I always am," Jackie said, though her heart beat faster than she admitted.
As the pillar stretched below her, faint shadows of the city's walkways flickered through the water. Jackie's HUD highlighted the tunnels leading from the six pillars down toward the city. The bluish hue of the dome grew stronger, and here and there, faint splashes of other colors hinted at habitation. Green lights glimmered in terrace gardens, amber flowed along maintenance corridors, and a steady, almost imperceptible red pulse ran along what she guessed were energy conduits.
Jackie's fingers flexed on her thrusters. She allowed herself a moment to look, to see the city in a single, sweeping glance. "Lyra," she said quietly, "it's huge. I didn't expect… it's enormous."
Lyra's voice came through, tinged with awe. "It's… unbelievable."
A calm, almost mechanical tone flowed through her neural net, as if it were asked a question, BDJ spoke.
"Spectral analysis indicates over 100,000 beings reside within the dome city. Significant population density detected in both upper and lower sectors. Structural integrity is nominal. Observation confirms tunnels connect all six pillars to central dome. Travel is feasible through both aquatic corridors and reinforced tunnels."
Jackie nodded to herself. "Good. More adventures await."
Across from her, Orion paused mid-thruster along his own pillar. He had been watching Jackie work, observing the fractures and stress points in the column. "Microfractures," he murmured to himself, voice barely audible. "This is enough. The city can handle the rest."
He disengaged from the pillar, flicking through retinal scan sequences, entering his access code. The portal accepted him instantly. The Nexus Directive's voice echoed in his neural comm: Operative Orion, welcome to Subaquilus One. Report status.
Orion's lips twitched faintly. "Report submitted," he said, moving into the city with precise, measured motions.
Below him, Jackie continued descending, unaware of Orion's entry. Her thrusters adjusted as she followed the gentle gradient toward the city floor, scanning for microcurrents, sediment displacement, and subtle indicators of life. Each flicker of color, each glint in the darkness, was data her ocular systems absorbed automatically.
"Lyra," she said softly, almost to herself, "how's your breathing? Keep it calm. We're almost there."
"Breathing's fine," Lyra said, though her hands trembled slightly. "I just… I just don't like how quiet it is down here."
Jackie's sensors picked up faint bioluminescent traces near the city. Nothing threatening yet. Her ocular overlay processed the lights, separating them into civilian, maintenance, and security signatures. "That's normal," she said. "The city's awake. People are moving. Nothing dangerous… yet."
She pushed forward. Five-fifty meters down. The bluish tinge of the dome intensified, its outline more solid. She could make out the tiered terraces and what appeared to be aquaponic farms along the outer sections. Streams of water shimmered along engineered canals from pillar to city.
The water clarity was poor, yet her specialized rig compensated. The ambient glow of the dome was the result of a massive, pulsed hydro-shield, a containment field that kept the living spaces pressurized and dry, while allowing regulated exchange of oxygenated water for the exterior farms. Her HUD registered the faint, but pervasive, harmonic frequency of the shield—a low, nearly infrasonic thrum that vibrated through the deep water, a sound felt more than heard. It was the city's life sign.
'BDJ, give me a full sweep of the docking aperture.' Jackie watched her descent as she waited, BDJ's calm voice quickly coming through her internal comm.
"Scanning. Docking Bay Alpha-7, located directly beneath the convergence of the central support pillars. Security level: minimal patrol cycle. Entrance is currently a reinforced pneumatic gate, not a bubble-lock. Recommended approach: slow, stable descent on a vector of 12.3^\circ."
Jackie adjusted her pitch. The entrance was a black crescent, a gap in the bright dome, guarded by thick Neosteel-titanium alloys that even the crushing pressure of the deep could barely flex. She could see small, almost insect-like automated drones zipping along the surface of the dome, no bigger than her hand, monitoring the shield's integrity. They were innocuous, but their presence implied a responsive security system.
"Pneumatic gate means we'll be exposed for a few seconds when it cycles," Jackie murmured. "Lyra, get your pressure suit set to maximum environmental damping. Once we clear the gate, we'll be in an outer maintenance canal. Water will still be pressurized, but the current should pull us in quickly."
"Understood," Lyra replied, her voice firmer now, the technical details perhaps grounding her. "Maximum damping engaged. Jackie, there's a pattern in those lights on the city surface. Look at the lower western quadrant—they flicker, three short, one long, then silence. It's too regular to be a malfunction."
Jackie paused her descent, her thrusters kicking up a small, temporary cloud of fine, dark silt from a nearby ridge. Her ocular overlay zoomed, cycling through thermal and spectral filters. Lyra was right.
"Good eye, Lyra. That's a coded pattern. BDJ, run an ancient Soterian-era data cipher on that light sequence.
"Processing… Code matches Soterian resistance beacon: 'Active Watch'. Signal origin: internal city power grid, likely an illegal tap," BDJ reported instantly.
A surge of adrenaline went through Jackie. Resistance. Kieran, maybe he made it here and was already communicating. Lyra's voice over the comms brought her out of her contemplation.
"What are your systems reading?" But she already knew, her hacker systems and the fact that she was resistance gave her the tools to know what it was when she first saw the lights.
Jackie didn't think about it. "It seems to be resistance here. We're going in. Hold tight. This just got a lot more interesting."
Lyra didn't hesitate this time. "Ready when you are, Jackie."
Jackie engaged her primary thrusters. The descent became a controlled fall, the blue light of the hydro-shield rushing up to meet them.