** "Deep below the surface, in a cavern that runs for hundreds of miles, a strange civilization is born-" **
"Can you not be so fucking dramatic?" I snap, Bill almost dropping his tape recorder, "And who still uses those things anyway?"
"They're a classic."
"So?" When I requested a new partner, I expected someone like a marine biologist of sorts, not some newbie hack graying at fifty.
"So I'm taking notes since I'm the lead on this project I need to have something recorded to write down later." Bill scoffs as he points the flashlight at me. "Aren't you a bit young to be doing this, demon?"
Bitch, I'm easily three times you're age. "Twenty-six getting up there in years, I must admit."I smile carefully stepping over a small pothole "Nightvision may have been a better choice; that light is going to piss off some of the other things that live down here." It's a few more miles from the warp pad point before we reach the underwater city, his monologuing quickly becoming white noise as he documents everything from the dirt to the walls.
"The walls seem to be made of a type of igneous rock-"
"Metamorphas; they are metamorphic rocks; the pressure and heat make them metamorphic we're well below the drop-off that should have been obvious."
Bill gives me a skeptical look ignoring my comment "From time to time, I see small insect-like creatures peeking out of the wall."I wonder how these guys are going to react when they see another pompous 'i've discovered Atlantis' sort of dude. They barely tolerate me! Fuck being a human-creature advocate; I just suggested we keep an eye on them now I'm their damn nanny.
"Lunara, do you have any notes to add?" Bill asks, shoving the recorder in my face, "Take this seriously; this is vital information."Vital my ass there's nothing about this species that I didn't already document he just wants to get a piece of this. "So is it true that this subspecies of fish-people can breathe underwater?"I swear to god if he shoves that damn recorder in my face, again I'm going to cramp it up his ass.
"Yes. Despite the sea-people living in an underwater dome of sorts, they can breathe and see underwater; since they live below the surface, most of their diet consists of the sealife and several different kinds of seagrass they grow." I give him a base rundown of what he should have read before coming on this mission with me, but I humor him even if it is just to keep him quiet. "Oh, hey Sal, you seem grey-er than usual." Despite the high humidity, he seems to be having trouble breathing.
"Grey-er isn't a word." the guard chokes out thin translucent film flakes off of him; his fins seem brittle Sal sneers, glaring at my partner.
"Let me give you a check-up later," I recommend, bowing my head as I duck behind the curtain several hundred feet below us is a large city, houses made from stone and mud cluster in small areas around large farms or puddles dotting the city. Bioluminescent moss grows freely on each building and makeshift wall lighting the area. Several others look to be in just as bad shape as Sal several soaking in the ocean streams in an attempt to save their skin. Seems like there's a disease going around; gotta be careful.
"Lunara!" Kell booms from his throne "You've come at last." I tip my head in respect as we approach, Bill seemingly lost for words at actually seeing an entirely different species.