Christopher navigated his submersible to the island of Rasa. It was still light out, but beneath the sunlight, the Earth's far corners were just starting to become visible, trailing a purple haze of twilight. The water was beautiful—the kind of deep blue that only comes after a storm. The surface itself had a feeling like there was a layer of luxuriously thick flour beneath it, fully reflecting the afternoon light and night lights of the atmosphere around it.
Walking underneath the water was such a wonderful feeling, Christopher knew he could go for days if he stayed underwater. He smiled to himself as he passed the depths of the oceans. He never got that feeling underwater with the research vessel.
The time had come and he was now about to enter the secret world of the Rasa. No one had ever been down there before, at least that he knew of; so Christopher had plenty of research to do before even more explorers came down, undiscovered. Up until recent years, little was known about this sunken civilization; its history, its purpose, and its secret destiny.
William, the team's science officer, was standing by the submersible. He was tinkering with a mysterious device nestled between his fingers.
"I'm happy to go down there, Chris. I'm looking forward to learning more about the ancient Rasa. I bet they were advanced, after all… They must've mastered terraforming!" He uttered, looking down into the ocean as far as he could. William was the team's resident science guru. He was quite young and had more enthusiasm than anyone else in the group. William was the oldest team member at 31.
"Let's dive already," jeered Chris; the team's commander. He was already wearing his dive outfit; a sleek, shark-like suit swishing in the water as he waved to the crew. The suit was actually a variant of the carapace the ancient Rasa had made. It was light and flexible, which made it easy to move around in, and easy to hide in.
The suit had a HUD that was connected to the diver's helmet. The helmet itself was plain—nothing fancy about it; it had no lights, no animal tracks, and no colors to it.
The illumination was provided by simple, low-tech incandescent lights that William had made. They were also built into the suit. Every few meters, from the suit, columns of seaweed would float up to the surface on their own. Once the team reached their destination, William would have to go back down and collect these specimens to bring back to the surface for analysis.
He'd done this since he was a small boy and he wanted the same opportunity for future generations. He'd seen how science brought so much happiness to the world and by revealing the secrets of the Rasa, he could share that happiness with and save the world.
"All ready, guys," said William.
"No digging this time, William," said Chris.
"Oh, come on!" said Chris, "I never got to dig in the Rasa! I feel cheated!"
"Who said anything about digging? We come to explore not to dig up treasure; something that should have been done a long time ago."
"Oh, I'm sure they left a lot of surprises when they left!"
"Wait for the science reports to get back, William. I'm happier without the treasure, I can tell you."
"See you guys in the U.S.!" William said and started his way towards the ship.
"Oh, and William, don't forget to bring those seaweed samples! We're going to start the analysis of the soil in the labs."
"I'll do it right now, then! Nothing makes William happier than making plants grow!"
"Okay! All aboard!" Chris called out with a big smile.
Chris looked back and saw everything was ready where it should be. He swam back to the submersible, and buckled himself in.
"Ready when you are, Squirt. Let's hit 'er!" William said, pressing the button to open the hatch doors. Immediately, the submersible's cockpit dropped down into the ocean, diving down fast.
"I have a good feeling about this, Grampa Bill!" Christopher said.
"You haven't been down here before, so no sense in judging yet," replied William.
Below them, the Rasa was littered with giant bones from a giant creature. It ranged from dinosaurian reptile-like creatures to gigantic sea creatures. The whole city was home to these large creatures, and a few sat on a hill. The brightest light Natalie had ever seen emanated from it, the light being similar to the sun, but twice as bright. It seemed to be the source of all the light underwater and it was beautiful.
The Rasa looked like a cross between a bug and a dragonfly, but much larger. It was shaped like a cross between a dragonfly and a koala bear. The photos of the Rasa on the charts were old and many were black and white pictures of the tribe. It was hard to see the external difference between male and female from the pictures.
Then suddenly, the Rasa just began to vanish into the sea. William's bow began to pull upwards. They were rising towards the sun.
"We better head back before we get stuck," said William. "This suits are made for cold weather, not boiling water."
"Nah, I'm fine. We're rising real slowly. It'll be fine," Chris said.
"We have to follow protocol, Chris."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I probably forgot. I'm a bit distracted by what I saw."
"Well, let's get everyone on the ship and then we can get down there."
The ship came closer. William and Chris floated up toward it. Then all of a sudden, William saw something that made him feel a lot of dread. There was a large creature breaking through the ocean and headed straight for the ship.
