65 Spires

Waves of multi-colored light streamed through the windows of the ship.

Flash could make out something that looked like a peak of coral reef in the distance, so he dove deeper, heading toward it.

The purple spires loomed and Flash searched for seaweed. The submerged mountain peak was littered with sea stars.

The forms were reminiscent of Olo’s towering features. They were beautiful, but he could see no signs of plant life.

As Flash scrutinized the watery terrain, something impacted his ship, violently jostling it. A long appendage reached across the window, attaching itself with suction cups. He glanced around and surmised that a huge cephalopod had the TNI2 in its grasp.

He could not propel the ship out of its grip.

How long might it hold him before it realized the ship was inedible? Then it occurred to Flash that octopi feed on crabs, clams and snails. In other words, they are adept at breaking through hard shells to get at the meat inside. A creature of this size might be able to breach the fuselage of the ship with its enormous beak, so he decided to take action. He simply activated the force field, stunning the animal. It recoiled, releasing the ship, and slunk away, camouflaging itself within the reef to recover.

“Sorry about that,” Flash said softly, mindful of the fact that he was a guest here.

He continued on his quest for large seaweeds, but kept watch on the area for other predators that could pose a threat.

Something was moving among the tall formations, not wanting to be seen. He couldn’t tell exactly what it was. It was about the size of a porpoise or other small whale, but more fishlike.

He rounded a pillar, following it.

The creature he saw there was humanoid from mid-torso up, with a few obvious differences. Its skin was green, and there was definitely something fishy about his face… his large unblinking eyes, ear flaps on the sides of his head and gills on his neck. His fingertips widened into suction cups like a tree frog. From the waist down, it looked like a fish.

Its huge round eyes gave it an expression of perpetual surprise. Flash and the creature locked eyes, and Flash wished he could communicate with it.

It seemed as curious about Flash as he was about it, and he was glad it did not swim away.

He turned his computer screen toward it, displaying images of seaweed.

The creature looked wide eyed at the monitor and then turned and swam away. Flash watched as it disappeared into the distance, and then ascended from the sea floor. He rose from deep blue into lighter water when his sonar picked up something approaching his ship. It was actually a signal he had seen not too long before. Soon, he was surrounded by a pod of whales that rose with him to the surface.