Below them, Lieutenant Miller was holding the jumper steady, its lights turned upward to illuminate the underside of the pier. It had been tempting to use the jumper’s shield to create a bubble of air for them to work in; it would have meant they could stay down longer without worrying about the cold. It would also have meant trying to keep the jumper steady right under the part of the city they were trying to repair. The idea was to avoid doing any more damage.
Green was carrying a video camera, and she flipped it on as they approached the damaged section of the hull. They’d been down here with a camera mounted on the jumper to take video of the damage, and Zelenka had identified three sensor arrays that needed to be switched out. They’d brought all three replacements down with them, hoping not to have to do this again.
“I am receiving your transmission,” Zelenka said. “Major Lorne, are you ready to proceed?”
Lorne leaned into the camera’s field of view and gave a thumbs-up. He and Campbell approached the first damaged sensor array, steadying themselves on either side. The camera’s light was at a bad angle, throwing more shadows than anything; he took hold of Green’s arm and pushed her gently back, getting the light where he needed it.
Campbell unfastened the first replacement from the back of Lorne’s suit. It wasn’t that big, a metal box with a sensor vane on one side, and on the other side, a row of control crystals that should slide into place easily once they got the damaged one out of the way. Or so Dr. Zelenka said.
“You can see the mechanical damage to the sensor array,” Zelenka said. He certainly could. The sensor vane was crumpled, and one corner of the box was twisted up out of alignment with the city’s hull. “I’ve deactivated the power to the array, so try to gently pry it free. Gently, please.”
Lorne found a screwdriver in one of his suit’s pockets and pried at the other corners. He wasn’t sure he was exactly being gentle, but he was making some progress. He wrapped his fingers around it and tugged, hoping it didn’t come free quickly enough to send him tumbling. It was possible he should clip on to something to brace himself, but he didn’t see anything to clip onto other than the sensor vane itself, which wasn’t very helpful.
Green swiveled suddenly in the water, the video camera turning with her and throwing the box in front of him into shadow.
“What are you doing?” Zelenka said into his radio. Lorne spread his hands, but since Zelenka couldn’t see him, it hardly mattered. Green turned the camera back toward him, and he shrugged one shoulder in a question.
She spread her hands as if there were something she wanted to say but couldn’t, and pointed below them. He looked down. He didn’t see anything but the jumper, and if he put his back to the jumper, there was only dark ocean beyond the reach of the jumper’s lights.
She shook her head and signaled ‘okay.’ Lorne hesitated. They could always scratch the mission, but he hated to have it all to do over again.
“Lieutenant Miller says he is reading nothing on sensors but some life form readings, barely large enough for him to detect,” Zelenka said. “We have not had much chance to catalogue the ocean life on this world, though, so if you see anything that looks dangerous, it may be wise to return to the jumper.”
Thanks for the advice, Lorne wanted to say. He nodded and tugged doggedly at the sensor array. It finally came free, and he managed to keep hold of it, waiting for Campbell to stow it on the back of his suit before he started edging the new one into place.
“It should click into place,” Radek said. “We think.”
He wasn’t sure it clicked, but it did at least fit, which was the first big step.
“I’m going to initialize the sensor array,” Radek said. “It should first clear the water from around the crystals.” Lorne nodded. He could see bubbles in the water around the edges of the sensor array, which soon stopped. “Now we are turning the power on.”
All along the sensor vane, small lights began to twinkle red. Lorne signed an enthusiastic thumbs-up for the camera.
“Perfect,” Zelenka said. “Two more to go.”
On the way from the second to the third, a flicker of colored light caught Lorne’s eye. He thought for a moment he’d gotten disoriented, somehow turned a circle in the water. The cold was starting to make his head ache, and his hands were nearly numb to the wrist. He looked up, reassuring himself that he was following the line of the pier, directly below it.
He clapped Green on the shoulder and gave her a questioning look when she turned. She nodded and pointed down, flicking the camera’s light on and off pointedly. They were almost at the last sensor array; Lorne glided up to it and caught at the bent vane to stop his movement in the water, looking down.
He couldn’t see anything past the jumper’s lights. When Green turned the camera on Lorne again, he pointed down toward the jumper and turned his own flashlight on, then pointedly off.
“Lieutenant Miller says he is getting some indication that there may be a fairly large life sign approaching,” Zelenka said. “He is maybe a little concerned.”
Wonderful. Lorne tugged experimentally at the damaged sensor array. It showed no signs of coming free easily. He was sure he saw another flicker of light somewhere in the murky darkness. He pantomimed turning off the jumper’s lights again.
“You would like the jumper’s lights off?” Zelenka asked skeptically.
Lorne nodded firmly. After a moment the jumper’s lights switched off. He turned off his own flashlight, and after a long moment’s hesitation, Green switched off the camera light.
It took a while for his eyes to adjust. He could see the dim light filtering down from the cloudy sky outside the shadow of the city. Beneath him, there were definite flickers of colored light moving in the darkness, and then brightening lights, like something rising toward him.
“Miller feels that you should perhaps return to the jumper,” Zelenka said, and then exclaimed, startled into his native Czech, “Co to, do pekla, je? Gigantická chobotnice?”
Lorne backpedeled instinctively as something rose in front of him, traced with patterns of light that shifted and merged. It looked like a gigantic squid, he realized after a moment, its upper body spread out like a hood in front of him, nearly twice his height. Its tentacles trailed far below it, a few tipped with light.
It was glowing, soft white light chased with patterns of red, whole patches blinking out into darkness and then relighting themselves again. He couldn’t help a sense of fascination, even as he wondered what it ate and if he might look like food to it.
“Okay, it is some sort of cephalopod,” Zelenka said. “The biologists will love this. You should probably not make any sudden moves.”
Lorne wasn’t planning to. He turned the flashlight on experimentally, on the theory that might discourage the creature from sticking around, although he couldn’t help watching it in fascination.
The tip of a tentacle rose toward him. He kicked backwards, wondering if he could actually get out of reach. Then it lit, the light playing over him like its own flashlight beam.
To his left, Lorne could see Campbell prying the damaged sensor array loose. Lorne made a mental note to thank him for that. He motioned for Green to help him, and she unfastened the last replacement array from Campbell’s back with one hand, still filming with the other. Green let go of the damaged array and let it sink beneath them, which Lorne thought was forgivable under the circumstances.
He thought he could see the thing’s eyes, or what passed for its eyes, dark patches that turned to follow his movements. He turned the flashlight experimentally off and then back on. The tentacle went dark, and then lit again.