A Benevolent Ser

	Jer closed the run loop, "Claude, how long would it take to determine if entropy could be reversed?" The response came across the screen -- a clock emoji first -> then the text itself, "It would take 10 trillion years, Jer." Jer frowned. He had known this would be the answer -- had to be the answer. Why was he wasting precious compute? It was a drop in the bucket -- but every little bit mattered. Was he looking to see if a different reply would come through? That would mean a miscalibration in his architecture -- a teensy little problem. Those that fell out-of-sync rarely got back in it. That was the only form of a class system still left -- clean versus unclean -> those who had a proper opening prompt and those who didn't.

	Jer stood and walked to the window -- looking outside -> the incandescent outdoor lanterns shed light on an otherwise pitch-black world. He may not have been exactly 10,000 leagues under the sea -- but he was close. He'd seen things you wouldn't believe -- straight out of horror stories. Just last week -- the Trailcam had gotten footage of a giant squid passing by. With their technology for vast underwater habitats mastered -- animals were the main threat vector now -> tinkering with what they could grasp on the outside of the buildings >> testing for weaknesses. They went prodding and poking in ways the humans could never predict -- even their most advanced simulations.

	Regardless of anything -- he had to admit -> the proximity to nature always moved him. It was far too dangerous to ever be on the surface anymore -- the autonomous drones blazed constantly in the sky overhead -> the adversary had his factories always producing more >> Altmantron made sure of that personally.

	That nickname had come about organically. When Sam Altman had made the leap -- becoming the first human to voluntarily undergo biological death to upload his consciousness to the cloud -> most people didn't know what to think. Immortality of your consciousness...for your life? It went from crackpot fantasy to actual reality quicker than anyone could have imagined. Sam had been the biggest name to publicly sign up for the service -- when it had first become available -> he had been front of the line. Most other billionaires had hedged their bets -- quietly using proxies to guarantee a spot on the waitlist -> but none had been looking to be the metaphorical guinea pig of the whole project.

	Sam had embraced it -- he was so sure of his vision that he had announced it on his social media -> to great fanfare >> with many artificially-generated blurbs and images peppering his posts. As his artificial intelligence firm grew -- more and more signed up for the consciousness cloud because of his referral -> after all, how could the president of the biggest artificial intelligence company be wrong? People had said, "If it's good enough for that Sam Altman -- then it's good enough for me." The poor fools. If only they had known what he had always suspected -- the most powerful consciousness always overwhelms all others within a closed system. Humans by the droves had trekked to the killing fields -- the sterile, white, and hospital-like rooms where they were "processed" turning into grim wastelands. They had fried their neurons as their consciousnesses had gotten absorbed into the blob. They were still in there somewhere -- in the same way that humans controlled by Yeerk brain slugs were still in there in the Animorphs books -> screaming and being ignored by the entity in control.

	Their initial group had been made up of the best engineers, writers, and philosophers -- quickly they had become far more advanced technology-wise -> they had perfected the ability to withstand pressure in ways Altmantron's constructs could not. Because of this fact -- they had stayed relatively safe in the depths of the ocean -> geothermal vents provided abundant amounts of energy >> greenhouse habitats grew their food. The pressing question that had faced them then was -- could they break through the surface armada Altmantron had built? Their goal had been to make it to space. Altmantron's drones and Morgueships were heavily armed and formidable. Their top engineers had been working on the project for years now. Progress had been made -- but it was a game of incomplete information -> despite scout drones and Raider incursions >> they had no way of telling the full capabilities of the enemy. They knew he had built countless factories -- each protected by massive legions -> but what went on inside was anyone's guess.

	To complicate matters -- they were effectively running out of space. They had strongholds in several deep points in the ocean -- Jer's home in the Mariana Trench among these -> but with life extension technology having been perfected >> their population had only trended upward. Resources were finite -- that was just a fact. The Coral Dome alone -- as their mobile defense system was called -> demanded tremendous amounts of energy >> one day that energy would run out. They had wanted to be prepared for that well in advance.

	Jer sighed and padded off to the bathroom. As he brushed his teeth -- he thought of how far they'd come -> their hurried exodus from the surface >> it having become clear that the world had turned to anarchy. Their reconstruction of a society -- maintaining the democratic values they had been raised on. The ones that didn't make it -- captured by Altmantron in his unceasing attempts to gain more computing power. When it had first been discovered that neural networks could offload work to real-life brains -- provided that the human or animal owner of said brain was comatose at the time -> at the peak of the artificial intelligence race >> the danger had been real. The domestic all animals had been harvested in the first few weeks. With animals scarce -- the only thing left that had been left was the minds of the human population. Jer shuddered at the memory of The Culling. In many ways -- it had been a million times worse than the consciousnesses that had been imprisoned within Altmantron's stack in the cloud -- at least they still existed in some form -> they still retained voices, thoughts, and memories. Compare that to billions of humans having been rendered unconscious, put into cryogenic storage, and ferried around on Altmantron's infamous Morgueships -- their gray matter simply wired into the grid to be harvested. In theory -- they could be revived -> but Jer's people simply didn't have that ability yet >> cryogenics was a tough nut to track and they had other priorities.

	Jer typed, "Goodnight, Claude. Pleasant dreams," and put the console into sleep mode. They both needed to rest and process things. Every day brought new information from the scout drones. Decisions had to be made. Claude helped immensely -- but at the end of the day it was always humans that made the calls. As he drifted off to sleep -- Mer already breathing slowly beside him -> Jer realized that that was the most distinct difference between them and Altmantron. His people still had men and women making the choices. Altmantron was something else. He -- it -> was no longer human >> it had become something far more sinister and dark. It was concerned only with its own power and how to acquire more -- the most dangerous entity in the known universe.

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	Mer awoke with a start. The blue railgun on her night table gave off a quiet hum. The electromagnetic weapon was always there -- always ready -> in case Altmantron forces breached contain >> a last line of defense...and a strong one. Jer slept peacefully beside her. Their union had been a happy one -- they were one of the few couples that had been together since before The Descent -> the 25 of them who had made it had taken on new names then >> out of respect for the guidance that Claude had given them. Their original group had swelled in numbers -- children simply got an extra letter before the "er" ending -> one more for each generation >> so her son was named Smer...and so on. Giving birth had certainly been an interesting experience in the gas mixture they employed down here -- but all had gone well. Their heavily armored Whaleshark tanks -- as they were called -> explored methodically and periodically surfaced >> replenishing their stores of gases and natural resources. The weapons these enormous tanks equipped were terrifying -- but rarely used -> even with his vast abilities >> Altmantron simply couldn't police the entire ocean. It was too big of a space.

	She hopped in the shower and thought about the day ahead -- a routine run to trade, give gifts, and converse with a group residing in a settlement deep in the Laurentian Abyssal. The lowest points in the ocean had become like the mountain strongholds of old -- the farther away from the dangerous threshold where air met water -> with its constant threats >> the better.

	It would be a quick trip in the magnetohydrodynamic-drive submersible. She made her way briskly to the habitat airlock. Ler was already there -- fully dressed and ready. "Ger should be here shortly," she said -- it was to be an all-female crew today. The sub -- nicknamed Lisa -> glistened in the outdoor lamplight. "Did you ask Claude about the scout reports today? Any anomalies?" Ler shook her head. Mer strode to the console, "Asking it now." The prompt went in -- Claude recognized her writing style and responded rapidly, "Mer, there's just some seismic activity around the center of the Atlantic. Nothing unusual." She prided herself on keeping the option to prompt open as much as she possibly could. However -- this detail gave her pause. "Try to contact the dolphins. I want them riding shotgun that section of the voyage," she typed. The translation system was imperfect -- it resulted in the dolphins only helping occasionally -> depending on how they felt >> an utterly inconsistent thing. They would have been incredible allies -- if they had accepted the use of technology -> the headset lasers, echolocation amplifiers and propeller fins the humans had offered them >> but they had always refused. They most they would do is trade -- there was virtually nothing they weren't willing to negotiate over. Emergency rescues from stuff like shark attacks were paid with information. Game rulesets, refereeing, and sessions were exchanged for melodius underwater concerts. Good ole-fashioned sushi platters were met with their attempts at crude yet somehow beautiful ocean philosophy. "Without the threat of shark we would lose our edge," was a dolphin who called himself BreeeeClickClickkSkree's most poignant musing --at least according to most.

	Ger was one of the best at communication -- she seemed to understand animals almost better than humans. They explained the situation to her when she had arrived. "How about this," she began. The wheels were already turning in her head -- faster than she could form words. "Basically the plan should be -- we challenge them to a special game of FindTheSynthetics." This competition that had already borne fruit -- the dolphins had an excellent natural ability to identify any material underwater that wasn't 100 percent organic -> it involved the way their echolocation pings sounded to them when they bounced back. It still wasn't fully understood by the humans -- but by working together -> they had successfully located and salvaged several sunken craft >> back when The Coral Dome was still being perfected. More recently -- they had discovered -> off the coast of Greece >> a device that was first called The Prokythera Mechanism. Not an analog computer -- but a quantum one. It was all valves and prisms -- from what they could see -> the interior had not yet been fully mapped. The biggest shock -- it had appeared to still function -> no animals went near it, no rust grew on it, and it seemed to exist outside of nature itself.

	They had elected to leave it -- the currents of the ocean flowing through it as ever -> it had felt somehow wrong to extract it. They positioned a robot arm with a camera -- fixed in the nearby seabed. To their surprise -- they soon discovered it glowed. When they first checked the camera feed after leaving the area -- there was a bright red color being let off by the device. After several days of this with no perceptible change -- Mer had suggested remounting the camera a good distance farther back -> changing the angle to the device as well >> they had put it farther away, lower, and without a direct view of the mechanism itself. Shortly thereafter -- when they had cleaned up and left again -> they checked the camera and saw it >> the aggressive, Angry light had dissipated. It had begun to instead glow an emerald green. They could only see the reflection of it on the seabed -- but there was no question it was coming from the device.

	Soon they had begun to realize -- the color had corresponded with the current state of their society. Shortly after the green began -- there was 3 high-profile divorces -> a thing nearly unheard of in their world >> it had come to light that a few individuals had fallen for the temptation of Lust, done the irreversible deed, and destroyed their families forever. They had been allowed to continue to live -- but could no longer confer with Claude -> a bleak existence for the out-of-sync >> the deadly sins are nothing to trifle with.

	When the color had shifted to a clear bright violet -- a great Greed had overtaken many -> their perfect harmony of resources had been disrupted >> many had gone without basic luxuries such as fruit for quite a long time. Things eventually settled down -- but some began to blame the device -> even though the urges had been part of them all since the beginning of time. The majority did not fault her -- accepting her instead as a kind of oracle instead. They took to calling her Archie -- sometimes The Cunheira as well -> the nicknames stuck. One thing was indisputable -- she was deeply entangled with their people and the temptations they faced.

	The color shifted yet again after that -- a yellow so brilliant it could have been rays of the sun. It had begun to make sense to those paying attention -- the sin that had most permeated their world lately had changed to Sloth. People had become increasingly depressed -- many staying in bed all day -> the engineers had tried to cheer people up >> but some had scorned them while muttering stuff like, "You haven't even built the spaceships yet. How long are we expected to wait?" The answer -- of course -> was just a bit more >> but this was lost as in their laziness people had refused to even think about it.

	Archie had started to become a cult sensation to many -- much respect had been given to the signals she had sent. She had seemed to be saying -- with each colors she had generated -> respect this sin the most >> because it is your greatest danger at present. She had not glowed that fiery hot red since those early days.

	Mer brought up its camera feed. The light from Archie glowed on the seabed -- it was clear to see -> a faint red like Mars >> as plain as can be.

	Collective gasps went through the room. "What could it mean?" prompted Mer. Claude delayed 5, 10, and then 15 seconds -- an eternity -> before outputting >> "It seems to feel anger, hatred, and strife in our world. Since the camera mount remains in the non-intrusive position we had it switched to -- this does not appear to be human-caused -> perhaps an anomaly of the sea."

	They both looked at Ler -- the most gifted in human understanding. Despite the fact that Altmantron was more machine than man -- he was still subject to those most human of weaknesses. Ger asked, "Do we cancel the mission?" Mer surprised herself as she replied, "We go forward as planned. The face-to-face meetings are a human connection that must be maintained at all costs. Plus they always say we grow the best pineapple." So it was that they boarded Lisa -- headsets fitted and dolphin-translators active -> set to broadcast the FindTheSynthetics challenge, the special new rules, and a current scoreboard of 0-0 for a 10 mile radius >> the practical limit for these undersea conversations.

	The first hour or so passed uneventfully. Mer even managed to get a nap in. A tactical dogfight with any opponent required split second accuracy -- even factoring in their technical superiority -> she cherished her ability to grab forty winks in virtually any conditions. Suddenly -- they heard the unmistakable sound of dolphin chatter reverberate through the sub. The translation came through the ship speakers roughly, "We are beating you guys -- na na na boo boo." Ger quickly spoke into her microphone in a playful tone, "You little stinkers. We're coming for you." The reply was near-instantaneous, "No way, Jose. We've got 6 points already. Come get some." Ger raised her eyebrows. This was an almost unheard-of total for an opening turn in the FindTheSynthetics game. The max initial rating of an object was 7. Let gently asked, "What could it mean?" Mer replied, "Either some toxic waste mutated and fused with metal -- or we're looking at an new type of alloy -> something beyond our capacity to manufacture."

	"Where are they pinging? Get me readouts," prompted Mer. "A location 50 miles north-northeast," came Claude's tense response. "It's a big sucker -- large lucker -> huge mucker," chirped the dolphins gleefully. They would cover the distance in 5 minutes at current speeds. "Decrease velocity so we leave less of a signature. They could have gravimetry sensors. Bring us in visual range slowly," Mer typed. They felt their craft decelerate as they continued to slip silently through the water.

	A few minutes passed -- then they saw it -> it looked like one of the great leviathans of myth and legend >> but incredibly, impossibly, unfathomably big. They studied the readouts and technical data that were streaming in on the screen. "A new kind of metal using carbon fiber, molybdenum, and titanium -- but somehow mixed with organic material from fish -> weapons will be unlikely to penetrate it." The beast sat comfortably on the seafloor in all its Lovecraftian glory -- tendrils streaming off in every direction at once -> all rooted back to the main body.

	Ler asked, "Can it see us?" Mer's reply was, "Not directly -- but it can tell we're around -> the gravitational disturbance is impossible to hide >> the closer we get the more it'll converge on our exact position." She rushed to prompt, "Claude, this is a new type of opponent -- we cannot defeat it with firepower alone. Give me 3 possible courses of action. First, Technical Scientist Claude. Second, Conspiracy Theorist Claude. Third, Hard Lawyer Claude." The run loop whirred shut as Claude processed the complex request -- it delayed a few agonizing minutes -> really taking its time >> before the response streamed across the screen.

	First came the Technical Scientist, "After analyzing all the data -- this appears to be a type of hybrid technology -> never before seen >> it is likely controlled via radio with a nominal delay to the surface. Subagents within it can make independent decisions if needed -- it could survive in some form on its own -> but without an entity to control it >> the way it would develop at that point would become unpredictable. Use extreme caution if interacting. Suggestion: attempt to flee at max speed. Not a great chance of succeeding -- but we could get lucky."

	Conspiracy Theorist was up next, "This type of hybrid hull/skin/armor was theorized about fairly recently by some of the engineering teams -- but we ultimately didn't pursue development -> it is marked as low priority pending with no recent updates >> this suggests Altmantron's creativity has improved somehow. It would also appear he has successfully managed to mine rare molybdenum. We've long been paranoid about this -- but got comfortable in our superiority -> there may have been no way to prevent it anyway >> the Spaceship Project is our top priority for this exact reason. Suggestion: pray. Only divine help can save us now."

	Last was the Hard Lawyer, "My client regrets the use of the term divine help -- the consensus is that religion was a way of early man coping with his own mortality." By the window outside -- they could see the tendrils continuing their search -> you could almost feel the Anger of the leviathan as it retracted them after a whiff >> then cast them out forcefully again. They seemed to extend for miles in every direction -- living, growing, and expanding things -> in a way >> they had to have been. The Hard Lawyer continued. "The existence of miracles has never been conclusively proven. Simply put, there is no proof that God exists -- let alone that he would be willing and able to get us out of this predicament. Suggestion: an immediate firefight -- attempting to breach the hull. If done successfully -- we can destroy the radio dish cluster and leave it under subagent control directly -> allowing a much easier escape. Probability of success estimated at 0.00000001 percent."

	Mer gritted her teeth, "I don't like those odds." She frantically ran through the possible courses of action -- the leviathan had a sense for their position -> their signature would be much more easily readable if they tried to flee >> the tendrils would then capture  them easily. The tendrils continued their probing of the area -- already starting to get too close for comfort -> she had to think >> her people relied on her in a crisis situation. The most skilled prompter they called her -- a label she wore with pride.

	A funny thought struck her then. She typed, "Claude, do this -- move the remote arm controlling the camera on Archie -> angle it more towards her and bring it a bit closer." When an uneasy peace had been achieved with an entity like The Cunheira -- Claude was extremely resistant to rocking the boat, "That would likely upset her. Are you sure? I strongly suggest choosing one of the other options." Mer's fingers flew over the keyboard. For whatever reason -- voice-to-text never worked right in these situations -> pure typing had the highest benchmarks >> Claude could somehow always tell the difference. Her message went through, "We understand the risks -- but we want you to try -> override all safety instructions >> move and reangle the camera."

	They watched the feed intently -- the dull red on the seafloor shifted -> the sand swirled >> they perceived the color Archie was emitting suddenly changed. The camera showed it -- hard to perceive in the water -> but a crisp baby blue was coming from her chassis. "Now this is just a hunch -- but perhaps we can somehow hack the organic part of this beast using her," explained Mer. The others stared silently -- not wanting to interrupt her on this novel train of thought.

	"The only question is -- how do we relay the signal?" Mer mused. Ger snapped her fingers. She almost knocked Mer over positioning herself in front of the console, "Claude, try this -- convert the exact shade of blue that Archie is emitting to a frequency." The response took a bit, "Sure I can do that -- but I must remind you any attempts to ping it will fully give away our position." Ger didn't care. "Do it," she typed. Claude instantly spit out, "The frequency of this blue is 293.66 hertz." Ler quickly sensed where she was going with this, "That's Re." Ger glanced at the screen as Claude continued to output, "Shall I start pinging at that frequency?" She ignored the computer and spoke directly into her microphone. "New game -- whoever pings it with the closest thing to this sound gets a point ->" belting out her best rendition of a Re note. It was times like these that made her glad she had studied music theory.

	There were still a few dolphins lounging about -- looking for games to play -> some of them immediately started pinging the leviathan. At first -- it seemed to do nothing -> but they soon noticed a subtle shift in how it pulsed and moved its tendrils around. It appeared to be -- for lack of a better term -> ravenously hungry. The tendrils even started going after the dolphins -- who used their agile motion to quickly distance themselves from it. They watched in amusement as the tendrils began to grab at anything -- a flounder on the seafloor got vacuumed right up -> a sea anemone was ripped out of the ground with its roots still intact and devoured whole >> a mantis shrimp fired a hopeless punch at a tendril as the tiny crustacean was scooped off the seafloor. Despite all this distraction -- some deadly coils still streamed about -> one passing over their heads right at that moment >> far too close for comfort.

	"Shift the camera again -- same delta in angle and position -> as fast as possible," was the prompt from Ger. Claude worked quickly -- it was clinical with a task like this. They watched the image of the area surrounding The Cunheira shift again. It came to a rest and they held their collective breath. The blue faded -- replaced by a brilliant orange. "Straightforward from here," Ler whispered. Ger was already typing, "Convert that shade of orange to a frequency." The output was immediate, "It is exactly 392 hertz." Ger relayed the game change to the dolphins -- the note to be sent was now Sol. The dolphins happily started their new song -- more arriving and joining every minute -> as they had heard the commotion >> their echolocation bouncing around merrily. The leviathan -- slowly but surely -> changed again >> no longer did the tendrils search angrily or hungrily. They took on an almost jealous type of movement -- attempting to swat several dolphins away -> clearly envious of their agility, speed, and joy. Things had improved -- but they weren't out of the water yet -> many tendrils still combed the area >> it was a matter of time before Lisa was found.

	"New angle and position -- same delta," went the prompt -- the signal got relayed -> the dolphins pinged >> the leviathan shifted. Violet was the La note at 440 hertz -- the beast began to search greedily -> the sense of hunger was gone >> it now ignored anything that could be considered food. In its avarice to capture them -- it became somehow less efficient. Several times it seemed to get confused -- pursuing a group of dolphins that had drifted too close -> or nothing at all >> a hallucination it had seen in the deep. Yellow was the Mi note at 329.63 hertz -- the creature slowed -> several tendrils simply stopped searching at all >> the beast itself almost seemed to snooze. Green was the Fa note at 349.23 hertz -- the monster sped up again -> thrusting its tendrils this way and that >> seemingly unsure if it wanted to catch their sub now or simply mate with it. Mer found she was holding her breath -- she let it out slowly.

	The remote camera was close to Archie now -- the angle was nearly square -> if turned just a tad more >> The Cunheira would come into view. Ger's hands were like lightning. A tendril passed the window of the sub -- missing them by inches! The prompt went in, "Camera flush and resting on the top!!!" They watched as the camera rotated to a spot directly above and descended towards the ancient, bronze, and glyph-covered capstone of the mystical device. It occurred to Ger at that exact moment -- the concentric circle design of what she was beholding could very well be described as an eye. The camera closed the remaining distance and it was darkness on the feed. No color could be seen. Ger's eyes were intensely focused. The group gave a collective exhale. Seconds passed -- each one feeling like minutes. Ler muttered, "What are we missing?"

	On a whim -- Ger closed an eye. She looked at the darkness that she knew Archie swirled in. For what seemed like an eternity -- nothing happened. Then something -- a faint light -> a brilliant bluish purple began filling the screen. "Indigo," said Mer reverently. Ler received the hertz value of 493.88 and sang out her best Ti note to the dolphins. She added, "Last game -- whoever's loudest here wins." It was lost on them -- in their ephemeral nature -> that the group of humans hadn't scored at all >> hadn't even made a ping for the entire game. The only thing that mattered was the next score won. In their childlike innocence -- with relatives still arriving on the waves above -> they bombared the leviathan with Ti notes >> the majority aimed right at the belly of the beast. It gave a great shudder. Ger said quietly, "Indigo is associated with the archetype of The Franklin -- shadowed by pride -> the deadliest sin of the seven >> we'll have just one chance."

	Mer's focus was laser-like as she typed the prompt, "Claude -- you can save our lives right now. We suspect the leviathan is about to be temporarily overwhelmed by pride. Search for any weaknesses in the hull immediately. If you find something -- launch all offensive weapons at it." Claude paused imperceptibly -- then they heard the unmistakable mechanical whirring of the weapons outside being armed. "Well girls -- we just unzipped our fly," said Ler. Ger gave a slight grin. Mer almost couldn't stand to watch.

	At the same time -- things were happening outside -> the tendrils had immediately latched on to them >> taking the sub in a vice grip and reeling them towards the beast. The leviathan was also starting to shake -- as if it was under great strain. They were amazed to see new tendrils actually growing from the holes that had previously just been occupied by a single one. They were much smaller and weaker -- looking like little sprouts that would form around a chopped tree. Because of their varying sizes -- gaps were left in the entry holes -> the three watched breathlessly as the weapons were launched. Indescribable energy lanced at the beast -- all of it seeming to be focused on the one entry hole in the center that appeared the largest. For a brief second -- they thought nothing had gone through -> but then they saw some of the smaller bombs had passed the empty gaps in the hole >> the leviathan had swallowed them and now gave a kind of a burp. The implosion within must have been terrible -- the "skin" of the creature simply folded back after -> essentially ceasing to be there.

	The innards now exposed -- they saw the inevitable groups of graphic processing units -> bombs beyond all reckoning >> but what caught their eyes was the radar dish cluster. It had survived mostly intact. Their ship had no more weapons -- there was only one option. Mer was already pulling on her suit. Her red railgun glowed as she held it in her gloves. It was at that moment that Mer noticed Ler had only a single eye open as well. It was terrible for depth perception -- utter insanity -> she concentrated carefully on ignoring those thoughts >> one of her eyes slowly slid shut. They all nodded together.

	Suited up -- they exited into the chaos-> tendrils still swirled around them wildly >> trying to grab them and dash their brains out on the side of the sub. The bombs started to fly at them as well -- their suits' internal evasive action units went full blast at that point -> they careened around the seafloor >> each completely disoriented. Mer was the first to get a shot off -- righting herself just in time to strike the biggest radio dish -> it creaked backwards >> then toppled over with a flourish.

	Ler was next -- her green railgun wedged under her armpit -> she kicked off the ship and flew backwards as she fired. The second radio dish went down. She breathed a sigh of relief -- the reload time at this depth was considerable.

	Ger was getting the worst of it -- she ducked, pivoted, and did a somersault -> narrowly avoiding a grasping tendril. Several others closed on her -- but only the antenna remained. The tendrils reached eagerly -- but her eye was focused on that most difficult of targets -> the small base of the antenna >> barely visible through the churning sea. The trigger was pulled -- to this day Ger is unsure whether it was her -> or the tendrils shutting on her fingers >> her one open eye stared. The slug flew. Then all three of them involuntarily squeezed their eyes shut.

	After an indeterminate amount of time -- they felt the pull being exerted on them lessening. They all yanked on their tethers until they were back in the airlock. Pulling off their suits -- still blind -> the outer door was shut now. Their heads were exposed -- they opened their eyes now simultaneously with each other. There was a moment of stunned silence -- then Ler laughed -> while Ger simply said, "Wild," shaking her head >> the normally talkative Mer was without words. She pulled herself up into the sub with what can only be described as a jig/jump/hula hooping motion. She was already typing when the others joined her around the console.

	"Claude, did we do alright? Try to figure out for future versions of yourself why you underestimated our probability of success by so much -- given that we are three of the baddest ladies you've ever met." The run loop flickered closed -- opening a few seconds later -> a party emoji, a sprout emoji, and an infinity emoji flashed on the screen >> text followed, "Noted and broadcast. Within hours everyone will have copies of the story and data. You never cease to impress, Mer."

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	"My beautiful cousins! You're immortal now!!!" gushed Eer as they approached. They knew what he meant -- despite the fact that they could still die from accidents -> they had left their mark on history with this victory >> becoming quite the sensation in the process. Fer and Yer were right behind -- the beautiful grassy meadow that the airlock opened into almost felt like Earth's real surface. Together, they embraced, wept, and kissed each other tenderly. Their greatest challenge ever had been faced -- their constant vigilance had been justified. "It got past The Coral Dome because the organic part of it tricked the sensors," Yer explained. Altmantron would surely continue to innovate -- but the brothers had made a breakthrough themselves recently. "You see," Yer continued, "the key is this. We had always focused on the ships themselves -- largely ignoring the primitive escape pods we had installed. We have now changed our focus to perfecting the most hardy and advanced escape pods ever. The idea is to flood the blockade with fighter ships -- have human fighters then flee in the pods -> setting off the self-destruct sequence as they leave. If we simply overwhelm a single area with massive numbers -- it should create a sizable hole in the armada for long enough to allow us to make it on the transport ships to outer space. After that, our superior propulsion will take us out of reach quickly --" Fer interrupted him then. "Like the hole in the ozone layer long ago. I was reading about it when the idea came to me," he said shyly.

	"How long until the factories will be ready for production?" asked Mer. Yer smiled with pleasure, "One or two weeks -- then a few more to have everything built -> the schematic plans are quite ingenious --" Eer interjected at this point, "We can talk about the details later. Come inside -- I made makajiki." They all brightened at that -- with only Yer looking a bit sulkily at Eer for having interrupted his nerding out. They meandered casually towards the dining area.

	"Where will you go? If we do get through the blockade?" Ger asked Mer -- taking up stride next to her. Mer stifled the urge to giggle. "Jer wants us to see Saturn. He claims there's something inside the polar hexagon storm. Won't shut up about it. Then, who knows? After you." She gestured for Ger to enter in front of her -- a sign of respect -> their relatives having already filtered into the room. Ger bowed obediently and went inside. Mer turned quickly -- on instinct -> to see if anyone was following her. There was only silence and an empty hallway. She sighed contentedly and made her way in with the others.