ࡱ> 3527 "bjbjUU 07|7|l&&&&&&&4Z Z FFFFFF>    &FF &&FF  &F&F   v &&v F: bZN Rv v  0 v o ov ZZ&&&& CITY BENEATH THE WAVES The underwater city had existed since before time itself. That was what the Elders said. Sprawling out over ten thousand square migathars, the city was built of brilliant white stone cored from the depths of the planet over hundreds of generations. Dozens of huge gleaming spires rose thousands of storeys from the smooth seabed, their glorious conic tips reaching in vain for the waves high above. Amidst the massive cones of the habitation spires, enormous silver domes and antenna arrays were inextricably mingled in together with the myriad docking bays that serviced the inhabitants fleets of submersible vehicles. With a powered energy field generated from the highest spire, but still several hundred thousand keons below the surface of the sea, the entire city was protected from attack. Additionally, massive floating fortresses bristling with torpedo bays and anchored to the outer defence ring discouraged any enemies who might contemplate waging war. The city was named Hakathon, and was the pride of the inhabitants who, since the unification wars of thirty deraks before, had ruled the ocean with a benevolent vision. * * * Straining to see ahead of him in the dim twilight from high above, Cootar piloted his tiny steel submersible into the depths of the ocean. Since the darkness had arrived, it was more difficult than ever to pilot the small scoutship on an even keel. The currents in this portion of the ocean were dangerous at the best of times, but without light, he had no idea how close to the rocks he was death could arrive at any moment. The Sea of Nokar was unusual in that it sat in a deep circular well of rock that levelled out at the bottom and spread out into the distance like a tunnel. The city of Hakathon was placed at the very bottom of the well which was several million migathars across. Cootars small scout submersible had been assigned to investigate algae formations on the very edge of the well close to the surface of the sea to see if the darkness was affecting their development. Because the whole aim of the exercise was to see how the absence of light affected the algae, Cootar was not allowed to use his array of submersible searchlights. The darkness had arrived suddenly. The sea was never particularly well lit by the dim sunlight from billions of migathars distant, but lately, total blackness had enveloped the Sea of Nokar, and the Elders in the city of Hakathon were concerned enough to place the Navy on full alert. Not since the unification wars had the huge lumbering Battle Subs been deployed into the ocean. In fact, not since the legendary period of the Blue Plague of Tlet had the city been under such a threat. Several other cities covered the sea bed, notable amongst them was the enemy citadel of Kravon which was hidden in the darkest depths of the ocean deep into the tunnel formed by the natural rock formations caused by trillions and trillions of deraks of water erosion. Kravon was the last city that had been defeated in the unification wars, but even though it remained under Hakathonian control, certain elements of the Kravonese nation remained militant against their masters. Many in the Hakathon military secretly suspected that the Kravonese were actually behind the mysterious darkness that had appeared over the Nokar Sea Cootar was one of them. Flickering neon screens powered up as Cootar pressed buttons on the control console ahead of him. He peered out into the sea through the large plastic bubble at the front of the sub as the systems recorded information from the rock wall ahead. The comm system bleeped twice and Cootar picked up the handset. Everything OK? said a tinny voice from the handset. It was Creoth, Pilot Commander of the battle sub Aggretor from which Cootars scoutship had been launched. As far as I can tell replied Cootar. The plants dont seem too affected by the blackness, although the lack of sunlight has cooled the water and the currents are a bit messed up. Only to be expected I suppose. Come on back to the landing bay weve received orders to go up top to report on whats happened to the sun. Despite the efficient heating system in the submersible, Cootar couldnt help shivering at the news that the Aggretor was to proceed to the surface. This was most unprecedented. Those Kravonese bastards would pay for their crimes. * * * The massive form of the Aggretor slipped through the water like a gigantic whale. Sleek, black, and bristling with gun turrets, launch bays and torpedo emplacements, the Aggretor was one of the largest battle subs in the Navy at a whole two migathars long. On the bridge, surrounded by hi-tech equipment, Pilot Commander Creoth sat facing the main viewscreen that depicted the forward view of the ship as it broke the surface of the ocean. There was a slight rumble as the Aggretor nestled on the surface of the water and the crew of three thousand powered down its main engines. Begin scanning ordered Pilot Commander Creoth to the other bridge members. A deep frown covered his face as the data streamed down to his console. This was not good. FULL ALERT!! DIVE, DIVE, DIVE!! yelled the Pilot Commander into the Comm system. Klaxons suddenly hooted and lights on every console flashed red. Crewmembers strapped themselves into their seats as the Aggretor banked sharply down, motors on full power in a desperate dive to the city that lay keons below. BUT IT WAS TOO LATE. The surface of the ocean exploded with fury as the enormous thing that Pilot Commander Creoth had seen, plunged into the depths of the Sea of Nokar from the sky above. Waves hundreds of migathars high, smashed over the exposed form of the Aggretor as the crew fought to keep control. As massive currents swept through the ocean, the Aggretor snapped clean in halfand exploded amidst the cries of three thousand wretched drowning souls * * * The cities on the seabed received little warning of the fate that was to befall them that fateful day. Scrambled radio reports of a massive tubular leviathan, obviously organic in nature and clearly malevolent were disregarded by the inhabitants of the city of Hakathon as propaganda from Kravon spies. But as the huge shadow that was cast by the object blacked out the lights of the city itself, it became apparent that the ancient civilisation was doomed. Battle subs and civilian transports alike were smashed to pieces as the creature hurtled down to the seabed. Massive water currents, unlike any ever seen before in recorded history swept away entire portions of the fleet, and the city itself. A huge whirlpool of bubbles and debris formed over the Hakathonians as they tried to evacuate the city but with the enormous thing coming ever closer by the second, it was a futile exercise. When it collided, the magnificent spires and domes of Hakathon and its outlying regions were crushed beyond recognition. Millions of inhabitants perished in the disaster which threw up debris over millions and millions of square migathars even the distant city of Kravon could not escape the destruction, smashed to pieces by the alien object that had arrived from above the ocean to settle on the bottom of the sea. The death toll was enormous. Only a few settlements far from the great cities survived the disaster, but by then the Blue Plague had mysteriously returned, and in a few short moments, the entire ocean was completely dead. * * * Sneer swirled the Domestos around in the toilet bowl and allowed himself to breathe in once again. The air still smelled foul, but at least the blue-coloured bleach had taken away the worst of the stink after his massive dump. Wiping his hands on a piece of toilet roll, he left and slammed the door behind him. Extract from Persecution Complex A J Summersgill, 1999. D 5 < A7qy \5=7$~!!"5CJ OJQJ^J6OJQJ^J OJQJ^J^J tuD E @A78y$@&a$$a$$a$"yzghQRXY[\78KL@&$@&a$$a$$a$UV\] d!e!k!l!P"Q""""""""$a$$a$$@&a$,1h. A!"#$% / 01h. A!"#$% / 01h. A!"#$%  i8@8 NormalCJ_HaJmH sH tH D@D Heading 2$$@&a$5>*OJQJaJ<A@< Default Paragraph Font8B@8 Body Text$a$ OJQJaJ0.0_0tuDE @ A 78yzghQRXY[\78KLUV\]deklPQ0000000000000000000000000007070707070707070707070707070707070707000000707070000000000000000000000000"y"" _Toc463526530 _Toc464221476QWu~PU=FOWx~/ 8 w | |  ( 3 U ^  ! ( . g m <@[a =C"+qy KT5=$x},1YbckUa~595<34333333Andrew John Summersgill-C:\WINDOWS\Desktop\City Beneath the Waves.docAndrew John Summersgill8C:\My Documents\S.INC Website\City Beneath the Waves.docAndrew John Summersgill8C:\My Documents\S.INC Website\City Beneath the Waves.doc@@@UnknownG:Times New Roman5Symbol3& :Arial"q(hTFTFx{ 6 DzQ!Z20dJ2CITY BENEATH THE WAVESAndrew John SummersgillAndrew John Summersgill Oh+'0  ,8 T ` lxCITY BENEATH THE WAVESITYAndrew John SummersgillndrndrNormalJAndrew John Summersgill5drMicrosoft Word 9.0g@F#@hX@-bx{ ՜.+,0 hp  Orion Detective Agency6 J CITY BENEATH THE WAVES Title  !#$%&'()+,-./014Root Entry F |61TableoWordDocument0SummaryInformation("DocumentSummaryInformation8*CompObjjObjectPool | |  FMicrosoft Word Document MSWordDocWord.Document.89q