Chefprefers BLOG

Chapter Two The Steeples

Jesse looks down at her feet, entrenched into the sea floor. She spots a wiggling Ghoti not far away and the gills flapping as though they were trying to find the lifesaving water. Once where the ocean waves landed, rocks and sand laid in bare. A known hidden source is exposed. The sea floor reveals a descending slope into the canyon. The other side is too far away to see in this fainted light. The sun is just below the horizon, causing a twilight, shadowing the ravine below. The side of the canyon is slimy, and hard to keep traction, and it feels like they could slide into the abyss at any minute. Nevertheless, the structures are not too far away.

She is an archaeologist, and this is her calling. She analyses the rock faces as she walks down the descent. Jesse quivers at the site of discarded rubbish covering the slopes and the movement of the hagfish flipping in the mud. She knows very little of the Anguillas species and/or the understanding of this Ocean. However, she’s aware that the Eels produce delicious eggs they had recently indulged in the night before.

**

It all starts as they stood on the balcony in disbelief; they look down towards the forecourt and watch the crowds of Polkans surmising the ocean floor. Jesse is surprised at the number of people at the beach resort. Most often, the resort is deserted. Jesse would have dined in the restaurant below with very few patrons. Now, they were trying to understand the chaos.

They notice the bemused beachgoers when they went down to the shore. Jesse sees a mob of thrill seekers venturing down into the Sea. Aerial Copters are flying over the shoreline, diverting people away from the Sea. Perhaps the regional officials are concerned about losing control of the situation. Copters with loudspeakers shifts the Polkans away from danger.

Suddenly they hear a chirping sound from above, and the beach mob turns inland, rushing past them. Jesse looks up and sees a giant flying bird swooped down. The bird’s hazel eyes darts at its subject, spreading the talons to grab a feed and then trying to fly away. The bird laboriously flaps its wings and can not rise due to the unexpected weight. Then without success, they drop the being to the ground. Jesse peruses the sky and spots a flock of Theropods. She could hear their eerie calling, like a sound of a crying baby.”Ark Ark Siss!” These substantial colourful, dangerous birds are known to carry a dolphin in their claws. It is unusual for the Theropods to hunt Polkans.  “So perhaps, the birds are bewildered and are confusing the fish species with Polkans”, she thought.

Seeing the oncoming mob through the evening twilight was difficult. Jesse feels Daniel grab her and pull her towards him. He wraps his arms around her, providing protection. The rushing hordes of seekers shoves them to the sand. Daniel and Jesse wait for the crowd to disperse. Instead, the official Copters turns towards the birds to shun them away. Jesse and Daniel get up from the beach and dust themselves off. Jesse turns to Daniel. “Are you” … “Okay?” Daniel replies, eyeing the sky. “Yeah! I believe …., she mutters. Her heart is racing. Daniel sees the fear in her eyes. He reassures her that the dangers were over. ” he mentions, “There must be a lot of Theropod food for the picking. I have only seen them in documentaries.”

Fear of being the Theropod’s dinner, they rush back to the accommodation. They reconvene on the balcony overlooking the chaos. Jesse speaks as they stood over the railing, “It is obvious that the sea ferry isn’t leaving today. Perhaps, it’s a rare low tide, and the water will make its way back later.” Daniel smiles back and adds, “Taking on what we saw,” pausing in his response, “it will be some time before normality is restored.” I guess we are stuck here for a while.” Jesse scans the sea floor and is intrigued by the soggy features. From the lack of light, she could just work out an object in the distance. Looks to be some distance offshore. The twilight provides enough visibility to assume it is a sunken man-made object. She is curious and turns to Daniel, “What is that?” Pointing in the direction of the entity. “It must be large if you can see it from here.” The sea floor descended deep into a canyon, and the object appears as though it was positioned on a ledge, ready to tip further into the ravine. “It looks like a kind of a building,” Daniel adds. “And look over there.” Daniel points to the left. “There is another one. It looks to be another building.”

Jesse’s upbringing was from the cave system in the equator region, she has been intrigued by the rock formations underneath the harsh landscape. Her father is a miner, and although he has a talent for archaeological features, he educated her on the different types of rocks and crystals the boring machines cultivated. The digging machinery would drill through layer after layer of colourful crystals to reveal the radioactive isotopes. Even though mining was for providing energy throughout the planet, there were other treasures to gather, which provided a rich resource for the fashion industry. Crystal and Quartz were abundant; the irregular shapes would be preserved and delivered to the Polar Region.

Jesse’s company, Quartizon, works with the mining companies to filter out the special extras from the cultivation. And it is Jesse’s job to analyse the direction of the drilling to preserve the material. Spending most of her time in the dark and moist tunnels, she is accustom to the slimy seabed floors she is now looking at. However, the structures are appealing, and she felt she needs to take a look.

“Maybe there is a way for us to stay a little longer”, she wonders. She turns to Daniel. “Should we wait for the sun to fall below the horizon to avoid the Theropods before we explore?” Daniel turns to her and replies. “I thought you would never,” he pauses and smiles. “Ask.” Jesse smiles back and notes the previous sorrow is gone on Daniel’s face.

**

They continue to descend into the ravine. The height of the building is at the level of where they stood. A pool of water obstructs their path. Swimming across is the only way. Daniel turns back to her and nods towards the pool. Jesse takes that as a, ‘We are going swimming.” Jesse holds her backpack above her head as she enters the pool. She feels the movement of the water and the tingling of her lower limbs from the multitude of marine life beneath. Jesse sees the species and shivers, so she picks up her pace to follow her partner. She is up to her torso when something grabs her foot and pulls her into the water. Daniel hears the splashing and turns to find Jesse gone. Daniel freezes, scans the surface water, and starts to head back with his hands feeling around in the water. He hallows for Jesse, and then a hand peeks out of the water. He dives over and grabs Jesse’s hand, and pulls. Daniel heaves, and Jesse surfaces and takes a breath. She yells out something, but Daniel does not comprehend. He holds on to her, searching for signs of disturbance, and they move towards the edge; luckily, the pool is not too deep. They scurry out and lay on the rocks above. Breathing hard, Jesse tries catching her breath. She starts to explain, but she is incomprehensible due to heavy breathing. Daniel put his hand on her polka-dotted bare arm to calm her. Whatever grabbed her was still in the water. Perhaps the danger has passed. “Something had wrapped around my leg, and then let go,” Jesse utters after recovering. They moved away from the pool and sat on a slimy rock for a time. Daniel questions whether they should continue. This is a reminder of the dangers. This is unfamiliar territory. He looks up toward their goal; he doubts moving on. He sees a building with a large steeple structure poking out of the roof, with a large Plus (+) symbol on the front. Not a plus sign as such but a plus sign with an extra longitude length. On the front of the building is a gnarly wooden door. A pathway from the front entrance snakes its way down the ravine. It is as though the building is on a hilltop for anybody to walk to from below. Jesse leads the way and approaches the door; she reaches up to turn the lever handle.