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It's commonly said that we know more about outer space than the depths of the ocean. Indeed, the oceans hold many mysteries. Most of them are hidden away from prying eyes from the surface, but even for the merpeople below the waves, many mysteries remain in the vast volume of water that are the seas and oceans. But it's only a matter of time that each of these mysteries gets uncovered by someone, some by deep research, others by circumstance… sometimes both…
Two figures descended down into the coral reef. One of them a regular visitor, but not a resident of the seas, the other a complete newcomer to this realm, though the bodies of both of them would suggest otherwise; both of them were merpeople. The more experienced of the two was a rat with a long and elegant fishtail as purple as his eyes were. The newcomer was a dolphin-tailed border collie with horse ears, wearing an orange collar, and was carrying a bag around his shoulder. They hadn't come unprepared on this journey to the deep. The mer-rat pointed towards the coral reef.
"Have a look at that, puppony!" he said to his companion. "Such a pretty coral reef, and so few people know it exists."
"Wow! Must be because it's so remote," his companion replied.
"I think so. Let's go down there!"
They swam down into the coral reef. The light from the sun was getting dimmer here, but still enough to see the vibrant colours of the fish and coral living here. The mer-puppony couldn't believe his eyes staring at the natural beauty that surrounded him.
"I wish I had a waterproof camera for this," he said. "It's amazing! Thanks for bringing me here, Rico."
"No biggie, Mandel," the mer-rat named Rico said. "This was just on our way of what I actually wanted to show you. But I guess you wouldn't want to miss all of this here."
"Please no, this is… I can hardly describe it… unlike anything I've ever seen!"
"Worth the mer-hybridisation potion?"
"Definitely! How long did that potion work again?"
"This dose should be enough to keep you in this form for 30 hours, they said."
"Plenty of time left then. I wish I wouldn't have to worry about time limits to stay under water, unlike you."
"Pfft, don't be so jealous! I live on land with this tail 24/7, bound to that stupid wheelchair. I could only wish to have some legs."
"I have four. Wanna borrow a pair?"
"If only it were that easy, hehe!"
"So… you said you wanted to show me something else?"
"Yeah, come with me, it's over there at the cliff."
Mandel's curiosity rose as the two swam through the coral reef towards the edge. This reef was very beautiful, but what was there that could top this? There was nothing obvious to see near the edge. Rico stopped when they arrived there. Still nothing to see there…
"I bet you haven't seen anything like this in your life," Rico pointed down.
Mandel looked into the abyss, and his jaw dropped. Rico hadn't talked in hyperbole; Mandel saw a large metal vessel half buried into the sea floor, heavily damaged. A shipwreck… but… it didn't look like any ship he knew. The shape was completely wrong, it didn't look like a boat of any kind, nor did it look like a crashed aeroplane. But what was it then?
"What the hell is that, Rico?"
"I don't know. Maybe it's some failed top-secret navy experiment"
"How did you find it?"
"By accident, honestly. Other mers told me about this coral reef, and I explored it a bit too far to the edge a year ago and saw this. But something tells me there's some treasure inside of it."
"So why didn't you go check it out for yourself?"
"I couldn't get in. Couldn't open the door. That's where you and the bag come in. You have an eye for these kinds of things."
"So that's why you wanted me to bring a flashlight and a wrench."
"I hope we can find some answers today about what this thing is. I'm dying to know!"
"Then what are we waiting for? You know I can't resist this kind of curiosity! Let's find out!"
The two descended down into the deep dark abyss. Mandel grabbed the flashlight from out of the bag, and illuminated the unknown vessel ahead of them. When they came closer, they saw there were already plenty of holes in the vessel's hull, but none of them big enough for them to enter. Rico showed him the closed hatch he failed to open.
"I hope your technical eye can see a way to open this thing," Rico said.
Mandel inspected the circular hatch. There didn't seem to be an obvious way to open this thing, no handles of any kind. But he did see a weakness in the design, something he could use his wrench for.
"I can try to break those hinges. They look pretty eroded. Then we may be able to lift the hatch out."
He took his adjustable wrench and tried to twist one of the hinges, but it had eroded so much that the brittle metal just broke. The other hinge broke as well, and the hatch was now loose.
"Didn't expect it to break it this easily," Mandel said, "as if it has been laying here for centuries."
"But that's impossible! We only had wooden ships back then!"
"Perhaps the answer is behind this door, landrat. Can you help me lift it up on three?"
"I'm ready, puppony!"
"OK. One… two… THREE!"
The two pulled out the hatch with all their strength, but it was heavier than they thought. Yet they managed to pull it up and put it next to the entry.
"Wow, that door is massive!" Rico said, inspecting the door. "That must be 40 centimeters of solid metal! It doesn't look like a regular door. More like a… like a…"
"... like an air lock."
"Yeah, but this thing doesn't look like a submarine."
"No, it doesn't."
"So why would they need an air lock?"
"Something tells me this says something about what this thing actually is. Come on, let's go inside!"
They entered a dark corridor. Mandel shone his flashlight at the metal walls, which were overgrown by slime and moulds. The interiors of this vessel had been deteriorating for a long time, and even some dim light from outside was poking through holes in the hull. They slowly swam through the corridor, looking for anything interesting on their way. Something shiny caught Rico's eye.
"Mandel, look here!"
Mandel pointed his flashlight on Rico.
"This looks like some kind of screen," Rico said. "This has to be glass."
"No, this is something different," Mandel touched the screen. "It doesn't feel like glass, more like metal. But… how can metal be transparent?"
"And look down here. It looks like some kind of text, but I can't recognise the script…"
"Wait… it looks eerily similar to Hangul… but, like a proto-version of it. I recognise some of the characters, but they're usually grouped together, not written separately."
"So this thing is Korean?"
"I wouldn't say so. Maybe it's just me making a link that isn't there. We're halfway around the world from Korea, so I have no idea how this script ended up here of all places…"
"This thing is a strange place. Everything hints that it's been down here for a long time, but this thing seems to have too much modern technology to be that old..."
"We need to find a room, any space where people may have been controlling this thing. Maybe we can get some better answers there."
They continued swimming through the corridors, going deeper in the vessel. It was getting darker and darker, until they saw some blue light coming from an opening at the end of the corridor. They couldn't resist their curiosity to check it out. It had led them to a large open room, lit up by a colony of bioluminescent jellyfish. Many of the bulkheads in the room had collapsed, and there was rubble everywhere, but the abandoned chairs in front of screens and control panels were silent witnesses of what this space was supposed to be.
"This must've been the command room," Mandel said. "But I've never seen such advanced tech in my life! Look at those consoles! They're impossibly flat!"
"This looks like it's from the future," Rico said.
"Or not from this world."
"Wait… do you mean…"
"Rico, I think we're inside a space shipwreck, probably crashed centuries ago."
"A spaceship? You mean, aliens and all that?"
"Yes, oh my, Rico, this is the archeological discovery of the century, I tell you! There must be a ton of technological treasure aboard this thing!"
"But what happened to everyone aboard this ship? Did they die here?"
"I don't know. I'm not seeing any bodily remains. Maybe they managed to get off the ship before it crashed. At least I hope they did…"
"Maybe these people abandoned ship and landed in Korea, and 'invented' Hangul there."
"That's… quite a leap in logic, landrat. Let's not jump to conclusions. Oh, I wish I had taken a bigger bag with me, there's so much stuff here we could take. Isn't there something small we can take with us?"
Rico looked around in the room. He saw several broken electronics poking out of the walls or laying on the floor, and a metal plate filled with inscriptions, but then his eye fell on a small handheld device laying in the corner.
"Look at this," he said, as he picked up the device. "It looks intact."
"What is it, you think?"
"It has at least a screen and some buttons. It looks like some kind of communication device or a scanner. I wonder if it still works."
Rico pressed what looked like a power switch. To both their surprise, the screen lit up, as well as the backlight behind the buttons.
"Oh wow, it does work!" Rico said. "This looks like some kind of menu."
"Maybe a file menu? Could this be a personal log recorder?"
"That would make it very valuable."
"We'll take it with us for now. When I get back up on the surface, I'll try to run a translator on a computer to see if the inscriptions make any sense. I think soon the whole archeological world will storm this thing."
"We're making history here! I knew this thing was special."
"And maybe, just maybe, the story of the people who made this ship may be uncovered after all these years," the puppony smiled.
"I'd love to hear that story…"
The two looked one more time at the derelict command room, before heading out to the exit of the ship. They know they may have only scratched the surface on this discovery, but of the many mysteries that are beneath the waves, they at least uncovered one of them today…
_________________________
This commission is drawn by the wonderful
Elke. We see Mandel in his mer-form for the first time, being half-dolphin (the side fins do suggest he's still a taur, even in this form), and Rico is literally in the spotlight here. This story is a sci-fi twist on an old cliché of merpeople exploring old underwater ruins.
Check the original upload here!
Two figures descended down into the coral reef. One of them a regular visitor, but not a resident of the seas, the other a complete newcomer to this realm, though the bodies of both of them would suggest otherwise; both of them were merpeople. The more experienced of the two was a rat with a long and elegant fishtail as purple as his eyes were. The newcomer was a dolphin-tailed border collie with horse ears, wearing an orange collar, and was carrying a bag around his shoulder. They hadn't come unprepared on this journey to the deep. The mer-rat pointed towards the coral reef.
"Have a look at that, puppony!" he said to his companion. "Such a pretty coral reef, and so few people know it exists."
"Wow! Must be because it's so remote," his companion replied.
"I think so. Let's go down there!"
They swam down into the coral reef. The light from the sun was getting dimmer here, but still enough to see the vibrant colours of the fish and coral living here. The mer-puppony couldn't believe his eyes staring at the natural beauty that surrounded him.
"I wish I had a waterproof camera for this," he said. "It's amazing! Thanks for bringing me here, Rico."
"No biggie, Mandel," the mer-rat named Rico said. "This was just on our way of what I actually wanted to show you. But I guess you wouldn't want to miss all of this here."
"Please no, this is… I can hardly describe it… unlike anything I've ever seen!"
"Worth the mer-hybridisation potion?"
"Definitely! How long did that potion work again?"
"This dose should be enough to keep you in this form for 30 hours, they said."
"Plenty of time left then. I wish I wouldn't have to worry about time limits to stay under water, unlike you."
"Pfft, don't be so jealous! I live on land with this tail 24/7, bound to that stupid wheelchair. I could only wish to have some legs."
"I have four. Wanna borrow a pair?"
"If only it were that easy, hehe!"
"So… you said you wanted to show me something else?"
"Yeah, come with me, it's over there at the cliff."
Mandel's curiosity rose as the two swam through the coral reef towards the edge. This reef was very beautiful, but what was there that could top this? There was nothing obvious to see near the edge. Rico stopped when they arrived there. Still nothing to see there…
"I bet you haven't seen anything like this in your life," Rico pointed down.
Mandel looked into the abyss, and his jaw dropped. Rico hadn't talked in hyperbole; Mandel saw a large metal vessel half buried into the sea floor, heavily damaged. A shipwreck… but… it didn't look like any ship he knew. The shape was completely wrong, it didn't look like a boat of any kind, nor did it look like a crashed aeroplane. But what was it then?
"What the hell is that, Rico?"
"I don't know. Maybe it's some failed top-secret navy experiment"
"How did you find it?"
"By accident, honestly. Other mers told me about this coral reef, and I explored it a bit too far to the edge a year ago and saw this. But something tells me there's some treasure inside of it."
"So why didn't you go check it out for yourself?"
"I couldn't get in. Couldn't open the door. That's where you and the bag come in. You have an eye for these kinds of things."
"So that's why you wanted me to bring a flashlight and a wrench."
"I hope we can find some answers today about what this thing is. I'm dying to know!"
"Then what are we waiting for? You know I can't resist this kind of curiosity! Let's find out!"
The two descended down into the deep dark abyss. Mandel grabbed the flashlight from out of the bag, and illuminated the unknown vessel ahead of them. When they came closer, they saw there were already plenty of holes in the vessel's hull, but none of them big enough for them to enter. Rico showed him the closed hatch he failed to open.
"I hope your technical eye can see a way to open this thing," Rico said.
Mandel inspected the circular hatch. There didn't seem to be an obvious way to open this thing, no handles of any kind. But he did see a weakness in the design, something he could use his wrench for.
"I can try to break those hinges. They look pretty eroded. Then we may be able to lift the hatch out."
He took his adjustable wrench and tried to twist one of the hinges, but it had eroded so much that the brittle metal just broke. The other hinge broke as well, and the hatch was now loose.
"Didn't expect it to break it this easily," Mandel said, "as if it has been laying here for centuries."
"But that's impossible! We only had wooden ships back then!"
"Perhaps the answer is behind this door, landrat. Can you help me lift it up on three?"
"I'm ready, puppony!"
"OK. One… two… THREE!"
The two pulled out the hatch with all their strength, but it was heavier than they thought. Yet they managed to pull it up and put it next to the entry.
"Wow, that door is massive!" Rico said, inspecting the door. "That must be 40 centimeters of solid metal! It doesn't look like a regular door. More like a… like a…"
"... like an air lock."
"Yeah, but this thing doesn't look like a submarine."
"No, it doesn't."
"So why would they need an air lock?"
"Something tells me this says something about what this thing actually is. Come on, let's go inside!"
They entered a dark corridor. Mandel shone his flashlight at the metal walls, which were overgrown by slime and moulds. The interiors of this vessel had been deteriorating for a long time, and even some dim light from outside was poking through holes in the hull. They slowly swam through the corridor, looking for anything interesting on their way. Something shiny caught Rico's eye.
"Mandel, look here!"
Mandel pointed his flashlight on Rico.
"This looks like some kind of screen," Rico said. "This has to be glass."
"No, this is something different," Mandel touched the screen. "It doesn't feel like glass, more like metal. But… how can metal be transparent?"
"And look down here. It looks like some kind of text, but I can't recognise the script…"
"Wait… it looks eerily similar to Hangul… but, like a proto-version of it. I recognise some of the characters, but they're usually grouped together, not written separately."
"So this thing is Korean?"
"I wouldn't say so. Maybe it's just me making a link that isn't there. We're halfway around the world from Korea, so I have no idea how this script ended up here of all places…"
"This thing is a strange place. Everything hints that it's been down here for a long time, but this thing seems to have too much modern technology to be that old..."
"We need to find a room, any space where people may have been controlling this thing. Maybe we can get some better answers there."
They continued swimming through the corridors, going deeper in the vessel. It was getting darker and darker, until they saw some blue light coming from an opening at the end of the corridor. They couldn't resist their curiosity to check it out. It had led them to a large open room, lit up by a colony of bioluminescent jellyfish. Many of the bulkheads in the room had collapsed, and there was rubble everywhere, but the abandoned chairs in front of screens and control panels were silent witnesses of what this space was supposed to be.
"This must've been the command room," Mandel said. "But I've never seen such advanced tech in my life! Look at those consoles! They're impossibly flat!"
"This looks like it's from the future," Rico said.
"Or not from this world."
"Wait… do you mean…"
"Rico, I think we're inside a space shipwreck, probably crashed centuries ago."
"A spaceship? You mean, aliens and all that?"
"Yes, oh my, Rico, this is the archeological discovery of the century, I tell you! There must be a ton of technological treasure aboard this thing!"
"But what happened to everyone aboard this ship? Did they die here?"
"I don't know. I'm not seeing any bodily remains. Maybe they managed to get off the ship before it crashed. At least I hope they did…"
"Maybe these people abandoned ship and landed in Korea, and 'invented' Hangul there."
"That's… quite a leap in logic, landrat. Let's not jump to conclusions. Oh, I wish I had taken a bigger bag with me, there's so much stuff here we could take. Isn't there something small we can take with us?"
Rico looked around in the room. He saw several broken electronics poking out of the walls or laying on the floor, and a metal plate filled with inscriptions, but then his eye fell on a small handheld device laying in the corner.
"Look at this," he said, as he picked up the device. "It looks intact."
"What is it, you think?"
"It has at least a screen and some buttons. It looks like some kind of communication device or a scanner. I wonder if it still works."
Rico pressed what looked like a power switch. To both their surprise, the screen lit up, as well as the backlight behind the buttons.
"Oh wow, it does work!" Rico said. "This looks like some kind of menu."
"Maybe a file menu? Could this be a personal log recorder?"
"That would make it very valuable."
"We'll take it with us for now. When I get back up on the surface, I'll try to run a translator on a computer to see if the inscriptions make any sense. I think soon the whole archeological world will storm this thing."
"We're making history here! I knew this thing was special."
"And maybe, just maybe, the story of the people who made this ship may be uncovered after all these years," the puppony smiled.
"I'd love to hear that story…"
The two looked one more time at the derelict command room, before heading out to the exit of the ship. They know they may have only scratched the surface on this discovery, but of the many mysteries that are beneath the waves, they at least uncovered one of them today…
_________________________
This commission is drawn by the wonderful
Elke. We see Mandel in his mer-form for the first time, being half-dolphin (the side fins do suggest he's still a taur, even in this form), and Rico is literally in the spotlight here. This story is a sci-fi twist on an old cliché of merpeople exploring old underwater ruins.Check the original upload here!
Category Artwork (Digital) / Fantasy
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 1814 x 2031px
File Size 3.69 MB
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