locomotive and surrendered. Whoever their unknown foe was had finally won. There was no way anybody could cross the morass of bio-toxins and survive. Not without spacesuits, which were hours away.
Both hands holding the vial to her heart, Dr. Bentley kicked one leg forward and lunged into a crouch, her right arm doing a hard fast whip forward.
The vial cannonballed towards the bubbling mess, and only a foot in front the vial dipped a bit and to the left, then crashed loudly on the metal hull. Like a glass comet, the tiny vial shattered into a million glistening pieces. Instantly, the purple goo underneath changed from white to brown, then green. Glorious green! Then everything sank from sight.
Standing on the beach, the group stared at the woman.
"A curve ball. Sorry. Old habit," Alice said sheepishly. "I was the relief pitcher for the Luna Miners during my college days for three years running."
Straightening his filthy clothes, Erik took a stance before the lake, as the HoverCam reached out a mechanical arm and combed his hair into place. It then powdered his nose, adjusted focus and then flashed the On-Air signal.
"So, ladies and gentlemen, this is it. We have finally reached Lake Underdunk in spite of colossal odds. For any new viewers who may have just tuned in, this is Erik Kaye for TBBC, reporting live from the independent moon, Titan. Long a haven for chemical research, industrial dumping, and nuclear storage, the people of Titan, like those on Earth, have only recently started the odious job of cleaning up their incredibly polluted environment."
A half-turn to the stage left to show his good side and display a section of the bubbling cesspool. "And the scientists of Amalgamated Water have been plagued by mysterious problems from the very beginning. Missed shipments, mis-marked containers. Computer viruses, scrambled phone lines. Nothing violent, or overt. But a steady destruction of this totally innocuous project. Coincidence? No."
The anchor glanced over his shoulder at the smooth expanse of the dead lake.
"Due to their ever-growing population, Titan Central has domed over this sight and is attempting to reclaim this lost bit of biology. A noble task. Exemplary! Only," his voice lowered dramatically. "Can it be done?"
Tense moments passed, as Dr. Bentley wiped her face clean with a pocket-handkerchief, and prayed. After twenty years of hard work, the incredible project was starting. Alice glanced at her watch. Correction, had started two minutes ago.
Standing on an old abandoned aircar engine, Zane pointed, "Look!"
"Wait a minute, I seem to see something happening," Kaye said for his blind or inattentive viewers.
Something was swirling below the slimy surface. A bubble rose to the syrupy surface of the lake, then a second, a third, forth. Then a series of bubbles, next the center began to furiously boil. As fast as it started, the process stopped, and a great calm engulfed the hundred domed hectares of deep space refuse park.
Had the Y.U.M. worked? Was that it? A measly bubbling. A can of fizzy soda pop could have done better!
"Hey, I see something," Rocky said, his crystalline eyes extending on louvered stalks from inside his head. "The center of the lake...yes, it is...it's changing color."
"It's doing what?" Dr. Bentley demanded, pulling out a set of pocket trinoculars and dialing for computer enhancement.
Under the magnification, the blackish fluid now had a green area in the general vicinity of the crashed train. Was it an oil leak from the hydraulic system? Had the bar ruptured? Or... But as she watched, the green section turned aquamarine, dark blue, light blue and then clear. Perfectly clean water!
Dumbfounded by the extreme change, her wrist secretary ran a diagnostic on itself and sent an angry letter to the manufacturer for such obviously shoddy workmanship on its sensors.
Inch by inch, the circle expanded into the stygian, nigh impregnable, Underdunk, centuries of industrial pollution
Both hands holding the vial to her heart, Dr. Bentley kicked one leg forward and lunged into a crouch, her right arm doing a hard fast whip forward.
The vial cannonballed towards the bubbling mess, and only a foot in front the vial dipped a bit and to the left, then crashed loudly on the metal hull. Like a glass comet, the tiny vial shattered into a million glistening pieces. Instantly, the purple goo underneath changed from white to brown, then green. Glorious green! Then everything sank from sight.
Standing on the beach, the group stared at the woman.
"A curve ball. Sorry. Old habit," Alice said sheepishly. "I was the relief pitcher for the Luna Miners during my college days for three years running."
Straightening his filthy clothes, Erik took a stance before the lake, as the HoverCam reached out a mechanical arm and combed his hair into place. It then powdered his nose, adjusted focus and then flashed the On-Air signal.
"So, ladies and gentlemen, this is it. We have finally reached Lake Underdunk in spite of colossal odds. For any new viewers who may have just tuned in, this is Erik Kaye for TBBC, reporting live from the independent moon, Titan. Long a haven for chemical research, industrial dumping, and nuclear storage, the people of Titan, like those on Earth, have only recently started the odious job of cleaning up their incredibly polluted environment."
A half-turn to the stage left to show his good side and display a section of the bubbling cesspool. "And the scientists of Amalgamated Water have been plagued by mysterious problems from the very beginning. Missed shipments, mis-marked containers. Computer viruses, scrambled phone lines. Nothing violent, or overt. But a steady destruction of this totally innocuous project. Coincidence? No."
The anchor glanced over his shoulder at the smooth expanse of the dead lake.
"Due to their ever-growing population, Titan Central has domed over this sight and is attempting to reclaim this lost bit of biology. A noble task. Exemplary! Only," his voice lowered dramatically. "Can it be done?"
Tense moments passed, as Dr. Bentley wiped her face clean with a pocket-handkerchief, and prayed. After twenty years of hard work, the incredible project was starting. Alice glanced at her watch. Correction, had started two minutes ago.
Standing on an old abandoned aircar engine, Zane pointed, "Look!"
"Wait a minute, I seem to see something happening," Kaye said for his blind or inattentive viewers.
Something was swirling below the slimy surface. A bubble rose to the syrupy surface of the lake, then a second, a third, forth. Then a series of bubbles, next the center began to furiously boil. As fast as it started, the process stopped, and a great calm engulfed the hundred domed hectares of deep space refuse park.
Had the Y.U.M. worked? Was that it? A measly bubbling. A can of fizzy soda pop could have done better!
"Hey, I see something," Rocky said, his crystalline eyes extending on louvered stalks from inside his head. "The center of the lake...yes, it is...it's changing color."
"It's doing what?" Dr. Bentley demanded, pulling out a set of pocket trinoculars and dialing for computer enhancement.
Under the magnification, the blackish fluid now had a green area in the general vicinity of the crashed train. Was it an oil leak from the hydraulic system? Had the bar ruptured? Or... But as she watched, the green section turned aquamarine, dark blue, light blue and then clear. Perfectly clean water!
Dumbfounded by the extreme change, her wrist secretary ran a diagnostic on itself and sent an angry letter to the manufacturer for such obviously shoddy workmanship on its sensors.
Inch by inch, the circle expanded into the stygian, nigh impregnable, Underdunk, centuries of industrial pollution
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