"Depth 5,000 meters, I can see damaged lights at the lock" Grusza said calmly, holding the communicator in his hand.
At that moment, he looked through the glass of the slowly lowering diving bell, it was surrounded by a dense darkness, interrupted only by two lights on the buttons. There was a void outside, broken only by two beams of light produced by two surrounding floodlights designed to shed light on the airlock. But now they were overturned, illuminating two random directions. It's a miracle that they still worked.
The Baltic Sea, one of the most polluted seas on Earth. Narrow and twisted tributary to the ocean. It almost was classified as a lake instead of the sea. However, no matter how bad the situation was for the ecosystem, it was just perfect for the Foundation. Hardly anyone is interested in rummaging in cesspools, which could be considered the Baltic Sea. The official depth is 459 meters. In fact, however, due to the existing cave system, there are places in it where the depth is up to 13,000 meters. At least that's how far Foundation drones went until they were destroyed by local wildlife. The bottomlessness of the Baltic Trench was not normal, which was the reason for the Foundation's research and the establishment of a five-sector Site PL-69 here. A few days before the incident, the PL-69-137 drone identified a potential source of extremely unusual fauna and flora in the area. In one of the caves there was a breach emitting a faint light, or at least that seemed to show the recording. Perhaps the camera has been damaged? Hard to say until the next expedition has been launched.
"5500 meters, I'm going inside in a moment. Jesus Christ … I think I see one body already" Grusza reported, approaching the collapsed Alpha sector of Site PL-69.
The Alpha sector was the first part of the Site PL-69, it is the highest and was built first, which made it the least stable. The next sectors are Beta at 7,500 meters, Gamma at 8,500 meters, Delta at 9500 meters, and the last, Epsilon, partially at the bottom and partially underground. Each of the sectors had a system of several airlocks to cut it off from the rest, as was the case with Beta when the Alpha crashed. The locks for the rest of the sectors are closed until the damaged part is fully repaired, but to do so, a single inspector is dispatched according to procedures to assess the loss and damage. This person was Jakub Grusza, who, lowering in the diving bell, suddenly stopped, he could hear the machinery connecting the diving bell to the damaged airlock.
"It's about to connect, I'm turning off for 15 minutes " Grusza said emotionless, then, checking his suit one last time, he left the bell.
Opening the airlock door, the first thing he saw was the body of a young brunette in an doctor's smock, clinging to the nearby lever. Her body floated unconsciously in the water. Grusza pushed her slightly aside, flowing into the room. After turning on the flashlight, he saw a guard, a janitor, and a blonde-haired senior scientist hovering around the room. In addition to the bodies in the room, there were also garbage, everyday objects and pieces of glass from the blown glass through which small fish were now getting into. Grusza stopped in the middle of the room, clearly examining the damage to the glass itself, noting everything down. Without a word, he floated into the second room: a similar mess to the previous one, the only difference being that there were no dead staff. At the time of recording losses, it seemed to Grusza that something swam in the distance and then disappeared in the darkness immediately. The corridor, practically completely destroyed, opened the passage from a small claustrophobic room to the open space of the sea void which was only interrupted by fish and pieces of glass appearing and disappearing in the darkness. Grusza, flowing farther, found a more solid part of the corridor. A fork that led to the laboratory and living rooms.
The Alpha sector's laboratory held some of the objects found near the Site. These were not always anomalies, some have been successfully declassified as comprehended objects. Yes, they were extremely fascinating and unusual, but we managed to find a logical path for their evolution. One of these objects was affectionately called "Pike" by scientists. Did he look like a pike? Maybe a little, but was he a fish? Not. He was an intelligent mammal and as the pike is sometimes called the king of rivers, this Pike reigned here, in the depths. Recognizing faces, learning patterns, using extremely simple tools, and killing frequently for fun - that's what characterized him. Ultimately, however, it was classified as an understood object. The real anomalies were stored in the lower, more modern and adapted sectors. Much to Grusza concern, Pike's aquarium was overturned and cracked. There was no trace of the animal itself. Grusza decided that since the previous corpse had no traces of the attack on it and the fact that Pike is an intelligent creature, it probably swimmed away from the place where it was captured.
Other tanks in the room, however, were also damaged. They contained local species of crab, or rather, crab-like creatures; once again nature gave us a phenomenon where a species independently evolved into a crab. These, however, despite the turbulence caused by the damage, walked on the floors and walls of the laboratory, both curious and frightened by the presence of a Grusza who was writing down the damage. Again a flash of fish in the distance, which as soon as it appeared, disappeared into the darkness. The inspector, a bit concerned, put his hand on the harpoon. He decided that he would write calmly in the bell, for now he will be ready and then he looked amusingly at the crabs, at the moment two individuals were walking on the wall, the Inspector was fascinated by how, despite the chaos, these creatures were able to keep their peace, happily swimming around the room. Deep in his soul, Grusza would like to be such a crab himself, carelessly jump through life, merrily tapping his claws. He left the lab and turned towards the living rooms. The moment he heard a knock behind him, he turned quickly to see that it was just the table top that had finally dropped to the floor.
"Here Grusza after a 15-minute break, the damage report is almost finished. Half of the staff dead, the rest most likely evacuated to the Beta sector. Additionally, "Pike" escaped, I have the impression that mayb-" Grusza did not finish
It turned out that the tabletop was only meant to distract him. Pike immediately stuck its teeth into the Inspector's larynx, previously swam silently to it, and also swam away just as quickly, leaving Grusza bleeding. He, on the other hand, was panically looking for a way to stop the bleeding, choking on a mixture of blood and water.
"Grusza, this is the command, speak up, we didn't hear the other half-" This was the only thing the Inspector heard before his vision turned red, his mind dulled, and everything began to slowly fade into darkness.
"This is Grusza, the situation is under control. the crab pinch my limb and I had to drive it away. Everything is according to the procedure. I'm going to check the engine room and the Beta1 lock. I'm turning off for 15 minutes" the diluted voice answered the headquarters.
