Ryan M. Patrick

Old posts are on the main Crush Depth page at the bottom.

Last time, the mosasaurs had stopped their attack, but also had stopped talking. The surviving characters need to figure out how to speak with them again to see if they could help.

Chapter Thirty-Six: The mosasaurs stop communicating. Debating options, Parkowski hypothesizes the quantum signals mimic communication, triggering aggression. She proposes signaling them directly, connecting the quantum core to the habitat’s remaining antenna array, and try to establish a voice or text communication line with them using some postprocessing equipment that they don’t have in the command center. Lots of engineering discussions. End when they decide that they have to go back outside using the submersible to get to the lab.

Lots of technobabble, but it’s all coherent!

This is why I said on a recent podcast appearance that there’s stuff that only I can write – this is all technologically somewhat accurate.

But there’s one more thing to do – go get the DSP board from the flooded lab.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Continue from where the last scene left off. They go to the moon pool and Parkowski and a small team (Carmano, Armstrong) enter the damaged Nautilus. They leave the moon pool and travel slowly outside, evading curious mosasaur patrols. They maneuver the submersible so that the emergency exit mates with an external access hatch and enter that lab. End the chapter once they are inside. Lots of discussion and the tension really starts to ramp up – this is a Hail Mary, their only chance that they have left.

One last chance.

Need to fix some stuff in edits but this is otherwise good.

One of the things I feel like I did a really good job of in this version is making the mosasaurs feel truly alien, not human at all. But my readers will be the judge!

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Back in the command center, she jury-rigs the core to broadcast a modulated signal, attempting contact using the integrated system to send voice messages out – that’s what the crew believes the mosasaurs will respond to. But she runs into a lot of technical issues and doesn’t get a response back from the mosasaurs. Frustrated, Parkowski goes down another layer and sends text out via the system – a message asking if the mosasaurs can respond via this way. I want it to feel similar to talking with “Jerry” in Michael Crichton’s Sphere. End the chapter as they wait for a response.

Clock is really ticking now!

Some of this is trope-y and done before in “First Contact”-style books, but I like it too much.

Again, I’m really leaning on Sphere and communicating with “Jerry.” Now we just hope that the mosasaurs respond!