Ryan M. Patrick

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

This is the part of the novel I’m the least sure about and that I’m likely going to fix the most in edits. The core concept is fine, but I think the pacing is wonky. More to come in edits.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: It picks up as soon as the last one ended. To their astonishment, the mosasaurs respond with patterned replies. Initial conversation reveals their sentience – they speak in full sentences, clear English, but with somewhat archaic vocabulary and some stunted phrases. They also reveal through twisted language surrounding magnetic pole flips and solar cycles – the crew has to do math to realize what they’re saying – that they have been living in the trenches for twelve thousand years but that is not their original home – they used to be closer to the surface.

And we finally have a conversation!

It’s very “first contact”-esque, similar to sci-fi novels like Rama.

Not sold on the format but it’ll do for now.

Chapter Forty: Continue where the last chapter left off. The dialogue continues, uncovering the mosasaurs’ ancient history and displacement by human activity millennia ago. They went to war with seafaring humans from an unknown highly advanced civilization that could use nuclear weapons, robots, lasers, and more (but obscure it in the mosasaur’s limited vocabulary).  They fought a war that lasted for a century. Ancient humans developed a plague that rendered most of their females infertile – far beyond what is believed possible from human activity at that time. This caused the mosasaurs to hate humans and attack them when they came into their domain. Ends on a tense negotiation cliffhanger when Parkowski asks for a favor.

This and either the previous or next chapter may be combined, to be determined.

And this is where it ties back to the “real” Atlantis (the one from my series that starts with The Europan Deception.

This was really fun to write.

But we still need to get to the surface!

Chapter Forty-One: Pick up as soon as the last chapter ended. Concluding the conversation, Parkowski pleads for aid again. The mosasaurs agree to escort them to the surface, accounting for decompression. Lots of technical details and differences between physiologies – the mosasaurs have no such restrictions, and the humans have to explain them. When asked why they are helping them, they tell Parkowski “Because you are continuing your species.” They do not elaborate on that point. The humans go to the moon pool and quickly repair the Nautilus.

Again, need to clear a lot of this up. It’s too on the nose at times.

And we’re finally going back to the surface!

Only one more of these, then we’ll go through my editing process.