Kraken Mare Read Online Free PDF

outside.”
    “Yeah. That's only because only the top two levels are above the lake's surface, though,” Gerry explained. “The observation deck and the hangar. Not including The Well, we have…a few levels below. Most you're cleared for, a few you aren't. So according to your knowledge, at this time there are ‘a few,’ okay?”
    “Fine. So what is The Well?”
    “Ahh…caught that, did you? Smart kid. It's something else better shown than explained, sorry.” My new boss shrugged apologetically. I struggled not to sigh. The elevator's descent ceased and the doors slid open. “Welcome to Central, the main level of the Mayda Insula Research Station.”
    I immediately began to size up the room and started nodding before we had even stepped out.
    Low plasteel walls were placed throughout the large open room, creating avenues for foot traffic which led to a primary control station set in the middle of the room. The room was fairly well lit, with the transparent plasteel fulfilling its dual purpose as a steel wall and a glass window.
    To the left was a guard station, manned by a solitary individual who appeared bored yet attentive. I was impressed. She quickly gave me the once-over and dismissed me just as fast. She had the look of a former special operations soldier, though I couldn’t think of any off the top of my head who recruited Amazonians.
    A strange object distracted me. It was a bit of a conundrum. A solitary tube of what looked like liquid methane ran through the room, which made absolutely no sense at all. I didn't understand why the designers included it. Best guess? Something to do with buoyancy. Perhaps this Well he mentioned earlier acts like a keel or something, I thought.
    “What's that tube for?” I asked, curious. I pointed at the cylinder filled with liquid. Gerry smiled.
    “You'll see in a bit.”
    I sighed a little more loudly and rolled my eyes so hard that I almost hurt my brain. “You like to build up the suspense a bit, don't you?”
    “Like it? Nope.” Gerry's grin was wide. I could already tell he was one of those guys who would kill you with suspense. “I absolutely love it.”
    “It's annoying.”
    “Oh yeah, you're going to fit in nicely here,” Gerry said, laughing. We walked towards two men who were seated in the center of the large room at a large circular desk filled with electronic equipment. It reminded me of the control desk at Xanadu's headquarters in Chicago. The two guards had their heads down and were watching various monitors at their station, their faces shadowed by the lights of the screens. One glanced up and nudged his fellow guard with an elbow.
    “Control desk,” Gerry confirmed my earlier assumption as he nodded to the two contractors on duty. They looked almost like twins, close enough for me to comment on it. Gerry chuckled and replied, “That's Gary Poole and Kelly Lockhart or, as they like to be called, Thing One and Thing Two. Not twins, not even distantly related, though they look exactly alike. We know this because the scientists here thought that they were lying and performed a DNA sequence test when they first arrived. Strange, though. Just creepy if you ask me. Still, solid guys. You'll be working with them a lot, actually. They run Control during their shift, with five roving guards moving around the station independently. Their fifth slot is open after Regina retired, so you'll be working on the job with them. It's less about guarding our prisoners and more about making the scientists comfortable about security in the first place. Control runs the ops, Central is the backup in case something weird happens.”
    “Wait…prisoners?”
    “For all intents and purposes, we're both a research station and a military prison,” Gerry stated. We passed the control desk and into a small corridor. Inside were ten white spheres separated by walls. The corridor was brightly lit with a stark white light. It took me a moment before I realized that this was a