Rhodoreef

12. The Cypod Terra

Dea's eyes bored into the ogi screen as she scrolled the contract document. "This involves a neural chip?"

"Yeah," Muda grunted, slowing down to let her catch up. "I don't know the specifics. You'd have to ask Kelp or Gog about it."

"Oh, what do they do?"

"Gog is a neuroscientist. She comes from Hulang."

"Right." Dea tried to recall what she knew about the nomadic tribe.

"She'll be overseeing the procedure."

Her mind conjured up a picture of Goggly poking around in her skull. The darkness in the corridor stoked her morbid imagination. She shuddered.

"It's minimally invasive," Muda said, observing her reaction. "It's done by a surgery bot."

Her misgivings escalated in tandem with her awe. Maybe I learn more about this from Kelp before I sign this contract. She rolled her eyes when she remembered the slavery clause. That witchy brine pool jerk.

They porpoised on, their slick forms bobbing in and out of the water.

Dea was now back in the main habitat—the unlikely home of a whole deep-sea town by the looks of it. The contract had come through while Muda led her to what she called the "bot room".

"So, what about Kelp?" Dea asked above the splashing of their flukes. "What is he?"

"He's a tech whiz. He's pretty much like the boss's apprentice."

She glanced at the merwoman. "What does your boss do then?"

"He's...quite a few things. A robotics engineer for one—he practically built the land gear."

Before Dea could react, Muda slid open a door and ushered her in.

She blinked against the lights, amplified by glaring whiteness wherever she looked—a disorienting sight after traversing the sunless environs of the deep.

It was a capacious workroom locked in a limbo between the new and old. Sterile white warred with brooding greys amid an archipelago of floor segments that rose above the water. Metal parts and worktables littered the available space, while several merpeople bustled about, adding to the whir of activity.

"This place is far from bleak," Dea murmured. "The most happening I've seen in these depths."

"Well, the deep used to be more happening." The merwoman waved at someone as she paddled further in. "But the ocean is acidifying. And life is getting...less abundant up on the surface. So pollutants filter down instead of food—it's a struggle for creatures living here."

A frown lined her brow as she followed behind.

Kelpern Pasi swam forward to greet them, aquamarine reflecting off his glasses. "Hey there, Callian."

"Hey." Dea attempted a smile despite the weight on her mind.

"She wants to see the newest," Muda told him.

"Sure thing. Follow me."

Dea hastened to match his pace while curious looks bombarded her from all sides. "So, I hear a bot's going to implant a chip?"

"That's right," he said without missing a beat. "Seamless integration. You move it with your mind."

"Wow, a brain-machine interface? We don't have neural chips in Calliathron—unless it's for medical reasons. Certainly not for ogis."

"We actually don't do ogi integration yet either."

Dea slowed to a drift to gauge him. "Oh?"

"I mean, you can even network chips to enable something like telepathy. That's super cool, but it would pose several problems that would need thorough assessment—social implications, privacy issues and hacking concerns. The chips we're using are tiny ones that only allow some basic controls over the Cypod."