Visionary

Chapter 13: Serpents of The Deep

The relatively small silver motorboat maneuvered relatively slowly through the blue waters of The Ocean. It had been about two hours, and the boat was still quite a ways away from the high mountain of Fort Titanium. The rain had let up a bit, and it was only slightly drizzling now. Oliver stood at the controls for the motor, steering the vessel whenever the waves pushed it off course.

"How long do you think it'll be before we get there?" asked Valerie, sitting down next to the Tech Guns with Shadow on her lap.

"Likely a few more hours," replied Oliver, steering the boat back from an unusually large wave. "We should be there by tonight."

"And what'll we do once we get there?"

"Well, we'll sneak inside of Fort Titanium, then we'll get the key, and--"

"No, I meant: how are we going to climb the mountain? It seems steep." Oliver glanced at it.

"Ah, yes it does."

"And?"

"And what?"

"And how are we going to climb a mountain that steep?" Valerie stood up and paced in what little room there was of the boat.

"I'm sure we'll be able to,"Oliver answered. "If we need some rope or a harness or climbing sticks or anything like that I'll likely be able to make a crude version we can use for the climb."

"I guess so," agreed Valerie, sitting back down. She jumped slightly when a flying fish darted out of the water right behind her, flew in an arc over the boat, and landed again in the other side. Shadow stared intently at the spot it had gone under, waiting for it to return.

"Why are there so many flying fish out here?" questioned Valerie.

"You know, I'm not entirely sure," said Oliver. "That is a little strange." A few uneventful minutes passed before Valerie suddenly noticed a quick gleam of silver rise from the water. It rose for only a second, then disappeared below.

"What was that?" she asked.

"What was what?" Oliver glanced at his surroundings before returning to the controls.

"A saw something the water-- a quick gleam of silver."

"Probably just the back of a flying fish."

"Probably." Valerie relaxed again. A couple minutes later she saw it again-- a quick gleam of silver. It was much bigger this time; too big to be a simple flying fish.

"I saw it again," she said. "It looks too big to be a flying fish. Do you think we should be worrying about it?"

"Not really."

At that moment it rose completely out of the water, and Valerie used all of her willpower to keep herself from screaming.

It was a giant, silver serpent. A mechanical silver serpent. It rose from The Ocean, water dripping from it's head, and it seemed to be, according to Valerie's estimate, about fifteen or so feet tall. It's eyes were glowing blue spheres, and another blue-glowing line was built across its face, forming a twisted smile. Valerie figured it must be waterproof-- there was no way it could be functioning properly if it wasn't. Shadow hissed and attempted to hide underneath the pile of tech Guns, but failed. The Serpent's scales gleamed as it waited there, examining the boat. There were words printed on its side: SERPENT #035.

A deep, distorted, mechanical voice sounded from the serpent. It was strangely unsettling.

"Wait a moment while the necessary scan takes place." Valerie, Oliver, and even Shadow simply stood there, dumbfounded. The serpent opened its mouth and produced a yellow scanning light, which swept over the group a few times before it closed its mouth and processed its newly acquired data.