2012-08-17 Deep Blue

It was already late on this side of the planet when Zen was relaxing in the cockpit of his ship in high orbit, enjoying the lights of planet earth at night. He's feet were up on the dash, so when the object flashed by visually, it caught his eye, but he didn't get a good reading on his sensors. All he saw was where it landed - just a ways off from that big statue the humans had erected in their city of New York. Well, whatever it was didn't burn up on entry, when makes it curious enough to check. Probably just a decent sized meteor, but one never knows.

Moment's later and Zen is descending at high speed, sitting in the lotus position inside his T-Pod: a membranous sphere pretty much just big enough for him to sit in. No controls or anything else inside. He slows its breakneck pace as he approaches the water, submerges the Pod just deep enough where passing water craft won't bump into it, and then he passes through the wall of it, and swims down into the dark water.

This late at night, only Fathom was in the Hall of Justice. It was her turn on monitor duty and everyone else had finished any business they needed to be in the Hall for during more normal hours. When the alert starts to blare, it's clear that the object was going to make landfall before anyone would be able to intercept it and that it should come down harmlessly in the water. Still, it was large enough to garner some concern and so alerting folks that she was responding, Aspen headed down to the Hall's water access, climbing into one of the Blue crafts she keeps there to speed towards New York at speeds no human-made craft could manage underwater.

"This is Fathom. I'm on-site of the object's projected crash site. Heading out to investigate now." Aspen slips out of the ship and into the liquid embrace of the ocean and swims quickly towards the object.

Wow, the humans are on the ball! Zen thinks to himself. Getting here so quickly. Except, this couldn't be any regular human. She must be one of these 'extra-humans' he's been hearing about, leaving an underwater wake like that. He lucked out that she hadn't spotted his Pod, but he really wanted to make sure the debris wasn't something dangerously unknown to the humans either way. He could remain hidden here and watch, but who knows. Probably best to be up front. It's not like he's on a job, after all. His rich baritone voice projects directly into Aspen's mind, and somehow indicates to her what direction he's speaking to her from - above and to the left, swimming toward the same location, but /much/ more slowly than she. <> He slows his swimming, but doesn't turn a light on yet. Sure, she can probably see him anyway, but why make it easy if she's hostile?

Aspen had started to slow as she got closer, and more still as she picked up... feelings that only more complex life forms exhibited. She turns towards the 'sound' of Zen's voice, moving as easily as if gravity were only a suggestion. She can sense his curiosity and his wariness... but no hostility. "Hello!" She calls out, a communication via sound though somewhat different from talking above.

<> The relief in Zen's 'voice' is palpable, especially considering it's direct delivery to the mind, and if someone happens to be empathically sensitive. He continues to swim down to meet Aspen, about as well as any healthy swimmer, and no faster. He stops to tread water though once they're 50 feet apart or so, though he doesn't back off if approached closer. <> But I could take an educated guess, is probably what he could add to that.

Aspen leans forward a bit, the way she moves in the water not something that most would call anything so awkward as swimming. "Your ship? Are you a mutant? Or an alien?" The questions are asked with some curiosity but no panic or fear. Instead she gives him a flash of a smile. "I'd like the help. Are you alright with the pressure and breathing down here?" They've gotten fairly deep, but the ocean floor is a bit deeper still.

Zen projects obvious relief at this point, and relaxes physically and mentally. Funny enough, there's also humor projecting from him at Aspen's question about alieness. <> The feeling of his smile is sent, and the corners of his eyes show it there too. <> Zen swims forward slowly to close the gap between them and offers his blue hand in greeting. <>   

Perhaps the humor is just infectious, because Aspen grins at him. She's curious, but not really worried. "Well hold on. I'll take us down." He feels the water around him shift and move, and then it's like he's caught in a current. A current that shouldn't be there and certainly shouldn't be headed *down*, deeper into the dark depths. But that's what happens, bringing him to Aspen's side. "Let me know if you start to have any issues." She looks much like any other human, though her clothing (or lack thereof) is different. "Sometimes yes... sometimes no." She comments on the welcoming bit and then there's the start of surprise as she looks over at him. "Yes. I'm sorry, do I know you?"   

Zen's hairless eyebrows arch as they descend steadily downward. He can feel the pressure of all the water above, but being enclosed as he is, he'll be fine until they reach crushing depths. <> He looks a bit sheepish, his mannerisms very human-like. <> She can feel his mind searching for the right words, the way you can see it in someone's facial expression, as the word is on the tip of their tongue. <<Tech or intuition?>> </i> </i> 

"Oh. Oh! Telepathy?" Aspen asks, looking over at him. She hasn't dealt with a lot of telepaths. Sure, Manhunter is one but he doesn't do the mind-talking thing much and so given the darkness and her unfamiliarity she didn't really put together he could hear *her* thoughts. There's a slight jumble of them then, that nervous sort of brain-shuffle when you realize that someone can see it. Like when someone comes into your room and you try to hide the dirty socks you forgot laying about. "I'm Blue." A pause. "Not like, sad. It's err, we're an aquatic race. We can control water. It's what lets us survive at great depths." Their movement slows as they approach the ocean floor where the object sits in a shallow crater, the water having slowed most of its momentum. </i> </i> 

<<Well hey, I'm blue too.>> The sense of Zen grinning is so unmistakable, but it's even weirder, probably since one doesn't have to look at him to know he's grinning. <<And don't worry, I'm not really a 'mind reader'. Stuff... just jumps out sometimes.>> He takes another moment to consider and adds, <<Your people must pretty much be in charge on a planet thats 70 percent- holy cow!>> Zen interrupts himself as they drift closer and the object turns out to be a small cluster of shining green crystal formations. His enthusiasm is not hidden. <<Wow, I can't believe this! I've only heard stories...>> He waves his hand to dismiss his fractured commentary. <<Sorry, sorry. I need to run my sensors on it, first, but there are stories of green crystals like these, all over the galaxy. I'm still assuming they just form naturally somewhere out there. But the /legends/ say all kinds of crazy stuff for where it could have come from. Bits have shown up all over the place. They have a low-grade radiation (shouldn't be dangerous to humans, by my measurements), but it's fascinating to actually see some first hand!>> </i> </i> 

Since he can hear some of her thoughts, the odd laughter-through-water is laced with her amusement. It's a bright, shining thing, like sunlight on water. "Actually, my people are only one of the aquatic races and we've had a policy of staying hidden from the surface world until recently so... Not so much on the in-charge bit." Though some of her people have certainly felt that they should be. As they get closer to the glowing green crystals the water lets Zen go so he's free to move on his own. Aspen does a slow circle around without any sign of actually *swimming*, keeping a respectful distance. There's some relief as he says it shouldn't be dangerous to humans. She moves a little closer. "Huh. I've never heard of them." But then, she's not exactly space-savvy. She reaches out towards one to touch it with a fingertip. "I should probably get it back to the Hall of Justice so they can run scans on it, just to be sure it's safe." </i> </i> 

Zen nods his agreement. He would love to make a souvenir of this crystal, but it's not his property of course. Maybe they'd let him keep a little bit after they study it. It would be great for getting drinks in the right place out there! He holds up his little micro scanner, a tiny extension of his shipboard computer, and checks with Aspen. When she doesn't object, he holds it near the crystal for a few moments until it emits a warbly, underwater bleep, and the scanner's light glows blue again. Zen gives a triumphant fist pump, and looks up at Aspen. <<That's it! It's the same radiation signature. That... is just so cool.>> It's not totally clear how much of Zen's speech patterns are actually so informal, versus whatever linguist gaps Aspen's mind is filling in for him. <<I'd love to know what your Hall of Justice finds out. Is that a ruling body, here on earth? Or maybe a policy enforcement branch? I haven't heard of it, but then, I'm still pretty new here.>> </i> </i> 

Well her brain may be supplying some of the speech, but certainly not the fistpump which causes another ripple of light, bubbly amusement, like champagne for the brain. "I'm part of the Justice League of America. Technically a law-enforcement branch of the United States. There's a number of countries that each have their own ruling body." She makes a lifting motion with both hands, like a conductor might to have the orchestra raise their instruments. The water churns around the object, and despite its weight it starts to rise from the force of the channeled water. "I'm afraid it's a secured facility, but you obviously have some information that our staff would love to talk to you about." </i> </i> 

Zen snap-points, this time. Apparently he's been watching TV. And he's just a little bit high on Aspen's underwater empathic feeding back with his own sensitivity. Bubbles, indeed! <<The JLA? Now /that/ I've heard of. Wow. I am the luckiest Baltoonian in this sector. So you think there's a chance you could get me a meeting with your people?>> Zen drifts up a bit. His natural bouyancy would get him to the surface eventually, but he'd probably appreciate the accelerated version if Aspen's going that way. </i> </i> 

Aspen doesn't ask, as he starts to have to stroke to keep up the water surges around Zen and starts to pull him along with. They're not moving at anything close to the speeds he saw her swim in at, but now they're chaperoning a big chunk of rock or something so that's to be expected. "Oh good! Marketing will be so happy." Aspen teases, grinning over at him. Her head bobs once in a nod. "Sure. Actually, I think keeping them *off* of you might be harder. We have a Martian on the team but he's not real chatty with the folks that would like to ask him a million questions. I'm betting Firestorm will have a pretty strong interest in this too." </i> </i> 

Zen is happy to be pulled along with Aspen's wake, and chuckles in his way about the marketing joke. <<Well, I'm here to help out however I can. From the looks of things, earth can use all the help it can get. But I - wait- >> Of all the questions and topics Zen could get sidetracked on, he zeroes in on this. <<A martian? As in, Mars? Your fourth planet here? No one's living out there. You could probably set something up, but I checked it out on my way by, and it's seriously empty. Are you sure he's from Mars?>> </i> <i should be ok, thank you. To the depth I estimate, at least. I'm just a slow swimmer.></i> <i should be ok, thank you. To the depth I estimate, at least. I'm just a slow swimmer.>

Aspen's head turns to look back at him at the question, her body actually turning to face him though she keeps moving forward because of the current she's created. "Yes. I'm sure. I'm not sure what happened but I think that he's pretty much all that's left of those that lived there." Aspen says, a touch of sadness for that loss, even though she didn't know anyone there or anything about it. "Why don't you come back with me? I'll play chaperone, make sure you don't make off with state secrets or something and we'll get this settled in." She says, nodding to the rock. </i> <i should be ok, thank you. To the depth I estimate, at least. I'm just a slow swimmer.></i> <i should be ok, thank you. To the depth I estimate, at least. I'm just a slow swimmer.>

Zen's own amused mood dampens somewhat at Aspen's explanation. <<Oh, I see. I didn't realize...>> His sense of loss is genuine, and not something he can hide from the empath. He lets a few respectful, silent moments pass before nodding at her suggestion. <<Of course, I'd be happy to. I can't wait to hear what your scientists make of that stuff. I hope it's not just, you know, space freighter waste.>> A glimmer of his old smile again. Once they approach the surface again, he points out his Pod, submerged right where he left it, and climbs inside to follow Aspen the rest of the way home.</i>