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Chronicles of Ceto Chapter 4 (Secrets in Shadows)

[February 22nd, 61 CC]

Beneath the waves of the great ocean of Ceto, the filtered sunlight danced across the plateaus and the rocks like a web of interwoven light. Red and green seaweed danced in the currents as octopi and sting rays swam along, scattering from the area. The inhabitants of Ceto had once lived in harmony with the primordial underwater world, but as the Aquasharks grew more numerous, the conflict over the precious crystals the world had to offer grew more desperate. The Aquanauts had sent out pleas for assistance from the Unitron agency that had established their colony but no reply had come back. The Aquanauts had even reached out to the one faction on the planet that had yet to take sides, the Hydronauts, but they had never worked with anyone or shared any technology. The Aquanauts seemed to be on their own.

Hydrolator chrome harpoons sailed through the water, narrowly missing the three spinning transparent orange props of the Aquanauts' hardiest vehicle, the Sea Claw. The vehicle was aptly named, from above it resembled a legless crab with a massive utility claw extending from the port of the cockpit where as a slightly more subdued platform balanced it on the right, mounted with a robotic arm and a harpoon launcher. Between the two arms and settled back a few feet was the massive blue dome customary to Aquanaut engineering. Behind the cockpit were two cargo holds with hatches on either side of the craft. The rear of the Sea Claw was dominated by the three props in a triangle configuration, between which was the auxiliary access hatch. The hatch was unique, a black barred frame with infinity glass between the bars... glass the Aquasharks were trying very hard to break with their harpoons.

Coming up behind the Sea Claw was an Aquashark Deep Sea Predator. The long, sleek craft was the fastest the Aquasharks had, but it had been designed as a counterpart to the crystal explorer. Its harpoons weren't making much of an impact on the Sea Claw, at least not yet. Inside the cockpit of the Aquanaut craft, the pilot worked with precision. His eyes studied the holographic display settled in the Sea Claw's blue dome, but beneath the visor of his helmet he wore a custom personal visor. The green lens was covered with extra data, providing him with information beyond the navigation and weapons systems of the Sea Claw. Behind the pilot sat an Aquanaut lieutenant, his raven black hair tied back out of the way with a headband.

"We can't keep taking this assault Vid..." The lieutenant murmured, looking over his commander's shoulder out of the visor. Despite their difference in rank, the two had become quite relaxed with each other. They were often sent on long term deep sea assignments and formalities fell by the wayside when they spent so much time together. The nickname Vid had really stuck when the lieutenant had realized his commander often had videos playing on his custom visor even when harvesting crystals.

"I'm well aware of that Rav... We already ran our aqua sled into them, it didn't slow them down and we're down to our last three harpoons..." Vid muttered, trying to figure out any way out of the crisis at hand. Rav was a shortened version of the lieutenant's full name, Raven, named so for his dark black hair. Raven spun around when he heard a clatter behind him even through his helmet. The cockpit was large in the dome but it narrowed to a short passageway to the rear of the craft between the cargo holds and engines. While the infinity glass in the hatch was a marvelous innovation that could stand any water pressure on the planet, it was still vulnerable to harpoon attack. The Aquashark attack seemed focused between seizing up the props or breaking the glass and their shots were getting better by the moment.

The Sea Claw descended, sailing under several harpoons as it grazed the murky muddy plateau. The sand kicked up around them, scattering into the water, making it harder for the Aquasharks to target them... but not by much. As they continued, a looming darkness dominated the horizon on Rav's left. The lieutenant gazed out of the blue glass, looking at the void beyond.

"Vid, over there... That canyon!" Raven pointed. Vid turned, looking where Raven had pointed. Ceto's unusual sunlight and water quality allowed the light to penetrate far deeper than it ever would have on Earth. By the time the light could penetrate no deeper, the water pressure had gotten so intense that any Aquanaut or Aquashark craft would be crushed... except the Sea Claw... at least on paper. The canyon below them fell into shadow so deep it was a great abyss.

"We've never tested it that deep..." Vid said hesitantly.

"If we stay up here we won't survive either. We have to try. They can't chase us." Rav replied. Vid sighed before he entered the commands.

One of the engines of the Sea Claw shut down quickly, the other engines spinning it in place. When the craft faced the canyon, the port engine came on again and it shot forward. The Predator overshot the Sea Claw, zooming along before taking a wide arc to turn around. That was all the time the Aquanauts needed to drop down into the canyon. Vid and Rav grew very quiet as the Sea Claw dropped below the reaches of the sun and shadow enveloped the ship. The bright yellow hull and crystal blue dome lost their color in the inky abyss, the only light coming from the holographic display before them.

While the two were visually blind, the sensors were able to detect rock outcroppings and larger fish around them. Vid tried to avoid the larger schools of fish while still taking them deeper. The pressure indicator was climbing, but they were still well under the specified limits. A sudden chime came as the computer detected more projectiles as harpoons arched into the canyon after them. The hull echoed as a few harpoons hit.

"What's the sensor limit on the predator?" Rav asked.

"Why?" Vid asked, growing concerned.

"We need to move outside of the range." Rav replied.

"They're right above us, we can't get far enough away." Vid replied.

"You're not thinking three dimensionally..." Rav countered. Vid shook his head.

"No way... Not vertically... We can't dive that deep." Vid gritted his teeth. There was a sudden alarm sounding. One of the cargo bays had been compromised, a slow leak was forming. While it was completely isolated, it was certainly an indicator of how vulnerable they still were. Vid groaned before he input more commands. The Sea Claw continued dropping. Seconds trailed into minutes and slowly the sensors lost track of the Predator above them, unable to detect even the top of the canyon. Vid leveled out as best he could.

Being out of sensor range meant they were extremely beyond visual range, and as such they could afford the luxury of sight once again. Raven moved to the secondary station inside the cockpit and turned on the Sea Claw's lights. While no Aquanaut craft ever went deep enough to need them during the daytime, they were still used for night operations. Two bright lights snapped on from the harpoon launcher on the starboard wing. Four lights shone out from the mechanical claw on the port wing, and several more small lights snapped on along the wide wings of the sensor palate above the engines. While the lights didn't go very far in the murky depths, they went far enough to make the Aquanauts seem less claustrophobic.

"Let's see if we can cross the canyon and come out on the other side. They might expect that, but it'll give us something to do." Vid said, easing the Sea Claw forward. They crept through the darkness for several minutes, moving to hug the starboard cliff face for a point of reference. The pressure was intense, but the hull seemed to be handling it well for the time being. Raven gazed into the darkness, feeling for the first time of his life as if he truly was on another world. Minutes passed by in silence until Raven broke it with a shout.

"Wait, go back, what was that?" Raven asked.

"What was what?!" Vid asked, his heart nearly jumping through his chest in shock.

"Go back, go back." Raven said. Vid sighed, easing the controls back. The Sea Claw reversed slowly. Raven pointed to the cliff face and Vid turned, bringing the craft's lights directly on it... and onto what Raven had seen.

Nestled in a rock outcropping was a single seat submersible resting in a somewhat hidden, completely darkened vehicle bay barely big enough for it. The front of the vehicle was taken up by an octagonal dome just like the sea sprints and crystal crawlers, but the dome was a dark forest green instead of the blue the Aquanauts used. While it was hard to see from their vantage point, it seemed that extending from the back of the craft was an entire engine prop as large as those used by the Sea Claw and Explorers. An engine that size on a single seat sub was insane, but the propeller inside the core was the same dark forest green as the dome, betraying one inescapable fact.

"Hydronauts? Here?" Raven whispered. Vid glared slightly at the sub sitting before them. Aquanauts had never liked Hydronauts and the feeling had been mutual. Both groups had settled Ceto to harvest the abundant crystals, but while Aquanauts excelled in the upper levels of the ocean, the Hydronauts were the only ones with the technology to explore the deepest regions... and they never shared that technology. Even if they had offered, the Aquanauts prided themselves on the aesthetics of their designs. Even Aquashark designs looked better than Hydronaut designs, at least to Vid. He'd once seen a fleeting glance of a Hydronaut Search Sub and it had been so clunky that he could have sworn it was made out of junk. Still, the presence of the small solo sub did offer an answer to their pressing issue.

"We should try and find their base. If we dock we can recharge, maybe repair the cargo bay... At the very least we can refill our air tanks and wait out the Predator." Vid said. He brought the sensors to full power and started looking around for any sort of airlock. There was no way they could leave the Sea Claw at that depth without getting crushed... at least not without a Hydronaut environment suit. Vid and Raven studied the darkness, trying to pick out anything that could be what they sought... and then finally they caught a glimpse of it, a rectangular airlock hub... Perfect for their rear hatch.

"Alright, I'm going to try the auto dock code." Raven said, typing it in. A red access denied screen popped up before him and he cursed. "Secretive bastards..." Raven sighed.

"Try the Unitron automatic override. It should be on file." Vid suggested. Raven typed it in. There was a delay and then a green access granted logo appeared. The Sea Claw's computer linked with the Hydronaut system and vector coordinates were calculated. Two bright orange lights at the rear of the Sea Claw snapped on as it turned to face away from the rock face and backed up slowly, foot by foot until it nestled into the airlock hub. The sub shuddered as docking clamps latched onto the hull above and below the lower engines, securing it in place.

Raven turned, watching as the airlock outside the Sea Claw opened and then their own hatch lifted up and out of the way. Water that had been trapped inside the airlock ran down over the sides of the black and glass hatch, raining down in streams to land on the metal grating floor below. Raven grinned, turning back to Vid. Vid had already used the Unitron code to upload the Sea Claw's interface schematics and to initiate a refill of air and a recharge of power. It would take a little while since the two systems weren't designed to connect, but there was a positive seal and air was already flowing in.

"What do you say we have a little look around?" Vid asked gently, rising to his feet and stretching. It seemed like he'd been sitting for hours.

"What if they get mad? They don't exactly like us... Maybe we should just get the power and air and wait it out." Raven hesitated.

"Well, you can stay if you want but I'm not going to miss this chance. No Aquanaut has ever been inside a Hydronaut base." Vid smirked. He squeezed past Raven and moved out of the Sea Claw and into the hidden cave base. Raven hesitated, debating his options before he sprung to his feet.

"Wait for me!" he called out quickly.

****

Vid and Raven moved slowly through the Hydronaut base, taking in every sight and sound. The ceilings were low, the colors were bleak... The interior was almost entirely blue and black, and with the lights dimmed as much as they were it seemed even less welcoming. Raven couldn't help but wonder whether the lights were on power saving mode or if it was always that dim. As they continued along, the first true source of light came from an aquarium like strip along the wall. Vid and Raven moved over to see what was inside the tank.

The bottom of the tank was lined with Ceto's typical blue bedrock, out of which crystals of alternating color had been set. Most of the crystals were the chrome colored hydrolator crystals, living metal as the Aquanauts called it... They had the added benefit of releasing massive amounts of oxygen and energy when processed. The other crystals, however, were far more rare. Just left of the center crystal was a transparent red crystal. In recent months it had come to be known as hell rock because when exposed to the right catalyst it heated up to temperature so extreme that the water around it boiled. Just to the right of center was a transparent forest green crystal. Some of the thickest groves of plant life had been found around such crystals... but next to both ends were transparent yellow crystals, practically neon green.

"I've never seen that color before..." Raven said softly, putting his hand up on the glass in front of one of the unusual crystals. Vid, however, had a high enough security clearance to know the neon green crystals were forbidden and were to be destroyed on sight. The fact that the Hydronauts had some was incredibly disconcerting.

"Come on; let's see if we can find any food." Vid said, advancing forward. Raven followed after him, not wanting to get too far. When they reached another interior bulkhead, they knew they had reached the protected habitat ring. Vid opened up the airlock and stepped in and Raven followed after. With the outer door shut, they were guaranteed plenty of air to breath. Vid moved to open one of the lockers in the airlock to hang up his helmet. He opened the door up and saw that one of the slots was occupied with a Hydronaut Deep Dive suit.

In many ways the Aquanauts still had a connection to their roots as sailors. Their wetsuits were royal blue with white trim and black sleeves with zippers and buckles and belts, the yellow submarine logo over their right breast. Their white helmets were very utilitarian with a propeller fan built into the back and holders for tools behind their arms. Every suit had a short antenna coming off of the back of the head piece.

In contrast, the Hydronaut suit seemed to be of a very different breed. The dark blue wet suit hanging on the hanger was made of a special polymer and was reinforced with metallic plates. Dials, controls and various apparatus controller suit pressure far beyond any Aquanaut technology. The belt and gloves were black as well; the colors of the suit very likely to blend into the dark depths... but the most distinct aspect of all had to be the helmets. In some ways it was very similar to the Aquanaut helmets. It was a solid design that covered the head, back and chest. It maintained the breathing of the diver... but there the similarities ended.

The helmet itself seemed to be a hydrolator alloy, appearing as if it had been forged out of blue chrome. The visor piece was clear in the face plate but the frame holding the plate was a transparent neon green, the only spot of color the Hydronauts likely had. The helmet lacked any antenna and did not have a propeller unit. Instead, two utility ports sat side by side at the back of the head, looking as if they were designed to mount some tool or light rig. Vid and Raven looked at the unique suits for a long moment. It was unlike anything they had seen before... so similar and yet so different. It was uncanny.

Raven was just about to move on before he noticed something else in the locker, a face mask. The central piece was silver, designed to fit over the mouth and nose and reached all the way up to the forehead. The chrome blue and silver components covered the forehead, the cheeks and the jaw line. The only part of the face it didn't cover were the eyes and upper cheek bones, no doubt making a rather intimidating appearance... but Raven looked at the mouth cover and realized it was a breathing apparatus, one that could incorporate helium into the breathing mix for extreme depths. It was a very necessary adaptation to working deeper than humans were designed to handle.

"We should keep moving." Vid said after a moment. They reached up and pulled off their helmets, setting them on the spare shelves in the locker. Vid's copper colored hair was buzzed short to keep it out of his face where as Raven's black hair was shaggy. Unencumbered by the weight of their helmets, they were able to move a lot more freely. They opened the inner airlock and moved into the habitat zone. They emerged into what could have been considered the 'living room' of sorts. There was a recessed area to their right with couches and a large screen. There was a galley with a kitchen island ahead of them and a work space off to the right, beyond which doors led in different directions. While the room would have been better lit, the lights were flickering a bit.

"I am really starting to miss home." Raven said softly. The whole thing was starting to creep him out. The base seemed empty, abandoned. The lights were dim or broken, the bay lights were off. No one seemed to be at home. Still led by his curiosity, Vid continued on. He moved over to the galley and opened the fridge, finding food rations. He closed the door and moved on, checking drawers. Dried rations, utensils, stim packs, med kits. Vid left the galley and walked into the work space. He passed by the computers and moved to the drawers in there, opening them one by one before he paused, tilting his head. He reached in and withdrew a wrench.

"You going to fix something?" Raven joked.

"This is our wrench..." Vid said after a moment. Raven chuckled.

"Did you inscribe your name on it?" He asked. Vid flipped the wrench over, showing that on the other side it was engraved with an Aquanaut logo. Rav cringed, "Oh, it is ours." He said. Vid looked back at the drawer and started digging. Each pass led him to dig more vigorously. Knives, spades, laser tools, underwater flashlights... all with the same logo.

"Those bastards have been stealing our stuff! Every time an Aquanaut dropped something too deep to retrieve, they just scoop it up and use it themselves." Vid growled.

"Better than it being wasted, right?" Raven asked, hesitating, "I mean... someone got to us it, right?" Rav asked. Vid turned.

"Go get the push cart. We're going to take this stuff back to the Sea Claw." Vid said. Raven sighed.

"Do I have to?" Raven asked. Vid's eyebrows lowered. Raven groaned, throwing up his hands, "Fine, I'll go get the push cart. If they find you and yell at you I won't have to be around." Raven muttered. He turned and walked out the way he had come, entering the airlock. He shut the inner door and moved out the outer door without his helmet, sealing it behind him.

Raven made a lot better time returning to the airlock without his helmet between the decreased weight and knowing where he was going. He passed the crystal aquarium and moved through the dim hallways, turning and twisting just as he had before, finally emerging in the long hallway... but as he approached the airlock at the end of the hall, he realized it was shut. He could have sworn they left it open. Raven moved closer, wondering if it was a security feature to automatically close the doors, but as he reached the airlock he realized the inky blackness wasn't the shut airlock or even the inside of the Sea Claw, it was the canyon outside.

"Oh no... No..." Raven whispered, his heart skipping a beat. He moved over to the side of the airlock and opened the computer interface, checking the sensors. The base sensors detected an object sinking into the canyon slowly. There was a bright flash as an implosion was detected, then a much smaller one... and then finally the biggest implosion of all. Two cargo bays and a cockpit... It was the Sea Claw. The sensors eventually lost track of the debris as it sunk to the bottom.

Minutes passed as Raven stood there, trying to figure out what had happened. They had followed the protocol perfectly... The docking clamps were secure, the ship was feeding off of the base's power and air, the airlocks were air tight. He didn't understand it... but standing there wasn't going to save them. With luck they could find a way to the solo sub they had seen earlier, 'borrow it' as a way to get away from the base... Raven didn't envy the task ahead.

Slowly the Aquanaut turned to make his way back to the habitat zone, walking along the metal grated floor. His footsteps echoed through the hall around him, like a constant companion. When Raven finally reached the airlock and came to a stop, there was one extra echo... the sound of a footstep, as if someone had been walking in time with his own foot steps the entire way back. Raven slowly turned around.

"Vid? Is that you? I've... I've got some bad news to tell you." Raven called out into the dark. He heard a footstep around the corner. Maybe Vid hadn't heard him. Raven moved back a few feet and around the corner, "Vid?" He asked, looking into the darkness. For moments there was nothing but stillness, but then two webbed hands moved out of the shadow and grabbed Raven by the neck. Raven let out a shout of shock as he was pulled into the darkness... then there was only silence.

****

While Vid's curiosity had started with the stolen Aquanaut tools, it had mounted in a general desire to understand the Hydronauts completely. They had been a mystery for sixty years, no Aquanaut had ever had a chance to interact with them... and here he was, in their base... It hadn't been long after Raven left the habitant core that Vid had settled himself at the computers. To Vid's surprise, this time it had been the Unitron codes that were rejected and the Aquanaut codes that were accepted. In either case, it seemed like the very foundation of their systems had not been changed in some time.

It took Vid a while to dig through the layers. At first the information he dug up was fairly routine. Thousands and thousands of pages of harvesting logs, sea floor charts and inventory of what items they had created for themselves out of the hydrolator crystals... but as Vid flipped through the pages, he came across something he had never expected to see... a communication log. Vid leaned back in the chair in utter disbelief.

The Unitron forces had helped seed colonists on Ceto and came back every six months to drop supplies and pick up the hydrolator crystals. It was a predictable schedule and the Aquanauts stuck to it, they were never late... but the Unitron agency had gone quiet years back. Calling out for help against the Aquasharks hadn't been the only time they had tried to contact anyone off planet, it had only been the most recent. The Hydronauts, however, had been in regular contact with someone off world.

Vid began pouring through the logs, checking frequencies and coordinates but none of it made any sense to him. He had never studied exotech. Vid took a deep breath before he decided to check through the computer's memory, looking for any fragmented files related to communication. It took a few minutes but Vid found what he was looking for. He brought up the system's defragmenter, flagged the fragments as needing to be restored and set it to work. Slowly some of the video frames began recompiling. The first five seemed to be from the same source, looking at first glance like another Hydronaut... but the last frame was different. There was red in the image.

"What the hell?" Vid whispered to himself, moving to bring that frame up. Pixel by pixel the image cleared, revealing a man in a suit... but it wasn't a wetsuit, it was a space suit... and it wasn't a Unitron uniform either. The Aquanauts had inherited some of their color palate from Unitron, namely their love of yellow and transparent blue... But the image wasn't even close. A red helmet, a neon yellow visor, a blue and black space suit and red gloves. Vid's mind reeled for the information before a single word popped up.

"Spyrius... Spyrius..." Vid repeated, his heart skipping a beat before he shook his head in disbelief. The Hydronauts were working with the enemies of Unitron, with the enemies of them all... Vid started frantically checking the logs, comparing the frame he found to the messages. He found congruencies dating back months, even years... clustered around the six month mark. Vid's hands froze on the keyboard. Six months... the exchange... Unitron had gone silent but the shipments still came. Spyrius had taken over the exchange, Ceto was providing hydrolator crystals to the enemy... fueling the war.

Vid sprung up to his feet. He had to get back to the Sea Claw, he had to find Raven, they had to get out of the base and get the truth back to the Aquanauts. Vid moved to the airlock door and tried to push through it but the door didn't budge. Vid tried the handle again, then a third time. Still, nothing. His eyes scanned the door frame before realizing the panel was dead, locked out. Vid looked around before he moved to one of the other doors. Thankfully it opened on the first try, but it led off into a different section of the base. Vid was going to have to figure out a way around.

****

Raven screamed into the hand covering his mouth, flailing his legs and arms, trying to knock himself free of his captors as he was carried... but even if he got free of their arms, he had still been tied up with pneumatic tubing. What scared Raven the most was not that he had been kidnapped, that the Sea Claw had been destroyed or that he didn't know what fate awaited him... it was that he didn't even understand what his captors were. The hand over his mouth was webbed, flesh but also leathery at the same time. It wasn't a glove, it was something real.

As he was carried, Raven only got glimpses of where they were. While all the floors in the base were metal grating, the machinery beneath the floor had become sparser until there was nothing below the panels but open air. They seemed to be on a catwalk of some sort above something... but wherever they were going had a dull green glow. Raven shifted his tactics, trying to see past his captors. It was hard; they were clustered around him to carry him. Still, Rav got bits and pieces.

They had entered some sort of research lab. The far two walls were glass lined, beyond which vast aquarium like tanks held sea water, seaweed and some sort of plants. The dull turquoise green glow came from the tanks, simulated sunlight filtering through the water and out into the lab proper. At first Rav thought he was seeing shadows in the water, but then he realized they were stingrays, Ceto stingrays floating gracefully along.

The three carrying Raven came to a stop at an intersection were part of the catwalk extended over a large tank. Rav was unceremoniously set down, his legs and arms still bound with tubing. On his feet, the Aquanaut could see the bay entirely. It was huge, as big as a lower level of the Aqaudome. There had to be hundreds of Stingrays around him, though in the tank below there was only one... Swimming around, circling. The light in the tank was a different color from all the others, it seemed to almost sparkle a neon green color... Part of it was particles in the water, but as Raven gazed down he realized the unusual crystals from the wall display were in the tank below.

"What is this? What are you trying to do?" Raven asked, trying to look over his shoulder, but one of his captors grabbed his head and forced it foreword again. Rav grunted, trying to resist... at least until he felt a knife blade at his neck. The Aquanaut inhaled gently before holding very still. He felt the knife harmlessly trace his spine before it began cutting into his wetsuit. Body temperature water gushed out from where it had been trapped. Rav shivered, feeling violated as the wetsuit was split down the back and then unceremoniously pulled down. His bare shoulders were exposed to the cold air, his skin pale and his muscles fairly defined. The wetsuit bunched up around his ankles, leaving him only in a pair of turquoise undergarments.

Webbed hands slipped under the waistband of his underwear, pulling them away from his ass cheeks. Rav bit his lip as he heard those cut as well, the fabric snapping before it was discarded to the catwalk beneath them. The Aquanaut stood on the platform, naked and cold, glad that his captors were behind him at least... though he didn't like where this was going, not one bit. He looked down at the Stingray below him, wondering if they had trained it to be man eating and he was its next meal... But he wasn't going to give them the chance.

Raven tried to spin around quickly to face them and received a fist to the face and chest as punishment. Raven's air was knocked out of his lungs, but worse, he had been knocked off his feet. Raven fell backwards, missing the edge of the platform before he plunged into the tank of water. Bubbles of displaced air rushed up his naked body, tickling his skin. The water was bitterly cold, just as ocean water was. The drop from the catwalk had sent him hurtling down almost fifteen feet, enough inertia to take him to the bottom of the tank.

Without any air, Raven's body followed its natural impulse and tried to draw some in, only to get a throat full of sea water instead. Raven struggled as the stinging spread through his sinuses and down his throat. The rush of adrenaline was enough to overwhelm his autonomic system for a moment, enough for him to try and swim toward the surface, but as he ascended, the stingray bumped into him. The impact was fairly soft but it knocked Raven back down. He impacted the artificial seafloor, landing between a cluster of crystals. Again his body tried to draw in water, the stinging more intense than before, filling his lungs.

Lying at the bottom of the tank, Raven began to wonder if he had finally come to the end of his life. Hypothermia was starting to set in, the numbness making it harder to move. As a consolation the stinging in his body went away. He tried to hold his breath, but soon his chest rose and fell, pulling sea water in and expelling the last bubbles of air until there was nothing but water in his system.

Raven had always heard the legend... the legend for drowning sailors, that the last moments would be euphoric, that they would see the light and be carried by Neptune to the next world... He could see the top of the tank, distorted, nothing but a dancing web of light, the water almost a perfect mirror reflecting back at him. A soft smile crossed Raven's face, his black hair swaying around in the water around his head... But as the moments passed, Rav realized something strange. He was still alive.

At first Rav wondered if he was just hallucinating as he drowned, or that it seemed like time was moving faster because he was about to die... But he knew he should be dead, something wasn't right... and with that realization, a great pain swept through Raven. His back arched, his muscles seized and he started to spasm in the water, thrashing about. Sensing the movement, the stingray swam down and glided across Rav, the leathery underbelly sliding against the human's naked flesh.

Amid the pain ripping through his body, Raven's fingers clenched tight together, then apart, though every time they spread, it was a little more difficult. The reason why came in the form of a membrane spreading out between his fingers. While each digit was specific and clear, the membrane spread three quarters of the way up his fingers, hardening and becoming leathery. As the membranes took shape, each thrash seemed to tug on the water more, as if his hands were made for swimming. As odd and strange as the change in his hands had been, it was nothing compared to the pain sweeping through his head.

It felt at first as if all the cold in the entire tank had settled just in Raven's ears, the water on the rest of his body feeling luke warm... but his ears, they truly stung. The reason why became clear as the cartilage began extending from the upper slope and the bottom slope, pushing out into separate points. His ear canal seemed to close in before a third rib of cartilage spread through the center of his ears, creating a three pronged mass. The flesh between the ribs spread out in a membrane, turning his former ears into pointed flaps.

Rav's muscles shifted, new ones forming, giving him a bit of control over his modified ears. They tilted forward and back, but as they moved away from his skull, they revealed an entirely new formation just behind. The flesh behind his ears had split and shifted, forming what appeared to be a highly compact, highly organized set of gills. They pulsed as the water moved through them, extracting the oxygen from the sea water. As the pain of the changes died away and Raven felt the water flowing through the new organ, everything started to make sense... at least until pain wracked his body again.

The Aquanaut's toes cramped, his feet arched... and then his toes began to elongate. The digits expanded, the same membrane spreading out between the toes. Soon his feet were longer and sleeker but capable of expanding to quite a wide surface mass. It wasn't quite as long as a flipper, but it could move just as much water as one. Still, even with the pain, Raven no longer felt like he was drowning... but he was changing.

Using his new webbed hands and feet, Rav flipped himself over until he was on all fours at the base of the tank. His ear fins flapped just a bit, directing water through his gills to provide a steady flow of oxygen to his blood. Raven had changed positions hoping to get his bearings, but that wasn't happening. Blood rushed to his groin, his manhood hardening and stretching before him. Raven had never been all that small, but soon his shaft was extending more. Inch by inch, it swelled until it was eleven inches... but it wasn't stopping there. The head of his cock throbbed and stretched into an animal looking point.

The wave of pleasure was intense, so much that some of Rav's milky cum leaked into the water without him even touching himself. The pleasure had been intense, but as quickly as it had come on, a new and painful feeling was flooding Rav's body. Soon his entire face stung once more, far worse than before. His eyes clenched shut, feeling as if there was something crawling around inside. There wasn't, but his eyes were reshaping, rebuilding themselves. When Rav's eyes opened again, they were a solid blood red in color. The world around him seemed so much more vivid, more detailed... and a hell of a lot brighter.

A grin crossed Raven's face despite the pain. For the first time he was starting to think this was making him better... Better suited to Ceto, stronger, more amazing. He grinned, feeling his muscles radiate warmth and power. Yes, this WAS good. Raven grinned wider before he felt a faint twinge on either side of his mouth. The flesh split a little, though there was no blood or damage at all. Small seams spread out from his lips to where two smaller holes had formed. It was fairly different cosmetically to the mouths of humans, but it was quite close to the mouths that stingrays possessed.

Raven moved his head one way and then the other. His black hair still swayed around his head, though it seemed thicker, heavier and stronger, almost more fibrous. It settled a little more than human hair did, falling around his head once more. Raven shifted, breathing the water deeper, feeling more and more comfortable, but something was still off... and then he felt it, the change setting in again. This time Raven didn't brace himself against the change, he embraced it, he welcomed it... and that acceptance brought little pain and great sweeping waves of pleasure.

The sensations started at his shoulders first. The muscles began to expand, but not particularly because of their own growth but rather the growth of the bones beneath. While his waist remained the same, his shoulders spread out, making him look fairly built... but just as his shoulders settled, his ass began to part, making room for his spine to begin extending past his pelvis by way of his tailbone. The flesh warped and flexed as it grew in, the bone graduating gradually to cartilage only. Small bumps formed, pushing into triangular spines along the length of the tail before the tip flared out into a spade like shape, resolving itself slowly into a stinger.

Raven pushed off the bottom a little, using his webbed hands and feet to maneuver, trying to figure out how to use his tail. It whipped around uncoordinated at first before he got better control of it. Before long he was actually using it to help him maneuver. The former Aquanaut began grinning wider and wider with his stingray mouth, feeling exhilarated by the changes. It was the best thing he had ever felt in his life... He had to share this, he had to make sure Vid felt this. He looked up at the surface of the water before he slowly ascended. This time the Stingray let him pass undaunted.

The water rippled before Raven emerged, his head bobbing to the surface. He felt tight in the chest as the excess water was pushed out of his gills and he took his first breath of air again. His red eyes blinked and adjusted before he saw three more figures just like him standing on the catwalk, wearing torn Hydronaut wetsuits. Raven gazed into their eyes, he took in the slight movements of their ear fins and he simply knew these were his friends. They meant him no harm... and they would help him bring Vid into the fold.

****

Vid felt like he had been wandering for an hour, trying to make his way through the Hydronaut base. He'd found private quarters, the infirmary... nothing looked like it had been touched in weeks. For all he knew, that was standard operating procedure. In fact, Vid hoped it was. If he had his way, he and Raven would be out of there before the Hydronauts ever returned. After wandering around the habitat core for some time, Vid finally reached another airlock leading out to the outer areas. At last he was making progress.

Vid opened the lockers to check for a suit, it was protocol, but the lockers were all empty. The Aquanaut swore to himself never to leave his helmet behind again after this. Still, there was little to do but move forward. He checked the atmospheric readings for the other side. It was pressured, room temperature and there was air. That would have to be good enough. The door eased open and Vid looked out at the massive bay. It had to be the main hanger for the Hydronaut vehicles. He stepped forward without looking where he was going, his feet plunging into ankle deep water.

"Of course the computer didn't tell me about that..." Vid muttered, taking a breath to calm himself before he advanced. The floor sloped down in front of the door and soon Vid was waist deep, wading along. His eyes scanned the large room, taking in the surroundings once more. Several of the Solo subs lined the back wall, looking just as over powered in air as they did in water. Truck like vehicles sat at the four corners of the bay with two large black engine props in back, heavy duty lights, thick tire treads and green angled domes at the front.

The center of the bay was filled by the sub Vid had seen in his youth. It seemed that every Hydronaut vehicle utilized the angled forest green dome for the cockpit, but the main sub had two canopies extending to the sides and an even larger dome in back. It seemed as long as a Crystal Explorer and as tough as a Sea Claw... but every ship had its own place, its own spot. There weren't any obvious spots a ship should be. If they weren't missing, where were they?

Vid continued exploring the bay, tempted to take a vehicle and just leave... but he still had to find Raven, he couldn't leave him behind. Spotting another hatch closer to the bay doors, Vid started advancing towards it... at least until he spotted a work area. Scrap metal had been laid out above the water level, being fashioned into a variety of equipment. The most impressive, however, was a small vehicle. It was similar to the Sea Claw's aqua sled; single seat, one engine and mounts for tools, but the front was very different.

The Aquanaut made his way around the craft, studying the half-saucer mantle at the front. The gunmetal gray material had something painted on it. Vid wasn't sure what it was at first until he was standing directly before it. Four white fangs, angry white eyes, red strips around the eyes and a crest going off either side... It seemed to be a stylized stingray, intended to intimidate any of those that say it.

"Why would they need anything like this?" Vid murmured. He pondered it for a long moment, unaware that something was moving through the water behind him, swimming ever closer. It moved through the water like shadows, silently, barely sending out any waves or distortions... and then it grabbed Vid. Vid grabbed onto the vehicle before him as the figure tugged and pulled at him. Vid struggled, kicking backwards, trying to keep from being pulled down but his fingers slipped and he plunged into the water.

With nothing to keep him in place, Vid was dragged through the water quickly. Vid tried swimming upwards, his head emerging just long enough to get a huge breath of air before he was back underwater. His eyes tried to adjust to the water, everything seeming a bit blurry. By the time he realized his captor was headed for a hole in the floor, it was too late. They dropped down into the tube, moving through the layers of the base itself. Vid grabbed at the walls of the tube but his fingers slid against the smooth interior.

Seconds passed before a bulkhead slammed shut above Vid, then another on the other side of the captor. There was stillness, then the tube itself opened up. The water gushed out and Vid was dropped onto a hard floor. He coughed and panted, able to breath again, but soon he was lifted again. Vid kicked one of them square in the chest, knocking them back, but another picked his legs up right where he had been. Vid was slammed down onto some sort of table before metal restraints were clicked into place over his wrists and ankles.

"You won't get away with this, you Hydronauts are madmen!" Vid screamed out as one of them reached to pull the sunglasses from his face, revealing his brilliant green eyes.

"But we aren't Hydronauts... not anymore." A strange, unearthly voice responded. Vid felt a chill run down his spine before he lifted his head, looking into the darkness of the room. Gazing back at him from the shadows were deep, solid red eyes. The figure stepped into the light, his strange teal hair and eyebrows visible. Instead of ears he had teal ear fins that reminded Vid of the mermaid tales... but the being's mouth was far more terrifying.

"What are you?" Vid whispered.

"We... are a part of Ceto... We are the Stingrays." The man replied. Vid looked around the room, trying to see his co-conspirators. They all seemed to have their backs turned, getting something ready. Vid looked back at the man that had spoken.

"Were you always here?" Vid asked.

"Oh no... It's rather funny how history repeats itself. It was an Aquanaut who discovered the mimetic crystal first... and became the first Aquashark. It was a stunning leap of evolution, one the Hydronauts couldn't ignore. Of all the cells, we were chosen to test it... and so we did. Oh, you can't imagine how wonderful it felt to embrace this new ability, this new way of being. At least not yet." The man smiled.

"What do you mean... not yet?" Vid asked.

"All who dwell on Ceto will become part of it in time. Raven?" The man asked. One of the figures turned and moved forward. Vid looked over and gasped softly. While the figure had the red eyes, strange mouth and ear fins of the Stingrays, the long black hair, the elfin cheek bones... It was Rav. Vid shivered.

"What did you do to him? Turn him back! He didn't want to be like this!" Vid demanded. The leader turned, looking at Raven, giving him a nod. Raven grinned gently before he moved forward and leaned down, putting his lips to Vid's. Vid grunted in surprise as a tongue invaded his mouth, even more that it felt like Raven's strange mouth was kissing either side of his chin as well. Vid's resolve faltered, he returned the kiss for a long moment before he got a grip of himself. He gave a soft warning bite to Raven's tongue. Raven pulled his tongue back and broke the kiss, looking hurt that he had been rejected before he went back to his work, his shoulders slumped. The blue haired stingray only chuckled.

"See, he's very happy to be one of us... As you will be." The leader smiled. Vid glared, his lips curling in disdain. Vid tugged on the restraints as hard as he could, trying to get free. The leader smirked and turned, moving over to what the other Stingrays had been working on so diligently. As they dispersed, Vid was able to see that it seemed to be a transparent vat of neon green slime, sparkling quite brightly in the light.

"What is that?" Vid murmured, his eyes wide.

"This... is why Ceto is a perfect planet... It has every kind of crystal you would ever need to bioform inhospitable worlds, but it also has exactly what we need to bioform humans to be suitable for them. This mimetic gel has been carefully prepared to welcome more people into our group... People like you. Raven, Anno, prepare the human." The leader said.

"Yes Jyto." The two stingrays said as they moved over and each picked up knives, cutting into Vid's wetsuit. The rubbery material split out, warm water leaking from inside.

Vid winced as one of the blades grazed his skin, though it wasn't enough to break it. Raven leaned down and sucked on the spot, as if kissing it to make it better. Vid shivered, goose bumps rising on his arms. He felt so humiliated. The blue haired leader watched as Vid's muscled body was revealed. His left shoulder was emblazoned with a silver tattoo of the very recognizable hydrolator crystal, one more tradition of sailors carried on from years passed. Vid's breathing increased a bit as the webbed hands began to slide over his chest, cupping his pectorals and sweeping over his nipples.

"You're not going to accomplish anything here but making another mindless drone..." Vid replied, glaring at the blue haired leader, but rather than another retort from him, it was Raven that lifted his head, his red eyes gazing into Vid's.

"We aren't mindless Vid, we're dedicated. We're getting to do the true work of the planet... and we don't have to have any convention, any restraint... We'll be true to ourselves. Do you have any idea how long I've wanted to tell you that I love you? That we should be together?" Raven asked.

"But Raven, you were straight..." Vid whispered. Raven smirked and shook his head.

"No, you were... but you won't be for much longer. You're going to have a much broader understanding of how nature works... and then you can be true to yourself and to me." Raven whispered, leaning down. His compound mouth began to kiss and suck at Vid's neck. Vid hissed in both pain and pleasure as blood rushed to the surface of his skin, being marked by his former friend. Anno cut the wetsuit down to Vid's groin, cutting his undergarments as well before peeling the material back. Raven turned, gazing down at Vid's lap as it was revealed. His manhood was half hard, a chrome ring glistening from the end of the Aquanaut's shaft. Raven grinned, moving to nuzzle his friend's ear, "See? You 'were' straight." He smirked.

Vid said nothing but tried to fight the restraints again. They were firm and hard, the metal not even absorbing the heat of his body. It had to be some strange Hydronaut alloy. If it was able to stand up to the incredible depths of Ceto, it probably resist any human tugging on it. Anno and Raven finished peeling the suit back, getting it off of his body. Small scraps were left around his wrists and ankles where he was restrained, but otherwise he was completely naked. Raven moved to trail his hand down along Vid's smooth chest, across his stomach and to his groin. Vid looked up, begging his friend not to continue but Raven curled his webbed hand around Vid's shaft and started to gently stroke.

Vid grunted, trying not to get a rise out of it. He closed his eyes, clenched them tight... but still he could feel his cock hardening against his will. There was something so intoxicating about the idea of letting Raven have his way, stroking him off more and more. Vid grunted more, trying not to think of that, filling his head with math and equations. Jyto smirked gently and shook his head before he dipped his hand into the gel. The green slime felt faintly gritty, but that was from the ground up crystal in it. It wouldn't do anything more than exfoliate, but the particles still maintained their mimetic radiation.

With Vid so distracted by Raven's movements, Jyto moved to Vid's side and began to spread the green slime over his hand. It clung to his skin and soaked into it. Vid's eyes snapped open as he felt it touch his skin, looking down. Jyto spread it across his hand, massaging it in. Vid let out a yelp as he felt his hand throb. His fingernails turned black and flesh began to spread out between his fingers, a thin membrane at first but it soon thickened, growing leathery. Jyto stepped away and moved around the table. Vid was left gazing at his left hand and how alien it looked before he gasped, realizing Jyto was doing the same to his other hand. He turned and watched the humanity leave that as well, unable to get free.

Jyto nodded to Anno and his second in command moved to go gather more of the gel himself before returning. He stood at the food of the bed and let the slime drizzle onto the Aquanaut's feet. Vid cringed, his back arching as his toes throbbed and ached. His toes began growing longer and narrower, honing into points as webbing spread up between the digits. Anno massaged the slime all over them. The crystal grit scrubbed off dead skin, leaving the skin beneath feeling fresher, healthier and oddly tougher, sort of like rubbery leather. Vid watched in horror as his feet extended into short flippers, but Anno wasn't stopping there. He worked up Vid's legs, scrubbing as he went. The skin was left smooth and supple, tingling as the muscles beneath hardened and swelled, giving his legs definition they had never had before.

"Raven... Rav, please, don't... do this..." Vid panted, begging his friend. Raven turned, looking into the eyes of his friend for a long moment before he felt Jyto at his side. The blue haired leader held out a handful of the gel. Raven looked down at Vid softly before he smiled. Vid hoped for the smallest moment that he had made it through to Raven, but his heart fell as Raven took the gel and reached down. Vid gasped as he felt it spread over his shaft and balls. His heart beat faster, he gasped, his cock tingling and throbbing. His sack relaxed, his balls dropping lower before they expanded, but that was nothing compared to his cock.

Raven's hand clasped Vid's goo covered cock and started to slide it up and down. It sounded so wet and sloppy, the sounds alone made Vid harder, but the tingling spreading through his rod was making his head swim in pleasure. Every time Raven drew his hand up, Vid's cock expanded just a bit, but the head was growing faster than anything, developing into a point, the chrome ring still held aloft. Raven moved his hand faster and faster, eagerly watching as Vid's shaft reached a foot in length, so long and delicious.

Jyto had given the two that moment, but they had more work to do. The tank of gel had been wheeled over and the other three stingrays started gathering it up in their hands, drizzling it onto Vid and massaging it across him. They scrubbed his chest and stomach with it, his muscles refining further. His arms expanded as they glistened with green, the fingers working through it all. Jyto took great pleasure in massaging the gel into Vid's ears. Vid grunted and hissed as his ears throbbed, turning from round lobes into long spiny fins. As the gel soaked into the flesh, it took on a slight silver hue that glinted like metal in the light.

Deciding that his cock had transformed suitably, Raven moved to lean down, nuzzling his face against Vid's shaft. Vid moaned and bucked, feeling so conflicted. He was trying in vain to hold onto some shreds of his humanity and his heterosexuality, but it was all failing. Raven's lips parted and he moved down, sucking and slurping on the shaft, taking it deep. It wasn't long until Vid's cock head was teasing the back of Rav's throat... but that was far from the most exhilarating sensation.

Vid had been terrified of the modified stingray mouth his captors had, but the side slits seemed to have quite a bit of dexterity and purpose as Raven suddenly drew his balls up and soon they were engulfed along with his cock. Raven sucked with sudden intensity, his head bobbing, his tongue whipping around between the cock and the balls, moving them all around. Vid thrashed on the bed, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. He was so much more sensitive than he had been. He could almost feel every taste bud grazing him, it was intense. Vid's restraint melted away and soon he was fully immersed in the pleasure.

Anno looked up at Jyto and Jyto nodded. They both cupped some gel in their hands and moved to hold it up on the side of Vid's head, the slime soaking behind his ears. Vid grunted sharply, feeling so good at his groin and so bad as a stinging spread into his head and down his neck. Soon even his sinuses stung. The flesh softened beneath their hands as gills formed behind the ear fins, new air passages forming to connect to the rest of his repertory system. Surprisingly, where the gel had soaked his bright red hair, the pigment had shifted, staining his hair green.

"Very nice... Benna, help our friend out." Jyto murmured before nodding to the last stingray. Benna collected two handfuls of the gel and moved to start massaging it into Vid's hair. The gel stained the hair instantly, turning the red green as he worked it in. The hair grew thicker and stronger, but more than that, small bumps formed beneath the hair along his skull, growing more pronounced towards his neck, working into the spiked ridge that the Ceto stingrays had. Anno, Jyto and Benna worked down along Vid's body, giving him another coating, massaging his muscles again. His entire body glistened, coated with the green slime like some kind of oils.

Vid fought against the restraints again, unable to break free... but he wasn't trying to escape. He was trying to hold Raven's head to his cock. It felt so good, he wanted to be a part of it, to encourage his partner, but the restraints kept him in place, unable to get free. Vid pulled harder and harder, the metal starting to budge ever so slightly, but as Vid struggled, he noticed Jyto moving to the barrel once again. It had been drained of enough of the gel that the leader was able to lift it. Jyto hoisted it up, carrying it to the head of the bed before he tipped it forward. The gel sloshed and oozed forward before it poured over Vid's head and washed down his body, pouring down his sides and collecting beneath him.

Vid sputtered against the slime but it kept pouring, but strangely enough with his gills he was still able to breath. Vid had no idea why he did it, but he opened his mouth and took the goo in, starting to gulp it, breath it, to fill his very essence with it. His eyes glimmered as the irises turned red before the color spread out across the rest of his eyes. His cheek flesh softened before new slits formed off the sides of his mouth, spreading out to two equidistant points. His mouth opened in a deep moan, revealing that his teeth had honed into sharp fangs.

Vid writhed again as his vertebrae reshaped, small bone flares displacing the rubbery skin above them. His pelvis shifted, tilting his ass cheeks to either side just a bit as his spine and tailbone reshaped and then started to extend beneath him. The bone flares spread out along his tail as new muscle formed around it, causing it to whip around. Vid let out a low rumbling growl of desire and pleasure, embracing it all. His humanity had been washed away in a baptism by the Stingrays and Jyto was eager to make sure the former Aquanaut had fully joined their cause before releasing him.

"Let us feed our brother." Jyto said softly, looking to Anno and Benna. All three began removing their torn, damaged Hydronaut wetsuits. They fell to the floor, revealing their naked bodies as well. Jyto soon climbed up onto the bed, straddling Vid's larger chest, getting into position. He drew out his alien cock, giving it a few strokes before he offered it to Vid, barely in reach. Vid tilted his head up, trying to get to the cock, his mouth opening wide before he got at the tip and sucked it in. Jyto moaned, crawling closer, sliding his shaft deeper. Vid took the cock in, not even thinking as he surrendered himself to his instincts. He knew he was to suck the shaft, it was his purpose. There was no need for thinking. Jyto, however, was far from done. He nodded to the other two and they moved forward.

At first Vid was surprised to feel two more cock heads nuzzling his face, but slowly he relaxed the sides of his mouth. Anno and Benna hissed as they were able to slide their cocks in as well, stuffing Vid's mouth. Vid relaxed his throat, feeling all three cocks filling his maw. He sucked and slurped, bobbing his head, his tongue dancing between all three shafts. The Stingrays started to slide back and forth, sometimes moving in unison, sometimes not. The heads of their shafts grazed the back of his throat and he took them as deep as they could.

Vid's thrashing had started out wild, but soon it settled into a steady, even pattern. He sucked all three Stingrays off, giving them their jollies while Raven worked his meat. Vid moved enough for his body temperature to climb. The water in the gel evaporated, leaving only a faint green dust but that too fell away like sand as he made love. There was no way to distinguish Vid from the Stingrays around him, he had become one of them. His mind saw nothing wrong in what they were doing, it merely seemed natural... and right... and perfect.

As Vid focused on the perfection surrounding him, his gills fluttered as he felt his huge balls throb. Raven realized what was coming and clamped down hard. He slurped and sucked just as the white flow of cum sprayed into his mouth. At first it tasted bland and a tough bitter, but as Vid rid his body of the last of his human seed and the flow thickened, it became the sweet milky cum that Raven somehow had been craving.

Raven's eyes squeezed tight as he suckled his lover's 'milk'. Rav knew the others would pleasure themselves with Vid, but Vid was his mate... and he would pleasure him always. In the midst of orgasm, Vid did everything he could to try and stay conscious. It was so good he felt almost like he was going to black out. He sucked on the three cocks to the best of his ability, deciding to move things along. His tongue darted to Benna's urethra, teasing it before caressing the head. Benna moaned out, his head tipping back before he came, shuddering.

Vid loved the feel of the pulsing thick seed spraying into his mouth, letting it flow down the back of his throat, but he still had two more cocks to please. Vid moved his tongue to Anno, repeating the process. The second stingray moaned, bracing against the bed to keep from falling over as his orgasm swept through him. Vid gulped and guzzled the cum down as the two stingrays sprayed, but Jyto was left... and Vid focused on him.

Collecting the cum of the other two on his tongue, Vid slathered the seed all over Jyto's cock, pushing it against the head of his shaft, letting it dribble out of his mouth and across the base of the leader's shaft. Jyto tried to hold out, to make his pleasure last more but he sighed out in lust as he came. Vid bobbed his head back and forth, milking the three and filling his belly with their seed. As the moments passed, the afterglow proved too much for Benna and then Anno. The two moved to collapse and pant on the floor, recovering. Soon Jyto collapsed as well, lying out across Vid's body. Jyto's cock slipped out of Vid's mouth and a purple tongue emerged to lick the leftover cream.

After a few more minutes Raven finally pulled off of Vid's cock, licking his own lips as he realized that Vid's cock had engorged even more when it had been given such a good sucking. Rav smiled happily and gave Vid's tongue a pet before he moved to unclasp the restraints. Vid looked up at Raven, the two gazing at each other with ruby red eyes. They didn't need to exchange words, they knew what the other was thinking. Vid and Raven leaned together, their stingray mouths meshing as they exchanged the kiss that Rav had wanted to for so very long... a willing and equal kiss.

****

The Hydronaut base had been dormant for months since the experiments had led to the creation of the Stingrays, but no longer. The first five rays had worked for some time to prepare for the dawn of their new kind. At last it was at hand. In the midnight black trench, a massive bay door rumbled open and light spilled out. For a moment there was nothing, but then an enormous craft slipped out into the ocean waters silently.

Massive portions of the ship suddenly illuminated, glowing with the same transparent neon green of the crystals that had given them life. The back portion of the ship swayed side to side in the currents like a massive tail, blending into the rounded front portion. It was as if the craft was one massive stingray all by itself, propelled by four black engine cores with glowing propellers. It was a fearsome ship, but in the cockpit Vid and Raven sat together as they always had.

They had taken on dark gray wetsuits with brown leggings as well as slate gray helmets that left their eyes uncovered but continued the illusion of their spine ridges in metal, making them look more fearsome. There would be little doubt that they were the true predators on this planet... and their first target would be the Aquasharks. Vid typed in the coordinates for an Aquashark crystal cave, setting course before he reached over and took Raven's hand, giving it a squeeze. Raven smiled beneath his mask, returning the squeeze as they ascended toward the light above them... and the dawn of a new era.