This Plasma Bomb (e.g. modified lava lamp) looked in much better shape than the other. It could probably pass as a giant pearl, in fact... Sharon wondered if that was the ticket to get it into the submarine. But how to put it near enough to the reactor to make it detonate? The activation button was small enough to pass off as an irregularity, but -- in typical UNA style -- the people inside forgot to tell her how much time she had to escape.
The mammoth submarine had passed by the pillar on which the minisub was lying, not noticing anything. It was now obvious that something was keeping the mermaid there.
"Our guide seems to be circling around something. Captain, this could be a..."
"Asimov, just listen to that sonar. But... since we have to wait... AND since you are so paranoid... Yuri, stop the propellers. 360 degrees passive scan when the engine noise is zero."
"Aye sir."
"Uh... all clear 360 degrees, sir. I'm.... I'm sorry."
"Never mind. We will wait. She has saved us half a day, we can afford ten minutes."
Sharon pointed at her wrist and made an interrogative gesture, trying to ask for the timer settings.
"Why, it's four o' clock. Why does she want to know?"
"Jim can you connect this mike here to the active sonar, and keep it low?"
"Sure."
"I'll have the power drop for a moment."
"HEY! I'm not done yet Greta! I can't see shit!"
"Can you please talk louder, since they've stopped? So they won't have to look for us before we get a torpedo up our faces."
A minute later, Sharon heard a voice coming from the minisub's top. Greta decided that now that the Leviathan was farther away, the easiest thing to do was to just talk a little louder. Now that they had a decent means of communication, they could come up with a plan.
Sat Jan 8 21:29:43 2000