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At 12,375 feet the sea floor cah she were standing still Pitt turned on the propulsionthe Sea Slug's descent and turning her on a level course across the bleak red clay that carpeted the ocean floor
Gradually, the ominous silence was broken by the rhyth's electricrises and gradual drops on the botto to indicate a three-dimensional scale His eyes saw only a flatness that stretched beyond the reach of the lights
There was no life to be seen And yet, evidence proved otherwise Scattering tracks froed in every direction through the sediuessed that they wereThe footprints froht have been o or hundreds of years past, because the microscopic animal and plant remains that comprise the deep-ocean ooze filters down from above at the rate of only one or two centimeters every thousand years
"There's a lovely creature," Giordino said pointing
Pitt's eye followed Giordino's finger and picked out a strange blue-black animal that seeht tentacles linked together like the webbed foot of a duck, and it stared back at the Sea Slug through two large globular eyes that formed nearly a third of its body
"A vampire squid," Gunn informed them
"Ask her if she's got relatives in Transylvania?" Giordino grinned
"You know," Pitt said, "that thing out there sort of reirl friend"
Gunn jumped in "You mean the one with no boobs?"
"You've seen her?"
"Rave on, envious rabble," Giordino gru in quality booze"
"Some quality," Pitt snorted "Old Cesspool Bourbon, Attila the Hun Gin, Tijuana Vodka Who the hell ever heard of those labels?"
Throughout the next few hours, the wit and the sarcas Actually, it was put on; a defense s ofin the depths can be a grueling and tedious job Add to that the aggravated disco teredients for provoking an accident through human error that could prove both costly and fatal
Pitt's hands stayed rock-steady as they handled the controls, guiding the Sea Slug a scant four feet above the bottom Giordino's concentration was nailed to the life support systeneto were over It was now a case of patience and persistence, mixed with that peculiar blend of eternal optimism and love of the unknown shared by all treasure seekers
"Looks like a pile of rocks up ahead," Pitt said