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EAST CHINA SEA, NINETY MILES FROM SHANGHAI

TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE THE PRESENT DAY

THE GRAY SUBMERSIBLE traveled slowly across an aquatic paradise Sunlight filtered down from above Kelp beds waved in the current Fish of every conceivable size and shape darted about Off in the distance, an oe but har wide as it strained the water for tiny clouds of plankton

From the command chair in the nose of the sub array of life around him

“We’re approaching the Serpent’s Jaw,” a female voice said beside him

Chen nodded at the information and kept his eyes on the world outside This would be his last view of natural sunlight for a month and he wanted to savor it

The subave way to a band of coral and then a V-shaped canyon At first, the canyon was no more than a fissure, but it widened as it ran off into the distance, and from above resembled an open mouth

The Serpent’s Jaw

As they traveled out over the canyon, the seafloor dropped precipitously

“Take us down,” Chen ordered

The submersible’s pilot manipulated the controls with utter precision and the submarine, filled mostly with supplies, nosed down and descended into the steep-walled canyon

Five hundred feet down, they lost the light Nine hundred feet later, they found it again Only, this ti from a habitat anchored to a sidewall of the canyon

Chen couldspace and the stack of additional modules lined up beneath it They went all the way to the canyon floor, where a tangle of pipes and tubes could be seen snaking into the ground

“I trust you can handle the docking,” Chen said

“Of course Stand by”