The nerves have all dried up. Kyungsoo feels the same way she used to when she went to the gym as part of the mission prep. Travelling, for hours and hours, even with the propulsion fans, but with no change in scenery, reminds her of running on the treadmills. At least back then she had someone marking off her progress, and clear goals. Out in the middle of the Gliese 1214b’s vast grey ocean, there’s no way of knowing how much further until they reach their destination, and Baekhyun’s eye-spy jokes got old a lifetime ago. They can only hope that they cross paths with some of the merfolk at some point. Hopefully soon. They’re all getting tired; Kyungsoo hasn’t been paying attention to what Jongdae and Baekhyun are bickering about, but it must not be that important since Joonmyeon hasn’t intervened yet.

Kyungsoo squints into the distance, glad that she’s able to wear her glasses comfortably with the helmets on. Not that there’s anything to see out here except floating particles- which are a mixture of microbubbles, sand and fragments of dead sea-life, apparently. Some of them are plant based, and others are animal, but it’s difficult to say what they’re from conducively without more data. The only thing it really confirms is that there is life out there, which they already knew.

Suddenly the bickering stops, and Baekhyun freezes.

“Did you hear that?” She says, holding her breath. Kyungsoo frowns, nervous. Is something else out here?

“I didn’t hear anything.” Jongdae says, turning all around her. No one can see anything.

“Maybe I imagined- wait, sh!” Baekhyun interrupts herself mid sentence, and this time Kyungsoo can hear it too. A low, ululating wail. The hairs on the back of Kyungsoo’s neck raise, and her heart pounds.  It’s definitely not a mermaid, this is something much bigger. What on earth could it be? Something the size of a whale, or perhaps bigger. Kyungsoo has visions of teeth bigger than her body, of a monstrous leviathan, bigger than her imagination can comprehend.

“I’m not seeing anything on the radar.” Joonmyeon mutters urgently. Either it’s out of range, or somehow it’s physiology is resistant to radar.

“I can only hear one, whatever it is.” Jongdae comments, the whisper of her voice sounding distant across the transmission. The cry sounds once more, louder this time, and the crew members instinctively draw together, facing outwards.

“A solitary creature?” Joonmyeon marvels, her tone coloured with fear. Though they all know that sound carries a long, long way through water, especially lower pitched sounds like that, they’re all on edge.

“Should we turn back?” Kyungsoo murmurs, “it could be dangerous. What if it’s territorial.”

“Wait a minute,” Jongdae says, eyes flashing. “There’s no reason to say that it might be aggressive, it might be a gentle giant.” Kyungsoo bites her lip, not wanting to take that chance.

Despite the fact that the mysterious monster could be miles away, nobody moves a muscle.

The third time they hear the cry, it sounds quieter, and they collectively breathe a sigh of relief.

“Well, whatever it was, it’s passed us by.” Jongdae says, sounding almost disappointed. “I wonder if the mermaids will be able to tell us anything about it?”

“We can definitely ask!” Joonmyeon says, still sounding a little shaken up. She clears , “We’ll give it another hour, and if there’s still no sign of any merfolk, we’ll have to turn back.”

“Hopefully we run into them soon. I thought they were expecting us?”

“It was all very vague and uncertain. I think they were expecting us, but I can’t be sure.”

“Huh.” Jongdae hums. “So who wants to start placing bets as to what that thing was. I’ll start; five thousand won says it’s an anthropod.” Jongdae snorts.

“An anthropod? Are you ing insane?” Baekhyun laughs, “There’s no way that thing is a giant shrimp.”

“You never know. What do you think it is, then?”

“Obviously it’s going to be a cephalopod. A giant squid thing.” Baekhyun says, with absolute certainty.

“Cephalopods don’t make sounds, though.” Jongdae points out.

“And anthropods do? We’re not on earth anymore, sweetheart.” Baekhyun sneers, “the normal rules might not apply.”

“Oh, go a rock.” Jongdae snips.

“I’m going to guess it’s a cetacean.” Joonmyeon interjects, before things get too hairy. A cetacean makes the most sense to Kyungsoo too, with her limited knowledge of marine animals. Cetaceans breathe air, and therefore have vocal chords, so it would be more likely that they could produce a sound like that. She thinks.

“I think so too, but I’m going to play along and say it’s a fish.” She chimes in. “A huge shark, with huge teeth.”

“Nuh-uh, it’s definitely a shrimp. It totally makes that sound by rubbing its legs together, like a cricket.” Jongdae says primly, supporting her ridiculous theory with even more ridiculous theories.

She goes on to explain more about her imaginary sea behemoth, and suddenly her shrimp creature jumps and waggles its legs to carry it further, wears coral for jewellery and if they all swim to the seafloor, they’ll definitely come across a discarded exoskeleton within seconds.

“I hope not, that would mean there’s an abundance of scary huge shrimps swimming around.” Kyungsoo wrinkles her nose, but she’s no longer scared.

“I, for one, hope there is, I’d lov-”

“Guys, I’ve got three blips on our radar!” Joonmyeon interrupts, “they’re below, to our left. We should be able to see what it is in a second. They’re coming straight for us, so I hope it’s the mermaids, otherwise we might be in trouble.”

As it turns out, there’s no need to worry. It’s three mermaids, one of which they recognise. The other two are bald, and flank the one that they know. Joonmyeon greets them with a line she must have practiced .Kyungsoo tries to quietly mimic it, but it doesn’t sound right to her. She has a lot of work to do in order to catch up with their leader.

“They want us to follow them. I think they’re going to swim slowly so we can keep up.” Joonmyeon informs them.Barely a second after she’s finished talking, the mermaids have already turned tail and are swimming back the way they came. Maybe this pace is slow for them, but it’s still fast as far as Kyungsoo is concerned. The first few minutes or so are tense silence, as the two parties figure out a pace that works for all of them.

“I wonder if this means we’re close by?” Kyungsoo whispers, more to herself than anyone else. Could they be detected from so far off? Maybe the sound of the machinery is painting a huge aural target on their backs; a scary thought.

It doesn’t take nearly as long, comparatively, to reach the place the mermaids inhabit.

At first, Kyungsoo thinks she’s seeing things; in the distance, blurry shapes take form. Squinting to try and see better through the dark, misty water, more and more shapes come into view, until Kyungsoo can discern that they are large, spherical structures. hangs open in awe; each ball appears to be woven plant fibre, and all of them- maybe twenty at a quick count- are attached together with more knotted plant fibre as they drift through the ocean. Merfolk drift in between them, on their way to socialise, working on some kind of handicraft or food preparation, or playing together. Without realising it, Kyungsoo is looking for her mermaid, Kai.

“Are you guys seeing this?” Jongdae breathes, breaking the awed silence. Kyungsoo nods, the motion barely visible with the bulky helmet on. Besides, no one is looking her way anyway.

This is more than any of them could ever have truly hoped for. Of course, there was speculation, but with the technology currently available to them, there was no way of telling if life thrived on this planet.

Their merfolk guides swerve to a stop just outside one of the closest buildings. Can she really call it a building? She isn’t sure. Maybe dwelling would be a better word for what she’s seeing. Joonmyeon, at the head of their formation, leads the discussion. There’s a lot of gesturing, pointing. Kyungsoo can see Jongdae focusing very hard, and nodding every so often, but Baekhyun looks completely clueless. Kyungsoo can only catch the odd word, and even then she’s never 100% sure, but she understands more than the marine geologist does. That’s probably thanks to Kai, she thinks ruefully.

As the talking draws out, more and more merfolk begin to gather, curious. Kyungsoo feels a little nervous with all these new pairs of eyes on them- this time they’re on the merfolks turf, no ifs and buts about it. If they mess up, that’s it. They’re done. Well, they’ll still have the data they’ve already accrued, but getting more detailed insights into the environment will be much easier with help.

Filtering out the conversation, Kyungsoo absently drifts as close as she dares to one of the dwellings. She can’t see any sign of an entrance from this angle, so maybe there’s a hole on the other side, or at the bottom, but she can see the detail in the weaving. It’s so closely packed, it could probably be watertight, and it looks very rigid and sturdy. The netting that connects all the spheres together appears to be woven into the very base of it, not put in as an afterthought.

What could they be made of? If it’s not plant based, then she supposes it could be somehow animal based- there are parts of animals that can be woven into things, though they’re probably harder to come by in marine life, especially in these quantities. Just as she’s about to propel herself even closer, for further inspection, Joonmyeon turns around.

“We’re going to split up. Jongdae, you’re going to stick with me, since your research needs more contact with the natives, and I can help translate.”

“Yes ma’am.” Jongdae tries to salute, but the bulkiness of the diving gear makes it look silly.

“Baekhyun, you’re going to have a guide who will show you something related to the ground.” Joonmyeon beckons her forward, to meet one of the mermaids who is floating nearby. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t be more specific, but hopefully it will be worth it anyway.”

“Yes, ma’am.” She moves forwards to be acquainted with her guide, a bald headed mermaid, almost twice the size of Baekhyun even with her diving gear on. Kyungsoo can tell she’s nervous even without looking at her face; she hasn’t cracked a single joke since they got here.

“And Kyungsoo, you’re having a guide too. They aren’t here yet, but they seem very adamant that we wait.” She snorts. Kyungsoo suddenly has the feeling that she should have been listening harder.

“Yes, ma’am.” She replies, wary.

“Alright, then. Let’s disperse.” She waves Baekhyun off, who seems reluctant to part with her fellow humans. Joonmyeon speaks once again to the mermaid, who replies with something Kyungsoo feels as though she should understand, but doesn’t.

“We’ll wait with you until your guide gets here,” Joonmyeon explains to Kyungsoo afterwards. “It shouldn’t be long now.” Joonmyeon’s smile looks awfully suspicious when paired with the angled lighting inside her helmet. Kyungsoo narrows her eyes at her. What is going on?

True to her word, it doesn’t take long before a mermaid comes barrelling into the area, to a round of pretty whistling laughter.

“Kai?” She breathes. Kai is her guide? She should have guessed, with the way Joonmyeon was behaving. Kyungsoo is trying to curb her smile as Kai makes a beeline straight for her. She stops directly in front of her, their bodies parallel despite the propeller in between them. Actually, she’s a little too close  for comfort, her huge, pale eyes barely a handspan away from the visor of her helmet. This reminds her of when they first met, and although she isn’t terrified out of her wits this time, she’s still a little breathless.

“Hello.” Kyungsoo says, then repeating what she thinks is a greeting in their native language. Kai trills and greets her in return. Kyungsoo is struck by a wave of bashfulness, not able to meet Kai’s eyes.

“Well, we’ll be off then.” Joonmyeon says, “Make sure you get as much research done as possible, we aren’t going to be here for very long, remember.” She gives Kyungsoo a pointed look that doesn’t feel deserved; when has Kyungsoo ever wasted time not documenting things that needed to be documented? Kai speaks again, and Kyungsoo is distracted from Joonmyeon instantly. Hm. Maybe she has a bit of a point. Only a bit, though.

“Kyungsoo.” Kai says, swimming away and looking back at her from an upside-down perspective. Kyungsoo bites back a laugh as she does a loop, and follows her. It’s a little strange to see her from this angle, though it must be normal for the merfolk- Kyungsoo can only compare it to being sat on the floor while someone she knows is stood up talking to her. Kyungsoo can only guess that the earth rules of up and down don’t apply here.

Kai leads her away from the main settlement, where all of the houses seem to be, into the grey vastness. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see faint shadows zipping past, too quick for her to lock onto.

Kyungsoo can’t lie, she feels a bit nervous to be separated from the rest of her crew, but she does trust Kai. Besides, their radios should cover the distance, if she needs it to.

It’s not quite clear how long they travel for, nor how far, but Kyungsoo is fairly sure that she’ll be able to reconvene with the crew in a timely manner. Hopefully.

She takes a breath and moves to try and keep up with Kai, but it proves difficult. It would probably be quicker if Kai took her by the hand and pulled her along, in all honesty, but that would require leaving her propeller behind. She's not ready to give that up.

Where could Kai be leading her? It seems like they're heading pretty far out. More than once, Kyungsoo wonders if she should try to talk to the mermaid, but she can't think of anything to say, that she can say in her language; talking about the plants is going to be quite the challenge. How on earth is she going to be able to ask all the things she needs to ask? The most she's going to be able to get out of this is a few samples... maybe.

The waving, rippling motion of the flukes of Kai's tail prove to be hypnotising, and Kyungsoo allows herself to zone out as they swim along together. Her tail is very pretty.

Their journey ends more abruptly than Kyungsoo expects, since she had been daydreaming a little, but she almost lets her momentum carry her right into Kai, only just managing to redirect herself in time. Kai seems to find this amusing, much to Kyungsoo's embarrassment. Well, she should have been paying more attention to her surroundings.

When Kyungsoo looks around her, it takes her a few moments to process what it is that she's actually seeing. A multitude of floating, dark, grey-blue spheres are spread out around them, drifting in the warm currents. Kyungsoo switches off her propeller, and the last whirr of the machine fizzles into silence, leaving Kyungsoo's small gasp very audible as she draws nearer to one of them. She swims, ungracefully, and positions herself so that one of the floating balls is directly in front of her visor. It's not really a ball at all, she realises on closer inspection, but something more akin to diadema setosum, also known as the setosum spined sea urchin. It has long, very thin protrusions branching off from a central point, which is about the size of her closed fist. But unlike the predatory sea creature, this is definitely a plant- this has no sign of a mouth, or digestive system. Sea urchins can be very dangerous, and this plant is quite intimidating because of that, so Kyungsoo doesn't dare touch it, just changes her angle around it. Kyungsoo's cousin had had an encounter with one of these, and had needed to visit the hospital to get the spines removed. The spines aren't cylindrical, they're flat, like very elongated pine needles, but more flexible. The whole thing is about the width of her outstretched arm, so she would guess each of the spines would be about 20cm in length.

Kai, sneaking up behind her, reaches over her shoulder to run her webbed fingers through the spines. They sway in her wake, and Kyungsoo tries to concentrate on that, rather than the fact that Kai is about two inches away from her. So they're not harmful to the mermaids, and they're flexible. This is good to know. So is the fact that Kai seems completely unafraid to get all up in her personal space- not that she didn't already know that. Lip caught between her teeth, Kyungsoo pulls out a camera and beings to take some photos, close ups and wider shots of the area it in habits.

Kai remains hovering right beside her, whistling softly every now and then. If she's right, and the whistling is laughing to them, then what could she be finding so funny? Kyungsoo feels like she's missing a joke, and her cheeks are burning. Huffing, she tries to remember how to ask 'what?', but Kai is no longer paying attention to her. Instead, she's pulling one of the plants to pieces, plucking each spine out at the centre.

Kyungsoo holds out her camera to record the process, zooming into what her hands her doing. Once she's picked it clean, a bundle of spines in one hand, Kai takes a huge bite out of the core, revealing a paler grey, almost translucent, centre. After seeing Kai's teeth, Kyungsoo had assumed that merfolk were carnivorous, but maybe she shouldn't have been so quick to jump to conclusions. Kai gnaws at the flesh of the fruit until there's nothing left but a stone, small enough that Kyungsoo might dismiss it if Kai hadn't just set it adrift right in front of her. Kyungsoo reaches for it with the hand that isn't holding the camera. The thick gloves make it kind of hard to grasp onto it, but when she finally manages to catch it, she brings it close to her helmet to look- it must be a seed. Kyungsoo documents it on the camera, trying to get a clear picture. When she looks up, Kai is doing something fiddly with the spines; she’s used one of them to tie the rest together, and is slowly tying several into a knot.

Then it hits her; these plants are what everything is made of.

"Oh my god." Kyungsoo says out loud, causing Kai to look up in confusion, startled. Why on earth hadn't she made that connection before? Clumsily, Kyungsoo kicks her legs until she's close enough to talk with Kai. She sets her camera to video, and lets it float next to them, hopefully capturing everything.

"What is?" She says, to the best of her ability, while pointing at the spiny fibres. Kai watches her, eyes glimmering, and tells her. Kyungsoo parrots it, repeating after Kai until she's sure she has it right, then continues to mutter it quietly, running her finger along the grain of the bundle. Kai dashes away to retrieve an untouched version of the plant, and calls it something else. Then points at the centre, which also has its own name. Of course, why would it not. Kyungsoo holds out the seed, asking for its name as well. She doesn't know how to ask how it grows down here, how it can thrive in dark conditions- how do plants live without chlorophyll? Can they even be called plants if they don’t? Or would they be more like fungi, with leaves and fruit? There's so much more she wants to know about it.

It's good that she's filming all of this, so she can practice later. Kai continues to talk to her, though Kyungsoo can only understand a few odd sounds, as she ties the spines together. It looks very complicated, and her fingers move very fast.

Maybe Joonmyeon will be able to help her translate some of what she's saying? She concentrates, listening harder in hopes that that will miraculously help her understand the clicks and trills of the mermaid's language, but it doesn't. She still only knows a few sounds- the ones Kai just taught her- and even then her confidence is low.

Kai finishes the piece she's weaving, and holds it out between her hands for Kyungsoo to see. She isn't quite sure what to make of it; it reminds her of when she first tried knitting, and the (half) finished article (she gave up on it) was a lumpy, asymmetrical mess. But this has a much more deliberate feel to it, and she feels bad for comparing this to her failure. The largest knot sits near the top right of the almost oblong shape, and is surrounded by smaller knots of different kinds. It's not very large, but it looks very complex.

"It's amazing." She says, looking Kai in the eyes as she says it. She must know what the word means, because her face lights up. Kyungsoo smiles softly; Kai is very beautiful when she laughs. Just having the opportunity to be with her like this makes her chest tight.

Rolling the woven piece up in her hands, delicately, Kai holds it out to Kyungsoo, who hesitates. Is she giving it to her? As as gift? Or maybe just to look more closely? She doesn't know what to say.

"For me? For Kyungsoo?" She says in Korean.

"Yes." Kai responds in kind, urging her to take it. In her gloved hands, it isn't going to be easy to do that without fear of breaking it. Eventually, she decides it doesn't matter; she isn't going to pass up an opportunity like this.

"Thank you." She says, receiving the gift with a nod of her head. Her clumsy fingers curl around the soft material, and she hopes to god she doesn't accidentally squish it, since none of her sample containers are big enough for this. Like an idiot, she had only expected to be able to pick very small amounts of anything. Next time she'll come prepared.

Kai moves in very close all of a sudden, and bumps her forehead against Kyungsoo's, or as close as she can through the shield of her helmet. Her hands holds onto both of her shoulders to keep her steady, and Kyungsoo's heart races at the proximity.

"Let's go!" Kai says, a phrase Kyungsoo has memorised.

"Yes!" Kyungsoo responds, eager to see more of Kai's world. What more could there be? Maybe they cultivate orchards of food-bearing plants, or perhaps they keep animals that need feeding? Maybe they grow some just for aesthetics? Kyungsoo's mind races as she thinks through all the possibilities. She shuts off her camera and attaches it to her belt, before Kai grabs hold of her arm and pulls her back to her propeller. Kai is adorably excited, and her whistling laughter is infectious; soon Kyungsoo is giggling along with her.

Bzzt.

Kyungsoo's communicator vibrates against her hip, meaning that Joonmyeon is trying to contact her. Her heart sinks. This can only mean she's run out of time to spend with Kai. With some reluctance, Kyungsoo answers the call.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Kyungsoo. It's getting close to time; we gotta go. We're cutting it fine as it is, so hurry back." Kyungsoo grits her teeth, knowing full well that their equipment needs to be recharged before they get stranded out here. Though their suits can technically convert oxygen indefinitely, there are other life support functions that need electricity to power them.

"Yes, ma'am." Kyungsoo replies, "I'll be there as soon as I can."

Kai, seeming to sense the mood, has stopped her excited jittery movements, and if it weren't for the slight wave of her hair in the current, she would be still as a stone.

"You must return?" She says, slowly. Kyungsoo nods then, unsure if she understands the body language, replies verbally.

"I understand." Kai says quietly, staring into Kyungsoo's helmet deeply. She twitches once, then shoots off, almost too fast for Kyungsoo's eyes to follow, then returns and instant later with one of the floating plants.

"For Kyungsoo." She explains, holding it out to her. Kyungsoo smiles a watery smile. It feels like they only got a few minutes together, rather than the two hours it was in reality. She tries to remind herself that this isn’t the last time she’ll be able to see her; they still have time.

She repeats this to herself as Jongin leads her back to the floating village.

Joonmyeon is, predictably, already there and waiting, along with Jongdae. Baekhyun is the only one they’re waiting on, but apparently she’s almost here, so they won’t have to wait for very long.

Kai hovers around Kyungsoo, trilling and trying to talk to her, although Kyungsoo doesn’t understand much, until one of the older merfolk waves her away. Miserably, she drifts out of reach, linking arms with a mermaid who has two smaller merchildren flitting around her playfully. Could that be her mother, perhaps? Kyungsoo watches their interactions with burning curiosity. They certainly seem close. But what does Kyungsoo know about merfolk socialisation? Maybe Joonmyeon will have some ideas.

“Sorry, guys!” Baekhyun bursts onto the scene, being pulled along by the hand of the merfolk who was escorting her. The mermaid lets her go and she drifts headlong into Jongdae’s waiting arms.

“Ooh, what fair maiden has fallen into mine arms?” Jongdae says dramatically, before bursting into giggles.

“Oh, shut up.” Baekhyun gripes through a reluctant smile.

“Alright, you two, time to get moving.” Joonmyeon reminds them, swimming towards their propulsion fans. It’s hard to leave, Kyungsoo wants to stay longer, but she has to go. She waves goodbye to Kai, her chest feeling hollow as she activates her propulsion fan and starts to leave with the others.

Kyungsoo looks behind her one last time as the floating village fades into grey behind her.

“So how did everyone’s research go?” Joonmyeon prompts, when no one has spoken in a while.

“Great!” Jongdae enthuses, and it’s like Joonmyeon has unblocked a dam. “We found out what that creature we heard earlier is! We played them back a recording of it, and then they took us into one of their houses- they’re so cool on the inside, by the way- and showed us something really cool- I’ve got pictures, you can see them when I archive them back at the ship- I Think it’s some form of physical recording? Like writing or hieroglyphs, but they use knots to record the information-”

“Jongdae, slow down.” Joonmyeon laughs. “You kind of glossed over your first point; the creature that made the noise?" She addresses Kyungsoo and Baekhyun now, "it appears to be some kind of ground dweller, sort of like a lobster? In a way? Except without the shell? We’ve got a drawing on our screen done by one of the mermaids which we’ll show you when we get back!”

"You got one of them to use the screens?" Kyungsoo asks, imagining handing over a stylus and screen and expecting them to understand just like that.

"Yeah, they picked it up really quickly actually, after we demonstrated how. We've got several drawings of different things, including some of us." Joonmyeon explains. Kyungsoo hums, excited to see the creative exploits of the people here.

"They caught on with the camera pretty quickly as well actually. They're surprisingly good with new things, not all people are." Jongdae comments. “They also don’t seem to have a de-facto leader, it seems to be a sort of elder council-type of scenario? I'm not really sure exactly how it works yet, but when I asked for the person in charge, they couldn't provide us with anyone, so I can only assume at this point. We'll get to the bottom of it soon, I hope! Maybe they even say it in one of the videos we got, I'll scour through it all later."

"Next time we come, we'll bring provisions so that we can stay for longer."

"Can't we relocate the ship itself?" Baekhyun asks. Kyungsoo frowns; she thought they had already covered this in pre-flight orientation. Once they land, the ship is to be immobile until return flight. It's inconvenient, but more discreet. The ship's engine isn't loud by earth standards, not when compared to other rockets at least, but sound carries further in water. Add to that the possible emissions they'll be releasing into an untouched atmosphere, and they have good reason to stay put.

"Not without potentially disturbing wildlife." Joonmyeon shakes her head, "We're going to be disruptive enough when we take off, I don't want to cause more damage than we have to."

"Oh." Baekhyun sighs. "So we're going to have to make this trip every time we want to visit?"

"Unfortunately yes." Joonmyeon agrees, sounding as put out about it as everyone feels. “Baekhyun, what about you? You seemed a bit nervous when you left, but you were fine coming back?”

“Oh, yeah!” Baekhyun perks up. Kyungsoo can’t see her face from this angle, but she can hear her smile in the way she’s talking, “she was really nice, actually! It was kind of hard to have a proper conversation, but I think she found the fact that I tried at all kind of funny? I mostly just recorded her talking, so I was hoping we could all go over the footage later on? But what I managed to pick up without her explaining is that everything seems to run on thermal currents! There are underwater volcanoes, and they’re really active; there’s really recent igneous rock deposits- I got several different samples- and the water vents from the planet's core create thermal currents which seem to be keeping the planet alive, kind of similar to earth I guess, but their thermohaline circulation system is probably a lot more complex, since there aren't any large land masses in the way, and the thermal energy originates from the centre of the planet rather than the surface. That is if they have a regular one anyway, it may just be an unpredictable mass of interlocking and changing currents and...” Kyungsoo zones out at this point, and lets her mutter away, rearranging the plant that Kai gave her and making sure its not getting jostled too much. It seems to be faring better than she had expected. None of the spindly leaves have fallen out yet. She feels like she should treasure it, since it was given to her. It's sort of a weird way to feel about a plant, given that she's used to pulling them apart layer by layer and staring at them under microscopes, and not looking after them like cacti, but this one just feels different.

"... can't wait to find out how many vent openings there are, there's probably thousands of individual convection currents that interlink, and their village seems to be located pretty much directly on top of one of the openings so..." It's amazing that she's still going on about just the currents, normally its just the ground that gets her going like this.

"What about you, Kyungsoo?" The sound of her name makes her jump.

"Huh?"

"Nice to know that you were listening." Baekhyun sniffs. Oh great, now she's in for it.

"I was. Sort of." She was listening until she wasn't.

"Uh-huh. Too busy mooning over the fish that gave you that plant, huh? I see how it is."

"Shut up. It's just a sample." She mumbles, embarrassed.

"Then why isn't it in a sample jar?" Baekhyun sneers, and Jongdae can't hold back an ugly snort of laughter.

"You think you could get this to fit in a sample jar? Be my guest." Kyungsoo raises her voice a bit, on the defensive now.

"Ladies, please." Joonmyeon scolds, but she's trying not to laugh as well. Whatever, so one of the mermaids gave her a plant. It shouldn't be that big of a deal! She's just glad none of them have noticed the bracelet piece she's still wearing yet. Once they see that, they're probably never going to let her hear the end of it, especially if the knots have meaning. Who knows what Kai has given her.

"So, Kyungsoo, what is that, exactly?" Joonmyeon prods once again, sounding a bit less constipated this time.

"It's the plant fibre that everything is made from." Kyungsoo says, still somewhat sulkily. "They call it-" She tries to reproduce the sound Kai taught her.

"That makes sense, actually. I thought it might be refined somehow, but why bother when it already grows just like that?"

"Exactly. Also, the core is edible, and it’s kind of like a peach? In that there's a seed or a stone inside. I've got a video of her making something out of the leaves as well."

"A good trip then. We've got a lot of work archiving all of this, we may need to stay in the ship for several days just to archive everything properly."

"Noo, I want to hang out with them again!" Jongdae wails, kicking her legs.

"I do too, but we came here with a job to do. I want to at the very least get a decent amount of speech inputted so that I can try and get some kind of translation algorithm in progress. I think that's pretty vital in our investigations, don't you? We're not here for long enough to properly learn the language."

"Yeah, good point." Jongdae concedes. "This research paper is going to be like... five thousand pages long." She grouses, as though she isn't going to spend every waking minute on the ship working on it.

A long time later, they arrive back at the ship, and Kyungsoo is ready to sleep. All of them are, really, but they all need to store their samples and upload all the research videos and photos and data for today. Zombie-like, they all pile into the waterlock, except for Kyungsoo, who waits outside with her plant for someone to throw a sample jar big enough for the plant to fit inside. They must have travelled well over five hundred miles today. The mermaids are able to do this without breaking a sweat, or whatever their equivalent of tiredness might be. They're really amazing creatures.

A shout from above warns Kyungsoo of an incoming jar, so she’s ready for it when it comes splashing down in front of her. She swims forward and grabs it, gently putting the plant inside; it doesn’t quite fit, the spines are all curled around the edge, but it's the best she can do without taking it apart. She’s too tired to really care that much at the moment, and this should be enough to keep it alive until she’s slept. She can take better care of it after a few hours sleep.

Kai’s gift is placed gently on the floor just outside her cubicle in the shower room. .She’s pretty sure she actually falls asleep for a moment while she’s showering; she can’t help it, the sole sound of the water hitting the tile floor is soothing white noise. Once she’s dressed sloppily in her uniform, skipping out on the cravat, she carries her screen under one arm and the plant under the other up to the top deck. The others are already in the lab when Kyungsoo arrives, and while she uploads her screen data to the main terminal, Kyungsoo wonders if she should keep her gift- sample- in here or in the garden.

Here, she decides, is the best option. She isn’t sure if temperature needs to regulated, but the garden has UV lights which will almost certainly be bad for it. In here, she can keep it under a blanket or something to make sure it's in the dark.

With vacant eyes she watches the loading bar progress across the screen, vaguely noting when the others bid her goodnight when they leave. When it finally reaches the end, she closes down her computer, readjusts the blanket so it completely covers the jar, and goes to her quarters. The ship corridors are cold, compared to the close heat of the deep ocean, and her bedroom is dark. She trips over some discarded clothes from that morning on her way to her bed, stripping off her uniform until she’s only in her underwear. She’s too tired for pyjamas.

Her last thought as she lies back is of Kai, a distant wondering of what she might be doing right now. Is she getting ready to sleep as well? Is she thinking of her too?

She barely even pulls the blankets around her before she’s out like a light.

its been 100 years but its here! finally!

idk when the next update will be but feel free to bother me on curiouscat or twitter until then!