Page 25 - Unlikely Stories 3

Gaea Omphalos

From Fantastic Transactions, volume 2 (1997)

March 17: I am keeping this second journal in cipher. My suitcase has
a hidden compartment, but the added precaution cannot hurt. I am,
after all, the first outsider allowed into the Aquadome, and it
wouldn’t do to lose my credibility before I complete my mission—
ostensibly research for an article in Popular Science. The security is very
tight, even down here at the bottom of the ocean. I would have
thought that once I got past the U.S. Navy and the special marine
police force in charge of the FSS (Floating Support Station) things
would be more relaxed, like a scientific outpost in the Antarctic.
That is not at all the case, despite the presence of female personnel
and a certain casualness of dress. The temperature is a constant 72
degrees Fahrenheit, and most people wear khaki shorts and project
tee-shirts. I have been issued similar clothing—all those skirts and
blouses I brought will stay under the bunk bed. These trim little
outfits do create an atmosphere of unisex egalitarianism which I find
refreshing—although my badge does make it clear I am a temporary
visitor, unaffiliated with GAEA (the Geothermal Aquanautical
Energy Administration). Perhaps it is the secret technology which
ratchets up the tension level: certainly none of the people coming up
for shore leave has ever divulged the slightest hint of what is going
on several hundred feet below the surface of the Atlantic. I will keep
my eyes and ears open and my mouth under greater than usual
restraint.

March 18: As noted in my official report, I was briefed today on the
true nature of all this undersea activity: drilling through the
Mohorovicic discontinuity to get at the molten core of the earth. This
location was chosen because the crust is at its thinnest in an ocean
basin; even so, the engineering involved is way beyond anything the
oil companies can do. I wonder if any of their money or influence is
behind the huge appropriations for GAEA—something else to
research when I get back on dry land. Anyway, Si (Dr. Simon
Klopperman), who is very young to be such a well-regarded

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