[POV: Sofia Lanka]

"Does the water ever stop screaming in this place, or is the pressure finally starting to liquefy my brain? I can feel every vibration of the deep currents against the hull, and it tastes like copper and cold salt. If you’re here to tell me the blackout hasn’t reached your underwater paradise yet, you’re wasting your breath. I can see the lack of light even through miles of ocean."

Sofia’s voice was a jagged rasp, cutting through the heavy, humid silence of the observation chamber. She didn't turn away from the massive, curved wall of reinforced crystalline glass that looked out into the abyss of the Atlantic....