Intermingled in this unique forest, were a series of white smokers that surprisingly coexisted in the same dense region of seafloor. While black smokers burned hotter, white smoker vents emitted lighter-hued minerals, such as those containing barium, calcium and silicon.
Sam glanced over his shoulder at his two guests. “What do you think of that?”
Dr. Smyth smiled, her eyes wide with awe. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I’ve read books about it,” Major Marazzato said, “but it didn’t come close to preparing me for the actual sight of being here.”
“Yeah, it’s something,” Sam said, bringing the submersible to a stop, hovering just five feet back from a large hydrothermal vent.
His eyes swept the base of the vent, taking in the multitude of shrimp, mussels, and crabs that played in the superheated sulphur, a 680-degrees Fahrenheit toxic playground, where they consumed chemosynthetic bacteria for food.
Sam asked, “How’s that for the food chain?”
Major Marazzato scrunched his face up tight. “I don’t see what’s eating what down here. Or is something larger simply boiling these creatures for dinner?”
Sam laughed. “Yeah, it’s hard to tell. Particularly because most of the creatures there aren’t following the normal direction of an ecological food chain.”
Dr. Smyth shifted in her chair to get a better look. “So, what is eating what down there?”
Sam stared at the central burning tower of superheated water and chemicals. “Hydrothermal vent communities are able to sustain such vast amounts of life because vent organisms depend on chemosynthetic bacteria for food.”
“Come again?” Major Marazzato frowned. “In English this time, Mr. Reilly.”
“The water from the hydrothermal vent is rich in dissolved minerals and supports a large population of chemoautotrophic bacteria. These bacteria use sulfur compounds, particularly hydrogen sulfide, a chemical highly toxic to most known organisms, to produce organic material through the process of chemosynthesis.”
“Like plants use sunlight to sustain the growth of green leafy foliage, which serves the basis of most organic food chains on the surface of Earth,” Dr. Smyth suggested.
“Exactly. Only, down here, there is no sunlight. Not even any hint of creatures that once gained their nutrients from the sun. So instead, they rely on chemicals to directly synthesize their organic materials.”
“But some of those creatures look like they’re still eating the smaller ones,” argued Dr. Smyth.
“That’s right,” Sam admitted. “Just because the food chain exists due to the chemical rich hydrothermal vents and the process of chemosynthesis, doesn’t mean all the members of the food chain have to follow suit.”
Marazzato smiled. “You mean the little guys eat the chemicals and the big guys eat the little guys who eat the chemicals?”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much how it goes. The chemosynthetic bacteria grow into a thick mat which attracts other organisms, such as amphipods and copepods, which graze upon the bacteria directly. Larger organisms, such as snails, shrimp, crabs, tube worms, fish and octopuses form a food chain of predator and prey relationships with the primary consumers.” Sam stared at the base of the vent. “The main families of organisms found around seafloor vents are annelids, pogonophorans, gastropods, and crustaceans, with large bivalves, vestimentiferan worms, and "eyeless" shrimp making up the bulk of non-microbial organisms. The bigger organisms such as fish and octopus sometimes get too close to the vents, whereupon they get burned and die. Like everywhere else on the planet, their decomposing bodies will be eaten by smaller, scavenger animals that lay in wait on the seabed surrounding the vents.”
“What about the tubeworms?” Dr. Smyth asked. “They look like they’re eating bacteria inside and outside the vents.”
Sam shook his head. “Tubeworms do not eat. They have neither a mouth nor a stomach. Instead, billions of symbiotic bacteria living inside the tubeworms produce sugars from carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and oxygen.”
Marazzato shook his head. “And I thought we had problems up on the surface. Talk about a different way of life.”
Sam met each of his guest’s eyes. “You two seen enough?”
“Yeah, we know these creatures, unique though they are, belong here,” Dr. Smyth said. “But it’s time to go see what that sphere is. Something I believe definitely doesn’t belong here.”
“All right, let’s go.”
Sam shifted the joystick to the right and the submersible darted round a particularly large hydrothermal vent.
Ursula followed the natural topography of the seafloor and stopped.
There, in front of them, was a completely flat region of land, some thousands of feet across. It was smooth and level, as though someone had come through the region with a bulldozer and leveled the entire seabed.
Major Marazzato raised his eyebrows. “What the hell is this place?”
Sam swallowed hard. “I have no idea; I was hoping you could tell me.”
Marazzato shook his head. “Beats the hell out of me. We definitely didn’t do this, if that’s what you’re asking. The US Military doesn’t have anything that could level an area this large underwater. Hell, if I had to guess, it looks like this entire place has been intentionally leveled… or bulldozed.”
“Or mined?” Sam suggested.
Marazzato paused, taking the question in seriously. “Yes, that’s a strong possibility. Although I wouldn’t have thought anyone had the technology to make mining materials at this depth viable.”
“It might not be as impossible as it sounds,” Sam said. “Many hydrothermal vents are rich in cobalt, gold, copper, and rare earth metals essential for electronic components. Recently, mineral exploration companies, driven by the elevated price activity in the base metals sector during the mid-2000s, have turned their attention to extraction of mineral resources from hydrothermal fields on the seafloor. Significant cost reductions are, in theory, possible.”
“Sure, but at this depth?”
“It’s unlikely, but far from science fiction.” Sam made a half-shrug. “Maybe they’re using an entirely different process to extract the minerals. Could a nuclear bomb have been detonated here?”
Dr. Smyth shook her head. “No. It’s too flat. The blast radius would sweep downward as well as outward, meaning there would be some signs of the damage to the seabed, but instead, the entire region looks unnaturally flat.”
Ursula’s propellers continued to whine as they headed toward the center of the flattened mass, where no hydrothermal vents, seamounts, or guyots, existed anymore — leaving a blank scar on the seabed, like a crater in the moon.
Nearly a mile in, Sam brought the submersible to a complete standstill.
There in front of them, was a perfect sphere, with a diameter of five hundred feet.
It was made of obsidian.
And no light either penetrated it or was released from within.
“Holy shit!” Sam swore, “Elise, are you getting this topside?”
There was no answer.
Because, next to him, Major James Marazzato had just cut through the communication’s cable.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
The wind blew Katale’s kabang at a leisurely four knots across the Phang Nga Bay, heading southwest toward Phuket. He swiftly sailed past the first of many limestone cliffs and rock formations that towered high above the blue-green cyan waters, colorful coral reefs, and white sandy beaches.