" ... And Let Your Eyes be Attentive, Edi"

Edi squeezed the throttle in his 'metal glove', and propelled himself a length from the bubble, assuming a proper 'underwater Superman' pose, and landed gently on the seafloor. He could not scope out anyone who could help him find the rest of the searching crew, and he decided to move in the direction he had seen them go.

The interface, which presented itself as a selection of orange, transparent holograms or laser projections in his helmet, had a selection of functions. A bunch of abbreviations he did not really know much about, except 'FS' - it had to be the 'failsafe' function they had spoke about before, and he probably should not try it out, as it was the only red selectable option. He had a look at the other functions.

The first 'button' said 'RBSS', and he tried pointing at it out in front of him as if it was a neon button just levitating out in the water in front of him. But nothing happened. Maybe it did not work on his suit - after all, it was pretty banged up. Another one said 'AP', and he tried both tapping it out in front of him as before, and he also tried tapping the outside of his helmet where he saw the button. But still, nothing happened.

He then tried speaking it out. "Suit, 'RBSS' please". It activated and laid out a vast grid of points and landscapes. He soon discovered several of the points were moving, a lot of them grouped up in a cluster not too far away from where he was. He tried tapping cluster of orange, moving dots, but nothing happened. "Select... Choose?", he said, fumbling for what the correct term could be, still squeezing the throttle and moving at a decent pace through the deep sea waters.

"Hello, 'trooper' Eden", a robotic voice said. "Do you need a tutorial to get familiar with the 'Deep Sea Dominator 2000', Eden?", it asked. Edi freaked out a bit and felt like he was not alone anymore, as he had thought and had begun getting used to.

"Err, tutorial, tutorial...", he mumbled. "Yes please, mister robot voice dude - show me the ropes", he affirmed.

"Very well, mister Eden", it replied in an overly formal tone.

"Ehm, mister suit robot? 'Edi', please - not 'Eden', ok? It's a bit formal for me", he asked the voice politely.

"Yes, mister Eedee", it replied, at Edi's frustration.

"No - 'EDI', like 'Edy' - not 'Eedee', please", he told the suit. It remained silent for a second or two, processing the command.

"Now, mister Eedai - this suit is voice commanded. Let's try out some functions that you should always have activated while moving into unknown territory", it said - Edi giving up the pronunciation troubles. "Try 'AP' please - it stands for 'autopilot', which is a handy function".

"Ok, suit - 'AP' please", and Edi tried letting go of the throttle. And behold, the suit kept bursting forward, adjusting the height from the seafloor by using the side thrusters, and speeding a bit up. A small forest of long seaweed came up, and the suit elegantly circumvented it.

"Mister 'Eedai', now let us move on to the 'AS', the 'automated sonar', which will allow you to keep notice of moving objects that might not appear on the 'RBSS', which is the 'radar-based surveillance system' in short", it informed - and Edi began understanding the abbreviations, which he thought to be pretty neat. "Let us also investigate the 'RBSS' grid. Just speak out 'selection mode', and point to the place in the map you want to put down a marker for. You can also command the 'AP' to travel there", the voice explained to him.

"Mister 'hopper' - Edi, is it? Have you began getting used to the suit?", a familiar voice said over the coms. Edi, flustered at all the incoming information, had to compose himself.

"Yes, yes - this is pretty cool, actually", Edi replied. "Sorry, sir - who is this?", he asked.

"This is commander Caplan, but just call me 'Cap' for short while we communicate between just you and me", the voice on the coms said. "Are you journeying to our rally point?", he asked him authoritatively.

"Y... Yes, I think so. Which point on this grid is it?", Edi asked, and tried swiping to his right and left, frantically looking for the point in question, searching through huge open plains, high altitudes, and low valleys across the hologram representations of the seafloor.

"Just ask your 'ASA' to show you the rally point - quite simple, it is", he said in a pleasant, reassuring tone for Edi, who was blasting through unknown, deep seas at a speed that was probably way higher than he could tell from all the mud and sand dunes he was passing - hoping that the suit was taking him to the right place.

"Sorry, sir - 'Asa'?", Edi asked him.

"Right", he said, reminding himself who he was talking to. "It's just short for 'atmospheric suit assistant'. Quite simple, actually. You will find that all the abbreviations we make use of, actually are intuitive. You will learn what they are", he assured him. "Just ask your 'Asa' to show you, it will get you here safely", he said, and ended the call.

Edi was left alone again. "Ok... 'Asa', are you there?", he asked out in the void of his helmet, once again.

"Yes, mister Eedai. 'Asa' at your service. How may I assist you?", the assistant asked Edi.

"Nice to have a name for you. Can you show me the rally point?", Edi asked. The map centred around a dot that had other, moving dots circling it. "Set the course there, alright?"

"Certainly, mister Eedai", and the whole suit shifted slightly, and increased the thruster force. Edi now noticed rudders that were standing out from his hip area - reminding him of tiny angel wings. He was getting a bit uneasy from all the unusual movement. "Mister Eedai, I am detecting vital signs that signal sickness. Do you need an anti-travel sickness dose?", the 'Asa' gently asked him.

"Yes, please, 'Asa' ... ", Edi said, feeling uneasy. He felt a slight sting or poke in his arm, and it started tingling all over, all the way up to his shoulder area. "Oh wow, that felt amazing. 'Asa', what was that?", he asked.

"It was just a liquidated travel sickness tablet, mister Eedai", 'Asa' said, Edi sensing arrogance - if that was a possibility, coming from an AI. He let it slip. "Approaching the destination, mister Eedai", 'Asa' said.

He came in for landing, and the landing thrusters went full power to counteract the gravity. It looked like he was heading down a gigantic, abyss-like trench - but the 'Asa' managed to land the suit on safe ground, next to the commander.

"Welcome, 'hopper'. The rest of the crew have already set up a perimeter to go and search for the other 'hopper' - and you are... Eden, right?", the commander asked, and Edi nodded nervously. "First, I have to apologize for the extremely steep learning curve. We never send out 'hoppers' alone to travel that distance you have just laid behind you. But, somewhat ironically, we have seen a dramatic decrease in shark attacks lately, and figured you would be able to get here unharmed", he muttered and sounded a bit disappointed.

"Anyhow - we have been able to contact the other 'hopper'. Regular sharks are not usually able to penetrate the protective plating on our suits, and he is fine. We believe the shark has had quite a go at him, but it seemed to have dropped him just over this here hill" - he pointed to a closeby heap of sand and mud. "We managed to override his suit, as he was blacked out for a period of time, and we activated the 'failsafe' - and, luckily, it worked. But it could be circling him, and there could be a band of monsters just around here, in the shadows, as this is an area we mainly stay out of", he informed. Edi did not mind the amount of information, he was just pleased to have his unvoiced questions all answered in one go.

"Try and see if you can override his suit again and activate the backup tracking unit", Cap asked him. Cap and Edi got off the ground to join the rest of the searching crew. The two were cruising at a normal speed when Cap got an incoming, personal call. He talked a bit and got big-eyed, anxious. "Edi, we have to rush there and get everyone away from here ASAP", he commanded, and he was obviously stressed.

"Ok - why, Cap? 'Asa', full speed", Edi said, and they went as fast as Edi had just gone.

"Where to start on this...", he mumbled, stumbling for words. "Several sonars have picked up strange signals - do you remember how I said 'normal sharks' before?", Cap said, now in a trembling, breaking voice. Edi affirmed. "There could be something out here that is far, far from normal, and I sincerely hope we will get away from here unharmed", he said.

Edi was now sweating and shaking. "Well... What is it, Cap? Is it a big shark or something?", he stuttered nervously.

Cap looked over at him. "It's a myth, first of all - although the sonar readings look suspiciously like another anomaly I once experienced. There is a story that goes around about something foul that resides in the areas we are approaching. None have really gotten to see it fully in the clear, though. It still holds to be a myth in my opinion, but if it's real, well... Then I do not want to be the first one to stumble upon it".