Athena's first dive...

When Athena and Stan came to, they looked at one another and smiled....this wouldn't be easy but there was no backing out now... hand and hand they walked onto the tele pad together, knowing that there was little chance for them to be together in this new world...

"See you around baby..." Athena spoke lovingly with a wink toward Stan before she disappeared...

....

When Athena "opened her eyes" again, she looked around warily as she heard crashing water nearby...she couldn't turn her head or move her body at all...she could only see exactly what was in front of her....it was an unnerving feeling, one that left her panic-stricken...

As time passed by, day by day, eventually Athena calmed down and accessed her situation....this was her dream and even though this was a bizarre experience, she knew this wasn't going to be easy...

She looked ahead as she contemplated...

'Okay....so I'm here in a dim environment with no sound except crashing water... everything else feels muffled...'

The more she thought about it, the more she became sure...as little shadows passed by and the muffled water sounds never stopped, she concluded that she was at the bottom of some water source...

'Most likely below a waterfall from what I can tell...'

As another week went by, eventually cracks began to form on Athena's body, and with loud cracking noises...a healthy-looking young lady with black line marks appeared from the stone statue.....her body unable to move properly, she was quickly carried downstream while floating towards the surface...

.....

Unbeknownst to Athena, she was in a very advantageous location...a once in a century sized thunderstorm just passed over this small valley and produced lighting the likes of which is rarely seen...

The result of this lighting/rainstorm is the rapid heating and cooling of gases in the atmosphere causing the separation of N2, leaving free nitrogen in the air...

That N molecule readily binds with Oxygen to form Nitric Oxide (NO) which inevitably binds with oxygen to create NO2 (nitrogen dioxide)...this compound was the reagent needed to form the very thing required to escape the stone prison faster...Nitric Acid:

3 NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) + H2O(rainfall/waterfall) → 2 HNO3(nitric acid) + NO(nitric oxide)

....

The lucky lady woke up alongside a small creek, it was a runoff of the larger river fed by the waterfall...luckily enough, there were no beasts around as a sight full of a naked woman would be like a free piece of delicate steak to many...

When the once angel (now human) woman opened her eyes...there was fear, panic, thoughtfulness, and then, expectation...

One could see her hop up to her feet faster than anyone would think possible and begin to look around for clothing material, food, water container, the works....she knew what was needed for human survival and she was driven to not let her first dive be a stain on her future flawless record!

The work was hard and grueling but the ever-present smile on the corner of Athena's lips made it clear that whether painful or incredible, the future was something to look forward to...