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The submarine's claws rake deep into the coral, breaking off a huge mound of it and leaving a gouge in the surrounding complex of skeletal white growth. It takes more time and fuel but you end up with a much fuller sample chamber than you otherwise would.

Above is a sprawling complex of fronds that grows in almost uniform patterns of spires, the 4-mile-thick layer of ice hidden entirely. Below, is the black unmeasured ocean, believed to be fifty-eight miles deep. As deep as eight and a half Mariana trenches. Further than the little submarine could ever travel. "I feel like there's something down there. Something watching me," whispers Marcel.

The submarine's camera feed plays live on walls throughout the colony. The colonists watch as the submarine's bright beams light up a path through the darkness. Suddenly illuminated out of the dead coral shines a profusion of color….

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