After making their preparations, Mora and Shausedo set out with their team. They first had to transfer from the Apocalypse Laboratory to the Core Mining Area, like descending from an orbital satellite onto a planet. Except their destination was the Stone Shell Sun, which gave them the feeling of falling toward a star.
The light of the undersea sun traveled through the heavy stone shell. It was dim, yet enough to reveal the outlines of everything—and distort them severely.
The dark light pierced the seawater, casting jagged ripples inside the radiation-proof sealed capsule. Around it, lead-gray, eel-shaped ore carriers darted in and out. Those Moving Towards Each Other with them were likely carrying raw ore containing Origin Mother and Ghost Ore, which needed to be delivered to the Apocalypse Laboratory for refinement by special means.
Shausedo's voice came through the communicator. "I heard there still isn't an industrialized purification technique for Origin Mother and Ghost Ore?"
Mora laughed. "What are you implying?"
"I was just considering the possibilities for Origin Mother jewelry designs... If possible, I'd like to put one on this chain."
Shausedo was still fairly relaxed. Even beneath three layers of protection, he wore that fine chain on the outside and kept playing with it. His movements were reasonably nimble, producing a soft, dense series of faint clinks.
Mora could tell he was using this method to adapt to being armored.
She did not bother responding. The sealed capsule slowly descended, drawing close to the edge of the Stone Shell Sun.
The closer they got, the brighter it became outside, but the distortions of the seawater and light also grew increasingly apparent. Every image beyond the capsule looked bizarre and grotesque.
Mora had long since grown tired of such sights and could not be bothered to look.
Shausedo