Leviathan, Part 1

"All systems functioning normally, you're good to go."

Alex leaned back, stretching a bit and emitting a casual sound of affirmation in response to the voice on the speakers. Ordinarily, he preferred not to go on late-night salvage dives, but he didn't get much of a say in it this time.

At least he could be fairly certain that the water was safe this time; the Zhalkkryshai navy had been sent packing, so he didn't have to worry about them.
As usual, the humans were holding strong, but their foe would always be a nuisance, it seemed.

Decades ago, an aggressive alien race known as the Zhalkkrysh found them on the planet Enki; a large sphere dotted with large islands stationed in a deep, dark sea. Even with the advanced methods of space travel used by the humans and their adversaries, this planet was notably far away from any others that could sustain life.

With that said, perhaps the humans should have guessed that there would be competition.

Satellites were deployed, forming a perimeter around the planet that prevented the Zhalkkrysh from broadcasting information to one another, sending it up to the satellites and relaying it to the humans instead.

Eventually, they got smart, and started making attempts to shoot them down, and often found success.

This drove the humans to send salvage operatives into the abyss to retrieve the machines.
Alex had arrived on Enki a little over a year ago, and had become rather experienced at this in that time. Still, he missed Earth already. Even back on Earth his occupation was as a salvage operative, but those oceans weren't so deep.
Not that he complained about the ocean; he honestly really liked how expansive Enki's was. But he missed home.

In a pod designed for a single occupant, not much roomier than the submarine vessel he currently piloted, it was a couple months' journey between Enki and his homeworld.

Alex adjusted his seat a little, placing his hands on the controls as his machine was placed in the water and left the crane's grip. Blue backlights turned on, providing a soft glow to the controls that remained easy on the eyes.
The vessel angled itself downwards so as to descend into the depths of the ocean, and harnesses held the pilot in place surprisingly comfortably, in addition to his chair and most of the controls tilting back a little more. The cockpit was like a suspended sphere separate from the rest of the submarine, but he always had view of a window, as well as 3-dimensional mapping for better navigation.

He glanced around outside at the strange marine creatures; while it was true that the oceans of Earth were home to some rather bizarre things, Enki's denizens got weirder at a much faster rate when descending.
Off-colored serpentine creatures drifted by, twisting and trailing long tendrils and organic veils behind themselves. They didn't really have proper eyes, or a head, for that matter, but research had shown that they were capable of sonar and detection of electricity in the water. Each one of them was longer than the submarine, but they were docile and harmless unless thoroughly provoked.

And apparently it took a while to get them anything resembling provoked in the slightest.

Alex moved out further away from the barge, towards the location that the fallen recon satellite allegedly was waiting at.

He liked coming down here, getting away and finding some peace. It was better in the daytime, though; the way the light danced through the water in the top layer was mesmerizing, almost. And it was definitely better when he wasn't so tired.

The vessel continued its journey into the dark waters, and soon Alex could no longer rely on the barge's lights, but his own proved to be adequate.
The pilot smiled a bit as something changed on his 3D map; he'd be coming down on the floor soon.

Alex shifted in his seat as the submarine went horizontal, moving parallel with the sea floor, keeping his eyes peeled for his target. His map found it before his lights did, but it was dead ahead anyway.
His smile disappeared quickly, however, as it became apparent that his objective was on conveniently teetering on the edge of the abyss.
On second thought, it was actually considerably more convenient than if it were to have sunk into the rift.

He contined towards it, readying the retrieval cone. Energy-based containment, allowing for the submarine to tow objects that were ordinarily too much for it.
The lights focused on his target; this was indeed the satellite, painted bright orange and sticking out like a sore thumb among the pink coral. Its cylindrical main body connected to several long, flat rotors connecting to external rings. It powered itself on its own kinetic energy, after being jumpstarted. Something that humanity had spent a long time trying to perfect.

He drew near it slowly, not wanting to disturb its balance and send it over the edge. It was like the universe was taunting him here.
Alex felt his core grow cold for a moment as a large crustacean beast came up over the ledge, drawn to his lights. Its flailing around knocked the satellite up for just a moment, and then it began to sink. The pilot rushed past the dull red thing, staring into the darkness in dismay.
That was it. The universe was definitely taunting him now.

The lobster-like creature came around poking at the lights curiously. With no real claws, it seemed harmless by itself, but it had already caused a great inconvenience.
It was like the kind of puppy that walks up and relieves itself all over your new shoes. The kind of puppy that, if Alex were the violent type and not separated from it by a pressurized mobile container, would have received a swift kick in the ribs, or at least a sharp reprimanding.
Although something told Alex that he could shout at this thing all he liked and even if it could hear him, it wouldn't understand him or pay him that much mind anyway.

He cast it a withering glare out the side window, and then turned his attention to the blackness waiting below. There was no choice but to go down there.
He was no stranger to going so far down, but it meant he'd have to spend more time out of bed.

"Target's a little deeper than we thought," he said, pressing a button to broadcast his voice back the crew above. "This may take a while..."

Sighing to himself as he released the button, he continued his descent, leaving the crustacean behind.
He really hated those things. Especially that one in particular.

>>>>>

Alex continued to travel lower, leaning the seat back and relaxing, reaching out to the map projection, waving it closer to himself and staring into the transparent orange sphere, wondering how long it would be before the satellite showed up again.
Hopefully he wouldn't have a repeat of that recent inconvenience.

He allowed his mind to wander for a bit, but came back to giving his full attention to his surroundings at realizing just how long he had been traveling downwards.

He had never gone this deep before. Well over 8000 fathoms, according to the readings. Then again, this wasn't really a heavily-explored area; it was ordinarily too close to Zhalkkryshai territory. However, they were out of the picture for now.
Alex was probably one of the first people, if not the first to travel this far down. Earth's ocean didn't even go this deep. At least the metal and reinforced glass around him was made to withstand even more pressure than this. Theoretically safe up until 30000 fathoms. Which was a ridiculous depth that even Enki could not provide.

He had another thought occur to him; a little more unsettling. Why hadn't he come across anything down here yet? 6000 fathoms elsewhere on Enki usually had some interesting lifeforms, but passing through on his way to this depth, there was nothing. And there was stil nothing.

For some reason it bothered him even more than if he had company. Perhaps he could just tell command that this was a job suited for a larger crew. With a bigger sub. With torpedoes. To raise morale.
Chances were they wouldn't even use torpedoes, but at least they'd be able to say something like "Don't worry guys! We have torpedoes!"

Aquatic seeker missiles, not this little force-pulse projector that Alex's vessel was outfitted with. It pushed things away, but they could just keep coming back. Granted, he himself didn't want to have to use lethal weaponry, but perhaps just some really strong tranquilizer would have been nice.

He reached out for the button to report that he was coming back up; he never considered himself to be terribly skittish but something about this caused a lot of psychological stress.
He cried out upon putting pressure on the switch, being met with an electronic screech that left his ears ringing. He backed off, breathing heavily. That did it. He was done here.

Too deep for a signal to carry was too deep for him. But it didn't make any sense. Even a connection from back on Earth could have been made, and often was. Why wasn't it working down here?

He stopped short only moments after he had began traveling back upwards, pulling into quick reverse as powerful white light exploded across his vision, revealing a matrix of long tentacles.
He clenched his eyes shut and looked away as the creature released a cell cloud that amplified the light, which would have taken his vision for hours if he looked upon the initial flash.

A dazzler, a creature not unlike giant squids back home. Although this dwarfed the so-called giants rather easily.
The pilot kept going in reverse, but it was futile; he was marked plain as day with the glowing secretion.

Alex released a force pulse, sending the cephalopod careening in the opposite direction, but just as he had feared, it recovered quickly. Lights turned on all over its plated body, and it rushed at him.
He started to angle the submarine downwards again, wondering if he could try to maneuver around it and break free, but he stopped as something rushed past him, causing the dazzler to turn its lights off and move out of the way.

It was huge, whatever this new creature was. There was no record of anything this big living in Enki's waters. A blur of colors halfway between sandy and gray passed by, marked with black stripes here and there.

Alex snapped out of his awestruck state, backing up again just in time to move out of the way of the creature's tail.
And then, to his surprise, a new voice came through the speakers.

"Aww, I lost it," it said in a feminine tone. "You didn't see where it went, by any chance, did you?"

Alex stared around in the darkness for several moments, confused, but finally placed his finger on the button, and to his relief, was not exposed to that vile screech. "Um... no?"

A sigh came through. "That's a shame, that is. Haven't had a dazzler in a long, long time. Reclusive things, don't come out until something they think looks tasty comes along. Speaking of which..."

The man in the submarine pushed himself against the back of his chair in surprise as a massive eye came up. Its pupil was currently a fluctuating slit, not unlike a cat's eye, adjusting to the light. Surrounding that was a deep orange iris. Never before had Alex looked upon anything so huge.

"Who are you?" the voice asked.

"...Alex," the pilot replied at length.

"Nice name."

"...Thanks. ...Do you have a name?"

"Haven't for a while. Let me think for a bit..." The eye closed for about a minute, but opened again suddenly, its pupil fully dilated. "Ooh! How about Bianca? I like that name."

"I think we can work with that," Alex said, trying to stay calm.
Part of him wanted to attempt to get away, though he knew this gargantuan new lifeform could catch him easily. And yet another part of him wanted to stay, already ensnared by her, in a way.
She was a fascinating creature, and he hadn't even seen much more of her in detail than her eye.

"Bianca it is, then," Bianca said. "So, Alex... what brings you all the way down here?"

"Well," he began, "I'm looking for a machine that fell from the sky."

"Some kind of satellite, right?" she asked.

"...Yes, actually."

"M-hm. And what would this satellite look like?"

"Sort of long, with three circular extensions. Should say 'Tenshi' on the side."

"I see. Would this be it, by any chance?"
Bianca held up an object matching that description, placed delicately between two enormous clawed fingers. It really put how huge she was into perspective; the satellite was about thirty feet in length and it fit so easily between her finger and thumb.

Alex nodded, though he wondered if that gesture could be seen, given how miniscule he was in comparison. "Yeah, that's it. Could... could I have that back, if that's alright?"

"You could," the scaled giantess said, appearing to nod a little in response. "But not just yet. I don't exactly get to talk to very many people down here, as you can imagine."

"Right... Well, we can talk for a while, if you like..."

"Great! Although, this is sort of an odd place for that, and I'm getting a little tired of just floating here, so... why don't you just come along with me?"

"I guess I can. Where t-- Hey, what are you doing?"

Bianca rose up a little- a little by her definition, that is -showing off a wide grin. "You won't be able to keep up with me. I think maybe I'll have to carry you along. In you go!"
Her mouth didn't move at all as she spoke; so it seemed more likely that she was broadcasting directly into Alex's vessel, though that realization would have been much more interesting if the heavy weight of dread wasn't pressing down on his mind right about then.

Bianca's jaws parted, revealing a pinkish void within, just beyond two rows of razor-sharp teeth.

Alex said nothing, practically frozen by fear. Regaining control of himself as soon as the submarine started to drift forward, he put on full reverse, but it was no use. The force-pulse hadn't finished charging either, not that it seemed like it would be efficient at all against something of this size.
The sucking current drew him in with ease, and the bone-white spikes interlocked with one another, trapping him inside.

To his relief, he found himself coming to a stop before disappearing into the organic abyss at the back of the creature's throat, and backed up as much as he could without colliding with the wall of teeth, thinking only of how bad it would be if the giantess were to swallow.

"Bianca," Alex breathed, trying his absolute best to stay calm even in this situation, "I'd really prefer it if you could find some alternative to this. I don't think I'm comfortable with this..."

"Oh, hush," she answered playfully. "This is the best way. Now, just sit tight, alright?"

The massive tongue beneath Alex rose up, pushing him out of its way with the rush of water. The muscle pressed itself against the roof of the mouth it inhabited, blocking off access to the throat, which did give Alex some comfort, but despite that extra precaution, he couldn't shake off his anxiety.

The sub swayed a bit as Bianca started to dive, but she put her lips together to block the flow of water, allowing Alex and his containment to travel with her without any impedence.

Alex turned the vessel slowly, looking towards the front of the cavernous mouth instead. It wasn't do much to put him at ease as it was still a reminder of where he was, but it was better than staring down the throat.

He inched back in his chair again, remaining silent.

So he had found the satellite. That was good, at least.

But he had found something else, too; or someone found him, rather.

And it was difficult to determine if that was particularly good or bad, but it didn't take a lot of thinking to work out that he would be finding out which one it was, and rather soon by the looks of things.

But maybe this really would turn out to be a great thing; meeting with a sapient being that no human in history had ever so much as caught a fleeting glimpse of.
But even then, he had a feeling he'd be angry at that overgrown crustacean for a long, long time.

>>>>>

Alex sat still and quiet for at least a good half-hour, waiting for the ride to come to its end.

To his surprise, it seemed like his captor was warm-blooded; he was getting a gradually-climbing thermal reading from the water in her mouth, anyway. Not the kind of thing he expected from a resident of Enki, as most of them had no body temperature of their own and all operated just fine without one.

But that was assuming she was actually a resident. More questions to be asked.

The human considered the gravity of this situation in is head for maybe the fourth time over. Just what was he to someone of this size?
Most definitely not her equal. And if he was like an insect to her, he could be equated to a gnat, probably, so it was odd that she would take such an interest to him.
And if he was only food, something told him he wouldn't be the most filling meal she ever had.

Every time he thought about this, it seemed more and more likely that he was just a plaything. Her prisoner, and she would do whatever she wanted to him. Her size alone gave her an advantage, although that made sense. There should have been a little picture of her right next to the word "colossal" in any dictionary.
No words to define it, just that picture.
But that would imply someone knew what she looked like. Probably no human or Zhalkkryshai had seen her before, and Alex, even with engagement of this nature, hadn't gotten a very good look at her.

Alex's heart pounded in his chest as his protection from the water swayed a little. Bianca had finally come to a stop.

"We're here!" her mirthful voice called through the speakers.

"Great..." the human emitted meekly, stretching a little. He was doing his best to stay calm, and he tried to tell himself that he would be alright at the end this whole ordeal. "So, are you going to let me out now?"

Bianca giggled a little. It really put Alex on edge again.
"Well, I could," she replied slyly, "but I could just as easily do this, couldn't I?"

The double-rows of teeth in front of Alex parted, letting in a soft blue light, probably from some kind of moss or similar plant on the rocky ceiling above the water.
But Alex really didn't care, because more water was also being let in before vanishing down Bianca's gullet.

"Hey, wait!" he called out, in vain; his finger wasn't on the button anyway.
He put the submarine's thrusters on at full blast, having no desire to go the way of the torrent flowing back against him.

He found a few seconds of reassurance that maybe he'd make it out as he moved forward about ten feet, but his hopes were crushed as he was then dragged back that distance and more. And he was going at full speed. There was just no escape.

"Bianca, please stop!" he shouted, slamming his fist down on the button. "Don't do this!"

But even then, he received no answer.

And then, at a moment's notice, he was cut off from the outside light as the wide throat closed up, and in a single powerful contraction, dragged him down towards the belly of the beast.