Anois

Stepping through the archway, the passage gives way to a large room. The dominate feature of the room is a window. This is not some simple, every day, please-roll-it-up, hurry-close-it-before- it-storms window. This is a window in the same way that Australia is simply an island. This is a window that is about five feet in thickness, at least that is what the little sign next to the window indicates. It is window designed in strength, but blessed with portions of perfect clarity. There are some admitted distortions - some caused by the window itself, others caused by water seeping in, still others by an overgrowth of mildew and various similar things.



Trying to look out one of the less distorted areas, I can see that I am indeed under the water. I suppose the bathysphere ride should have been my first clue. The depth here, given the thickness of the window anyway, must be great. Flood lights stare out into the dark beyond the window and provide a few feet of illumination. The revealed sea-bed looks like a mixture of sand, stone and muck (I have no better word for it). At the edge of the light looks to be some lava cones and vents.



One of the first things that strikes me, looking out, is the footprints in the sea-bed. Footprints?! I cannot image anyone surviving to walk around outside this window - no matter what kind of deep sea suit they were wearing. As if that is not enough, there are at least two variety of footprints. One appears to be a barefoot print and the other looks to be more animal, in that it has obvious pads and claws. Curious. The prints seems to be wandering back and forth around the glass. The animal prints more distant, but making occasional rushes on the window. The barefoot prints seem to be warding the animal prints away. Intercepting and deflecting whatever it is that is making the prints. I also see, with something of a shiver, that the barefoot prints (rarely) seem to move out of the way and allow the animal prints in to touch the glass. And yet I see no fatal flaw or life threatening damage to the glass.

At the edge of the light, a little distance from the vents, appear to be half finished structures and designs. The appear vaguely familiar, tickling the edge of my memory without actually waking something. Some of the structures appear to be bending and and some appear to be destroyed by the pressure of the sea. Others are standing firm, with little sign of wear or damage. I can see that other structures provide shelter for small polymorphic creatures. They seem to lurk there on the edge of the night, winking and signaling to each other. I may be going crazy, but they also seem to have an awareness of my presence.

A dull thud shifts my attention toward the top of the window. Some sort of small pointed stick or primitive spear has struck the window. Coming in and out of clarity is the culprit. An oddly shaped thing that looks like the unfortunate offspring between a harpie and a puffer fish. Small arms hold it's primitive weapon, while it demonstrates some expertise with that weapon. (But it is still a very primitive tool and unlikely to do much lasting damage. I was initially scared that it would crack the window and end my investigations, but I soon realized the impotency of the thing and actually feel sorry for it.) It has the head of an eagle, but the face of a distraught and angry woman. It's body is all puffed out with it's own self importance, as if to say "look at me, see how big I am, see how much power I have, see what I can do!" It is ultimately a small thing fighting something it does not have the capacity to understand. It is ultimately a thing of pity.

The 'puffer-harpie' has me thinking about damage to the window, though. I stare out into the black looking for any danger, almost obsessively looking to be hurt. Some larger fish swim by and knock against the window, causing a shudder. But nothing that damages. These larger fish are almost unaware of the effect they have on the window and the man behind it. They are blind things, swimming in the dark, going about their own survival without malice or beneficence.

The inside of the window room is large and comes filled with things to see and investigate...