The resurfacing of previous experiences may be perceived as new, but history suggests otherwise.
'Hortus, it's time to wake up!' Dr Roche called out from across the apartment. Groggily, I opened my eyes and glanced over at my alarm clock. The alarm clock displayed the date as 23/03/2030 and the time as 9:00 a.m.
'Oh shit, it's 9 am, I'm gonna be late!'
Hurriedly, I put on the outfit that I had laid out the day before. I then rushed out to have my breakfast while Dr. Roche was already preparing our bags.
'Still ever the heavy sleeper, huh? I made breakfast, and it's getting cold,' he joked.
On the table, I saw a plate full of eggs, some toast, and condiments already laid out.
"Still the basics, huh? Maybe I should cook next time." I retorted in jest.
"Please don't. I still haven't managed to clean up the mess you left last time," He pointed at the roof, which housed a red stain from my previous attempt at cooking.
"Ain't my fault that pan decided to explode and send sauce everywhere."
"…What. Now I'm stuck with that tomato-based abomination on my kitchen roof because of your antics."
"I mean, now the house has a splash of colour, don't you think?"
We both looked at each other and chuckled at each other's comments.
'Still as quick-witted as ever, I see. How are you feeling about your first-ever expedition?', Dr Roche questioned, setting our bags up near the main entrance.
'Real excited, my first ever expedition, and it's for a new discovery too! Who wouldn't be excited?', I replied ecstatically.
We continued our banter until I was signalled by Dr. Roche that we had to leave.
We took our bags and left the apartment. Our driver was waiting for us, preparing for us to load our bags and go to the Expeditions Centre.
The drive was short and quiet, which was a nice change of pace from how our drives usually went. I was often bombarded with questions when I went for drives with my adoptive father.
I took the time to look out the window and appreciate the scenery while I could, as in a few hours, I would be deep under the ocean looking for artefacts and relics.
On this island, I have lived my whole life. My birth parents, who had despite given me
We soon reached our destination. The Expeditions Centre. It was rather busy today as today had one of the most extensive expeditions ever scheduled, with over 40 different personnel from across various departments on the island.
We rushed to the conference room, where we would be getting the mission brief, details about transport and supply lines, emergency evacuation procedures and more.
Over the PA system, an announcement was made.
"Those involved in Expedition 12F, make your way to the conference room now." That was the expedition that we were involved in. We rushed to the centre and made our separate ways as Dr Roche was in charge of the briefing. I rushed to the conference room and tried to calm myself down on the way.
"Leading this expedition will be me, Dr Roche, Director of Expeditions and I will be assisted by all 40 of you here, though only about 20 of you will be going down into the deep ocean to explore, the remainder of you will be providing remote assistance by monitoring our positions using the communications and location devices that each of us will be carrying.
These devices will monitor our vitals and rhythmically ping our locations around every 10 minutes. If any devices are showing vitals that are out of band from what you deem normal, you have access to send a standby dispatch transport with medical and evacuation personnel. Alternatively, you could also reach another team member with the user and get them to evacuate to the nearest transport."
"Those who will be going down will be equipped with different tools to help acclimatise with the environment. Everyone will have basic breathing apparatus, which includes a wetsuit, 2 oxygen tanks and a set of goggles. In the case that your oxygen tank begins to run out, you are to inform your Expedition leader and immediately return to the transport and wait inside for further instructions. Half of you will also be equipped with defensive tools, namely spearguns, to prevent any hostile creatures from causing us injury."
"This will be the largest-scale expedition that we've done in 14 years. The last time this happened, we lost multiple talented people, and I have implemented measures to make sure that does not happen again this time."
The room went silent. Glances were shared, and heads were down. A moment of silence ensued. Respects were paid to the lives lost in that incident. After it was over, the display flickered temporarily while Dr. Roche cleared his throat.
"Moving on, I have implemented multiple measures, including those mentioned previously. We have improved the functions of our transport vehicles; they will now be able to auto-pilot themselves back to the base by selecting the option. We have also drastically reinforced the hull to make sure any attacks on the hull do not affect the inside of the transport."
The room's light dims as he pulls up the satellite image on the projector.
"As you can see from the image, these ruins are circular; they cover an approximate area of 70 square kilometres. We will be splitting up the exploration team into 4 different teams, as we will be splitting up these ruins into 4 different quadrants. Each team will be assigned a quadrant. Each team will have a leader, who will determine the team's path."
He cleared his throat another time and started a speech, "This will be a perilous expedition, but it will be one that will further humanity's understanding of the past significantly. This could be the proof of the existence of a civilisation that was previously unknown; the technology that could be found could further our technology in ways we do not know. But we must explore, document and analyse if we want that to happen. Remember our mission. To further humanity, we must go deeper."
The room cheered at the end of his speech with the motto of the U56 Island being chanted out loud. I looked at the map in anticipation. My first-ever expedition, and it was one of the most significant ones in history. I recalled back to the day the news of the incident 14 years ago broke out and promised myself that I would make it back alive.
We then went to the area outside of the conference room to find the teams that we were assigned to. I saw that I would be under the supervision of Dr Roche, as he had put me on his squad alongside a mix of new and veteran staff. We did our introductions and had a short talk about the quadrant we would explore and what pathing we would take.
We also made some small talk, mostly self-introductions, interests, and hobbies. Many of them asked me similar questions, mainly being how I was feeling before my first-ever expedition. I gave them all the same answer; that feeling was excitement. My team consisted of 5 members:
Dr. Roche, Director of Expeditions, and my foster father.
Ms. Amanda, a veteran staff member who has been working at U56 for 15 years. She is one of the lead medical officers in the whole facility and will be in charge of treating injuries, major or minor. I used to meet her often, as she was also the head of the clinic and medical review for the children who lived on the U56. She had a warm personality, capable of making even the most closed-off kid open up to her about problems they faced.
Mr. Wheeler, another veteran staff member who is under the security commission of U56. He is trained in multiple self-defence techniques and has been assigned to this expedition as our security detail. He was also in charge of the basic protection training we took while at the academy. He was very strict and often took note of multiple different methods to get out of situations.
Lastly, she was my senior during my apprenticeship. Iris Rene. She was under the tutelage of Dr Roche as well, so she was the one who helped me grow into my apprenticeship and assisted me as well. I've known her since I was a kid, as she's been my neighbour since I was born til I moved in with Dr Roche. But even since then, we've often made time to talk to each other at least once every month. I think of her as family, as she helped me through the grief of losing my parents and helped me find the motivation to keep moving forward.
Soon, the boarding bells rang, and we made our way to the transport bay where we would board our transports and begin our descent down into the depths.