As if the oceans on earth weren't mysterious enough, scientists had found an ocean underneath the surface of Saturn's moon, Enceladus.
A manned mission to explore the ocean of water below the icy surface of Enceladus, seemed like a good idea to everyone. NASA was ready with a spaceship to carry the interplanetary mariners in just two years after the project was announced.

I was more than happy to be chosen for the mission. Being a junior
bio-chemist on the ship didn't feel that bad. The other bio-chemist, Dr Neils was at least 38, which is not THAT old but he behaved like a grumpy old man.

After a week since our ship, Aqua 1, left earth almost every crew member including Captain Parker was annoyed with him. But he was always good to me so I bore no hatred towards him. And because I was nice to him... he told me many things about himself, which no one else on the ship knew.

For instance, he had somehow managed to smuggle a pack of cigarettes and a lighter with him on the mission without NASA officials knowing anything about it. He once told me it he wished,  he would be smoking whilst death came to him.

The two months we were on the spaceship, waiting to reach Enceladus, were mostly boring. Except for the Jupiter fly-by which was more beautiful than words can explain.

Then ,one day, we saw Saturn growing larger before our eyes. Its beautiful rings were spectacular to watch. Then, Captain Parker thundered his orders,"It's time now... use the thrusters. We need to move downward now. Stop looking at me and get to work."

The thrusters shot flames and downward we went, just a little above the rings, making them look thin and not-so-spectacular.

It was only then that Enceladus came into view. The other moons were probably in some parts of their orbits, too far to be seen. I'd heard Enceladus was shiny, but calling it shiny was a huge understatement. The bright white ball ,reflecting sunlight and 'Saturn glow', was on the same plane as the rings of Saturn.

It grew larger as we went closer, the thrusters slowed us down and before I was prepared... there came a small jerk. "Shoot the anchors, hold onto the ice, prepare the drill, it's almost time for the transition.", Captain Parker yelled.

I was still peeping out of the glass looking at the shiny ice below when someone tapped on my shoulder. I turned back, it was Dr. Neils. "Time to get going, lad." he said. He wasn't smiling, he wasn't frowning but from his blank face, happiness and excitement radiated.

By the time, the drills were striking the ice to create our hole to wonderland, all of us got into our uniforms. For the last time we were briefed about the mission which had been done so many times earlier that could quote every line, despite it being really long.

We were told once again after we descended into Enceladus' global ocean, Dr. Neils would leave the primary submarine and drive a, smaller, secondary submarine to collect samples of the surface ice. Our submarines would then descend further below to study and compare the water at greater depths to the water with that at the surface. Dr. Neils was then supposed to collect samples from the moon's rocky core.

Once the briefing was over, Captain Parker roared,"The show's over get going. Be prepared. Initiate the TRANSITION."

Then, the transition began. I'd love to call it the 'transformation' or 'morphing time' but I chose to stick to the official word. Four spider-legs emerged from the sides of the ship, their spiked ends hit the moon's surface and lifted our ship about fifty metres above the surface. A vibration in the ship's metal floor told me that thrusters had be pulled inward into a chamber. Another one told me that the chamber had been shut closed.
"The propellers are ready, Sir." an engineer reported to Captain Parker.

Officially, our ship turned unto a submarine. The morph, I mean the transition had been successful.

Dr. Neils and I walked through the corridor leading to my rendezvous. He stopped all of a sudden and placed his hand on my shoulder. "I ain't going that way ,lad."he said turning his head towards a vacant corridor.

I noticed that there was an airlock at the end of it. "It's a solitary path now on."he said, letting out a giggle. "Farewell for now lad. And I hope I wouldn't need these." He patted his pocket, I knew he was talking of the cigarettes and the lighter.

"I hope the same. All the best, Sir. Bye.", I replied. I was too excited and hurried to notice the emotion on his face which was rarely ever seen.

I reached the sample chamber, where the most of my remaining time at Enceladus would be spent. A dozen empty cylinders, to contain the samples, and two engineers greeted me. All the three of us took our seats at a corner of the chamber and put our seatbelts on. I put my headphones on and heard a soul tearing shout from Captain Parker,"Sub-2,do you copy? Neils, you slow sloth, do you copy?"

After a few seconds I heard "Neils?!?"and "I copy" at about the same time.

"Sample chamber, do you copy?",followed. "I copy." I replied.

The only contact I had to what was happening outside was through the Captain's announcements "The drills have done their job team. Now it's time for the lasers."

After about ten seconds, he began again,"The lasers have got us through. Descending in 5...4...3...2...1" A screeching sound told me that the spider-legs had pulled us back down. Then came the crash.

Everything shook like it was an earthquake. I felt my heart trying to find it's way out of my ribcage. My head began to spin. After a few long breaths, things got back to normal. "We are below the surface.",Captain Parker announced.

"Infrared cameras activated."a lady's voice was heard. I knew why we had infrared cameras instead of normal ones or glass panes. This wasn't earth. This was an unearthly ocean. Far from the sun, below the surface, the water didn't have a hint of the blue colour it is often associated with. It was black. Matte black all around. No visible light could show us much, hence the infrared cameras. How could a world with a bright exterior, hold such darkness within?

"Sub-2 you has permissions to dismount.", Captain Parker said calmly. "Will dismount in 5...4...3...2...1...  Dismount complete."Dr. Neils replied before, the Captain lost his patience and began  howling.

"Captain, the cameras reveal a sphere of radius 6 inches radiating heat. Probably a bubble of some kind."the same lady as earlier spoke.

"Turn the submarine. Bring the bubble close to the sample chamber. Sample chamber, prepare a cylinder for taking the first sample. Wait for further instructions"

"Yes, Sir.", I replied. The engineers got to work immediately. A few button taps later, a cylinder had been locked into the sample collector.

About a minute later, the Captain yelled,"Sample chamber, open the window. Now!"

I pulled the required switch. A kind of window opened near the mouth of the cylinder, allowing the water from outside to be sucked inward. A meter on the cylinder turned and told us when it was filled with water. I pushed the switch back to position, the window closed. The engineers took care that the cylinder was unloaded and placed on the examination table for a short study. If everything was alright I would qualify it to be stored in the storage block.

There were two 0.5m:0.25m glass parts, opposite to each other, on the otherwise metallic long 20 litre cylinder. I peeped in and saw the sphere which had been mentioned, but clearly it was not a bubble. It had a translucent outer cover protecting what may within.

Looking carefully into the translucent sphere, to my amazement I saw a black cylindrical object with some small spines, a round opening at one of it's ends a fish-like tail on the other. Was this thing real? Was it alive? Was I dreaming?

A tonne of questions gushed into my head. It tapped the cylinder, "Do you see this too?", I asked the engineers. Before they could reply, the creature did. I saw the spines vibrate, then the cylinder began vibrate, letting out a hum. It began to vibrate vigorously

"Is the bubble sustained or did it burst?", the Captain asked. "It's not a bubble, Sir..."

Before I could continue, I heard Dr. Neils,"Captain, I don't know if the cameras on Sub-2 are working fine but something large emitting heat just swam past me."

The creature vibrated still more vigorously. It was then that I understood what had just happened and what the creature was. It was an embryo within an egg, and we had scared it. And that had pissed-off its mother......

The next part will be out before long. Let me know what you think about this part😁. Should I write long stories in parts? What do you think of the Dr. Neils and the impatient Captain Parker? Your opinions are very much appreciated. I hope I haven't made any mistakes😅...If I have please let me know.

THANK YOU FOR READING