Student's Report:
In the summer of 2000, a group of six students from a Florida maritime high school cruised with NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown on a routine expedition to gather data from the water column over the Axial Volcano off Oregon. As partial high school credit for the experience, the students were required to write a fictional short story that describes their adventures and knowledge gained. It is hoped that through the creative expression of their encounters, they learn more about themselves as well. These are samples of their work and that of their teacher. The authors, in order are Vito Maselli, Darin Tonks, Erik Davis , and Ted Davis. Yesterday we posted the first 2 stories, here are the final ones:

Mysteries From the Deep by Erik Davis

Way, Way Back

Swaying back and forth, a pod of Ichthyosaurs were out on the hunt for some fish. The baits shimmered with excitement as they drew the attention of the Ichthyosaurs and other predators. Pretty soon they managed to force the schooling fish to the surface as the waves of surging plant life hindered their movement. As the Ichthyosaurs crashed into the fish, flying reptiles swooped down, picking up their next unsuspecting victim. The Ichthyosaurs paid no attention to the world around them, allowing them to become easy prey for other larger marine animals. Suddenly, out of the deep, a dark gray figure appeared out of nowhere. The pod of Ichthyosaurs left the trail of blood in concern for their safety. They jetted quickly through the water often becoming air born to gain extra speed. But the dark gray figure was still right behind them. It took some extra force, allowing it to catch up with the Ichthyosaurs. It was able wound one of them making it vulnerable. As the handicapped Ichthyosaur was slowing down, the others didn't even know their fellow companion was missing.

The wounded Ichthyosaur had no energy to even move because so much blood had been lost. The dark gray figure was starting to do circles around the injured Ichthyosaur. Every rotation it was engaging closer. When close enough, the dark gray figure moved into the cloud of blood, decapitating the wounded Ichthyosaur. As the corpse started to float, the dark gray figure started ripping off large chunks of meat and blubber. Above a calvary of flying reptiles were feasting off the unwanted chunks of meat. Just then a flash lit up the sky followed by a big bang, almost as if a huge bomb went off. Then the water went black and all was quiet.

The Mystery

All was quiet when the "Bait Waster" was leaving its homeport or a good day of fishing off the coast of Washington. It was about 3am when Frank Hill left port. As he was drinking his hot cup of coffee he stared at his fish finder. "Bingo" said Frank. Schools of long fin tuna were near by so he set out his lines and started to troll. zzzzzzz. "Fish on". He picked up the rod and started to bring in the fish. zzzzzzz. "Another one". He was soon in a big school of tuna. As the pounding of the tuna against the deck of the boat and the blood squirting all over the place it had drawn some attention of other animals. "One more and I have my limit". Just then a white shark had came up and nabbed one of his tuna that he had on the line. "Oh no". The shark started to pull out line and Frank was getting worried, for the shark would shurley spool him. Suddenly the water started to rumble, and the water was turning foamy. A sulfur smell was filling the air. Then before his eyes, the shark and all of the tuna were floating up. Soon his boat started to melt. He quickly went to the VHF and sent out a distress call. "US Coast Guard, US Coast Guard this is the Bait Waster. I have an emergency." "This is the US Coast Guard. What is your Emergency?" "My boat is sinking, rather melting and all of the fish for a mile are have vaporized." "Ok. We are sending out a chopper to come get you." "Ok. Bait Waster out." " US Coast Guard out." Frank had no chance of getting out of this and his boat was melting fast. As the water was seeping through the boat, Frank was starting to pray for the forgiveness of all the sins he had ever did for he knew that his time was coming up. Soon he was covered in the water and as the acid burned him into vapor. The chopper arrived at the scene just 7 minutes after Frank died. All they could see was an up welling current that was a mile in diameter. The air reeked of sulfur. The pilot said, " There must have been an eruption in the volcano on the Juan de Fuca Ridge. That's probably what is causing this rotten egg smell. Do you see the boats in distress?" The co-pilot said " No. He couldn't have made it." As the chopper came to the launch pad a news team was already there. As the cops held them back they shouted to the pilots. " Where's the victim?" " Did you loose him?" " What happened to him?" As the pilots entered in the Coast Guard building the Chief wanted to see them. " Sit down boys. So what happened" The pilot said, "When we arrived at the scene, we must have witnessed a volcanic eruption. We had not seen the boat or the captain. We assumed that the eruption must have vaporized him." Well we are going to send out NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown to go see what happened down there. You boys are dismissed," said the Chief.

On the NOAA ship Ronald H. Brown, all the crewmembers were celebrating a good but sad day. They were celebrating "Doc's" last cruise on the ship, and it was also Darin's birthday. They were all having a barbecue out on the stern deck and having a grand old time thinking about the occasion. Then, up from the bridge, Captain Parsons was paged to respond to an emergency. He rushed to the bridge and demanded " What happened?" " We have a message for you on the VHF. " This is Captain R. Parsons what's the emergency?" " This is the US Coast Guard, we need you to go to about 300 miles Southwest of Puget Sound. There must have been a crack in the Axial Volcano and sulfurous vapors are threatening life in the area." " Ok we are on our way." responded Captain Parsons.

NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown arrived at the scene, and immediately started to lower the CTD. A CTD measures physical and chemical characteristics of the water and can be used the find the venting poisonous gasses. When the CTD hit bottom and started to take samples. A prehistoric creature, larger than life seemed to be awakened by the eruption. For two million years now it's behemoth species have adapted to the abyss and the inexhaustible food supply of global hydrothermal vents and giant squid. For the last few decades, its food supplies have been scarce and its megaladon species have come upon hard times. A lone creature was investigating what was going on. It circled the CTD and because of the magnetic impulses emanating from the metal, it attacked it. The confused creature crushed the whole CTD with its mouth and started to carry it off. On top the Chief Scientist Dr. Baker was looking at the screen and saw the CTD was no longer sending data to the science computer. He ordered the crewman who was operating the crane to hoist it up. As the crane pulled up the CTD, the cable stopped and then suddenly sprang loose like a fish striking bait. When the CTD was back on board and they saw what had occurred they were amazed. "What could have done this?" Said one of the crewmembers. " I can't imagine."

Later that night the group of high school students that were on board were fishing for squid. They knew that when the CTD comes up, sharks follow it as well. That night, Another CTD casting was made. The students were Vito, Erik, Jason, and Darin. They were all trying their best to bring up a shark. When the CTD came up a figure about 60 feet long appeared. Erik, who was trying to catch baits, saw it first and called the other guys over. As soon as they heard the word shark, they all raced over with their big rods. Erik said " That shark was about the size of a whale." Just then the line popped and the shark came for more. " Look, Look there it is." " Oh my god." Vito called over one of the crewmembers to come look. " Wow that's a megaladon, a prehistoric shark that lived here a long time ago. The shark was circling the boat. That morning the shark was still there. The captain wanted to get out of there but one of the Z-drive thrusters had been damaged. The crew noticed the giant shark looked lost. "Hey I have an idea," said Erik. Let's tie frozen squid onto the damaged CTD and try to lure him down to the abyss where he belongs." They did and as predicted, the shark followed it down. They released the damaged CTD and sacrificed it to the deep. In the end, the props were repaired and the ship and crew returned. Making a living at sea is hard and risky but there are still many mysteries to come.

If Archaeans Could Talk by Ted Davis

Chapter 1-Home

Bobby Olson was so excited to get home from school he could hardly wait. Mr. Murphy, his Marine Biology teacher had selected him to go on a field trip that was very special. He slammed on the brakes in the driveway and almost hit the palmetto palms that his dad had planted by the mailbox so that his native tree landscaping would be more xeric. He grabbed his senior English and Marine Biology books from the passenger seat, slammed the dusty door of his small pickup truck, and bolted for the front door. The little chameleons scattered from the sidewalk as he raced by. Bobby called loudly "Mom? Mom, are you home?" Mrs. Olson was in the study room printing up some research she had found about some meteorites that were found on Mt. Baker in the Cascade Mountains. Mrs. Olson replied " I'm back here Bobby. What's all of the excitement all about?" Bobby dropped his books and homework on the papers that were newly printed from the Internet and exclaimed "I'm going to sea on a NOAA oceanographic research ship. I can't believe it! Out of all the other kids, Mr. Murphy picked me." Mrs. Olson replied "Picked you for what?" Bobby answered "Tim Harden, John Earl, Adam Reynolds, and I were chosen to spend sixteen days on a real science research ship. We are going to fly to Seattle, take a ferry to Victoria, British Columbia, and then we go out on a big NOAA ship called the Gerald H. Crown. We're all going out to study hydrothermal vents on a real underwater volcano. Man, I can't believe it! Can I go Ma?"

Mrs. Olsen was thoughtful for a moment. Sixteen days was a long time to be away from her son whom she still often thought of as her baby. Bobby was an enthusiastic young man who loved science. He always questioned what he saw especially when it came to animals and their environment. He loved to wonder what the world was like when there were no people or even mammals. She thought to herself "Well he has always wondered where life came from and how it got here so maybe this will help him find some answers." "As far as I am concerned Bobby, you can go but your father and I will have to discuss it. Go do your homework for now and we'll talk later." Bobby said " Sure mom" and he picked up his books and homework. When he did, he accidentally took the papers that his mom had just printed. As Bobby sorted through his homework, he came upon them. While Bobby was reading it, he thought "Wow! Meteorites from Mars? Found on Mt. Baker? I think that's a volcano near Vancouver. What's this? Scientists find what they think are primitive Archaeans inside? Four billion years Old!

Chapter 2 - Victoria

It was on the jet that the full realization of what they were doing began to sink in. Bobby was lucky enough to have a window seat. As they neared Seattle, he could see the majestic snow capped volcano, Mt Rainer. It was so massive that it still had snow on it even though it was summer. Bobby thought to himself "I remember what Mr. Murphy said about the Cascade Mountains. He said that they were being made as the Juan de Fuca and Gorda plates slipped under Washington and Oregon and pushed up this huge mountain range. He said that there are volcanoes up and down this entire range. Man from up here, you can see em all!" Bobby looked over his right shoulder to see if there were any empty seats on the other side of the plane. No one was in window seat 21 F so he scooted over to see if he could see any more on the other side. Sure enough, he could. Another alpine volcano, but way off to the North. Bobby asked Mr. Murphy "What's that volcano over there?" " It's Mt. Baker, way up in British Columbia" replied Mr. Murphy. Bobby thought to himself "That's where they found all those meteorites. I wonder if anyone found any more? The next thing he knew, the plane was landing at SeaTac Airport. Mr. Murphy and the other boys loaded their bags and were driven to a hotel near the ferry for the first night. They couldn't go straight to Victoria because the ferry only ran in the morning.

The next day they left the hotel and boarded the ferry. The Victoria Flyer disembarked at 0900 and was soon clipping along at 35 kts. While the boat was underway it cruised up Hood Canal and out into Puget Sound. Bobby loved looking at all of the big ships lined up to dock at the Port of Seattle. Soon he could see the jagged snow covered mountains of the Olympic Range to the west. He thought about the wild and misty green rain forests on the western slopes with giant trees straining to be first for sunlight in an archaic forest that probably once sheltered dinosaurs and creatures of long ago. He thought to himself "hope it doesn't rain on us while we are out on the ocean." and continued to watch the awesome glacially carved peaks. As they crossed Puget Sound, they saw many ecotourist boats racing to catch up with a local pod of Orcas that visit the San Juan Islands this time of the year. As they entered the Port of Victoria on Vancouver Island, the boys and Mr. Murphy saw NOAA Ship Gerald H. Crown tied up to the wharf with men and women busily loading her with supplies. Soon the ferry stopped but did so a little farther into the funnel shaped harbor than where the ship was. They could see the picturesque capital city of Victoria wrapping in all directions. The Victorian design of the buildings clearly indicated that the engineers were of British architectural schooling. After they went through customs, a NOAA transport car took them and their gear to the ship.

NOAA Officer Kathy Marshall greeted them on the wharf and showed them to their berths. A berth is a place where a mariner drops after standing a tiresome watch. When they wake up, they feel like they are "reborn" to face another day at sea. We secured all of our things and soon met Captain Peterson. He explained the things that they would be doing for the next sixteen days and then gave us leave to visit Victoria. "Go ahead in town and enjoy your selves. Find some souvenirs to take home to your families." The Captain said. "Just make sure you're back by 1700. We've been challenged by the Canadian Coast Guard to a friendly game of base ball and we would like to invite a few of you to play on the NOAA team" he said. So off they went, wearing their high school t-shirts with pride as they took in the sights of Victoria. The snug little coastal city was beautiful to these Southern Florida boys. They were used to coastal maritime tourist towns but they were happy to be in warm sunshine with a cool sea breeze in off the Sound. Like the old Key West town that they were used to, Victoria had plenty of "nick-knack" stores that compete for a limited tourist season. The things that they saw were fascinating to them but very expensive. Bobby had saved up some money for the trip but he did not want to spend it all on junk. He thought to himself "It has to be something special." They looked but Bobby couldn't make up his mind. Soon Mr. Murphy said " Well boys, it's time we got back to the ship. We don't want to miss that baseball game." Bobby began to feel panicky and said "hey you all, I'll meet you on the field. I think that I just spotted something that I might like." "Ok Bobby but be careful that they don't ask too much," said Mr. Murphy. Hurry up Bobby. We all want to stop for some fish and chips after the game" Adam shouted over his shoulder.

Bobby watched them continue on to the ship and turned to walk down an old and narrow street. It still was cobbled with the original granite stones that honeycombed the Town of a hundred years ago. There were no cars allowed and the street was stratified with portable stands bedecked with jewelry and exotic items poised to attract you over and bargain with the merchant about the price. Bobby casually meandered through the forum. Soon he was attracted to a stand that appeared as if the merchant had temporarily set it up intending on a one-day use only. The rugged looking young man had an arrangement of necklaces, each of which were exhibited with a variety of polished rocks as amulets. He noticed that he had on climbing shoes. Next to him, on the ground was a daypack full of semi precious stones. Bobby could tell that he wasn't used to selling jewelry to fat tourists in the street so he asked him where he found all the rocks. The young man was pleased to talk with some one whom appeared to be interested in them so he told him all about rock hunting in the Cascade Range. He described the adventurous lifestyle of a mercenary geologist. He explained that he had been in the mountains for three months now and was trying to sell some of his adornments for some food and supplies. Bobby noticed one very unusual rock that was reddish black yet had a smoky metallic shine. It was teardrop in form with hundreds of tiny oval shaped patterns that covered the surface. Bobby knew instantly that this was what he wanted. Pointing to the amulet Bobby asked, "Where did you find this one?" The young man said, " I think that's a meteorite. I found it up on Mt. Baker three months ago. I sold quite a few of them to some scientists a while back. Do you like it?" Bobby grinned and said "Yeah. How much do you want for it?" It's worth over a thousand dollars but you can have it for a hundred," said the young man. Bobby paid the man and told him about the trip that he was going to go on. He wished Bobby well and smiled as he watched him put the necklace on and then dash off to catch up with his friends. As Bobby ran, his eyes were distracted briefly by the dashing rays of sunlight that sparkled from his new good luck charm from space. Bobby thought to himself "A real meteorite! I wonder if it's from Mars?"

Chapter 3 - The Ship

The morning of our departure, the ship was bustling with excitement and anticipation. The crew was busy making final preparations so Mr. Murphy said " Let's go out on the wharf and take some final pictures of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains." As they were standing there taking group shots at the opening to Victoria Harbor, they witnessed an unusual phenomena. Mr. Murphy said "Look Boys. Look at that wave" The Boys turned around and noticed the single wave moving up the harbor in a crescent shape. They looked around and didn't see any boats or ships. "That's a tidal bore." said Mr. Murphy. He explained that it was unusual to see them and that you had to be lucky to be in the right place, at the right time. He said that it was like a battle between land water and seawater sparring to see who can out push whom. He said that the sea always wins and pushes the land water back up the river as a wave called a tidal bore. Bobby thought, " We're lucky alright. Lucky to be standing there looking at NOAA Ship Gerald H. Crown slowly lift as a tidal bore passes with Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains behind it. They went back on board and the ships powerful "Z" thrusters moved them away from the dock. The mighty Gerald H. Crown sounded her horn with one long blast, and soon they were outward bound. The boys all rushed to the bow with excitement in hopes of spotting a whale or perhaps some frisky sea lions. The cold Pacific air soon "bit" into their Florida bones and they quickly abandoned their vigil for some leeward perch that was out of the wind. Soon that gave way to a look out spot from the ship's portholes, sipping on one their "bottomless" cups of hot chocolate. After a few hours went by, Mr. Murphy came by and asked them to all to come into the ship's library for a briefing from the Chief Scientist, Dr. Banner. The boys went to get their notebooks and quickly took their seats. Mr. Murphy introduced Dr. Banner as an Oceanographic Scientist who is working for NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. Mr. Murphy said, " Dr. Banner is going to tell you what we are looking for and why. He is going to tell you what your duties are and how you will perform them." Dr. Banner stands and thanks Mr. Murphy and turns to face the boys. He was a man of middle age and of medium build. He was not real tall but had a stance of a seasoned mariner. As the ship began to pitch from side to side, his body leaned into the yaw but he maintained his balance. It was mid afternoon by then and the typical mountain breezes were beginning to pick up quite a sea in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The boys didn't quite have their "sea legs" yet and were having trouble listening to Dr. Banner. The closeness of the walls and people in the room were not apparently moving by perception of their brains. It was being confused by contradictory information from their inner ears. A little bubble inside the semicircular canals could not by fooled and tells the brain that the room in moving. This and the nerves of the muscles and joints trying to keep in balance cause a conflict in messages resulting in motion sickness and they were beginning to feel the effects. Dr. Banner began to speak. "In 1998, there was a volcanic eruption at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean about 260 miles off the coast of Oregon. We're going out there for sixteen days to gather data after the event, two years later. We're going to drop a cylindrical stainless steel cage Text item: Text Item 3 of 3 called a CTD rosette down 1500 to sometimes 2700 meters to the hydrothermal vents that are clustered around the sides of the volcano." As Dr. Banner went on, the boys were feeling queasy and their minds drifted off. Dr. Banner explained that "Hydrothermal vents are like geysers of super heated water that bring minerals up from within the crustal plates at mid ocean ridges. The mineral deposits settle around the vents and form tall chimney stacks that spew out smoke-like water. John thought to himself "Spew? He said Spew!" John politely excused himself and made a b-line for the head. The other boys found themselves in a similar situation but Bobby remained fascinated by Dr. Banner's discussion. He went on to explain about the unique ecosystem that thrived around "black smokers." He listened as he said, "Huge leathery pogonophoran tube worms are sessile to the mineral rich pervasive alterations of which the smoke stacks are made of. Amazingly the whole ecosystem is independent of the sunlit photosynthetic world. It is entirely dependent on symbiosis and chemosynthesis." Bobby didn't understand a lot of the words that Dr. Banner was using so he asked, "What do you mean by symbiosis?" Dr. Banner replied in as simple terms as he could. "These worms cannot make their own food so they must rely on something else for sustenance. You see, these worms have red blood.a type of hemoglobin with iron in it like ours does. The red blood captures hydrogen sulfide that comes out of the hot water vents. Tiny bacteria-like organisms called thermophiles live in the worm's tissue where these sulfur compounds are brought to by the worm's blood. They biochemically change the hydrogen sulfide into food by chemosynthesis." Bobby was absolutely fascinated by the explanation. He responded with a "Wow!" and then he asked, "What do the thermophiles get?" Dr. Banner explained "These thermophyles are probably some of the oldest life forms on earth. They bear certain similarities to bacteria and cells like ours but are different. They even have their own taxonomic group. They are the Archaeans." Archaean was a word that Bobby recognized. He thought of the research paper that he read at home and then he remembered the meteorite. He grabbed the amulet around his neck and glanced at it as he tried to listen to Dr. Banner go on about the vent community. He wondered if those little oval patterns on his meteorite might really be Archaeans. As Dr. Banner went on, he began to describe the details of the scientific mission. By then the rest of the boys had rejoined the discussion. He was saying, "We will be lowering a water sampling devise that tells us information like conductivity, temperature, and depth. We will use this CTD like eyes underwater. When the CTD tells us that we're in the hot water area of the vents, we will close the sampling bottles and bring it back up to the ship. Once we have the water in the lab, we will filter it for particulate matter and test for trace elements like Helium isotopes." The doctor finished the lecture and the boys all went to their births. They quickly fell asleep but Bobby slept restlessly. The days passed by quickly and the boys loved their experience. Sometimes they helped the officers on the bridge while other times they helped out with the deck crew and galley. Bobby was well liked by everyone on board but he especially liked working in the lab with the oceanographers. His enthusiasm showed through his diligence and soon enough he started to help a scientist named Robin Stafford filter particles from the water samples. Each time the CTD came up with new samples, he would run out on deck with the science crew and drain the sampling bottles that were attached to the rosette frame. The whole CTD was connected to a crane by a galvanized steel cable so that it could be lowered up and down. The sampling went on for days so long as the weather held. One day as the CTD was being towed, an electric storm hit suddenly from the east. It carried with it a large amount of charged particles of dust from an anomalous continental air mass up from Mexico. The storm moved in quickly and caught them all by surprise. Lightning strikes began to brighten the already darkening sky. The Captain ordered the CTD to be brought up and to secure the ship for a ride. The waves began to build and the cable strained to race the storm. Dr. Banner signaled the CTD to close all of the bottles so that he might salvage a little data from this tow. Suddenly as the bottles were shutting, one of them closed on the feathery reddish crown of one of the giant tubeworms attached to a vent. The rosette was finally brought back on deck as the storm was passing. Just as suddenly the storm came, so it went. It then became eerily still. Large swells still moved in from out of the semidarkness but the ocean surface was smooth. As the crew stood by on the deck, they witnessed a phenomenon rarely seen by mariners. Bobby shouted, "Look at the crane! It's glowing with some sort of green light." The eerie, luminescent green glow soon enveloped the CTD rosette and all twenty-one of the sampling bottles. The light illuminated the faces of every one on deck and Bobby asked, "What is it?" Dr. Banner said, " It's St. Elmo's Fire." Huh? Tim questioned dumbfoundly. Dr. Banner explained "Saint Elmo is believed by some to be the patron saint of maritime travel. In this case, his guiding light is a sure sign of good luck." John asked, "Why is it good luck?" "Because it only happens after a storm has passed and it let's mariners know that safe passage home lies ahead." Bobby of course asks, "How did it happen?" Dr. Banner answers "I believe it happened because the electrically charged particles that followed that storm excited the valence electron orbital of the oxygen atoms that are a part of the wet crane and CTD. When their valence electrons were energized they jumped to a higher energy level. As they lost their energy, they went back to their equilibrium orbital and give off that luminescent light you saw in the process. It's sort of like an Aurora Borealis on the ship." Bobby thought to him self, "sorry I asked." It was then that he noticed the meteorite glowing. Adam said "Bobby! Look at your necklace. It's glowing too." Bobby stared in disbelief. He held it in his hand and closed a fist around it. As soon as he did this, the light surrounding the meteorite went out. As he did this, so did the light surrounding the crane and the CTD. They all stared silently at the darkness before them. They knew that they had just been witnesses to something strange and a chill began to settle. Soon Mr. Murphy said, "Well come on boys. Let's help Dr Banner get these sampling bottles inside so that he can finish filtering all of the water in them." Inside the lab, the scientists and students were busy draining the water from each of the bottles. The water would be filtered and the concentrated extract was poured into a glass container with a glass stopper. A microscope would be used later to scan it. Bobby was draining the last bottle when suddenly something inside plugged the drain hole. "Hey! Something's in here" said Bobby. Bobby and Robin poured the contents into a bucket and out plopped a reddish-white blob of flesh. "The storm must have made the CTD crash into a vent just as we signaled the CTD to close the Niskin bottles. This one must have closed on one of those tube worms and it's loaded with those symbiotic thermophiles." said Dr Banner. He filtered the water from the bucket and poured the extract into another specimen jar. He gave it to Bobby and asked him to place it on the lab table for examination. As Bobby walked towards the bench, he unstoppered the jar to get a better look. At that moment, a wave caused the ship to tilt to starboard and Bobby spilled some of the contents on his arm. Bobby quickly closed the jar with a stopper and set it down. He wiped the goo off his arm with his bare hand like he was wiping his nose. Instead of wiping it off, he ended up spreading it more and then it all just disappeared. A weird itching sensation came from his arm and he felt as if they just went right into his skin. Bobby felt tired so he cleaned up. He soon went below to his berth to take a shower and get some rest after a long but strange evening. Chapter 4 - Home That night as Bobby slept, he was overcome by restless dreams again. They were strange dreams about planets all over space. There were exotic creatures appearing and disappearing that made him feel like he was watching time go by on an ancient planet. Suddenly in this dream, the planet is bombarded by asteroid collisions. When he awoke from his dream, his arm was itching in the same spot when it just stopped. Bobby realized that he had slept way past noon and that he probably missed lunch. When he got to the galley, the Chief Steward Nito was there. "Sorry son, you missed it." Bobby looked disappointed and Nito took pity on him. "Tell you what. I have some good gumbo still warm on the stove. How about I heat you up some? It'll make you feel great. I caught some deep water squid last night and put it in the stock." Bobby ate the gumbo ravenously and asked for another bowl. Next thing you know, he downed three and thanked the cook. He then went down to the lab on the main deck. Dr. Banner helloed him and Bobby was soon caught up in the routine of scientific date collection. Soon it got dark outside and Bobby worked on. One by one all of the boys, Robin, and Dr Banner went to bed not having slept till afternoon themselves. Bobby was strangely energetic and worked on until past 2400. It was just after the watch changed on the bridge that bobby heard the voices. They weren't really voices as much as emotions. Something was communicating with his brain and it was from within himself. It was a feeling of great sorrow. The kind of feeling that you might have when you've been separated from a close family member. Someone, who has raised you when you were young, but was taken away from you, long, long ago. Bobby had to go out on the deck for some air. As he walked he could not shake this feeling of sorrow. He gazed out into the evening thinking about where he was and then he saw his meteorite hanging on his chest. Like a bolt of lightning it came to him. He realized that the meteorite must have come from Mars. He remembered again the report that he had read. It all came together in his head and he knew the truth. This time real voices came into his head. They said, "Unite us with our ancestors son of Archaea." Bobby was not afraid. He thought, " Unite you! But how? How can I help you? What do you want me to do?" "Throw it," said the Archaeans. "How do you speak to me? I know what you are saying but there is no sound." said Bobby. We have always been a part of you. We have only awakened the part of you that we both share. Your DNA. We want to become reunited with our ancestors as well." said the Archaeans. "Please throw it. Throw the sleeping chamber of our ancestors into the water so that it may sink down to our kinsmen below. We will awaken our Archaean ancestors and we will all be united. "Bobby looked down to the meteorite hanging on his chest and it began to glow again. Without hesitation, he threw the amulet out into the darkness and watched as the green light disappeared into the depths. Below him the vents billowed blackness and the giant tubeworms waved gently in the convection currents. The voices stopped and Bobby was overcome with a feeling of gratitude. Somehow he felt that he was a part of that meteorite and that it was a part of all life on earth. An earth that is a part of the universe. A universe like a family that has come home.