Casting off. The rift is four thousand metres of nothing.
Corda Rift · Survey Dive 41 · 4 010 m
Marrowlight
Your thrusters, your drag and your lamp all shed a plume of frightened light. The hunter does not track you — it tracks the light. So on every metre of the descent, decide which animals you are willing to frighten.
- Glass Jelly
- Startled, it flares where it hangs and stays bright there. A decoy you can aim — if you can get close enough to one to set it off.
- Lantern Shoal
- Invisible until afraid. A fright lights the water for half a heartbeat, shows you the canyon, and tells the hunter exactly where you are.
- Veil Polyp
- A steady amber pool that lights the whole corridor. Brush one and it goes out for six seconds — and so does your only map.
W A S D or arrows to fly · Z rise, X dive · SPACE burst · SHIFT quiet running · C cut engines · E lamp · ESC pause · M sound
Dive briefing
Three relays, one at each station on the rift wall. Reach all three, then climb to nine metres and the line takes you home. The hull creaks below 132 m, so the deep is a place you borrow, not a place you live.
| W S · A D | Ahead, astern, port, starboard |
|---|---|
| Z · X | Rise and dive on the ballast |
| SPACE | Burst. Fast, and the loudest thing you own. |
| SHIFT | Silent running. Half speed, almost no plume. |
| C | Cut engines. Coast, and let the plume go cold behind you. |
| E | Headlamp. You will read the canyon, and so will it. |
| ESC · H · M · R | Pause, briefing, sound, restart the dive |
Rock spires break a signal. A current will carry your plume somewhere you did not intend to be.
Dive held
Holding station. The rift is patient, and it is the only thing down here that is.
Dive 41 · Corda Rift
Line recovered
Three relays, and a cold climb home.